linuxkidd
Member
Hello All,
First, I'd like to say how much I greatly appreciate such an informative forum. The fact that Heartland proper is involved is just the icing on the cake.
I'd like to get some feedback from both the valuable Heartland community as well as the Heartland Reps that frequent the forums.
My current situation is this. My wife and I recently moved from the Virginia Beach, VA area to Lexington, KY. My house in Virginia is still for sale, and with the current real-estate slump, who knows how long it will be on the market. My wife and I are currently staying in her Aunt and Uncle's Class A RV, and feel bad about them not having it at their disposal. Now, granted... They winterize their RV from about October till March or so. So the perceived wearing out of our welcome with regard to using their RV is probably all in our head. They have been more than persistent that we are not imposing.
So, we are looking to purchase a 5th wheel to live in full time. We have 2 RV Dealers within 3 miles of our current long term living space. One dealer in particular has been very up front and very helpful. The person we have dealt with there while researching our purchase has even agreed to send service techs to US instead of us needing to arrange to bring the RV to them if something needs to be done. This is very appealing since it will be our full time home. In other words, without our RV we are homeless. Thus, extended service trips are really a HUGE concern.
Another sticking point at this time is that neither local dealer sells Heartland RVs. Granted, the very helpful dealer does have a very nice Jayco Designer RV on the lot, and they are willing to give us what appears to be an amazing deal on it. If we end up going this route, I have no doubt that we will enjoy the Jayco very much. It has many of the same features that we like in the Landmark without a few modern comforts that I am sure we could live without (ice maker, stackable w/d, easy one stop panel for everything – the Jayco has the hookups spread out a little bit).
However, no matter what I see from other Manufacturers ... I still keep coming back to the Landmark. I love the community interaction that I've seen on this forum, the build quality, the convenience of the UDC, the 88 degree short bed turning capability, the expanded tank capacities... heck ... I just like the feeling I get when I do the research. The closest Heartland dealer is 73 miles away -- Tinker Toys RV (Dixie RV and Interstate RV locations) of Louisville, KY. The next closest is 130 miles away -- Best Buy RVs of Springfield, OH.
Another major concern is that we do NOT have a truck with which to move the RV at this time. As stated above, this will be our full time home, and as such we do have a permanent location (as permanent as we need anyway) to locate the RV on. With our house being on the market and still having to maintain it (mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, electric, water, etc.)... We can really only afford to purchase either the Truck to pull an RV of this size, or the RV itself. So, the plan is... Buy the RV now, pay to have it put on the lot. Then when the house sells, purchase the truck to pull it with, purchase a plot of land on which to build a new home, and stay in the RV while the home is being built. After this we do desire to be able to take the RV on trips and actually use it in a more mobile role.
With the fact of not having a vehicle in mind, needing to take the RV to the dealer for service becomes even a bigger problem.
So, for those that have read all of the above and need a recap... and those that decided to skip the long read and look at the list ( understandable ), here's a quick summary view:
What we want:
--------------------------------------------------------------
A 4 season 5th Wheel with all the comforts of home. (Landmark)
A flexible means of getting warranty service.
A full time 5th Wheel RV HOME.
What we don't have:
--------------------------------------------------------------
A Truck to pull the 5th Wheel.
A local Heartland dealer.
Constraints:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Current financial situation only allows for purchase of either
the Truck to pull this type of RV, or the RV.
I have taken the time to read many threads on this forum about warranty service and of course have seen some of the horror stories that accompany that type of reading. I do NOT want this to turn into a 'bash Heartland/Dealers' thread. I do realize as well that the largest portion of people only post in such forums when they have a problem, so I know that for every horror story, there's probably a multitude of completely happy Heartland owners.
One last point I'd like to raise is this. I am a jack of all trades. I have done almost every kind of work that anyone can imagine. I do all my own house and car work including: electronics, wiring, plumbing, mechanical, etc. - the list really does go on. So, I'm more than confident that I could do most repair work on my own as long as I could get the parts needed. I do not desire financial compensation for my labor, but I would like the parts to be covered under the warranty as appropriate.
With all this in mind...
==============================================================
What do YOU think?
What would YOU do?
Should I just bite the bullet and purchase a locally available (non-Heartland) RV?
Should I have a reasonable expectation of Heartland's flexibility and build quality that it won't be a problem to get local RV service when needed?
Have YOU had any first hand experience with any of the following RV Dealerships?:
Tinker Toys of Louisville KY
Best Buy RVs of Springfield OH
Northside RV of Lexington KY (non-Heartland dealer)
Bottom line is.. We are purchasing something. Hopefully before the end of the year. But we always like to be armed with as much information as possible before we purchase something, especially of this magnitude.
Thanks in advance for your time and input!
