Case Study: Pelfreybilt

In 2012 Pelfreybilt off road was started by Tyler and Satin Pelfrey and took the Tacoma Community by Storm.  Their armor was different from the rest of the pack due to its sleek design and fitting into the vehicles overall look.  over the next 6 years they grew from a small shop into being the forerunner of the Tacoma aftermarket for off road goods.  The rise of pelfreybilt came to a screaming halt in September of 2018.  They went from making money to being bankrupt seemingly overnight.

It wasn't overnight it really was a gradual issue that came to light thanks to the sleuths over at Tacoma World.  They found out the amount owed to customers was around $500,000 in undelivered armor.  Pelfreybilt  also did not help their case by blaming their customers who were mad that they were out thousands of dollars.  I would link the social media posts, Pelfreybilt deleted all their social media so I'm posting what I have seen and heard.

If I had been the marketing manager I would have made sure to not to blame my customers for chasing away investors.  Investors were scared away by the debt and the mess the company was in.  I also would have violated my non disclosure agreement in order to give my customers the truth.  I also would have shut down the website so no one else could order products anymore.

The end of Pelfreybilt was really quite dramatic and painful to watch it happen in real time.  I wanted to buy their products since they were good quality.  Unfortunately they will not be missed by most people.  I will say that if you want to be a good business do not ever blame your customers for the mistakes of the business.   I also would make sure that I had top selling items in stock to avoid having long wait times for products. 

The biggest take away for me was as a company you have to be honest with your customers and not be shady about your business going down.  It leads to panic and a backlash against your brand.  Once the damage is done you cannot come back from a mess like this.