Is this a normal RV buying experience? (Caution lengthy rant)

[LVChris]

My experience with Blue Dog RV in Las Vegas, NV

My wife and I had been looking for months for the perfect RV for our family. On April 26th, 2018 we walked into Blue Dog RV in Las Vegas, NV and met CJ. He was very nice and set out to find us a trailer that met our needs and budget. We looked at several that didn’t quite fit and then CJ said “let’s see what we have in the back” he drove us back to a 2016 Jayco X213 and after going through it we were hooked. We looked at several more over the next 2 weeks and decided this was the right one for us we went in and looked at it one last time. As we did not need financing we made an offer and CJ countered the next morning on the telephone. We came back with another offer the next day and CJ told us, “Sorry, that coach was sold, last night.” Back to looking. The next day CJ called and said he had great news, the financing from the other buyers had fallen through and if we were still interested he would sell it to us for the price they were asking. I drove to the dealership and put money down and signed all of the paperwork on Friday May 4th, 2018.

I was contacted by Blue Dog RV on May 7th , 2018 to schedule my walkthrough/purchase. We scheduled for May 16th, 2018 at 9:00AM. I checked in with CJ via Text MSG on May 11th, 2018 and asked for the status. I was told everything was good with the coach and he would talk to Service the next day. On Monday May 14th, 2018 I stopped to take a measurement and show a friend the trailer, it was in service and we had to get escorted to see it.

On May 16th, 2018 I walked into Blue Dog RV at 9:10AM with my wife and my 77 year old father to pick up my coach. It was not in the showroom and we were 10 minutes late, so I knew something was wrong. When we asked the receptionist she went to check. CJ was there chatting with his manager, so I asked him where my trailer is? He went to check and came back with to explain that due to some military paperwork being dated incorrectly they had not yet received the title and that we would not be taking the trailer home today. I asked when, and they could not answer.

So here is my problem.
-Blue Dog RV had nearly two full weeks to fix this problem. They did nothing.
-Blue Dog RV had nearly two full weeks to let me know there was a problem, and not ONE employee reached out to me to tell me there was a problem.
-I inquired multiple times about the status and I was told everything was fine.
-Blue Dog RV sold me a trailer that they obviously could not legally sell AND told me they sold it to someone else only to later say the financing fell through.
-I inquired multiple times and no one at Blue Dog RV stated there was any issue.
-I did everything I was asked, and took time off work to pick up my trailer. I made plans for the weekend with the expectation that I had nothing to worry about.

After several days I contacted Blue Dog RV corporate office and then got a call from Brian to schedule our walkthrough. This was the first contact I had had with them since the missed delivery date.

We start to do our walkthrough and we notice immediately that our LED lights are hanging off the side of the coach. They assure us that it will be taken care of before we leave. As we start the walkthrough we notice a foul smell coming from the coach? They check and realize that the black and grey tanks are both 1/3 full they turn on the vent in the bathroom and shuts the door. We continue the walkthrough. There is water coming out of the outside shower..someone left it turned on this makes me think that the freshwater tank perhaps has not been emptied or sanitized? This coach is being purchased and no one emptied the tanks???

We run into CJ (the first time we have seen him today) he asks if we need anything and seems to ignore the fact that they missed our delivery date. No apologies, and no mention of the promise to “compensate” us for the mistake of the missing title problem and never telling us and causing this delay. (Something they had previously offered) We didn’t ask, they offered.

They show us the repairs he promised are done and they tow the coach to the parking lot to be “dumped” they dump the black and grey tanks as I watch the brown fluid pour from my new investment I feel ill wondering how long that had sat in that tank.

My advice, never ever buy anything from Blue Dog RV it was the most miserable buying experience of my life and as a customer they have done absolutely nothing to make me feel valued. If I could have found this coach ANYWHERE else I would have bought it elsewhere. I've owned the rig two weeks and have not received any follow-up from them at all.

We have posted this as a public review on several sites including their own Face Book page as well as filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

Rant over...

