Battle Born Off Road experiences?

[Somnospeed]

Just wondering if anyone has experience with Battle Born Off Road that they would care to share. I asked on 11/24 if any vendors here at the forums had kits in stock and ready to ship and BBO said they had a Bilstein set in stock. Because they said they had them in stock, I purchased a lift kit from them on 11/24. Now it's Dec. 6th and nothing has shipped. I ordered full 6112/ kit, with UCA and springs.
The single reason I chose Battle Born Off Road is because I was very clear asking who had parts "In stock and ready to ship" and they said they did. 6 days later I was told "Most of your stuff is here now, we still are going through shipments". I guess I really don't know what in-stock means in the small business world because I thought "in stock and ready to ship" meant just that; it's ready to ship. I asked for the shocks to be assembled so I expect that to take a day or two, and yes I understand it was thanksgiving holiday, but now I'm on day 12 since I ordered and nothing has shipped.
I'll be honest, the single reason I ordered from BBO is because they had the kit in stock. Did I f#ck up here?? Is this the norm for off road parts vendors? Anyone have any experiences with Battle Born Off Road? Admittedly I did not research the vendor before buying and normally I ALWAYS do. If there's even a hint of red flag, I immediately wipe them off my list of places to buy from. But now I'm getting that eerie feeling that you get when you pay $2k to someone you don't know and every day that ticks by you grow more and more worried you ****ed up.

The last thing I wanted was to get into a goddam back and forth email chain about "where's my stuff??"/"Oh it's getting ready to ship" garbage with me being the one to initiate every email conversation. We all know what I'm talking about. But we're on day 12 now and I'm starting to get that feeling.

 

[rayofsi]

i purchased from them in the past. they drop ship.. i also purchased something not too long ago and no where was it posted that it was a preorder. i cancelled it 2 months later because it didn't ship. they sent me this

 

[Somnospeed]

DAMMIT!! :smashputer: Thanks for the reply. I was hoping NOT to hear that lol. I'm not worried about paying someone $300 for the privilege of canceling my order, because that's not going to happen. If it got to that, American Express has a Zero Questions Asked policy on chargebacks. I was told the parts were "in stock and ready to ship". Once I show that communication to AMEX, they will immediately refund my money and tell any seller "You didn't deliver what you said you would, transaction canceled, see you in court if you don't like it and our lawyers are better than yours." Trust me on that one. AMEX doesn't give a f#ck about that policy you just posted, they side with their customer every time.

I buy a ton of music equipment online from small businesses and sellers. Once in a while you get a prick trying to be shady and treat customers with that "I already have your $$ so who cares" attitude Every time that has happened, AMEX has stepped in and every time same result: I get 100% of my money back, they get nothing but a bad review. We aren't at that point yet, but I'll know by the end of the week if we are.

 

[honda250xtitan]

DAMMIT!! :smashputer: Thanks for the reply. I was hoping NOT to hear that lol. I'm not worried about paying someone $300 for the privilege of canceling my order, because that's not going to happen. If it got to that, American Express has a Zero Questions Asked policy on chargebacks. I was told the parts were "in stock and ready to ship". Once I show that communication to AMEX, they will immediately refund my money and tell any seller "You didn't deliver what you said you would, transaction canceled, see you in court if you don't like it and our lawyers are better than yours." Trust me on that one. AMEX doesn't give a f#ck about that policy you just posted, they side with their customer every time.

I buy a ton of music equipment online from small businesses and sellers. Once in a while you get a prick trying to be shady and treat customers with that "I already have your $$ so who cares" attitude Every time that has happened, AMEX has stepped in and every time same result: I get 100% of my money back, they get nothing but a bad review. We aren't at that point yet, but I'll know by the end of the week if we are.

this is sucky when vendors say its in stock. to be fair they just finished up racing the Mint. its not an excuse but i know theyre focused on the racing scene. I also think they were in Baja for the 1000 the 2 weeks prior.

