How important is a good dealer?

[mini-me]

I'll tell my story now that we have reached what I hope is the conclusion. We purchased a 2018 2507 in October, got it home and put it right in to winter storage with an rv cover. Brought it home about 2 1/2 weeks ago, weather was awful the first week so didn't to do anything to it. A week ago Saturday we went out to start un-winterizing and get it ready for vacation May 4. Noticed a bubble area under the kitchen window, uh oh! When we went inside and brought the bed down, I looked out the front and noticed light on the side of the front window, about 1 foot of the side of the front window wasn't attached to the trailer, and finally the trunk under the dinette was damp with some water staining on the wood of the dinette!
Panic, we can't take this trailer to Florida. Monday morning called the dealer, he notified Forest River, after some back and forth and picture sending etc. their resolution was it would have to go back to the factory and they would replace the walls. All 3? We said no way in heck that we were keeping this trailer, way too much damage for a trailer never used! Plus it would be months, we had a week and half! We worked with our dealer and he had the same unit on order due to come off the line April 27. A 2019, same options, different interior wood. The unit arrived yesterday in Peterborough Ontario and for a straight exchange with our dealer, NOT Forest River, just fee to change the plate, it is now in our driveway!!! Delivery guy came to our house this am to take away the old one to Goshen and we went right up and got our new one. He will deal with Forest River himself.
So shout out to our Dealer, Doug Abbott at Recreational Sales and Storage in Peterborough, Ontario. Just a small dealer, who cares about his customers.

[schaffer05]

Awesome, glad they resolved that for you. Have a safe trip and great vacation!

[GL1800Rider]

This dealer knows how to retain customers.

[jking46]

That is one great dealer. Nice to hear good things. We hear so much about all the poor ones.

[Kimber45]

ive bought 5 new campers in 8 years from 5 different places. Wasn't really pleased enough to go back to any of them except maybe the last place.

[tdhanses]

To me a good dealer is only good if you are buying, otherwise for service ahh, easier to do your own.

[RACarvalho]

To me just after a good manufacturing company comes a good dealer.
I too like to do all I can by myself but for somethings you will have to rely on the dealer.
I had to change my WiFI ranger unit and asked the dealer if they could send me a new unit and the only thing they asked for was a picture of the failed unit (rain water inside the WiFi ranger) and for me to send them the failed unit when I have changed it. They even gave me a tube of calk for the job.
Two days later I had the new unit...
In our previous one they did the same with a slide out trim that I cracked (something got between the slide trim and the wall)...
We bought two campers with them and if/when we decide to buy another one they will be at the top of our list for that.
Edmundson RV - Edimburgh, IN.

[Life is great]

Crazy situation but awesome outcome!!

Now enjoy and ave travels!!!

[kennyR]

I have found the best dealers are the small ones, family owned.
The bigger they are the worse they are. Never Never take your unit off the lot knowing something need fixing.

[ard58]

In my book that dealer is a 10!

[McCormickJim]

Maybe we need to add a dealer rating system on the forum. I'd look at it occasionally when needing a new rig, service at home, or service on the road.

My dealer in Longmont Colorado i'd rate a 10 on sales, 10 on after sales service, and 10 on general customer service.

How about it Site Team?

[kristie73]

I hope our dealer is good. He wasn't the cheapest, but he's small, locally owned and I felt like it would be best to go with him rather than larger father away dealer. We shall see.

[Skivveywaver]

Had same issue with a2006 Wildwood the roof leaked dealer I got it from no help. Went to a different dealer,got new roof. i have just bought my seconend coach from them a 2018 Wildcat 32Wb. A good dealer makes live much simpler.

[Tapex]

A great dealership keeps customers coming back well into the future

[mini-me]

When we were up there picking up the new one, I noticed a trailer that looked familiar. It was our very first trailer, a little 12 foot that we traded for our 2109 in 2012. He had sold it within a week of us trading it and they had come back this spring to trade it for a larger one, and it was sold again. Recognized it by the curtains I had made and the custom tv mount my husband had built. Haha!

[Harris85]

The Service Department is what makes me either buy from the dealer or run from a dealer. One larger dealership kept one of our campers for three months whereas the small family owned dealer works on it the day you bring it in.

[B and B]

Good to know the Dealer has looked after this. Kudos to them!

I had to fight tooth and nail to get my Rockwood TT fixed. The slide never worked correctly, we traded after a year.

I agree the whole deal is important from sales right through service and warranty needs.

[Papa Rich]

A good dealer is worth the extra money. I am currently in a situation where my dealer has been no help at all. See my post about a tongue jack replacement. In fact they went as far as telling I needed to go to FR for my replace only to find out that they didn't even file a claim so I have no recourse at all. I had several other items for them to address and only one of them did they actually fix. So my hats off or in my case my drawers dropped to Gateway RV in Collinsville Il. Never will they ever get another dime from me.

Sorry for my rant.

[NMWildcat]

After trying to work with dealers on warranty for our first few rigs we learned one thing: after the sale, never return to the dealer.

For our last several RVs we determine what unit we want, then find the dealer with the best overall price. After the sale, we are done with the dealer. Period.

For warranty work we find a certified service only shop. They get pre-approval from FR and we get our unit back in hours/days instead of months, and the work is higher quality. We are much happier!

So finding that elusive 'good dealer' is not a concern for us.

[rskeans]

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