Beware Venturous Ozark Cab Toppers

[Mike5]

Venturous Ozark Cab Toppers look AWESOME online. RhinoRack tracks on top. Only weighs 125lb, but with a dynamic load rating of 750lb and a static load rating of 1500lbs. Perfect for large RTTs and awnings. Awesome, right?

Well, BEWARE.

I should note that I have not actually purchased one of these (thank goodness), but that's because the company is so incompetent that I was unable to. I tried VERY HARD to purchase one. I tried their "contact us for a quote" form. I tried their "contact us" form. I tried messaging them on Facebook, which I hate to use but which they update with photos and claims of rebates semi-regularly. ALWAYS BEWARE OF ANY COMPANY WITH NO PHONE NUMBER THAT YOU CANNOT CONTACT. I contacted my local authorized dealer who told me that yes, it's in their system but they've never seen them, never heard of them, and really wouldn't recommend anything from that company.

Next I started looking deeper. Searching for someway to contact them. Here's the basics:

LTA Manufacturing is the parent company, residing at 801 E North St, Ottawa, KS 66067. Glassdoor reviews from employees say that the CEO is an incompetent buffoon who doesn't know anything about marketing. Given that I can't get ahold of any sales person for their products, and cannot figure out availability or options, they're probably right. LTA Manufacturing owns ATC Truck Covers (check here for their 1.3 star Yelp reviews, ouch!), which was recently rebranded as Ranch Fiberglass (check here for their 1 star Better Business Bureau reviews, wow somehow it gets worse)

If you do have some perverse desire to waste your money on a shoddy unsupported product with no sales or support team, LTA Manufacturing can be reached at 1-800-983-2787 (that's also the old number for ATC Truck Covers), but don't expect them to be able to help you.

I just thought I'd put this out there in case anyone else someday does down the internet search rabbit hole trying to find information about this theoretically awesome JT topper.

I won't disagree with most of your post. However to call something shoddy you haven't actually used/owned is disingenuous. Buy from a good dealer that will take care of you. They are pretty nice. But you are right in that there is zero manufacture support.

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[Figmo]

As both dealer and manufacturer myself, I can say that the reason most manufacturers even HAVE dealers is because they want to be insulated from talking directly with customers as much as possible. Otherwise, they'd just sell direct.

which is not as negative as it first sounds. Staffing to handle phone calls from a handful of dealers is a whole different level than staffing to deal with hundreds of customers.

talking with end users is more manageable on an “as needed” basis rather than answering the same presale questions 100 times a day. Everyone thinks they’re special but odds are your questions have been asked and answered by dozens of others before you.

and even if you do have a unique question, better to let the dealer act as middleman so he can get educated as well.

For the next unique customer

 

[Mike5]

I should note that I looked into product this due to the earlier thread of someone who bought this product and posted photos. And, good for them! Notice they bought something that was in stock at their local dealer, and never had to try and contact the company. If they had, I think their experience would have been MUCH different. If there's one in stock near you and it doesn't have all the manufacturing errors and horrible warps that every single one of the BBB reviews compain about, go for it, as it DOES seem like a cool truck topper. I wish I could get something like that. Sadly... here we are.

I'm moving on and looking for a product with crummier stats but from an actual company to back it up.

Been real happy with mine. Bought it thru a local off-road dealer. Had to order it and wait a few weeks, but everything went well and it appears to be as advertised. No complaints at all. I did try to contact the manufacture and that didn't happen. Went back to the dealer and was able to get done what I wanted quickly and without issue. I'd but another one.

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