RoamBuilt still exists?

I want to close the loop on this recent order.

I went back and forth with Chad and probably exhibited some frustration but it turned out it was all based upon the fact that there was a subtle change in the bumpers in 2014. This model of brush guard will only fit 2014 to 2018.

I got an email from the founder and he apologized profusely and said he would work with me to get it to fit but otherwise they don't make one to fit my rig.

I have been very busy and distracted by the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting and will get back to Roambuilt on what the next steps might be as I get a local fabricator involved. Unfortunately it seems that everything in Gilroy has slowed down as they reel from the shootings.

I want to thank members who tried to help. I could not respond since it says I blocked outgoing messages and I can't figure out how to reset that setting...

Roambuilt service is NON Existent... Ordered a bumper and skid plate Nov5th 2019.. Dec 3rd still not shipped and cant get return phone calls...they dont even list a number on their website...i had a mobile number from Cec, the founder... he has not returned my call in over a week. REALLY? i dont get it... there are lots of competitors with equal products and way better service.
Finally got an email from Chad after several sends....said product would ship the following monday on bumper but could not tell me when skid plate would be in....that was 3 weeks ago and bumper never shipped and cant get updates.. Super frustrating...i wanted to get some other work done by them but no way! I recently ordered from OWL van for their sherpa carrier, ladder and tire carrier... Super products...good service and they return calls and emails!

Glad I found this thread.
Just got my 2019 passenger 4x4 and was about to purchase on line their side steps.
But after reading this I am not sure.
I did sent an email with some questions last week. Given its holiday season I don't expect to get a response.

But if they would email me back and provide some reassurance on time frame product will be shipped I am willing to wait.

Just installed my wheels from Roambuilt.

CAsprinter4x4! said:

Glad I found this thread.
Just got my 2019 passenger 4x4 and was about to purchase on line their side steps.
But after reading this I am not sure.
I did sent an email with some questions last week. Given its holiday season I don't expect to get a response.

But if they would email me back and provide some reassurance on time frame product will be shipped I am willing to wait.

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RoamBuilt is very high quality and expensive, unfortunately they are not like a huge factory that can push units out as fast as their orders come in. The van customization market is booming and many of the vendors you see carrying components you want will have very significant delays. The difference between some of these vendors is that some are better at communicating these delays and setting more realistic expectations upfront. Roam should do a much better job contacting clients, sometimes they do but many times they don't. I have not heard of anyone not eventually getting their order fulfilled so I personally wouldn't be overly concerned.

Bottom line, if you're not comfortable waiting at least 2+ months (10-12 weeks is fairly common) you may not get the custom components you really want and you will need to settle for something different (probably not as nice).

I own a Roam rack and ladder mounted on my 3500 4x4. Very glad I waited! They could indeed do a muxh better job of communicating but they don't and you either need to accept that or go with another vendor. I look at it the same way as I do how Mercedes Dealers take orders for the Sprinter; took way longer than was quoted and rarely is there any communication and updates. Both were worth the wait IMHO.

Just my own $0.02 from experience - don't do business with a company that doesn't have an address and / or phone number on their website. I gave my money to Roambuilt, they told me that they would ship the items that week. Nothing shipped and they never replied to any of my emails. They took the money and vanished.

I don't care how good their stuff is. Way, way too many businesses out there that make a good product and can reply to an email. It shouldn't be too hard to do what you're gonna say and communicate if that changes. It's not difficult to follow up. Poor business practices. Won't be sad to see them go.

It is disappointing to see some folks have so little patience with some providers of unique products that we want who operate on a shoestring custom build as they are ordered, and are always busy as heck.

Roambuilt does what they can given the current times. We know little of all of what they are dealing with. Some consideration is deserved for the quality of what they offer us.

Agile Offroad has had some of the same complaints at times, but with my experience in dealing with Agile I know they are slammed every day and suspect Roambuilt is experiencing much the same.

Please give any of our unique Sprinter van providers a break. You are not there every day and have no idea what they are dealing with. A little patience goes a long way.

Expressing a realization that they are doing what they can given the current conditions, can go a long way.

It may also engender a sympathetic response in a more timely manner.

If a producer gets a terse complaint about their business model, I do not hold them accountable for putting certain people at the bottom of the list. I would not want their business to begin with if they have so little patience.

These specialty providers should be treasured. Where else can we get what we want?

Although Roambuilt does not make products for my T1N, I respect what they do offer for the NCV vans. If you have had a less than ideal response from any of them, try to understand their positions on a dally basis.

