I’m so tired of companies taking my money and not shipping!🤬

[av8or]

I just have to vent a little. I understand that COVID made a mess of things, but what I’m tired of is companies that take your money as soon as you order an “in stock” item, or an item that “ships in 2-3 days“, but then nothing! It’s getting to a point with some of them that it must be nearing fraud! 3 examples.....1; Northridge has had my money for a rotopax lock since February, and I still don’t have a lock. 2; G3offroad took my money almost a month ago for the same lock saying it was in stock and could be picked same day, only to find out that it wasn’t, and now I’m having to use PayPal resolution to get my money back. 3; Rusty’s took my money 2 weeks ago for tie rod and drag link that was “in stock”, but still hasn’t shipped. I have been very understanding about the delays during the pandemic, but I feel like it’s getting to an unacceptable level. It seems most sellers now depend on drop shipping straight from the manufacturer.

How is it that companies can take your money for something that they don’t even have in their possession to sell?
Back in the day when I was in law enforcement this was called theft by withholding.


Sorry for the rant! Just f’ing frustrated with these outfits riding this covid train too damn long!

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[somedude922]

I agree. Unfortunately I sometimes pay more to buy off amazon because I know it will ship. I will say when I ordered my lift kit from Rubitrux, I called them and the dude on the phone went over and put his hand on the kit. Arrived at my house in 3 days. This was a couple months ago. Metalcloak has been decent about shipping as well, they contacted me to let me know my front trackbar was delayed a bit, but only by a week.

 

[DOOKEY]

This isn't new or a covid thing in the off road community. Has been true for the whole 20 years I've been buying parts.

 

[DaltonGang]

Refuse to do business with companies that lie about shipping. When they pull these games, get your money back, and leave as many negative reviews as possible. They will either correct their poor behavior, or go out of business, leaving a void for someone else to fill. Hopefully with a better business model.

 

[av8or]

Interesting. So you haven’t noticed a difference from pre-COVID to now?


I certainly have!

 

[DHW]

Unfortunately I sometimes pay more to buy off amazon because I know it will ship.

Same here. Not a Jeep part, but I just bought a Holosun sight from Amazon after Optics Planet and Midway couldn't really tell me how long shipping would take. And I swear nothing is worse than when they use that shipping that combines UPS with the USPS. That automatically adds 5 days to shipping. Amazon was about $30 more, but had the sight at my door the next day.

 

[Lives2fish]

Refuse to do business with companies that lie about shipping. When they pull these games, get your money back, and leave as many negative reviews as possible. They will either correct their poor behavior, or go out of business, leaving a void for someone else to fill. Hopefully with a better business model.

The only problem with this is now the companies can sue you for slander.

 

[blue_meany]

3; Rusty’s took my money 2 weeks ago for tie rod and drag link that was “in stock”, but still hasn’t shipped.


Sorry for the rant! Just f’ing frustrated with these outfits riding this covid train too damn long!

I understand and agree completely. However, I ordered my Rustys steering set up and it arrived in about 3 weeks. Do not cancel that order. That steering kit has substantially improved my jeeps steering and handling.

 

[Pig-Pen]

things changed quite a bit after the 08 recession. many companies stopped keeping inventory and went to drop shipping, to prevent having $$ tied up in sitting inventory. now with covid, i think its starting to backfire as they are stuck waiting on the manufacturer to drop ship the part who is in turn waiting on their supplies/materials/etc... BUT, having it listed as "in stock" on their website when they (or the manufacturer) dont actually have it in stock is a different story. ive been wanting to order a dead pedal from quadratec but its always out of stock. at least they let you know that so you can decide if you want to pay now and wait or wait till its back in stock. id hope they do that with all of their products. i talked a rep from Northridge before and he said they try to keep most of their products in stock, not drop shipped; probably so they arent reliant on the manufacturer. but if theyre saying they have stuff in stock, when they dont, thats another story... luckily i havent faced this issue at all with any of the retailers. if its a concern then pick up the phone and speak with an actual person to verify if they have the product in stock (in their inventory). if they say they do, and they dont...... vs relying on the website to be up to date and accurate.

 

[DwnSth]

I've had to learn a new level of patience with the product delays. Two months has been about the longest wait time but eventually everything has arrived. From KC, ARB and smaller shops like American Adventure Labs they all are having production and shipping delays. AAL has a decent pre-order on some items where you are not charged until things get close to production. It helps to stays in contact with the vendor regardless. ARB and KC both suggested ordering from major national retailers (Qudratec or 4WP). While slow, everyone has come through with deliveries. Only issues I had was ordering something from a vendor at a large jeep event that just was never going to actually get shipped. They did refund but it took some time.
Planning trips now revolves around will I have all my stuff in time. I'm ordering things now for a planned October overlanding trip. I'm not holding out for things to change any time soon.