[stateboy]

That sounds pretty ugly. We, too, bought a 2016 (X254) this past Feb but it was new left over. We didn't encounter any of that hassle and bought it sight unseen based on the floor plan we saw online. We've gone on one trip (another one planned this Friday) and no disappointments so far. The dealer was 2+ hours away. What a terrible experience for you. Will the BBB be able to help you financially or will it just help put others on alert?

[LVChris]

Not sure what the BBB will do yet, I gave the dealership some time to correct the situation, so I just posted to the bbb this week. I just want to get the word out. I mean all of this could have happened and they could have taken care of it and I would have had nothing bad to say, but they just have the worst communication. It's crazy too because every time I went to their website I got an email asking if I needed any help. Pre-sales they go crazy...but after you pay them they forget who you are.

[Tdbrwn]

I wish I could say I haven't seen stories such as yours, but I have seen way more than there should be from many dealers. Some people have great experiences some don't at many, many places.
Our 2015 Forrest River was bought at our area Blue Dog. There used to be the one and now there are four dealerships in the area with only one service center. While we didn't have problems with the PDI and walk through or anything like that, our problem was when we were at the 'friendly' finance person's office. We had set everything up to the way we wanted for interest rate, payments, everything.
All was fine until the finance person made a "mistake" in the form we were signing. "Oops, I'll have to reprint this form, OK?"
Paperwork reprinted we were all happy.....until we get the trailer and everything home and are going over the paperwork and find that in the reprinting everything is now wrong, the interest rate was now wrong the payments out to ten years when we wanted six. Accident or on purpose? We'll never know but we made sure to go over all paperwork twice when we traded in the Forrest River last July for our Jayco 5th wheel, which we bought at a Camping World, and there are lots of people that really hate Camping World but that purchase turned out to be the best purchase experience we ever had buying an RV!
We had the financing pre-arranged and we had long ago refinanced the travel trailer so we actually got our money out of it instead of being upside down on the loan so it was a great experience.
Our Jayco hasn't problem free though, the front AC didn't work and the main slide was not installed properly and had to be taken out and reintalled and Camping World had the RV for almost two months for the warranty work. None of those problems came up in the walkthrough. It also turned out we had a third grey tank that nobody knew about or could figure out how to drain since we thought the indicator light was malfunctioning but the service people found that the kitchen gray tank drain handle had been sealed up inside the underbelly and had to be dug out so it could be drained.
My biggest problem with Blue Dog is the company has grown so much and is now so big they can't adequately handle all business they are creating! When we'd take the Blue Dog Rv in for the "warranty forever" annual checks I often heard the service staff asking if the RV had been purchased from that Blue Dog dealership because if you didn't buy it there they wouldn't service it!
I hope it will be all fixed to your satisfaction and you will either find a place to work with you for repairs when needed or you can get a different RV if that's what you want. Nothing is perfect, everything is a compromise, good luck!

[wags999]

Not sure what a BBB is going to do about poor communication, most likely nothing. The most they can do is send a letter, they have no real power to make anything happen. Why not just cancel the sale if they were giving you the run around? If they treat you that poorly before they get your $$ imagine how poorly it will be after they get your money. Enjoy your new RV, now you have a story to tell over the camp fire to your neighbors ! LOL


Happy Camping

[jloco]

Originally Posted by wags999

Not sure what a BBB is going to do about poor communication, most likely nothing. The most they can do is send a letter, they have no real power to make anything happen. Why not just cancel the sale if they were giving you the run around? If they treat you that poorly before they get your $$ imagine how poorly it will be after they get your money. Enjoy your new RV, now you have a story to tell over the camp fire to your neighbors ! LOL


Happy Camping

I agree. It’s over now and you have the rig. Move on and enjoy it.

