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Old 02-15-2018, 01:01 PM   #1
kinggartk
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The right dealer is key

I'm convinced that finding the right dealer is the #1 key factor when purchasing your RV.

I've read horror stories about service after purchase of a new RV.

I want to rave about the experience we have had with our dealer. Now we just made our purchase about a month or so ago...so things could change, but right now I couldn't be happier.

When we picked out our RV...we asked the dealer to hold it for 2 weeks while we rounded up the money. They asked for a CC for a $250 deposit, but they never actually charged the card. That set the experience off on the a good note, and it only got better.

We went back to the dealer a couple of times during that 2 week period just to look at the camper again. During those visits, we found a couple of minor issues that we wanted to have fixed before we took delivery. I sent them an email about a week before we actually made the purchase about those issues. I never heard back regarding those, so I figured I would have to bring it up again later on.

Fast forward to the day before pick up, I called them to confirm our appointment and they told me they were fixing those issues as we spoke....I didn't even have to bring it up again. They brought it up for me.

Day of pickup...we spent about 3 hours on walk-thru and inspection. They were very patient and fixed a couple more minor issues we found right there on the spot. They even gave us 4 of their logo t-shirts even though we were willing to pay for them. They installed my hitch and vent covers while we were doing the walk thru.

Fast forward 2 more week...we have the RV in storage and we notice a small leak under the kitchen sink. Camper is winterized and we have yet to run any water in it, so we were puzzled where it was coming from. I called them on Monday and they schedule us to come in on the Following Saturday. I expected to have to leave the RV there and pick it up days later...but no...they didn't even unhook from my TV. They started working as soon as I arrived.

While working, they found the water pump was bad. They changed it out on the spot. I was in and out in about 90 minutes. Service manager said he wasn't sure if Keystone would pay for the water pump, but he would not charge us for it regardless of what Keystone would do.

One last 2nd hand story I heard about them. They had a customer that had them install a new roof on their 5th wheel. Customer leaves day after work was done for Texas (We're in NC). After arriving in Texas, they found a roof leak. Dealer attempted to find someone in Texas who could go and repair it for them, but found no one. Dealer flew one of their own technicians to Texas to perform the repair for them the very next day. All of this was done at no charge to the customer.

This dealer gets great reviews on Google, Yelp and other review sites.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to mention their name on here...but the dealer can make the whole difference in the overall experience.
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Old 02-15-2018, 01:06 PM   #2
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Yes you can mention the dealer if you want. Having the right dealer is also important as an employee.
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Old 02-15-2018, 04:18 PM   #3
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Thanks, that is a great post. Although I'm sure there are dealers that go above and beyond every day for their customers the bad ones always seem to get the press. You also illustrate WHY it is so important to get a good dealer that stands behind what THEY sell, not push it off on someone else. And yes, you can tell who they are; good dealers should be acknowledged so the rest of us know who they are.
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Old 02-15-2018, 04:46 PM   #4
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Please tell us. Glad you found a great dealer.


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Old 02-15-2018, 06:25 PM   #5
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I live right near Raleigh, would love to hear who you found...
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Old 02-15-2018, 08:44 PM   #6
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Interesting....
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Old 02-16-2018, 04:39 AM   #7
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The Dealer is Shaw RV in Youngsville NC. About 20 miles north of Raleigh.

They seem to sell Keystone products exclusively, Primarily: Bullet, Springdale and Sprinter.
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Old 02-16-2018, 05:24 PM   #8
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Ok, thanks! I have driven by them (incuding while towing the Premier) and seen several Keystone products but have never stopped in there.
Thanks!
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Old 04-24-2018, 04:05 AM   #9
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I want to follow up and give additional props to my local Keystone dealer. Shaw RV of Youngsville NC is "Top Shelf" vintage.

We took our for our first trip this past weekend. Right off the bat we found a problem. Water pump would not not fully charge the lines. It would gurgle and spit but never create a flow of water. Fortunately, we were able to operate off city water...but I was still a bit frustrated.

After we broke camp on Monday, I called the dealer on the way home. They told me to bring it over (Right then) and they would take a look. So, we went straight over, and pull into their service lot. They came out immediately, opened the panel to the water pump and saw the problem promptly (Something was not connected...not sure what it was) and fixed it. Not only did they fix it....they dried up a little water from that area (That was there because I overfilled then Fresh Tank). All of this in less than 10 minutes.

