Big Horn and Service Woes

Just got back from our second service on our 2011 BH 3070 at Bill Thomas Campers in Wentzville, Mo. We purchased the unit from them last fall and had the first warranty service (for many items; I don't about other BH owners, but I have had a number of fairly major issues with my rig) at the end of April. I left the trailer with BTC for a week to allow enough time to get all the items taken care of (we full time, so leaving it for a week is not easy). When we returned to pick it up, many items were not done. That began a 2 1/2 month process of getting the right parts ordered and finally scheduling the next service date. We dropped of the trailer almost two weeks ago and left it with BTC for 10 days to get everything done. Well of course you guessed it, we go to pick it up (after many conversions with the assist. manager to confirm parts and work done) and several major items still not finished. I have never had a service experience like this before on anything. We are hoping to still have the remaining work completed in the next two weeks (they will have to send out a tech to do the work at our site, we can't leave it again), but with the previous experiences, not sure it will happen.
The poorest part about this, the general manager (Glen Thomas, not sure how he is related to Bill Thomas) who they said was "around" never came to talk to us about this mess during the 2 1/2 hours wait to get our rig ready to go. I think this reflects so poorly on Bill Thomas Campers.
I am saying all this for anyone who would consider purchasing a unit from them. The salesmen will tell you that their service really begins after you buy your trailer and if our experience is any indication at all, I would find another company to purchase from. Second, I am really disappointed in the quality of the BH. I read a lot of people here who say that they think that BH is so great, but I think they are really not much better than many other 5ers (we have owned a number of other RV's). As you can tell, we are not "happy campers" at this point with either our dealer/service company nor BH trailers in general.
Chris Zillig

I hope they understand that we the owners and future owners listen to people like you. Good luck... "Word of mouth" is the best advertisement.

I always hate hearing stories like this. I have to say that the rv dealer service industry is one of the worst I have ever come across. In our experience, we can never get a straight answer, called back or promised service on time. Our last trip was to Ron Hoover rv near Katy Texas and they were actually a pleasure to deal with howeverBrett

I went through a similar situation with my selling dealer. After posting the question on here about whether Heartland would send me the parts so I could finish the repairs myself, I received a call the next day from Mr. Matt Cameron, Heartland Parts Manager. That's right he called me, asking what I needed to get the job done. Everything I asked for showed up by UPS a short time later. I didn't have to make the 150 mile round trip to the dealer to drop it off or pick it up. All the work was completed to my satisfaction because I did it myself. I was almost overwhelmed. What a Company! Poor service was turned into great service..Don

I hate to agree, but I think it's an industry-wide issue, too. Even working with an independent RV/trailer repair shop, (not an rv dealer), they seem to have a hard time getting answers from the parts manufacturers/distributors, and are slow to return calls, even though they are a small shop with only about 5-10 trailers to work on. I guess I just have to live with the "RV-timezone". It's somewhat slower paced than the rest of the world.

E

GOTTOYS said:

I went through a similar situation with my selling dealer. After posting the question on here about whether Heartland would send me the parts so I could finish the repairs myself, I received a call the next day from Mr. Matt Cameron, Heartland Parts Manager. That's right he called me, asking what I needed to get the job done. Everything I asked for showed up by UPS a short time later. I didn't have to make the 150 mile round trip to the dealer to drop it off or pick it up. All the work was completed to my satisfaction because I did it myself. I was almost overwhelmed. What a Company! Poor service was turned into great service..Don

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Thats what I'm talking about !! How many times have you heard of getting a call from the manufacture !! Only with Heartland will you receive that kind of customer service.

For those of you getting jacked around by your dealership, call Heartland customer service, explain the situation and they will guide you.

Bobby A said:

Thats what I'm talking about !! How many times have you heard of getting a call from the manufacture !! Only with Heartland will you receive that kind of customer service.

For those of you getting jacked around by your dealership, call Heartland customer service, explain the situation and they will guide you.

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I am the first to admit I have no idea how the RV industry works and can only surmise...I believe much of this has to do with the receiving dealer. Dealers must also do a PDI when accepting orders. We purchased long distance with no option of returning to the selling dealer for any warranty or other service needs. I admit I was a little nervous about this situation. Our rig arrived in nearly perfect condition. The small issues we experienced were resolved immediately by either the dealer or Heartland Customer Service. It was apparent the dealer had gone over our 3450 with a fine toothed comb before shipping it out across the U.S. to WA state.

