Was a proud new owner of a Heartland product.

[rshackelford]

Now, I am not. Why? Customer service. Here is the story.

We just purchased a 2015 Cyclone 4100 King on Monday. Went through the check out Monday morning and was inundated with all the new information and procedures that apply to every purchase of any new rv of this size. Dealer was phenomenal. I began my trip back to Texas from Ohio. Huge smile on my face all the way. Made it back home two days later and opened it up for the first time on my own. Walking through it like a proud new father. Couldn't have been happier.

After letting everything soak in and reveling in new ownership I noticed that the two bars tools that are supposed to come with the unit are missing. I had overlooked this fact during check out, who could blame me, with learning and obsorbing everything that I was being taught. So I said okay. Just give the dealership and Heartland a call and they will take care of it... No Problem. WRONG. I call Heartland just to make sure that indeed the unit was supposed to come with them as every and all sales brochure, picture, dealer picture show the two bars tools. The customer service individual stated that yes the 4100 king does in fact always come with the bar stools. I even heard him confirm this with another associate. So I said great, let me call my dealers warranty dept. and get this rectified.

I called my Dealer, RV Wholesalers, fantastic group by the way. The warranty person, after explaining my story, said no problem we will call the manufacturer and get this taken care of. She calls back several hours later and says that the manufacturer stated that they no longer offered the barstools as of August 4th, and since my unit rolled off the line in late August, my unit doesn't come with them.

I spent 4 months researching this unit to make sure i got what I wanted and needed. In all that time, every picture, brochure, salesman and physical units that I looked at all showed, stated and led me to believe I was getting bar stools. I called Heartland this morning and talked with the customer service rep for Texas.(Scott). Now, after all this, I am still in a great mood with all the confidence in the world I was going to be taken care of. Everything changed when I heard his exact words "sorry, we cannot do anything for you because our documentation states that we can change anything at anytime with our notice".

Now you may say that this is a very minor issue, and I believe the same. It is a minor issue. But I do feel that I have been cheated when everything I have read, seen and discussed says that I should have barstools. Even their own people said yesterday that I should have had barstools. The customer service rep blew me off, he just kept repeating that there was nothing they were going to do for me.

Now I am just plain mad and disgruntled. I do not have a great appreciation for Heartland that I did yesterday. All after owning the unit for 3 total days. I can't and don't feel good about talking good about Heartland after this. It is truly sad that just because of this very minor situation that I now have buyers remorse. I love the unit. But I don't love that I purchased it because I have lost my trust with Heartland.

thanks for listening,

Rod Shackelford
Conroe, Tx

 

[dbbls59]

I understand your disappointment. Heartland should have placed a sticker in the unit stating it doesn't come with bar stools if units make a few days before did.

 

[TandT]

Sorry for your frustration and I understand it. Rolling line changes by the factory are continual and a fact in RV production. I'm sure many folks have liked something on a past rig design that was changed, or eliminated.

I would not let two eliminated bar stools ruin the fact that you like the other 99% of the rig.

Not sure what they looked like but look HERE.

I'm sure you can buy some bar stools for very little money if they are that important to you.

Hopefully you can get past this and enjoy your new rig. Trace

 

[GOTTOYS]

Sorry for your frustration and I understand it. Rolling line changes by the factory are continual and a fact in RV production. I'm sure many folks have liked something on a past rig design that was changed, or eliminated.

I would not let two eliminated bar stools ruin the fact that you like the other 99% of the rig.

Not sure what they looked like but look HERE.

I'm sure you can buy some bar stools for very little money if they are that important to you.

Hopefully you can get past this and enjoy your new rig. Trace

I sure wouldn't let a couple of cheap barstools ruin my perception of Heartland. In all probability they would have fallen apart within a year and you would be replacing them anyway. Not having them could very well have saved you from getting injured when they collapsed...Don

 

[JohnDar]

Frustrating, yes, but the ones you buy will probably be better quality than what they were putting in. That seems to be common with most of the furniture.