No charges...No Fuss...No questions asked. Additional proof that finding the right dealer is key to the positive RV purchase experience.

If you live near Raleigh NC and are considering a new RV....visit Shaw RV before you finalize your decision. You won't regret it.
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Old 04-24-2018, 05:19 AM   #10
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We recently traded in our TT for a fifth wheel. Of course the 5er that we wanted was at a different dealer than our TT.
We were very,very happy with service from the TT dealer. From PDI to warranty work they were great.
With this new purchase I feel like a traded athlete,taking allegiance from one team to another.
I am now in a different box (for service) and must learn to navigate through a new dealers service department. Their reviews are not outstanding,but a majority of complaints were answered and resolved.
A couple of things that have worked in the past is praise and presents. Meaning I always try to get to my rig around the shop area to shake the hands of those that have worked on it and thank the service manager. Let them know you appreciate their work. They usually have a tip about something they worked on or noticed. And a few certificates from a local sandwich shop ect. can go along way if you return. Not a real expensive investment. I realize employee turnover is high in the industry, but managers tend to stay around much longer.
Yes there are a lot of nuts,bolts,materials,specs and fittings ect... involved in the equation,but you can't forget that there are people involved as well.
Yes the right dealer is key. The right relationship with that dealer just as important.
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Old 04-24-2018, 06:38 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by kinggartk View Post
The Dealer is Shaw RV in Youngsville NC. About 20 miles north of Raleigh.

They seem to sell Keystone products exclusively, Primarily: Bullet, Springdale and Sprinter.
I'm glad y'all started this tread as I will share the story of our purchase. We were first time buyers looking for a travel trailer. We walked around CW in Raleigh for almost 2 hours one weekend and not once did anyone ever attempt to assist us or ask us if we would like to see anything. Several salesmen drove right passed us but didn't bother acknowledging us. I had already done my homework and was pretty sure we wanted the Passport 2920BH but really just wanted to see it and hear the "sales pitch". So after being ignored we left the dealership that day with no contact, a couple of weeks later my wife called the dealership to inquire about the trailer they had on the lot. The salesman was very smug and arrogant over the phone and actually made the comment to my wife that she just needed to get her husband and come down to the dealership. (If you didn't already guess this is the absolute worst thing he could have possibly said to her).

We then called a dealership in Richmond that had the same camper, turns out they were a very large dealer that had just been acquired by CW (we should have run the other way!!!). We called and talked the sales team and were blown away by how great they were to work with. So we basically bought the camper over the phone with the understanding if we got there and there was something crazy wrong with the unit we would back out. The sales part was pretty smooth and we went away happy.

There were 2 or 3 minor things that needed to be fixed under warranty that they could not do that day due to the need to order parts. The sales team came up with the great idea that they would schedule the repairs with the CW in Raleigh and would take care of everything for us. That was great until we drove off the lot, then I could not get anyone from the dealership to answer my calls or call me back. Finally after about two weeks of calling one of the receptionist called me back and told me to just call the CW in Raleigh and schedule it myself.

I called CW Raleigh and was told it would be 3 months before I could drop my TT off, it would then take 2 weeks for the mechanic to physically go out and look at it and another 2-3 weeks for them to get parts in and make the repairs. These were very basic repairs, relocate a fire extinguisher that was mounted in the path of the bedroom door, fix several blinds that were mounted incorrectly, and replace a warped access cover.

After this my patience with CW had run out. I called Shaw RV to see if they could do the warranty work. They had me bring the unit in the next week and had everything approved by Keystone and fixed the next week. Their staff was extremely professional and helpful. I received several phone calls letting me know the status of the repairs, and walked away very impressed with the company.

Needless to say I will NEVER buy anything from CW again, and will likely make our next purchase from Shaw.
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Old 04-24-2018, 09:19 AM   #12
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I'm glad y'all started this tread as I will share the story of our purchase. We were first time buyers looking for a travel trailer. We walked around CW in Raleigh for almost 2 hours one weekend and not once did anyone ever attempt to assist us or ask us if we would like to see anything. Several salesmen drove right passed us but didn't bother acknowledging us. I had already done my homework and was pretty sure we wanted the Passport 2920BH but really just wanted to see it and hear the "sales pitch". So after being ignored we left the dealership that day with no contact, a couple of weeks later my wife called the dealership to inquire about the trailer they had on the lot. The salesman was very smug and arrogant over the phone and actually made the comment to my wife that she just needed to get her husband and come down to the dealership. (If you didn't already guess this is the absolute worst thing he could have possibly said to her).

