Wow! HL Service provider telling me he "would never buy a Cyclone" Don't buy from Reliable RV in Spfd. Mo

[jayandhisgals]

I can't beleive it! Such horriable service from Reliable RV in Springfield MO.
We had to take our brand new 3712 Cyclone to the dealership (Reliable RV in Spfd. Mo) for some final repairs that we had noticed durring our PDI.
Yesterday while we were there to pick up our rig we were talking to the Service Manager (John Steuber), well actually we were complaining about the damage his service people did to our rig while installing a new cargo door. They let the drill hit our fiberglass exterior wall and left dents, marks and just one heck of a mess. But that is a whole other story. I don't know how it's gonna get fix or how we will be made right. I'll post more info on that situation later.
Anyways.... durring this conversation John (the service manager) said to us "we have a lot of problems with these Cyclone's, I don't want to buy anymore for the lot, I don't think they build them very well & they have very poor quality controls at the factory. I wouldn't ever buy a Cyclone."
Are you kidding me?? What the What??? When I bought this rig the sales man was singing the praises of HL. Now the service mgr. is telling me what a p.o.s. they are? He wouldn't ever spend his hard earned money on one. We love our rig, spent a good chunk of $$ on it and are currently making payments. How dare he!! I am SO MAD! This is just unbeleiveable! Why would you ever want your customers to have buyers remorse? Why would any manager ever put down the product they sell? So unprofessional!
Point of my story... what ever you do, do NOT buy a HL product from Reliable RV in Springfield MO. They have terriable customer service and do not deserve to be a HL represenative. I hope mgmt at HL sees this post and does something about this situation.

If you are trying to decide on a HL product. I would say we love our HL! We do not think it is made poorly and HL Customer Service is the BEST EVER! If it wasn't for JD (cust. serv. rep. @ HL) I might not feel the same. But JD has been wonderful, accomdiating and understanding. He has single handly ensured we are happy with our rig and HL. We couldn't ask for more!! I don't care what the Serv. Mgr. @ Reliable RV thinks! He is wrong, our rig is not poorly made and never should have said such a thing to us.

The only thing we would have done differently... buy our rig from a different dealer.

 

[TandT]

Re: Wow! HL Service provider telling me he "would never buy a Cyclone" Don't buy from Reliable RV in Spfd. Mo

Okay, have to watch my comments here, as we have been warned about dealer bashing.

It sounds like this guy is maybe a disgruntled employee and he needs to be brought to the attention of your dealers ownership.

Maybe he was on the defensive because they damaged your coach.

It is easy for repair people to become cynical, because most of what they see are problems.(I was a telco repairman) BUT, HELLO that is your job.

However, it's just something you don't talk about with your customers. Very bad PR for a business that gives him a paycheck.

Bottom line, I would make a call to ownership. Trace

 

[jayandhisgals]

Re: Wow! HL Service provider telling me he "would never buy a Cyclone" Don't buy from Reliable RV in Spfd. Mo

Trace, My thoughts exactly. I have placed a call to the service mgrs boss. Not sure if it is the dealership owner. Had to leave a msg. No response yet. But judging on how this dealership handles everything I don't think he will care much. The attitude around that place is that I am a difficult customer. When we purchased the rig we got a heck of a deal and we have been reminded time and time again that we got a deal. Sales & Service Depts have said to my face "Well.. you know you got a great deal. How much $$ do you expect us to put into this thing? We already lost $$." Not my problem! I made an offer and they accepted. I shouldn't get poor service just because I got a good price on my rig!

 

[danemayer]

Re: Wow! HL Service provider telling me he "would never buy a Cyclone" Don't buy from Reliable RV in Spfd. Mo

Jay,

I think you may be seeing a transition-in-progress in the RV industry. It's happened in many other industries and as owners, we probably ought to get prepared for it.

Dealers are facing a lot of price pressure when selling, due to the ease of shopping on the internet. The dealer has territory protection (so you can't buy the same rig from another nearby dealer). But places like RVsForLess and RV Capitol Wholesalers are putting a lot of price pressure on local dealerships.

When the dealership has fat profit margins on sales, they can treat sales as the "profit center" in the business, and other functions, like service, are treated as "cost centers." The other functions aren't expected to make a profit. They can give out freebies and cut owners slack on costs because they're supporting sales.

But as sales loses some of their profitability, management struggles with the overall equation. Eventually, they'll find they need to transition the service organization into a "profit center" that makes enough profit to justify its expenses independent of sales. There's a whole different mindset required and it's a difficult transition. They need to make you feel good about service, while charging you more and giving you less. My GMC dealer is clearly doing this - they're practicing what's known as "high touch" service where they kill you with kindness, coffee, donuts, and lots of attention, and charge top dollar. I'd rather they charged less, and took away the donuts, but I think this is the way it's going to be.

So maybe what you've run into here is a dealership that's just starting the transition. They've recognized that sales profit margins are down, and that the service side has to become profitable. But they haven't figured out how to make it work. The service manager is probably frustrated because his bosses are telling him to make a profit and he doesn't know how to do it. So he ends up giving you a hard time and tries to deflect blame.

