Southernstyle Off Road

I just joined TW and felt like venting a little bit. In January I hit a deer with my truck so I decided that since the plastic was messed up I’d put an aftermarket bumper on. On February 14, I ordered a slimline full plate bumper from SS on with the understanding that the lead time was 15 weeks. A couple months later I got an email that the material was ordered. Then Crickets! On July 7 after playing phone tag with the GM, the GM sent me an email with a picture of bumpers stating that “here’s your bumper”, which I knew wasn’t my bumper because the ones in the pic had light bar cut out and I didn’t order cutouts, ready to go to powder coat in the next week or so he said. That was almost a month ago now. Now today they won’t answer the phone.
I realize it’s a small company just coming back from COVID-19, but 6 months is ridiculous! They’ve been sitting on my money since February 14, AND I’ve bee riding around with the plastic POS bumper on the front of my truck all jacked up. I wish they would just be honest with me and give me a reason why my bumper isn’t ready to ship, or give me reasonable timeframe.
If your thinking of getting one of these bumpers plan on a long wait!

 

Vendor Reviews | Tacoma World

 

I just got an email from them asking for patience and citing being short-staffed. I think it's a mass marketing email because I don't have anything on order.

 

This doesn’t make me feel good at all. I ordered the front slimline hybrid bumper in May and about two weeks ago got an update that materials have been ordered. Hoping to not wait 6 months!

 

Chances are if someone is ordering any steel bumpers or accessories rn chances are they are in for a wait.

I ordered an ARB Summit in April and just this week was notified my bumper has been completed(but is still in Australia waiting for a boat). I ordered RCI sliders at the same time that supposedly had an 8 week lead time and haven’t heard a word yet.

ARB is one of the biggest 4x4 part/accessory makers in the world, if between the high demand rn and steel shortages they can’t keep up timely orders we have to cut the little guys some slack.

 

Supply and demand is at an all time high and skilled labor is a shortage. Every vendor on here that builds parts is backlogged. Some are getting closer than others to being caught up. Most of the fab shops building us cool parts don’t have a full time sales person to help with calls, emails etc. They know they are buried so sometimes they don’t answer the phone cause it slows down production if they aren’t welding up parts. It’s frustrating for everyone involved because the shops don’t make enough money to pay someone to handle the b.s. and yet they need a person they trust so they can keep growing the business. Good people are hard to find and good fab guys are even harder. I bet if you send them a pm with your order info when they are surfing Tacomaworld at home off the clock they will look into your order.

 

Contact your credit card company and ask them to reverse the charges. Wait for things to get-better and then buy at another time, or from someplace else.