not a very pleasant experience with R & D Offroad

We need you to know that we are not happy with the experience of bringing our Land Cruiser to R&D to fit accessories. Here's why.

First, allow us to copy and paste the original request for quote that we sent to three different shops at the end of Feb 2023 after having purchased a 2011 Toyota Land Cruiser 76 series wagon:

""" - 2nd battery (deep cycle gel) in a tray fitted in the engine bay, with a) isolator; b) plug panel at the back for fridge (NL), USB and other standard plugs; and c) main battery override with a push button in or under the dash. - ARB air compressor mounted alongside the 2nd battery in engine bay - roof rack (3/4, e.g. 1400 x 1600) that can take surf boards, 2nd tyre, etc. and be able to fit brackets for jerry cans, jack and wraparound awning at a later stage. - ladder on the back """

R&D came highly recommended from a couple friends, and so when R&D responded with the most expensive quote, we decided to suck it up and go for it with the belief that you get what you pay for.

Upon drop off, we spent more time being toured around the premises than discussing the work to be done. Their premises are huge, like a complex or a campus; one building per task, e.g. they add a larger 5th gear to your gearbox, put on lift kits, make/sell Gobi-X bumpers, etc., fit extras, design and install cabinet systems, on and on - it's huge. All extras for 4x4s.

It's a massive sales pitch. The front office has multiple stations for salespeople, and that's all we interact with. Sales. Sales. Sales. And herein lay the main problem: we were sold what *they* wanted to sell and not what *we* wanted to buy:

We asked for an under bonnet ARB air compressor, got the mobile one mounted with no pressure gauge and no dust cap; an incomplete system that requires the customer to return to purchase more to get a functional system or elsewhere (which we did). We asked for ¾ roof rack, got a full-sized one. Why? Because we can remove a section, we were told. We asked for a ladder on the back door and it was mounted skew. This was blatant evidence of poor quality control; and was an eyesore every time we lifted the garage door. Perhaps the most egregious part of the sale was for the 2nd battery setup to charge accessories and override the main battery if flat or completely dead. This was also the most expensive part of the job. We asked for a 2nd battery override like we had on old 4x4 Condor. It was a simple system that never failed in 18 years. Instead, we got a less than functional over-the-top DC-DC system w/solenoid with equally over-the-top wiring and fuses. Sure, it looks great, but . . . the main override fuse was too low capacity and when my wife left the lights on and drained the main battery, the override switch did not work because it blew the fuse. when the in-dash button was depressed. When she called R&D, she was asked to jump from the 2nd battery to the main battery with jumper cables! This is clearly not what we paid for. Imo, it was and remains all fluff and overkill; and still doesn’t do what we want: instead of overriding the main battery, it apparently *charges* the main battery and can take a while, and also fail if the main battery is really dead. In addition, the override button/switch was also mounted sideways and is in the wrong place on the dash. Why DC/DC? We didn’t ask for that, and even if we did accept the quote with it, it didn't even include an Anderson plug for a solar panel. Again, selling an expensive incomplete system with a need to purchase more for completeness (here we mean the Anderson plug not the panel); and in this case again, one with poor quality control. Upon drop off, we asked for a USB charging unit in the back that doesn't vampire the 2nd battery. However, both the USB plug and the DC/DC continually vampire battery 24-7. Again, our request was ignored. One thing that almost went well was talking about where to place an Anderson plug and stash the fridge cable in the back. Since we had installed new speakers in the doors, we elected to remove one of the stock speakers in the rear and the salesman 3D printed a cubbyhole box with a magnetic flap to store the cable. Great idea, too. We asked for a notch put in the magnetic flap so we could close it when the cable was pulled out to run the fridge. He didn’t do it; just said no, and it had to stay open to run the cable to the fridge. Why?

We took the vehicle somewhere else to get the 2nd battery setup sorted out, install an Anderson plug on the front bumper for a solar panel, get a tyre gauge for the compressor, and put a notch in the fridge cable box flap. Small things, yes, yet still annoying, time consuming and incurring yet more cost.

Why somewhere else? Because every time we looked at that skew ladder, every time we thought of the battery override not working, every time we saw the roof rack bigger than we wanted, every time we used the air compressor, we got more and more upset and didn't feel like we would get the service and quality control at R&D that we thought we had paid for.

6 months later, I felt calm enough to ask and go back and get the ladder straightened and the 2nd battery setup addressed. It took so long (I waited there for 5 hours), I didn't ask them to move the override switch to an upright position next to the ignition. However, when I tested the lights-left-on alarm speaker, it was faulty; and another guy that worked there (don't know his name) spent a good hour or two troubleshooting it and sorted it out; it was not related to the 2nd battery work like I had thought. Now, that's the kind of service I wish we had received from Day 1. In my opinion, too little too late. And the incomprehensible reality of great service given for a R200 job and **** service for a R55000 job.

In the end, we are finally ok with what we got. We do feel we paid too much for what we got, and also that we were mostly sold what the salesperson wanted to sell rather than what we actually wanted; and further, that the quality control of the work done was shoddy. The actual components are all top notch. Cannot fault them there.

Reflecting upon it all now (it's end of Aug now), I think the worst part of the experience was not feeling comfortable enough to go back and have things sorted earlier. The sales area felt falsely polite and so pushy like the expectation was as if we were there to spend just to spend; instead of get what we wanted. We took so long to return perhaps because we didn't want that passive aggressive sales pitch again; and also the friction caused by following friends' recommendations to go with R&D, and then not being happy doing so.

When something goes wrong at any customer/vendor situation, and there's a genuine human connection, it's relatively easy to go back and sort things out. We didn't and don't feel that way with R and D Offroad. I doubt we'll go back.