Land Cruiser Heaven

[greenbeast]

Sorry to see this. I had purchased a half tub 2nd hand from another mudder a few years ago. IT had originated from LCH. IT was junk, completely useless. I sold to someone with some metal skills but even it exceeded what he could handle and I ended reimbursing him some funds to make it right.

Hopefully some character/integrity will make it right for you. That's a ton of coin.

 

[FloridaFJ80]

For most on this forum, it isnt unknown that Land Cruiser Heaven is a reseller of FJ40 replacement body panels from Colombian manufacturers. When I made the initial trip to Colombia in 2015, I was approached by various members on here to find other options for 40 series panels, which we did; and because of that I have sold tons of sheet metal. And if you search you will find mixed reviews some good some bad. But you will never see a review where we have not resolved the issue. Either they got their money back, or the part was replaced. If you had dealt directly with the manufacturer good luck getting any of that. That is the difference with dealing with a US based vendor than with an international one, remember PACOL. I bet there are still people waiting to see their products or even seeing their money. In numerous situations, I have refunded or replaced parts out of my pocket with the manufacturer not doing a thing. Doing business in Colombia is very different than doing it in the US. We provide a service where we sell aftermarket sheet metal not available from Toyota or even manufactured in the states; and lets be honest if Toyota still sold it you wouldnt be buying from me or anybody for that matter. We bring parts that are normally not available anywhere else.

This sole claim on this full tub construction is the reason I will no longer be offering for sale third party constructed full tubs. It is a total pain in the ass. This is different than the individual panels we sell. They take all the panels and an original cowl and construct a full tub. The factory I used in Colombia promised quality and craftmanship and obviously this isnt the case and the end of the day its all on Land Cruiser Heaven. I stand behind the Land Cruiser Heaven name and will provide a resolution to the customer like I have always done, even if the manufacturer wont honor their end. In any international business, you will always have these type of issues. These tubs are built using all new sheet metal and the only original item is the cowl which gets refurbished. Most of these pictures are of the cowl. Constructing these full tubs takes time. The customer in this case will have a resolution like any other customer.

Since the customer has come on here I will reply here as well. I was initially contacted by the customer on Friday morning (06/14/2019) with this claim and replied I would speak to the factory with their claims and forwarded the pictures to them. We have a process set in place for these type of issues and they will get followed. On Father's Day Sunday, Customer replies demanding money verbally quoted by his body guy to resolve the issue. He didnt provide any sort of formalized quote documenting the work needed to be performed. All he said it was $3000 Euro, which is unsubstantiated. He gave me an ultimatum that if by Monday I hadnt given him the money he would move forward with lawyers. If he is looking for an agreement where we remedy the issue then he would wait for due process. I am merely a middle man in this situation and like I have always will be responsible in resolving the issue if the vendor doesnt comply. I replied to his email the same day, stating that he was free to proceed how he saw fit that if we wanted to find a resolution we needed to be patient and follow the process. That he needed to provide a quote of the work to be done and why it was $3000 Euro. I understand he isnt happy and I wouldnt be either but if we are trying to find a common ground we must be open to that. Land Cruiser Heaven isnt avoiding resolving the situation. Its passed Monday so I will wait for his lawyer to contact us.

 

[tstepp920]

What a load of horse s***. Middleman smiddleman. No reputable business, whether producer or reseller, would allow such garbage to be sent out to a customer. If what we have all experienced is the best you and your "craftsmen" are capable of producing you need to find another line of work. Fire yourself.

 

[Putins4x4]

Shame on you for blaming Colombian people for your ineptitude.

 

[Bear]

Noticing your address, thank-goodness he didn't lay the blame on Columbian people ! Ha.

 

[Putins4x4]

Noticing your address, thank-goodness he didn't lay the blame on Columbian people ! Ha.

“Doing business in Colombia is very different than doing it in the US.”

This plus his previous excuses were he lays fault on Colombia rather than his shady practices is what lead me to make that comment.

 

[Bear]

Putin,

Just having a bit of fun with you since most folks misspell the country name.

I understand your point. It seems to me to be far better to only sell items you already have in stock ready to ship, and to have detailed photographs of those items to show the quality or lack of it. That requires an inventory as an expense of doing business.

Why companies offer to sell items they do not have and why people put forth money just to wait unreasonable amounts of time is beyond me. I hope I never find myself in either position.

 

[FJ73Texas]

Not much good comes out of doing business with a vendor out of Colombia it seems. Been there, done that.

I will say I bought 70 series half doors from Frank years back and he delivered as promised so my statement above isn’t about LCH.

