Burned by Southern Style OffRoad!

I doubt a chargeback would hurt the new owner. It’s a new company with a different merchant agreement. it happens all the time.

 

You answered the question, it was just asking your thoughts on that statement they provided about refunding. But still, what makes no sense to me personally is, let's say you do a chargeback that does hurt the business, because the new owner is claiming that he does not have your money, the new owner/company is not penalized, it would be old SSO.

 

Exactly my point ^^^

 

Yep.

I find it funny that people don’t understand it’s now a different company or the old company being bankrupt and or gone would alter their agreement with the CC. The CC is not there to just float the customer a small loan it’s also there to offer you protection on things exactly like this.

Also for the all the people that say do a chargeback you don’t actually request a chargeback. You file a dispute with your CC and they will determine if you are covered to get your money back and if they do give you your money back they may or may not issue a chargeback to the merchant depending on the status of the merchant and the agreement the merchant had with the CC processor.

 

This is the crazy part I don't understand it all, the old owner never declared Bankruptcy from my understanding. But the new owner is claiming they don't have acess to anyone funds.

 

The new owner most likely purchased the old dead company and the payment was taking on the backlog of orders. The old owner gets to say they are not a crook and the new owner gets a known brand for the cost of backlog.

Now this is just me speculating and I have no knowledge of the deal they have but the idea I listed above is not that uncommon.

 

You sound like you know more about chargebacks and business restructuring than I do, so I believe you, but...

I can't believe a business being bought would somehow wipe the slate clean. Every CC company can see that a Baton Rouge based company called Southern Style Offroad is no longer fulfilling orders and not offering refunds, causing a huge headache for their customers.

I don't think they would cut them off, but I am positive that they would make it much harder for SSO to continue accepting payments through their platform. Same for all other CC companies, loan companies like Affirm, etc.

Anyway it's not really that important because my lone chargeback (or lack of) won't matter much in the big picture.

 

Most likely there is now old SSO and new SSO. Just like the GM of today is not the same GM before 2008. Did banks stop doing business with the New GM just because they had the same name? It’s the Same name but different company. Happens all the time.

 

A whole lot of grey area unfortunately :/

 

That could occur simply by the previous management using the funds to pay some portion of his debts, leaving no money for materials purchases or labor to fill existing orders. He could have been under water without yet having declared bankruptcy when he was bought out.

 

As described in the TW thread, new owner didn't buy the old company, just the SSO brand name and designs (intellectual property). It's a bit like the 3dfx-Nvidia deal in late 2000, for those of you into PC hardware back then.

 

Unfortunately, we do not know if that is true or not. Until they actually make an announcement.

 

Maybe we should all wait to see what happens instead of speculating

 

That's the reason I made that statement right there. But at the end of the day, the old and current owner said they are not providing refunds.

 

If that is the case, there is literally no obligation to fill back orders.

 

Howdy all. Got an email today from new ownership. It's long, but I will paste the full thing below.

If you don't want to read it all, the bullet point summary is:

• SSO is under new ownership as of 10/1/23. New ownership are Baton Rouge based and have (they say) hired original SSO fabricators and engineer.
• The plan is to fulfill all back orders, starting shipping by EOY 2023 and completing by March 2024
• New owner calling every order holder personally with update
• Holders of existing orders need to fill out a form and choose either 1) to wait for their order, or 2) a gift card for the amount to use towards a future SSO purchase.
• Form link from email: https://forms.office.com/r/D8fBKxRUCW

Personally, I think this is a HUGE step in the right direction. It confirms that new management are invested in at least trying to fulfill the order backlog, and it gives you an option to convert to a gift card. Making personal calls to every back order holder is a great sign.

As we feared, the original funds are completely gone, so a refund is not going to happen. (Chargeback may still be possible depending on your CC). While that is obviously not ideal, it's also worth pointing out that without new management, SSO would have simply gone under and you would get neither a refund OR a product.

Anyway... I'm rooting for these guys!! (Not just because I'm waiting on $3500 of product from them although that helps). This seems like a genuine effort to right the ship and rebuild SSO better than before. Of course, the proof will be in the execution — I really hope it works out.

EMAIL BELOW:

 

General Motors received a government backstop.

 

Here’s the silly thing.

You’re better off getting your refund via a chargeback and buying from the new company than simply waiting for a new order.

This whole situation is shady as can be.

 

And it’s also considered a new company not the same as the old GM.

Now SSO has a new backstop as you put it and is also considered a new company.

 

I’ve witnessed firsthand larger companies where a corporate parent simply walked away rather than downstream capital into a business that was circling the drain.

Have you pulled a D&B report on the new owner at a minimum?

 

Why?

It’s a private company that has a new owner. Unless the new owner is going to release any contracts all we are going to know is the old company is dead and the new company is using the old name.

like I have said before this happens all the time and most people don’t even know it.

 

Nobody buys a business simply to walk away. If you think the business is unsalvageable, you… don’t buy it.

While anything can happen when a business goes under, the new ownership has (so far) been acting in a way that is consistent with making a good faith effort to right the ship.

 

D&B reports are available on private companies.

You want to see whether the new owner is able to absorb the cost of startup and filling a bunch of unfunded orders.

Anybody extending credit to SSO or its new owner would pull one.

And by not asking for your money back, you are extending them credit.

Also, your order is with Southern Style Offroad LLC. The owner of the LLC has not changed - this is publicly available information. The original owner of SSO’s liability to you or anyone else is limited to the assets of the LLC.

Feel free to risk your own money, but you really should pursue a chargeback. If you believe in the new company, then by all means be the first one in line to place an order.

 

If the “business” has been bought, then they have yet to file documents with the Secretary of State of Louisiana.

Just sayin…

 

And you think DB updates their data instantly? If you know anything about how their data work you would know that. If it a was public company the data would be available much faster. So my question of why still stands.

 

At this point they are not taking new orders, but are at least saying they are committed to getting back orders filler. Not sure why they would say this if they plan to screw folks.

 

You don’t seem to understand. But it’s your money.

Hopefully you get your order, but don’t be surprised when you don’t.

 

Guess you haven’t looked at my post. I have not ordered anything from them. I only posted info about how credit card disputes work as it seems several people on here don’t know much about how companies work or their CC as lots of dumb information was being said.

Seems you’re the one that doesn’t understand.

 

Straight up theft denotes good intentions?

 

X2 same here