LK
First, I'd like to say how much I greatly appreciate such an informative forum. The fact that Heartland proper is involved is just the icing on the cake.
I'd like to get some feedback from both the valuable Heartland community as well as the Heartland Reps that frequent the forums.
My current situation is this. My wife and I recently moved from the Virginia Beach, VA area to Lexington, KY. My house in Virginia is still for sale, and with the current real-estate slump, who knows how long it will be on the market. My wife and I are currently staying in her Aunt and Uncle's Class A RV, and feel bad about them not having it at their disposal. Now, granted... They winterize their RV from about October till March or so. So the perceived wearing out of our welcome with regard to using their RV is probably all in our head. They have been more than persistent that we are not imposing.
So, we are looking to purchase a 5th wheel to live in full time. We have 2 RV Dealers within 3 miles of our current long term living space. One dealer in particular has been very up front and very helpful. The person we have dealt with there while researching our purchase has even agreed to send service techs to US instead of us needing to arrange to bring the RV to them if something needs to be done. This is very appealing since it will be our full time home. In other words, without our RV we are homeless. Thus, extended service trips are really a HUGE concern.
Another sticking point at this time is that neither local dealer sells Heartland RVs. Granted, the very helpful dealer does have a very nice Jayco Designer RV on the lot, and they are willing to give us what appears to be an amazing deal on it. If we end up going this route, I have no doubt that we will enjoy the Jayco very much. It has many of the same features that we like in the Landmark without a few modern comforts that I am sure we could live without (ice maker, stackable w/d, easy one stop panel for everything – the Jayco has the hookups spread out a little bit).
However, no matter what I see from other Manufacturers ... I still keep coming back to the Landmark. I love the community interaction that I've seen on this forum, the build quality, the convenience of the UDC, the 88 degree short bed turning capability, the expanded tank capacities... heck ... I just like the feeling I get when I do the research. The closest Heartland dealer is 73 miles away -- Tinker Toys RV (Dixie RV and Interstate RV locations) of Louisville, KY. The next closest is 130 miles away -- Best Buy RVs of Springfield, OH.
Another major concern is that we do NOT have a truck with which to move the RV at this time. As stated above, this will be our full time home, and as such we do have a permanent location (as permanent as we need anyway) to locate the RV on. With our house being on the market and still having to maintain it (mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, electric, water, etc.)... We can really only afford to purchase either the Truck to pull an RV of this size, or the RV itself. So, the plan is... Buy the RV now, pay to have it put on the lot. Then when the house sells, purchase the truck to pull it with, purchase a plot of land on which to build a new home, and stay in the RV while the home is being built. After this we do desire to be able to take the RV on trips and actually use it in a more mobile role.
With the fact of not having a vehicle in mind, needing to take the RV to the dealer for service becomes even a bigger problem.
So, for those that have read all of the above and need a recap... and those that decided to skip the long read and look at the list ( understandable ), here's a quick summary view:
What we want:
--------------------------------------------------------------
A 4 season 5th Wheel with all the comforts of home. (Landmark)
A flexible means of getting warranty service.
A full time 5th Wheel RV HOME.
What we don't have:
--------------------------------------------------------------
A Truck to pull the 5th Wheel.
A local Heartland dealer.
Constraints:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Current financial situation only allows for purchase of either
the Truck to pull this type of RV, or the RV.
I have taken the time to read many threads on this forum about warranty service and of course have seen some of the horror stories that accompany that type of reading. I do NOT want this to turn into a 'bash Heartland/Dealers' thread. I do realize as well that the largest portion of people only post in such forums when they have a problem, so I know that for every horror story, there's probably a multitude of completely happy Heartland owners.
One last point I'd like to raise is this. I am a jack of all trades. I have done almost every kind of work that anyone can imagine. I do all my own house and car work including: electronics, wiring, plumbing, mechanical, etc. - the list really does go on. So, I'm more than confident that I could do most repair work on my own as long as I could get the parts needed. I do not desire financial compensation for my labor, but I would like the parts to be covered under the warranty as appropriate.
With all this in mind...
==============================================================
What do YOU think?
What would YOU do?
Should I just bite the bullet and purchase a locally available (non-Heartland) RV?
Should I have a reasonable expectation of Heartland's flexibility and build quality that it won't be a problem to get local RV service when needed?
Have YOU had any first hand experience with any of the following RV Dealerships?:
Tinker Toys of Louisville KY
Best Buy RVs of Springfield OH
Northside RV of Lexington KY (non-Heartland dealer)
Bottom line is.. We are purchasing something. Hopefully before the end of the year. But we always like to be armed with as much information as possible before we purchase something, especially of this magnitude.
Thanks in advance for your time and input!
LK
