Baja Designs Buyer Beware

*RANT WARNING*


I purchased a couple Baja Designs LP 4's and two OnX6+ 10" light bars in May of 2024, which I ended up installing behind the grill of my 4runner towards the end of June.


Let me start by saying that the lights are amazingly bright and provide a lot of usable light. They seem to be well designed (as they should be for how much they cost). That being said, within a week of installing them one of the OnX6+ light bars started to develop a moisture/ condensation problem. Kind of a bummer, but hey, things happen and QC cant always catch everything. I contacted Baja Designs via email using the warranty email provided on their website. I got a response back in 5 days asking me to send in the light bar so they could replace the moisture damaged components. I was a little surprised they did not offer to pay for the shipping seeing as I just dropped $2,000 on lights and harnesses and the lights weren’t even on my truck a week before one of them started to have problems (not to mention one of the harnesses came with busted pins that I had to fix). So anyways, I paid another $25 to ship it to Baja Designs facility. It took about a week to arrive there and arrived on July 26th (According to the UPS tracking). About 2 weeks went by and I didn’t hear anything from them so I sent an email on August 8th asking if they had received my light. I wanted to make sure they actually got it and UPS didn’t just drop it off outside the facility where it could have been stolen. I got no response to my email, and about a week later I ended up calling to make sure they had it. When I called, the customer service rep told me they had it and were finishing up repairs and that he apologized for the lack of a response. He said the customer service rep I was originally dealing with had left the company (sure bud). I inquired about shipping reimbursement and was told that they don’t do that. I then explained how the light was not even on my truck for a week when it started to have problems, not to mention the small fortune I paid for a defective product. The service rep ended up giving me a sob story about how sometimes mistakes are made during manufacturing and O-rings get pinched yada yada yada. I explained to him that I understand people make mistakes, but I think it is ridiculous that the customer is expected to take the burden for their mistakes. I’m a heavy equipment mechanic. I have made mistakes in my career, but when I do, I don’t expect my customer to pay for my gas or parts or time to come out and fix my mistake. We are paying a lot of money for a top tier product that should come with top tier customer service. Anyways, the light took about another 2 weeks to arrive. So I was out a light for about a month and a half on top of having to pay to ship it to them.


Fast forward 4 months and some change, and that same light is showing signs of having moisture / condensation problems again. I sent an email to BD Warranty on 12/31 New years eve. I didn’t expect to receive a response for probably about a week as it was the holidays. Well, as of today, January 21st,2025 I still have not received a response. Over 3 weeks later. Very disappointing to say the least and a good way to lose a customer. I have 6 BD lights on my vehicle, 2x SAE Fogs, 2x LP4s, and 2x 10” OnX6+ lightbars. 5 of the lights have been fantastic, its just the one.


EDIT: Spoke with Brahian who runs the BD account on the forums. He was very receptive of my issues and apologetic about BD dropping the ball with my case. He seems like a stand up guy and is working to fix my issue. As long as there are still people like him working at BD who stand behind their product I think they’ll be alright.

If anyone has any issues with their lights and is having trouble with the warranty claim or just has questions, I suggest reaching out to Brahian. He’s been super helpful.

 

You seem like a reasonable customer, I’d say after you spend two grand or more on lights, the company should definitely look after you. Even if a company is shorthanded they should still make an effort.

 

Definitely should have been a "we'll send you a new one and a pre-paid shipping label to return the defective light bar" type situation. That's a bummer you had lackluster service, definitely not typical of BD.

 

majority of company's will not ship you new product before getting the old one back. Far to many scammers out there not returning products.
100% sucks that you are having issues with the lights. I do feel CS should be at the top of a company's ideals, but doesnt seem like it is. Even as a dealer i have unanswered emails lol. I feel the recent vc acquisition has hurt them

 

And I get that about the scammers. I also know that mistakes can be made on install or damage from mishandling the light, but I figured maybe id get reimbursed once they had the light and saw it was a manufacturing defect. But that was not the case. In the end, whatever, it is what it is. To me the worst part is the lack of communication coupled with excuses and now barely 4 months later having the same issue. Frustrating to say the least.

 

Surprise you didn’t post this issue on their Baja Designs thread section

 

Hey @JoeSchmo,

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Our warranty department/customer service team should have handled this situation differently within the given time frame. Typically, if a product fails shortly after leaving our facility, especially within a week, we immediately replace it. I will bring this up with our customer service manager to ensure it’s addressed properly with our team and will also bring up the delayed response times.

Any hand-assembled product can have a small margin of error, we take great pride in having one of the lowest failure rates in the industry. Many factors can affect the sealing of a light bar, and I believe the issue might be with the housing or lens, which could be causing this repeated problem.
That said, we’re eager to work with you to resolve this as quickly as possible. I’ve just sent you a PM and would love to hop on a call to get this figured out!

To any off-road enthusiast who is looking for someone to contact. Please feel free to reach out to us directly. We have someone who monitors this forum to help with any questions or concerns! You can also reach out to me at brahianh@bajadesigns.com

Best,

Brahian Herrera | Forum Sales & Support
Email:brahianh@bajadesigns.com | Phone: (760) 560-2252