Community Forums

J. Pittman · 01-05-2005, 05:08 PM

D*A*M*E G*O*O*D Idea Mr Ed & Miss Sharon!
It always bothers me to see someone in a jam
and not get help. We spend so much money
to these Places that WE keep them open.
About time we hit back. Sandy i feel so bad
that you had to go through this,Its time we
JUST SAY NOMORE from you dealers. If you want our money then you all get toghther and help
us when we need it.Wow that made me feel better!
A large group like us can change things.
We spent 17k on our Eagle last year, I can only guess what all of you spent.

I say we all write to the ceo's and get a WHY
we get the response's like Sandy and her husband
recieved. Oh man Theresa i am on a roll, Get me another Beer. Night All. Jerry Theresa & Dog.

Madame Boomer · 01-06-2005, 03:40 AM

Friends -

When I first opened this thread, it was merely to vent my frustrations over our experience. However, it appears that we are NOT the only ones who have received bad treatment from dealers/service places.

You all have had good suggestions and something DOES NEED TO BE DONE to inform these companies that WE (the RV'ers) are their meal tickets. We provide them with their jobs whether it be sales or service, yet we're treated with such disrepect from both ends of the spectrum.

One person alone cannot make a difference. It has to be the RV'ing community as a whole.

Many of you have had great suggestions and I believe the only way to address the issue is EN MASSE. The effort needs to be organized to be effective.

Most dealerships/repair shops can handle (and fluff off) one letter of complaint, but when they receive petitions or 1000's of letters at one time, they have to take note that somebody ain't happy!

There are thousands upon thousands of RV Dealerships all over the country and just as many Service Repair Shops. It would be a monumental task to contact each of them personally with words of warning that their customers are fed up with disrespectful treatment.

I intend to write Camping World, but one letter isn't going to do it. We need to come up with a good plan!

One idea I had was to start a PETITION. I can open a new thread under this section and if you want to sign up, you can log on and post a reply. I'll keep up with the names adding them as you post. From there I thought I could email some of the larger companies and invite them to check the thread. I can also "cut and paste" as Ed suggested and send to other forums to get the word out. I'm sure we are not alone in our frustration. 

Sandy

Lynnvt · 01-06-2005, 04:39 AM

Sandy & Rusty,
Sorry to hear about your problems. No fun to start the new year that way. I agree that we need to unite and let the manufacturers and dealers know that this lack of service is unacceptable. Whenever one of these situations come up, the person involved should let all those who failed know. All postings from the list should be sent as well with the stats on the website, # of members, # of daily visitors, etc. Perhaps it would be useful to have a draft letter somewhere on the site so that people who don't feel comfortable writing would have a place to start. There is power in numbers, and those numbers add up in dollars to the dealers and manufacturers.

Tom and Patti · 01-06-2005, 06:56 AM

Hi Sandy, We spent the new year in Bandera.Had lots of fun! I am just catching up on my e-mail and was horrified to hear of your plight. Patti and I purchased our Sunnybrook from Southwest RV and have had a couple of warranty issues, namely a refrigerator and a couple of toppers over the slideouts. Personally I can't say anything bad about the service at Camping World, they were very cooperative and determined to please. They stayed on top of the problem and fixed both without fail. However, the 5ver was purchased there.I am certainly going to keep your predicament in mind while dealing with them. I suggest you forward your message to both Trailer Life and the Good Sam magazine Highways. They publish letters all the time about things like this. Someone in Camping World will address this problem if it crosses their desk!
Tom

RustyJC · 01-06-2005, 10:28 AM

Lest anyone think Sandy and I are anti-Affinity Group:

1. We are Good Sam members.

2. We are Trailer Life subscribers.

3. We are Good Sam ERS members.

4. Our auto, truck and RV insurance is Good Sam VIP (GMAC).

5. And, to add insult to injury, we are Camping World President's Club members.

Rusty

ruppr · 01-06-2005, 11:45 AM

Rusty/Sandy,
Wish you all the best in however this comes out! Also am very glad that you were able to get get help from Crestview, I have been quiet on the whole subject only because: I bought from Crestview/Buda.

