jlchrisley
Member
We purchased a Heartland brand recreational vehicle at the PA RV show in Sept, 2012. Wilkins was the dealer representing the model of RV we were interested in so we did not have a choice of dealers. This did not appear to be a problem for us until we spoke with the local dealer. The local dealer told us that they would not do the warranty work on the unit if we did not purchase from them. When we reviewed the Heartland RV website, it also said that the dealers have the right to put customers of other dealers at the bottom of the list for repairs. This was very distressing from us. It appeared that there was a strong possibility that if we needed warranty work, we may have to travel to Wilkins which is 6 hours from us. I called Wilkins and told them that we were no longer interested in purchasing from them because we did not want to run the risk that we would have difficulty getting the repairs done. We are currently RV owners and know that it is not "if something breaks", it is when something breaks. We were spending $70,000 for this unit and we wanted to be sure we could have it taken care of. Wilkins said that the unit had already been ordered but I knew that was not true since we had not signed a Buyers Sheet which is our agreement with the specifications of the unit to be ordered. They really strong-armed me and refused to return our $1,000 deposit. There seems to be a "dirty little secret" within the RV business and unfortunately, the customer ends up on the short end. I spoke with a Heartland Rep about this situation and he recommended contacting the BBB and posting to this forum.