Agile is busy everyday. I suspect Roambuilt is also.

I would rather have these providers putting out their work than my receiving an instant or longer reply. For what it is worth.

Roambuilt recently answered my T1N inquiry the same day with a couple of follow up questions. I imagine some responses have not been so timely and just maybe it could have been an attitude exhibited from potential customers that would I would not want to do any business with.

My decades long woodworking career has come across certain customers at times that clearly showed I should not deal with them and let others have the job. I have no regrets on losing out on those opportunities. The price would not have been worth any amount of profit.

Don't be one of them. Give consideration to those who are providing use with [products we cannot get any where else.

We are all in this together, or should be.

They show no consideration for their customers. Their customer service is non existent. If you have any issues with fit or function you are on your own. The products are nice but I question my purchase. I would not do it again.

jcmadeintheshade@gmail.com said:

It is disappointing to see some folks have so little patience with some providers of unique products that we want who operate on a shoestring custom build as they are ordered, and are always busy as heck.

Roambuilt does what they can given the current times. We know little of all of what they are dealing with. Some consideration is deserved for the quality of what they offer us.

Agile Offroad has had some of the same complaints at times, but with my experience in dealing with Agile I know they are slammed every day and suspect Roambuilt is experiencing much the same.

Please give any of our unique Sprinter van providers a break. You are not there every day and have no idea what they are dealing with. A little patience goes a long way.

Expressing a realization that they are doing what they can given the current conditions, can go a long way.

It may also engender a sympathetic response in a more timely manner.

If a producer gets a terse complaint about their business model, I do not hold them accountable for putting certain people at the bottom of the list. I would not want their business to begin with if they have so little patience.

These specialty providers should be treasured. Where else can we get what we want?

Although Roambuilt does not make products for my T1N, I respect what they do offer for the NCV vans. If you have had a less than ideal response from any of them, try to understand their positions on a dally basis.

Agile is busy everyday. I suspect Roambuilt is also.

I would rather have these providers putting out their work than my receiving an instant or longer reply. For what it is worth.

Roambuilt recently answered my T1N inquiry the same day with a couple of follow up questions. I imagine some responses have not been so timely and just maybe it could have been an attitude exhibited from potential customers that would I would not want to do any business with.

My decades long woodworking career has come across certain customers at times that clearly showed I should not deal with them and let others have the job. I have no regrets on losing out on those opportunities. The price would not have been worth any amount of profit.

Don't be one of them. Give consideration to those who are providing use with [products we cannot get any where else.

We are all in this together, or should be.

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I'm sorry, I just don't see it that way. Regardless of how busy you are providing "unique" products, you can reply to an email -especially after you've taken someone's money. Full stop. When you say you're going to do something and then it changes, you notify the customer. They had WEEKS. Multiple people. No reply.

If I did that at my job, I would be out of a job -because it's bad business. I'm glad you've had a good experience with them.

life_goes_on said:

Speaking from my personal experience with RoamBuilt, I can attest to the fact that they are phenomenal people to work with IN PERSON. I met with Cec at the production facility and he offered to take me on the full hard-hat tour and spent a bunch of time with me talking about their products, history, new stuff in development, and ideas for future products. Everyone that I actually met at their production and install facility was knowledgeable, friendly, and didn't seem rushed at all. I ended up with quite a few RoamBuilt products and the quality of their products is seriously second to none.

BUT, their website and e-mail communication with new customers is slow and apparently sometimes non-existent. They seem to be aware of this and I know they're trying to improve it, but it's frustrating. When I did finally get a response from my initial inquires I received a super thorough e-mail with price lists, pictures, etc. But communication is slow, and for many new customers it never comes at all. Weeks turned into months and the whole process took about 6 months for me from e-mail to install.

My suggestion is to stick with it. You won't be disappointed in the product. Their stuff isn't cheap, but it's priced pretty competitively compared to other high-end options. For me it was absolutely money well spent. But the process takes forever. I don't know how there can be such a dichotomy between their customer interactions in person vs. online, but they really are great people in person. This mirrored everything I had read from people who met them at expos and events.

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I agree. I bought a brush guard from their website and waited less and two weeks. They called us and gave us direct contact information. Their location is easy to find on Swan island. Since that order I’ve been in touch with Cec, who’s awesome. He’s aware of communication problems and owns it. Just ordered the safari 2.0 revel roof rack and chicane ladder and it went smoothly. I expect they’ll be industry leaders once they smooth out some of these minor issues.
My advice, be patient and get that relationship established.
PS: the brush guard fit perfect, was easily installed-even without instruction, and looks awesome!!!
Blake.

