Angry and Disappointed with Dealership

anggirl

Member
We bought a 2011 BC 3450 in Jan...our first RV ever and we were so excited. The weather has been unseasonably cold here in our area so we waited to de-winterize and take it out on our initial trial run. A little over two weeks ago hubby began de-winterizing and had water spraying all over the bathroom from a faulty fitting on the back of the toilet--no way to have a trial run with that going on. We also had a notice from Heartland about a missing seal..a one hour fix...and we'd noticed something out of alignment with one of the slides, a light in the entertainment center cabinet that wasn't secure, and a cabinet hinge that wasn't attached. The alignment issue, light and hinge were supposed to have been fixed before we took possession of the camper and they weren't. We left the camper at the dealership with the impression it would be ready in two weeks at the latest. It's been two weeks and two days since we took it in for these fixes so we could FINALLY try it out!! My husband called today and was told it would be the middle of next week before it was ready...THEY HAVEN"T EVEN STARTED ON IT!!! The guy even asked when we needed it. We needed it the day we took it in for service! I don't think I am being unreasonable to expect better service than this on a brand new product that we're making payments on and have not even been able to use yet!
 

sailorand

Past British Columbia Chapter Leader
anggirl
we had problem with our dealer also. It is quite common from what I can see. I kept a detailed log of all my telephone calls, with time, date, who I talked to, and a brief of what was discussed and the answers.
It seems like the "appointment" we make, is only to get in the line up, to get things fixed. Ours was in for 31 days and the dealer only booked 4.25 hours of work!! Oh well free parking...
Good luck, and tlak to the service manager, it did not help us, but you never know.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
Welcome to the real world of rving. You get done sooner if you lie and tell them you live in your RV.
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
Jim, I never thought of that. I wonder what would happen if you told them you work for the IRS:eek:. I do agree with Jim though, it's that way most of the time. I understand that you payed good money for a new unit. That unit came with a warrenty. I have found that if you are anyway handy at all, and its a long drive to your dealer. Just fix it yourself. It will be a better fix and you learn about your coach. JMHO Bob
 

wdk450

Well-known member
Gang:
My take on the bad dealer service examples is to suggest that for those dealers warranty service is just a manufacturer required manpower and expense cost to enable the dealer to make the BIG MONEY: SELLING RV's.
If I encountered this, I would SERIOUSLY look into taking my warranty repair work to an independent RV repairer who has no sales lot. These people are depending on their service work EXCLUSIVELY for their living. Heartland will approve warranty repair at any RV repair facility you choose, with just a prior phone call to Heartland service authorizing this.
I would also write up any bad (or great) service experiences both on this, and the RV Service Reviews website.
 
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Bobby A

Well-known member
I totally understand your frustration, maybe you could call Heartland customer service and they could make a phone call and ruffle a few feathers for you at your dealership. Heartland doesn't like to hear of bad experiances at dealerships, its a directly reflection on them. Try Heartland customer service and explain your story, they are the BEST !!
 
We had an issue with our bighorn and are three hours from our dealer. The dealer called customer service and then had me do the same. They said take it to whoever you want but to have them call Heartland before doing any work. Dealers are notorious for the tactics you are talking about and I dont understand why because it makes them look a lot worse that the mfg. If a few of the mfgs would pull some agreements for this it may solve the problem. I know times are tough but if a dealer is putting you in a bad light; do you really think it would or will help your business. We stopped using our local dealer due to issues like this for both purchases and service. I just wish our present dealer was a little closer because they are wonderful to deal with.
 

anggirl

Member
Update: We finally picked up our BC yesterday...after unreturned calls, unfulfilled promises and a total lack of professionalism on the part of the dealership..a call from Heartland had the minor problems fixed in a day's time...everything appears to be satisfactorily repaired. We now know a good buying experience does not necessarily a good service experience make. At this point, we're just thankful we can reload everything and FINALLY try out our first fifth wheel!!! Thanks everyone for all your input!
 

circusbear

Active Member
Good to hear you got your buggy back. As someone already said, please keep a record of your phone calls and if/when they were returned, if the issues with your trailer and if they were fixed or not. When you spend the kind of money we spend on these trailers, you would think that the dealerships would treat us with some sort of respect. As i'm begining to understand, there are more and more of us that are having bad experiances with their selling dealers. It's really too bad because the customer service people at Heartland really are top notch.
 

hart1369

Active Member
its amazing that in an economy like we are i that rv dealers just seam to thinks its ok to offer such sorry service. our selling dealer is 250 miles away and had a bad experince with them im hoping that the dealer doing the warrenty work works out for us, if it works will propably have new selling dealer
 

anggirl

Member
I just had to post one more follow up..we took the camper out and were pretty well pleased that everything had finally been taken care of...unfortunately, as Hubby was unpacking and repacking underbelly yesterday for our upcoming extended stay (for work) in the camper he discovered the toilet with the faulty fittingthsat the dealership repaired had been leaking into underbelly during our initial voyage...poop and little scraps of tp in the underbelly of our brand new camper...aaargh! We did not bother with the dealership this time....Hubby removed toilet and discovered the careless bozos at the dealership had placed the toilet partially on top of the seal allowing it to leak down into the underbelly...totally the fault of the dealership!!!!! He situated it correctly and now it's fine, but it was a situation that should never have occurred! Oh, and it didn't take him 4 weeks to fix it!
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
Sometimes if you want a job done right you are better off doing it yourself. Sounds like you have a nasty mess on your hands. Yuck...tough luck
 

wdk450

Well-known member
Sometimes if you want a job done right you are better off doing it yourself. Sounds like you have a nasty mess on your hands. Yuck...tough luck

Sounds like you need the firehose fix like Robin Williams got in the movie "RV".
 
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