Bad Experience with OR-Fab Products and Customer Service

Jerry Ward

Adventurer
I want to share an ongoing issue I am having with a product made by OR-Fab and the lack of response/solution by the company itself. I only do this as a "heads up" to other folks who may be considering doing business with them in the future.
I purchased the Rear Rock Slider bumper for my '14 JKU back in October of 2014. Cost was just shy of $525 shipped. Went to install the bumper and there was hardware missing and some of what was included was the wrong size. After a 2 hour delay, trip to town, $17, and driving w/out rear protection I got it installed and all was good. I did make a quick call to OR-FAB to let them know about the missing/incorrect hardware and spoke with Benjamin; whose attitude was one of apathy. Oh well- I went on my merry way.
Fast forward to February of this year and I began to notice some rust spots on the welds of the bumper. Three weeks ago, I gave the Jeep a thorough looking over and discovered that the rust had grown significantly and popped up in several additional locations on the bumper; not just the welds. There is also finish literally flaking off some of that flat areas! I called OR-Fab to notify them about my USA-made $500 bumper rusting after a few months and received no apology or humble response. Instead I got excuses ranging from blaming the 3rd party powder coating outfit to me choosing the wrong bumper for my climate. Low and behold, it was Benjamin again who I spoke to! I requested a partial refund for the poor product, to which I was told it would have to be authorized by the president of the company who was out of town. That was 16 days ago and as of this morning I still have no resolution to this issue.
I actively chose a USA-made bumper in anticipation of a higher quality product and better service. I was more than willing to pay the inflated price to get that quality/service. Instead, I've received a sub-par product and no service of any kind. Both times I have spoken with Benjamin he has acted less than professional, too cool for school, and has shown no remorse for the trouble this has caused. The elusive president of the company has, to my knowledge, not approved the refund and I may or may not ever find out. The poor finish on the bumper itself is just a wee bit better than spray paint.
I've included a few photos of the rusting bumper. Keep in mind that this bumper has been on the Jeep for less than 6 months. All of the other components of my vehicle, including the aftermarket rail sliders and front bumper made by a different manufacturer, show no signs of rust. We do not use salt on our roads here in Alaska, so that is not a factor either.
I felt this was worth sharing with you all here. I will never do business with OR-Fab again in any capacity. It's bad enough(and expected occasionally) that a poor product sneaks through QC, but when the manufacturer makes no apology or attempt to right the wrong it's a slap in the face to all of us who make a conscious decision to do business with that company.
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Davev1954

Supporting Grouch
You'll prolly hear back from them now! I'm shopping for bumpers right now so I appreciate this timely info. They were on my short list.
 

Jerry Ward

Adventurer
Sure thing Dave! Glad it helped someone. There are plenty of other companies out there that make a good product and stand behind it. If and when I do get this resolved I'll post a follow-up here and share the final outcome. Hopefully they come through and make it right, but at over 2 weeks with no results and lots of excuses I'm skeptical.
 
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Sorry to hear about your issues, I have been there with a similar product, hopfully you can get a better result from them than the company I was dealing with!
 

toxicity_27

Adventurer
Sounds like my experience with Teraflex. May need to post up my issues with them so others can be aware of it as well.
 
same issue with WARN and 4 wheel parts

Went round and round about rust, their response i live within 4 miles of the coast sits the salt air. ****** never did get any results and as a result I won't buy form them again.. My money will go somewhere else
 

southpier

Expedition Leader
i'll bet there's nothing in their advertising that indicates the products are only meant for arid climates!
 

MTSN

Explorer
When I was in the Land Cruiser world, I lamented there were so few suppliers for aftermarket goods, albeit the ones out there like Slee and ARB are top notch quality. I was excited to come back to the Jeep world because there are exponentially more aftermarket suppliers (thus hopefully more affordable options), but from researching it seems like the top quality companies are a short list just like the Land Cruiser stuff.
 

afbond03

Adventurer
When it comes to powder coating and rust...you mid as well just beat your head into a concrete wall because you won't get anywhere, even with very reputable companies. I prefer to just order my stuff RAW and either just rattle can it or find a local powder coat company to deal with so you can have a warranty through them on it.
 

DEFENDERBEAM

strategic command
it does clearly say that bumper is "power coated" in the product announcement on their website.

Based on your pictures, the finish doesn't look like powder coat. Or I guess a horribly thin coat?
 

anviljk

Adventurer
I just installed the OR-Fab vacuum pump relocation bracket. The powder coat started to crack by just tightening down the mounting bolts. I bought it over some other brands because it was the cheapest, well, you get what you paid for.
 

strohme2

New member
I as well bought an OR-FAB bumper based on some of the same factors as you. I live in Michigan where we do use salt on the roads. I also sent a friendly email inquiring on why my bumper was rusting within a year of install and got the same run around from Benjamin. "I didn't follow install instructions, they weren't responsible for the poor powder coating, not their fault, etc, etc". It's disappointing for sure, won't be looking at them for future products. I'm saving for a different bumper/tire carrier I guess.
 

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