Internet Certified Dealer ???

[RedHorse1]

Originally Posted by John LLRV

I guess after my rant, we are all independent. Sales is what drives the RV world, but customer service is what keeps you coming back. We strive for the after the sale experience. I guess that is why I am on the Jayco forums. Just another way to help anyone that needs it, and make our company better.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

John

John, Thanks for your input! You guys should open a shop here in Houston.

[John LLRV]

Heh.. love to. It would get me away from ND/MN this time of year!

[Bassdogs]

X2

BUT Dealers showing preference to "bought here" customers is not unique to RV dealers. Auto dealers, Marine dealers or whatever pretty much all will work in a customer in need while others are added to the queue. I routinely show up at the local GM dealer in the small town I live in for an impromptu oil change and while they are servicing my truck, I listen to the service manager [named Greg] tell callers on the phone that the shop is swamped and the earliest they can get to their problem is 2, 3, or more days down the road. On an other occasion I stopped in mid morning after the wife's truck [not kidding its hers] popped up with a check engine light. Their reaction, "pull it in and we'll read the code". 15 minutes the loose gas cap error had been reset and I was on my way.

My point is a dealer who knows you and who you can call by their first name, will usually help you when they can. That doesn't mean you need to pay thousands more for your RV or car. I gave them the first opportunity to quote a price. They came up thousands short of the middlebury In price. I let them in on my decision and why.

[eldermike]

Relationships are an important component of business. Brand, price, service, relationship. Overlook one of these and you will post many sad stories. An RV is not a big screen TV to be purchased on price and replaced as soon as it becomes obsolete through the advance of technology. Folks will pay for a warrenty but refuse to pay the local dealers price simply shows they don't understand the value of the warranty provided through relationships. I am never satisfied by someone doing what is required by a piece of paper, I expect more.

[OnTheGo]

Originally Posted by eldermike

Relationships are an important component of business. Brand, price, service, relationship. Overlook one of these and you will post many sad stories. An RV is not a big screen TV to be purchased on price and replaced as soon as it becomes obsolete through the advance of technology. Folks will pay for a warrenty but refuse to pay the local dealers price simply shows they don't understand the value of the warranty provided through relationships. I am never satisfied by someone doing what is required by a piece of paper, I expect more.

Those are good thoughts, eldermike, but I think a lot of shoppers just don't get it.

[msturtz]

Originally Posted by OnTheGo

Those are good thoughts, eldermike, but I think a lot of shoppers just don't get it.

While I get this and agree however I believe there are limits. Say back when there were non normalized freight charges. Local dealers on the west cost charged about $5k more than a dealer in Elkhart IN. I consider that to be reasonable. However some local dealers want to charge 10k - 20k more than what the internet dealers charge which is a deal killer. Ultimately, I purchased my Greyhawk at a dealer about 60 miles from my house because: they had a low pressure sales environment, they had the units I wanted, and they offered me a good price.

[Bassdogs]

Originally Posted by msturtz

While I get this and agree however I believe there are limits. Say back when there were non normalized freight charges. Local dealers on the west cost charged about $5k more than a dealer in Elkhart IN. I consider that to be reasonable. However some local dealers want to charge 10k - 20k more than what the internet dealers charge which is a deal killer. Ultimately, I purchased my Greyhawk at a dealer about 60 miles from my house because: they had a low pressure sales environment, they had the units I wanted, and they offered me a good price.

XX2 There is a limit and all too many buyers/dealers just don't get it. In my case the net difference wasn't just a few hundred $$ but rather between $4 and $5k and my closest dealer still couldn't get me exactly what I wanted. He wanted to sell me the unit on his lot and said it was too late to order from the factory. I had made up my mind that I was willing to spend up to $1k more if the dealer got me what I wanted. Instead, it was a lot more and I would have had to settle without several key features like the ET center w/ fireplace and free standing dining set. And I also realized that the 2013 that he was selling me would devalue in just 2 or 3 months when the 2014's came out. I ordered from the online dealer and got my 2014 at thousands less.

Now, what is it that I don't get?? And further more, what is it that the dealer doesn't get?? Both sides of this equation can play the game. We don't have to just give in and pay the $$price$$ to a local dealer who thinks he should be the only game available to us.

What is your limit?? How much extra are you willing to spend in order to get on the "bought here" list with your local dealer?

