Neutral: Best RV Center, Turlock, CA

[gectisme]

I have been waiting to see how their service is before posting but something just happened today that really was bad and dangerous. I should have noticed this when I first bought the trailer home but somehow missed it. Best RV installed an Equalizer hitch at the same time I did my PDI and pick up. For the most part the trip home was uneventful and parking and unhitching went fine. I have finally had a chance to go camping in the trailer and as I am installing the Equalizer hitch head into the truck receiver, I had my hand on the ball and felt it move. They forgot to torque the darn ball hitch down! Just thinking about this makes me think of all the bad things that could have happened.



The other thing, which was minor and I should have known better was, the Tech who did the PDI told me it was ok to leave the table in the upright position when towing. When I got home, the table had been knocking against the bathroom wall and made a mark on the wall and the table.



I am going to call Best RV and let them known on Monday what a dangerous situation they created. I was too busy today getting the ball tightened down to get on our trip. That is a story on its own, where do you find a 1 and 7/8 inch socket and a torque wrench that goes to 430 ft-lbs…

[Wobbles]

I would be interested in hearing how they respond to that phone call. Sounds like some real "on the carpet time" for the staff at a minimum.

They might be going for the slogan, "Nobody ever buys another one after buying from us".

Let us know the response.

[bikendan]

Good Luck!
They have a terrible rep in the RV community.
We went there once, to shop and were treated so badly, we swore we'd never go back.
We never did.

[onetonford]

I almost bought from them but I found a better deal in Sacramento and it was actually closer to me than they were. I went shopping at Best RV and I thought that because my wife used to baby sit for the owners when they were located in Manteca I would get a better deal but they kept trying to get me a different trailer which I didn't want found the trailer I wanted in Sac. and got a better deal and a excellent dealer.

[Rsharrer]

We shopped at this dealership two years ago. Met with the owner who gave us a very good price on the unit we were interested in. Became a little suspicious when I asked if he knew the local police chief and his response was less than enthusiastic. Researching on the internet I found that the Ca DMV had served a search warrant and seized records. Don't recall specifics but decided not to do business with them. Recently a neighbor purchased a new rig from them. When he got it home we found that the tires had not been aired up and were dangerously low. It was "new" but had been manufactured nearly two years before. Had obviously been outside that entire time and decals were peeling off. No proof but thought it might have been sold previously and returned.

[livinontop]

Yes, we too have gotten to experience "Best RV" in Turlock! They sent us out with our hitch ball placed TWO notches too high, for level! Just about took out the backend of the trailer when we went into a parking lot on the way home. Luckily our son was behind us, saw it and took us to his house and fixed it (leveled it up) for us. We've had numerous issues with them from the moment the sale was final! Too bad they're still (ever were) in business!

[Shady camper]

I purchased my trailer from them and became concerned while waiting for my PDI. The complaints in the service department was unreal. Four different set of folks came in and it was all negative. They are very defensive when you ask simple questions. My PDI went fine and apparently I lucked out as my hitch was set up near perfect when I scaled the rig out, but I won't take it back there for service. The complaints I witnessed makes be believe none of the service personnel are trained "techs", but merely folks that slap stuff together.

Sent from Central Cali using Tapatalk

[Big Vic]

That ball requires a special thin walled socket and torque wrench. Maybe a local RV shop would do it for a small fee.

[hotheadbilly]

I have bought two trailers from best RV I have never had a issue or I would have not went back to buy a another trailer. In both trailers when in had warranty issue I was taken care of with out a problem. This might just have been a one ti.e deal. I two heard bad reviews but I was proved wrong never had a issue with them. Romeo and Karin are top notch at thereasonable job. I am sure I'd u call them and just give them a heads up they would appreciate it and correct the problem.

[gectisme]

Originally Posted by hotheadbilly

I have bought two trailers from best RV I have never had a issue or I would have not went back to buy a another trailer. In both trailers when in had warranty issue I was taken care of with out a problem. This might just have been a one ti.e deal. I two heard bad reviews but I was proved wrong never had a issue with them. Romeo and Karin are top notch at thereasonable job. I am sure I'd u call them and just give them a heads up they would appreciate it and correct the problem.

I plan to call on Monday to hopefully make sure who ever installed the ball gets a little more instruction. I had/have no issues with the sales people and the owner who I dealt with, I felt I got a good deal and was treated well. The Tech who did the PDI was fine and answered any question I had, the only thing was he told me it was OK to leave the table in the upright position during towing and that was not such a good thing to do. Hence the neutral rating, it could be a one off thing with the ball hitch being loose but it is such a safety issue, I wanted to make sure that anyone who buys there check it before they hitch up.

[gectisme]

Originally Posted by Big Vic

That ball requires a special thin walled socket and torque wrench. Maybe a local RV shop would do it for a small fee.

