Archetype customer service

[keester]

likewise, I have emailed and gotten no response. I did message them on here and got a response about how they are understaffed and a small business. That is somewhat understandable, but stop taking orders or keep up with expected delivery dates. Shipping products out at the promised timeframe is part of business, especially with such a long wait.

It is now past the 8-10 weeks of my order date so I would hope my order goes out soon.

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[Summit981]

I’ve ordered 2 or 3 items for my Bronco
Badlands, since 2023, including custom fender badges and super nice BAM dash mount powder coated in a matte “Area 51” color. Yes, these items (especially when they do powder coating) take weeks and sometimes months to receive. But in every case, I did receive a notice of shipping and all items I ordered did arrive. Could they improve their customer notification frequency? Sure. But they’ve never stiffed me and the products are solid.

 

[BUCKIN6VA]

I am wondering if anyone has ordered from Archetype Racing in the last 6 months and been able to get in touch with them recently? I placed an order with them back on January 2nd. I was getting periodic updates for a while, but have not received any update in the last two and a half months. I have emailed them several times dating back to April and no longer receive responses about my order. I am curious if anyone has had the same experience or had better luck getting in touch with them? Anyone know another way to get in touch with them versus email?

Thanks

FWIW those weren’t even updates - they were just spammed out emails saying “we’re still working” I spent almost two months working through a dispute on my CC after attempting to cancel and they said “we can’t cancel, initiate a dispute” then they never responded to the dispute. Left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[HighVelocity]

All the ills of the world would be solved if only you could buy a Bugatti at Walmart.

 

[BroncoDymond88]

I'll jump in on this thread, why not. I was one of the first to receive my Bronco back in '21 and one of the first to order parts from AR. I'm now on my second Bronco and every piece I purchased from them came over to my new Bronco. I've been seeing the frustration build for years, I've also seen Curtis on the forum apologizing and explaining over and over what he has been doing to invest and ramp up production, as well as design and release new, exciting accessories. You could try and make the case that he's not running his business in a satisfactory way, and know that it's your right to shop somewhere else. Here are a few things I've learned about AR over the years:

1. Curtis is not willing to overwork his staff. He owns a very small business with high startup costs and is trying to be strategic about where he and his staff spend their time, and he clearly cares about them and their work/life balance.

2. The parts they make are impeccable quality, will last you years, and are worth it. This is not the Chinese crap that gets banged out and rusts in weeks.

3. AR has also been open to customizing orders in the past, which is a GREAT customer service experience, and unfortunately costs them more in time (not sure if they still do this).

It's okay to be frustrated, I get it, it's frustrating to spend money on something you don't see for months. Know that going in and save yourself frustration. For future purchasers reading this, know that your order will be delayed, but it will be worth having it when you get it. Cut the guy some slack and support this American business.

 

[Lujess]

My custom fender badges were a 6 month process from order to receipt of the final product (had to be sent back due to a mistake they made on the color I ordered). I was able to get periodic updates from Tracy. The quality of their work is exceptional. The fact that Curtis is in here and will reply to PMs is great. As others have said...small shop and crazy gyrations in demand.

 

[stampede1]

All the ills of the world would be solved if only you could buy a Bugatti at Walmart.

Wait, you mean you can’t?

 

[BroncoBuckaroo]

Just a note, if you go to their website and click on filter and pick “in stock” you will get these items in a week or so.

Archetype racing is a boutique Made in USA manufacturer. Trying to find people to actually come in to work, design, prototype, testing, material acquisition and inflation increases is a challenge for sure, much less than hiring a whole customer service crew for Such a small company would make these products even more expensive than they are now. These products are not made in China with Extreme low wages and pumping out plastic parts and products. You are literally buying hand crafted, super high quality works of industrial art. Expect to get what you pay for, which will be high quality in every way. Would it be nice to get their products in a couple days because they have a huge work force …sure would. Do you want to pay triple the price? I don’t. I think about how long it took to get my 2021 Bronco …from a huge company like Ford. Everything I ordered from Archetype was sent to me and was of the best quality and design..great products. Hats off to these guys to take a risk to invest big money and start a company like this. So maybe the owner should let people know when they buy these items to ”expect a wait to receive your product, but it will be worth it” . Might lose the Amazon folk, but will get a high quality product.

