Be SURE to check out your dealer

[nscaler2]

I would like to know what the qualifications for a dealer are. We purchased our 3055 from your dealer J&J RV in Iola Kansas in April of this year. I need some sevice now and called them today to set up an appointment. I was told by J&J (by the person who sold us our trailer) that they are no longer in the RV business. Heartland's website still lists them as a dealer. They were a relatively small operation, and I wondered about it when we made the purchase, but trusted that Heartland must surely have certain standards regarding customer service and qualifications that a dealer must measure up to before becoming a dealer. However, this doesn't appear to be true. I also found out tha J&J doesn't, nor have they ever, done their own warranty work. They farmed it out to some of the local RV repair places. So now I'm hanging out in the wind needing warranty service and no dealer to call on. And even if they were still there they wouldn't be the ones doing the work. After 3 phone calls to Heartland one person there finally took pity on me and called a dealer further away yet and convinced them to take my problem. The people in the first two calls gave me the names of RV dealers that they thought handled Heartland products, but when called I find out that they didn't. So it seems that Heartland doesn't really know who their dealers are. CAN JUST ANYBODY SELL THESE THINGS????

 

[Scott]

Dealers

Nscaler - I will attempt to explain some of these things to you. First of all, I heard about your call(s) yesterday. When you called, 2 of our three service reps were out of the office (one at lunch; the other in a production facility) and the third was on the phone. This was obviously unacceptable to you. When you did speak with a service rep, they gave you the name of the nearest Heartland dealer, who, as it turned out, didn't carry your particular product line, so they were reluctant to service you ahead of their customers.
You called back to the switchboard, now saying some not-so-nice things about our service rep and ended up getting assistance from our receptionist. The sales guys were out to lunch, so they couldn't help her - so she did her best. This is the part that you kind of mentioned in your post - she called another dealer, talked to their service department, got a commitment to work on your coach at the earlierst possible date and called you back. Not bad for a secretary - who was just trying to satisfy a very preturbed customer.

As for J & J, we signed them as a dealer for a couple of reasons - one, we had people in that part of the state who wanted our products and who did not want to have to drive so far to one of our current dealers; they were the only ones who didn't already have that price segment of the 5th wheel market covered by current product on their lot. Two, because they had a decent reputation - even though, yes, they used a local RV service center to do their warranty work. Is this typical of RV dealers? No, in fact it's rare. But we do have a number of customers who purchased from J & J who had a good experience with them. It's unfortunate that RV sales in your area have slimmed down so much as to cause not just J & J, but others to reconsider the RV sales business - but they did a good job for us when they were our dealer and we are working at finding another dealer in that part of the state who would be a good rep for us.

So - NO WE DON'T JUST SIGN UP ANYBODY TO SELL HEARTLAND PRODUCT, BUT YES, WE DO OUR BEST TO MAKE OUR PRODUCTS AVAILABLE IN MORE REMOTE AREAS, AND EVEN OUR SECRETARIES ARE WILLING TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO TRY TO SATISFY A CUSTOMER.

 

[Chulinw]

I have had so many problems with the service manager at Holiday on Wheels that he just keeps on lieing to me and telling me that he can not get the factory to send him the parts for repairs. I wrote a long letter to Mr. Sam Abdu and we talk about the problems with the service manager and now the unit is way out of warranty and I still have many problems with the unit. Like cornor mold trim missing slide out trim that was never
installed correctly from the day it was made. Good luck on getting things done on a timely fashion. They had my RV for over 5 1/2 months and I requested the warranty to be extended and have not received any answer
from Heartland.

 

[Scott]

ChulinW
Here's your answer man: David Partin, Director of Heartland Dealer Services. His phone number is 574.262.803. His email is davidp@heartlandrvs.com
IF.. you cannot get your answers - which I am surpemely confident you will - you can get ahold of me.
ST

 

[Chulinw]

Scott, Tks I will send a email to the individual you told me about.
Tks for your reply.

