Product lead time/delivery

[Fishhawk]

I am in a bit of a quandary and looking for some guidance as I don't have much experience ordering big ticket items for my Gladiator. I recently ordered a LoD bed roof rack through Quadratech, of course they took my money right away. They provided no delivery date, when emailed them they checked into the delivery date and replied back approximately 4-6 weeks for delivery but this was an estimate, another wards it could be longer. This is the first big ticket item I ordered and the RTT from Amazon should be delivered in the next couple of weeks. I don't want to wait several months for the bed rack, should I cancel my order and place a new order? Any insight would be helpful. Thanks, John.

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[Hootbro]

Quadratech has moved a lot from being a stocking vendor to a drop ship one. There is no Magic 8 Ball prediction that cancelling and reordering will get it to you any sooner.

 

[Rahkmalla]

Ah @Quadratec... they never know anything and sure make you wait on hold a VERY long time to find that out. I'm not saying i'll never buy from quadratec again... but if it's a product that's available anywhere else, i'll buy it elsewhere even if it's (within reason) more money.

Just an FYI, quadratec generally does not take possession of such large items, they are probably acting as a drop-shipper in this transaction. You can probably call LoD and find out when your rack is getting shipped with a pretty reasonable estimate... though quadratec (being the ones who took your money) could do that too... they just choose not to bother.

 

[Fishhawk]

Thanks guys for the quick response. I just cancelled my order with Quadratech, should have a refund within 24-48 hrs. I've done a ton of research and honestly didn't think it would be so hard to find a simple "adjustable" roof rack for a RTT. I don't have the bed trail rail system. At this point I'm leaning toward just ordering the standard cab-high rack (non-adjustable), a low rack makes me nervous because it may not accommodate the RTT, the way I want. Any suggestions on a simple rack that attaches without the bed rail system, would be helpful. Have a great day and thank you again for the input.

 

[Mr Miami]

If you think finding things out of stock and/or long waiting times is the exception, then you are in for a surprise. Things will only get worse or at the very least, more expensive.

My wife is in the marine business and they import about 75% of the products they sell (mostly for larger boats, yachts and ships). She is the procurement manager for all imports and exports within the company. Now, with all of the tariffs, and changes to tariff rates based on the which way the wind is blowing, trying to maintain a reasonable level of inventory is nearly impossible. Since many of the items she sells are drivetrain components as opposed to non-essential parts, she must have parts readily available for customers when a critical need exists, i.e. a "boat down" situation.

You wake up in the morning, turn on the news, and His Majesty has decided to put a 25% tariff on Country A. Well, guess what, there can be a run on parts and components by customers who want to buy what's available in stock (we're often talking about components that cost 10's of thousands of dollars or more) just to have the items in their stock to avoid potential high tariffs. So more production is scheduled. Then, the tariffs, in some cases, are reduced and now you are left with excess inventory that will sit longer (potentially months or years) and sales will significantly drop.

She is part of a multi-national corporation and can absorb some of the cash flow changes due to their size, but that is not the case with many small and mid-sized companies. Believe me, I live with her, and see and hear her frustration every day.

So back to the Jeep parts, just be aware that we are dealing with a lot of smaller companies for aftermarket stuff and they are under a lot of pressure to stock inventory but at the same time, losing profits and having to make decisions about what they can realistically stock since believe it or not, the BS about other countries paying the tariffs is just that; BS. My wife authorizes payments once they reach a certain thresh hold for her company. And you can ask her, has her company ever received a dime from another country to offset the tariffs? No. Will they? Not under any plan the government has devised. So who ultimately pays the bill? You and I.

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