[clubhouse]

My nearest Jayco Dealer is 45 miles away. Within a 100 miles are three more. When we purchased a really tried to buy from our closest dealer for expected warranty reasons. In fact after visiting the dealership, looking at several TT, we left to think about the purchase. A couple days later they called we agreed upon a price for a " to be ordered" unit since they didn't have everything we wanted in the stock units. Next day I dove up to do the paperwork, pay a deposit and order the unit. Needless to say I was very excited to be buying our first TT. When I got there and met the sales rep all the pricing on the paperwork was different by a few thousand $. Long story short, they claimed to make a mistake in quoting and the new price was the best they could do. I spoke with a few different managers and got no where so I left ... And I'll never go back.

What I then learned was 2 very valuable things in wasn't initially aware of....

1) one of the dealers about 100 miles away sells for considerably less, thousands better than what I initially tried to purchase at.

2) in my town, 5 min from my house, is an independent RV Service, Storage and Store business that does warranty work for Jayco. They aren't a dealer and could care less where you purchase. They do warranty work in hopes of developing you as a customer once the warranty period is over. Although I personally haven't had work done, friends have and they seem to do good work and are willing to deal with Mfg for payment.

At this point, knowing what I know now, my next trailer will come at the lowest price with in a reasonable distance and I'll likely never be back for service.

[Bob Landry]

Originally Posted by Bassdogs

Where do you get your facts? It is my understanding that Jayco dealers must honor warrantees on any and all Jayco products not just the ones that they sold. You may not get priority on their service schedule, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be a Jayco dealer very long if they turned away owners who bought elsewhere.

The RV forums are full of stories bu people who had problems getting warranty service from a non-selling dealer. I don't think any dealer is required to provide warranty on a product they didn't sell.

OTOH, non-warranty is a different matter. Service shops operate on their own P&L, and I don't think any service manager who walks away from money on the table is going to keep his job very long.

[msturtz]

Originally Posted by clubhouse

My nearest Jayco Dealer is 45 miles away. Within a 100 miles are three more. When we purchased a really tried to buy from our closest dealer for expected warranty reasons. In fact after visiting the dealership, looking at several TT, we left to think about the purchase. A couple days later they called we agreed upon a price for a " to be ordered" unit since they didn't have everything we wanted in the stock units. Next day I dove up to do the paperwork, pay a deposit and order the unit. Needless to say I was very excited to be buying our first TT. When I got there and met the sales rep all the pricing on the paperwork was different by a few thousand $. Long story short, they claimed to make a mistake in quoting and the new price was the best they could do. I spoke with a few different managers and got no where so I left ... And I'll never go back.

What I then learned was 2 very valuable things in wasn't initially aware of....

1) one of the dealers about 100 miles away sells for considerably less, thousands better than what I initially tried to purchase at.


2) in my town, 5 min from my house, is an independent RV Service, Storage and Store business that does warranty work for Jayco. They aren't a dealer and could care less where you purchase. They do warranty work in hopes of developing you as a customer once the warranty period is over. Although I personally haven't had work done, friends have and they seem to do good work and are willing to deal with Mfg for payment.

At this point, knowing what I know now, my next trailer will come at the lowest price with in a reasonable distance and I'll likely never be back for service.

Fortunatly for me I had everything in writing before I arrived to the dealer that was 60 miles away. We. Did this mostly over email. When I showed up everything was as agreed. We ran into some hiccups but they ethically and quickly resolved them. The local dealer didn't have what I wanted in stock and never ordered the units that way. I wanted leveling jacks, J-Ride, heatpump, and in motion satellite. I also asked for some custom stuff like sub-frame beef up, 7,500# hitch and spare tire and mount.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by billb800si

===========================

If a dealer told me that he would never get my business. That's the height of arrogance.
You either service me or I go elsewhere.

I actually had two dealers tell me that. As some of the other posts suggest, it's not as much about arrogance or bad service as it is about a relationship. I now have a relationship with my dealer, I know the owner by name and he knows me. He's likely going to reward my loyalty by giving me "special treatment". (I use quotes because it's not really that special, he just wants me to think it is, and it feels like I'm special even though deep down, I know I'm not) It's not that he's not going to service your trailer, but all things being equal, he's going to work on mine first because he knows me.

That being said, my dealer will likely do everything in his power to service everyone as fast as possible, especially people who have problems out on the road because he knows the value of a reputation.

To bring it back to the OP's original discussion; I'm all for doing as much as I can do on the internet, but there's something to be said for talking to a person and shaking his or her hand while interacting face-to-face. It's interesting to see how dealers are overcoming the difficulties of doing business in an electronic economy.

