I am now in a position where I need to replace a broken HiLo Surf Roof but, being located in the far North East of Scotland, there’s no-one nearby that can advise me on the options, so rather than drive 600 miles or more for someone to have a look at the van, I’m wondering if anyone can help with specific information…
The first thing I need to know is what are the dimensions of the roof cut-out and where is this located on the roof. One might have imagined that there would be a scale drawing somewhere but, so far, I am unable to find one. A big thank you to Jason at Jaibow and Ady at Crystal Custom Campers for trying, and discussing the potential options for repair or replacement. Basically, I need to know whether any other roof will fit my van otherwise I’m left without a pop-top.
To put this in context, my roof is now beyond economic repair – one of the hinges has sheared and it’s a big job to replace that alone. There are fundamental problems of this roof, some of which contributed directly to it breaking, and have given us 3 years of stress and misery, so just fixing a hinge does not solve our problems. I have managed to secure the back corner of the van so at least I can drive it safely, but the roof no longer opens. We now have a LoLo roof.
There's a cautionary tale here which is probably useful to share - and I'm going to try hard to remain purely factual, In March 2019 HiLo fitted a roof (in their workshop) that was not waterproof and did not close properly, so was ‘self-harming’ and damaged my van internals, including vehicle electrics. They allowed a local fitter to try some temporary repairs and they eventually took it back at the time of the product recall. They tried to hide rather than fix the problems, under the watchful eye of our friend Jake. After many months of bluffing my solicitor (including trying to get me to sign a NDA!) it was the instigation of legal action made them take things semi-seriously. They eventually fitted a new canvas and tried to make good some of their mistakes (too numerous to list) - on the face of it Tony did a neat job. They did not, however, address structural problems I had pointed out to them, so the roof still self-harmed (cut holes in the new canvas), parts fell off, the GRP shell warped and the upper frame came unstuck from the GRP shell - all duly reported to HiLo as the 'wheels started falling off'. Any wonder that the hinge sheared?
After another 12 months of them delaying taking the van back for it’s fourth visit to their workshop (and the last 6 months of that not reply into any communication), I initiated legal action again. Almost simultaneously, they put themselves into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation (but they’d started the process way before that, so I’m not taking any responsibility for that). By doing so, it protects the Directors from any legal action against them, apparently. I am nearly £2,000 out of pocket in legal fees and still have to pay someone to replace my roof. I am now officially a creditor of HiLo, but we all know that means I’ll get diddly squat for my trouble. Its a really intriguing list of creditors in a somewhat tangled web of debt (Statement of Affairs, published 29 July 2022, Companies House).
If you were to search Companies House website you would find that a company called All Things Custom Ltd. Apparently, they now own the assets and Intellectual Property of the HiLo Roof Company Ltd, and employ their staff.
So, if you see a 'new' low profile roof on the market made or licensed by a company called All Things Custom Ltd be aware that they acquired the rights to that in May 2022 and then the Directors put HiLo into liquidation in July 2022, owing over £950,000 – almost £200,000 of which was in unpaid PAYE and VAT (so yes, your money). Turns out that the two Directors of All Things Custom Ltd are Mark and Wayne Pendlebury, yes the 2 Directors of HiLo Roof Company Ltd. Who knew? Anyone interested could look up those Directors’ other companies and see their fingers in other pies, or even different slices of the same pie.
I’m just saying that if you’re in the market for a new pop top roof, it could be worth having a think about who makes it and who they might have screwed over. Oh, and anyone thinking of rebadging old stock of HiLo Sport roofs might find themselves being taken to court by a company called All Things Custom Ltd. Apparently the Directors don’t take kindly to having their Intellectual Property impinged… Just basing that on past performance, not speculating.
I think there are a few hundred Surf Roofs out there, and I know there are some with similar problems – a few folk have been in touch directly over the past couple of years. If you have first-hand knowledge of the roof, please get in touch. I suspect that a few of us will need to replace roofs in the coming months or years, so I would like to share all information so that we can keep our costs down and find out what our alternatives are, if any.
