Bestop stands behind the Sunrider for Hardtop

[flipmcgee]

I just wanted give credit where deserved. My Bestop Sunrider for hardtop is in its second season and the twill fabric was starting to get more and more slack in it. It had always flapped when passing a semi on the highway but now it started happing even at low speeds around town. The fabric had lot of slack in it all the time. I contacted Bestop through their website hoping for some sort of remedy or adjustment but they just asked me to send them a photo of it and my receipt and they replaced it with no hassle the very next day. I even purchased it on Amazon originally. I couldn't ask for better customer support than that. So if you have one of these and its flapping or has any other problems they do seem to care about the customer.

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[jeepers29]

Yep, @Bestop CS is the gold standard.

 

[Phishs]

I had a similar experience with them on my tonneau cover. Top notch.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

I once called Bestop to try to buy a rear soft top window that I could not find anywhere. Could only get the 3 piece window sets.

Bestop gave me the window for free!

 

[bleda2002]

Bestop replaced my sunrider when the z clips broke, sent a picture and the Amazon invoice and got a new one a few days later.

 

[Arisdocjk]

I had the same experience with my sunrider. Bestop customer service is the best!

 

[Rockabillyroy]

On my old JKU, the header on the trektop nx snapped in half while driving on the highway. They asked me to send a photo and put in a warranty request with the vendor and sent out a new top section within the week.
Very good service.

 

[Rahkmalla]

I love my sunrider, so I probably would have bought from them again anyway when the time came. But hearing their customer service actual serves the customer makes me want to buy something from them right now. Customer service is a dying art, and some companies (cough cough Quadratec and DHL and FedEx and Best Buy and every shipping line ever but especially ONE Line) are leading the way in garbage service. Good to hear someone out there still understands the value of good service.

I happily pay more to do business with companies who stand behind their product(s).

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

Well let me try my luck then. @Bestop can you help me with this situation? I just bought my Sunrider for Hardtop this week from Amazon and installed it yesterday. So far it’s intolerable. It makes a rattling, popping noise that seems to be coming from inside of the structure itself. This popping is right above my left ear and occasionally verges on an uncomfortable volume level. But there are things I observed when installing this top which don’t give me a lot of confidence in your QC generally.

I’m assuming this was engineered by an attorney. It’s a real joy getting this together. Is this change to the design because older tops were coming apart at speed?

The bolts in yellow were both visibly loose from the factory. The one on the right was threaded in at an angle and is completely stripped out. What I’ve circled in red is the misalignment between the metal and plastic parts. This make attaching the door frame nearly impossible as the bolts bind.

None of the user installed bolts that come with this product screw in well. They all tend to gall going in even off the vehicle under zero tension. Now the picture above is from the passenger side. However it’s the drivers side that makes a continuous popping noise at any speed but particularly above 50MPH. It also randomly stops and starts. The top is installed correctly. I’ve triple checked it. The top sits in the door channels without rubbing. The fore and aft sections make contact with the windshield and top respectively without any apparent issue. The mechanism moves freely and doesn’t bind. The windshield closures work with no issue. There’s no excessive wind noise. It’s not a quiet soft top but there doesn’t appear to be any gaps. The rubber gaskets on the top and window frame appear to be engaged properly. All the owner installed bolts are properly torqued. I’ve even tried loosening and tightening them to see if this affects the popping noise. I also checked every other screw and bolt I could find on the drivers side from the center support bolts to the windshield header. Every single screw and bolt was loose. Snugging them down does not improve the issue.

Here’s a video of the sound. At the end right as I’m cutting the video you can hear one of really loud pops that occasionally happen in addition to the constant noise. The video still doesn’t do justice to just how prominent this sound is inches from your ear when driving. I can’t imagine this is normal. No one would own this thing if it was. I drove with a soft top on my daily driver TJ for 11 years, both with the factory and a replacement Bestop and they never made this kind of noise even at 10 years old.

Let me know if we can get this warrantied. Otherwise I’ll just return it. I threw away the Box but I don’t think Amazon cares

 

[Gvsukids]

Well let me try my luck then. @Bestop can you help me with this situation? I just bought my Sunrider for Hardtop this week from Amazon and installed it yesterday. So far it’s intolerable. It makes a rattling, popping noise that seems to be coming from inside of the structure itself. This popping is right above my left ear and occasionally verges on an uncomfortable volume level. But there are things I observed when installing this top which don’t give me a lot of confidence in your QC generally.

I’m assuming this was engineered by an attorney. It’s a real joy getting this together. Is this change to the design because older tops were coming apart at speed?

The bolts in yellow were both visibly loose from the factory. The one on the right was threaded in at an angle and is completely stripped out. What I’ve circled in red is the misalignment between the metal and plastic parts. This make attaching the door frame nearly impossible as the bolts bind.

None of the user installed bolts that come with this product screw in well. They all tend to gall going in even off the vehicle under zero tension. Now the picture above is from the passenger side. However it’s the drivers side that makes a continuous popping noise at any speed but particularly above 50MPH. It also randomly stops and starts. The top is installed correctly. I’ve triple checked it. The top sits in the door channels without rubbing. The fore and aft sections make contact with the windshield and top respectively without any apparent issue. The mechanism moves freely and doesn’t bind. The windshield closures work with no issue. There’s no excessive wind noise. It’s not a quiet soft top but there doesn’t appear to be any gaps. The rubber gaskets on the top and window frame appear to be engaged properly. All the owner installed bolts are properly torqued. I’ve even tried loosening and tightening them to see if this affects the popping noise. I also checked every other screw and bolt I could find on the drivers side from the center support bolts to the windshield header. Every single screw and bolt was loose. Snugging them down does not improve the issue.