[Lake Huron]

You'll move on but I hate to say it,... you won't enjoy it. Been there, done that.
Here' an experience of mine, drove 5 hours to Speciality RV in Ohio to purchase a brand new trailer. Never should have bought it. Should have walked away and drove home like my wife wanted to do. We got to the dealer and ours is NOT ready for us and they had plenty of time to get it ready too. We watched the service mechanic walk into the parts dept, get a brand new water pump off the shelf, literally throw it down on the counter, sign some paperwork and all like stomp to the service bay where our unit was at. We did our walk thru and found a few minor issues until we got inside. The counter had a pretty nice scratch in it. Also a few minor issues inside. Back outside and I climbed on the roof and noticed some of the roofing sealant was cracked. They "fixed" all the stuff while we were inside dealing with "paperwork issues". We got it home and within 10 minutes the rain started. We were inside showing our new purchase to one of our new friends and my buddy asked if the waterfall in the front closet was standard or optional. The roof sealant crack was and absolute poor repair. No exaggeration, literally EVERY time we went camping, something went wrong. Ceiling fan blade flew off, converter puked, furnace quit, tire/wheel came off, fresh water tank nearly fell out of the bottom of it,... I could go on and on.
We owned it for 2 seasons and broomed it. We ended up getting our Northpoint from Gillette's RV in Lansing, Mi. Couldn't ask for a better dealer, purchase experience, or coach. I dont care what RV you buy, you are going to have some minor issues. Nothing is perfect. But the fewer, and the more minor, the better.
My wife, God bless her, but she is very anal about things and is worse than an Arab trader. And I warned the dealer before we even went to look at the Northpoint. Maybe that had something to do with our near perfect experience with them!
Your experience with Blue Dog, had my wife been there, there's no way they would sell her one and they would end up paying her to leave. She would make things so miserable for them. Next time, let me know and you can take her with ya! Lol!!

[JaytheDJ]

Don't forget to leave a review on Google. I had some issues getting paperwork from the dealer to register my new RV. I had been trying for days to get in touch with the "Title Lady". As soon as I posted my review on Google, I had 3 different people from the dealership calling me.

[TWP723]

Sounds like a classic case of showing a unit before it's pre-delivered through the shop. Happens more than people know. I've heard the same thing from several people. They are so eager to get it listed and put that almighty dollar in their pocket. It happens a lot in the auto and boat industries as well. We looked at a boat back in 2010 at a dealer. They had it listed on their website with a price but no pics. When we went to see it, it was an absolute mess. The cabin was filthy, there was old food still in the cabinets, still had the original sheets on the bed and everything. Didn't even wanna look in the head at that point. They assured me they would clean it up, they just wanted to get it listed. I told them not to bother on my account because I'm not interested. Although they had more boats on their lot I wanted to look at, they just rushed me out and told me to have a good day. Very poor customer service. Didn't even offer to show me something else.

[vcbice]

Another good example of NOT paying for a unit before a thorought walk through. Yes, you might miss out on that 'great' deal. Odds are you will avoid that 'bad' deal.

Yes, salesmen and dealers will sometimes do anything or say anything to sell.

I still remember one car dealer who had a list of notes for their salesmen. Notable examples, 'get them in the car', 'don't let them leave to think about it', 'get a signature', 'agree to fix everything after the sale'. Needless to say I never bought a car there and I figure EVERY salesman has been taught many of those 'rules'.

[2edgesword]

It's sad to hear about the treatment some people have received at the hands of some dealerships. My wife and I were fortunate that our first purchase was from a small family owned dealer (All Truck and RV in East Hampton, CT). They knew we were newbies and spend three hours during the PDI going over every system, answer all our questions, taking me on a practice drive since I'd never pulled a trailer and gave us all sorts of advise on keeping the systems running properly.

Unfortunately they don't carry the Jayco line so we couldn't purchase our next TT from them. But that experience gave us the knowledge on how the experience should work. I would give the dealer we purchased our 28RLS from a "B" (considerate, thorough but somewhat rushed). They missed getting an "A" because we probably picked one of the busiest days of the year to pick-up our new TT (Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend) and they were swamped with a bunch of other families picking up their rigs as well has people shopping for a rig.

[Mudd]

I know it may be to little to late, but We ended up buying from Johnny Walker (who is an actual Jayco dealer). Other than a little delay of it coming from the factory our experience with them has been top notch. They've taken care of the two recalls we've had so far no problem and are very easy to work with. The guys in the service and parts departments have been great. Heck, one time i was in the parts area looking around while picking up my trailer and the guy asks if i had a big fold out handle on my trailer (which we don't) I said no, and he just hands me a new one in the box and says, "Here, take this one" and just gives it to me! As most people seem to comment on here that having a good dealer makes all the difference, I'd have to say that is definitely true.