 

[CAMike]

Yes anyone can be an RV dealer. We are currently looking for a Bighorn 3055RL and we live in Clovis CA. The local Heartland Dealer is Clovis RV at Hwy 168 and Shaw Ave. Althought we like the layout of their trailers we looked at several other floorplans. Let's say More Than One Trailer has been cannibalized to the point that you immediatey get turned off to the whole Heartland lineup. The 2955RL was missing the thermostat control. I mean lots of wires hanging out of the wall missing. Holding tank gauge missing, Light fixtures missing, let alone slide seal in the bedroom not even touching the slide underside! This thing won't leak... it will ruin the entire subflooring with time. The main slide missing the awning completely. Either Service took it off or the manufacturereforgot to put it back on. Screw holes in the fiberglass just staring at you like the public won't notice? Anyway you get the picture. If the delears or the manufacturer can't order or provide parts in a timely manner, the service department cannabilizes the new inventory???? We are driving to Los Banos today to look at Cardinals and then Manteca Trailer to look at their Bighorn 2955 and 3055RL. Clovis RV is hopfully NOT representative of Heartland products as a whole. Doubt me? My name is Mike, the Salesperson was Ron Harper. My cell# ends with 5205. (He wrote it in his notebook) Let's see if anyone at Heartland would like to ask me why I wrote this? YES. Apparently ANYONE can be dealer...just some shouldn't.

 

[Forrest Fetherolf]

Clovis RV

CAMIKE.........My situation was similar with Clovis RV. I bought a 3600RL from Clovis RV in Aug/06 - what a nightmare. Not only did the salesman, Mike Markerian, misrepresent material facts, the Owner's son, John Brewer, got involved with a threatening email and a voice message. One of the salesmen, Mike Hawks, got in my face with threats of throwing me out of the dealership to the point that two other salesman physically removed him from the dealership.

After I filed a crime report for assault with Clovis PD, Officer Mark Bradford offered to escort me to Clovis RV and wait until I could pick up my rig.
I have about 30 pages of events with Clovis RV, including emails, threatening voice recording, and timeline photos. I forwarded all information to Coley Brady and Chris DeLaPaz at Heartland. I will make the details available to anyone that is interested.

Even after all of this hassle with Clovis RV, I would still prefer a Bighorn to any other 5th wheel. Heartland is trying to resolve the issues that Clovis RV refuses to address.

forrest@fetherolfdev.com

 

[CAMike]

Hi Forrest- Very shortly after I wrote the post above, a Heartland gent named Mike in Sacramento phoned me to discuss the situation. For that I am appreciative, he showed concern. He stated that Clovis RV provided several units to a recent RV show out of the Fresno area and that was probably the reason the units were stripped for parts. He too indirectly came to the defense of Clovis RV, but after I told him that the cannibalized units have been on the Clovis lot for more than two months I think he was a little humbled. (maybe I misread him but I will give him the benefit of the doubt). I went to Toscano RV in Los Banos to look at the Cardinals and Hitchhikers. Cardinal material was less tha impressive. (Mini couch was made for little people) yet I was impressed with the Hitchhiker 29.5 LTKG model which is similar to the Bighorn 3055RL floorplan. Long story short- I mentioned I was also looking at the Heartland model 3055RL Bighorn and he laughed. He had one on property which is connected with a litigeous case involving a frame defect which Hearltland and Lippert has apparently failed to remedy. The owner bought a usable unit fromn Tocsano RV. Anyway, I appreciate the input. We didn't have enough time for Manteca and Ray's RV in Rancho Cordova today- maybe later this week to look at more recent production of 3055RL's as they are supposed to not likely to have the frame/weld Lippert defects prior to 9/06 manufacting date.

 

[williamsfamilytah]

CAMike,

Here is a good place to read about the ins and outs of the HitchHickers:
http://www.nuwaowners.org/

Here is a place to learn about the Cardinals:
http://www.wildcatonline.com/

Wes