Gobi Shipping Times

[utspoolup]

If you think waiting on Gobi is bad, buy something from Shrockworks (unfortunately the Xterra is not as common as Jeeps and Taco and 4Funner, so we only have a few places to go for certain things, such as front bumpers). While I love their bumper, JEBUS CHRISTO, 6 months for a bumper is nuts. But I have paid thousands for guns and waited over a year on a few occasions. So waiting is just part of life, but in all honesty, Gobi did right by me.

My experience with Gobi was totally awesome. Every time I called Sandra answered. She gave me all the answers I wanted. I ordered mine 11/11/2014, it was delivered on Christmas Eve, yeah Merry Ho Ho Ho to me and the truck. I bought when there was no sales or anything just called Gobi saying I wanted it (Michaels video helped as well, really like the out of town in 20 minute one). Sandra countered with a “free ladder, free accessory, free wind deflector, and free shipping” but it would take about 8 weeks. I told her I was in Iraq for a few more weeks, and use to waiting for stuff, so no biggie. She then took an additional 10% off. I paid 1345.50 delivered for a ranger rack, shrockworks compatible ladder, Axe/ shovel mount, and asked for the rack to be modified for a 40” bar and would pay extra if needed. They did this last one for free, and included the brackets to attach the light bar. At the time I think I was the first to do the lightbar mod on an Xterra rack. I know many X owners are now getting the front center supports removed for a light bar.

Later I purchased the hi-lift bracket for the other side of the rack, and they had it to my door in a few days. I love the rack and use it often as I have a RTT. My daughter and I have watched a parade from it once, Ive used Pelican cases and plano cases on top during vacations/ holidays, it just great, and I would not hesitate to buy again.

 

[Captain Josh]

Options for roof racks on Xterras are pretty limited as well. Gobi seems to be the best I've found. $1,400+!

 

[Loup407]

I don't know how much help I'll be, but thought I'd share my experience. I wanted to get a Gobi rack after buying my FJC. Their website was prehistoric, and I could never get an actual person on the phone. I realized they were a 30 minute drive, so just drove to their facility. They had racks everywhere, but not so many people. It became clear that while they may be passionate about building high quality racks, they appeared to have no process, for anything, in place. As a business owner, I was kind of appalled. I explained what I wanted, and a couple of guys dropped what they were doing, pulled off my OEM rack and installed my stealth rack. They were super nice and did a great job. They took forever to process my credit card, and even longer to produce a receipt. My rack had held up for years, including having a tree land on my truck during a snowstorm. As great as the product is, the company appears to be in serious disarray. Their website hasn't changed in years, and it's impossible to talk to anyone. If I had to replace my rack, I probably would get something else. My experience with other manufacturers, like ARB, who have superior customer service, has convinced me I don't have to put up with crappy service. Your mileage may vary. Good luck!

 

[mechman0925]

Thanks for the replies! Lot's of good information. Also...special thanks to @First State Overland for the pics. VERY HELPFUL!

As a quick update...the Gobi Customer Service people must have had the hair on the back of their necks twitching yesterday as I wrote about them because I got an email late yesterday. Apparently, my rack is already in transit is scheduled to hit the local freight terminal this week. Exciting news. Hopefully, I can schedule delivery for Friday since I leave for South Dakota on Saturday morning.

Can't wait to install this bad boy!

Hi Folks!

Posting this as equal parts "vent" & "question" thread. haha.

I ordered my Gobi rack through Trail Duty back on 9/13 with the lead time of 6-8 weeks. On 11/3, Trail Duty reached out to me to say that Gobi stated that my rack would ship within 2 weeks. Unfortunately, here we are at 12/12 and still no rack. Trail Duty (who have been great so far in responding) have stated that Gobi has gone silent in their responses. They haven't heard anything regarding their recent inquiries.

I've also tried calling Gobi directly but just get their voicemail each time. Sent them an email directly as well. I'm working on a 4,200 mile road trip for 12/17 thru 12/24 up to the Black Hills from Florida. I was hoping to have the rack for the trip but I can live without. My only fear now is the rack arriving while I am out of town.