[bdreinv]

Being self employed for 35 years! We found a deal starts out bad it usually did not get better for us. Its hard but we would walk away many times. Thanks

[LVChris]

Originally Posted by Mudd

I know it may be to little to late, but We ended up buying from Johnny Walker (who is an actual Jayco dealer).

We tried to get one from them. Out of all the dealers we went to they were without a doubt the best!

In answer to everyone else's posts....if we could have found a TT that met our needs ANYWHERE else we would have bought it. I searched most of the western United States trying to avoid this place. At the end of the day we have the trailer we want and I don't have to deal with them ever again.

[2edgesword]

Originally Posted by LVChris

We tried to get one from them. Out of all the dealers we went to they were without a doubt the best!

In answer to everyone else's posts....if we could have found a TT that met our needs ANYWHERE else we would have bought it. I searched most of the western United States trying to avoid this place. At the end of the day we have the trailer we want and I don't have to deal with them ever again.

We have a Jayco dealer 40 miles from us but we were told mid-April then end of April then a few more weeks and then early June "but that might change". So we ended up tracking down the unit we wanted 300 miles away. We arranged to see in but arrived at the dealer having had the discussion before hand (my wife and I) that if they don't allow us to do a thorough walk through (meaning run every system, open every door, test every switch, etc.) we're going to walk away and spend the weekend camping in the trailer we planned to trade in.

[DJsFolly]

As mentioned earlier, there aren't many honest manufactures, dealers or sales personnel. We finally learned make a list (add items as you shop), get the manufactures sales representative phone and direct email numbers so you won't be getting last year's model. Sounds too good to be true, the model we really liked was going to get a factory discount with self leveling and farmers sink, waited 2 weeks, found a dealer 4 hours away - saved over 25% off MSRP. The dealer let know it arrived and prep would take 3 days - when would we want pickup. Besides they have sites for new,deliveries to stay overnight and run/test/ask how it works and sign sales agreement. Two years, no tools needed.

[Adam9280]

Originally Posted by vcbice

Yes, salesmen and dealers will sometimes do anything or say anything to sell.

I still remember one car dealer who had a list of notes for their salesmen. Notable examples, 'get them in the car', 'don't let them leave to think about it', 'get a signature', 'agree to fix everything after the sale'. Needless to say I never bought a car there and I figure EVERY salesman has been taught many of those 'rules'.

3rd generation used car salesman here. That makes me sick. I hate high-pressure sales people. You want to get the car inspected? Great. You want to think about it? Great. Most of the time they come back once they realize ours is better than the rest. People want confirmation they are making the right choice and I'm not going to rush them into it. I also don't throw out low-ball prices since I hate when people do it to me. I know I've overpaid for stuff but I have my pride to consider.

[gungh0]

They usually wait until you need repair to give you that type of treatment!

[msubobcatsrock]

Our SIL Purchased a TT from Blue Dog here in our area and service has been terrible. Their reputation here does not seem to be goodll!

[vcbice]

Originally Posted by Adam9280

3rd generation used car salesman here. That makes me sick. I hate high-pressure sales people. You want to get the car inspected? Great. You want to think about it? Great. Most of the time they come back once they realize ours is better than the rest. People want confirmation they are making the right choice and I'm not going to rush them into it. I also don't throw out low-ball prices since I hate when people do it to me. I know I've overpaid for stuff but I have my pride to consider.

Thanks for your integrity. I have run into exactly one car salesman in 40 years who actually 1) knew what he was talking about and 2) really cared about what I wanted. And, yes, I did buy a car from him. That was over 20 years ago.

Most of the time I have to describe the car's features to the salesmen as they have no idea how the car is built beyond the brochure, and even then they get it mixed up.

When we went to the PDI for the Jayco it was equally embarrassing. The 'tech' had no idea where some of the controls were. I had to explain to him how many grey tanks there were and that one grey tank actually had a black handle. Worse was he had a new hire that he was showing how to do a PDI.