 

[Racer65]

I rarely visit this forum, but I saw a similar thread in the tech forum around a year back, and I could see this coming from a mile away. As noted, there's certainly a valid complaint toward LCH's business model. However, I can tell you the root of the problem is really the supplier in Colombia. All of these panels are built by a company named TROA. They supply PACOL as well, to the same effect. When Frank says "doing business in Colombia is different", he's not kidding. As a vendor, I talk to a lot of businesses. When I came across TROA a few years ago, I was shocked by their level of ineptitude and mismanagement. For example, it's hard to believe a company in the body parts business has no clue how to do logistics. In my opinion, there's no way you can build a business around a manufacturer that doesn't care about quality, doesn't work to a timeline, doesn't deal honestly, and doesn't understand how to run a business. At the end of the day, distributors like LCH is taking the bullet for a manufacturer that doesn't deserve any business.

 

[FloridaFJ80]

So I have had numerous customers contact me and tell me to update this thread. They know not to believe everything you read. So here I am. I originally came on to here over 15 years ago as a passionate Land Cruiser owner. Over the years I contributed to this community in many ways mostly in the 80 series section. As life progresses, we tend to focus more on family and other important things. For me it was family and business. Anyways to what I came on here to say. Mud and many groups online have become toxic, there are many keyboard vigilantes who like to talk crap about others for that reason I have distanced myself from those negative avenues, I am not active on Social Media (as an individual) but as a business you must. If you go thru this thread you will see the same active haters (@Putins4x4, @tstepp920) with the occasional new complaint.

Let me highlight the original thread starter, Tom Stepp. I met Tom in the Relic Run in 2017. I was there with my family showcasing FJ40 replacement panels. We talked about the panels, had some great conversations, he was a current customer and that was that. Over the summer he started this thread since he hadnt gotten his floor panel he ordered. Valid point he has a reason to be pissed. He requested a refund and he got his money back. End of Story. Now whether he continues to bash me or not I really dont care, but in my eyes his case is settled. He can move on, I sure did.

Then we have our most active hater @Putins4x4 or German Vazquez, a fellow colombiano. (Just in case you forgot, I am also Colombian) This guy has been a work of art. If you have read this thread, you will see some activity regarding a leather supplier delay in 2018. This was resolved and for all of those involved (which were over 100) either got their leather orders or their money back including Mr Vazquez which he actually got both (shipping glitch on my end - shipped to him in error and he made it out to be a cheap sales tactic that I was trying to Force him to buy them), but to German's defense he returned them. Thank you German, you have some integrity. But this didnt go without him contacting my suppliers in Colombia and trying to buy from them directly. He then started his Origasmi leathers and his marketing plan is bashing me for his own personal gain. So German's only beef with me is actually none, he got his money back, end of story. As well as everyone that requested it. No one on here can say I kept a penny of their money.

So what got me on this buyers beware forum was the lack of communication, this is a valid point, and as a business owner I rely on my customers to succeed and I should have been more proactive with that and thanks to all of this criticism I have made tremendous improvements. Though I still need to work on it. For those reading this, if you need my immediate attention, dont text me, PM me, message me via Facebook/Instagram, or email me. That mobile device you have in your hand also makes calls, open the phone app and call me. 240-347-3827. I will answer.

To any prospective customer, if your reading this your smart and your being proactive. I appreciate that. But make your own conclusions dont believe everything you read. Because if I was out there cheating customers, I would not be in business. I would not have grown to where I am today and I would be in jail.

I am where I am today because of Ih8mud and because of that I owe it to this great community to be here and confront directly any issues my company has with those affected on here. I will always make it right regardless.

I have been in business since 2015 and each year I have been growing and growing. Improving and learning from mistakes. I started operating my ecommerce site out of my 2 car garage in Florida while I worked a full time job. Then I found a small storage "shop" where I could ship out of and store all the parts I would ship and sell. Still working a full time job. I eventually got fired for excessive phone use (thanks to my side gig Land Cruiser Heaven).

Then in 2016 I got a new job and we move up to Northern Virginia. I worked out of my two car garage unloading 40ft containers in front of my townhome community. I eventually found a place an hour away from my home with a loading dock where I could unload containers. I would go after work to pack and ship orders.

Since then we have grown tremendously and always playing catch up. Up until Aug 2018, I was a full time employee elsewhere, now I am 100% all in and things continue growing. We have over 12000 followers across various social media outlets. Just check out our feeds and judge for yourself.

www.instagram.com/landcruiserheaven
www.facebook.com/landcruiserheaven

Leathers

Our current turnaround times are 2-3 weeks per order. Long wait times are a thing of the past.

Some recent great reviews on our leather seat covers.

