So I ordered one of Bortoff Fabrication's front bumpers somewhere around early to mid September, their communication via email was excellent and answered every question I had.

Fast forward to last week- I called them for a status check and have not received a single call back as of yet, I'm not calling them out but has anyone else talked with them in past couple of weeks?

Andrew

 

you are not the only one to have problems with that guy..... i know of others.

 

I do not beat up a guy when he is down, but they are having serious problems right now.
I would make a point of calling him every hour on the hour till you reach him and get specific information as to the status of your order, the build date, the ship date. If you paid by credit card, I would have your bank stop the payment on that order if you are unable to hear from them.
If they can produce, this will be great, but right now, you are in trouble.
Let us know how it goes.

 

FWIW, I don't know Nate, but I spotted this a few weeks back and when I saw your question I remembered it. I don't know if this helps you or not, but here is something he posted on 10/26 in another forum...

http://www.lrrforums.com/showthread....563#post162563

 

if Nate can get his shop together and the talk on the forums improves about his production time and response time i might be a customer in the future.

 

I have both the front bumper and sliders installed. My rear bumper is on order since June. I know how it is to run a small business and be the one & only worker. I have spoke with Nate & his wife on the phone. It shipped last Friday so I should see it tomorrow or Thursday. His fabrication is good, but order times are long right now. I believe he is honest. Just keep in contact with him and ask for a honest ship date.

 

In my experience Nate is a good guy, but has had some tuff things to deal with over the past 6 mo or so. In short his small shop has received a tidal wave of business and is experiencing some growing pains associated with that. Now coupled with the death of a close friend who also worked for/ with him I can't even imagine what he is going thru at this point.
The lack of communication seems to be the popular complaint, but if he spends all his time on the phone then when we he have time to fabricate? I would suggest emailing him.

BTW I ordered a rear bumper and a front skid plate from him and have received both and am happy, but it did take a little longer than expected. I have a few other things on order and have told him to put it on the back burner until he catches up.

Not to sound harsh but if you wanted top notch customer service and overnight delivery than you should have forked up the cash and went with one of the big boys for twice the price and even more if you wanted anything customized.

my 2c

 

playing devils advocate, maybe he should not take any more orders till he can catch up, OR supply and demand, if his demand is that high he should be able to raise his prices to slow the demand and make his life easier.

just my 2 c

 

bingo......

 

I think he did raise prices. My rear bumper with micro nerf bars, D-Shakels and integrated hitch and gas tank skid plate was $450. Now on his website it starts at $650. Which I think is still a deal. He let me pay in two installments and I was able to use some free money in my eBay bucks so It was a super deal for me. I have ended up almost making money on the rear bumper selling my old bumper and factor tow hitch on eBay.