What has happened to Quadratec?

[Viking Jeeper]

I miss the days of no smart phones. Yes, there's no doubt they've done some good. However, we're now just starting to experience the implications of the smart phone addiction problem. Hint, it's not making some people smarter!

I recently had a large tree removed and stump ground. Three guys got it done pretty quick. The guy who was running the stump grinder was staring at his phone the ENTIRE operation, unloading, driving, grinding, loading. He was working the machine with his left and and his phone with his right hand. He must do it all the time because me managed to not fuck anything up.

 

[primetime4]

Not sure what has happeded to Quadratec. I have gotten used to a 25% backorder rate with them. Whether true or not, they like so many others have blamed Covid. A few months ago I place an order for Bestop window sliders. They backordered them. And continued to back order them. Finally I gave up and noticed that their competion had them in stock for $10 more. I placed the order and had them in less than a week. Later that week I happened to check Quadratec and they now had them in stock at a higher price. I suspected that their ploy was to wait for me to give up, cancel the order, and then raise the price rather than honor the price they had advertised. A month ago I ordered some front axel shafts. Yup backordered. Quadratec kept giving me updates still out of stock. I checked with a couple other sources. They had stock at a price $100 or more higher. As of today Quadractec no longer shows an anticipated ship date. So I have cancelled the order. Once I receive confirmation of the cancellation, I will order from another source. I suspect that Quadratec will have inventory at a higher price very soon. They used to be my First Go To source for parts. Now I check them last, and only if they do have the lower price, and have in stock.

I am guessing there is more to this than Quadratec simply being out to get you. In regards to Bestop inventory, Quadratec used to always have stock ahead of other online places to the point it almost seemed like a partnership. But since they started offering their own line of tops, I see Bestop availability being hit or miss more and more. This could be partly due to Covid, partly to encourage people to buy their own line of tops and partly as retaliation from Bestop for selling their own brand. Some brands will also do this if you try to sell for anything other than MSRP such as Amazon. Does anyone remember being able to buy a Trektop NX off Amazon for $600 but good luck seeing any in stock?

If you think this is bad, try to buy a decent mountain bike these days. Bike companies are holding bike shops hostage over inventory.

 

[DuPont]

I am guessing there is more to this than Quadratec simply being out to get you. In regards to Bestop inventory, Quadratec used to always have stock ahead of other online places to the point it almost seemed like a partnership. But since they started offering their own line of tops, I see Bestop availability being hit or miss more and more. This could be partly due to Covid, partly to encourage people to buy their own line of tops and partly as retaliation from Bestop for selling their own brand. Some brands will also do this if you try to sell for anything other than MSRP such as Amazon. Does anyone remember being able to buy a Trektop NX off Amazon for $600 but good luck seeing any in stock?

If you think this is bad, try to buy a decent mountain bike these days. Bike companies are holding bike shops hostage over inventory.

I don't think anybody is out to get me.....this appears to be a policy at Quadratec. For a company with the reputation they are supposed to have, and had, they are out of stock a lot. Now that wouldn't be an issue if everyone was the same, they are not. I found 3 suppliers not exclusive to the Jeep and offroad buyer, that have stock, in mulitples of the axles I needed. Yet Quadratec has been out for 4 weeks! Glad we have a choice when making a buying decision. The real issue is communication.

 

[Fishtaco]

A lot of prices have been rising, everywhere for a wide range of things, not just Jeep parts. And as @mrblaine has rightly pointed out, some of those are almost impossible to predict for businesses.

I placed an order with Quadratec a couple of days ago, I only picked items that showed as in stock. But the order now says all of the items are on vendor back order. A bit frustrating, but in my case it is an international order so maybe rather than direct shipment from some vendors they need to go to Quadratec for consolidation into a single shipment. I have to balance that frustration with the fact that my order seems to have been adjusted with a c.2.5% discount applied after I placed the order - not a lot but welcome nonetheless.

