I have been following this thread with great interest since it started. After reading the problems and the responses from LD people, I can honestly say that I will go to great lengths to avoid that dealership. I have seen their ads and often thought it would be fun to visit when in the area, but with the attitude shown by the responses I have seen here, I probably will never set foot on their lot.
I am just a rookie by many of the standards here, I am only on my second motor home. Several years ago my wife and I wanted to try the motor home life style and found a used class C rig at a price we could afford. We bought a then 10 year old rig that we knew nothing about. Having graduated to that from a pop-up we thought it was luxurious. That first dealer was great with the sales end. The service end seemed OK too, with the limited knowledge we had at the time. The walk thru at delivery was conducted just
after we signed all the papers, and took a total of
only 45 minutes!!! A "service tech" walked us (well ran us) thru the coach and very briefly demonstrated how things were supposed to work - then sent us off down the road to have a good time. We quickly learned of many of our mistakes, and discovered many of the areas overlooked during the walk thru. That coach taught us a lot, along with insite from others on this forum at the time.
We kept that first coach for 8 years until last summer when we decided to look for an upgrade - obviously we discovered we really like traveling in our motor home. To our advantage we have become much better educated, learned how to bargain properly, and knew what features we were unwilling to compromise on from our previous experiences.
We stumbled on a used class A (1998 Winnebago 32' Brave) at a dealer here in SW Michigan this past summer. We went to the lot to look at it on a Sunday, expecting it to be closed so as not to get hassled by salespeople. Well Go fugure, they were having an open house that day! (the free burgers and pop were really a welcome surprise). Much to our surprise the sales staff
did not hassle us, but let us know they were available for any questions and to feel free to take as much time as we wanted looking over what they had. We found this unit with only 21,000 miles, and the interior looked brand new?
After hunting down a sales person, he was happy to answer all our questions. We were unable to drive the unit as the batteries had been drained and wouldn't keep the unit running. To shorten the tale, we made a deal on the unit and agreed to a trade of our old unit contingent on the battery problem being solved and a favorable test drive. The only money to change hands was our refundable deposit of $100.
The following week we returned and found the unit ready for our test drive, and final delivery to us. The service department was still working on the unit when we arrived. We looked up the sales person who introduced us to the service tech who then spent over one and a half hours doing a
complete walk thru pre delivery inspection and test drive. Every detail was examined, including the undercarriage and basement storage areas. Any items that could not be immediately (and I mean on the spot) repaired were written down on an "IOU" form - there were none in our case.
In our case no money was requested, or papers signed until WE were satisfied with the delivery condition of the motor home. After we signed off on the delivery, we were then taken to the sales office to sign the final papers. Shortly after the sale (about a month) I had a problem with the electric steps (the motor home was purchased "as is") and called the dealer, who immediately scheduled a service appointment for the following Saturday. It seems the magnetic switch in the door had gone bad and was replaced with a new one - after about 45 minutes of troubleshooting by the tech. This was all done at
no charge to me!!! The step worked when we took delivery and they would have been fully within their right to charge for the repair, but that simple repair has brought them far more favorable word of mouth from us than they ever could have charged for the repair.
Based on our limited experience, which dealer do you think I will go to first for the next purchase?? Good after sale service can pay big dividends in the future.