Here’s a video of the sound. At the end right as I’m cutting the video you can hear one of really loud pops that occasionally happen in addition to the constant noise. The video still doesn’t do justice to just how prominent this sound is inches from your ear when driving. I can’t imagine this is normal. No one would own this thing if it was. I drove with a soft top on my daily driver TJ for 11 years, both with the factory and a replacement Bestop and they never made this kind of noise even at 10 years old.

Let me know if we can get this warrantied. Otherwise I’ll just return it. I threw away the Box but I don’t think Amazon cares

Why don't you just send them a message?

 

[cranbiz]

Well let me try my luck then. @Bestop can you help me with this situation? I just bought my Sunrider for Hardtop this week from Amazon and installed it yesterday. So far it’s intolerable. It makes a rattling, popping noise that seems to be coming from inside of the structure itself. This popping is right above my left ear and occasionally verges on an uncomfortable volume level. But there are things I observed when installing this top which don’t give me a lot of confidence in your QC generally.

I’m assuming this was engineered by an attorney. It’s a real joy getting this together. Is this change to the design because older tops were coming apart at speed?

The bolts in yellow were both visibly loose from the factory. The one on the right was threaded in at an angle and is completely stripped out. What I’ve circled in red is the misalignment between the metal and plastic parts. This make attaching the door frame nearly impossible as the bolts bind.

None of the user installed bolts that come with this product screw in well. They all tend to gall going in even off the vehicle under zero tension. Now the picture above is from the passenger side. However it’s the drivers side that makes a continuous popping noise at any speed but particularly above 50MPH. It also randomly stops and starts. The top is installed correctly. I’ve triple checked it. The top sits in the door channels without rubbing. The fore and aft sections make contact with the windshield and top respectively without any apparent issue. The mechanism moves freely and doesn’t bind. The windshield closures work with no issue. There’s no excessive wind noise. It’s not a quiet soft top but there doesn’t appear to be any gaps. The rubber gaskets on the top and window frame appear to be engaged properly. All the owner installed bolts are properly torqued. I’ve even tried loosening and tightening them to see if this affects the popping noise. I also checked every other screw and bolt I could find on the drivers side from the center support bolts to the windshield header. Every single screw and bolt was loose. Snugging them down does not improve the issue.

Here’s a video of the sound. At the end right as I’m cutting the video you can hear one of really loud pops that occasionally happen in addition to the constant noise. The video still doesn’t do justice to just how prominent this sound is inches from your ear when driving. I can’t imagine this is normal. No one would own this thing if it was. I drove with a soft top on my daily driver TJ for 11 years, both with the factory and a replacement Bestop and they never made this kind of noise even at 10 years old.

Let me know if we can get this warrantied. Otherwise I’ll just return it. I threw away the Box but I don’t think Amazon cares

Have you tried to contact them either by phone or email? Bestop traditionally has great customer support.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

Why don't you just send them a message?

Because in the last 2 years I’ve found it increasingly impossible to get customer service from any company without a nightmarish fight, involving a regulator or threatening some kind of action. So Im trying a different tactic. I’m going public immediately. Also the QC issues I’ve seen with this product are worthy of public knowledge as is the popping issue which others have experienced. It may be valuable for other to know about this.

 

[flipmcgee]

You will need to go onto their website and file a warranty case and they will contact you. However if you just bought this from amazon then your best bet would be to return it and buy it again unless you are beyond the return period. That's the only reason I bought mine from amazon was the return policy. BESTOP won't process warranty claims from the forum. It's also possible that when you buy something from amazon that your getting an item the someone else returned. It depends on who the seller is but many things I buy from amazon show signs of having been returned and repackaged. In fact now that besttop replaced my top I'm pretty sure my original was repackaged because the packaging direct from bestop is padded and wrapped where my original was just loose in a large box.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

You will need to go onto their website and file a warranty case and they will contact you. However if you just bought this from amazon then your best bet would be to return it and buy it again unless you are beyond the return period. That's the only reason I bought mine from amazon was the return policy. BESTOP won't process warranty claims from the forum. It's also possible that when you buy something from amazon that your getting an item the someone else returned. It depends on who the seller is but many things I buy from amazon show signs of having been returned and repackaged. In fact now that besttop replaced my top I'm pretty sure my original was repackaged because the packaging direct from bestop is padded and wrapped where my original was just loose in a large box.

My Amazon box was sealed and I saw no signs that this had been installed. I’m concerned with returning this to Amazon. They will take it back. They will also cancel your Prime account. I got rid of the box. I’m going the Bestop warranty route but if I can’t get traction I’ll just return it or see if Amz will do a simple exchange.

 

[flipmcgee]

Sounds like a plan although I'm not sure what you mean by them canceling your prime account. I've returned more items than I've actually purchased all total over the years I've been a prime member and never had them complain ever. I would let that worry you unless you've warned by amazon for some reason unique to your account. In either case my replacement top has already arrived took only about a week from warranty claim to new top and it's perfect no issues now. He'll they didn't want the old one back.

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