Personally I would be surprised if a company would put the sale of a product line on hold, just waiting until one person cancels an order. I can't see that being an economically rational approach as it could cost them an unknown, but possibly relatively large number of sales.

I have always found Hailey from @Quadratec to be extremely helpful and I know she has intervened to help other forum mem ers as well when there have been issues.

Single shipment from two different warehouses is usually what happens with Quadratec for International, the combined order is shipped from one location so delays are usually combining the items before full dispatch but in US it can be shipped from any warehouse even as part order because its free shipping.

Reliance on online inventory is useless given many companies do not update their inventory enough, I have resorted to the old way, call the store and see if they have the stock before I purchase online or waste my time going to buy it only to find out its out of stock when you get there but was in stock online.

 

[mrblaine]

Well everyone is selling all then can NOW...and if you are the only game in town, you can pretty much charge what you want, and provide good or bad customer service and it won't matter in the future. Maybe besides being Old I am Old Fashion when it comes to customer service. And I know you know what I am talking about. I have used your company for both the Johnny washers and the nutserts for the skid plate. You order processing was first class. Products were priced very competitively. They shipped quickly. But what really impressed me was your attention to my emails, even on the weekend when I had problems getting the nutsert tool to properly seat. I guess companies like yours spoiled me into thinking every company should behave that way. I may be out of touch with reality LOL....did I mention I was old?

I don't disagree that customer service and good at that is what should matter. That isn't reality right now unfortunately. I do my best for everyone. Not everyone understands that even the little things matter.

 

[Fishtaco]

Reliance on Chinese goods and cheap overseas labor!

In West australia (no Covid) shops and businesses are full of vacancy signs but the employment hand out queues are as long as ever.
This shows the reliance on overseas temporary labor used before the Covid travel restrictions that are keeping them stuck in their own Countries.

With shortages shipping containers and costs are the problem, even though things may be stated as US/UK/AU Made lots of the materials that are needed to make that US/UK/AU made may still come from China.
I was shocked at the amount of TJ stuff for sale on Ali baba I am pretty sure Quadratec isnt!

 

[MikeE024]

However, we're now just starting to experience the implications of the smart phone addiction problem. Hint, it's not making some people smarter!

Idk, pretty sure me reading your post on my phone made I more smarter.

 

[Tjdisco]

Y

Not sure what has happeded to Quadratec. I have gotten used to a 25% backorder rate with them. Whether true or not, they like so many others have blamed Covid. A few months ago I place an order for Bestop window sliders. They backordered them. And continued to back order them. Finally I gave up and noticed that their competion had them in stock for $10 more. I placed the order and had them in less than a week. Later that week I happened to check Quadratec and they now had them in stock at a higher price. I suspected that their ploy was to wait for me to give up, cancel the order, and then raise the price rather than honor the price they had advertised. A month ago I ordered some front axel shafts. Yup backordered. Quadratec kept giving me updates still out of stock. I checked with a couple other sources. They had stock at a price $100 or more higher. As of today Quadractec no longer shows an anticipated ship date. So I have cancelled the order. Once I receive confirmation of the cancellation, I will order from another source. I suspect that Quadratec will have inventory at a higher price very soon. They used to be my First Go To source for parts. Now I check them last, and only if they do have the lower price, and have

I had similar issues with some floor mats. It was out of stock with a month or so time to get them .. kept checking and a few days later they were in stock and I had them on my porch in a few days no change in price. I think it’s the unpredictability of overseas shipping. There’s is a mess and it’s starting to cause a hike in prices. I noticed that everywhere when ordering now.

 

[MikeE024]

Reliance on Chinese goods and cheap overseas labor!

Indeed.

Many (and probably most) USA designed and assembled products use raw materials sourced from overseas. Been this way for a while now. Now we have the pleasure of experiencing globalization in its finest moment.

Greed is at the heart of the problem and the consumers’ are also to blame. People want maximum value for their money spent. Walmart’s an obvious example of a company exploiting that for decades now (through efficiency).