My question(s) to the community:

• Has anyone had similar issues with Gobi? Their product always comes highly recommended by current owners, but the customer service seems lacking right now. Makes me leery when company's customer service acts likes this.
• To the people who have a Gobi currently:
  • How was the delivery experience?
  • I assume, since it ships less than truckload (LTL) freight, that it's tailgate delivery? Or, do they have a liftgate?
  • Has anyone tried to do a will-call with the freight company or schedule a specific delivery date several days out? A lot of freight companies won't hold product for more than a couple of days since warehouse space = money and extra liability. Hopefully, this company will hold it until I get back in town...assuming it ships while I am gone.

Gobi's site is kind of lacking in these details and I haven't been able to find any threads that talk about the actual delivery experience itself (maybe it's my poor searching skills).

Thanks all!

Brad I'm having the same experience. I am at 10 weeks + Along with the Trail Duty rep telling me 2 times he would look into it and call, not one call, now it's looking like he is avoiding me as I can't get anyone to pickup on the phone. It will now screw up my plans like many have said. It would be great if TD would just be honest and up front about it.

 

[Levidale]

These racks are nice but wow! There expensive!

 

[VDawg1115]

These racks are nice but wow! There expensive!

You get what you pay for. I love mine. All their accessories are lockable also. Just don't plan to have the rack by any trips, it'll never make it based on the wait time they give you. Lol

 

[Itacal]

I got so incredibly lucky. I have always wanted a Gobi, but was going to go with a Front Runner (Wait time, mainly, but I also liked their rack for Xterra), then I found a sweet deal on a Gobi Stealth, still in the box, less than half of retail ... I going to pick it up on Tuesday.

 

[utspoolup]

You bought Hborns rack huh. Congrats. You will like it... except for the install. Riv nuts blow, Take your time loosening the factory bolts on the rack. Slightly tighten to break the locktite bond then loosen. Don't use power tools, and I recommend 3/8" ratchet adapters bits for it, makes it less a PITA, but the constant fear of stripping a rivnut is always there till done.

You will need a T27 torx bit and a 4mm allen bit, again, spend the money now on a socket version of these for ease of install. I found Amazon has them cheaper than home depot. But they are not expensive to begin with (a few bucks each).

Read this if you have not already.
http://www.thenewx.org/forum/15-how-tos/29653-how-gobi-ranger-roof-rack-installation.html

And congrats on your rack.

 

[Itacal]

Wow! What a gigantic pain in the arse! Thanks for the heads up and the link.

 

[BerettaMato]

I talked to Gobi allot this last two months. They have been open about there long wait times. I talked to Alex she has been great and always been easy to get a hold of. She said that trail gear and company's like it post 4-6 weeks to get more sales and then leave Gobi as the bad guy when it goes over. She said they send orders in without ever calling on lead times. They have a new customer service system and answer all calls or emails in 24hrs now M-F. They will also match any posted online offer to fix the problems with the middle man. If you are lucky and live in Colorado or drive to there shop they will even install it for you. Lets all remember this is a custom product made to order by a US company. Hopefully going forward there customer service will be improved with these changes.

 

[Parker75]

I have nothing but a positive experience ordering my Gobi Ranger Rack.

They are very open that it will take between 8-12 weeks based on the custom order fabrication and shipment.

I couldn't be any happier with the quality of the final product and have already put it to good use.

The patience is worth the cost.

Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk

 

[gravitywell]

I had more communication issues with Trail Duty, Than Gobi. I just stopped dealing with the middle man and worked with Gobi directly. They were always super responsive, helpful and timely in their customer service.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

 

[Sam Haines]

Ordered mine the first week of March... still no shipping date. It sure seems like there are systemic issues with all of their core business processes. A company with a great product and a healthy backlog of work should be able to pull some resources together to improve their throughput. Easy to say from the sidelines - would be fascinating to talk with their leadership to find out where the bottlenecks are.

 

[luchaDor]

If you think waiting on Gobi is bad, buy something from Shrockworks (unfortunately the Xterra is not as common as Jeeps and Taco and 4Funner, so we only have a few places to go for certain things, such as front bumpers). While I love their bumper, JEBUS CHRISTO, 6 months for a bumper is nuts. But I have paid thousands for guns and waited over a year on a few occasions. So waiting is just part of life, but in all honesty, Gobi did right by me.

