Issues with Inka Outdoors

[Just Diamonds]

Good afternoon. I wanted to post this information as it is extremely relevant to this thread. I was in Gastonia, NC today for business and decided I would drop by the Inka Outdoor manufacturing location on Industrial Avenue. I was stunned to find a large number of trucks, trailers, etc. with equipment being loaded onto them. I asked 1 man what was going on and he told me that he had just purchased some equipment. I do nto know if they had an auction or they are out of business, but I did contact the building owner's website and the space which Inka occupied is now listed for lease. They had no information on the company itself that they wished to share. I also spoke with another business in the area and they told me that there has been little to no activity at the Inka business in the past 30 days at least. Where there used to be 5-6 or more vehicles, there has been one, or two at the most. Now it is possible they are moving, but even their own website lists nothing about a move. Good luck to all.

 

[Martyn]

This is exactly why I can't bring myself to shell out 30-60% for a new FWC or AT Habitat/Summit. No word on an exact delivery date and that kind of money up front is just silly especially when you watch all of these former prominent and well known companies within the industry flounder and fail. I'd be willing to bet that 90% or more of these companies over leveraged themselves or spent freely with the deposit money long before it was ever put towards the customers build.

I see you are mentioning my company AT Overland/ Adventure Trailers in your post. Please do not lump our company in this those mentioned here in this thread, who are reported to have taken customers money, not produced product, and look like they are filing for bankruptcy.

We have been in business since 2001 and helped develop the Overland business in the USA. We weathered the financial crisis of 2008, and have always made the product we promised a customer. We stand behind our product 100% and offer full back up to our customers.

We stand in stark contrast to the companies mentioned in this thread. All small companies have issues of supply chain management, cash flow, quality control, firm delivery dates, etc. but here at AT we place the customer first and go the extra mile for them. I believe placing the customer first, and designing and manufacturing quality product has allowed us to be successful. It is this highly valued partnership between the customer and the company that keeps us strong, as well as the personal commitment from all of our team to producing the best product on the market.

I’m not saying we haven’t had issues over the years, but we alway try to do the right thing and resolve any issue that confront us. I am upset for everyone who has had a negative experience with the companies mentioned here, and wish there was something I could do to remedy the situation for all of you.

We have a majority of good companies and good people in our industry, and then a splattering of new companies who get in over their heads. Moving from one off products made in your garage to a commercially viable company is not an easy task, and everyone and their brother thinks they can make a better trailer for less. Fabricating a trailer and running a business demands different skills and the majority of people don’t possess both sets.

 

[ottsville]

Fabricating a trailer and running a business demands different skills and the majority of people don’t possess both sets.

 

[Tex68w]

I see you are mentioning my company AT Overland/ Adventure Trailers in your post. Please do not lump our company in this those mentioned here in this thread, who are reported to have taken customers money, not produced product, and look like they are filing for bankruptcy.

We have been in business since 2001 and helped develop the Overland business in the USA. We weathered the financial crisis of 2008, and have always made the product we promised a customer. We stand behind our product 100% and offer full back up to our customers.

We stand in stark contrast to the companies mentioned in this thread. All small companies have issues of supply chain management, cash flow, quality control, firm delivery dates, etc. but here at AT we place the customer first and go the extra mile for them. I believe placing the customer first, and designing and manufacturing quality product has allowed us to be successful. It is this highly valued partnership between the customer and the company that keeps us strong, as well as the personal commitment from all of our team to producing the best product on the market.

I’m not saying we haven’t had issues over the years, but we alway try to do the right thing and resolve any issue that confront us. I am upset for everyone who has had a negative experience with the companies mentioned here, and wish there was something I could do to remedy the situation for all of you.

We have a majority of good companies and good people in our industry, and then a splattering of new companies who get in over their heads. Moving from one off products made in your garage to a commercially viable company is not an easy task, and everyone and their brother thinks they can make a better trailer for less. Fabricating a trailer and running a business demands different skills and the majority of people don’t possess both sets.