Someday I'll tell you the story about the couch they installed "we can do it better and you won't have to wait for the factory to build one with a couch" (stated at buying time) using 9- 1/8" X 2" sheetrock screws, to hold the couch in place. I have still the pictures/screws and the total collapse that occured the first time we extended the couch.

Winne owner relations said it (install) was a dealer problem, did not involve them in anyway. Nor did the lack of the way the dealer did not even began to meet any safety requirements, the couch has seatbelts.

We won't even go into what Crestview offered to do to fix a pluming problem under warranty work.

Okay, got all wrapped up again and this was three years ago, haven't been back---------

Best to you and Sandy,

RustyJC · 01-06-2005, 11:50 AM

Bob,

Goes to show you, I guess. Crestview bent over backwards to help us, but they apparently dropped the ball with you. Another poster praised Camping World's service, while they (IMHO) absolutely dropped the ball with us. I'm sure there's a moral to this somewhere - maybe it's "Ya pays yore money and ya takes yore chances!"

Rusty

allendp · 01-06-2005, 12:42 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by RustyJC:
Bob,

Goes to show you, I guess. Crestview bent over backwards to help us, but they apparently dropped the ball with you. Another poster praised Camping World's service, while they (IMHO) absolutely dropped the ball with us. I'm sure there's a moral to this somewhere - maybe it's "Ya pays yore money and ya takes yore chances!"

Rusty <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Problem is Rusty we all seem to Pay BIG money in most cases and yet generally receive shoddy service and/or products. This seems to be more so in the RV industry than any other and on top of that we end up in most cases dealing with complete non-caring idiots when trying to get something corrected.

RustyJC · 01-06-2005, 02:23 PM

Don,

I agree, but my response was addressed to a situation where the dealer who did not satisfy Bob bent over backwards to help us. Conversely, the service facility who wouldn't take any interest in our plight was touted for their good service by another poster. That really makes it hard to identify the good actors from the bad actors, right? In that situation, we really are left just to take our chances!

Should it be this way? Certainly not.

Rusty

edbtx1 · 01-06-2005, 05:23 PM

Sandy, You are correct when you noticed that you and Rusty weren't the only folks that have been treated less than professionally. The service we received from Holiday World of Houston - Katy after we bought the Cougar was so bad that I never went back the the remainder of the warranty work. I made the repairs myself or took the RV to an independent who must produce quality work if he wishes to stay in business.

I firmly believe you need to make public this experience and I believe it should be posted on all the major RV websites. You and apparently others have and are being treated very un-professionally by an organization who pretends to be looking out for the RVers best interest.

We also belong to many of the Affinity related groups but the fact still remains that you were a customer in need and were shunned by a dealer.

There is no reason to provide a quality RV at a fair price with service after the sale in the USA because the RV manufacturers have no competition. They are all part of the 'good ole boy' system who meet once or twice a year and decide what will come out next year.

I stated last month on, I believe, another website that I thought the quality of the RV products is very much below the price we pay for these products in this country. This also goes for the service we receive from most of the dealers. I submit that this lack of quality and concern will not improve until other parts of the world start to market RVs in the USA. If you don't believe me, stop and think what it did for Detroit and the BIG THREE. We now have quality products that we never would have had if the VW, Datsun, Toyota and a few others hadn't scared the crap and took the market share from Detroit in the 60s & 70s. As you remember what these foreign company's offered was great quality at a fair price at the time of sale and decent service after the sale.

WOW, I am exhausted, this is harder than fixing electric fork lifts. Good night and good luck...edb

ruppr · 01-06-2005, 06:06 PM

Rusty/Sandy/Don
Maybe these folks that we meet with (company fronts/service reps) for our problems, suffer more than any other area that meet with the public, from what did/did not happen to them that morning to them-------(read between the lines) just before they met with us.

Not a defense, but who knows????

Ed,
Now for the scary part, after making a bid on a rig at Ancira in Boerne, and never hearing back from the sales person (appearently (sp?), he already had a bid on the unit) I was thinking about going over to Holiday World in Houston for a serious visit. NOW, you've got me worried!

Maybe,---- just keep what I have, no problems with it, just big eyes and want to have----

Nuts, is this the time to wish for the good ole days???????? (Were they???????)

Best to all,

Madame Boomer · 01-07-2005, 04:48 AM

Friends -

I suspect this thread will go on and on forever and everyone has valid thoughts and good points for consideration.