By the way, Heartland also called me regarding a torn slide wipe and sent me the part so I could make the necessary repair. They did authorized a local RV shop (not a Heartland dealer but an excellent shop) to do the repair but I wanted to do it myself!

The OP's story makes us all nervous. I would like to know what the "fairly major issues" were. Knowing might help shed a little more light on situation.

Z Dog:
I would encourage you and any other RV owner to post RV Service Experiences on http://www.rvservicereviews.com .
I would also encourage all prospective owners to check this site for their dealer's reported service history before buying.

I agee with what has been said about dealers, however I can tell you fro my experience HL customer service is in a class by themselves. I have had issues with dealers and they try to blame HL, but I usually found out later it was the dealer. I now call HL customer service and deal directly with them on my issues and they have been great from general directions/ support/parts/etc--whatever I need. They have also called me several times to ensure parts have arrived and how am I doing on the project---I would much rather do it myself than have dealers do something.
al

wdk450 said:

Z Dog:
I would encourage you and any other RV owner to post RV Service Experiences on http://www.rvservicereviews.com .
I would also encourage all prospective owners to check this site for their dealer's reported service history before buying.

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Also,
Trailer life comes out once a year with a blue ribbon award ( I think thats what they call it) anyway, its the top 50 dealerships in the country and they list them by State, so that would be a good start for anyone looking for a new dealership to buy or for service.

Our Heartland came through in nearly perfect shape. The only non-working item was the back flush check valve. We found that out the first time we used it. Called Heartland and they sent a new one, fixed it ourselves. Our dealer is great, from initial contact several years before purchase, to purchase we have loved our dealer. He did a terrific PDI. He doesn't like people coming back with nits and nats, waste of his time and your time so he tries to take care of everything before hand.

We have also dealt with several companies in Elkhart that we would not hesitate to recommend(Master Tech and Mor/Ryde+ a couple of places Mor/Ryde has sent us to). Just upstanding companies.

Regarding the TL list, I would trust RVservice review over them. Their rating of trailers etc. is tainted by advertising dollars.

rustyshakelford said:

I always hate hearing stories like this. I have to say that the rv dealer service industry is one of the worst I have ever come across. In our experience, we can never get a straight answer, called back or promised service on time. Our last trip was to Ron Hoover rv near Katy Texas and they were actually a pleasure to deal with howeverBrett

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I had a replacement skirt installed by Ron Hoover in Donna TX... everything happened exactly as they said it would... very happy with their service.

CS

For those interested in using Ron Hoover for service they have a store just south of Houston (exit 10 southbound on Interstate 45). This store has an RV park (Oasis RV Park) attached to the store where you can stay while they work on your RV. They even will fix the RV at your site if at all possible. This is a great benefit for you full-timers. Keep this in mind when you head to the RGV this fall.

Sounds like I need to provide some additional information to make clear our BH problems and also give credit to Heartland's customer service.
The "fairly major issues" are as follows: (we did a two day PDI at the dealer and these were either not seen at the time or developed after)
-The refrigerator was installed 1/2" out of plumb causing the bottom door to hit at the bottom right side
-The front door is hinge bound at the bottom hinge (the hinge moves out when closing, not suppose to be that way) causing the door to not shut properly
-The slam baggage door hinge was scaping against the top hinge at each end (about 10" each side) causing the paint to wear off and door to open poorly
-The slide awning topper on one side developed several bad wrinkles when extended and worse when slide was retracted
-The themostat started malfunctioning keeping the ac running without shutoff
-Three of the curtains had to be replaced because they either broke or were severely out of level in the fabric
-All the wheel bearings had to be repacked/resealed because the factory over did the grease and almost blew out the rear seals
When we first had the unit back at our campground, I had to fix a really bad leak in the shower stall and a bad leak at the bathroom sink. I have also had to replace the padding on the dining rm. chairs (they are the poorest padding I've seen, and I only weight 185 on a personal note). I could go on about out of level, bubbled wallpaper, stove ignitor not working, ceiling cracks, sewer storage cap breaking off, broken door latches, should I go on.
Having said this, I have talked with customer service at Heartland and they have been very good. But I think it does reflect the fact that many of these items should have been either caught at the factory or the pre-PDI at the dealer.
I would also say that this forum has been helpful in working towards getting this all resolved.
Thanks all
Chris