The story of getting the ball on an Equalizer torqued down on the day before Thanksgiving and just before a planned trip.

So, I call the closest RV Shop under the Equalizer web page dealer list and ask them if they could torque down my ball. They tell me yes but there are no appointments for today would I like to schedule one. I explain, I am scheduled to head out on a trip now and can come over there and just wait around until someone can break free for a few minutes to torque it. I explained it just needs to be torqued down and I am sure it can be done in less than 5 minutes. The person answering the phone said she will check with the Supervisor. She come s back and says, sorry you have to have an appointment. I know they are busy and it was the day before Thanksgiving and I am sure they all want to get done on time, etc, but to me that is very poor customer service knowing that it only takes a few minutes.

Anyway, I was upset and figured it was good they weren’t a Forest River dealer and I will never go there for service. I then figured what the heck, let me go to a local Auto Shop and see maybe they will have a socket that fits.. I let the guy upfront know I have a hitch that needs a 1 and 7/8 inch socket and a torque wrench that goes to 430 ft-lbl to torque the ball down. He says give me your keys and about 5 minutes later he hands me my keys and says “OK it’s done”. I ask how much do I owe you and he says “nothing, don’t worry about it”. Needless to say if I need any work done on any of our cars, you know where I will be taking it. Too bad that RV dealer didn’t handle service that way.

[pdqparalegal1]

Originally Posted by gectisme

I have been waiting to see how their service is before posting but something just happened today that really was bad and dangerous. I should have noticed this when I first bought the trailer home but somehow missed it. Best RV installed an Equalizer hitch at the same time I did my PDI and pick up. For the most part the trip home was uneventful and parking and unhitching went fine. I have finally had a chance to go camping in the trailer and as I am installing the Equalizer hitch head into the truck receiver, I had my hand on the ball and felt it move. They forgot to torque the darn ball hitch down! Just thinking about this makes me think of all the bad things that could have happened.



The other thing, which was minor and I should have known better was, the Tech who did the PDI told me it was ok to leave the table in the upright position when towing. When I got home, the table had been knocking against the bathroom wall and made a mark on the wall and the table.



I am going to call Best RV and let them known on Monday what a dangerous situation they created. I was too busy today getting the ball tightened down to get on our trip. That is a story on its own, where do you find a 1 and 7/8 inch socket and a torque wrench that goes to 430 ft-lbs…

Truck stop with tire service. May do it for a $5.00 tip to mechanic.

[Afguy]

We bought a Roo in July from Best RV because they had a large selection of Roo's in stock and had great prices (lowest of the 6 dealers that sold Roo's). The actual sale and PDI went great, all parties were very friendly and knowledgeable. We were satisfied. When we got home I put the awning out and saw a small tear that we missed during the PDI. I immediately called and sent pictures to Karen who said she would take care of it right away. Long story short, it took 73 days to get the new awning fabric on order, 2 days for it to come in, and 30 minutes to change it out. Needless to say I will not be bringing my Roo back for service.

[Rollingthunder]

After a ton of research my wife found the one and only one 5er she loved...it was a 2016 Coachmen bunkhouse, about $30k. Best not only had an amazing inventory but equally amazing prices. We spent a good amount of time there with several salesmen that were all pretty nice and helpful. Then the "handover" to the owner.

I've never had an encounter like that. So disrespectful and condescending. It was like he hated us sitting in his office but was willing to tolerate us to sell an RV. We went home and did our research and found everything mentioned here and other places. The nearest other dealer was in Washington, 12 hour drive from Manteca (with 3 kids in the back seat of the truck). My wife and I decided that whoever we did business with, we should be happy to spend our money with them and that was not Best RV. also knew that if we drove 12 hours to pick one up, we wouldn't get service at Best but that doesn't matter because according to the reviews any service we got was going to be terrible anyway (and take 20 weeks). The other local big dealership says on their website that they will service ANY RV, except if you bought it at Best. Wow! The trip to Wa ended up being one of our best family trips and we took our time camping on the way back. The dealership up there, Central Washington RV, was pretty new and they were absolute rock stars, we made the right decision.

Anyway, I've never wrote a review about that and it was 8 months ago but this thread sparked a nerve. You could probably go there and might even get a good rig, but you also might strike out bad and be left holding the bag. A big bag. Be happy with where you spend your money, you worked too hard to earn it to give it to anyone else.

[Big Vic]

Best RV offers great prices on new RVs, with many models in stock...it is strange that the owner's attitude can vary on any given day from accommodating/friendly to rude depending on his mood.

I initially negotiated over the phone, drove the two hours to the store and the owner was quite nice to me and honest in his demeanor. He and one of his service staff spent about an hour going over the PDI (small trailer and experienced RVer helped the process go quickly).

Then to his office where the final paperwork took less than 10 minutes. No hype or attempt to sell me additional items. I found the process quick and met all of my expectations. A few days later, I had a question about adjusting the trailer brakes which was answered quickly and satisfactorily by the service manager on a phone call.

