Listening to Brands: Pelfreybilt
The Brand I chose was Pelfreybilt Off road. They used to be a prominent fabricator in the Toyota Tacoma, but recently filed for Bankruptcy. 6 years ago they were one of the premier Toyota Tacoma armor builders and had a stellar reputation. This year they filed for bankruptcy and owed their customers $500,000 worth of armor that has yet to be delivered.
People on Tacoma World and all spheres of social media used to say nothing but good things about Pelfreybilt. I was going to buy one of their bumpers when I was done with school for my Tacoma. Well when I found out everything happened they immediately fell off my list. the reason is because they blamed their customers for asking about why they stopped fulfilling orders and being silent about it. The worst part is they kept they site up and running allowing people to still order a product even after they had filed for bankruptcy. People used to say they were the best armor in the Tacoma community that you could buy. When everyone found out about the bankruptcy it changed to a witch hunt. I used to personally recommend them because of how amazing they dealt with customers and prospective customers. I changed my tune when I saw a post where they blamed their customers for chasing away prospective investors. The final thing people used to say is how well built the armor was and how good it looked. Well since they went out of business a lot of businesses have come to give the people who got ripped off a nice discount.
The marketing challenges they faced at the end were angry customers who dug up the truth and they had to apologize for blaming their customers. Unfortunately they did not handle the backlash in the right way. They should have been transparent with their customers on what was going on with them. Now they are bankrupt and owe roughly $500,000 to their customers who never got their product.
If I was a brand manager I would have first shutdown the site for ordering and told my customers what was happening. I also would not have been a made to order company. I believe it is best to have inventory on hand so if something happens you have something to show for it. Also when growing as a company you need to be tansparent as a company and say we may have issues with orders for a while. My personal way of handling things is to tell customers what is happening and then try to do whatever I can so my customers do not lash out at my company.
It really is shame that Pelfreybilt is gone as a company. They made extremely good bumpers, sliders and skid plates for Toyota vehicles. With enough time someone else will come and fill the void left by Pelfreybilt.
The marketing challenges they faced at the end were angry customers who dug up the truth and they had to apologize for blaming their customers. Unfortunately they did not handle the backlash in the right way. They should have been transparent with their customers on what was going on with them. Now they are bankrupt and owe roughly $500,000 to their customers who never got their product.
If I was a brand manager I would have first shutdown the site for ordering and told my customers what was happening. I also would not have been a made to order company. I believe it is best to have inventory on hand so if something happens you have something to show for it. Also when growing as a company you need to be tansparent as a company and say we may have issues with orders for a while. My personal way of handling things is to tell customers what is happening and then try to do whatever I can so my customers do not lash out at my company.
It really is shame that Pelfreybilt is gone as a company. They made extremely good bumpers, sliders and skid plates for Toyota vehicles. With enough time someone else will come and fill the void left by Pelfreybilt.
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