Victory 4x4 Superrrrlong lead times:(

Mostly here to complain

I ordered a 2nd gen strike bumper 58 days ago and it still hasn't shipped, I called today and they said it should be done in about 10 days.

Funny, when I called 26 days ago, they said it should be done in about 10 days.

On their website it says lead time for this is 15-20 days.

I know bumpers can have some pretty long lead times, but GD, why say 15-20 days in the first place?!



Anyone else have this experience/ want to commiserate with me?

 

I think the issue is more "missing the lead time" as opposed to the wait itself because in this community, 2 months would be considered decently quick. Trust me, customers hate when it gets pushed past a lead time. Gotta try and quote long and deliver fast, but can't quote too long or people will go elsewhere.

 

Hmm that doesnt sound like them. All my lead times have been very quick. Less than 3 weeks. But i haven't bought a bumper.

 

I hate to agree with @EatSleepTacos but I have to. Not because he isn't awesome, but all armor is pretty much this way. It sucks but it's pretty much hurry up and wait.

I feel you though, I waited 7 months for my new rear to show up.......

 

When I bought my strike bumper from them I told them it was because of their quick lead times (comparatively) and mine arrived in just under 3 weeks. They were great with the customer service too, maybe they're just in demand as of now

 

yea i think they are slowy getting bigger and bigger. My lead times for the bedrack and roof rack were relatively quick. But now ive heard its a little longer.

 

I guess that's a good thing, and honestly I'm still super excited for the bumper.

@EatSleepTacos is definitely right though. If they would have said 60 day lead time, I wouldn't be so bummed out. But I might have also gone with a different manufacturer since lead time was a fairly large part of my decision to go with victory.

 

I totally get that, the reason I chose Victory 4x4 was because of their quick lead times. A turkey vulture destroyed my bumper and since it's my DD I wanted it replaced ASAP.

 

Just call them and say you wanna cancel your order and see if it magically ships.

 

I wonder if that's what happened to the bumper that was supposed to ship at day 36.

 

Very possible. Used yours to make the guy in front you happy and now your waiting.

 

Just got back from a trip to Colorado (no I'm not part of our production team, don't worry ) and trying to catch up; sorry I didn't respond to this earlier!

July was a perfect storm, well imperfect, for us here. We had a laser down for too long, a plasma cutter down for too long, supplier delays, new employees to train in production and customer service, AND we had a record July sales month. HUGE mess and some products pushed lead times nearly double with some outliers like yours. My customer service team here is working with an ERP system that can only quote lead times when everything is running smoothly, so when it's not, an extra 5 business day quote can turn into 10, and all they can do is walk in back and ask my production manager that's juggling a few hundred jobs for an estimate which isn't always accurate.

That said, I'm not trying to make excuses for being late, I just don't want anyone to think we are lying on the phone. CS is working with the best information they have available to them at the time. They had no idea what was about to drop on us for the whole month of July.

OK, that out of the way, your order is late AF and I'm VERY sorry. I'm checking with my GM now for an update.

Edit: Looks like you were in-between the gen1 and gen2 version release of that bumper and that added to the lead time while you waited for finalization on that design (I assume you talked with CS on that?) Your order did ship on the 2nd of this month, let me know if you haven't seen a tracking number. Once again sorry for the delays!

The good news for all new orders is, we are catching up on the backlog very fast and are hoping to be back on our standard lead times in a few weeks

We'd have to steal from another customer for that, and we don't play that dishonest game.

When it's running smoothly in production we have lots of headroom in manufacturing capacity. When a nuke gets dropped back there then well...

 

not to add too much fuel to this fire but..... when you have quoted lead times and something happens and nobody really does much to communicate that information to customers who have shelled out hundreds of dollars doesn't bode well for repeat business. Your customer service team responding to emails has been really good and that may be the saving grace here. I am super happy for your company and having a record sales month in July. Pushing the industry along in a positive way is fantastic. Lying isn't the problem. Not being up front or communicating a cause for delay IS. I am also not a fan of getting an email of labels created for shipping on Tuesday and the order actually shipping 2 days later.

I truly sympathize with the quantity of work that was dumped on you guys. I can appreciate how stressful being down equipment to allow a normal workflow can be. Unfortunately, that doesn't excuse how many steps during the process presented opportunities for communication with the customers.

I want to say this once more. The customer service rep I spoke with was nothing but nice. I felt a little guilty for emailing him a complaint with how this process felt like it was falling apart. This damn roof rack better be amazing.

 

Okay, so I finally received my bumper yesterday.

@monkeyevil, have you already started producing the new version of the strike bumper for 2nd gens? Not sure what CS is but I didn’t receive any information on this?

The bumper I received has the victory logo over the lightbar cutout and I’m not sure if I received the new version or if I was sent a 3rd gen bumper?

Is there any way to make sure the bumper I received is for my 2nd gen without having to install it.

Also, if this is the correct bumper. You may want to change the photos on your website to avoid future confusion.

 

CS = Customer Service. I'm kind of playing telephone on this whole situation as I don't have the data that they have in that department. I was under the impression that you knew about the gen 1 to gen 2 changeover that just happened as we have been letting customers know after the fact if they order that product as new photos for the site are being worked out ASAP on that. If that wasn't the case I apologize.

Pretty sure (per your description) you got the new design on that bumper, which means cutouts for easier winch access and additional cooling, plus a slight strength bump. I think you have been concurrently talking to Mitchell here to get everything squared away, so as opposed to stepping on his toes and causing more confusion, I will let you two continue that conversation.

Sorry for the hassles!

 

I agree, it's a matter of proactive vs reactive customer service and we can always do better or prioritize it more.

On the labels, our system prints them out the moment the order gets boxed for shipment. The label gets slapped on the box and then it gets stacked on a pallet for the truck that day. Was your order shipped yesterday? We had a little FedEx driver "issue" this week which could have affected it... We don't do the whole print a label days/weeks before we ship an item eBay scam, so my guess it was that.

Either way, I apologize for the communication issues on our end. We have had a discussion today internally about it

 

Perfect, just talked to Mitchell on the phone. Super cool dude, incredible support, give that man a raise.
He clarified I have the 2.0 version of the 2nd gen bumper. I'm a big fan of the new design so it kind of worked out to be a nice surprise.

 

Same thing happened to me, I was pissed for about 5 minutes cause I thought I got a 3rd gen but after checking it out it was just the new version. Mine fit up well with the exception of the reinforcement bolts. They didnt line up so I had to cut the hole a bit bigger.

 

I'll have engineering check on that bracket. We just installed a second gen bumper on one of my employee's trucks for photos, and that bracket lined up fine. What year was your truck by chance?

 

2006