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

What is the lead time for the alu-cab?

 

4-5 months.

 

Awesome, thanks.

 

Will vagabond not refund deposits?

 

Vagabond doesn't answer their phone or reply to emails

 

Yeah, they haven’t responded to our emails either.

 

I was towards the end of October and will be “dropping in”again after Thanksgiving.

 

I had a few back and forths with Phil recently and Iggy on here. I'm frustrated and curious as well, just trying to hang in there. Iggy mentioned Phil's hesitation to have a full time communications person because of how it would take a lot for them to know all that they'd need to know to properly reply, and it'd probably just go to Phil anyway. Makes sense to me but also doesn't make the silence any easier.

From my last conversation asking Phil if I should expect my camper before of after March 2022 and him stating 'much sooner', I'm trying not to think too much about it. They have more space now and sounds like some laser cutting delays, but from the insight from other users past communications it sounds like they're also dealing with less supply delays. I imagine we'll start seeing more rollouts soon based on all the above.

 

I'm at the back of the line here (VO # 250) and I don't feel I can trust Vagabond to deliver my Drifter within the next year, or even two years, so I put a deposit down on a Super Pacific X1. I looked at the Alu Cab and it looks great but they want half down up front and I'm not doing that again. I'll likely be losing money somewhere in here but at this point I just want a camper. I'll take whichever one is ready first.

 

Hopefully you'll be proven wrong eh, but a backups strategy isn't the worst idea and thankfully the camper market is strong if you have to sell something down the road.

I'd love to see the parallel universe where covid didn't happen and supply chains weren't upended everywhere.

 

Not sure how supply chains are delaying VO by years while other companies are bringing their lead times down.

You’d think with having delays from supplies we’d at least get some communication since they aren’t busy pumping out campers, but here I am, sitting at 26 months with no clue when I’ll be getting my camper.

 

Definitely, I just mean that's when it started

 

Different products. Different materials. Different types and sizes of aluminum.
Superpacific uses extrusions glued together with giant corrugated honeycomb panels like GFC. The rest of the "fuselage" is much smaller pieces riveted together. It's not 1/8" thick either.
Also, Vagabond is offering a TON of options and every Drifter/Nomad is a custom build with special requests on wiring, solar panels (brands/sizes/types), awnings, modifications…

Just saying, you can't compare everyone else to everyone else unless you are intimately familiar with their supply chains and processes/subcontractors.

 

I totally get that but these lead times are a HUGE difference. Based on the current 1 camper a month that has been the current rate for the past while, I’m anticipating another 8 months which brings me to 34 months. Compare that to the 4 months some other companies are doing, that’s crazy. There are also similar options like AT and even 5010 that have much shorter lead times. I’m just not accepting the supplier delay excuse that we’ve been hearing for the past year and a half. How has this not been sorted yet.

 

Agree, pretty scary for those of us that have our deposits in. Im only at 12 months, I was really hoping things would be better by now and I would see it by 16-18 months but I don’t think that’s going to be in the cards unless something’s start to change ASAP

 

Hey all, I emailed Vagabond today and they responded same day! I inquired about my order, 172, as I was told in October the parts were expected that “next week”, here’s the latest.

“We've been working hard to get the parts from the laser cutter. Supply chains have been disrupted and the new company we're working with required an excessive amount of drawing revisions. The level of detail they require is overkill, but it all leads to extremely tight tolerances. For your camper and every unit moving forward.

Unfortunately, this delayed the delivery of your batch. But your camper will be built efficiently with a very short turnaround time. While we're waiting for parts, we've focused on plugging every broken link in our supply chain and re-evaluating processes for efficiency.

I'm expecting to hear back from them tomorrow and will provide an update at that time.

Again, we really appreciate your patience and understanding.


Thank you,

Phil Villanueva”

Hopefully things start moving and this puts some minds at ease.

 

Interesting. I’ve emailed a couple times since paying off the remainder of my camper in August and haven’t had any response. Looks like the same response we’ve been seeing for the past year and a half to be completely honest.

 

Just embarrassing. Im soooooo sick of hearing of this "different product/higher quality" bullsh*t. Half of, if not more of any companies product and quality is how they handle themselves towards their customers. Sure I could buy a VO drifter and be stoked on it, but if anything happens down the road then what??? Wait for a reply I know from this experience will never come??? VO is a sh*t company and because of that their product is sh*t.

To read above that Phil doesn't want to hire a customer rep because he would have to WORK to help the communication person is comical. Uhhhh, yeah, that's what training a new hire is. New hires are an investment so your company isn't worthless. It would beat the hell out of what is currently happening.... at least someone would pickup a phone and be a point of contact whether they had all the answers or not.

To hear Phil's reply a couple months ago on another thread of what they have been up to is super lame. "We've lined all this stuff up to make it redundant and fool proof and yet through all this time I havent been able to reach out to anyone. Soooo sorry. Thanks for your patience for the millionth time. I still haven't learned a F**king thing."

I have contacted several other companies after getting out from my VO drifter deposit and it's been night and day. Alu-cab has dealers which have been great. OVRLND spent nearly an hour on the phone and a few emails writing up estimates. AT emailed back and fourth and got me any info I wanted.

I cannot for the life of me believe that any of you are still standing by watching this and still being like "yeah, but the quality"

 

The realest comment on TW. Welcome to TW by the way lol. I’m thinking about contacting my CC company and taking my 15K and putting it towards something else. This is ridiculous honestly.

 

Good for you man! You do you, completely understand. Some of us are vested and have to keep the faith that Phil will deliver in his own way no matter how much it sucks.