People stopped going to mom and pop stores and slowly the Walmart model became the standard way to survive in commerce. Generally, it’s tough/nearly impossible to compete against manufactures that are allowed to pay their workers shit wages and don’t worry about pollution.

 

[GASnBRASS]

*Nevermind, my drunk rant will never be seen by the stupid retailers playing stupid games and giving out stupid prizes.*

 

[Rattler6]

I've had my fill of the idiots who want to "bid" the job. They give me a price after I tell them what I want done. Then they haul ass through it as fast as possible and fully miss getting half of it correct. I thought it might be more prudent to toss out an hourly rate, fuck the bidding bullshit and get someone who might work slower but be more attentive. Apparently I am way out of touch with what "licensed" gardeners are supposed to get paid. That and if you need a license to be a gardener, there is something very wrong in this world.

The requirements to being a licensed gardner are more than you'd think in many states. You're really insulting them by offering them $25 an hour to rake leaves. Hire a general laborer for that.

 

[Apparition]

Placed an order for more parts today and the company I ordered from called me to confirm if the wait was acceptable before finalizing my order. I said I understood and appreciated the heads up please place the order.

I had been in communication with the actual manufacturer of the product earlier and they quoted 2 weeks better than who I ordered from and it’ll ship straight to me so the people I ordered from were being cautious.

Communication is good.

 

[mrblaine]

The requirements to being a licensed gardner are more than you'd think in many states. You're really insulting them by offering them $25 an hour to rake leaves. Hire a general laborer for that.

I didn't ask to hire a licensed gardener. I asked to hire someone to rake some leaves, pull some weeds, bag it, stack it by the street, and follow direction. I also explicitly explained that I did NOT need a professional gardener, I do not have even 1 square inch of lawn that needs mowing. I was asked if I needed a gardening service to which I replied NO, just someone that can do some yard work, nothing more. That and given your response, I'm pretty sure you are one of the twats on that page being fucking stupid about yard work.

 

[Viking Jeeper]

WTF is a licensed gardener?

 

[Apparition]

WTF is a licensed gardener?

I can see that for chemical application

 

[mrblaine]

WTF is a licensed gardener?

According to what I learned today it is some cunt who makes 50 bucks an hour pushing a lawnmower around.

 

[Viking Jeeper]

According to what I learned today it is someone who makes 50 bucks an hour pushing a lawnmower around.

Bringing down $100k a year!

 

[qslim]

Many people really don't want to make an effort anymore.

Example: we were travelling over the weekend.

Ate out nearly all meals.

Nearly every restaurant had a sign saying something to the affect of "work with us, we are short staffed and trying".

Nearly every place we ate had more staff than patrons.

They all offered shitty service, long waits with empty glasses.

As workers stood around looking at their phones or talking.

We had a similar experience last week. We don't eat out often here at home, but took the 9 year old boy out to his favorite place as a reward for some marks at school. Signs on the front said "Due to a staffing shortage we're experiencing longer wait times, thanks for your patience!" or something like that. The place was half-full! The entire left side of the restaurant was completely empty, and the other side was packed. Not enough servers to satisfy all the customers.

Seems like nothing but opportunity minus The Gov't. Feel free to move this post to the political forum @Chris.

 

[Apparition]

I didn't ask to hire a licensed gardener. I asked to hire someone to rake some leaves, pull some weeds, bag it, stack it by the street, and follow direction. I also explicitly explained that I did NOT need a professional gardener, I do not have even 1 square inch of lawn that needs mowing. I was asked if I needed a gardening service to which I replied NO, just someone that can do some yard work, nothing more. That and given your response, I'm pretty sure you are one of the twats on that page being fucking stupid about yard work.

Were you providing the equipment needed? That to me would change the role to a laborer not gardener. Gardeners should have equipment.

 

[qslim]

Oh boy. I could write a 1.5 terabyte diatribe on this subject

That's a lot of 3.5" floppies. Better have a big truck to get the word out.