Heartland RVs Authorizes Service Center in Elkhart, Indiana

jbeletti

Well-known member
Heartland RVs Authorizes Service Center in Elkhart, Indiana

I received word today from Scott Tuttle, Owner and VP of Marketing at Heartland RVs that Heartland has just “Factory Authorized” RECREATIONAL SPECIALTIES in Elkhart, Indiana to do Warranty and Non-Warranty service work on Heartland RVs.

Matt Cameron, formerly of Heartland RVs has joined forces with Ron Green of RV America. Together, they will do business as Recreational Specialties. Ron has been offering top notch quality RV service for over 10 years as RV America. Matt has been with Heartland RVs from their inception, leaving as a Line Foreman. Matt has intimate knowledge of the design and construction of Heartland coaches and vast experience dealing with service issues specific to Heartland products. As a team, Ron and Matt have great potential in the RV service area.

In addition to general RV service work, Recreational Specialties also does customized work and upgrades that the factory will not do (i.e. disc brakes, air-ride suspensions, custom cabinetry, etc.).

Contact Information:
RECREATIONAL SPECIALTIES
2010-1/2 Cassopolis Street
Elkhart, IN 46514
574.266.7911 phone
574.262.9827 fax
matt@rec-spec.com
www.rec-spec.com

Principals:
Ron Green and Matt Cameron

Rally Service Vendor:
Subject to final determination, it is currently planned that RECREATIONAL SPECIALTIES will be contracted to perform the onsite service work at the 2007 rally in Goshen.

Jim Beletti
Admin
 
Last edited:

Princess Kathleen

Well-known member
The New Repair Guys

Welcome,
I am sure they will be welcomed with open arms....I met Matt when we were in Elkhart at the end of July and through August....he is the one that did some major corrections on the Luv Shak.

PK
 

jpmorgan37

Well-known member
Jim;
Will LSI continue to do service and warranty work for Heartland and do service repairs at the Rally in June or is this going to be an exclusive contract with Recreational Specialities?
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Hi John,

I can't add any more than I've written above as it's all I know. Since it is now planned that RS will perform the rally service work, I can only assume that LSI will not be doing that.

Jim
 

jpmorgan37

Well-known member
Thanks Jim;
I was just curious. The folks at LSI were good to deal with and I know they really went all out at the Rally last June. I wish RS well and am sure that they will provide first class service, especially with their background.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Hi Bob,

Their number is 574.266.7911.

I am dropping my trailer there this Wednesday for some annual maintenance (brake inspection/adjustment, wheel bearing repack etc.) and repairs. I go back down in 2 weeks to visit Amish country and pick the trailer back up and I'll write up a review of the place at that time.

I understand some Heartland unit owners have already been there. Hope to see them post about their experiences.

Jim
 

kathcon

Member
We just returned from Elkhart where we had some warranty work done on our Landmark MT. Rushmore at RV America. Ron was super to deal with and Matt and Rob did a super job taking care of our problems. Matt even found a couple of things that need tweaking before we did.
Everyone that works there are very friendly and helpful. It took them 2 days to get the work done so while they were working on the camper they told us some interesting things to see and do around Elkhart during the day while waiting to return to our Haven for the night.
Matt contacted Randy so he could come to the shop and we could talk to him.
We think Heartland made a good move.
Kathcon
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Just dropped my coach off at Recreational Specialties (formerly RV America) today. Just missed Ron but spent an hour with Matt, looking over the shop and talking with him about the business and going over my list and my coach. I feel comfortable it is in good hands. I'l lbe back in the area in teo weeks and I'll pick up the coach then and I'll do a write up of how they do. Having them winterize it while it's there since it will be nearly November when I go back to get it.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Review of Recreational Specialties RV Repair Service

The following is one man's opinion based on a single experience with Recreational Specialties in Elkhart, Indiana.


A few weeks ago, I posted news of Heartland’s newest factory authorized service center in Elkhart, Recreational Specialties (RS).

