Burned by Southern Style OffRoad!

Remember all those 20% off and free shipping adds you have been seeing since spring? Apparently those of us who ordered were sucked into a Ponzi scheme. I ordered a Slim Line Lite bumper and a set of sliders. The bumper had a 2 week lead, I got it in 3 months, and it wasn’t the design they advertised. They refused to send me what was marketed to me, my option was to send it back, and I would be credited if it suffered no damage. I decided to keep it to measure and fab my own. Then flip it. Fast forward 5 months. When I ask why I haven’t gotten my 8week lead time sliders that were awaiting powder coat 2 months earlier. I was informed they can’t get steel supplied to them. They tell me wait another 10 weeks, or request a refund. I requested a refund 12 working days ago, and now no one is responding. These guys have had my money since April. When you call the number today it sounds like there is a restructured VM system that is not anyone from Baton Rouge. SSO has never been known for being ahead of schedule, but the untruthfulness and procedures this time around has me uneasy, something is up. Be careful with these guys.

 

CC charge back.

 

Thanks for the post on this. I get promo's from them all the time.

 

So here is an update. I softened my tone with my thread title, and rephrased it. I am still blistered with SSO, and am still holding a grudge with the original organization. And I have filled a CC charge back. I was correct in my hunch. They are out of business. I received a call from one William Davidson. He has acquired the brand and designs for essentially the cost of fulfilling over 600 unfulfilled orders. He is very successful in the Honda/Acura world in short shifter assemblies.(Hybrid Racing) He is loosing money on this deal, but gaining a customer base, and slick designs. Fab work and coating will be moved to Ocalla, Fl. Our conversation was as transparent as you could ask for. At the moment he is focused on damage control and will be making an announcement about the procurement soon. I will reorder from him in January. If your willing to wait it out, I feel like he will take care of you.

 

Wow. Crazy to hear because they were a reputable company. I figured their 20% off and free shipping was going to cause some issues because it ran so long and they were already backlogged months before it even came out. It was all a big cash grab before the fall it seems - just like Shrockworks. Will be tough for the new owner to recover unless he changes the brand name. The SSO name will be dirt now.

 

After talking with him, I’m rooting for him. I hope he makes it work. I had a more comfortable conversation with him than I have had with the previous regime at all.

 

I would have just disputed the charges on my card and let the charge card place handle it. Got the whole order refunded. No reason to deal with company’s like that.

 

Well this sucks. I knew of and purchased from Kevin when he was a very small business and he tried to make all of his customers happy with his hybrid bumpers and sliders.......

 

Damn, oh well. I was looking at their slimline hybrid bull front bumper to protect against another animal with bones sticking out of it's head. I guess I will have to look elsewhere, but it's good to hear about this before putting money down on a product there.

 

Is this the 3rd or 4th fabricator to do this over the last few years?

 

I am so sorry to hear all this. I bought my SSO bumper in Nov of 2022 and received in Mar of 2023. Everything was fine with it. Glad I did not have a bad ending.

I would definitely contact your credit card company and report it. There is a very good chance they will cover you.

 

Yikes I noticed their 4runner tire carrier listed as out of stock and figured something was up. Makes me glad I never pulled the trigger during the summer sale!

 

Sounds like this is a perfect situation for a state’s AG to go after the original owners for fraud.

If you or I knowingly wrote bad checks, we could be arrested.

 

Jesus they are still posting on IG

 

FFS. People should be doing chargebacks and taking Cali Raised up on their discount offer for those who got screwed.

 

Damn, good to know all this thanks guys - SSO has been one of my top choices for future bumper but not no more.

This reminds me of the time I bought a brand new refrigerator at SEARS and actually paid for extended warranty, for once, cuz of past fridge problems I'd experienced. 1 year goes by and they go bankrupt and even cut off all employee pension payments!!!

 

For sure, that's a good question, that I'd like to know associated law behind as well. On the flip side, perhaps they did indeed initiate the sale promo meaning well to generate desperately needed revenue, but the financial clock ran out.
Or
The sale was one last hurrah to line their pockets best they could with coming doom!

 

Some more info over on tacomaworld

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/southern-style-offroad-new-management.813998/

 

Sorry this happened to you. Years ago I had the winch bumper on my 2015 4 Runner. Great product. Sad they are gone, but also sad you were the way SSO dealt with you.

 

“For those who are familiar with PELFREYBILT, MOBTOWN OFFROAD, SOS CONCEPTS, SHROCKWORKS, AND NOW SOUTHERN STYLE OFFROAD just to name a few. All of these companies are reading from the same playbook in going bankrupt while stealing people's money.”

to answer my own question

 

Here’s the deal: if you are out money, you can attempt to file a chargeback.

