GOBI Roof Rack *Group Buy* Winter 2016

[4runnerlaw]

This will keep me distracted from the wait. Back on the water. Cross Bars up for sale in hopefully a few weeks.


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[KuhDunkADunk]

Got this email today.

So, Gobi has a new motto apparently:
GOBI "Good things come to those who wait." :faint2:

The issue isn't the waiting part for some people, it's the timelines that are communicated at order. I was told 8-10 weeks, but after 10 weeks past, I'm still another 6-8 weeks out? Really? that's almost twice the original delivery time

:ybrick:

 

[Kashoggio]

Got my "shipped" email today too, was 49th on list and I paid December 4th

 

[Sifrk]

Sure someone's mentioned this but I find it funny Gobi have lockable mounts but you can remove them from the rack altogether.
I got a bit of time to kill at work.

 

[Blade Runner]

So what do you guys think?

Curved 40" LED bar on the Gobi rack or straight 40" bar on the rack?

I'm thinking that if I were to get a bar above the windshield, it would be curved, but on a rack, maybe not? I'm trying to picture it. Not sure which to get.

 

[leftyguns21]

So what do you guys think?

Curved 40" LED bar on the Gobi rack or straight 40" bar on the rack?

I'm thinking that if I were to get a bar above the windshield, it would be curved, but on a rack, maybe not? I'm trying to picture it. Not sure which to get.

at least on mine, 4th gen, the visor curves. rack does not curve too much.
If I had to choose one, I would choose curved.

 

[aspec44]

So what do you guys think?

Curved 40" LED bar on the Gobi rack or straight 40" bar on the rack?

I'm thinking that if I were to get a bar above the windshield, it would be curved, but on a rack, maybe not? I'm trying to picture it. Not sure which to get.

I ordered my with the Rigid 40 straight. I prefer the look of the straight on the Gobi rack vs. the curved.

Here is a link to a similar build for reference:
https://www.totalautoproswholesale.com/2014-toyota-4runner-trd-pro-white

 

[Blade Runner]

I ordered my with the Rigid 40 straight. I prefer the look of the straight on the Gobi rack vs. the curved.

Here is a link to a similar build for reference:
https://www.totalautoproswholesale.com/2014-toyota-4runner-trd-pro-white

I was thinking straight bar as well, but I just found this thread http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/180410-custom-gobi-stealth-rack.html#post1826477 and the curved bar actually matches up pretty well, and the curve on a 40 incher doesn't seem to crazy. I hope the rack I ordered comes with the tabs, I told them to set it for a 40" light bar.

 

[Jasalvas]

I called this morning and was told my rack should ship this week or as late as next week. What kind of shipping time have you guys seen who are in Ca?



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[Sifrk]

I called this morning and was told my rack should ship this week or as late as next week. What kind of shipping time have you guys seen who are in Ca?



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Mind you I didn't get a formal notification from Gobi on when my rack shipped, but between the time I got the email invoice / CC charge to receiving the rack was 7 working days.

 

[Jasalvas]

Mind you I didn't get a formal notification from Gobi on when my rack shipped, but between the time I got the email invoice / CC charge to receiving the rack was 7 working days.

Sounds good, Thank you for the info!


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[shearn]

Trail Duty has informed me that mine will be shipping this week.

I really hope that is true because I "need" it for a planned excursion.

I am 148 on the list.

Will follow up to let folks know if it actually ships.

 

[SteelStacks]

So I posted this in another thread but thought I'd share it here also in case anyone has the same issue. My sunroof insert wasn't welded properly on one side of the crossbar.

I called Gobi and spoke with Alex. I informed her how unhappy I was that it was shipped to me like this especially since I waited 20+ weeks for my rack and I was number 17 on the list.

She apologized and said they would send me another one, however if I chose to send it to Canada (where I live), it would take much longer because one of the employees would have to leave their office and physically take it to the shipping company. This baffles me because it shouldn't be that difficult or take that much time to have someone go to the shipping company.

For the amount of money this rack cost and for the absurdly long wait times along with the hassle I've gone through, I expect them to ship a new sunroof insert to me rather quickly.

This just shows me that Gobi doesn't really care about its customers at all. They have by far the worst customer service I have ever dealt with.


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[tek4R]

Anyone not interested in their Gobi ladder please let me know. I am very interested.

 

[leftyguns21]

For the amount of money this rack cost and for the absurdly long wait times along with the hassle I've gone through, I expect them to ship a new sunroof insert to me rather quickly.

This just shows me that Gobi doesn't really care about its customers at all. They have by far the worst customer service I have ever dealt with.

have you ever had to deal with Comcast?
yes, they are not the best in customer service but you need to understand too. they had 300+ orders in one month between this and another group buy. I don't know how many they normally get but I am guessing it is a whole lot less. people outside the group buys got theirs in a 'normal' timeframe, when you get a discount you become a lower priority. with that said though, they should own up to their issue for sure and get you a new one quickly. or let you take to a local welder to fix it and send them the bill. might be cheaper for them in the long run on shipping cost and building a new one.

one thing that is ironic, they have a lot of employees. I did local install and while waiting in their wait room I saw easily 20 different people go in the "employees only" entrance. the only person I dealt with was nice and friendly. I think they are just overwhelmed with orders and don't want to answer the same question over and over again.

