Dealers should do a better job

**Dave&Ginny** · 07-28-2013, 10:52 PM

While camping in TN last night, we ran into another Redwood. These folks were very friendly and we had quite a conversation about their "BR". I encouraged them to join the forum.

The problem was, they've had their unit for over a year and they didn't know they had a safe and were very surprised when I showed it to them. I spent some time showing them some of the stuff around their RV that the dealer should have done. It's a shame the dealer hadn't done a better job.

Edited by: Dave&Ginny

Dan · 07-28-2013, 11:00 PM

Its all about the money not the time it takes to do a proper job

atom ant · 07-28-2013, 11:15 PM

Come to think of it, I don't think they showed us the safe either. Sometimes I think between the vague manual and the limited time with the walkthrough, us new RV owners are really on our own to figure most of this out.

johnboytoo · 07-28-2013, 11:32 PM

If they can make the sale without investing any more time than necessary, more power to them - maybe the dealer ASSumed the new owners had done as much research as some of us

pipeliner798 · 07-28-2013, 11:35 PM

Where is the safe located?

johnboytoo · 07-28-2013, 11:38 PM

center of the 'diva's' closet floor on the 38gk small rectangle carpet pulls up...

pipeliner798 · 07-28-2013, 11:43 PM

Thank you!

Oriana · 07-29-2013, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave&Ginny

While camping in TN last night, we ran into another Redwood.Â* These folks were very friendly and we had quite a conversation about their "BR".Â* I encouraged them to join the forum.

The problem was,Â* they've had their unit for over a year and they didn't know they had a safe and were very surprised when I showed it to them.Â* I spent some time showing them some of the stuff around their RV that the dealer should have done.Â* It's a shame the dealer hadn't done a better job.

Our dealer certainly tried to give us a thorough familiarisation during the walk through, but we were their first RW sale and they had a fairly limited knowledge of the specific systems. Regardless, the technician spent about 4 hrs on the first day and another few hours on day 2. A good example being that it took about an hour to find the antenna booster button. It was basically a learning experience for both parties.

This is one area where RW could help. When they pick up a new dealer they should familiarise the dealer staff conducting the walk through.

SW1117 · 07-31-2013, 09:24 PM

Wish I could say our PDI was a good experience, but it was really bad. We had some young man that really wasn't ready to do this type of walk thru. He did show us the safe, but I already knew about the safe from the salesman.

We had lots of issues that could have been avoided by being more knowledgeable. That played a huge part in our disappointment. This young man didn't hook up our batteries correctly and we would not have even know this if we hadn't moved the trailer over a little bit with another Redwood owner. Couldn't get the leveling system to work and the person doing the move said we shouldn't need to be plugged into the power to make it work. It should work off batteries. Being our first rv, we had no idea.

All fixed now and everything else that needs fixing can wait for a while.

Only big issue for us was a roof leak. We had buckets of water during a rain storm. Turned out that when they put on the ac, they drilled holes and I supposed decided that wasn't the right place. Drilled more holes and never filled in the other holes. The water came straight thru those holes into the kitchen. And lots of water. Hope we will not have issues later with any kind of mold.

I would love to see Redwood do a little better job with Quality Control. It is such and amazing coach and they seem to do a lousy job with QC. Too bad. They were amazing with response and really cared about what was happening. But some of our issues should never have left the factory.

mhs4771 · 08-01-2013, 09:44 AM

I think I would be letting RW know that maybe they should be looking for a different Dealer in your area. There is no excuse for those types of screw-ups.

Grandpa · 08-01-2013, 09:59 AM

Here's my 2 cents worth... When we ordered our 2012 36RL we paid extra to have the full unit wired for DirecTV. When we experienced the pre delivery tour, the tech (12 years old) couldn't get the satellite system to work so he bypassed the existing wiring and added a single feed to the living room TV. It worked until we decided to add a sat box to the bedroom and the TV downstairs in Dads Toolbox. Now we have to trouble shoot the wiring to find the correct connections to get the signal to the entire unit which we paid extra for. Very frustrating! The bottom line is that we will never deal with that dealership again.

