Community Forums

Danny Gayhart · 10-09-2005, 06:13 AM

What are your thoughts on the ACA Homecoming in Yakama WA? How would those of you who attended rate the organization, food service, facilities, activities, raffle, access to the board of directors and WRV staff? I want to hear from fist timers as well as us seasoned rally attendees.

Danny

Danny Gayhart · 10-09-2005, 06:13 AM

What are your thoughts on the ACA Homecoming in Yakama WA? How would those of you who attended rate the organization, food service, facilities, activities, raffle, access to the board of directors and WRV staff? I want to hear from fist timers as well as us seasoned rally attendees.

Danny

Tom and Patty · 10-09-2005, 11:26 PM

Hi Danny,

It was good to meet you in person. We just got back to Fresno tonight after leaving Yakima Sat at noon. Still winding down I guess.

Patty and I had a great time. All the activities were excellent. The best day of course was Friday, the tour, gearhead session and meeting the WRV people I've talked to on the phone.

Cummins and HWH were able to get a few small adjustments done on our coach. HWH adjusted our slide perfectly! I was bit disapointed in the WRV team that visited our coach. Seems they really didn't want to work. Doug from WRV was a big help however.

The food was excellent. Too much of course. Yakima Nation RV is a nice park. We had about an acre of land around our RV site. The activites were plentiful, so much so that we need to work now to get rested! Patty was disappointed that there were no vendors. I may have misled her. She was looking for slides and a few other accessories. We now understand that this is not that type of rally.

All in all we had a great time, and it will not be our last ACA Rally.

AccessoriesCtrMike · 10-10-2005, 02:31 PM

I didn't officially "attend" the rally, however I had an awesome time meeting many of you (and in some cases, seeing you again after 5 years).

Thanks to all of you who stopped by to say 'hello'!! Your patronage was very much appreciated!

If I may, I'd like to address a misconception that was noticed all week concerning the mission of the Accessories Center. The original idea of the store inside the Customer Service Center was to offer a variety of AFTERMARKET accessories and a few small Camping World-type items. In the short time that we've been open it has become readily apparent that you, our clientelle, fully expects to have the opportunity to purchase WRV OEM parts for your coaches during your stay/visit at our facility. While we are doing our best to facilitate this expectation, it is difficult at best to serve you in this capacity at this time due to a lack of WRV OEM parts knowledge on the part of my staff and most importantly, myself. We are simply not properly staffed or trained for this because there is already a fully trained/staffed OEM parts team and warehouse at the original WRV facility on Washington St. in Yakima.

I sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding and implore you to be patient with us for the near future while we train hard to get more efficient with the wonderful WRV parts system.

In the interim, for assistance with your WRV OEM parts order or questions please call our internal OEM parts department on Washington St. in Yakima at 509-457-4133 (ask for 'parts')...they are now taking retail customer orders for WRV OEM parts ONLY. The crew in that office has an incredible working knowledge of all WRV OEM parts and will be more than happy to assist you.

For non-OEM accessories (window awnings, navigation systems, diamond shield, slide trays, solar or satellite systems, etc) please call me at the WRV Accessories Center in the new Customer Service Center at 509-853-2961 or 866-567-4133.

Thanks again and safe journeys to all!

Open-Rd · 10-11-2005, 07:57 AM

The rally was great! I really enjoyed the confidence course and the drag race, (my first 2 experiences at driving!)

I thought WRV was great, we had some work done on the coach and really apreciated everything they provided to help make the whole experience pleasant and fun.

Sully · 10-13-2005, 07:28 PM

Danny,

Dale and I enjoyed meeting you and Claudia.The rally was more than we had hoped for and the interaction with WRV made us more comfortable with our choice of an Alpine. So comfortable that we purchased a Mid Door Apex.

We really enjoyed the ACA functions and look to become mor involved in the future.

