Alas cooler group buy......kinda

[Handsome Rob]

At last, someone's had an email response!

It ain't good though..... 

 

"Hi,

We have been trying to respond to everyone as quickly as possible and understand everyone's frustration with the Rokslide group buy.* We did not expect the delays that came from our manufacturing and shipper which has caused backlog for all customers not just Rokslide. This was a first and last of a kind for us on the Group buy due to the issues that arose.

ALL rokslide orders and all online cooler orders and Tritan series are pushed out to 12-18-16.* The only tumblers available are the twisted tumblers.* We have orders that are backed up for one of our large retail accounts that we have to fill in order to keep them as we have given them lead times that keep changing also.

We are as frustrated as our customers because we can't get inventory fast enough and have to keep pushing out dates

Please feel free to cancel order at any time you are ready as we do understand why. (Login to account and cancel or send us email with cancellation request)

Just an FYI the person who set this up for Rokslide is not at fault as when setting this up we did not realize the issues that would come up.

Thank you,
Candice Waterson

Atlas Coolers
PO Box 2432
Fredericksburg, TX 78624
sales@atlascoolers.com"

[Lumber_Jack]

Wow, at what point do you quit believing the "delivery" date? Now it's December, will it be March after that?

[abusfullofnuns]

I opened my paypal dispute last night. 

[monkeylizard]

Merry Christmas?

[monkeylizard]

1 hour ago, abusfullofnuns said:

I opened my paypal dispute last night. 

You can cancel the order via their site. Just login to your account and cancel. Shopify will immediately cancel. Rokslide folks were getting refunds within a few days, but that may or may not have slowed down this week. Unknown.

If you didn't create an account when you ordered, you can create one using the same email address you used for the order. It will automatically link your order to your account based on the email address.

[monkeylizard]

I'm out. Cancelled and keeping my fingers crossed for a refund before I have to escalate with the CC company.

I noticed something odd today. Under each cooler in their Shop is a list of features. One of them is a URL labeled "Perfect Storage Capable" but that URL links to a different brand, absolutezerocoolers.com. AZC has the same kind of Shopify website but has a PO Box address in a suburb of Houston. Atlas has a PO Box address in Fredricksburg, TX about 5 hours apart. The products are pretty much identical except for some color choices and a few add-in doodads.

It makes me wonder if Atlas is going to be lights-out and simply reincorporate as this Absolute Zero company. Or maybe it's two different people like brothers or something. Who knows at this point. Either way, it's not worth the risk to me.

Edited August 30, 2016 by monkeylizard

[Handsome Rob]

Yep, I pulled the plug too.

Honestly guys, I'm really sorry. I know y'all did what you wanted, but I can't help but feel responsible for dragging you all into this. It seemed like such a good deal at the time. The discount wasn't unrealistic, as in; it didn't 'feel' too good to be true. I'm guessing the guy probably set out with the best intentions but has just been swamped with orders he can't fulfill. Just like R-Tic did.

Arse.

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

So I know this guy named Willis... He sells knives AND coolers!! He's super quick on shipping too! 

And RTIC is having great deals on tumblers right now. So problem solved! Sorry ya'll had a bad deal on this.

[Handsome Rob]

Problem being Rtic don't sell coolers in the size I was wanting & the nearest to it is twice the price.

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

2 hours ago, robtattoo said:

Problem being Rtic don't sell coolers in the size I was wanting & the nearest to it is twice the price.

I thought the prices on the ones Willis had were good? Maybe higher then the ones you were going to get, but still fair.

I have a friend who works for Orion. Want me to check and see if they have scratch and dents available? 

[Handsome Rob]

Thanks for the offer Mrsmonk, but there still way beyond my price range! A friend of mine is the sales manager for Orion

Sent from a mountain somewhere, using telepathy.

[Hozzie]

I am sucking it up and just buying an Orca. Tennessee company and I believe also made in TN. Expensive, but sometimes it's just worth it.

[monkeylizard]

ORCA is based here and used to be made in Sparta by Jackson Kayak. Jackson Kayak started making their own line called Orion and I don't know if they still produce coolers for ORCA or not. I can't find any info online about where ORCA coolers are made these days except "Made in the USA". Maybe it's still Jackson Kayak making them, but I don't know. The company HQ is based in Franklin.

As much as I'd like one, I just can't justify the cost. I was planning on 3 coolers from Atlas for the price of 1 from ORCA.

[KahrMan]

Check out Ozark coolers. They are Yeti clones. The Ozark tumblers faired better than Yeti in side by side comparisons.