 

[KuhDunkADunk]

have you ever had to deal with Comcast?
yes, they are not the best in customer service but you need to understand too. they had 300+ orders in one month between this and another group buy. I don't know how many they normally get but I am guessing it is a whole lot less. people outside the group buys got theirs in a 'normal' timeframe, when you get a discount you become a lower priority. with that said though, they should own up to their issue for sure and get you a new one quickly. or let you take to a local welder to fix it and send them the bill. might be cheaper for them in the long run on shipping cost and building a new one.

one thing that is ironic, they have a lot of employees. I did local install and while waiting in their wait room I saw easily 20 different people go in the "employees only" entrance. the only person I dealt with was nice and friendly. I think they are just overwhelmed with orders and don't want to answer the same question over and over again.

I get that this product is built to order, so the business dynamics change a bit. But imagine if you purchased a product from Amazon on sale (like Deal of the Day or something) and they told you ships in X days. But you've waited X+Y days while Amazon prioritizes other customer orders that have paid full price. In this case, we aren't talking days, we are talkings weeks and months even. People have orders from December and January that haven't been filled yet! It's May!

I think the better approach to this (my understanding is that they've had experience in group buys) is to just pre-manufacturer or reduce the options to a handful of racks to be able to accommodate demand. Instead of allowing everyone to order a fully custom solution, maybe look at their top 3 configurations, make a bunch of them before and during a group buy and ship in the time table they communicate.

This may not be for everyone, but my thoughts are that for a truly custom experience, you are probably going to pay more regardless of what industry you are in. In this case, we are all paying for it in the form of time. But to my earlier post, I have no problems waiting if the time table was more accurate. 10 weeks? 18 weeks? 24 weeks? ok, understood. But to communicate 8-10 weeks (I'm at 14 weeks by the way). That's a big miss.

In any case, just my two cents.

 

[leftyguns21]

I get that this product is built to order, so the business dynamics change a bit. But imagine if you purchased a product from Amazon on sale (like Deal of the Day or something) and they told you ships in X days. But you've waited X+Y days while Amazon prioritizes other customer orders that have paid full price. In this case, we aren't talking days, we are talkings weeks and months even. People have orders from December and January that haven't been filled yet! It's May!

I think the better approach to this (my understanding is that they've had experience in group buys) is to just pre-manufacturer or reduce the options to a handful of racks to be able to accommodate demand. Instead of allowing everyone to order a fully custom solution, maybe look at their top 3 configurations, make a bunch of them before and during a group buy and ship in the time table they communicate.

This may not be for everyone, but my thoughts are that for a truly custom experience, you are probably going to pay more regardless of what industry you are in. In this case, we are all paying for it in the form of time. But to my earlier post, I have no problems waiting if the time table was more accurate. 10 weeks? 18 weeks? 24 weeks? ok, understood. But to communicate 8-10 weeks (I'm at 14 weeks by the way). That's a big miss.

In any case, just my two cents.

the email they send out for the 8-10 weeks is their generic response to people paying full price. from the beginning the OP stated it would be at least 16 weeks possibly longer. i waited 20 weeks for mine, it was a long time to wait but i did save some $ and didn't have a need for it during the winter. im guessing that's why they only allow group buys in the winter time so you have it by summer.

i agree 100% they should have been more prepared, or have some 'on hand' already. i am surprised they don't already have some laying around in the default configuration for multiple vehicles. obviously demand is high and they wouldn't have to sit around too long. hopefully they spend all summer during any down time making extras in case there is another one set up next winter.

 

[Bobcat2015]

So I posted this in another thread but thought I'd share it here also in case anyone has the same issue. My sunroof insert wasn't welded properly on one side of the crossbar.

So my situation is a little unique because I actually ordered and paid for my rack in full on November 25th of last year. Saw the group buy a week later and joined to save a few hundred bucks so that put me #111 on the list, but probably one of, if not the first to pay in full.

Got the call yesterday from the shipping company and my wife just called to say it was delivered at the house.

Thanks for the heads up on checking it over since I too got the sunroof insert! I plan to do so when I get home from work. I'm fine with the wait, I'm okay with the poor communication, but IF anything is wrong with it, I agree with SteelStacks that there isn't much excuse. Especially since they've had my money for over 5 months!

There is no reason to sacrifice quality just to get them out the door. We've already waited this long, a little longer isn't going to be the end of the world (for most of us). However, at this price point and this period of time, I'm expecting the same quality as "regular" orders.

 

[KuhDunkADunk]

the email they send out for the 8-10 weeks is their generic response to people paying full price. from the beginning the OP stated it would be at least 16 weeks possibly longer. i waited 20 weeks for mine, it was a long time to wait but i did save some $ and didn't have a need for it during the winter. im guessing that's why they only allow group buys in the winter time so you have it by summer.

i agree 100% they should have been more prepared, or have some 'on hand' already. i am surprised they don't already have some laying around in the default configuration for multiple vehicles. obviously demand is high and they wouldn't have to sit around too long. hopefully they spend all summer during any down time making extras in case there is another one set up next winter.

Thanks for bringing up the initial ship time. It has been so long I forgot the OP said it could take 16 weeks.

 

[Roborunner888]

Just got my email confirm today my rack was shipped. I ordered thru Trail Duty 12/11/16 and was #103 on the group buy. Good luck to everyone.

Btw, I have read through many threads on install tips and details. Any personal opinions on which you considered most helpful or detailed? This is my top one so far:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/194234-diy-gobi-stealth-roof-rack-ladder-install.html