• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

Update - Gerbings versus Gerbing

jdparks1

New member
Note that Gerbings is now Gerbing. Apparently Gerbings ran into some financial difficulties and is now under new ownership and is now Gerbing. Don't ask me why.....

I have an old Gerbings "wide wire" liner jacket that has served me well for more than a decade. I just ordered a new/old Gerbings as the old inventory is being sold off to make room for the new. Other than some lining color changes and the label on the front of the liner (now Gerbing) I understand that there is no difference so buy the old Gerbings while it is still available. You can find the new/old jacket liner for less than $200 while the new Gerbings jacket liner is $250.

Got that??????
 
I am not surprised that they were having difficulties. Their customer service was me, non-existent at the of 2012 through to March of this year. It was frustrating as they had always been a good company to deal with in the past.
 
Their HQ is walking distance from my home. I'll mozy over and see what's up...

Errr - Looks like they moved to NC! Hmmmm.

Never mind.
 
Gerbings LLC

Note that Gerbings is now Gerbing. Apparently Gerbings ran into some financial difficulties and is now under new ownership and is now Gerbing. Don't ask me why.....

I have an old Gerbings "wide wire" liner jacket that has served me well for more than a decade. I just ordered a new/old Gerbings as the old inventory is being sold off to make room for the new. Other than some lining color changes and the label on the front of the liner (now Gerbing) I understand that there is no difference so buy the old Gerbings while it is still available. You can find the new/old jacket liner for less than $200 while the new Gerbings jacket liner is $250.

Got that??????

The company was owned by Jeff Gerbing, hence the name Gerbing's. Here's the announcement of the change in the company:
http://www.mccarthycapital.com/prospect-brands-acquires-gerbings-heated-clothing-inc-2/

Customer service was non-existent for awhile, but we have ramped up, added staff and are diligently working on new products to keep everyone warm!! Check out all the options on the website. (still some bugs there, but they're being worked out)

Regarding the Recall: None of the Made in the USA liners are affected, only the Made in China. PO 3796 would be noted on the label, as well as some H-D private label liners.
 
I also see the warranty has changed. It used to be lifetime on jackets and such. Now 3 years.

I have a jacket, gloves and dual heat controller. I always enjoyed the peace that came from the warranty. I would guess they have no reason to honor the old one anymore. (I don't think the temp controllers were warrantied that long)


Hopefully, they find success under the new name/process.

Rob
 
I guess there is no reason to continue my loyalty to Gerbing. I had always felt they had developed the product, supported our needs, put a great warranty on it, and should be rewarded for that. I don't feel the same way about a "private equity firm". Now, when in the market, I will consider ALL the manufacturers of heated gear.:dunno



:dance:dance:dance
 
Looks like they paid the price for going to China. I've been involved with sourcing many items from there and other places for a long time before retiring and there is one thing for certain about Chinese manufacture under contract- that is that unless you have your own staff supervising all aspects of materials and results, they will cheat and change in an attempt improve their margins without getting any approval (no matter what the contract says). The results are almost always a problem- their education systems are extremely poor despite the surface veneer and many of their ideas are simply stupid. Closed down a few operations over the years for such reasons and all of my traveling staff always had authorization to do the same on the spot if they thought necessary...

Hope Gerbing does well with their NC made stuff- hate to see an original die from a poor decision- but they are heading into a much tougher price category at $250 in a marginal economy..

Their issues made my last jacket a WarmNSafe but I also still use an older Gordon Gerbing edition from almost a decade ago..
 
I also see the warranty has changed. It used to be lifetime on jackets and such. Now 3 years.

I have a jacket, gloves and dual heat controller. I always enjoyed the peace that came from the warranty. I would guess they have no reason to honor the old one anymore. (I don't think the temp controllers were warrantied that long)


Hopefully, they find success under the new name/process.

Rob

The warranty is still lifetime on the heating pads, and now it's 3 years on material and workmanship. (old warranty was 1 yr)...Controllers have always been 3 years. The new website still isn't final, and there are numerous areas that are still being worked on. Your warranty still stands.

Also another very good reason to stay with Gerbing products is that the liners (jackets, vests and pants) are MADE IN THE USA. (and all materials are sourced in the USA).

If the investors hadn't stepped in....there would be no Gerbing today!!

Karol (removing Gerbing hat :)
 
How could Gerbing get so far behind when they are the go to company for most BMW and Harley riders for heated gear?

Wild Guess: Recalls are expensive. Competition has surfaced. Margins are being suppressed because of competition and the economy.
 
Wild Guess: Recalls are expensive. Competition has surfaced. Margins are being suppressed because of competition and the economy.

That applies to EVERY business. What's different here?

The formula for keeping a successful business going is offer a quality product, that everyone wants, at a fair price, with good service. Gerbing HAD that in spades.

Wild Guess:

The recall happened only 5 months ago. It was only a connector that needs to be fixed.

Competition has been around for a long time, but Gerbing was always the way to go.

"The economy" has been over used to cover up for poor management. Poor management causes poor service. Poor service will kill strong businesses quicker than anything. Have heard of several customer service issues with Gerbing recently.


:dance:dance:dance
 
Without looking at their books and prior management practices its hard to say exactly why. But they did have a rash of bad product at the end of prior ownership and also delays in ability to supply many of their items. Such things point to the difficulty of managing a reliable supply of quality items from China (14 week lead from order is minimal lead time for most contracted items) and / or a serious capital shortage. Buying custom contracted stuff from China is best left to folks with the resources and skill to do it well, not a small shop like Gerbing's, so to some extent they must also have had naive management. Its also not much of a secret that their controllers are antique designs badly in need of updating so some amount of business was lost to folks with newer designs.
 
How could Gerbing get so far behind when they are the go to company for most BMW and Harley riders for heated gear?

:dance:dance:dance

No matter how good a product is, any company can experience financial difficulties. Fortunately the investors saved a good company, so we can continue to enjoy our sport comfortably. I know when I head out on the bike, I don't leave home without it....
 
liner broken

I have a Gerbing liner that is many years old but hasn't been used very hard.

It quit working this fall.

I had read some of this thread and dreaded the thought of calling Gerbing and having a bad experience.

Well guess what? I had a great experience!

Called an spoke to a very nice lady who gave me instructions on how to send it in for repair.

Two weeks later it is returned. Fixed! No charge of any kind.

I will continue to buy Gerbing products no matter how they spell it.

jason
 
I have a Gerbing liner that is many years old but hasn't been used very hard.

It quit working this fall.

I had read some of this thread and dreaded the thought of calling Gerbing and having a bad experience.

Well guess what? I had a great experience!

Called an spoke to a very nice lady who gave me instructions on how to send it in for repair.

Two weeks later it is returned. Fixed! No charge of any kind.

I will continue to buy Gerbing products no matter how they spell it.

jason


I'm also back on the bus. I just had a very good purchasing experience with them, very quick arrival time after ordering and the items I ordered are well made and work perfect.
 
Back
Top