BUYER BEWARE: Explore Overland

Looking at some of those welds in post #30 they aren't exactly... impressive. Hard to say I'd trust them on a bumper that sees the forces of a winch or a tug when stuck. Did some research too and it looks like their front bumpers only use the 4 frame horn bolts and doesn't have the tie backs to the frame like most of the other brands do to counter rotational forces or the frame horns completely breaking off... Anyone that has a bumper from them, I'd bring it to a reputable shop and have them review the construction...

Obviously an FJ, but all Toyota frames are the same in the front, you can see the additional tie-back below the front most body mount from a well known Toyota bumper competitor.



Here's the welds I'm referencing from post #30. Sure, it's just that infill plate but that should also be dumb easy, and if they can butcher an easy weld that bad I wouldn't trust some of the more complex or structural welds...



What's the phrase? Something like "a grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain't"

 

How do we file a lean? What website should we go to?

 

It's not as easy as just going to a website, you're going to need a lawyer to do that for you.

 

I may be able to scrounge up some basic lien verbiage... let me see what I can find

EDIT:

Everything I have on my end is lien waivers, so essentially the opposite of what y'all are looking for.

 

I just got approved for the group.
This is a post from "VJ Behar" who appears to be an admin.

 

Usually Liens have to be recorded with within a municipality, but my understanding is that in NYS this does not apply for goods not delivered; rather you have to file a suit for breach of contract and undelivered goods. I'm not a lawyer but I did stay at a holiday inn express last night.

(Although this might align with the Furniture and Major Appliance failure to deliver laws..)
Some NYS AG Resource link
https://ag.ny.gov/consumer-frauds/Filing-a-Consumer-Complaint

 

He's one of their former employees, not sure which side to lump him with, good or bad.

 

VJ is NOT a former employee, he works in the medical field on the business side, I don't know much more than that. He was/is (don't know if this changed anything for him) a really close friend of Derrick's but that's about the extent that I think it went. I believe VJ to be a standup guy, I bought his TRD OR wheels off of him and I was SUPER slow at getting him paid and he was incredibly chill about it. I wouldn't jump to conclusions on him, let alone falsify his history, and give him a chance at trying to make a fresh restart when he has been handed a shit sandwich

 

I got my sliders from them, but it was a PIA.

- I ordered them in August, with a delivery date of October 2021.

- October rolled on by. I was told there would be a 2 week delay.

- 2 week delays happened consistently until I finally received them around December 28th. The paint on the sliders were complete trash. It looked terrible and the paint easily chipped off. When I went to mount it to the truck, none of the bolt holes lined up. I contacted Derrick and he put me on a Facebook messenger call with their fabricator. We were able to discover that the order was messed up and I have received 5th gen sliders. I was told I would be contacted later.

- January 18th - I was never contacted. I reached out and got the typical "next week" response. They did send me a return label for the sliders and I packaged them back up. FedEx came and picked them up.

- February 7th - my sliders finally arrived and the paint job looked much much better. I was actually excited to show these off. not all of the bolt holes lined up, but at least the big ones did so I was happy enough. It's been about 4 months and the sliders have done good so far. My only complaint is the Explore Overland badge has already started to rust and the bits that have kissed rocks wore off easily.

 

Claim submitted with paypal and the NY business website that OP posted.
Hoping for the best that everyone gets their money back.

Now back to the drawing board to purchase sliders from a different, well known company, that I should've gone with from the beginning. Lesson learned.

 

It's happening, folks. They're going under. If for some insane reason, you still haven't filed a dispute... maybe get that going.

 

For future purchases for anyone, never buy large orders like bumpers and stuff with your own money. Always use some form of credit. Its alot easier to get your money back.

 

300 Hangar Rd, Oriskany, NY 13424 Is the shops addresses.

 

That's the old location, which has been closed for months.

I'm not saying they aren't shutting down, just that they moved from that location months ago.

 

Yep but their NYS filing still uses the Bleachery address. If your planning to file a NYS consumer protection complaint, keep this in mind.

 

Anyone interested in an attorney group buy? Maybe if we bundle all our claims together we can make something happen?

This option would be for everyone who’s bank/PayPal dispute didn’t pan out

 

Attorney Group Buy = class action lawsuit

 

What regional office is the correct one to submit a complaint to?

 

Utica

 

Id even go as far as get a chargeback going right before the cutoff. I mean what’s more important, a $1000+ back in the account or waiting an additional 3 months for a chunk of metal? I understand some well known and respected fabricators have long lead times on part with what EO ended up pushing but they also usually have good communication or don’t flat out lie continually to multiple customers.

There are warning signs every time with these situations: poor communication, promising a ship date and then letting it slide on by, blowing off customers asking why their ship date has come and gone with no explanation, telling customers their product is actually finished but nothing has shipped, continuing to push sales with hardly any product delivery, continuing to host big events with hardly any product delivery.