That same week, I also posted that I was taking my trailer to Elkhart to have RS do some season-end work on it for me. Below is what I can report:

Overall grade: B+
RS addressed every item on my list. Nothing was overlooked. In fact, they went beyond the call on looking the rig over by tweaking this-and-that as they found small things. Below, I’ll talk about some of the items they attended to.

Pleasantly surprised:
One thing that really pleased me was during the inspection of the wheel hubs/bearings/grease and brakes/adjustments, they determined that I did not need to have my wheel bearings repacked at this time. Apparently, I have yet to tow enough miles to have broken the grease down to the point of requiring replacement. They did add a bit more grease and they lubricated a couple of points on the MOR/ryde suspension. So there’s $300 of cost deferred until next October.

Impressed:
A couple of items that really impressed me was the repair made to the kitchen floor, the bottom of the dinette slide and the drawer face added to the laptop slide-out tray.

I had two other repair facilities replace an Armstrong floor plank in the kitchen and both times, the plank slid, leaving a ¼” gap at the carpet. Only time will tell but RS’s repair looks solid and the way they explained how this plank is being held in place gives me confidence.

Due to an errant screw between the dinette slide-out and the main room, a gouge was torn into the material covering the bottom of the slide room and into the plywood. At the end of 2005, LSI had done a great job of repairing the bottom of the room but none of us knew at the time that an errant screw was the cause. At the rally in June, LSI or Heartland found the errant screw and removed it. The repair that RS has just done also included white metal angle cap around the bottom slide corner. This will serve as a rub or wear strip, keeping the actual bottom of the slide off the floor, at least at the corners when they roll in and out. Here again, time will tell how well this repair holds up but I am pretty confident in it from what I can see.

In the 2005 Mt. Rushmore, under the desktop is an open laptop slide-out tray. I asked if they could supply me with a piece of finished maple so I could make a drawer front for that tray. They did better than that. They cut down a piece, finished it, installed it and added cleats around the inside of the tray, effectively making it a shallow pencil drawer. I am using it for office supplies now.

Another thing on the list was a fallen fresh-water tank. This had been worked on before. Good news was that the tank itself had not dropped. The underbelly material had begun to sag. While in there, they did add more tank support, some new insulation and they re-supported the underbelly material with an external angle iron.

Room for improvement:
To be honest, I would say the only thing I was disappointed with was the winterization they did at my request. I have only winterized the unit once prior and I did it myself. It was a learning experience and I was not perfect at it. I forgot about the ice maker last year – oops!

Upon inspection the day I picked the unit up (Sunday), I noticed that not all of the lines on the hot and cold water manifolds were pink. Specifically, the 2 outdoor spray ports and the washer/dryer lines (toilet sprayer did not have antifreeze in it either. When I got back to my home CG, I re-winterized, making sure to pink-up all lines. That said, I was not able to get the hot water line to the washer/dryer to draw anti-freeze. Cold worked fine. Bypasses and manifold ports were all set fine. I was even able to get nice pink flow from all other fixtures (hot and cold sides). I ended up unhooking the hot water line for the W/D at the manifold and gravity draining the line. I just hope that got enough out of that system to be effective. I was not able to verify if they winterized the ice maker properly. I saw pink up to the solenoid but I didn’t crack the in and out lines loose from the solenoid. By this time, I was cold and a bit frustrated. This will have to be their issue next spring if it was not done right.

Summary:
Despite ending this review with an item RS needs to improve their process on, on an overall basis, I stand firmly behind my grade of B+ and I would not hesitate to recommend Recreational Specialties to anyone. Matt Cameron, Ron Green and the crew at Recreational Specialties should serve you well.