If this resonates with you, when you contact the dealership owner/management, you might want to think of how you can get this service guy the help that he needs to make the transition, rather than just blasting him. He's wrong to treat you the way he did, but unless the dealer focuses on what needs to change, they'll just fire this guy and the next guy will have the same problem.

Something to think about.

 

[BarneyFife]

Re: Wow! HL Service provider telling me he "would never buy a Cyclone" Don't buy from Reliable RV in Spfd. Mo

1. I agree with your comments about how unprofessional he was. It is their product and why would he say those things to someone who purchased that product from their business?

2. I am somewhat like you. I too "spent a good chunk of $$ on it and are currently making payments". But my Cyclone and my dealings with Heartland have been exactly as he said. A total 180 from what you've experienced.

Be mad at his lack of professionalism? Absolutely. But if you don't agree with his opinion, just let it go. That's not worth getting upset over and just be glad your Cyclone experience has been a good one.

 

[Zoomzoommo]

I bought my Cyclone 3110 from Reliable RV last month, and John Steuber was very helpful and patient in answering my many questions, and insuring my G614's and 5th Airborne pin box were properly installed. I thought he was extremely professional. I've also purchased two new cars from Reliable Imports, and have been happy with the service staff on their campus.

His comments were definitely inappropriate. Perhaps he wasn't feeling well, or maybe he had a fight with his wife that morning, or possibly you were the tenth customer that day with complaints. I'm not making excuses for John; he needs to think before he blurts out such comments. But he's human, and I for one have stuck my foot in my mouth on many memorable occasions. I'm glad people cut me some slack on those occasions.

If you are like me, you carefully researched your toy hauler options. Don't let one person's inappropriate comments overshadow your intelligent purchase decision.

 

[jbeletti]

Re: Wow! HL Service provider telling me he "would never buy a Cyclone" Don't buy from Reliable RV in Spfd. Mo

Jay,

Sorry to hear about this. Wow is right. Know that I have passed this onto those who need to hear it at Heartland.

Also - thank you to you and all who have responded tonight. I appreciate the professionalism all have shown. I hope you are able to get the coach issues taken care of to your satisfaction - even if it's at another dealer or service center. Continue to work with J.D. He has proved himself at Heartland as quite capable and I'm hopeful he can get you squared away.

 

[jayandhisgals]

Re: Wow! HL Service provider telling me he "would never buy a Cyclone" Don't buy from Reliable RV in Spfd. Mo

Jim, thanks for passing the msg along.

Zoomzoommo, I am glad you have had a good experience w/ Reliable. I wish we had also. This is not the first time I have been offended by statement made to my face by Reliable employees. Perhaps my husband and I hold our expectations of professionalism to high,maybe it's because I am a woman or just because he see's me as a difficult customer because I discovered many flaws upon our PDI. Anyway you look at it, it's just wrong to tell a customer they bought a hunk of junk. I have been a HR Director for a large company w/ 250+ employees here in Springfield for 20+ years. If he were my employee I would not cut him any "slack". His behavior is just plain unacceptable, no excuses. He would be dismissed and replaced in order to set an example to my other employees that each and EVERY customer deserves outstanding service and respect. I run a tight ship and I expect others to do the same.

 

[hoefler]

Re: Wow! HL Service provider telling me he "would never buy a Cyclone" Don't buy from Reliable RV in Spfd. Mo

I too have had 2 bad experiences with the Reliable dealer ships in Springfield, Mo. Once at the Import store and once and the Chevrolet store. Both on new vehicles. Would never go back and would not recommend. If your in the SW Missouri area, as I am, I would/will drive south to Tontitown Ar. to Wheels RV. They are a Heartland dealer, and are very professional and fair!! I have many dealings with them and have sent several friends down to purchase or have service there. It is worth the hour drive for me for sure.

 

[rgwilliams69]

Re: Wow! HL Service provider telling me he "would never buy a Cyclone" Don't buy from Reliable RV in Spfd. Mo

That's okay if he wouldn't buy a Cyclone. More Cyclones for the rest of us! But seriously if my dealer acted this way I would be very, very upset. I have a personal relationship with the owners at my dealership and things have always been great. In fact they didn't even carry toy haulers until last year, and started considering when I and several other of their long term customers asked them to pick the best line for us. They spent about nine months doing research, talking to multiple manufacturers, going to shows, etc. By the way this dealership has a huge amount of the Keystone lines. That being said when they finally decided to choose the best what did they show up with? Cyclones and Road Warriors. And they literally cannot keep the things on the lot. Says a lot to me when you have a dealer with a completely open choice, they do months of research, and settle on what they want to both sell and service for the long term. Makes me feel great about my purchase. And so far I love it.

I hate hearing these "bad dealer/service" stories and have a lot of empathy for those of you who have to go through these nightmares. Sure glad though I do not have to.

 

[Bob&Patty]

Re: Wow! HL Service provider telling me he "would never buy a Cyclone" Don't buy from Reliable RV in Spfd. Mo

Dan, you are correct about sales verses service $$$$. For the most part car dealers service departments have always kept the doors open. At least that has been my experience for 47 years in the industry. Sales may make a little profit but the service dept pays the bills.