What I believe is in the bottom right hand corner is that we, as RV buyers, have a RIGHT to expect that our manufacturers, dealers and service people treat us with respect and stand behind their products.

Ed, you are right in your statements concerning the manufacturing of the products. USA built products aren't necessarily the best on the market. Progress happened when the foreign mfgs came in to offer better products that what we receive at home.

Unfortunately in the RV industry, USA made products are all we have to select from. We've come to realize that no matter what you pay for an RV, you can bet that there are going to be problems of one kind or another.

We laugh about it, but it's the truth when you buy a new rv, you take it on a "shakedown" cruise to find and fix all the bugs! And you make sure you don't go very far from home!

We spent thousands of dollars for our new rig and on our first trip out we found that the WIRES HAD BEEN CUT to one of the florescent lights in the bedroom! What kind of people do the mfgs have building our rigs? Obviously ignorant ones who cut wires instead of wiring the light properly! Makes you wonder about the rest of rig, doesn't it!!!!

Shoddy workmanship comes with every type of rig...except maybe the 2.4 million dollar Marathons! I suspect they have their million dollar bugs too.

The old standard...you get what you pay for doesn't apply for me! We paid for a nice rig. I EXPECT it to work! I EXPECT it to be fixed properly when it breaks and I EXPECT to treated as fairly and decently as possible.

Sandy

PS: Ruppr, your point is well taken too. Please don't think I'm leaving you out!

One important lesson I learned in my 30 years in the work force is that I may receive a hundred phone calls a day and each one presents its own headache....but to the person on the other end of the line, THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PHONE CALL THEY'LL MAKE THAT DAY. How I respond to their phone call will make or break my relationship with them...personal or professional.

That Service Manager at Camping World may have been up to his "you know what" that day, but our one phone call was the most important one we made that day. We were stranded and needed help. He could have been nicer in his manner, his speech and his treatment of a PERSON even if he wasn't able to help us. That we could have understood and accepted.

His only concern was that we didn't buy our rig from Southwest RV and BECAUSE OF THAT he wasn't going to extend himself to help us or even be kind about it. His comment was to "shove the slide in, go on home and take it to your dealer."

He lost a customer that day.

Sandy

CD · 01-07-2005, 05:59 AM

Sandy
I agree with you on this issue. I'm not trying to defend any one, but I'm betting when the corp. people hear about this thread (and I'm sure they will if they haven't already) some one will be pushing a broom or be looking for work.
The first year we had our Nash we had a similar problem. We were dry camping in the desert by the Salton Sea in Ca. It was still under warranty. I called Northwood Manufacturing in La Grande, Or. I talked to an engineer and he asked if there was some place nearby that could repair it. I said there surely was but the closest one I knew about was 250 mi. away. While I was waiting for him to decide where to take it, I said if they were willing and would provide parts & info. I would fix it myself. Surprised he said "you would do that?". I said sure if it was something I could do.(We wouldn't have to try to get it together and take to some place and set in their parking lot while waiting to get it fixed.) We set a place to send the parts to and as I laid in the sand, I talked to him on my cell phone & fixed it. It took a few days but we weren't going any where anyway. We were with our friends enjoying ourselves while we waited. He said to bring it to the factory on the way home so they could check it. About 3 mos. later they checked it out, made some minor adjustments and said I did a good job, plus we had a place to spend the night at the factory and a tour of the factory.
Thats the kind of cooperation that I think we deserve.

RustyJC · 01-07-2005, 07:10 AM

Cliff,

I agree completely. Our RVs only go back to the shop as a last resort. 90% or more of any problems I've had, I've taken care of myself. In fact, I can (and do) walk into my dealer with a failed (under warranty) part, walk out with a replacement and install it myself.

If I had been at home with access to all of my tools and hadn't had to get back to work (there's that 4 letter word again), I would have taken on the changeout of this gearbox myself, assuming it can be done without drastic measures such as removing the slideout, etc. Unfortunately, we encountered the problem as we were getting ready to leave for home. I don't call for help from a dealer unless I really need it, but when I do need it, I expect the dealer (even if it's not the selling dealer - it represents the RV manufacturer) to respond.

Rusty