We then called a dealership in Richmond that had the same camper, turns out they were a very large dealer that had just been acquired by CW (we should have run the other way!!!). We called and talked the sales team and were blown away by how great they were to work with. So we basically bought the camper over the phone with the understanding if we got there and there was something crazy wrong with the unit we would back out. The sales part was pretty smooth and we went away happy.

There were 2 or 3 minor things that needed to be fixed under warranty that they could not do that day due to the need to order parts. The sales team came up with the great idea that they would schedule the repairs with the CW in Raleigh and would take care of everything for us. That was great until we drove off the lot, then I could not get anyone from the dealership to answer my calls or call me back. Finally after about two weeks of calling one of the receptionist called me back and told me to just call the CW in Raleigh and schedule it myself.

I called CW Raleigh and was told it would be 3 months before I could drop my TT off, it would then take 2 weeks for the mechanic to physically go out and look at it and another 2-3 weeks for them to get parts in and make the repairs. These were very basic repairs, relocate a fire extinguisher that was mounted in the path of the bedroom door, fix several blinds that were mounted incorrectly, and replace a warped access cover.

After this my patience with CW had run out. I called Shaw RV to see if they could do the warranty work. They had me bring the unit in the next week and had everything approved by Keystone and fixed the next week. Their staff was extremely professional and helpful. I received several phone calls letting me know the status of the repairs, and walked away very impressed with the company.

Needless to say I will NEVER buy anything from CW again, and will likely make our next purchase from Shaw.

A couple of thoughts on your experiences;

My CW does not generally come out and run me down if I'm looking at trailers, and that's the way I want it. I've told them that in the past. If I need assistance from a sales person, I go ask and they are johnny on the spot. As I told them on my initial visit years ago; I know what I'm looking for, I want to view the trailers without a salesman chirping at me every 10 seconds telling me all kinds of stuff I don't want to know and asking questions that irritate me. To me, on this point they were doing the right thing. They figured if you needed help you would ask....you didn't.

The rest of the experiences sound to me like a combination of a dealership(s) in disarray due to a buyout, a lack of ownership by a dealer and not taking all the necessary steps while dealing with a dealer or dealers. Some of the issues are going to be the dealer but the buyer has to take responsibility as well.

My dealership was a private company that had just been acquired by CW when I bought my existing trailer. It WAS chaos because the changes for the dealership are dramatic. It required a LOT of my time and attention to get things done right and guide them where I wanted them to be. Today I couldn't be happier and get superior service. I was in there about 3 days ago. CW had purchased another large dealership that was next door to the existing CW. I was unaware of the purchase but knew something was up when I tried to pull my trailer in for service and saw so much disruption. I sat down and visited with them for over an hour about the changes and their challenges; and there are a lot of them. With all that going on, new units and units in for repair backed up a mile etc. due to the huge increases in sales and the subsequent repairs required, including the PDI's for all the new trailers, it is easy for a person to get lost in the melee if they don't try to take care of themselves.