Sully

chris cross · 10-15-2005, 10:11 AM

This was our first Homecoming and, in fact, first anything of a group nature. We very much enjoyed ourselves and meeting a number of folks that we had "met" on the forum. The facilities and WRV service were very good. Our only complaint "kidding" was that we could not find our coach after touring the campground.
Do you have a count as to the number of participating coachs?
Will be at Quartzsite

E & D Wilson · 10-16-2005, 06:09 PM

We had such a great time, from the time we checked in to the time we left the rally in Toppinish.
It is great to see the whole WRV staff particiate and interacting with the Alpine owners. This makes us very proud to be an Alpine owner and a member of ACA. We cannot forget our sponsors, they become friends rather than salespeople. For their support we thank them.
Looking forward to Bullhead City and Quartzsite.

Mike & Nancy · 10-17-2005, 06:00 AM

Danny

Nancy and I had a great tme at our first ACA rally. We are looking forward to Quartzsite and future rallies. Met great people at Topponish and at Service Center. Right now we are in Redding, Ca now with three other Alpines.

We would like to see some type of "Open House"/ show and tell at the rally for us "newbees". We understand that you used to do that at some rallies. We would like to see what other people have done to make their coaches better etc.

dufferjim · 10-17-2005, 07:37 AM

Danny,
Didn,t meet you or any other members of leadership. Was just like going to a new high-school: clique-heaven.
At least I can save my money from now on and not waste it on keeping my membership active.
Working now on trading in my coach for Country Coach, the Alpine people seemed to think I had bad breath.

Jim A · 10-17-2005, 11:19 AM

I had a different opinion on the rally. I talked with Claudia Gayhart for a while at one of the dinners. About this forum for one thing. I also talked to Gale Johnson by his coach for 30-45 minutes. I found both of them to be very approachable and more than happy to talk with me. This was my first ACA rally, so I am not part of the clique.

My coach isn't perfect, but I didn't have any service issues to take up with the WRV people, so I don't know about the problems you might have had with them. I did go out of my way to meet Mike Parker in the Accessories store, since I had found him to be very helpful in past dealings with him.

Jim A
'04 36 MDDS

Tom and Patty · 10-17-2005, 11:49 AM

Like Jim we were new to the rally, and being new to the group some of the inside jokes at the meetings we did not get. However, we meet a great many people, and enjoyed our conversations with all. I walked up to Danny and told him he was the one responsible for us buying an Alpine(kind of scared him

), Dave Fernandez helped too. Like a new high school (and I moved a lot) you have to go out and press the flesh (oh that sounds like a polititian). But then my wife says I'm extroverted. We met a great couple from St. Charles, MO. standing in line to drag race. But I didn't meet Gail, Ron Doyle and others. That's the way it is.

We also belong to the SoCal Alpine group, http://www.alpinesocal.com/ and it took a bit of work to get to know everyone. It was a little easier as most of our rallies have only 20 coaches. I believe as a group, ACA, SoCal, everyone is helpful, especially to us "New" RV'ers. To us it is an infectious lifestyle, and we are always trying to pass the bug.

I know that appointments needed to be made in advance for work to be done, but I know others who bent an ear and got in. I don't think that reflects poorly on WRV, this is the real world.

So I'm sorry you feel that way dufferjim. I saw your coach on one of my walks and had you been outside, I would have asked about your MDX. Please don't let this one bad experience (rally) determine your course of action.

OK, I've rambled enough and my proof reader isn't home

WeBrzn2 · 10-17-2005, 12:28 PM

Sounds like a good rally overall. Too bad my wife and I could not make it this year. We are looking forward to our first ACA event when we have the time and opportunity to attend. Would be nice to be able to chat with other Alpine owners and share experiences.

Danny Gayhart · 10-17-2005, 04:06 PM

Hi Jim

It is unfortunate you feel that way. Claudia and the rest of the board of directors try to meet as many new members as possible. There were over 225 members present. I'm just a worker ant and do not have time to visit with everyone but you could talk to me anytime I take a break. We do have some long time friends we like to visit with and many of the board have working meals together. I very rarely get to eat with my wife.

A club is kinda like school, you have to make the effort to meet others and you will find where you fit best. One of the best ways to meet members is to volunteer, whether it's serving meals or running for office.

I think all RV associations will be very similar. With Country Coach though, you pay a whole lot more to play.

Good Luck
Danny