Dealer check; Lakeshore RV, MI

grizzlygiant

Well-known member
I am considering the purchase of a new 3400RL from LAKESHORE RV in Muskegon, MI. Is this a good dealer, trustworthy, honest?? Thanks for your help; I live 2000 miles away in beautiful northern Idaho where competition is not in the dealers' vocabulary.
 

jpmorgan37

Well-known member
You'll probably get some very good feedback on Lakeshore. I would also check with Butch Burson at www.rvsforless.net. He also is a very good dealer to deal with, and others will be recommended, I'm sure.
John
 

wfwilson

Founding Canadian Region Director - Retired
I live in Amherstburg On Canada. Four Hours from Muskegon and twelve hours from Knoxville. We purchased our 3400RL from Lakeshore in Muskegon MI. We also got a quote from RVforLess In Knoxville. The dealers were close in price. RVSforless had a slightly better deal. We Purchased from Lakeshore because of distance. John certainly knows his stuff. We were very happy until we laid down our money. It was then Wayne and Gayle WHO even the day before we left? He has been impossible to contact since we purchased. Your are a good candidate for lakeshore as he will not have to deal with you again due to your location. We are sorry we did not buy from Karen & Butch as we hear different things about them after the sale. If we had it to do over we would purchase from RVSfor less. We are the same distance from ELkhart (4 hrs) as Muskegon, so we can go there for service as there are no dealers in our area of Canada.
Good luck and feel free to contact me if you wish.
Regards
Wayne
 

rad11

Member
Also Check W/RV Price Busters

I would suggest you also check prices with the internet seller RV Price Busters (http://rvpricebusters.com/). They have physical locations at Best Buys RV in Springfield, OH & Richmond, IN (http://www.bestbuyrvs.com/about_us.php)). I have been working with Steve Johnson, their Internet Sales Mgr. Pricing example is a fully loaded Big Horn 3670 RL with MSRP of $73,044. Their price (picked up at the dealership) is $45,164. That 38% discount from MSRP is what they've quoted on several Big Horn models.
 

dieselengineer

Charter Member
Butch and Karen (rvsforless) are great to work with. After the sale, you are treated the same as before the sale. Very nice dealer, they have my vote.
 

wfwilson

Founding Canadian Region Director - Retired
I agree with posting # 5. Today is Thursday I have phoned a total of 6 times this week and sent an email to John at Lakeshore last night around 9:30 PM. In the email I asked him to respond to confirm he had received it. Today at 1:30 I phoned and left a message on his voice mail telling him I had sent and Email. It is now 6:12 PM and I have had no response. As I said in my previous posting I wish we had purchased from Butch & Karen.
Good Luck
Wayne
 

Forrest Fetherolf

Senior Member
Uncle Rog said:
Howdy, do not bother with Richardson's RV in Calif either......

Roger,
Clovis RV in Fresno, CA is worse than Richards's RV................no other dealer could be as unprofessional as Clovis. I have the threatening voice mail and nasty emails to prove it from the owner's son.....Mr. John Brewer of Clovis RV.............YUK.

Forrest
 

kakampers

Past Heartland Ambassador
We too got a great deal from RV Price Busters on a 3600 RL. The MSRP was just over $70,000 and we got it for $43,250. We will be taking possession in the next several weeks...Can't Wait!!!
 

svd

Well-known member
I purchased from Lakeshore, and had no problem, although I only live 3 hours away. When I bought, I ended up with the unit $2500 cheaper than the internet price, so I wouldn't assume that the internet is the best price, at least it wasn't for me.

They are advertising a 3670 locally for somewhere around $***** I believe, I don't recall the exact price. John is hard to get a hold of, but I was able to when needed.

They spent 6 or 7 hours with us for the PDI, and fortunately I have not required warranty work. It is a small, but very busy dealer. They delivered 6 or 7 new units on the Saturday we were there, and all but 1 were out of state. Best of luck!


16-July-2007
Pricing deleted per new forum rules (#11)
Admin
 
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Uncle Rog

Well-known member
Forrest, sounds like terrorist threats to me! Richardson's wouldn't even call me back and tell me to go to "jump in a lake" !!! I had two trade in's so I was up against it. Pretty hard to sell two used RV's or trade in out of state.....

kakampers...good deal....enjoy the 5'er............
 

thumper

Member
Has anyone heard about rvdirectwholesalers in Elkhart, IN? I got a great quote on a Sundance from Justin, they have the prices posted on the website.

Now to deal with all the hassles of bringing back into Canada across several state lines. Has anyone have experience doing that?
 

randes

Active Member
I bought from John at Lakeshore and was totally satisfied with their customer service, both before and after the sale.

