Northridge 4X4 Kinda Sucks

[DrewKD]

So I recently had a couple of bad experiences with Northridge. More on that below.
This is for you non Jeep guys out there. I understand that Northridge is primarily for Jeep owners only. I have a Truck so I'm not part of the Jeep world.

What sites have you been making your purchases from for all of your bolt on accessories? The big one that comes to mind is Stage 3 Motorsports. I have spent probably ....... well too much money there. I have a Ford Ranger so places like CaliRaised and CBI are out for me as they are "Toyota" oriented (pun intended) It just seems like I am very limited with where I can make my purchases. I have to buy more Universal rather than designed specifically for my vehicle products. Stage 3 is great unfortunately my e3 membership only gets me discounts from Northridge which I will not be purchasing from them anymore.

Bad experience one:
I purchased a cover and slide for my Dometic CFX3 35 fridge from Northridge on June 5 2020. On August 21 2020 I decided to cancel my order. Yes, after almost 3 months I still haven't received the fridge slide. Covid shut downs were to blame for the delay but the customer service from Northridge really sucked. I had to call several times for updates. I was given 4 different "In-Stock" dates that were never met. All of my emails went unanswered and I received no notification from them that the target date was delayed yet again and again. I had to make all of the inquiries myself via telephone to get a response from them. Chat option was no help either. I ultimately bought a Tembotusk slide for much more money. It is a quality slide though.

Bad experience two:
I purchased an SPOD Source LT from Northridge. Unfortunately, the switch panel will not fit in my truck. I spoke with a sales person at Northridge and they recommended the SPOD over Switch Pros for my truck so I went with that. After realizing that the unit was too large I asked for an RMA and promptly ordered the Switch Pros from Northridge as a replacement. Well now I am being charged a 10% restocking fee for an item that was never used and never installed. I aksed for the RMA a day after receiving the product because I was in a rush to install everything before Labor Day for a trip. That is an extra $50+ out of pocket plus the shipping costs for a brand new item.

I just don't see the incentive to ever purchase from them again. So any recommendations on places that have good customer service and an actual return policy would be much appreciated. I am slowly upgrading my rig to make it more capable. My next big upgrade will be suspension. I'd rather spend my money at a place that will go above and beyond.

 

[Boostpowered]

Your just experiencing the new truck model blues, us colorado owners had to deal with that up til around a year ago. Give it a while if folks buy enough of em aftermarket companies will follow eventually.

 

[KonzaLander]

15 years ago Northridge4x4 was a small 2 man outfit that was quite active on multiple Jeep forums. Dave, the owner, would gladly chat with you about various upgrades and would even source something for you if it wasn't a product they carried. They were great and a vendor I would always recommend. I still have a few parts on my TJ I ordered from Dave back in the day. Over the years the personal service dwindled and their website exploded with parts. The owner quit communicating with customers and the new customer service representatives were less than helpful when working on something atypical. Northridge4x4 became a slower version of Quadratec; the mall of Jeep parts.

As you search for parts, check out www.OK4wd.com. While they are a big parts vendor I have had good luck getting responses from their customer service line. The website is not very useful at finding non-Jeep parts, but a phone call or e-mail has worked for me. Last year I needed a new rainfly for my ARB RTT so I sent an e-mail asking if they could source one for me. I had a reply from a customer service rep asking me to call him directly. I called, discussed my needs and purchased.

Most of these vendors, big or small, do not carry the parts they sell in a warehouse. Most stuff is drop shipped from the manufacturer.

 

[USStrongman]

Northridge has always been good to me. If its in stock, it says it right on the page. Cant blame Northridge for a vendor who gives them a date and then punts, again and again. Plus ARB is Australian. Who trusts Aussies??? lol.

My beef with Northridge is the amount of money I ahve spent there, yet, to enjoy discounts above and beyond what they run monthly, I have to join trailrecon membership program. So... spend money with someone else to enjoy discounts, but not becasue I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars with you? Time to find someone new. Amazon has filled that void for now.

 

[jeepers29]

Northridge has always been good to me. If its in stock, it says it right on the page. Cant blame Northridge for a vendor who gives them a date and then punts, again and again. Plus ARB is Australian. Who trusts Aussies??? lol.

