Pegasus bulkheads

[Mycroft]

Just to document my hellish experience with this outfit.

I didn't fancy waiting 4 months for a Robert Owen one, so read all the forum posts and noted that the woman now running Pegasus (Debbie) had apparently turned a corner and was attempting to put past customer service difficulties behind her.

Debbie answered straight away when I rang. She promised me 2 weeks' delivery of a new bulkhead. Eight weeks later and I still have no idea what happened to it. She no longer answers the phone - I've tried dozens of times. I now wonder if calls are screened.

Trying to figure out what might be going on, I checked with Companies House - something I wish I'd done before ordering. They're recently set up another bulkhead supplying company with virtually the same name (Pegasus LR Bulkheads, the old one being Pegasus Bulkheads). The original company's accounts are now a month overdue with the last few years showing significant, one might say unsustainable, losses.

Clearly something's not right with this company. I'm now in limbo, unable to order another bulkhead until this situation is resolved one way or another. But anyone fancying a quick bulkhead would be wise to proceed with caution I think.

[Alan Drover]

If you've paid anything on a credit card and the company has gone bust you can claim the money back through the card company.
I wondered how long Pegasus would last.

[Phil2014]

If you suspect calls are being screened, borrow someone else's phone and call them with that. I used to occasionally get people 'forget' to pay bills etc, no answer when I tried to call, then miraculously answer when I borrowed my wife's phone to call them.
Phil.

[Mycroft]

Cheers both.

What ended up working was involving my credit card company. Within half an hour of raising a dispute I got a call promising near instant delivery. Debbie has another job and isn't in the office very often, apparently. And didn't enter my order into the system. And other such tall tales. Fingers crossed it now arrives, but I wouldn't be repeating the experience.

Interestingly enough, I spotted this on eBay yesterday. I wonder if anyone's had any experience of this guy. As diffwhine pointed out to me yesterday, we don't know what's lurking underneath all that zinc plating:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226237129717?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D777008%26algo%3DPERSONAL.TOPIC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20240131095853%26meid%3D5eb47860835843029d43c1d00d2b433a%26pid%3D101949%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26itm%3D226237129717%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D4375194%26algv%3DRecentlyViewedItemsV2WithMLRV6RankerPricelessTop30Features%26brand%3DLand%2BRover&_trksid=p4375194.c101949.m162918&_trkparms=parentrq%3A039d37591910ab8cd32cba41ffff9af6%7Cpageci%3A40cfef28-4e6f-11ef-ae95-c650dd0a3328%7Ciid%3A1%7Cvlpname%3Avlp_homepage

[Peter Holden]

For remanufactured I read repaired and it and it is an individual selling it.  I would be wary too.

Peter

[Peter Holden]

Ultra bulkheads are now doing S3 ones and Dave Marrin our NW rep has had the opportunity to look round their setup.

https://www.ultrabulkheads.co.uk

Peter

[Craig T]

Shame to hear this, I may have been one of the people that said they seemed to have sorted themselves out now and are supplying people on a good timescale.

Strange how so many companies seem to have tried and failed at making bulkheads. Maybe they are just too complicated to make at a reasonable price that people will pay? Chassis in comparison are fairly simple things. Thick steel, all laser cut parts, very few folds, easier to weld etc.

Guess I'm lucky that I've never needed a new one, always managed to repair the originals.
Hope you get what you need and are happy with the end product.

Craig.

[Mycroft]

Thanks both. I'll definitely investigate Ultra next time.

There's probably a market for importing dismantled bulkheads from hotter climes and then rust treating and dipping them. Probably more hassle than its worth tho.

James

[Alan Drover]

That's what Ash Tree Land Rovers did more or less except they "repaired" old bulkheads. They used to be local to me and I knew Linden Swann the owner. He used to get old bulkheads from my late mate who used to deal with and break Land Rovers.
Ash Tree went bust after they moved 3 times and ended up at Woolston in Southampton. They started off fine but couldn't keep it up.

[Mycroft]

Must be a tricky balancing act - sourcing, importing, storing, fettling and generally tidying up, sending to dip, retrieving, then handling customers - probably not a business that can scale easily.

[Alan Drover]

I think that Ash Tree's source of bulkheads started to dry up when breaking Land Rovers started becoming anti social.

[Exile]

The moral?

If at all possible, order early and order Owen.


Worth the wait....

[diffwhine]

I was one of the advocates of Pegasus having seen two bulkheads received by S2 Club members which were absolutely excellent and spoken at length with Debbie. If there are problems, we need to call this out. They are a discount supplier to the Club and if they aren't reliable, we need to flag this with them.

What surprised me with the Mycroft one was that it's galvanised and that's not a normal offering. Let's see what arrives as I gather delivery is tomorrow and see how things go.

I am not a full advocate of Rob Owen bulkheads. I have bought two and both had significant problems. Had I been doing a concours restoration on either, I would have had to return both. As it was, they were not required to be perfect and I got round some pretty glaring issues. I also know if one S2C member locally here who has had huge problems with his RO bulkhead. The point being that none of them are perfect, but when you do finally get a Pegasus bulkhead it does appear to be pretty much spot on.

Don't start me off on Richards Chassis either - they aren't exactly perfect.

All these things need fettling and tweaking - it's just how far one is prepared to go and what is deemed acceptable.

My own experience with building Defenders at LR tells me that even the original bulkheads and chassis were pretty dire.

[Exile]

I have to confess DW, I have yet to fit it! 

But upon close inspection, it certainly it looks the part. He has sold loads, and I've read of satisfied customers - however, if there are major problems when fitting, you can trust me to mention them!

At least I only had to pay 10% up-front (Pegasus used to ask for 100% - do they still?)


And of course, it actually arrived!

(Which is always a bonus..... )

[AlexB]

The predesser to Ashtree (and I have used one and wouldn't again) was he Land Rover Orphanage

It seems the world / companies house, is littered with those who have tried to make a living from series bulkheads, and failed

Peter Holden and I visited Rob Owen, (it seems) many years ago and it was a quality product, probably still the best out there.