 

[Somnospeed]

Like I said, we aren't there yet, but all I need to show AMEX is this to get 100% of my money back. They only need ANY documentation that the customer did not get what they purchased. I'm posting this because a lot of consumers don't think they have an recourse when they are cheated. Wrong! If you can show your CC company any agreement that was broken by the seller, that is grounds for chargeback and 100% full refund immediately. Call them and ask them if you don't believe me! lol

 

[JPOVS]

I bought well over $3k worth of Baja Designs lights and a switch pro from them during last years Black Friday. They were very friendly and quick to deal with. They called me up a few days later to tell me that they were sending me some free Baja Designs swag. I didn't expect that, even a few days after I made my purchase. When my LP9's got delivered one of the mounting brackets slid out of the foam cradle and scratched one of the housings during shipping. They were quick to contact Baja and have a new replacement housing sent out to me. The switch pro it said on the website that they had it in-stock when I placed the order, but a few days later I inquired about the status and they told me there waiting for more to come in. It was shipped out to me within two weeks of my initial order. I was happy with my experiences with them that I placed an order with them last spring for a 2nd switch pros. That transaction went flawless. They have been great to deal with an always courteous over the phone when I call.
Battle Born Offroad is a place that I would purchase again from.

 

[NorthPark]

They are legit, I'd suggest just reaching out to them. I know many people with their entire builds using battle born offroad

 

[Somnospeed]

Somehow I think alot of this is industry related.

Yeah, I keep hearing that. Yes it's true that parts shortages are a big problem, but customer service and common courtesy are NOT industry-related. If someone doesn't have "in stock" parts in stock, they should NOT claim they do. I imagine a lot of these businesses are making some decent coin by selling products they don't have, then banking on those ridiculous restocking fees when customers cancel orders. Think about it: Promise three customers $2k worth of parts you don't have, make $1000 dollars in cancellation fees for doing absolutely nothing except make a promise you know you can't deliver. Seems like a good way to make ends meet while supplies are short. Small vendors see other small venders paying their bills with cancelation fees, looks pretty tempting. If that becomes the norm, we are all f#cked. But we can do something about it as consumers; credit card chargebacks. A business only needs to have that happen a few times to learn their lesson. Giving back money you already spent is no small thing to have to do repeatedly.

I'm giving them another few days and I will then know if they ever actually had the parts in stock or were selling products they know they didn't have. I don't buy that BS of vendors saying "They were supposed to send it to us so I don't know what happened." Well I don't know either but that's not my problem. That's between the vendor and whomever they get supplies from. I will get 100% of what I paid refunded if the deal ends up being shady. I expect honor and integrity from any vendor and we all should. We are the ones paying their bills with our purchases so no one should accept "I don't know what's going on" from a vendor. I know every detail about the money that pays MY bills so "I don't know" is NEVER an acceptable answer. Cancel your order if you've been wronged, file a chargeback to protect yourself from restocking fee scams, find another vendor. There are plenty of vendors who you can count on to honor their word, but unfortunately they are usually the ones who are sold out of everything though. People flock to businesses they feel they can trust.

Again, I'm not saying Battle Born Off Road is one of these shady "anything for buck" vendors who acts like customers are a dime a dozen and reputation doesn't matter, but facts are facts and so far I'm 12 days into waiting for an "in-stock" product, and that cannot be denied. I will update this thread with the results. If I owned a business, I would welcome reviews and people sharing experiences. Any honorable seller would want their reputation shared.

 

[Somnospeed]

They are legit, I'd suggest just reaching out to them. I know many people with their entire builds using battle born offroad

Yeah I did reach out back on November 30th about the shipping status. That's when I was told that some of the parts MAY be in stock.

I would never make a public post without reaching out to the vendor first but I have absolutely zero hesitation about sharing every communication with this forum. It's not private info. And I'm not here to trash any company. I share experiences whether good or bad. This post is for me but also the next guy looking to research vendors to make a 4-figure purchase. I didn't do my research this time and now I'm skeptical. Just exactly where I did not want to be. :frusty:

 

[02SE]

I don't have any experience with them, other than they don't seem to answer questions asked here, by potential customers.

 

[Somnospeed]

I don't have any experience with them, other than they don't seem to answer questions asked here, by potential customers.

Well to be fair, they do respond to emails very quickly. I imagine not every vendor here on the forums has time to answer every question, or gets sidetracked before they can. I understand it's easier to post questions here but it's less reliable than email. That said, BBO responded to a question of mine here in the forums. They have also been very helpful with me getting the right setup.