I think you have misunderstood my statement. I am in no way saying your business is questionable or that you are capable of pulling a similar stunt to these companies here. I've run your product on my personal vehicle and I can vouch for the quality and attention to detail, it's first rate stuff. My gripe with your company is that you require a 60% down payment for a product (Habitat/Summit) up front that will take 3-4+ months for delivery. I think that's far too much money leveraged up front by the customer for such a product. You can tell me that your habitat has less than a 30% margin in it, that's fine, but when similar companies require 15% or less up front (some for products costing three times as much as yours) and some of them have been in business for much longer proves that your large up front deposit is a tad bloated. The point I was trying to make in correlation here is that a lot of people will be turned off by such large deposits for items like these even more so now in the future due to multiple incidents like this within the industry, myself included.

I am not here to degrade your company in any way or get in a pissing match about semantics, accounting, or business models, I am simply stating that 60% down up front is too much and it's a turn off to me personally and a few others I know that have considered your product as well. Obviously it hasn't directly impacted your sells numbers as the Habitat is popular, but I do believe that you would draw more interest and possible customers (myself for instance) if you had a lower initial deposit. In closing, I am just one guy and my opinion is mine alone of which I am entitled to, but it should be taken with a grain of salt. Keep up the good work providing quality products and the honest business practices.

 

[Martyn]

I think you have misunderstood my statement. I am in no way saying your business is questionable or that you are capable of pulling a similar stunt to these companies here. I've run your product on my personal vehicle and I can vouch for the quality and attention to detail, it's first rate stuff. My gripe with your company is that you require a 60% down payment for a product (Habitat/Summit) up front that will take 3-4+ months for delivery. I think that's far too much money leveraged up front by the customer for such a product. You can tell me that your habitat has less than a 30% margin in it, that's fine, but when similar companies require 15% or less up front (some for products costing three times as much as yours) and some of them have been in business for much longer proves that your large up front deposit is a tad bloated. The point I was trying to make in correlation here is that a lot of people will be turned off by such large deposits for items like these even more so now in the future due to multiple incidents like this within the industry, myself included.

I am not here to degrade your company in any way or get in a pissing match about semantics, accounting, or business models, I am simply stating that 60% down up front is too much and it's a turn off to me personally and a few others I know that have considered your product as well. Obviously it hasn't directly impacted your sells numbers as the Habitat is popular, but I do believe that you would draw more interest and possible customers (myself for instance) if you had a lower initial deposit. In closing, I am just one guy and my opinion is mine alone of which I am entitled to, but it should be taken with a grain of salt. Keep up the good work providing quality products and the honest business practices.

I understand what you are saying and respect what you are saying. This is just a sad thread and I don’t want to have any negative impact from it on my company.

Financing anything has its costs no matter how you pay for it. The cost of cash is either built into the price by the seller, or it’s paid for by the consumers in credit card interest, loan interest, or reduction in cash flow. If we reduce the deposit we’d have to bridge the lack of cash with a loan and pass along the cost to service the loan to the customer. At least this way the customer gets some miles when they pay with a card, or they get a discount for cash.

 

[Tex68w]

I understand what you are saying and respect what you are saying. This is just a sad thread and I don’t want to have any negative impact from it on my company.

Financing anything has its costs no matter how you pay for it. The cost of cash is either built into the price by the seller, or it’s paid for by the consumers in credit card interest, loan interest, or reduction in cash flow. If we reduce the deposit we’d have to bridge the lack of cash with a loan and pass along the cost to service the loan to the customer. At least this way the customer gets some miles when they pay with a card, or they get a discount for cash.

I understand your position, it makes sense from a business' point of view especially when you are doing your best to pass on those savings to your customer and to assure that they see as small of a number as possible when they consider these ultra niche products that we all salivate over.

I was raised to believe that one should never finance a toy, if you can't pay cash for it then you don't need it or can't afford it point of view. I've done my best to always live by that but paying cash has proven now more than ever to be the biggest risk of all. I guess that is why I do my best to find what I need in stock or for sale lightly used on the secondary market so that I can assure that once those funds have left my hands that I have the product in hand at the same time. This is not always possible and therefore I do my best to keep custom orders like these to a minimum and if a deposit is required I prefer to have less on the line.

I don't think that your companies name appearing here in this thread will have any adverse impact on its image and my apologies if my comments made it appear as such to yourself or others reading here.

 

[perkgana]

Hello everyone,

An ex Inka Outdoor customer found us and we learned about this story. We are Hive Trailers, based in Salt Lake City UT. I just thought of passing our information in case there are people here looking for other options.

We are a small company and we limit our sales and builds to avoid this exact problem. Our policy is to only request a $500 deposit to put your name on the list, this helps us filter the not so serious buyers. We only charge the first payment when it is time to start YOUR build.