Jim Beletti
 

DJBirk

Member
Hi Jim Just wanted to say I agree with your assessment of Recreational Specialties. I had our 3055 in their shop in the beginning of Sept. and found Matt and Ron to be genuinely interested in any issues I had with our Bighorn. Matt walked me through the rig as he looked at my written list of items that needed to be addressed and finished by saying that he would inspect the rig for any other problems that might not have been found up to that point. While Matt was working on the coach, my wife and I took a Heartland factory tour and found some updates and fixes that were being used on newer models. We stopped back at RS to tell Matt about them and when we picked up our Bighorn, Matt had fixed all our listed items and made the factory upgrades that needed to be done. This was all accomplished in 6hours. Needless to say we are impressed with their work and felt like we were treated fairly and politey; something missing at many dealerships. I give them an A at this point.
 

phranc

Well-known member
we're looking forward to meeting Matt and Ron, but Rene' and the crew from LSI will be missed .I think that RS has a tough act to follow..
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Thanks for weighing in on RS, DJBirk. I hope others weigh in to give their honest appraisals as well.

Frank,

I agree with you - LSI took care of us at the rally and many others at their shop. Not sure if you knew but Renee moved on a few months back. I've chatted with her once since then. She's in a different industry now.

Jim
 

ct0218

Well-known member
We were at LSI for 3 days just after Labor Day, and Renee was gone then. The guys did an excellent job, very concientious, and I agree that RS will have to really work hard to top LSI. Let's hope that they do, and based on this report they are.
 

Scott

Well-known member
I can't recommend any one service center over another - especially since the vast majority of Heartland Dealers offer great service to their customers. But I can provide you with a little background on Matt Cameron and Ron Green at Recreational Specialties. Matt was one of the first producdtion workers hired at Heartland. Over the years, he served as everything from a "swing man" (who works in multiple departments on the production line) to group leader to assistant plant manager. He left Heartland in good standing to team up with Ron to form Rec-Spec and specialize in Heartland products. Matt knows the productd inside and out and is very good at creating custom cabinetry solutions and additions.
Ron has owned and operated RV America (the business's former name) for a number of years. RV America has been providing service to RV customers since 1973 and their reputation is what keeps them thriving. Ron and his experienced team posses an incredible knowledge of all the systems of fifth wheels and motorhomes and are certified by just about every major RV vendor. Together, Ron and Matt and their team form a very competent, caring service shop that works very well with customers. We have heard nothing but great feedback from the dozens of Heartland customers who have taken their coaches to Recreational Specialties.
ST
 

billd

Well-known member
Scott,

My one wish is that Heartland would open one on the west coast and one on the east coast.

My reason is not all dealers are as caring when it comes to service. Right now I am waiting for my dealer to find out why a part was not ordered or where it is. I am going on 4 weeks with them. Also last time I took it in, they fixed 3 things and induced 3 more problems.

Bill
 

bowtorc

Well-known member
desk slide-out tray

Jim, How Did You Rate A Slide-out Tray? Do You Have A Fireplace Below It? I Would Love To Have A Tray But We Have A Fireplace But It Does Appear We Do Have Room For A Tray Any Way. Thanks For The Reply, Deb Bowton
 

SmokeyBare

Well-known member
I just had service at Recreational Specialties on Wednesday.

Although my list was short... I felt they went above and beyond the call to see that I was happy with their service.

Matt Cameron, RS Service Manager met me upon arrival... Walked through my ltems that needed attention... and quickly put his crew on the task of performing the repairs.

I ask if I could inspect the underside when they had it opened... which they were more than happy to allow. Sometimes it's just nice to see what things look like. I was allowed to do that and more.

I give them a A++ for the work they did on my Bighorn.
I give them a big Thank You for their how well I was treated.

Matt even pointed out an item I hadn't remembered... made note with his report to Heartland... and said I need not worry about it being taken care of when ever I decide to do so. He would have fixed that as well except the shops schedule was full.

Recreational Specialties will do their very best to make things right on your Heartland RV...

Good luck on the drive to the Rally...

Marv
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Hi Deb,

Onmy 2006 Mt. Rushmore, just under the desk surface came a pull-out tray to use as a keyboard or laptop rest. I do not have the fireplace.

At the rally, ask Ron Green or Matt Cameron of RS to look at your cabinet to tell you if they feel with some "custom" work, a tray could be put into that cabinetry and still have the required clearance above the fireplace.

See you next week!

Jim
 
Top