Please bear in mind this is about the HiLo Surf Roof only, not about 3rd party fitters or the Sport, so please restrict comments to the topic (and avoid opening yourself to defamation).
The first thing I need to know is what are the dimensions of the roof cut-out and where is this located on the roof. One might have imagined that there would be a scale drawing somewhere but, so far, I am unable to find one. A big thank you to Jason at Jaibow and Ady at Crystal Custom Campers for trying, and discussing the potential options for repair or replacement. Basically, I need to know whether any other roof will fit my van otherwise I’m left without a pop-top.
To put this in context, my roof is now beyond economic repair – one of the hinges has sheared and it’s a big job to replace that alone. There are fundamental problems of this roof, some of which contributed directly to it breaking, and have given us 3 years of stress and misery, so just fixing a hinge does not solve our problems. I have managed to secure the back corner of the van so at least I can drive it safely, but the roof no longer opens. We now have a LoLo roof.
There's a cautionary tale here which is probably useful to share - and I'm going to try hard to remain purely factual, In March 2019 HiLo fitted a roof (in their workshop) that was not waterproof and did not close properly, so was ‘self-harming’ and damaged my van internals, including vehicle electrics. They allowed a local fitter to try some temporary repairs and they eventually took it back at the time of the product recall. They tried to hide rather than fix the problems, under the watchful eye of our friend Jake. After many months of bluffing my solicitor (including trying to get me to sign a NDA!) it was the instigation of legal action made them take things semi-seriously. They eventually fitted a new canvas and tried to make good some of their mistakes (too numerous to list) - on the face of it Tony did a neat job. They did not, however, address structural problems I had pointed out to them, so the roof still self-harmed (cut holes in the new canvas), parts fell off, the GRP shell warped and the upper frame came unstuck from the GRP shell - all duly reported to HiLo as the 'wheels started falling off'. Any wonder that the hinge sheared?
After another 12 months of them delaying taking the van back for it’s fourth visit to their workshop (and the last 6 months of that not reply into any communication), I initiated legal action again. Almost simultaneously, they put themselves into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation (but they’d started the process way before that, so I’m not taking any responsibility for that). By doing so, it protects the Directors from any legal action against them, apparently. I am nearly £2,000 out of pocket in legal fees and still have to pay someone to replace my roof. I am now officially a creditor of HiLo, but we all know that means I’ll get diddly squat for my trouble. Its a really intriguing list of creditors in a somewhat tangled web of debt (Statement of Affairs, published 29 July 2022, Companies House).
If you were to search Companies House website you would find that a company called All Things Custom Ltd. Apparently, they now own the assets and Intellectual Property of the HiLo Roof Company Ltd, and employ their staff.
So, if you see a 'new' low profile roof on the market made or licensed by a company called All Things Custom Ltd be aware that they acquired the rights to that in May 2022 and then the Directors put HiLo into liquidation in July 2022, owing over £950,000 – almost £200,000 of which was in unpaid PAYE and VAT (so yes, your money). Turns out that the two Directors of All Things Custom Ltd are Mark and Wayne Pendlebury, yes the 2 Directors of HiLo Roof Company Ltd. Who knew? Anyone interested could look up those Directors’ other companies and see their fingers in other pies, or even different slices of the same pie.
I’m just saying that if you’re in the market for a new pop top roof, it could be worth having a think about who makes it and who they might have screwed over. Oh, and anyone thinking of rebadging old stock of HiLo Sport roofs might find themselves being taken to court by a company called All Things Custom Ltd. Apparently the Directors don’t take kindly to having their Intellectual Property impinged… Just basing that on past performance, not speculating.
I think there are a few hundred Surf Roofs out there, and I know there are some with similar problems – a few folk have been in touch directly over the past couple of years. If you have first-hand knowledge of the roof, please get in touch. I suspect that a few of us will need to replace roofs in the coming months or years, so I would like to share all information so that we can keep our costs down and find out what our alternatives are, if any.
Please bear in mind this is about the HiLo Surf Roof only, not about 3rd party fitters or the Sport, so please restrict comments to the topic (and avoid opening yourself to defamation).