Ordered a safari rack in early September 2020 through an upfitter listed in their website that has dealt with them a lot. Almost four months later and my upfitter still has no ETA or updates of any kind from them. They don’t communicate.

Im considering canceling the order.

DefyInertia said:

Ordered a safari rack in early September 2020 through an upfitter listed in their website that has dealt with them a lot. Almost four months later and my upfitter still has no ETA or updates of any kind from them. They don’t communicate.

Im considering canceling the order.

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After 4 months I would cancel. But I saw earlier on the forums of some folks buying steps in November and receiving this month. Very strange you haven’t heard anything.

DefyInertia said:

Ordered a safari rack in early September 2020 through an upfitter listed in their website that has dealt with them a lot. Almost four months later and my upfitter still has no ETA or updates of any kind from them. They don’t communicate.

Im considering canceling the order.

Click to expand...

Took about 4 months for me to get mine as well, this was mid-COVID. I also have their chicane ladder and side steps. Evert has been awesome to work with but yeah communication can be "spotty" but they have always come through for me. I'm a small outfitter based in Rhode Island and just getting started out building vans. My personal opinion is that they have the best looking roof racks and a lot of other people think so too. The racks are all made to order and the crate these things show up in is HUUUUGE! They ship via third party crating/shipping company so things could get held up there too.

I am personally very glad I went with Roambuilt for most of my exterior accessories. The round off-road lights make this van stand out like crazy, especially in New England. I get thumbs up form other drivers all the time

Built.Vans said:

Took about 4 months for me to get mine as well, this was mid-COVID. I also have their chicane ladder and side steps. Evert has been awesome to work with but yeah communication can be "spotty" but they have always come through for me. I'm a small outfitter based in Rhode Island and just getting started out building vans. My personal opinion is that they have the best looking roof racks and a lot of other people think so too. The racks are all made to order and the crate these things show up in is HUUUUGE! They ship via third party crating/shipping company so things could get held up there too.

I am personally very glad I went with Roambuilt for most of my exterior accessories. The round off-road lights make this van stand out like crazy, especially in New England. I get thumbs up form other drivers all the time

Click to expand...

the badass products are the only reason I’m willing to pay the premium and wait around, but to be honest, I’m not 100% confident in my upfitter so the combination has me considering pulling the plug....hopefully not necessary.

today is week 16...

Well. If its already in production, good luck with that refund....

Built.Vans said:

Well. If its already in production, good luck with that refund....

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Informing me (or AMEX) if that fact would require them to communicate. If they told me “hey, sorry, gonna be March” I would happily wait. But no communication of any kind is not acceptable. I was told 12 weeks max on the front end. If it’s coming, great, but at some point I need to go another direction if there is no end in sight and no communication at any point over a 16+ week period.

I made a small CC deposit on the entire order. I’m not out of pocket on the rack etc

DefyInertia said:

Informing me (or AMEX) if that fact would require them to communicate. If they told me “hey, sorry, gonna be another two months” I would happily wait. But no communication of any kind is not acceptable. I was told 12 weeks max on the front end. If it’s coming, great, butat some point I need to go another direction if there is no end in sight and no communication.

I made a small CC deposit on the entire order. I’m not out of pocket on the rack etc yet.

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I hear you. Good luck either way, hopefully they come through for you.

@DefyInertia If you do go a different route then hold on to your order and flip it when it does arrive. There must be other people out there who would pay a premium to avoid the xx week wait!

Keith.

Chumley said:

I want to close the loop on this recent order.

I went back and forth with Chad and probably exhibited some frustration but it turned out it was all based upon the fact that there was a subtle change in the bumpers in 2014. This model of brush guard will only fit 2014 to 2018.

I got an email from the founder and he apologized profusely and said he would work with me to get it to fit but otherwise they don't make one to fit my rig.

I have been very busy and distracted by the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting and will get back to Roambuilt on what the next steps might be as I get a local fabricator involved. Unfortunately it seems that everything in Gilroy has slowed down as they reel from the shootings.

I want to thank members who tried to help. I could not respond since it says I blocked outgoing messages and I can't figure out how to reset that setting...

Click to expand...

This is weird as I just ordered the brush guard from canadian distributor and had the same problem with holes not lining up but mine is a 2018 and you say above that the brush guard will only fit 2014-2018

The roambuilt quality nightmare continues. I'm installing a roambuilt front bumper and the two brackets are off by almost an inch. I basically had to cut the brackets and reweld them on. Not sure what's going on.