Buyer Beware Rant

[Nedra]

I don't say much here but we have been RV shoping for some time and finally found the coach we wanted. We were looking for a smaller gas coach and made a deal with Rocky Mountain RV in Albuquerque. We hadn't signed the paperwork yet but we put together the coach we wanted to order, they made us an offer and we countered and they accepted the deal. That was a little over a week ago. They had to get some price quotes from Winnebago for some things we wanted that were going to be at our expense and in the meantime we did the credit forms and they were going to proceed with getting loan approval.

On Monday or Tuesday of last week the finance manager said he got approval but we didn't like the rate so we agreed to have him check with two other companies and I was going to check with Good Sam. He called me back on Wednesday morning and said that his Sales manager said that since they gave us such a good deal would we be willing to bring our coach in so they could try to sell it before our new coach arrived. We agreed even though we had plans for some trips. We started unloading our coach (if you can imagine what that was like) and then about an hour before closing the sales manager called and said the owner said they had to back out on the deal.

I was flabbergasted that after all this time they had not mentioned anything about not going through with the deal and then all of a sudden it's sorry charlie.

I asked to speak to the owner who of course had already left. I called back the next day and said that we've ordered coaches like this before and never once had to sign on the dotted line until all the options and stuff was pinpointed and never once was there a question of having a signed contract until the coach was actually ordered. I told him we had our own business and my father had his own business for over 50 years and if a deal was made we stood by it even if we made a mistake and even without a signed contract. He agreed but said that they just couldn't afford to buy our coach the way the market was. I told him he had 3-4 days to have made that decision and why did he delegate authority to his financial manager to make deals and then he doesn't stand behind them.

All he could do was apologize. We've always had great things to say about this place in the past and they've done a lot of work for us but if this is the way they do business......

So, moral to the story is if you are shopping for a new or used RV...get it in writing IMMEDIATELY! Also, buyer beware if you are dealing with Rocky Mountain RV make sure you get it in writing from the owner, not his flunky.

Nedra

[Nedra]

I don't say much here but we have been RV shoping for some time and finally found the coach we wanted. We were looking for a smaller gas coach and made a deal with Rocky Mountain RV in Albuquerque. We hadn't signed the paperwork yet but we put together the coach we wanted to order, they made us an offer and we countered and they accepted the deal. That was a little over a week ago. They had to get some price quotes from Winnebago for some things we wanted that were going to be at our expense and in the meantime we did the credit forms and they were going to proceed with getting loan approval.

On Monday or Tuesday of last week the finance manager said he got approval but we didn't like the rate so we agreed to have him check with two other companies and I was going to check with Good Sam. He called me back on Wednesday morning and said that his Sales manager said that since they gave us such a good deal would we be willing to bring our coach in so they could try to sell it before our new coach arrived. We agreed even though we had plans for some trips. We started unloading our coach (if you can imagine what that was like) and then about an hour before closing the sales manager called and said the owner said they had to back out on the deal.

I was flabbergasted that after all this time they had not mentioned anything about not going through with the deal and then all of a sudden it's sorry charlie.

I asked to speak to the owner who of course had already left. I called back the next day and said that we've ordered coaches like this before and never once had to sign on the dotted line until all the options and stuff was pinpointed and never once was there a question of having a signed contract until the coach was actually ordered. I told him we had our own business and my father had his own business for over 50 years and if a deal was made we stood by it even if we made a mistake and even without a signed contract. He agreed but said that they just couldn't afford to buy our coach the way the market was. I told him he had 3-4 days to have made that decision and why did he delegate authority to his financial manager to make deals and then he doesn't stand behind them.

All he could do was apologize. We've always had great things to say about this place in the past and they've done a lot of work for us but if this is the way they do business......

So, moral to the story is if you are shopping for a new or used RV...get it in writing IMMEDIATELY! Also, buyer beware if you are dealing with Rocky Mountain RV make sure you get it in writing from the owner, not his flunky.

Nedra

[JayC]

You know, its a shame that businesses have gotten to this point. It used to be that a simple handshake was enough to seal a deal. The od adage of your word is your bond doesn't seem to be true any more.

Perhaps its time to show some of the "less than upfront" dealers what the Internet can do. If enough of us sent them an email-there's an email us tab on their website Rocky Mountain RV & Marine they might have a change of heart?

[Nedra]

Hi Jay, thanks I appreciate your support and agree that in the old days a simple handshake was all that it took.

We were headed in the door in the morning with our coach empty and checkbook in hand. I was floored when just before closing they backed out.

heck of a way to run a business but the sales manager said if they made the deal they might not be in business. I guess if things are that bad for them that they had to back out of the deal then perhaps they are having financial troubles.

Heck we even offered to give them the full downpayment up front when we ordered the new coach along with leaving our coach for them to try to sell until the other one arrived. Kinda makes you wonder

Nedra

[NeilV]

Nedra,

They could gave been telling you the truth. Four major RV manufactureres have closed so far this year and even more dealerships. The largest dealer in California is currently going through liquidation. Your dealer may have just found out that they have lowered his bond rating and can't order your rig until he sells off more of his existing inventory and may be on the brink of closing down.

It is a good thing that this happened before you lost your existing rig. Imagine how much worse it would have been if your rig had been sold and then the dealer found out the factory would no longer accept orders from them.

[Nedra]

Neil, I agree but I feel it is poor business to let the deal go as far as it did and then tell us. They had more than 3 days to figure out they didn't want to make the deal. Why wait until after they and we go through the financing hoops and ruin our great credit rating with all the banks doing credit checks. Why wait until after they ask us to bring our coach in to sell so we start empyting it out. Why not do it before all these phone calls? Better yet, why make the deal in the first place if they weren't going to stand behind it.

Nedra

[full-timer]

Alan,maybe they thought that you might offer more for their coach if they did this. Believe me the dealers know all the tricks.

Joe

[Ray,IN]

Nedra look at it the way NeilV inferred. The glass is half-full now. Perhaps the owner caused you to dodge the bullet without telling you why. RV sales business' are failing every day.

[Nedra]

Actually I guess it did work out for the best. As we found out today Rocky Mountain screwed up badly on some work they did on our coach and tried to gouge us on some body repair. We thought they had been doing some great work on our coach all along and found out today that they in fact made the problem worse. Monaco sent us to Cummins today and that is how we found out. Cummins referred us to a body shop they use for motorhomes and they gave us a quote for $1,000 less than RM. So, everyone had a chuckle on that one that RM is trying to pay for their new paint booth with our motorhome. So, they not only lost us as a potential customer down the road when we do downsize but they also lost our business for service and everything else. So, I guess in the long run this made us more aware of how they do business.

Since Cummins does bumper to bumper work on coaches and we were very pleased with the results of what they did we will probably let them do all of our work in the future. I realize these dealers all try to make money but to try to gouge us for $1,000 over the quote we got was just the straw that broke the camels back....

Nedra