Now that you have been told this, it is your decision, but if you end up with no bumper and no money after waiting on several months, it’s sort of on you.

I would never suggest anyone else give some company the benefit of the doubt in this situation simply because it’s not my money on the line.

The whole notion of “we don’t have access to cash to provide refunds” is incompatible with filling 600 orders.

If you assume their cost to produce a bumper is $150, that’s still $900,000 that someone is going to eat, on top of needing to recreate everything needed to produce those bumpers from scratch.

Here’s what’s going to actually happen in all likelihood:

1) They are going to reopen
2) They will start taking orders
3) They will fill the newest orders first
4) The profits from the new orders will be used to subsidize the cost of the old orders
5) Old orders will be filled as capacity and cash flow allows.

If you want a bumper from them, you’d be better off getting your money back and then placing a new order - and that’s assuming they even get to that stage before throwing in the towel.

 

It's a tough world for a small business. I

It's a common but understandable behavior among small proprietors. It doesn't usually start as bad faith, they're just late to recognize being in a death spiral or deep in denial as they pull out all the stops trying forestall an outcome that's more likely than they'd like to believe. It happens enough that most process-oriented manufacturers routinely run credit checks on their suppliers. Jumping through the hoops used to drive me crazy when I needed one or two pieces from a new vendor that I knew they had in hand, but I've seen real catastrophes from a supplier going down in flames. I've also been involved in a couple brokered IP transfers in these situations that got the pipeline moving again and saved a few jobs.

 

The crazy part is I forgot another company Explore Overland.

Its like I said in my main post.

Could an "Investor" come in and fix this situation? Possibly? Although there is SOO much to take into consideration. This is exactly the same scenario, where someone is trying to come in and save the brand, but in reality, it will take months to source material, quote manufacturing, create custom fixtures, shipping the orders, and not to mention tons of capital to "potentially" pull this off. Also not to mention paying off the debt they are already in.. No vendor is going to extend credit to them... Everything will need to be paid up front. Unfortunately, history does repeat itself as proven with multiple companies I have mentioned above.

We are just upset, because at the end of the day, the old owner and current inventory said they will not refunded anyones money. This hurts not only the customers who paid them there hard earn cash, but dealers who have interested money into inventory orders who paid Cash up front. Now there money is now lost and customers are coming after them for refundeds. This hurts everyone...

 

This is the sad/scary part In my opinion " Here’s what’s going to actually happen in all likelihood" This is all a ( POSSIBILITY/COULD ) happen scenario. At the end of the day, the old and current owners are not providing anyone with refunds. I really hope the best for them, if they are able to help the people, but thats a LOT of work. And with PELFREYBILT, MOBTOWN OFFROAD, SOS CONCEPTS, SHROCKWORKS and EXPLORE OVERLAND doing the same thing in the past, this honesty doesn't look good for anyone

 

Bummer, I was about to buy a bumper from them as I really like their designs and it they were recommended highly from members here. I just dont want to deal with the headache...

 

If you're near Colfax, go check out Dissent and maybe give their bumper a try. This is not me trying to line up some beta testers before I make a purchase.

 

So, I sent a message to them on Instagram ss_offroad ….

“Are you still in business?”

Reply:
“Yes we are!

Thanks for reaching out. We're about to share a public statement, but I wanted to give you a heads-up first. Here's what we're announcing:
SSO Brand Update:
Due to supply chain and financial challenges, the SSO brand is transitioning to new management. While this news might be unexpected, we took this step to preserve the quality and legacy that SSO has built over the years. With our 25 years of expertise in the automotive industry, we're fully equipped and dedicated to delivering your order. We've onboarded the original SSO engineers and designers to ensure consistent product quality.

Order Delivery Timeline:
We have shifted all of SSO production to our US manufacturing facilities. You can anticipate back orders to start shipping by this year's end and all pending orders to ship by the end of March 2024. Rest assured, we'll keep you informed every step of the way.

Your Order Details:
Having recently accessed SSO's internal systems, we've temporarily paused new orders to focus on existing ones. Please send us your original order number, name, email, and phone number so we can ensure smooth delivery.

Next Steps:
Please be on the lookout for our next update, which will provide a more exact shipping date.

We understand the delay you have experienced is frustrating. Please know that the setback wasn't under our management or our control. As we embark on this new phase for SSO, we pledge to be transparent and genuinely appreciate your understanding and patience.

William Davidson
Southern Style Offroad
info@southernstyleoffroad.com
225-407-0583”

 

I’ve seen their stuff at StellarBuilt. Damn looks solid!!!

 

I would be interested in their stuff but I am not going to purchase anything from a company that uses the communist salute (closed fist) as their logo.

 

They forgot the refund part...