Land Cruiser Heaven Leather Recoverings Review - Off-Road.com

We turned to Land Cruiser Heaven to bring our 1997 Land Cruiser's interior a new life. This article takes a deep dive into the process of making our seats look...

www.off-road.com

Body Panels

We have partnered up with Fedex and all our small easy shippable panels are shipping directly to the customer from our restoration facility in Cartagena. Everything is checked and double checked for quality and fitment. Even as @Racer65 knows my pain we provide a product to the community, a product that no one else sells to our specs, so we deal with these headaches for the benefit of the community. Shipping is down to 2-4 weeks for these

GROWTH

In early 2019 we opened up our second facility, located in Cartagena, Colombia inside a free trade zone. This is our Land Cruiser Restoration facility.



And now for 2020, we have grown into a huge 35,000 sqft old buick dealership in Hagerstown, Maryland. We perform full service repairs, maintenance, 5 speed conversions, 1FZ-FE Coil pack conversions, leather installations, Resurrections and new for 2020 Used Land Cruiser Sales.

Land Cruiser Heaven on Instagram: “It’s finally starting to take shape. Land Cruiser Heaven is no longer just a full service repair facility. We are your one stop shop for…”

Land Cruiser Heaven

A short video of our new shop.

youtu.be

So to wrap up this long winded thread. We have had over 1500 customers since we opened up our virtual doors in 2015. Currently at our shop we have a 2 month backlog, we just cant keep up with the demand. Sales for 2019 have more than tripled since 2015. So does this look like a company that is out cheating customers and taking their money, I dont think so. We are surely doing things right and will continue to do so, and if we make mistakes we will make it right regardless. So for all of those on here that wonder why we are still in business, take of your blinders and see the real picture. We are here to stay, whether you like it or not.

For those that want to get in touch with me, please dont send PM's (I dont have the time to be on here) Pick up the phone (240-347-3827) or email me at info@landcruiserheaven.com

Flame on!!!

 

[Rainman]

I'll bite.

I tip my hat to you for taking the time to write your post. My small Cruiser business is nowhere near the size of most of the other Cruiser businesses on Mud so it's so much easier to handle my load. I do occasionally have someone slip through the cracks and I hate that. No idea why it happens but it does. I admit that all the negativity posted about you has led me astray. I'm in no hurry for my needs right now so I'll wait a little while. I WILL however look up your outlets on line and give you a second chance. All because you took the time to show Mud that you do care about us and that we are a worthy group.

Thanks,
Rainman

 

[Brewsterfire]

Second that

 

[FJCowboy]

I have had the pleasure to work with LCH and Frank (@FloridaFJ80) at their shop in Maryland. They were extremely responsive and very honest about what I could/should do with my LC. I will definitely continue to support them and hope others will do the same.

 

[gonzopancho]

I’ve done a lot of business with Frank / LCH, and I continue to do so. I find him entirely honest and reasonable.

 

[PabloCruise]

I’ve done a lot of business with Frank / LCH, and I continue to do so. I find him entirely honest and reasonable.

This is useful info, thanks. I saw the LCH name come up when I was getting ready to re-do the front sets in the wife's 470. Unfortunately this happened when it sounded like there were long wait times for the LCH covers.

My wife did not like the material I picked for the seats, so now I wish I had waited for the LCH covers!

 

[LINUS]

Seems Frank does alot of damage control that hiring a family member (niece or nephew?) - to organize/respond w/ ETA’s would help him in spades.

Just saying, my old 40thAE 80 got L-seat covers as he was in a ‘spotty patch’ & it was reminding me of the last ~year that guy in OR kept taking orders but never communicated w/ buyers……..it was circa 2008-10.

I forget his name, prob for the best as he was a real turd towards the end.
— OR guy, not Frank to be clear. —

 

[MbGreen40]

just here to share my experience with LCH. I ordered a FJ40 tub from LCH early 2020 for a bit over $11,000 delivered. The website did specify where the part was manufactured and it gave a time frame for delivery of 8-12 weeks post purchase. The order was placed and the tub arrived one year later, yes you did read that correctly. The tub was a little banged up but over all it is an excellent replica. It will require about 1000 USD in labor to straighten out and perfect it to the point where it would be satisfactory for the project. I will never order something this critical to my projects from them again, the product was okay but one year wait is ludacris. It delayed my project 1.5 years. No complaints about customer service, they answered all request in a timely fashian even if the reason given for a whole year was Covid19 related, I appreciate the bull s*** as oppose to keeping me in the dark. I inquired about doors a couple of months after taking delivery of the tub and did not receive any communication back, that sucks. In summary, If you plan to purchase from LCH It is my opinion that you will be satisfied with the product you receive, dont expect toyota quality, be prepared to wait a very long time for your order.