Local dealers

[SaskCampers]

Originally Posted by tncruiser

times 2 twice
the quality and service are long remembered after the few bux saved are forgotten

brianj

Add another to that. Our local dealer came close and has been nothing but stellar in how they treat us. That and a nice discount on anything we ever buy in the store with our customer discount card they provided.

[wnytaxman]

Originally Posted by reinerka

Having dealt on both ends of the equation myself (not RVs) in the past when a customer wants to have a price that leaves me no margin I'm not interested in the business as in the long run I won't make money on service, etc either as they will try to nickel and dime me to death on everything I do.

As a customer I want the best deal and when I have trouble I want to be able to go some place I am both respected and feel being treated well. Online does only one part and many people already see that.

If we all bought from online dealers where would we go for service? The online dealer has no trouble discounting so hard as he doesn't have stock (or very limited) and the units stay typically for a very short time - so financing does not really bother them. However your local dealer has a huge inventory that is financed by the bank and they are asking him to pay interest on the units (just like when you finance).

So in the end we bought locally because the prise difference was reasonable for me and the little bit I felt I would save (considering going to pick it up) wasn't worth it at all.

Reiner

The whole "no service" mentality is part of the switch to big box retailers. Buy your windows at Home Depot, but go to the local guy to get them fixed. Same thing almost across the board with the big boxes. You are now, and always will be, nothing but a number to the big boxes. Probably the same with much of the on-line retail business. How many of us have gotten burned by some "deal" on either the internet or the big box retailer? My guess is that most of us have been victims and many folks don't even know they've been had.

[dashonthedash]

Actually, the deal I got, when factoring in what I earned on the consignment sale of my old unit (by the same dealer), and the cost of picking up the new one, was better than the online price, and I get good service to boot.