Gobi statement on Trailduty

[jonz]

i love gobi hate threads, i mean how dare a company protect their design and now contact people to work directly with them to get them their order even though they didn't have a direct agreement with them

First off, to those who got hosed by TD, my sympathy. I know I would be livid and hope you get satisfaction one way or another.

Just got confirmation that my rack(purchased from Gobi) will be shipping soon. I will say that they have not yet charged my credit card which is forthcoming. Some here want to blame Gobi for their TD orders not being fulfilled, but seems to me TD took their money at the point of sale unless I’m mistaken.Who knows if Gobi was/ ever will be paid for those orders? If not, who can blame them for referring TD buyers back to the people that took their money in the first place and didn’t honor their commitment?

I’m no Gobi groupi, but seems to me for them to provide racks to TD customers with no guarantee of payment either would be folly.

 

[e60ral]

[MENTION=213126]cgrigsby79[/MENTION] Yeah, I'm going to try again. Started with a phone call and they referenced the 60 day limit to dispute through the Fair Credit Billing Act, so I then tried an online dispute. They've attempted to contact TD a few times along with the rest of us. I was hoping they'd grant some goodwill and it could just be written off by them since it's hardly a drop in the bucket.

[MENTION=113833]e60ral[/MENTION] I completely recognize every party's point of view and no one is in a good spot...it's on Trail Duty to fix. Let's hope they didn't burn everything on heroin and meth!

I've had the worst luck trying to get my hands on one of these freaking things. First a deal in the classifieds here went way south, and now this. I'm totally expecting to be SOL but here's to optimism...right? lol

In what way is Gobi not in a good spot? They've gone beyond what they have to do to make sure people et their orders. If ARB did this people would be praising their awesome customer service

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[snitz427]

Has anyone gotten their Gobi orders yet that were previously placed with Trail Duty? I spoke with Gobi and paid for my rack as soon as I heard about Trail Duty. My rack was supposedly shipping second week of April, but still no rack. Gobi then said it would ship mid May, but still no rack. I ordered in December, and Gobi hasn't charged my credit card yet, but they did call for the info. I'm just curious if other Trail Duty customers are running into similar delays, as supposedly Gobi was going to fulfill the Trail Duty orders on time (if paid).

I don't mind waiting - but at this point... it would be nice for Gobi to give me an update, considering they contacted me to say it was shipping in April. I have a road trip next month and was really hoping to have a functional rack by then.

 

[Engineer]

Has anyone gotten their Gobi orders yet that were previously placed with Trail Duty? I spoke with Gobi and paid for my rack as soon as I heard about Trail Duty. My rack was supposedly shipping second week of April, but still no rack. Gobi then said it would ship mid May, but still no rack. I ordered in December, and Gobi hasn't charged my credit card yet, but they did call for the info. I'm just curious if other Trail Duty customers are running into similar delays, as supposedly Gobi was going to fulfill the Trail Duty orders on time (if paid).

I don't mind waiting - but at this point... it would be nice for Gobi to give me an update, considering they contacted me to say it was shipping in April. I have a road trip next month and was really hoping to have a functional rack by then.

Gobi may make a fine rack but their customer service is horrid(from my experience) and that was back before the TD issues (not Gobi's fault I admit) so I can only image now.

 

[jman91]

Has anyone gotten their Gobi orders yet that were previously placed with Trail Duty? I spoke with Gobi and paid for my rack as soon as I heard about Trail Duty. My rack was supposedly shipping second week of April, but still no rack. Gobi then said it would ship mid May, but still no rack. I ordered in December, and Gobi hasn't charged my credit card yet, but they did call for the info. I'm just curious if other Trail Duty customers are running into similar delays, as supposedly Gobi was going to fulfill the Trail Duty orders on time (if paid).

I don't mind waiting - but at this point... it would be nice for Gobi to give me an update, considering they contacted me to say it was shipping in April. I have a road trip next month and was really hoping to have a functional rack by then.

I ordered mine from TD in December as well. I got a message from Gobi in March that it would ship in April. Then the TD situation came up and Gobi reached out to me, so I switched to their system. At the end of April I got another email stating that my rack would be released to freight within a week, but that didn't happen. In mid May I submitted a status request and they said it would be released within 2 weeks. Thankfully I've had pretty good luck with email communication with Gobi, I've called a few times but never gotten through.

 

[MmmYesQuite]

lucked out with a local rack... praise be

 

[KuhDunkADunk]

Joining the conversation late, but wanted to comment on my experiences with Trail Duty and Gobi. I had ordered the stealth rack along with ladder as part of a group buy back in 2016. I thought it was a hell of a deal with multiple accessories. It took 8 months to receive everything and while I did receive sparse communication with Gobi, it eventually arrived. Gobi was apologetic and even threw in an extra accessory which was like another $200 value (according to their website).

I was so angry between the 6-8 month period that I swore I was going to cancel the order. In the end, I'm so glad I didn't. I absolutely love it. And while a lot of people have negative opinions, I LOVE MINE.

Also, just noticed that trailduty.com seems down. Nothing shows up with you visit the site. I guess they are done?

 

[1jzgte]

note to self: don't buy shit from anyone that takes longer than a month to fulfill the order.