[troutslayer]

It's kinda interesting that all of the posts here get back to service. That is, mechanical service after the purchase. No one has talked about one of the reasons we go through the internet to purchase...its to avoid the sales person. I have purchased two RVs in my lifetime and talked to countless RV salespeople and have yet to talk to one who knows his (or her) product. So, for me, the salesperson is an unnecessary expense and the internet is one way around that expense. Or at least the internet "experience" makes me think it is a way around that expense. In any event, I don't have to interact with that person

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by troutslayer

I have purchased two RVs in my lifetime and talked to countless RV salespeople and have yet to talk to one who knows his (or her) product.

I had this experience, and I find this to be profoundly disappointing. I talked to several salespeople when we were buying our unit, and none of them knew nearly as much about the trailers I was looking at as I did. In fact, I had to correct some of them on specifications and capacities they were just flat out wrong about.

I talked to my dad about this very issue last weekend. I said "I know salespeople have potentially hundreds of models they're supposed to know about from several different manufacturers, so I guess I can cut them some slack." His response: "Tax law is complicated too isn't it? But you're a CPA and you're supposed to know accounting and tax law? The RV industry is complicated too, but it's their business to know, and it's not unreasonable to expect them to know their business." And he is absolutely right.

Luckily I knew which trailer I wanted already and had little or no use for the salesperson I ended up buying from. I had even negotiated a price with the owner over email before I ever even met my "salesperson".

[poohbear]

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

My original question wasn't about warranty work but just a question about what Jayco means by "Internet Certified Dealer" and what makes me want to buy from them over a "non-Certified".

In my ac business for example,if I agree tp pay a certain manufacturer $2000 a year & attend all kinds of "sales classes" I can use the term "CFAD" x-brand Factory Authiroized Dealer in my advertising.I dont and have been selling a certain brand since 1984.Maybe the trend of making dealers "pay" for marketing thier product has reached the RV business.
Myself,I shop prices but when it comes to buying I want the business close enough that I can find where they live.

[clubhouse]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

I talked to my dad about this very issue last weekend. I said "I know salespeople have potentially hundreds of models they're supposed to know about from several different manufacturers, so I guess I can cut them some slack." His response: "Tax law is complicated too isn't it? But you're a CPA and you're supposed to know accounting and tax law? The RV industry is complicated too, but it's their business to know, and it's not unreasonable to expect them to know their business." And he is absolutely right.

I agree with you, however comparing a CPA to a RV Salesman is a bit extreme. Now I'm sure if RV Salesman earn what a CPA earns then they would make sure they knew everything we expect them too.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by clubhouse

I agree with you, however comparing a CPA to a RV Salesman is a bit extreme. Now I'm sure if RV Salesman earn what a CPA earns then they would make sure they knew everything we expect them too.

Right?!

[troutslayer]

Originally Posted by clubhouse

I agree with you, however comparing a CPA to a RV Salesman is a bit extreme. Now I'm sure if RV Salesman earn what a CPA earns then they would make sure they knew everything we expect them too.

Hate to disagree with you but I know plenty of salespeople who make a lot more than the average CPA. Education does not always compare equally with income, especially when it comes to sales.

[poohbear]

Originally Posted by clubhouse

Now I'm sure if RV Salesman earn what a CPA earns then they would make sure they knew everything we expect them too.

about 20 years ago I knew the figures so here goes,something like 80% of incomes over 50K(at that time) were made in sales.I had a nieghbor back in 1980 that sold appliances at Sears in Dallas at Town East Mall and he made 6 figures then.what my CPA charges I know he is "comfortable"

[clubhouse]

Originally Posted by troutslayer

Hate to disagree with you but I know plenty of salespeople who make a lot more than the average CPA. Education does not always compare equally with income, especially when it comes to sales.

Yes sales reps can be very highly compensated, I agree. I manage a team of 10 of them, each are well paid even by California standards -- however the average RV sales rep isn't cut from the same cloth as my team. You all quickly went to generic sales reps, I specifically said RV Sales Reps. If you know "plenty of salespeople" then this shouldn't be news to you.

[Crabman]

INTERNET CERTIFIED JAYCO DEALER

Jayco and your Internet Certified Jayco dealer are dedicated to making your online shopping experience both satisfying and useful. You can expect quick, friendly answers to your questions and a timely response to your requests for a Quote. As part of being an Internet Certified Jayco Dealer, a dealer must be approved by Jayco as:

A professional and ethical Internet consultant
An expert in product knowledge to meet your online expectations
Friendly and flexible with its sales process to help meet your needs
Able to respond via e-mail to your inquiry within 24 hours
Willing to abide by Jayco’s online sales policies and guidelines