I'm not a spokesman for CW and I had some issues with them initially. Now, that's not the case but it took a LOT of my time and attention to get us all on the same page - and I've had good luck at every CW I've been to. Just trying to point out there are two sides to every situation and we have to be aware and take that into consideration. That's not to say, as we've seen from many posts on this forum and others, that there aren't bad dealers out there - we just need to do everything we can as potential customers to identify that problem before we step into the "snare". YMMV
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Old 04-24-2018, 10:34 AM   #13
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When we bought out trailer in September we had spent several Saturdays looking at them in 5 different area dealerships. We had 2-3 favorites as far as features then narrowed it down to the Springdale 202QBWE. We would have bought it from one dealer in Puyallup, WA but the sales person did not follow through on my request for more information, as he had promised, so we found another dealer with the same trailer. This one, Tacoma RV in Fife, WA had a 2017 left in stock and had discounted it with the 2018s coming out so we got a really good deal. There was no pressure, all employees that we worked with were pleasant and helpful, especially Marcus, who did the very thorough walk-thru and answered all of our questions.
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Old 04-24-2018, 12:16 PM   #14
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Well I have to admit that my dealer, Walnut Ridge Family RV in New Castle IN has been good as gold to me. Have an appointment on the 9th the get RV in and said I could wait while they are working on it and take it back home when their done, one day turnaround!
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Old 04-25-2018, 05:29 AM   #15
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I don't buy new so never have a warranty, but when we bought our last unit our dealer offered a free 30 day warranty and they were GREAT about honoring it. Fixed a whole page of knick knacks I had after our first trip from slide adjustments, to non working outlets. It was also December though so....
On a different note, for people needing warranty work, especially those needing parts, why not contact service manager and get him the info he needs to get approval(I am assuming a well typed email and attached photos would do the trick). Then after approval and parts arrive bring in your trailer. Don't know how RV industry works but at our boat shop we try to NOT to just have people swing in and drop their boat for warranty work unless it's an issue that makes the boat unusable.
Then customer gets to use their toy while all the bureaucracy is handled, and when all tge ducks are in a row (warranty approved from manufacturer and parts in hand) they come back for a scheduled appointment.
Regardless, it seems like lots have this story of dropping off and having their rig sit on the lot for weeks. Seems like there has to be some kind of workaround to this.
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Old 04-25-2018, 05:34 AM   #16
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Purchased my cougar321rli,on oct.20th 2017,by independent dealer,two weeks
After .ca purchased dealership,not at all impressed with service,few small issues,no return calls
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Old 04-25-2018, 05:47 AM   #17
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To piggyback on Freeheel4life's comments, our dealership (we bought almost 5 years ago) has a "long standing policy" that entails two trips to the dealership for extensive work and one trip for "quick repairs". If, when an owner calls with a problem, the service department can determine the extent of repair time and repair parts requisition, they will make an appointment to "verify the problem" and suggest the owner "wait around while we work the problem"... Then, if parts are needed, authorization is required or (for some other reason) the work will be delayed, things are "buttoned up" and the owner is told that they will call with another appointment once the "paperwork and parts are completed". The owner has his trailer to use while things are coordinated.

My trailer is "long past warranty" and I haven't been to the dealership for any service work since 2014, but I'm in and out for parts or just for a cup of coffee on a regular basis. The dealership waiting room almost always has one or two people sitting around, "waiting for them to check out my trailer"....

Seems to me that policy does more than just keep owners in their trailer, it helps prevent a "parking lot full of trailers that the dealer has to move to get to the one scheduled for today." I suppose there'll always be the one "disgruntled owner" who complains, "I had to drag my trailer 20 miles and they didn't do anything but look at it and sent me home." but isn't that the objective ??? (keep an owner using his trailer rather than having it sit for weeks/months: just waiting) ???
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Old 04-25-2018, 06:29 AM   #18
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I posted a thread last season about my trailer going into our dealer for some warranty work. The service manager called me that afternoon to tell me that he noticed the front cap was delaminating near the top, he said it was minor but he wanted to address it before it got bad or the 1 year warranty expired. He took the initiative to file the claim with Keystone get the approval and ordered a new front cap. He then took photos of the frame underneath the he stated was not level and likely caused the delamination and proceeded to level everything out and put the new cap on before it went into storage for the winter. Service manager always calls me back within two hours and has yet to say I cant help you with that or you have to wait until end of season. Kudos to CanAm RV Headingley MB.
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Old 04-25-2018, 04:26 PM   #19
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Dealer does make a difference

I can't ever say I've had a bad experience with a dealer. My DW and I even had positive experience with CW, and the salesman - funny part of that was all the regular salespeople were tied up, and we got to work with the finance person. We often wonder if he didn't know all the hard sell tricks?

I'm surprised more by the people who search for the absolute best deal, a thousand miles from their home, and then wonder why no local RV dealership will work on their RV.

Our dealer is 100 miles from our home, which is fairly far, but they have the Cougar models we've liked and purchased. When we had a problem with our first Cougar, they even assisted by getting a closer service center, one of their affiliate dealers, to fix the problem. Recognizing a good dealer helps everyone!
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Old 05-17-2018, 12:13 PM   #20
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Well I have to admit that my dealer, Walnut Ridge Family RV in New Castle IN has been good as gold to me. Have an appointment on the 9th the get RV in and said I could wait while they are working on it and take it back home when their done, one day turnaround!
They held true to their word, I got there about 9am and was heading back home by 12:30. Replaced the transfer switch because of not charging the batteries and not having 110v inside the coach.
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