We build stuff the right way and tough. Everything is cnc cut and cnc bent to very tight tolerances to ensure the best possible product. We have put a lot of effort to design, 3d modeling and prototyping. We focused in efficiency and space savings so we managed to offer great storage capacity and great weight distribution.

Please contact us at if you have any questions or need some information:

info@hivetrailers.com
www.facebook.com/hivetrailers
801-635-5081

Thanks and sorry about your problem.

Mauricio Narvarte.

 

[teotwaki]

-----SNIP------ At that time, I saw at least half a dozen campers being constructed. Coopdog said that he saw 10-12 campers under construction when he picked up his camper in March 2018. So, it seems that Inka was actively building campers as of 7 months ago.
.

The real questions are:

Who ordered those campers?
How long did those folks have to wait?
Whose deposits were used to finance those builds?

Not that we'll ever get the answers but just because campers were seen under construction does not mean the company was ever going to catch up with more recent orders.

 

[teotwaki]

---snip-------- but here at AT we place the customer first and go the extra mile for them. ---snip----.

That is SO true! I was just a little customer, buying parts for my own trailer but I received service above and beyond. I have frequently benefitted from the sage advice that A-T freely shares here and on ther web site. They are the standard that other trailer companies are measured by..

 

[Pathfinder7]

So I received notification that my credit dispute with Inka is now permanently decided in my favor! It doesn’t say if Mike responded or anything, but it’s done.

I sent them original invoices and every email regarding promised due dates as well as the individual and group promises of a 100% refund. They never asked for any more info. I filed around 15-16 months after my deposit and still got it all back.

I wish all of you the best of luck in getting your money back from these clowns.

 

[Uncle Jeffy]

So I received notification that my credit dispute with Inka is now permanently decided in my favor! It doesn’t say if Mike responded or anything, but it’s done.

I sent them original invoices and every email regarding promised due dates as well as the individual and group promises of a 100% refund. They never asked for any more info. I filed around 15-16 months after my deposit and still got it all back.

I wish all of you the best of luck in getting your money back from these clowns.

Thank you very much for the update! I'm so glad you got your deposit covered.

I have been following this thread closely, not because I have a horse in this race but because a couple of years ago I used a credit card to put a deposit on a trailer for this very reason. It was before the Inka issues were apparent, but I was wary of paying a large amount on faith to a company I knew very little about. I asked the right questions of the builder, but how can you ever know for sure? It cost me more (I'm in Canada so I had to pay extra on the exchange rate fees through the card) and wondered if it would ever pay off if I really needed it. I always think insurance companies put more effort into avoiding paying out a claim than on anything else, and I was expecting credit card companies to be the same. I even called my card company in advance and spoke to a live agent who assured me that I would be covered in the event of a loss of my deposit, but I remained skeptical.

Anyway, I got my trailer, so it was never put to the test. But thanks Pathfinder7 for providing this seriously valuable information to others.

 

[Jazser]

Oh my god - I just found this thread. My wife sent it to me this morning. Let me first say, my experience was nearly Identical to the first poster. I red through that post, and briefly through Inka's response and honestly - I thought I was reading my own story. I have to go back and look on my old computer, but I had compiled a complete play by play of my (horrible) interactions with Mike as we waited month after month past our supposed delivery date with no trailer. I'll skip to the end though for now and say that Inka kept over $3,000 of our deposit. I looked into all of the legal options (including forcing him to come to court in my home state as I signed the contract here and not in North Carolina) and in the end, $3k was the cheaper option. The worst part though was how Mike turned on me and began treating me like the problem when all I wanted was an update. He never once sent out an update without me asking - usually after weeks of waiting for a response. I've never had a worse business experience, and I'm still beyond pissed he kept $3k. His reasoning was that he had already begun work on our trailer - yet he had only built the outer shell by the time this finally went down. He turned around and sold that shell to the next guy, and pocketed the cash. Let me know if a class action develops. I'd be happy to jump in. But I'll have to read back through all of this. It sounds like he might have gone belly up? If so, honestly I can't say I'm surprised in the slightest. I always felt the owner Mike was a nice guy with a good design who had no business being in business. And then we he had the opportunity to do the right thing (return deposits) he chose to do the wrong thing.