 

[FiremanBill]

I sure wouldn't let a couple of cheap barstools ruin my perception of Heartland. In all probability they would have fallen apart within a year and you would be replacing them anyway. Not having them could very well have saved you from getting injured when they collapsed...Don

Frustrating, yes, but the ones you buy will probably be better quality than what they were putting in. That seems to be common with most of the furniture.

And I truly believe that this is why they do what they do. They expect we will put up with it... and most of us do. From substandard equipment and furnishings to poor customer service. We expect that to be the norm and deal with it, buying things that should have been there, fixing things that shouldn't have been broken to begin with, replacing things that are not worn out, but are just pure dangerous to have on there (tires).

kind of sad really... And this is spoken from someone that is extremely happy with my rig. I can only imagine the frustrations some people deal with. Come to think of it my brochure and pics I saw online showed barstool also and I never got any... dang!!!

And I also agree with the others, it sucks this happened and you would think to make a customer happy they would send you a couple of $10 barstools, but I wouldn't let that ruin my joy of owning a brand new Cyclone!

 

[Realist]

Frustrating? For sure.
But one thing we always need to do is read the fine print. Something about the right to make changes without notice.
One puzzling thing for me is, and this is not aimed at Rod, is that some people rave about customer service and others have nothing good to say about CS.
Is there another side to those stories? We will never know.
On a similar note, one of our RVs came with different color leather furniture. I didn't like it, but the change was made mid year.
I'm still alive and lived with that furniture for four years.
Life goes on.

realist

 

[kakampers]

Frustrating? For sure.
But one thing we always need to do is read the fine print. Something about the right to make changes without notice.
One puzzling thing for me is, and this is not aimed at Rod, is that some people rave about customer service and others have nothing good to say about CS.
Is there another side to those stories? We will never know.
On a similar note, one of our RVs came with different color leather furniture. I didn't like it, but the change was made mid year.
I'm still alive and lived with that furniture for four years.
Life goes on.

realist

There is ALWAYS another side to the story, and those of us who understand that there are running line changes during the year tend to keep things in perspective....when we seriously need Heartland's customer service, they are there and stand behind their product....JMHO.

 

[rshackelford]

Thank you all for your responses. While I do understand rolling production changes and I also tend to fix most problems that arise, as we all know they do often, myself. (Not our first rig) 😊 And yes, I know I will be better off buying the barstools elsewhere, it's mostly a principals issue. I love this rig, spent 4 months researching everything down to the smallest detail about the unit and manufacturer, and I know it is the best one for my needs. I know that I am going to be very happy with the unit for years to come. It comes down to the age old "trust" issue. You have it until proven otherwise. Before this very small issue, I had come to have complete "trust" in Heartland. Now I am skeptical. Not a feeling I wanted right out of the starting blocks. Now I don't know if they will take care of things as promised. I will definitely keep an open mind but with a hint of doubt. Does that make sense?

Anyhow, thanks again for the responses and hope to see some of you out on the road. Many happy miles and memories to all of you.

Rod Shackelford
Conroe, Tx
2014 Ford F350 DRW FX4
B&W Companion
2015 Cyclone 4100 King - w/o barstools 😉

 

[scottyb]

Thank you all for your responses. While I do understand rolling production changes and I also tend to fix most problems that arise, as we all know they do often, myself. (Not our first rig)  And yes, I know I will be better off buying the barstools elsewhere, it's mostly a principals issue. I love this rig, spent 4 months researching everything down to the smallest detail about the unit and manufacturer, and I know it is the best one for my needs. I know that I am going to be very happy with the unit for years to come. It comes down to the age old "trust" issue. You have it until proven otherwise. Before this very small issue, I had come to have complete "trust" in Heartland. Now I am skeptical. Not a feeling I wanted right out of the starting blocks. Now I don't know if they will take care of things as promised. I will definitely keep an open mind but with a hint of doubt. Does that make sense?