RifRaff · 08-01-2013, 10:38 AM

As I mentioned before in another chat, the DEALER KNOWS the unit, most of us are not EXPERTS on RV's. the RV dealer needs to have a RV CHECKLIST. AS buyers we don't know all about RV. We need a walk thru checklist that covers the major operations of the RV not just the GLITZ.

mhs4771 · 08-01-2013, 11:01 AM

Herb (RifRaff) I have to disagree with you. When we were looking we never found any Dealership who had very knowledgeable people, for the most part we knew more about RVs than their Senior Techs, now I well admit we've been doing this since the early 70's. Now there are some good ones out there, but they seem to be far and few between. The Lazy Days Tech who did our walk-thru pointed out the two battery boxes and said one was for the RW and the other to start the Genny, didn't have the heart to tell him he was wrong, there were two boxes, but only one generic no name battery.

almcc · 08-01-2013, 12:16 PM

We are fortunate in that our dealer actually RV'd in a 5th wheel for a number of years before starting up the dealership, he knows RV's and that showed in the PDI walk through. His GM showed me how to run the hydraulics with a hand tool in case of a motor failure and he also let me know the routine on how to fix an imbalance problem on the bedroom slide (if one side isn't completely closed when the other side is). I don't think that procedure can be found easily in the documentation!

subdoc4 · 08-01-2013, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by almcc

We are fortunate in that our dealer actually RV'd in a 5th wheel for a number of years before starting up the dealership, he knows RV's and that showed in the PDI walk through. His GM showed me how to run the hydraulics with a hand tool in case of a motor failure and he also let me know the routine on how to fix an imbalance problem on the bedroom slide (if one side isn't completely closed when the other side is). I don't think that procedure can be found easily in the documentation!

Wow! Thats the kind of walk through I with I had.

rcflame · 08-01-2013, 03:30 PM

Rv dealers are just like car dealers, furniture stores, repair shops, and many other businesses. There are some that want a satisfied repeat customer and work towards that goal, and many that want to get your money and get you out the door. It seems that the first group stays in business for a long and gets good word of mouth recommendations where many in the second group doesn't get repeat custermers, has a bad rep, and has trouble staying in business. We just need to find businesses in the first group.

RifRaff · 08-01-2013, 04:19 PM

List the 1's U are pleased with the most.

formulabill · 08-01-2013, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SW1117

Wish I could say our PDI was a good experience, but it was really bad. We had some young man that really wasn't ready to do this type of walk thru. He did show us the safe, but I already knew about the safe from the salesman.

We had lots of issues that could have been avoided by being more knowledgeable.Â* That played a huge part in our disappointment.Â* This young man didn't hook up our batteries correctly and we would not have even know this if we hadn't moved the trailer over a little bit with another Redwood owner.Â* Couldn't get the leveling system to work and the person doing the move said we shouldn't need to be plugged into the power to make it work.Â* It should work off batteries. Being our first rv, we had no idea.

All fixed now and everything else that needs fixing can wait for a while.

Only big issue for us was a roof leak. We had buckets of water during a rain storm.Â* Turned out that when they put on the ac, they drilled holes and I supposed decided that wasn't the right place.Â* Drilled more holes and never filled in the other holes.Â* The water came straight thru those holes into the kitchen.Â* And lots of water.Â* Hope we will not have issues later with any kind of mold.

I would love to see Redwood do a little better job with Quality Control.Â* It is such and amazing coach and they seem to do a lousy job with QC.Â* Too bad.Â* They were amazing with response and really cared about what was happening.Â* But some of our issues should never have left the factory.

Does the coach need to be plugged in for the leveling system to work? I just purchased a 36rl and have not picked it up yet. Having a few options installed. Also how does the electric to gas water heater work? My old unit turned the electric on at the heater and the gas inside the unit.

Thanks for any advice.

atom ant · 08-01-2013, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rcflame

Rv dealers are just like car dealers, furniture stores, repair shops, and many other businesses. There are some that want a satisfied repeat customer and work towards that goal, and many that want to get your money and get you out the door. It seems that the first group stays in business for a long and gets good word of mouth recommendations where many in the second group doesn't get repeat custermers, has a bad rep, and has trouble staying in business. We just need to find businesses in the first group.

I don't necessarily see it that way at all. The worst of the worst Dealers I have ever been to are still in business and doing well. I actually don't think there is a big return business on RVs. I've had several, but never from the same Dealer and very few were even the same brand.

Oriana · 08-01-2013, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by formulabill

Does the coach need to be plugged in for the leveling system to work? I just purchased a 36rl and have not picked it up yet. Having a few options installed. Also how does the electric to gas water heater work? My old unit turned the electric on at the heater and the gas inside the unit.

Thanks for any advice.

The coach doesn't need to be on shore power for the levelling system to operate, but your batteries need to have a good charge. You can also plug into the truck.

On the 36FL the water heater switches are on the inside control panel. The electric is labelled accordingly and the propane is "DSI".

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