Warranty Issues and problems with some Dealers.

So as you may know, I picked up my Cyclone on Friday. I found a few problems, so I called a few places in NJ that work on Heartland:

Crossroads and they gave me the "You didn't buy it from me, so you will be last on the list to get worked on" bit. but they did give me a date. They are the closest to where I'm keeping the RV.

Hitch RV: says, "You didn't buy from us and we refuse to work on any RVs that we didn't sell. It's just our policy. We have been burned by manufacturers before, they only pay a flat rate and you would be responsible for any charges that are over what they pay us."

Scotts: I am waiting a call back, but they seemed pretty decent. No questioning of where I bought it etc.

Anyway, its just a bit frustrating.

So we might be bringing it to Scotts since they seem the most professional of them bunch, at least with servicing the RV.

In many cases the repairs and adjustments my not be covered by the Manufacturer. The dealer will take care of these items and pay the workers out of the profits made on the unit when they sold it..No sale, no profit. Most Manufacturers are all that way. Same as your new car or truck..ever notice after you buy one there are certain items ie: wheel alignment, that are only covered for the first 90 days under warranty? GM, Ford etc all have a short period where they will pay for those items, then you are on your own even though you have a "bumper to bumper" ( most over rated term in the car business) warranty...RV dealers are independent operations and are not required to make repairs to anything not sold by them. Many of them will but, you may have to wait in line...Don

Sorry to hear about the dealer issue. Seems worse in different parts of the country than it is here in the Northwest. Where did you pick it up and could the seller not fix those initial items? Anyway, if you are still having difficulty finding a cooperative dealer close by, in our case, Heartland authorized a reputable local service center that wasn't even a Heartland dealer to do any warranty work necessary. Fortunately we didn't need any major repairs (knock on wood) and what did need fixing I did myself with parts supplied by Heartland Customer Service. Hopefully you will have no more issues after these first ones are fixed!

Best Wishes!

I suppose dealers are a necessity for a manufaturer, so they have an outlet to sell their products. The better the manufacturers' dealer network, the better their overall sales. Any manufaturer, in this case Heartland, for the greatest success must mold the dealers to service units regardless, thru incentives i.e. money. This may drive up the cost of the units they sell and must be considered. The better dealers will take care of every customer regardless. I think for a dealer to actually tell a customer they are going to get a low priority is an idiot, and should be avoided... As it is, whether it be a car, truck, or RV, I've personally never had much trust in any dealer's word. Take it all with a grain of salt. I trust the factory advice, but am very cautious when the dealers speaks. Oh well, that's me, but it's worked so far.

I called Scott's and even though it is over 1 hour away from where we park it, they were super nice on the phone. They has a date 1 month before Cross Roads as well! May 22. Crossroads was offering a date of June 28th.

The stupid thing is, where do they think we will bring our RVs for work AFTER the 1 year warranty is over. If they don't want my business that's FINE. I'll find someone that will take my money and treat me well. If they do a good job, we will always bring our RV to Scott's. Hitch RV and CrossRoads will most likely not see our rig unless its an emergency and even then I highly doubt I would or COULD bring it to Hitch RV.

I just didn't like the attitude. I can understand that they are ****ed that I didn't buy from them, but how can I when they don't offer the unit that I wanted?



Oh and to answer the question about why the selling dealer didn't fix it. I did point it out to them during the PDI on Friday. The service guy said, Oh it's because there isn't enough fuel for the gauge to register it (although it had 10 gallons). We filled it up later that day and it still said 0. They had left for the day. Sat morning we show another tech and he says, yup it's broken. Sorry I don't have time today to work on it. So I'm screwed. They say, its ok to bring it to another dealer that works with Heartland and they will fix it.

So that's another reason why I'm ****ed. At myself. Why didn't I push the issue? I just believed them!

Sorry just frustrated.
Thanks for listening.

Even the Heartland website encourages you to purchase from a dealer close to home so service is readily available. I understand there are no Cyclone dealers in NJ but keep in mind this is an extremely busy season for RV repair facilities and everyone wants it now. I don't know if you have ever been to Crossroads but they are a one bay facility most of the time with larger jobs stuck in the other bay. It makes sense that they would have to schedule further out than some other larger repair facilities not to mention they all want to service what they sell first. When Crossroads was repairing the accident damage to our Bighorn we tied up a bay for 5 weeks. I am sure that had an effect on many repair customers. Good luck with your repairs and hope we get to meet you in NY.

Hi Debbie,

That makes a lot of sense! Thanks for sharing that information.

It was just frustrating when I got off the phone with Hitch RV and their attitude. Scott's was very nice on the phone and was able to get us in much earlier than CrossRoads. I won't cross, Crossroads off the list .

Irene

And then there is the case, where I chose a dealer that was 12 miles from my house and 3 months later they closed up shop and moved 90 miles away!
Fortunately I have not needed anybody's service to date. I would have to agree with Porkchop though, if they aren't willing to cover any warranty service, I would never go to them for anything after the warranty expired (ever), including any future RV purchase. That is just short sighted, stupid, lack of good long term business sense.

Since our purchase in May 2009 we have had our Landmark at the dealers once for a trailer inspection .
Don't be intimidated by dealers as Heartland will approve many repair companies as long as you call for approval.
We have a mobile repair company that is authorized by Heartland or our selling company to perform any repairs we require.