After the sale it is probably better to deal with the department that deals with any concerns you may have. I called and talked with John, and he put me over to the parts dept. I ordered a part which in turn had to come from Heartland and had the part within a week. Can't get any better than that.

Would I buy from them again? You bet I would !!!!!!
 

fishn2dmax

Well-known member
I also received an awesome quote from rvdirectwholesalers. Justin was great to work with! He is very thorough and follows-up on everything asked of him. I only wish there were more RV sales reps like him out there.
While we decided to buy locally ( for local service reasons and the high cost of transporting 2000 miles), Justin and RVDW are very impressive and deserve consideration by anyone looking for a new heartland product. None
 

thumper

Member
Thanks fishn2dmax. Has anyone actually dealed with rvdirectwholesalers? We are 2,300 miles away from there but will be only 800 miles away in August, so we want to swing by and pick up a Sundance there.


fishn2dmax said:
I also received an awesome quote from rvdirectwholesalers. Justin was great to work with! He is very thorough and follows-up on everything asked of him. I only wish there were more RV sales reps like him out there.
While we decided to buy locally ( for local service reasons and the high cost of transporting 2000 miles), Justin and RVDW are very impressive and deserve consideration by anyone looking for a new heartland product. None
 

grizzlygiant

Well-known member
Thanks for the many responses, both on the Forum and by PM.

Based on these replies I decided to purchase from Lakeshore RV; the price was virtually the same as Price Busters. My 3400RL should arrive mid-August so my wife + 2 fur-babies will take our new 2007 Ram 3500 4x4 on a 5000 mile loop around the USA, half of it with the new BH in tow.
I hope the house is sold by the time we get home!!! None
 

GeeJay

Member
thumper said:
Has anyone heard about rvdirectwholesalers in Elkhart, IN? I got a great quote on a Sundance from Justin, they have the prices posted on the website.


First I will address the posted MSRP pricing. We have found that many dealers, including those mentioned in this thread, include the "charge" for the King of the Mountain package - MSRP $8K but do not deduct the offsetting Heartland "King of the Mountain Allowance" ($8K) so the posted MSRP is actually inflated by $8K making the discount look far better than it actually is. Don't get me wrong, they do offer good discounts but more in the 25% to 30% range, which is the usual for all IRDs, not 38% as Rad11 claims. Still, the bottom line is what counts.

thumper said:
Now to deal with all the hassles of bringing back into Canada across several state lines. Has anyone have experience doing that?

As for importing into Canada, we did this 3 years ago and its easy peasy.
Contact the Registrar of Imported Vehicles www.riv.ca/ for full info on fees, documents and procedures.

BC may want proof of seller's title for registration. Ask for a copy of the shipping order from Heartland to dealer. It need not be priced but VIN must be clearly shown.

You will also need a transit permit or temporary plate which the dealer should arrange. It's a little trickiy if dealer is in a state that insists on tax being collected if delivered in the state, as Canadians can't draw it back and provinces do not credit tax paid in the USA. If dealer has the answer, let him make the arrangements.

Go for it...its better than Canadian no-deal pricing and $1.75 mile delivery charges. We plan to do it again in September or October with a new Bighorn.
 
Rvdirectwholesalers

I'm from Alberta and ordered an 3055 from Justin first week in June. It was suppose to be ready on June 10 and I'm still waiting. This is a fairly new internet site and I couldn't find alot of feedback. I'm hoping to hear something this week. I have arranged shipping to Alberta. I will advise if all goes well.
 

thumper

Member
sunnyalberta said:
I'm from Alberta and ordered an 3055 from Justin first week in June. It was suppose to be ready on June 10 and I'm still waiting. This is a fairly new internet site and I couldn't find alot of feedback. I'm hoping to hear something this week. I have arranged shipping to Alberta. I will advise if all goes well.

Hmm that is odd, I found Justin very helpful and easy to get along with. He was aware of all documentation to go across the border and was going to have it ready for me. Seems pretty straight forward. PM me and I will give you his direct number and email, he has always returned my email or calls promptly! I have found a couple of people that have have taken deliver from him and all worked out well. They are doing business as rvdirectwholesalers.com but their street address is Great Lakes RV Center. This is who you make out the bank draft to as well upon picku, he mentioned that if there is anything wrong they have a qualified service tech to do the work as well. I ordered June 26 and it will be ready for me next week July 23. He quoted me $1.40USD/mile for delivery, he will not take it across the border to Canada, so have it delivered to an American friend. Or do like we are, drive down and make it into a trip back to BC and get all the bugs worked out of a new trailer. They have a lot so he is storing it for me (no charge) for when I pick it up early August, I have let him know that I am online and will be reporting how this transaction goes.

Let me know if I can help.

Doug
 
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