Their 52qt is $147 and 73qt is $194. 

[abusfullofnuns]

Probably what I'll do  ^^^^  

I ordered a 110 or whatever from Atlas.  I guess I'll settle for the 74, but haven't seen them yet. I've got an email alert set up.

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

10 hours ago, robtattoo said:

Thanks for the offer Mrsmonk, but there still way beyond my price range! A friend of mine is the sales manager for Orion

Sent from a mountain somewhere, using telepathy.
 

Weird, bet we know the same people then. Thought I'd try!  good luck!

[Handsome Rob]

7 minutes ago, MrsMonkeyMan2500 said:

Weird, bet we know the same people then. Thought I'd try!  good luck!

Damon??? 

[Handsome Rob]

7 minutes ago, MrsMonkeyMan2500 said:

Weird, bet we know the same people then. Thought I'd try!  good luck!

Damon??? 

[willis68]

Folks,

 

i just have to tell you, today I received my 140 Quart and it is incredible! This thing is built like a tank, well worth the price they charge for them, absolute amazing quality, I am a customer for life! 

 

Folks, I know they are expensive but trust me they are worth the money they will last you a lifetime guaranteed, made in the USA! Headquarters in Franklin, the best coolers on the market, that honestly makes me proud of Tennessee, 

Alongside the 40 quart

Edited September 1, 2016 by willis68

[monkeylizard]

I found this pretty good review of lots of different brands over on F&S.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/fishing/2016/03/ice-chest-throwdown-12-top-end-coolers-ranked-and-reviewed

[Hozzie]

I had planned to get an Orca, but while coming to Rimfire nationals in St Louis, I stopped in Cabelas. I ended up getting a 40qt Cabelas brand. It's also made in the us and was rated number 1 by the F&S reviews. I think I will be happy with it.

[abusfullofnuns]

FYI PayPal tried to debit the bank account and it was declined. Said they will try again in three days. Guess I'll just call the bank. 

 

[Handsome Rob]

1 hour ago, abusfullofnuns said:

FYI PayPal tried to debit the bank account and it was declined. Said they will try again in three days. Guess I'll just call the bank. 

 

Oh crap.

I cancelled my order Tuesday through the site. I'm going to run to the bank later & fill out a dispute form. Hopefully Master Card can pull it back.....

[monkeylizard]

It's crazy how actions taken by a company can hurt them so badly. His site went down for a bit this week, then came back up. In and of itself not a big deal. He pulled his phone number and other stuff from his page, and the Atlas Facebook page is now hidden. I'm pretty sure that was because he was being overwhelmed by Rokslide group buyers. But doing so just made the problem worse. Honestly, if he hadn't started to digitally disappear and I was able to call him and get the story straight from him, I probably would have let the order stand. But by trying to save himself some annoying phone calls, it leaves me wondering if he's going out of business.

I do want the coolers and waiting until December isn't a big deal to me, but so much of this has been feeling rinky-dink this week that I just don't know if he'll actually be in business by then. If I could just talk to the guy (made impossible by him) I would have kept the order. But since that's not possible, this is where we are.

I messaged Atlas through their site early this morning asking for an approx. date for the refund to process. No reply yet, so I called my CC company to put the transaction into dispute. We'll see where it goes from here. I know it has only been a couple of days but it's clearly not an automated process via Shopify so I wanted to go ahead and put my CC company on notice. Hopefully the refund will process next week.

Once I get this all settled, I may try RTIC when they get their backorders caught up. They seem to be still running a few weeks behind but appear to be making headway. They're in Houston too. Wouldn't that be a hoot if all of these Texas companies are getting their products from the same factory in China and are all waiting on the same ships to arrive.

Edited September 2, 2016 by monkeylizard

[monkeylizard]

2 hours ago, robtattoo said:

Oh crap.

I cancelled my order Tuesday through the site. I'm going to run to the bank later & fill out a dispute form. Hopefully Master Card can pull it back.....

I called my card company and they started a dispute process. Normally that means I don't have to pay the amount while it's in dispute but since I already have, I'm not sure where that leaves me. No big deal either way. I was able to upload the emails for both the order and the cancellation (I printed them both to PDF files) to the card company's site under my account for their investigator to review. Now I guess I sit and wait. The attendant noted I cancelled on 8/30, so I suspect they'll let it sit for a few days into next week before really doing anything, but that's not my concern. I just wanted to make them aware of the situation more than anything else and have it on record that I didn't wait to tell them.