 

[F OR D]

I'll jump in on this thread, why not. I was one of the first to receive my Bronco back in '21 and one of the first to order parts from AR. I'm now on my second Bronco and every piece I purchased from them came over to my new Bronco. I've been seeing the frustration build for years, I've also seen Curtis on the forum apologizing and explaining over and over what he has been doing to invest and ramp up production, as well as design and release new, exciting accessories. You could try and make the case that he's not running his business in a satisfactory way, and know that it's your right to shop somewhere else. Here are a few things I've learned about AR over the years:

1. Curtis is not willing to overwork his staff. He owns a very small business with high startup costs and is trying to be strategic about where he and his staff spend their time, and he clearly cares about them and their work/life balance.

2. The parts they make are impeccable quality, will last you years, and are worth it. This is not the Chinese crap that gets banged out and rusts in weeks.

3. AR has also been open to customizing orders in the past, which is a GREAT customer service experience, and unfortunately costs them more in time (not sure if they still do this).

It's okay to be frustrated, I get it, it's frustrating to spend money on something you don't see for months. Know that going in and save yourself frustration. For future purchasers reading this, know that your order will be delayed, but it will be worth having it when you get it. Cut the guy some slack and support this American business.

LOL.

When you got or how many broncos you owned is irrelevant. How employees are managed are paid are irrelevant to the customer.

Quality of product matters, they nailed that.

They need to manage a business correctly regardless of location, American, Canadian, UK, etc. again irrelevant. Set customer expectations, communicate, and meet deadlines or communicate delays. Regardless of location that is the core of any business. This is an easy fix.

Oh right, I pay with American dollars and use tons of American small businesses on this forum who do the above. I love AR and will order from them again. They make it harder on themselves not doing this.

 

[HighVelocity]

Charging upon shipment would alleviate most customers' concerns. However, there are those who think everything is fucking Amazon. Those people you cannot reach.

Having worked for a Mom & Pop machine shop/manufacturer, I've seen how manually entering payment info upon shipping works. It's a major PITA and you always get those cards that are declined, which requires additional work.

 

[Neps]

Might lose the Amazon folk, but will get a high quality product.

Quality of product matters, they nailed that.

Quality of any product or service is always viewed from the perspective of the customer, if a substantial percentage of your customers are unhappy then you have not produced/provided Quality to those customers.

It seems that providing accurate estimates of product availability, and/or perhaps only charging a deposit until shipped would eliminate the majority of customer complaints, but AR seems unwilling to adjust delivery estimates to reflect actual capability and they continue to charge full price knowing full well they cannot deliver when promised.

Many posts here talk about price, but I have not seen any complaints regarding price. What I do understand is that charging a customer full price with an promise to ship in XX weeks, knowing that the manufacturer can not ship is unlawful in many jurisdictions.

All they need to do is be honest.

 

[userdude]

Charging upon shipment would alleviate most customers' concerns. However, there are those who think everything is fucking Amazon. Those people you cannot reach.

Having worked for a Mom & Pop machine shop/manufacturer, I've seen how manually entering payment info upon shipping works. It's a major PITA and you always get those cards that are declined, which requires additional work.

Another option is to produce what you're going to sell, not sell what you're going to produce. I understand of course producing expensive billet aluminum products on limited machine time before they have a buyer is (a little) more expensive, but hell they're expensive already. This is usually called an investment.

Start a mailing list to notify people when they've been produced, show them as stock on the site that ships in a known period of time, schedule building the parts at a clip/frequency that maintains periodic production throughout the year, and offer a custom service with upfront explanation of the time needed and why (limited machine scheduling time).

And somebody mentioned people coming to 6g to read about AR's quality and delivery/customer service issues and know they'll get what they paid for eventually. That's backwards; AR should not say "two months" when they know looking at their records it's averaging eight months. Be upfront and tell them why, people can give goodwill if they're given the opportunity.

 

[HighVelocity]

Some just like to crank the drama dial to 11.

Nothing they make is life supporting.

Yeah, he's way behind on my shift knob. So what? I mostly expected it. I have yet to see them flat out not deliver.

Maybe a lifetime of buying NFA items has tempered and adjusted my patience threshold.

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