Southern Style Off-road blues

What I learned from this thread is that SSO is located in Baton Rouge.... I had no idea! I assumed it was in California because nearly everything I want for my Tacoma is in Cali!

 

No hoop with access holes.

 

For some reason Ive always been browsing 12k winches what a waste of time lol

 

10K should be sufficient for a Tacoma. You can use the money you save for a Flat Link or Epic Sidewinder.

 

sorry this happened to you, not one of my favorite companies either.

 

Yes.. How dare they get shut down during a pandemic, and enforce their cancellation fee that the OP agreed to when he cancelled his order.

 

Custom parts take custom wait times. I have waited for much longer, 8ish months for a swing out tire carrier/ hidden bumper set up on a jeep. The owner and I talked up front and we settled on the time frame early on. No one could have predicted what has happened and what will continue to happen through out the entire country.

The large majority of these fab shops do not have their own dedicated laser/ water jet machines or presses. They rely and pay others for that. I am sure not many fab shops have racks of sheet metal laying around to cut and weld. Maybe there are some out there, but not the majority. Everyone waits on material, everyone, and they take their money up front. Even thou you are working with one company, that company is working with several to make your product. That is where the percentage charge comes from. Agree or not, you pay for your wants. I spent several years at a laser shop and have seen many delays with sheet metal.

Take a breath, the entire world is suffering right now. Try to understand that this will impact everyone directly or indirectly. Either way good luck, sending you peaceful vibes.

 

if you notice, I said that I was sorry this happened to you. Timing sucks. But business can work with people. If SSO missed its date line for delivery of this, sorry as a buyer, not my fault, timing sucks.

As for the second part, they are not one of my favorite companies and not one that I will deal with again, since I had bad service and a bumper that was not correct when I got it. My credit card company got me my money back, So I went with Mark at Metal Tec and got what I think was a great bumper and service.

 

Cancellation fees are bogus. I don’t care who you are or what the business is. If you can sell the item to someone else that day, for the same value, you are just being a douche. No one placing an order expects to cancel, so we all skip the fine print.

Let’s stop stop collectively siding with what is bad corporate behaviour. If you know the product is popular, and can sell it right away, give the fella a goshdarn break and stop being such a nerd.

“My mommy says the rules are the rules. Please read the rules”......whatever......we used to call those guys dweebs.

 

I get what you're saying there. The timing was definitely unfortunate.

Lead times are never guaranteed. It says so on the website.

Of course it wasn't the buyer's fault. But, they were shut down due to the pandemic, which they communicated to their customers via email and on their website. If the buyer loses patience and cancels their order, they're going to pay the cancellation fee.

This I understand. That's a completely different scenario.

 

Here's a solution for you: don't do buy things from a company that has cancellation fees. Or, don't bitch.

These are made to order with custom options. MAYBE someone else will order the exact same thing that day. Or, maybe no one will order that specific arrangement for a year. Who knows. But, that doesn't matter anyway. The cancellation fee is agreed upon at purchase.

The point is, once an order is processed and things are in motion, the manufacturer has time into it. Time costs money.

If you're still opposed to cancellation fees, just avoid them. You can't agree to the terms and then turn around a whine about it.

 

Fella has a right to bitch and we should support him. SSO is lame in this case. Zero stars for those nerds.

 

Why? Because of the pandemic? That wasn't SSO's fault.

It's like some people have been living under a rock.

 

I ordered my slimline bumper on january 7th in raw steel just so I didnt have to deal with lead times for powder (i have a local shop, and was worried about powder being damaged in shipping, and expedite my order.... well then covid 19hit.. I kept up on checking the website.. then they got ordered to shutdown for Social Distancing... crap.... mine sat on materials received for what seems like forever... every few days I checked on it. no progress until the end of may when they finally updated it to welding, and then on to grinding station, and then to QC, and shipping (June 3rd)!! recieved my bumper in Midcoast Maine on June 8th... dropped it off Monday to my powedercoater, and should have it back within 1-2 weeks... winch is sitting in my living room, and lightbar is on its way....

I think you just need to realize your 10-12 weeks lead time got doubled by COVID, if anyone is to blame its COVID-19... I'm altogether happy, while slightly upset that I'm paying for an item that I dont physically have yet (i get it), however I am not one that typically waits on items, not used to this Lead-time stuff. if you really want a LEAD-time nightmare look at Gofastcampers.com "**Due to large order volume, camper orders placed today have an estimated start date of July 2021." AND THIS IS FOR A $6500 CAMPER TOP!!!!!

 

I think a lot of people ignore this fact. There's time for their accounting department, the people reading and reviewing online orders and possibly most importantly, are the fees associated with various forms of payment (Paypal and CC companies get a chunk). Flipping a custom bumper to another customer, is not a time/cost free endeavor. Not to mention, the cost of storing the item until you find a new buyer. Storing materials and products in a metal shop is not an easy task. Having any finished products laying around, usually results in damage of said products...

 

I'm on the SSO side here but I guess I'm playing devil's advocate with this one. The GFC wait is a little different since you only pay a deposit of $500. Once they are actually working on your order you then pay the full price (minus the deposit).

 

Everyone has their own opinion. Ultimately it's the market that decides. This thread has served to highlight SSO's cancellation policy so going forward more people will be aware of it. As someone mentioned, hardly anybody reads the fine print. There's an implied trust involved in any business transaction. No matter what your personal opinion may be, a lot lot of people will feel their trust was misguided when something like a cancellation fee bites them in the ass.

 

i ordered mine the day before xmas. it will be here this week. im a dealer for them and they HAD to close the shop. like no one could come to work for 6 weeks or something. everything is on long lead times. you want BDS 5 to 6 weeks bc they were ordered to 25% capacity for working. people need to chill and understand that. sucks you bailed bc they are prob the nicest hybrid bumpers out there.

 

It’s wrong to steal from people.

 

It would be stealing if they had decided to keep the 20% without telling OP. And he would absolutely have a right to bitch here if he hadn't received a full refund in that case. But it's definitely not stealing when you AGREE to those terms. It's like getting mad at the bank for taking extra money on top of what they lent you when you agreed to the terms of the loan. Why is this so hard for some? When you agree to the terms of a deal you are subjecting yourself to those terms and should not be surprised or mad when you fail to meet those terms and the contract holder enforces their rights. And I'm guessing you'll retort back that SSO didn't hold up their end but in those same terms it is said "All lead times may vary due to sale promotions and current volume of orders in house. Quoted lead times are just estimates, SSO strives to adhere to estimated lead times but there are some variables that are outside of our control but can impact the lead time quoted." Outside of their control would include a pandemic and government enforced stay-at-home orders.