WTB Is PriusOverlanding Defunkt? Or just excrutiatingly slow? ( ISO / WTB Lift Kit !)

Hi Everyone,

I've been lurking for about 5.5 years now, but finally decided to come out of the shadows and seek input from you all! I've been having issues with PriusOverlanding over the past few months and was wondering if anyone had any recent experience with them.

We ordered a lift kit for our Gen 2 (08) from them back on 04-Oct-2022. I was very much hoping to get it installed at the same time that I did a front-end refresh ahead of a Halloween road trip to New Orleans (~1500 mi). I thought that I had ordered it plenty ahead of time for order processing, shipping, and to do the install. (PriusOffroad says orders submitted by 10am ship same day, next day otherwise. Like normal, decent small companies would...) Well, we ended up road-tripping without it and scraping on every bit of gravel, speed bump, or slightly sloped driveway along the way.

We could have ordered through PriusOffroad, but we do a lot of country and actual offroad driving and I really wanted the extra 1/2"! (I'd actually rather 3-4 inches of lift and the stiffer springs, but couldn't find a taller kit or justify that much extra cost for springs that would just be a nicety on a vehicle with ~260k miles.)

Here's the timeline, it's easier to follow this way:
*04-Oct-2022 Ordered Lift Kit
*04-Oct Got an "Order Received" e-mail
*09-Oct PriusOverlanding posted an ad on their facebook page
*17-Oct Called them twice (morning & afternoon), no answer, left voicemail 2nd time referencing order #
*20-Oct Called with no answer again, left another voicemail with order #
*21-Oct RARRRR DEEZ F'IN' GUYS! IF I HAD THE MEASUREMENTS, I'D JUST GO OUT IN THE SHOP AND MAKE MY OWN TO GET THEM INSTALLED IN TIME! FKWHFJFNFEHF8RUEHDIGJDJWI YAAARRRRRRRGH!
*26-Oct Left for vacation with no lift! >=(
*02-Nov Broke my leg on vacation. Extra sadface. >='*(
*06-Nov Got back from vacation, no package at home like I had hoped for even though we were checking for e-mail updates the whole time we were gone so that I could have someone grab the box if it showed up
*06-Nov Logged in to check status (had to reset PW)
*06-Nov They sent a "Your shopping cart says come back" email to us thrice, we did nothing out of confusion
*07-Nov They sent another "order received" e-mail (order number in this message matches the 04-Oct order confirmation email)

*07-Nov They finally charged the card (uh...h'wut? [/Hank Hill voice])
*10-Nov They sent an email saying "almost to the packaging stage" (I took this to mean that they were just cutting, welding, and powder coating/painting a fresh kit and had none on hand...? W-t-f mate?)
*11-Nov RAAARRRRR OMFG I SERIOUSLY COULD'VE JUST MADE MY OWN AND HAD THEM INSTALLED BY NOW! HELL, I COULD'VE PROSPECTED FOR, MINED, AND REFINED MY OWN COAL AND IRON TO MAKE THE STEEL MYSELF BY NOW, TOO!
...Awwwww now my leg's broken... It's gonna be hell trying to install these with it in this condition >=/
*17-Nov They sent an email saying "almost to the packaging stage" AGAIN!
*22-Nov Got an email apologizing for the delay, saying they were experiencing carrier delays due to volume, etc., but it hadn't yet shipped (they called that 'check-in, day 15')
*04-Dec I called them to check on it, they didn't answer, but their outgoing voicemail message says to file an online support ticket for faster service... tried to and the support ticket system wouldn't let me log in even after resetting my PW again
*05-Dec I called again, no answer... made a whole new account just to try to submit a ticket and couldn't log into it either
*06-Dec Called again with no answer, left another voicemail
*06-Dec Replied to order confirmation email asking Wth was going on and saying that they needed to call me within 24 hours to avoid a chargeback through my Credit Card Company
*06-Dec Instantly received a support ticket confirmation email saying that they'd get ahold of us within 24 hours as a response to our reply to their order confirmation email
*07-Dec Tried calling 3x more, left one more voicemail
*08-Dec Online order status still says "processing"
*08-Dec Guess I should submit a chargeback with CC company before it's too late...?


So, here's where we are now: I'm sitting here wondering if that 09-Oct FB post was just a last-ditch effort at getting people to order before they ghost. Or is it just us that've had this problem?

The GF and I were actually intending to become affiliates for them and buy a set for our upcoming Prius purchase as well. However, with this experience, I fear I'd have nothing good to say unless the kit (and maybe some springs to make up for the hassle & time =P) just appeared on my porch today or tomorrow.


Either way, I'd like to buy their Gen 2 Prius 2" lift kit, so if someone has some sitting around used (or better yet, 'new old stock' that they never got around to putting on =P), or is about to scrap their car that had a set for whatever reason, please hit me up! I'd even settle for a deal on a used or N-O-S shorter lift kit from PriusOffroad at this point.

I'd also like some heavy duty springs if someone has some they'd like to make a deal on. And a 2" receiver hitch, for that matter -- I can't handle the steel that I was going to make one out of with my leg as it is now. =/



Thanks for reading, I look forward to hearing from any others with recent PriusOverlanding experiences and hopefully some with kits for sale.

-Nog

 

Thanks @alftoy ! Sorry for the delayed response, I never saw an email notification of your response.

Also, I lied apparently. I didn't realize that I had post once before this until I went to find my post the next day!