Since a good deal was most important to me, and I provide most of my own service, I was a happy camper with this dealer!

[spaach]

I think our sales experience was about expected. The service department was as nonexistent as the pdi. They do not charge for a pre delivery inspection as one is not performed. As I can not trust that they do any work neither our rig nor business will ever grace this company again.

[ericbk]

Just bought an Apex nano from them (as they were the only place I could find to buy such a beast that wasn't 500+ miles away). The price seems good compared to what I could find on the internet. The trailer appears to be in good shape and they provided a quick walk-around to inspect the trailer and explain its features.


However, the sales people are awful at communicating. They would go radio-silent, would completely misunderstand simply concepts and in general seemed to know little to nothing about trailers. I saw in their catalog that they had the Reese dual-cam anti-sway, and specifically asked for that on the trailer. When I get there, and I ask about the "dual cam" anti-sawy, the guys says "Yeah" and then shows me the most basic of single-arm friction devices around. I go back to speak with the manager and he says "yeah, I know the one - its over there". He points me to the 4-point Equalizer(which is not the Reese dual-cam - its not even cam-based). When I got home, I noticed that the slide had the Solera Slide Topper prep (which I hadn't even known would be there) but when I look up the prep on the Solera site, it says that it is supposed to include what appear to be special brackets that fit into the mounting plates, but there were no such brackets in the trailer. Called the salesperson, they said they would check, and then they went radio-silent again. Also had them install a power-lift, when I got home realized that I could not find the manual crank to be used in case of failure. Called the salesperson, said they would check, radio-silence.


So, bottom line, I got the trailer I wanted, it seems to be in good condition, the hitch seems to have been properly installed from what I can tell and the price seems to be good. But the utter lack of communications is infuriating and I find it somewhat concerning that the sales people do not seem to know much about the trailers they are selling (or trailers in general).

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by ericbk

Just bought an Apex nano from them (as they were the only place I could find to buy such a beast that wasn't 500+ miles away). The price seems good compared to what I could find on the internet. The trailer appears to be in good shape and they provided a quick walk-around to inspect the trailer and explain its features.


However, the sales people are awful at communicating. They would go radio-silent, would completely misunderstand simply concepts and in general seemed to know little to nothing about trailers. I saw in their catalog that they had the Reese dual-cam anti-sway, and specifically asked for that on the trailer. When I get there, and I ask about the "dual cam" anti-sawy, the guys says "Yeah" and then shows me the most basic of single-arm friction devices around. I go back to speak with the manager and he says "yeah, I know the one - its over there". He points me to the 4-point Equalizer(which is not the Reese dual-cam - its not even cam-based). When I got home, I noticed that the slide had the Solera Slide Topper prep (which I hadn't even known would be there) but when I look up the prep on the Solera site, it says that it is supposed to include what appear to be special brackets that fit into the mounting plates, but there were no such brackets in the trailer. Called the salesperson, they said they would check, and then they went radio-silent again. Also had them install a power-lift, when I got home realized that I could not find the manual crank to be used in case of failure. Called the salesperson, said they would check, radio-silence.


So, bottom line, I got the trailer I wanted, it seems to be in good condition, the hitch seems to have been properly installed from what I can tell and the price seems to be good. But the utter lack of communications is infuriating and I find it somewhat concerning that the sales people do not seem to know much about the trailers they are selling (or trailers in general).

You're the first to post a review in almost 4 years!
My review of them is from 5 1/2 years ago and it doesn't look like they've improved.

[jbflag21ds]

I have not bought a trailer from them though I did go there last summer to look for the specific model I wanted and the sales guy was no better and no worse than a typical car sales guy.

But since they are one of the closest FR dealers to me, I have used them a couple of times for service. First was to have a slide topper installed and second to have my brakes and bearings serviced.

Both times the work was fine, but wow are they busy and a bit disorganized from a customer perspective. Service and parts prices are high but given the volume they have, it does not appear to be stopping people from going there.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by jbflag21ds

I have not bought a trailer from them though I did go there last summer to look for the specific model I wanted and the sales guy was no better and no worse than a typical car sales guy.

But since they are one of the closest FR dealers to me, I have used them a couple of times for service. First was to have a slide topper installed and second to have my brakes and bearings serviced.

Both times the work was fine, but wow are they busy and a bit disorganized from a customer perspective. Service and parts prices are high but given the volume they have, it does not appear to be stopping people from going there.

Unfortunately they have some of the best prices in California. When I told them that I had a much cheaper quote from a dealer in Chicago, they flat out dared me me to go ahead and told me that no one out West would do the warranty work. Luckily I had already lined up 3 local NorCal dealers that FR said would do the warranty work. So I didn't appreciate the threat. And I had no problem getting the warranty work during the two year period.