My beef with Northridge is the amount of money I ahve spent there, yet, to enjoy discounts above and beyond what they run monthly, I have to join trailrecon membership program. So... spend money with someone else to enjoy discounts, but not becasue I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars with you? Time to find someone new. Amazon has filled that void for now.

Doesnt NR still give a discount to wrangler forum members?

 

[HKLover]

Doesnt NR still give a discount to wrangler forum members?

Yes they do. I just used it a couple of months ago to purchase my PSC Big Bore XDII steering box. It saved me a bunch of money. I think that Lite Brite also has a coupon code that may or may not still be valid. I used it once a long time ago and saved 20 percent off a few items.

I personally have had nothing but decent experiences with NR. I also have used OK4WD a few times and they did just as good of a job answering my questions and getting me my parts.

 

[DrewKD]

Northridge has always been good to me. If its in stock, it says it right on the page. Cant blame Northridge for a vendor who gives them a date and then punts, again and again. Plus ARB is Australian. Who trusts Aussies??? lol.

My beef with Northridge is the amount of money I ahve spent there, yet, to enjoy discounts above and beyond what they run monthly, I have to join trailrecon membership program. So... spend money with someone else to enjoy discounts, but not becasue I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars with you? Time to find someone new. Amazon has filled that void for now.

Amazon is good for me too. I do try to buy local or at least from a place that supports the Overland community. Never had issues with returns from Amazon

 

[DrewKD]

Update for you Ford Ranger guys or just Ford in general. SVC Offroad has some cool stuff.

 

[USStrongman]

No local offroad shops within 2 hours of me. Hence Amazon.

 

[DrewKD]

Short Update on Northridge. Their return policy is non existent. Which is really strange considering how big of an outfit they are. I suppose that is because they don't actually Stock many items. But it would be nice to deal with them directly and not the manufacture.....otherwise why not just buy straight from the manufacturer. However, at least one customer service agent is pretty damn good at getting back to you. If you have issues with them like I did try working with Bridget Dunn. She probably doesn't need the extra workload but if it helps out frustrated members of the Overland community then may as well try.

 

[Maverick9110E]

I'm not following all of your problem here but i'd suggest to keep using Stage3 where you can. Great people as i'm sure you are aware.

 

[Pretzel]

Just thought I'd drop in to share a recent (today, in fact) experience with Northridge4x4.

First week or so of September I put in an order for what seemed to be the last ARB zero 73qt fridge in the country. Every other place had them listed as back-ordered. I called them directly to confirm it was, in fact, in stock. They said yes, and I pulled the trigger.
Within 3 hours I had an updated tracking number and it was on the way. I anxiously checked the tracking # provided every 30 minutes or so, as one does. and was disheartened to see the trail go dormant in Greensboro, NC. After the delivery date came and went with no updates to the tracking number I submitted a claim for a lost item. Sure enough, about a week later UPS confirmed the item as "lost".

Over the next few days, "Jen" at Northridge4x4 was graciously helpful and hounded UPS for two days until they provided her the claim report that allowed her to process my loss. I was immediately given the option of a refund or replacement. I chose a replacement, knowing I'd already ordered the last one on the shelf anywhere and expecting to wait for a month or more while ARB restocked, I paid to upgrade my shipping to next day air to give UPS as little opportunity to steal my next fridge as possible. Low and behold, a surprise pair of emails hit my in-box a few days later, one a tracking number from UPS and the 2nd was Northridge4x4's invoice for a 2nd fridge on the way. They pulled it out of their ass, apparently, I think they were eager to find one, personally. It arrived today.

Maybe I'm making too much out of "business as usual", but Jen was very helpful and seemed truly eager to help resolve my issue.

I won't have any qualms about doing business with them again despite shipping being cross-country.

I'm sorry if the Glenfiddich in me made this a touch dramatic but it's a true telling of my experience.

 

[DrewKD]

Glad that you had a good experience with them. As for me, it's been weeks since I returned the SPOD and still no refund yet. Not sure what it takes to get the level of service that you received.

I'm happy with my Switch Pros but I still feel like Northridge could/should have done a better job. Either they take a small hit on the return or they lose a customer for life. I do my shopping at Stage 3 Motorsports now.