FAQ: When will I get my Drifter? How long are people waiting?

Said shooting for end of September but based on where everyone else is at I think it will be more like October or November.

 

Seems improbable. You're over 20 campers away and they're building less than 5 a month. After waiting this long I'd just like honest communication but I'm at the point where I'll belive it IF I see it.

 

Nice! have any interior pics of the camper?
But more impressive is the jollibee sticker kabayan

 

Actually 158 has been promised his and there are nine after that before me. Not all order numbers are campers.

 

Incredibly dumb question: How does one find what "number" they are anyway? My invoice number is in the thousands (15xx), purchased in 2020. Never really bothered tracking because I expected a long-ass wait, being told 12 months at the time (not happening, I know.)

I've pretty much given up on ever getting my camper at this point (5 being produced a month?), but seeing how realistic it is to wait it out before jumping ship to a competitor who has a more demonstrated communicative business practice.

 

How do they build less than 5 a month? Are there 2 guys making them?

 

Going to copy-paste 2 comments I've seen made in the last year regarding the delays. Note, this wasn't proactively communicated to waiting customers, but posted here on TW forums. Take that for whatever it's worth:

From December, 2020:
"Sorry for the radio silence folks.

Not an excuse, but a brief explanation:

We had issues with extremely long lead times with laser cutting/ forming company that we've been working with for the past 2 years. Not going into too much detail, but their lead time tripled due to indirect COVID related customer prioritization. We started with a new company that is a reliable and consistent outfit. The new laser cutter/ forming company is a little behind and it took longer than anticipated to get them up and running. We were also surprised when our powder coater had to unexpectedly move shops, and shut down for a month, with no prior warning. We reacted quickly and started working with an new powder coater, which also took some time to get up to speed. In addition, one of our key team members experienced an injury that put him out for a while. We were also focused on new employee training. Unfortunately, all of this delayed production. This had definitely been the year of "Murphy's Law" to much of the world, and we have felt the brunt of it.
These factors are no excuse for the lack of correspondence and I apologize profusely for it.

Current situation:
Our laser cutting/ forming company is up to speed and we've worked out all the kinks.
We are now working with several reliable powder coaters.
The new employee training was very successful.
The key employee, who was injured, is back to work full- steam and will play a critical role with correspondence and operations.
Another key employee stepped up his game immensely and increased efficiency.
We had contingencies in place, but they were no match for what we experienced this year. We now have backups to our backups.
We are grinding away at building campers and haven't stopped. And won't stop.
We will be adding more employees to the roster."

More "radio silence" for 9 months:

Then this month:

"We absolutely understand the frustration and take responsibility for not responding earlier.
On the production side, we have had many challenges. For years, we had one laser cutter/ forming company. We experienced indirect Covid-related delays, and took on another forming company. Now, between all the various small and large quantity aluminum and stainless steel parts, we are working with 4 laser cutting/ forming companies. This level of redundancy will eliminate delays, but it took months for us to have this in place. Again, we appreciate everyone's patience.
We're also expanding our shop 50% next month and adding some yard space, which will increase production dramatically. And since we're taking over another space next door, there will be no down time with this expansion."

 

How did you get the number 9 for the amount of campers before your order? Aren’t you order 180? Curious if Vagabond is updating people with how many campers are ahead of them now.

 

I submitted a ticket Sunday to confirm they received my past communication about a couple additions I wanted; they responded acknowledging those additions a couple days later (Tuesday) and sent me an updated invoice. No word on timing/delivery yet (VO163 for reference).

 

Was told they expect October/November for build #195 (drifter). Highly doubt this date will be hit but hopefully this helps some gauge timing (24-25months). Take with a grain of salt, all dates have been told about 3-4 months out from past dates missed and just rinse and repeat whenever previously agreed date passes.

 

I originally created this thread and the associated spreadsheet that anyone can edit.
I have added you to the list in order, you are row 63.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Adf_gdp2qHn6fBcosQyigwRp7VkawwSyyAHIbQgOh4/

FYI - for those joining us, check out the 1st post on page 1.

I have updated the 1st post on the thread.

I recommend going into the spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Adf_gdp2qHn6fBcosQyigwRp7VkawwSyyAHIbQgOh4/edit#gid=0
And adding yourself in a new row between others that puts your Order date in the correct order. That will let you know roughly where you stand.

 

Sorry pogi I would but I don’t want to thread jack this post anymore than I did already

 

This is how I know. Helps me keep my sanity while waiting.

 

Just got my final invoice, due in a month. No context or note, just out of the blue.

On one hand, huzzah!

On the other hand: I am ~15 campers away. No communication about what the final delivery date might be. Want to be excited, but man, am I guarded and reserved about it.

 

What order number are you?

 

I got mine as well, just added the tent insulation as a final add on.

Hopefully this means they are getting ready to back to cranking them out

 

175.

 

Just got my final invoice last night as well! Getting pretty excited.

 

Where did you see tent insulation as an option? We just got our “final invoice” today and are trying to figure out what we can add.

 

I used their contact form. Added about 650$