BUYER BEWARE: Explore Overland

Wow Ian! Thank you so much for the kind words... I'm at a loss of what to say lol. We appreciate you and thank you a million times over!! Hopefully we will see you when we get things up and running in the next few months!

 

I am a Project Manager and work as the Director of Operations for the construction department at my company. I will volunteer some time to help you guys get up and off the ground if need be. I want nothing but success for your family!

Edit: and I'm not very far away either!

 

I'm sure dusty will see this (if not I'll force him to read it lol) and have him message you!! Same to you guys!! We appreciate everything, especially me since I see a ton of potential in this market for him. I'm sure we can also figure out family stuff (playdates and whatnot).

 

Someone just texted me this

 

The stuff I was posting I was getting from reputable people but didn’t want to put names on here. I’m glad that Dusty and Heather are able to move away from EO. Dusty helped with my lift back in the day in his old shop.

 

Got another text..

EDIT: From a non credible source, so take it as you will..

 

I was just sent this same exact thing on Instagram. It’s been a wild ride watching this unfold

 

Well, my bank had no problem filing the chargeback, and given what they said about the process it will hold up unless EO can deliver my sliders in the next couple weeks.

 

basically the same thing PayPal told me.

 

All the holes on mine were totally out of alignment too. Made it super difficult to install them. I thought it was me or my truck.

 

I feel very fortunate to be out of the waiting game on this. The story on my sliders:

06/3/21 - Ordered sliders with a 6 week lead timeline.
08/4/21 - Ordered Fall Overland Event tickets and asked about slider, heard nothing
August/September - Multiple emails, phone calls, Facebook messages to company and Derrick's personal profile asking for an update. Nothing until the 3rd and I get they'll be don on the 17th.
Later Derrick said he had a pair that he could bring to the event if I wanted them and he'd refund shipping but they had top plates. I decided to hold off which was a big gamble.
September was the NOE event, lots of people asking about orders including me.
October - weekly asks through all channels with only 1 reply that they are behind schedule due to moving to a new shop and they will ship asap. Meanwhile lots of facebook posts of prototype bumpers and other stuff.
November - 1, I ask for a final ship date otherwise I would need to cancel the order
November 15th - I get an update that they have shipped 5 months later

They finally came a week later. Looked good upon arrival, I painted and went to install. Hardly any of the hole aligned but I thought it was just me or my truck. They look good and seem well constructed but the fitment wasn't good at all. Derrick, his wife and his team are all great people. I hope this isn't as bad as it seems and wish them the best of luck.

In my eyes this is a small family op that put out a decent product and a good price to fill a growing hobby that spiraled out of control. They didn't know how to run a business or take orders in parallel with staff and material availability. They were swamped and didn't communicate well with customers.

 

@mrbee2828
With all due respect, you're basically saying this wasn't intentional fraud.

Yeah, I too generally really try to give a benefit of the doubt and have a positive outlook about people's intentions.

But...in this case, there are multiple testimonials that some aspects of this business wasn't totally being run, um, the "right" (honest/ethical) way. Allegedly, orders were being taken that very likely could not be fulfilled (either because the design hadn't been created yet or delivering within the quoted lead time was literally impossible). In other cases, customers paid E.O. for parts from a third-party vender...but the order with the vendor was NEVER actually made by E.O. (but $$ pocketed)! Lastly and importantly, it sounds like Derrick's employees weren't taken care of.

It sure seems like a whole lot more than "just got out of control" or "sorry, I didn't know how..." etc. That's why E.O. is now banned in many large enthusiast groups in FB (not to mention here in TW), Koch33 has cut ties, etc.

Having said that, we should steer clear of any personal attacks until the jury is totally out, so that's all I want to say on this.

 

Yeah, the lack of timely followthrough isn’t foreign to fab shops, playing devils advocate. What is nuts is like you said, they were selling third party products and just flat out didn’t place orders, as more than a few peoples’ testimonials so far support.

And where did that money even go if this jackass is supposedly claiming bankruptcy? Pocketed for some of these events to show out and neglect the business front? Another asshole running a business into the ground imo at everyone else’s expense while keeping up the facade until enough customers start speaking amongst themselves and see what the hell is actually happening.

 

Just because people are born with a brain, doesn’t mean you can expect them to use it.

 

The spring overland event they were putting on has been cancelled. Those folks have the same questions, where is the money??!!

 

Looks like they've stopped selling tickets to the NorthEast Overland Festival. Two events are still up..... for now

 

Those events have passed already. They were in March and April.

 

Oh... but they'll happily sell you tickets to them?? ok got it. lol

 

Looks like EO's facebook page is down now.

 

without stating anything else about the situation there are plenty of small businesses who say "sorry, we can't take any more orders at this time" and stop taking money because they draw a line and don't let the backlog get out of hand