I know I can be a crotchety, cranky bastard sometimes but just how old do you think I am?
Late 30s, early 40s.
Phew. Youâre spot on. Letâs hope itâs sooner than your guestimate because Iâm not likely to be paddling by that age.
The operative phrase there is âprior to deliveryâ. Again, the timeline is entirely vague. Itâs essentially a empty gesture.
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Because of lack of interest?
Naw, just donât think my body will be up for it by that point.
Rode hard and put away wet? My body can relate. At 30+ years older, Iâm not ready to quit, just be more selective of venues.
[quote=âSparky961, post:99, topic:75022â]
We share that factory with the likes of Patagonia, Yeti, Gregory, Arcâteryx and other top outdoor brands.
[/quote] That sounds more like another problem, these bigger brands will have priority when the factory will start againâŚ
Every once in a while I remember why I wanted this boat and how much time Iâm not spending paddling it.
For me it looks like fall has become winter. I expect winter will become spring, and then summer will come and go âŚ
Actually, scratch that. I keep reading this wrong and thinking my order number is in that last batch. I think it should be in the 1920-30xx range. I keep mistaking that as â1920-1930â.
Hereâs a breakdown of the changes from recent updates, for my order:
Feb 2020 -> May/Jun 2020
Mar 2020 -> Jun/Jul 2020
May 2020 -> "Late Summer 2020"
So maybe thereâs hope after all but thatâs the only thing thatâs kept me going this long so who knows.
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Thank you for continually updating this thread. I was strongly considering ordering a Trak2.0 but will look for an alternative or wait now.
The guys at Trak have done incredible marketing for their Kayak, and that generally makes me sceptical and resulted in me finding this forum. Iâm sure the Kayak could be great but this forum and their website makes me think the company is quite disingenuous.
Their home page lists the Kayak on sale for $1800 with $3599 crossed out. Paying a deposit is not a sale, that in my opinion is cheap inacurate marketing to bait people to the site. Then you couple in how inacurate they are with delivery dates and their delays. I suspect they know the expected delivery date is much later than the originally claim but by constantly shifting the delivery by small amounts, it makes the consumer really hestitant to cancel their order and push for a refund because itâs only 3 more months, then another 3 months etc.
Hopefully I am wrong and they sort everything out
When I tested the Trak 2.0, I found it pretty good, but bigger guys might struggle with the bucket seat or the deck height. If you havenât tested one, try to contact one of the Trak pilots.
There were a couple of ads of used Traks on the Classifieds of pnet. If they are close to you, or you can work out a safe payment scheme, it might be an option to get the kayak you want without counting on the delivery schedule from Trak.
I would give Trak a break on the latest delays because of COVID, but I am skeptical after having been waiting for more than 18 months.
According to Trakâs pre-purchase agreement, you can only get a refund if you cancel within 90 days. Otherwise youâre out of luck.
No Return/Refund. Other than the provision under Ninety Day Cancellation , you acknowledge and agree that you will not assert any right to cancel your purchase or obtain a refund AFTER the Deposit or Payment has been completed.
And that $1,800 deposit is nonrefundable.
The non-refundable Deposit of One Thousand, Eight Hundred ($1,800) US dollars will be fully paid upon checkout;
Good for you. Iâm surprised, however, that you found this thread at all, given the reams of glowing reviews that pop up under any Google search for Trak 2.0. That just shows how good the Trak team have been at marketing what turns out (for many) to be a non-existent product.
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Email yesterday. Points for the first instance of proactive communication. Now take away some multiple of those points for the contentsâŚ
RE: Pre-Order Update - June
This email is to update you about your pre-order from us, here at TRAK. We have had many of the self-help ârequests for Pre-Order updatesâ through our system at this link lately, so wanted to make sure to send out a general update to you (in case you had not been seeing the more extensive updates that we have been doing monthly under the Pre-Order Update Request link).
