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Old 09-13-2012, 07:07 PM   #1
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Coates RV in Hugo, MN

While the original sale of our new 2012 Salem TT went smoothly, the service after the sale has been disappointing and frustrating to say the least. The service department seems completely disorganized and totally apathetic to resolving our warranty issues in a satisfactory manner.

The problems started after only our second trip out with the unit. After the first night of camping, the fridge went out completely. It would not operate on electric or LP power. When we contacted Coates RV, we were informed that it would be 3 weeks before they could even schedule us in for service. Once they did have the trailer, it took them another 2 1/2 weeks to fix the problem, which they said involved replacing a fridge part that had a recall notice.

The first trip out, after losing over a month of prime camping time, the fridge went out again after a day and a half of working fine. Upon our return home we contacted Coates service dept. again and explained the problem. At this point, they seemed genuinely concerned and asked me to bring the trailer right in and promised they would have it checked out the next day and that someone would call me with an update. After 3 days with no call, I contacted the service dept. again and, to my surprise, was told that it was done and ready to be picked up.

We drove the 15 miles to the dealer and was handed a repair receipt and told I could hook up and go. The only problem was that the repair receipt was from the FIRST time the trailer had been repaired. When I pointed this out to the service advisor, she rechecked her paperwork and announced that "..oh, they don't have it fixed yet.." Not once was there an apology for wasting my time driving all the down there. Not once was there any mention of the prior promise to get the trailer looked at "the next day". Nor was there any indication that this matter would be given high priority in light of all the inconvenience.

So now more of our short camping season passes by and we have no camper. Not to mention the two weekends worth of groceries that were spoiled when the fridge died. My next call will be to the general manager of the dealership in hopes that something can be done to improve their service AFTER the sale!
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Old 09-13-2012, 07:31 PM   #2
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YUUUUP, we've been to Coates a couple times looking at units and didn't get even a very good welcome feelin when we talked to sales people. But, we have bought 4 fifth wheels from RV World over in Ramsey and 2 of our kids have also each bought one now and the atmosphere there is a 180 change from Coates. And the service dept has been great.
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Old 09-13-2012, 07:53 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hotrodj125
YUUUUP, we've been to Coates a couple times looking at units and didn't get even a very good welcome feelin when we talked to sales people. But, we have bought 4 fifth wheels from RV World over in Ramsey and 2 of our kids have also each bought one now and the atmosphere there is a 180 change from Coates. And the service dept has been great.
Yeah, wish we would have shopped around a bit more. Coates is close to where we live and they happened to have a unit that fit our needs at the time so we thought we'd give them another try. We traded in a pop-up tent trailer that we had purchased there as well. Come to think of it, we had a problem with the service dept. back then too. :-(
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Old 09-14-2012, 12:39 AM   #4
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Here is the Coates employee list. Print it out and take it with you!
Our Staff at Coates RV - Sales, Service, Technicians, Administrative and More
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Old 09-14-2012, 06:53 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by joelek View Post
Here is the Coates employee list. Print it out and take it with you!
Our Staff at Coates RV - Sales, Service, Technicians, Administrative and More
Thanks. I have that list also. They used to list the individual's email addresses on the website too but they don't do that anymore. Gee, wonder why?!
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Old 07-13-2017, 08:30 PM   #6
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I have been very disappointed with Coates. My previous dealer, Hilltop, treated us like gold. Coates treats us like a number. Finance lady was rude and unprofessional, salesperson was apathetic, service is unresponsive. Never again!
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