My experience with Gobi was totally awesome. Every time I called Sandra answered. She gave me all the answers I wanted. I ordered mine 11/11/2014, it was delivered on Christmas Eve, yeah Merry Ho Ho Ho to me and the truck. I bought when there was no sales or anything just called Gobi saying I wanted it (Michaels video helped as well, really like the out of town in 20 minute one). Sandra countered with a “free ladder, free accessory, free wind deflector, and free shipping” but it would take about 8 weeks. I told her I was in Iraq for a few more weeks, and use to waiting for stuff, so no biggie. She then took an additional 10% off. I paid 1345.50 delivered for a ranger rack, shrockworks compatible ladder, Axe/ shovel mount, and asked for the rack to be modified for a 40” bar and would pay extra if needed. They did this last one for free, and included the brackets to attach the light bar. At the time I think I was the first to do the lightbar mod on an Xterra rack. I know many X owners are now getting the front center supports removed for a light bar.

Later I purchased the hi-lift bracket for the other side of the rack, and they had it to my door in a few days. I love the rack and use it often as I have a RTT. My daughter and I have watched a parade from it once, Ive used Pelican cases and plano cases on top during vacations/ holidays, it just great, and I would not hesitate to buy again.

Have you tried Wam Bumpers? They're getting very good reviews as well.

 

[utspoolup]

I already own the bumpers (owned the Shrock before I owned the X... yeah backwards I know but I palnned what I wanted to do and started early on everything. Hence first hand account of the wait. I really like my setup (Shrock front, Maxterra jerrycan rear). I was relating waiting to something along the lines of this, but Gobi has always gave me good communication. I just had to replace the wind deflector due to it peeling like a mofo. They hooked me up and I was able to get it without the logo (which they include the sticker with it incase you want to add it later or to something else) and I picked up a overlandbound.com banner to run up there.

As for WAM I wish them the best of luck and have heard good things so far, but the picked the absolute worse place to start their operation. To base it out of the same building that TAG/ KMA already screwed many community members from is risky, I hope they succeed but based off of the history of that building, they drew many negatives from that. But props to them making many happy already.

 

[MagnoliaOverland]

I'll be honest I was going too order a rear ladder for my GX from them but after reading and hearing all the bad reviews I just decided to pass.

 

[Itacal]

I picked up my Gobi Stealth today from fellow member Zheking, who was kind enough to bring it back with him from North Carolina. Both of us bought items from a fellow (different) forum member and he drove to North Carolina to pick up the items for us ... Actually, it was the first time I'd ever actually met up with anyone from the forum ... Great guy, great experience!

 

[LostInSocal]

I ordered mine through the group buy on t4r.org. I believe lead time was supposedly 8 - 12 weeks but it took over 16 weeks. I knew it was going to be slow from all the posts I'd read before placing my order so it didn't bother me all that much. I felt it was worth the wait once I received and installed it. 20/20 hindsight I probably should have gone with the ranger rather than the stealth.

 

[MtMan]

I talked to someone at Gobi Racks and the lead time is 8 - 12 weeks if I ordered in the next few days. I have heard that the actual lead times have been more like 16 weeks based on a few members of local Jeep clubs that have recently received theirs after the long wait. They are both very happy with the racks so they feel the wait was worth it...

 

[NWoverlander]

I purchased a stealth rack for my 5th Gen and received it around the time they indicated. I was pleased with my dealings at that point. SINCE THEN>>>> NOT SO MUCH. approximately 2 months ago I ordered awning brackets for my 4runner rack and about 2 months later I received the wrong ones. Then repeated calls with no answer or responses to my voice messages or emails over the period of several weeks.
When I finally got a response, I was asked to send pics of the errant brackets, which I did (no problem). No response for approximately 1 week to indicate whether they were sending the correct ones or that they had even seen my email. I finally was told that they would ship on that Friday or the following Monday. 10 week days later and no brackets. I followed up with a not so pleasant email and I just received an email saying the brackets are scheduled to ship out on Monday 7/10. This is completely ridiculous. How does a company become successful like Gobi with such poor customer service, regardless of the quality of the product? I don't ask for speed, just a quality product and customer service with straight answers and follow through.