 

[Northridge4x4]

I just have to vent a little. I understand that COVID made a mess of things, but what I’m tired of is companies that take your money as soon as you order an “in stock” item, or an item that “ships in 2-3 days“, but then nothing! It’s getting to a point with some of them that it must be nearing fraud! 3 examples.....1; Northridge has had my money for a rotopax lock since February, and I still don’t have a lock. 2; G3offroad took my money almost a month ago for the same lock saying it was in stock and could be picked same day, only to find out that it wasn’t, and now I’m having to use PayPal resolution to get my money back. 3; Rusty’s took my money 2 weeks ago for tie rod and drag link that was “in stock”, but still hasn’t shipped. I have been very understanding about the delays during the pandemic, but I feel like it’s getting to an unacceptable level. It seems most sellers now depend on drop shipping straight from the manufacturer.

How is it that companies can take your money for something that they don’t even have in their possession to sell?
Back in the day when I was in law enforcement this was called theft by withholding.


Sorry for the rant! Just f’ing frustrated with these outfits riding this covid train too damn long!

I completely understand your frustration on the long wait on the Rotopax lox. We have been trying to get Rotopax in stock for a long while now, but they have had major delays. Back when you ordered, our ETA was probably pretty low, as we didn't know they were having the delays that they are. Now we have the ETA for them listed as an estimated 180 days.

We do also try to stock most of the items that we sell in our warehouses, so we don't have to rely on the manufacturers to drop ship our orders, but that is becoming harder and harder lately due to demand from customers and shortages in the supply chain.

If you would like, we can cancel that order and refund it for you. Send me a PM with your order number if that is what you'd like to do.

-Northridge4x4-

 

[KrispyKotex]

Walmart did this to me with an outdoor bluetooth speaker. Supposedly 5 "in stock" but shipment was delayed, then delayed again. 2 months later, I canceled it. Yes...it's still in stock....what in the world???? Agree with OP...a company saying that something is "in stock" when it's not, is very annoying, especially since I could have got it somewhere else when it's actually there vice waiting for my order to be delayed several times.

 

[Heimkehr]

The only problem with this is now the companies can sue you for slander.

You probably meant to say "libel", which is the written form of slander (which is itself oral.)

I'll suggest that if the foregoing was something truly worth worrying about, related threads on the subject would recurringly trend on enthusiast websites like this one.

We've had the ability for years now to post product and service reviews in-house, meaning on the vendors' websites, as well as universally, meaning on Google itself. It would require just a few legal filings from vendors, for alleged libel, for the issue itself to blow up on social media (and forums like this one are a form of social media.)

The only thing I've come across that is even remotely linked to vendor concern over the matter of possibly libelous content is preemptive editing, whereby one's review is truncated prior to being posted, or never being allowed to post at all on the relevant webpage.

This isn't to suggest that legal filings from the vendor to the customer haven't ever occurred. No doubt, examples of everything under the sun can be found if one searches hard enough (a.k.a. the-exception-proves-the-rule fallacy). It seems evident, though, that it's not yet an issue that we have to tiptoe around. Thank goodness.

 

[Jeepmarkjl]

i bought something for the Jeep that had 31 in stock at the time of order 15 days ago and site said we ship in stock items next day. What they forgot to put on the site is that while its “in stock“ they have to powder coat it and that takes 5 days. Ok... called last week and they said it was sent to powder coat last Monday And was shooting power coat on Tuesday. Called Friday and they said it would be done Friday night. Called today and now they don’t know when it will be powder coated - “we hope this week”. I get that stuff needs to be done to finish products but just be transparent. I’ve also noticed some sites will list something as in stock ready to ship but then bury in fine print ‘expected in stock some date a month or two out “ in really small type.

 

[Low_Spark]

Kudos to TrailRax, they sell Rotopax parts but basically called out on their site that it was faster as the customer to order direct from Rotopax. They seem to be fulfilling customer orders ahead of supplier orders.

Also the global supply chain is fukt. I ordered the Rhinorack backbone / pioneer platform and I was told it would be 3 weeks, that was a month ago, and it's still "3 weeks" out. Likely it's on a ship in LA harbor waiting to unload and then waiting for a truck to deliver it. The ports are a shit show right now. Short of saying "who knows" I'm not entirely sure what a vendor is supposed to do. I'm not thrilled that my card is charged for something I'm not in possession of, but if I don't put money down and get in line someone else will be right there to take my place.

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