I want to start by pointing out how appreciative we are of your understanding at this time. We have heard from some of you, and are so grateful for how much patience, tact and realistic, thought-through views weâve heard and read. And some of you have been upset and frustrated. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to not be âgoing crazyâ over this, and for not getting very worried and negative. We are truly doing everything in our power to get you your kayak or kayaks as soon as we possibly can. We understand that this is no way to run a business, and are bringing to bear any and all measures we can to shift this situation. Itâs in your best interest and itâs in ours too. We are making progress on this, but it does not happen overnight.
The Current Situation
Unfortunately, the fact that we havenât reached out to you proactively in the past two months is that we have a âno news is no newsâ situation. And this is very hard, and frankly sucksâŚfor everyone.
After such a great surge of production and deliveries in the last half of 2019 and the first couple months of 2020 (put a good dent into the âcatchupâ), we have seen everything come to a screeching halt these past few months. We have a few factory partners, and all of them have had some form of government-mandated shutdowns since the end of January. Two of them are now starting back up, but our main factory (where we do the custom skin manufacturing and frame production) is still not operating. When it does get back, it will take some time to get up to capacity.
Perspective and âExpectationsâ
The good news is that we are not 1,000 kayaks behind. We are only at around 300 in total backlog, which is very achievable (as, in the last 15 months, we delivered twice that number). Those of you getting this are in the first half of that number. However, this will require starting and completing this 300-unit production run as a whole. We will do this as quickly as possible, but will likely be a 7-9 month process, assuming we get started soon. This was originally supposed to start in December, then slid to February, and then the pandemic hit. This has obviously impacted our continued pre-orders as well, so we have needed to be very creative, and need a huge commitment from everyone to give us the space and support to make our way through this.
We are being told that our main factory should be back running by July, but we do also require some key elements of material supply (that were also impacted by the pandemic). Once fully in production, the 300 kayaks will take 5 months to complete. As soon as we have a âfull containerâ (140 kayaks) for North America (and sizeable shipments to Europe) we will be able to start shipping.
At this exact moment, we cannot give an exact date, but do anticipate not being able to start delivering until the first month or two of 2021, at the earliest.
Moving Forward & Updates
For more regular updates, you can submit a Pre-Order Update Request at any time, at this link. Just enter your First Name and the Email Address you used for your order, and an automated return email will be sent to you, with the latest update. If there are any major changes, we will send you an email to update the situation. If you do not hear from us, it is likely a âno news is no newsâ situation, but can always check here.
You can trust that we are staying on top of this as closely as we can, and doing the things we need to in order to assure your order gets delivered. It is not easy, but we will get there.
In the meantime, our team has been âadaptingâ and being creative and resilient. We have developed some programs that will be very beneficial for our customers and our business, both now and over the long term. We are very happy with all of our âBeyond the Boatâ programs and Zoom Away Blue Friday calls weâve been having, both for novice paddlers and for experienced sea kayakers, as well as a new one that focuses on vitality and wellness through water. You will find some very informative, interesting and useful topics and guests on these programs. We will continue to offer these, almost every Friday for the remainder of 2020.
Again, thank you for your commitment and understanding. I also want to mention that individual communication is very challenging at this point, with a small, focused team. I hope you can understand this. Itâs not how we want to operate, but need to focus our time on the things that will get the production rolling and orders out sooner. It is a lot to manage for a small team.
For the Pre-Order Update Request link, click here.
With sincere regards,
~ Nolin & the TRAK Team
Only positive I can see is they admitted their system is not the way to run a business.
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If they could be just build the way they write. Are they also politicians?
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I find it interesting that Costco seems to have the Trak 2.0 in stock:
https://www.costco.com/trak-2.0-kayak-red-with-silver.product.100540809.html
This has been the case for at least 2 months. Iâve been tempted to pull the trigger on one, but the failure to deliver orders makes me think twice in case I ever need parts or service from Trak.
At least with Costco, if they donât deliver, you can get a refund. If you order one and actually get it in the 5-7 days they advertise (or even a bit longer given COVID related delays), there will be a lot of seriously pissed-off people here.
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What price do they list? I donât do Costco so it doesnât show for me. I do agree with Bnystrom on the seriously annoyed folks that have been waiting for years.