 

[Hydguy]

While I feel bad for the people who are dealing with this, the wait for Gobi isn't anything like the NFA waiting game..

 

[bob3dsf]

I’m in the same boat. I actually ordered one a year ago and told Gobi I’d come pick it up (I live an hour away). When I got the call that my ladder was ready I told them I was training(Army) and could make it out the following week, was told it wasn’t a problem and they’d hold onto it; I called them before I was about to drive up and I was told they had seen my ladder waiting around so it was sold and I’d have to wait all over again.

I was actually about to order through Trailduty to avoid Gobi too

OMG! What a bunch of D-bags. So let me get this straight, when they're not out patent trolling small scale fab operations, they are selling other people's orders. Nice. Not that I've changed my indescribably low opinion of this company (the bottom of the Kola super deep borehole might be low enough), but I see said opinion is still well founded.....

 

[snitz427]

I ordered mine from TD in December as well. I got a message from Gobi in March that it would ship in April. Then the TD situation came up and Gobi reached out to me, so I switched to their system. At the end of April I got another email stating that my rack would be released to freight within a week, but that didn't happen. In mid May I submitted a status request and they said it would be released within 2 weeks. Thankfully I've had pretty good luck with email communication with Gobi, I've called a few times but never gotten through.

I finally got a shipment notification from Gobi. 2 months to the day from when they called me to tell me it was about to ship, and 6 months from when I ordered.

I am just glad it is on the way and will make it in time for upcoming trip in July. I don’t mind the wait, but I’d prefer they not tell me it is shipping (twice) if it is not.

Oh and my CC refunded my Trail Duty order, hallelujah!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jonz]

I finally got a shipment notification from Gobi. 2 months to the day from when they called me to tell me it was about to ship, and 6 months from when I ordered.

I am just glad it is on the way and will make it in time for upcoming trip in July. I don’t mind the wait, but I’d prefer they not tell me it is shipping (twice) if it is not.

Oh and my CC refunded my Trail Duty order, hallelujah!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Same here. Order confirmed on Jan 11, then received 2 emails in April and May stating it was shipping “end of this week or early next”. It finally arrived June 6. I wasn’t upset about the long lead time since that’s to be expected. But it was a little annoying to be told it’s on the way 6 weeks before it actually ships.

Despite all that, I’m pleased with the purchase and feel it was worth the wait. Just do a better job of setting expectations, Gobi.

 

[johnnythunderr]

Anyone in the Washington or Oregon area Dick Hannah Toyota in Longview stocks them. When I bought mine last month they had 9 in inventory.

I can't speak to Dick Hannah's parts dept, but their sales and service is rather sketchy. My wife and I have consistently had terrible experiences with them (over 2 vehicles).

I know it's off-topic, but I would just love to see worthy dealerships and vendors getting the T4R business.

 

[Spinnukur]

So...Trail Duty website is back up. It was down for a while but it's back up and working. Anyone know who the new owners are?

 

[snitz427]

So...Trail Duty website is back up. It was down for a while but it's back up and working. Anyone know who the new owners are?

That’s interesting. New owners owe a lot of people money!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dade73]

I got a call from the Trail duty new owners. told me what that I should file dispute with the credit card/bank. get my money back. Then I could reorder through them if I would like. The guy was very apologetic and polite. The fact they reached out to me, (them being new owners) was a nice touch. But they are in Oregon I believe and the old owner was in Texas

However I did not reorder through them as their site was still down. Followed what Gobi requested. I am supposed to get my rack this month.

 

[Engineer]

I got a call from the Trail duty new owners. told me what that I should file dispute with the credit card/bank. get my money back. Then I could reorder through them if I would like. The guy was very apologetic and polite. The fact they reached out to me, (them being new owners) was a nice touch. But they are in Oregon I believe and the old owner was in Texas

However I did not reorder through them as their site was still down. Followed what Gobi requested. I am supposed to get my rack this month.

That was a nice touch that they reached out , I think the problem is there are a handful (maybe more then a handful) that are outside the CC dispute timeframe. Its actually a great lesson - not really sure how to prevent it as there are plenty of items still made (think Pelfrey Rear bumper) that are 6m+ out lead-times but they required full upfront payment, no idea how to protect yourself in these cases. Of course it is a small risk but clearly things can happen that cause problems. What should have happened is Trail duty (before new owners) should have drained their coffers and sent the money back, if they had poor business choices and the money was gone, its gone but if it was being pulled from the business into the owners personal estate......well then in my mind that estate owes the customers money but the legal costs to even start digging into that are not worth the amount lost.

So did the new owners PAY someone for Trailduty.com? Who ever got paid I would think owes some people some money.......

 

[snitz427]

I have no idea why a totally new owner would take over Trail Duty. Their name and reputation is now severely tarnished, and I would be surprised if someone could just take over without assuming liability for the company’s past misdeeds (and debts).

I can see where maybe the website gets great traffic, but change the name and direct your trailduty.com traffic to the new company’s site. I suspect a family member took ownership, or the original owner is still in the mix.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GSD_LOVER]

I suspect a family member took ownership, or the original owner is still in the mix.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would assume the exact same thing.