Burned by Southern Style OffRoad!

Well, Discover credited my account this morning for the sliders. I am still so blistered over the bumper, and the deception of SSO through both transactions, I refuse to advertise their branded products on my build. If William can get it turned around, I'll revisit him in the spring and let them attempt my bumper again, under the terms of his offer. Until that time, I still need slider/steps for my runner. Looking at Budbuilt, or RSG. I want slider protection, level step pads, and highest ground clearance possible. Any opines on the two I have listed?

 

My RSG sliders are nice. Neighbor commented on build quality and weld quality (his degree is in automotive engineering).

I’m sure Budbuilt had nice ones too. I can only say that my RSG ones arrived well packaged and damage free.

Lead time on RSG was not long. I would email both and see. 0% financing through affirm and the grippy circles on RSG sealed the deal for me.

 

Same here with RSG. Easy to get hold of them with questions. Product arrive in FLorida in perfect condition. Quoted lead time was beaten. I think from order to my door was under 3 weeks.

 

I LOVE my Budbuilt. Feels like a Sherman tank mod

 

RSG sliders weigh perhaps a pound more each - but that could easily be rounding and scale variability. I sincerely doubt that someone will regret their choice either way.

 

Agreed. My top requirement was width, my wife has health issues and needs these as steps so had to get the widest ones I could find. It was between RSG and Budbuilt.

 

https://caliraisedled.com/collections/2010-2022-toyota-4runner-bumper-slider-skids

Defiantly check us out. We have lots of slider options in stock with free shipping! https://caliraisedled.com/collections/2010-2022-toyota-4runner-bumper-slider-skids

 

LOL.

Even the new owners are saying they aren’t responsible legally to give you anything and if you can do a chargeback, you should (read from this post on):

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ad-new-management.813998/page-3#post-29229925

 

That’s not new information. Anybody who wants to pull their cash for non-delivery of product should definitely do so.

I’m really appreciating new ownership communication, sharing pictures and asking people for input. As someone who has dealt with dozens if not hundreds of businesses as a management consultant, that is all good stuff to see.

 

The whole thing doesn't make much sense frankly. This whole thing is so convoluted and raises so many questions about who is ultimately getting screwed -- because make no mistake, someone is getting the shaft.

and

They clearly don't want to assume legal obligation for the orders. That's why they established an LLC and have bought "the brand" and intellectual property.

Which is what one would do in this situation if you can pull it off, but you normally can't pull that off.

Let me explain.

When you do that, what's left behind? The old LLC which has: 1) Debts; and 2) Certainly not the brand or the designs, but whatever assets haven't moved over.

This means that anyone who is outside the chargeback window, any unpaid suppliers, etc. has an issue. As do the credit card companies. The most they can lay claim to are the assets of the LLC -- and if the new owners didn't pay the Southern Style Offroad LLC for the "brand", designs, other intellectual property, then there is likely nothing there.

Please note that I said LLC. That stuff belongs to the LLC, and so the LLC is the entity that should get paid. Those funds are then available to satisfy creditors.

They very well could have paid the owner. If that's the case, then someone would have some almost impossible legal hurdles to clear in order to get a penny of it unless he made himself personally liable for the original LLC's debts.

Or maybe there wasn't even a payment, just a "please try to fill orders in exchange for a bunch of intellectual property and brands".

In many cases, a business would file for bankruptcy in this situation. In the case of an LLC, if I recall correctly you're looking at Chapter 7 (liquidate everything, pay creditors based upon what's left) or Chapter 11 where the business reorganizes itself.

Why is this weird situation happening? We may never know for sure, but someone will be stuck holding the short end of the stick.

 

I don't think that's necessarily certain, but it's not impossible. The new owner appears to be undertaking a considerable expense in filling the orders and may well make good on his stated intentions. On the other hand, he has been quite transparent about avoiding any legally binding commitment to do that, despite claims (perhaps by others on his behalf) that he has sufficient resources to do so. It could simply be a case of controlling financial risk after having discerned that most customers currently have little or no leverage and there isn't as much upside to giving them any if you can get away with a non-binding promise. Anyway, I have nothing at stake in this and I wish everyone involved the best possible outcome.

 

Well, I think you’d agree that it is highly likely the credit card companies are going to be out of money.

And of course, I’m sure some people are fine with that. I hope they are fine with 20%+ interest rates on cards, because that’s one of the factors that leads to it.

 

Agreed. The original owner and their creditors got the money, and credit card companies are paying refunds from interest rates, transaction fees, and cardholder fees.

 

Posting an update here for anybody interested. SSO new ownership has been sending weekly emails with pretty thorough updates. I'll post the latest below.

The most positive thing so far is that next week should see order confirmation emails going out, which will result in an order confirmation in their new system, updated tracking codes, etc.

I'll keep sharing updates if there is interest.

 

Howdy everybody. I just wanted to share more updates. As a reminder, I'd ordered a "Category 3" package that included bumper, winch, light bar, rock sliders and some misc parts.

As of today, I have received virtually every part of the order that is non-fabricated, including the Smittybilt winch, the Heisse light bar, wiring harness, D-ring etc.. Yesterday I received the "Stage 2" bumper wings which appear to be in great shape.

Still waiting on the bumper itself and the rock sliders, which new ownership is hopeful to deliver in Q1 of 2024.

Obviously, the real proof will be having those parts in hand... but I am very happy so far, as clearly the new owners are making good on their promise to take care of back order holders. When SSO went under, I thought I'd never see this money again — yet here we are. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to share more positive updates in the future.

My girlfriend is less thrilled as we have several large boxes taking up tons of floor space in the house... maybe my Christmas present will be moving it all to the storage unit

 

Folks, another update for ya! SSO has published a calendar with their scheduled dates for fulfilling backorders, which you can see here: https://hybridracing-my.sharepoint....yJ9kB_bFVO4M2taKVGuM_LTguUw?rtime=F1XJIkgk3Eg

If my bumper and rock sliders arrive in March/April I'll update here!

 

Hoping the best for SSO and customers
Any news?