We were on the road and out of state for at least 9 months of our first year of ownership. With any problem, we never started by contacting a dealer or repair facility. We started by contacting our Heartland service rep. The rep then made the recommendation as to who we should use for the repair, given our location & the nature of the issue. No doubt the recommendation has some basis in historic success. This approach also ensures that Heartland has the issue documented. We just had the rear ramp door replaced a couple of months after warranty. We had reported the issue several months earlier and logistics at our end prevented an earlier repair. We appreciated their scheduling flexibility. (The original door was slightly warped to the point that sunlight was getting in for about 3 ft on one side.)
Porkchop, fwiw our fuel gauge registers empty until it has more than 7 gallons. I don't think your dealer's statement was malicious. In hindsight it would have been best to fill it up before leaving his area, but it's hard to do everything and still meet your family commitments.

This is why I have suggested to anyone buying like I did, you are saving a lot of money and you need to be flexible. Including the ability to stay at the selling dealer long enough to get ALL your initial issues.

As for dealers with that attitude, they need to grow up. Warranty income is warranty income, no matter where you bought it. Post warranty income is non existent if you will not do my warranty.

I have been fortunate with our trailer, I have been able to do every repair myself so far. But I was a class A auto-truck technician.

I did almost 20 years in new car dealers, the dealers that had the best rep worked on anyone's car.

And when the auto industry was going in the dump, we were still busy because we didn't take the "you didn't buy it here" attitude.

We did make one exception and that was for any vehicle purchased through auto land in springfield. Their business practices were horrendous, pre and post sale.

All bets were off though for any family traveling that got towed in from the turnpike: get them in, get them fixed and get them on their way.

If one does not have the handy skills to do some work on their own I would suggest buying based on a servicing selling dealer, and pay proportionally.

How does that work out for us Cycloner's in New Jersey that don't have a Cyclone dealer within 250 miles? It doesn't.

Sorry I thought I replied already regarding the fuel gauge but it had 10 gallons in it (our PDI included 10 gallons in the generator tank.) and it still registered as 0. We filled it up with the owner when we went for a test drive and after he left for the day (and most of the techs) we discovered that it was still showing up empty.

The next day another tech took a look and verified that it was broken but he didn't have enough time to fix it. I wish we had more time to spend there, but with the baby and work, it just wasn't a good option. If I had to do again, I would take of Wednesday, but my hubby is always chopping at the bit to leave. So he wouldn't have stayed.

The dealer made it seem like it wouldn't be a big deal to get it fixed at another dealership, so we left.

My stress was from trying to find a place to work with in NJ. I called Heartland first. They suggested Hitch RV and Crossroads and told me to make an appointment there. When I called Crossroads first, they were very snippy and accusatory that I didn't buy from them etc AND suggested that I could have bought an XLR from them since that's the toy hauler they sell. Hitch RV just came out and said, sorry we won't work with you at all.

Scotts was much better. I'm glad that I found a place that we can bring the RV to. Its a little far from us, but they at least had the right attitude.

Thanks for letting me vent about it at least. It's a huge learning curve!

Porkchop:
If I was you, I would call Heartland Service for recommendations of 3rd party independent RV servicers in your area. They keep such a list, and will authorize warranty repairs by them WITH PRIOR APPROVAL.
Independent 3rd party RV servicers rely solely on performing good, timely service for their livelyhoods. Your satisfaction with their service is vital to their continuing business success. It is not a forced adjunt to sales profits as with most RV dealerships.

You also might check RVServiceReviews.com for names and reviews of RV servicers in your area.

Irene, didn't you say you were keeping the trailer somewhere in Philly?

Have you looked at the storage location compared to Fretz RV?
3479 Bethlehem Pike, Souderton, PA 18964

I think its almost the same distance. I'll show hubby since he's the one driving it and see which one he prefers.

Thanks again for suggesting that dealer.

Irene

Invizatu said:

And then there is the case, where I chose a dealer that was 12 miles from my house and 3 months later they closed up shop and moved 90 miles away!
Fortunately I have not needed anybody's service to date. I would have to agree with Porkchop though, if they aren't willing to cover any warranty service, I would never go to them for anything after the warranty expired (ever), including any future RV purchase. That is just short sighted, stupid, lack of good long term business sense.

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Exactly!! About 90 days after we bought ours, our dealer closed up shop altogether. We ended up taking. our 3055 to a dealer in Chetopa Kansas called Chetopa RV. Great dealer. Friendly and fast service. They just finished some frame repair for us. Had to remove entire front cap to get to the broken welds. They did it all in just 3 days. This proves these kind of things don't have to take months.

I was informed by a dealer that the reason they hesitate on doing warranty work on "not their customer" is primarily financial. On warranty work Heartland does not provide their regular labor rate. For "their customers" they 'write off' the difference as good will to the customer that bought from them.

Can't blame then for doing this way.

The whole idea is that these things are on wheels and mobile and we travel in them? We are often on the road when needed repairs become known and not near home and our local dealer. All dealers should be required by Heartland to provide warranty repairs. If my Ford TV has a problem I can go to any Ford dealer.

noobee said:

I was informed by a dealer that the reason they hesitate on doing warranty work on "not their customer" is primarily financial. On warranty work Heartland does not provide their regular labor rate. For "their customers" they 'write off' the difference as good will to the customer that bought from them.

Can't blame then for doing this way.

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It is financial alright, but not because they are doing "goodwill" for "their" customers. It is short sighted mentality.

But if true - I would like to see proof of it.

Used to be that way in the auto industry. For the most part now, the customer labor rate and the warranty rates are the same, only the allowed hours are different.

The local Dealer/Repair location's hourly rate is $130. The shop that Heartland authorized for my service is $102. Heartland will pay either. The difference for me is that the dealer is 40 miles of freeway traffic and the local is 6 miles away.