RV Direct

[dbalys]

I purchased my Berkshire 390BH from the Buffalo location of RV Direct back in January 2011. Although they were great with pricing, I was disappointed in the condition of the coach when it was delivered as the detailing was marginal at best. Unfortunately, on my very first trip in April 2011 to a state campground in Jacksonville, FL, I discovered many things wrong with the coach - the icemaker in the freezer didn't work, the sprayer to the toilet leaked, the hot water manifold was cracked and leaked, etc. All items I would have expected to have been checked prior to delivery. Worse yet, is that when I took the coach to Colton RV in North Tonawanda, NY for warranty service, it sat there for 10 days and things weren't fixed. The service department (Colin Larouere and Glenn Ohar) gave me the excuse that they just didn't have enough time to fix the icemaker and get all of the parts in from Forest River. Of course, it sat for the first 7 days on the lot before anyone even looked at it. I can't say enough how disappointed I am in this purchase and my first experiences with the rv sales/service industry. I would think for the amount of money these coaches cost that Forest River would want to keep its customers happy and that they wouldn't accept such poor warranty/customer service from occuring. Maybe it is because I am used to dealing with auto dealerships in Chicago that provide outstanding customer service and I was expecting the same from the rv industry. Is this really what I have to look foward to in the future whenever something goes wrong with my rv? Please tell me that a 10-day service appointment isn't always required and that dealerships like Colton RV in North Tonawanda, NY aren't the norm with their total disregard for customer service and endless excuses as to why they can't get things done in a 10-day time frame.

[crocus]

Why do you think you can buy your RV from a discount dealer, then expect another dealer to jump at your request for service? And you expect EVERYTHING to be fixed in 10 days?
If that is what you are expecting, then you are expecting too much.

[bikendan]

i'm not aware of Colton RV being one of RVDirect's dealerships.

if it's not, then yes, you shouldn't expect too much.
i think you're applying your auto dealership experiences to the RV industry, which is a big mistake.
the two run very differently from each other.

if you didn't buy from that dealer, they have no obligation to do warranty work for you, even if they sell the same brand. you're lucky that they'll even work on it.
i had 3 local Roo dealers tell me that they would refuse to do any warranty work, if i bought from another Roo dealer.
this is true throughout the RV industry, no matter the brand of RV you buy.

[vinman72]

It's truly sad that in this economy rv dealers are not taking in warranty service. I was under the impression that they get paid for servicing from FR. If it were me I'd escalate the issue up the management chain until I received some action. If that doesn't work then I'd let them know that I would be calling FR directly.

[tmmar]

As an alternate plan, you could call Forrest River and explain the situation and ask if you could bring it to a dealer for work, you pay for it, and have Forest River reimburse you. Forest River agreed to this because my selling dealer was 8 hours away.

[mg0427]

Our local dealer makes it very clear, posted on the wall in big BOLD letters, "RVs BOUGHT HERE GET PRIORITY, All OTHERS GET PUT ON A LIST" Warrenty work or not, thats why I paid a little more for local service, and our money we make locally stays locally.

[crocus]

mg04, we tried to buy local, but it was utterly ridiculous how much more they wanted than the dealer in Minneapolis. Note that I bought from a dealer, and not one of the discounters.
I was willing to give our local dealer 10% more, but they wanted 20%.
I am not stupid.

[wnytaxman]

First off Colton RV does not sell Forest River Motor Homes, but only their travel trailers. I can tell you that Colton is probably the worst dealership I have ever tried to deal with. As for Buffalo RV, why didn't you contact them rather than Colton. I'm not sure why you would go that route. Every problem that we have had with our Berkshire has been taken care of by Buffalo RV. My suggestion is to contact Brandon at Buffalo RV service department. He will get your issues resolved. Be aware that this is probably the busiest time of the year for RV dealers in service and you may wait a while.

[Buffalo Bob]

Hello
On behalf of Colton RV I would like to apologize. We weren’t clear with you about when your coach would get in for service. We have been so busy this spring that a 7 day wait for service was common. As of today (6-21-2011) Colton RV is taking service appointments for mid-august.
Our mechanics and technicians are working their tails off to get people back to camp, unfortunately there are not enough of them.
If anyone knows of a RV tech looking for work please have them call me at:
800-628-4889.
Thank You
Bob Wagner
Colton RV