Anyhow, thanks again for the responses and hope to see some of you out on the road. Many happy miles and memories to all of you.

Rod Shackelford
Conroe, Tx
2014 Ford F350 DRW FX4
B&W Companion
2015 Cyclone 4100 King - w/o barstools 

Rod, 1st congratulations on your new 4100. We just surpassed 17.5K miles on ours on a recent UT-AZ trip. We have absolutely loved it. The 1st year, there were some minor problems, transfer switch, water pump, fender skirts not attached properly. The bar stools that came in mine were provided by the dealer and didn't look like the ones in the brochure. I crushed one putting in the LR slide anyway. I found a couple very nice HD leather covered barstools at Costco for under $40. They fit the need perfectly and ride on the sofa while travelling. Enjoy your new rig. Sounds like you did your homework.

 

[Gaffer]

Products are always changing. One day full body paint is available. The next it is not. One day the front cap is brown and the next it is grey. One day they ship with Towmax the next they do not.

 

[porthole]

There really is no excuse in this modern day age of communications for anyone spending 50,000 to 100,000+ dollars on a recreational trailer to not know exactly what they are or are not getting.
Every new vehicle I have ordered that had a running change was always an improvement, not something deleted.

If a customer orders a new trailer and it was advertised with 2 bar stools, then he should get a trailer with two bar stools. Or, not be surprised when he shows up for delivery.

I consider ourselves lucky, what we ordered was what we got. The Cyclone 3010's built in the month after ours had several "improvements" that if ours came that way I would have had a different point of view. "Deleting" under chassis storage boxes and stereo equipment (subwoofer and amp) as an "upgrade" garnering an extra interior cabinet was a cost savings move in the build, nothing more.

 

[Miltp920]

I would think Heartland would send you two cheap barstools to satisfy a customer. Then you can replace them when they break or get crushed....LOL, I thought that only happened to me! Don't let this really minor issue ruin your glow. You now own one of the nicest RVs out there. Our SOB had rocker recliners in the picture in the sales advertisement. When it came, just rock, no recline. Called dealer, after some back and forth, they shipped me two new chairs. When I opened the crate, two rockers, no recline. Sent me two more of the chair I did not want. I drove to elkhart to get the right chairs when they came in to dealer. After I got them home, and a few weeks later when I was putting in the slide, one got caught up under the slide on the inside of camper and I heard cheap wood CRACK. Metal under carriage bent, not right anymore. We bought some reaaly nice chairs at the furniture store. My advice, go buy some REALLY nice bar stools for your VERY nice RV and dont look back. Life is too short.

 

[Cjackg]

Surprised to read this thread.... Our 2015 Cyclone came with the two Bar Stools and they are pretty nice... but, we found them to be in the way all the time, so now we just leave them at home... If you come through Chattanooga just get in touch and you can have them!
.. Oops! the DW says she likes having them in the den at home!

We love our Cyclone and even though we have fixed many small issue repairs so far we still think it is a really great Toyhauler/RV...

 

[Bob&Patty]

Ron, did you check your invoice to see if you were charged for the bar stools?? If you did not pay for them then you were not cheated out of them. JMHO

 

[RoadJunkie]

I'm surprised Heartland is willing to let a couple of $25 bar stools soil their reputation. They appear to be abusing the fine print regarding the right to change specifications or equipment. On the other hand, I wouldn't fall on my sword for a couple of $25 bar stools. Owning an RV requires the taking of a lot of deep breaths, especially during the warranty period where there is extreme potential for disappointment. The disappointment is usually fed by the underlying internal reminder of how much $$$$ was paid. Time to move on and enjoy the rig, most of us have some tale of disappointment on our rigs that we've had to overcome.

 

[FiremanBill]

One sure fire way to get over the disappointment of the bar stools is to tow it for more than just a few miles on towmax tires...

You will soon forget all about the bar stools.