 

[Jazser]

Also ironically I ended up with an AT Overland teardrop! We have had it for a year (bought used) and I couldn't be happier. It delivers nearly everything I wanted on the Inka, and I can tell you that I have spoken with Mario on several occasions to get some help with various things and Mario has been unbelievably helpful. They never fail to pick up the phone and are extremely patient and knowledgeable. I know the poster above was just making a point about the deposit thing, but I just wanted to say how great my experiences have been with the AT guys.

 

[Jazser]

I have a full written log of every communication I had with Inka, all laid out on a timeline and a whole bunch of commentary. I just tried to post it here, but I found out there is a post length limit . So instead here is the synopsis, that I actually wrote in 2017. I never posted this, but now I wish I had as it may have helped some people.:



Brief overview of all of the above for the TLDNR crowd:

1. I ordered an Inka in August 2016. I was promised first a 5 month, and then a 6.5 month build time. It is 9 months later and not only do I not have our trailer despite paying a big deposit at the outset, but I was told it will be 11 month build time "if all goes well". Throughout these many delays, I have never received an update for the ETA or updates of any kind unless I emailed and asked for it. Response times have varied, but often have been 2 weeks to respond. I have emailed them for an update only once a month, skipping some months, to give them time to do their thing. I have spoken on the phone with them a total of 4 times.
2. The big reason for the long delays is they had to move manufacturing facilities evidently, because their landlord sold their warehouse. The build on the new manufacturing facility was far more complicated than they were prepared for - so there were some extenuating circumstances, and that is why I patiently accepted their delays and lack of communication.
3. As the delays piled up, I just would only reach out once a month to see how things are going. My original delivery date comes and goes, and as we are past my delivery date and I never hear from them, I reach out on a 2 week basis asking for a simple eta. They typically wait 2 weeks to respond.
4. April comes and goes - more delays. Same pattern, I ask for any kind of update they can provide every couple of weeks i.e. have they started the build? Is it painted?
5. We get into May and the wheels come off the bus. They start getting very testy, and in my one phone conversation with Mike, he infers that it may be better for everyone if I just cancel - that other customers have canceled and everyone in the shop breathed a sigh of a relief as they were difficult customers. He informs me in this call after I press him that it will be July…11 month build time…before I get my trailer IF all goes well. I am also told I am armchair quarterbacking by his office manager in a separate email, and Mike says "I am killing him" with my evidently excesive need for updates. I have listed every communication above - so you be the judge if reaching out once a month with just a request for an eta , or once every two weeks when we eventually passed my delivery date was excessive. Especially because they NEVER ONCE SENT ME AN UPDATE.

1. This is the real kicker…after being insulted and basically told I was a nightmare customer, I decide I don't want to be part of this any longer and I cancel my order. Yet 24 hours later I swallow my pride having gone this far, and I tell Mike I've had a change of heart and I will just wait it out until it's completed and won't send any more emails asking for updates as that seems to be a huge issue for them. Mike tells me in email he will let me know IF…..IFand when I can get back on the schedule. I told him to immediately send me a full refund.

(You may immediately think I must be not telling you everything and that I must truly be a nightmare customer upon reading this. I mean what vendor turns away a solid customer with a deposit unless there is something seriously wrong right? What kind of a guy spends a couple hours researching and typing up their entire history in a post like this? He must be super anal or something! Well then read above the whole exchange. I stand by everything I have shared 100%, and if anyone really cared I have the entire history of our emails saved. Mike is in over his head and I think he wants to get rid of a complex build and a customer that asks questions, and clear up his nearly 30 trailer backlog.)

I've never been treated like this by any company, and I've been on their end of the table for countless deals - ranging from small to millions of dollars. I would never treat a customer like this. I just thought you all should know as you know what? There are a ton of great overland trailer manufacturers out there. We have options. Oh and by the way, my trailer was going to be the nicest most decked out one they had ever built. I'm happy to give my money to someone who actually cares about communication with their paying customers.


In the end, they kept about $3800 of my original $9k+ deposit. I did just realize I paid the deposit by square. I wonder if I have any recourse now in 2019?

 

[Nu-wave utility trailers]

This company is not to far from our shop if you have seen his video on you tube you never see but a couple of people in there but working if anybody needs a camper built we can do it and if you have paid a deposit to this guy we will take off the deposit you have paid him off the price of ours and if you need to see if they are still open I would go check on that also thanks have a great day