I'm not here to trash them or any other vendor, I'm just looking for experiences and sharing mine so far. This is the first I've ever heard of "drop shipping" and had no idea it existed in the automotive world lol. I thought everyone who sold anything sold it right out of their shop. I guess I'm a dinosaur. lol

 

[02SE]

Well to be fair, they do respond to emails very quickly. I imagine not every vendor here on the forums has time to answer every question, or gets sidetracked before they can. I understand it's easier to post questions here but it's less reliable than email. That said, BBO responded to a question of mine here in the forums. They have also been very helpful with me getting the right setup.

I'm not here to trash them or any other vendor, I'm just looking for experiences and sharing mine so far. This is the first I've ever heard of "drop shipping" and had no idea it existed in the automotive world lol. I thought everyone who sold anything sold it right out of their shop. I guess I'm a dinosaur. lol

I'm just giving my experience. I've asked a few questions in the past when they were making threads with items they had for sale. No response.

Which is fine. There are other places that sell the same things.

 

[EddieV4runnin]

I can’t say enough about Battle Born Off Road. Purchased my Magnuson Supercharger from them last year. They gave me $1k discount on it and one of their employees hand delivered it to me here in Southern California. I’m sorry you had a bad experience but they were great to deal with when I gave them my business. I’d definitely do it again.

 

[Mudhorn]

I ordered a new product they released a while back, but they had a wrong fit description posted.

I was frustrated that they would not accept a return with full refund due to their error, but they did work with me to send to another customer that purchased that item. After that I was able to get a refund.

From that experience I have not done business with them since, but they were friendly and had fast communication.

 

[honda250xtitan]

back in the day one of the owners of BBO personally took my Fox coilovers to Fox, and had one of the top guys disassemble them and had the springs powdercoated a custom color. Then reassembled and shipped to me. Since were on the topic of BBO doing neat things


regardless, sucks for OP.

 

[MaddoxPics]

They used to be shady back in the day from what I remember reading, but now they are legit, but they drop ship. You'll get your stuff, don't worry about being scammed, but it's just a matter of when it comes.

 

[dride]

I’ve ordered gears and a rack from them. No issues, just don’t expect Amazon speed shipping


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MikesDuneRunnerSLS]

DAMMIT!! :smashputer: Thanks for the reply. I was hoping NOT to hear that lol. I'm not worried about paying someone $300 for the privilege of canceling my order, because that's not going to happen. If it got to that, American Express has a Zero Questions Asked policy on chargebacks. I was told the parts were "in stock and ready to ship". Once I show that communication to AMEX, they will immediately refund my money and tell any seller "You didn't deliver what you said you would, transaction canceled, see you in court if you don't like it and our lawyers are better than yours." Trust me on that one. AMEX doesn't give a f#ck about that policy you just posted, they side with their customer every time.

I buy a ton of music equipment online from small businesses and sellers. Once in a while you get a prick trying to be shady and treat customers with that "I already have your $$ so who cares" attitude Every time that has happened, AMEX has stepped in and every time same result: I get 100% of my money back, they get nothing but a bad review. We aren't at that point yet, but I'll know by the end of the week if we are.

I purchased rear shocks from BBO that I had problems with immediately. One box wasn't even sealed, no tape, nothing (shocks shipped individually) the unsecured box allowed the shock to come out of it and it was struck with a shipping diverter (most logical assumption). Battleborn was zero help when they could have easily made a claim against the shipper. I did pay with American Express. I've had to reopen my dispute THREE times now, still haven't been awarded a resolution in my favor. Gone are the days where American Express fearlessly protects you from fraudulent and shady vendors!

 

[OldOar]

Ugh.

I'm sat at my desk right now trying to find a place to order a 5100 assembled kit, and I had the Battle website open.

I'm new to the Toyota 4Runner world, and it sucks to try to figure out who the good suppliers are.

 

[Grug556]

Ugh.

I'm sat at my desk right now trying to find a place to order a 5100 assembled kit, and I had the Battle website open.

I'm new to the Toyota 4Runner world, and it sucks to try to figure out who the good suppliers are.

No idea what your buying but I have had exceptional service from the below

Baja Designs Direct
RCI
Sherpa (pricey on some stuff but great service)
Rago
Greenlane