I was very very very excited about taking my friends to this off road experience. After saving up…read morefor months, and sleepless nights of excitement, the day had finally come and to the desert we were headed. Our experience began with our pick up that was running 20 minutes late, though she called a head and let us know which was very considerate. Upon arriving to the staging area, my concerns started to arise.
The baja ready race trucks advertised were low end knock offs. 250hp V6 with 3 speed trannies. Ok, did I want one of the 1/2 million dollar trophy trucks pumping out 750hp at the rear wheels, sure! Was I a little disappointed to get into a watered down version. Yeah, but i understood. there is liability, reliability, maintenance, etc that goes into those monster trucks that wouldn't work as a viable business model. But its cool.. we're here, little over sold, but whatever, game on!
The team that greeted us, most of them were with the company for less than a month, despite the company being in business for over 6 years. (red flag) While sitting in idle in the truck that none of my instrumentation gauges were working. The oil pressure gauge was covered up with black tape, though the red warning light still glowed from underneath.
Not to be deterred, we waiting for the team to change a flat on another truck (super common, those guys had it swapped in under 5 min) and we were off. 4 to 5 miles into the adventure the first mechanical failure struck a truck in the head of our column. The throttle cable broke and a repair was made via duct tape and perseverance. (NOte: each truck is equipped with a GPS that gives you mileage down to the 100th of a mile for navigation)
After 20 minutes we were off again and back on the trail. another 7 miles into the treck however my alternator light kept coming on and I repeatedly came to a halt as the truck stalled and refused to restart. I lost sight of the truck column, while i struggled to get my truck running again. After many start/stops, the truck came back to life, and after only a 20 min delay we were back on the ride. After limping into a stop point, although I paid to drive, I was now riding shotgun on the tour with my friend and we had to take turns driving because the group was now down 2 trucks.
It wasn't long there after (another 6 miles) that another truck in our convoy over heated or broke down (vapor lock, a common desert element prevented by cheap heat insulation on fuel lines and cloths pins) brought the column to a halt. We waiting in the sweltering heat of the desert for 30 minutes until the truck was ready to start again, and we pulled a 180 and headed back to the break down area. That little 5 mile run was the best of the day, giving me a taste as to what that experience could have been.
I did however almost roll over however when I went to press the brakes and found that...there wernt any! Getting a little rough drifting around a nice turn, we touched the berm and would it not have been for my previous off roading experience and luck, I'm not sure I would have kept the truck on all four wheels. Rule number 1 of any high octane vehicle.. GOOD BREAKS. At this point I had completely lost confidence in the integrity of these trucks, and felt unsafe driving them.
Upon reaching the breakdown area, my truck did what it was supposed to do, and broke down itself. Before hearing the predictable that we'll have to wait 30 min for the engines to cool down, my friends an I opted to call the tour already running 2.5 hours over from breakdowns and head back to the hotel to eat.
We heard a number of excuses on that this is racing and we should have expected mechanical failures. Though in my opinion, we paid a large sum of money for an experience with a company that had been doing this for over 6 years. My expectation was that the trucks would be safe, and in good working order. That we would complete the package as purchased and had many a fine story to tell.
What we got was mechanical failures and a customer service run around that began with being provided the wrong contact information to lodge a complaint, our complaint being competently ignored, and subsequent efforts to discuss our issues, deleted from voice mail. Of the 5 truck that left the starting line, 2 were running when we called it quits.
From what could have been a run of bad luck and chalked up to good faith, became shotty maintenance, and snake oil salesmen. I will not go back, and I will recommend you spend your bucks here. Go to one of the many other companies and rent quads or sand rails which are more reliable and better maintained.
My little youtube video of the trip sums it up. http://tinyurl.com/p95v86u
Update: After several weeks of trying to get a resolution, we requested 50% refund for only getting half of our experience. The owners continued to play games and dodge any responsibility to their customers. After filing a dispute with Amex, amex ruled in Vore's favor.
