Are Dealerships REALLY this cheap/lazy???

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Frizlefrak

Frizlefrak

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 30, 2012
Posts
3,779
Location
El Paso, Texas
OK, indulge me a couple of minutes....you all are gonna love this one.  First, the prologue.

Bought a 2012 Palomino travel trailer new last June.  Paid cash, love the unit.  Come fall, I find out that the furnace isn't working (there is a thread on here about the problem).  Furnace is blowing fuses left and right.  So....took it in to be serviced.  They call me a week later and say it's ready.  I pick it up....battery dead, my propane bottles left on.....and tow it home.  Not fixed...still popping fuses.  Now....before I took it back the second time, I replaced one last fuse which it popped.  I couldn't find a 15 amp fuse anywhere.....finally found one in my toolbox.  Body was all scuffed up, but it was good.  Inserted it....POP!. 

Took the trailer back a second time.  They found a melted wiring harness.  Replaced it under warranty.  Brought it home, furnace worked fine, no longer popping fuses...now, this was at the end of the season, so the trailer didn't go out again.  It has sat since about September. 

Now....for the proverbial "Rest of the story".....

Wifey and I decided to go camping this weekend.  I decide to start loading the trailer early and getting the fridge cold.  Fridge won't come on.  I look down at the fuse box, and I have a light on.  Sure enough, it's the refrigerator circuit.  Blue 15 amp fuse, and it's blown.  It's also scuffed up    :mad:

Yes folks....after they fixed the furnace circuit, instead of installing a new fuse....they raided my fusebox.  They took the good one out of the fridge circuit, and put it in the furnace slot.....and put the blown scuffed up fuse in the fridge slot.

Really???  A warranty claim, and they can't afford a 20 cent fuse and the three minutes it would take to walk in the building and get one? 

Well, I did it for them.  I put in a new 15A fuse, and my fridge works again. 

Just thought some of you might appreciate this.  Incredible.
 
Well, what I do appreciate is I bought an old used unit, in very good condition.  I've taken it out several times, and over 6,000 miles so far, without those kinds of problems.  If I bought a 2012 and had the problems you are describing, I'd be livid.  I hope you can get some satisfaction with the dealer, and find something to help you laugh about it in the future.  Best of luck to you.
 
LOL.....in the grand scheme of things, I'm quite happy with the unit.  The furnace problem is the only foul up so far on the unit, and we love the floor plan.  I'm just amazed that after having to take a wall panel and ceiling panel off to change the harness, they were too lazy to put a new fuse in.  Once it's out of warranty, it's never going back. 

If it were going to have other issues, it would have had them by now.  We towed it about 3000 miles last summer....used it frequently. 
 
Based on my experience with RV dealers, I can believe it.  I'm guessing that they were hoping you'd bring it back to be repaired again.  On the other hand, trying to be kinder in my thoughts, maybe they were just moving fuses around as a way of checking them.  Love RVs, but I'm still looking for an honest, competent dealer.  My personal favorite is taking my RV back 9 times for the same problem and having the service manager pretend he didn't know who I was on the 9th trip.  What's worse I told them early on what the problem and they blew me off because I wasn't a mechanic.
 
Dealers fall into 4 groups

Good
average
Bad
And ugly

That one sounds like an Ugly.

A suggestion would be to send a letter detailing your expierences to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

But a even stronger suggestion is that once you get this mess cleaned up.. NEVER AGAIN visit that dealer.
 
SeilerBird said:
After the way the dealership proved they were irresponsible the first time I would never have gone back the second time.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't have either, but it was warranty.  Not having to pay for the repair or take 3 days of my time to do it myself is a strong incentive.  Once it breaks warranty, I can trace an open or shorted circuit as good as anyone.

Joe....Have the inverter, but last couple of months have been hectic.  My mom is 78 and had to have eye surgery.  A lot of my days off have been spent shuttling her to doctor's appointments, follow up, etc.  It's on the short list of things to get done.  I'm also fabbing a bracket to mount a second microwave out there too!  Finish off a wet bar setup, and I may never go back inside.  :)
 
Well....it appears that the Lone Star State has endured its obligitory three weeks of winter and spring launched right around the end of January, at least in the Coastal Bend area.  Things are starting to green up and "New Cow" season appears to be just around the corner.  Hopefully ya'll out west are experiencing the same warm up.  Chances are you'll spend plenty of time this year customizing that outdoor kitchen.  I don't remember if you ever mentioned it but is there a TV out there too??
 
Foto-n-T said:
Well....it appears that the Lone Star State has endured its obligitory three weeks of winter and spring launched right around the end of January, at least in the Coastal Bend area.  Things are starting to green up and "New Cow" season appears to be just around the corner.  Hopefully ya'll out west are experiencing the same warm up.  Chances are you'll spend plenty of time this year customizing that outdoor kitchen.  I don't remember if you ever mentioned it but is there a TV out there too??
Click to expand...

Joe....we're heading out for a little desert camping this weekend.  Still a bit cold in the high country, but low 70's this week up in southern NM.

No TV in the outdoor kitchen.....but about 5' to the right of it is the outdoor TV mount and cable connection.  Grab the TV from inside the RV, slide it into the outdoor mount, and you're in business.  :)
 
Yes, dealerships are that bad, including the place I bought my new (2006) Ford truck and had it serviced. The last time I went there they told me the diesel/water drain plug was frozen, could not be removed, and the whole separator would need to be replaced.  A brass plug living in a diesel fuel environment????????

When I went to their parts department, had them print up a parts blowup, and sat down to look at it before letting them do anything,

Surprise, surprise, they came out and had found they could remove it and drain the separator, even before I got a good look at the blowup.

Never trust them!!!!



 
I was so disgusted with my RV dealer I canceled my extendted warranty plan with them. Nothing but broken promises from my dealer.

After I canceled my warranty they wanted to be my best buddy and do what ever they could to solve the problems...too late.

 
I had a really bad first buying experience.  I'll take some of the blame for being ignorant towards buying an RV.  But some of the hidden problems were quite dangerous like old tires and rotten wood.  I don't care how stupid someone is, to potentially put them in harm for a minor profit?  That can't ever be right.  I started a facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/DeceitfulRvDealershipsInIndiana?skip_nax_wizard=true

The only way the market changes is if the environment is constrained so they have to.  When people start to lose business, they'll either fix their ways or fail at their business.  Get the feedback out there!


 
Having had some issues with the coach we purchased last year (we admit we were not savy buyers) and having gone round & round with the dealer, I did some research and discovered the federal "lemon law" also applies to RV purchases; your state of residence may also have similar laws that apply. Just FYI...I discovered that knowledge is power.

Linda
 
One spring, a few years ago I went to start up my old class B, and couldn't get it to start. It cranked over fine, but would not fire. Four hours later, I finally figured out what the problem was. The previous fall, I had been doing some work and blew the fuse for the water pump. I was out of spares, so I borrowed one from the coach fuse panel. By the time I finished what I was doing, I completely forgot about the fuse.

Do you want to guess why my fuel pump wasn't working.

Joel
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,040 (members: 9, guests: 1,031)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,972
Posts
1,388,447
Members
137,722
Latest member
RoyL57
Back
Top Bottom