Feedback from current Dutchman Voltage RV owners

oops, sorry, don't let my rant about my local dealer have anyone thinking we don't like our trailer, in fact we love it. the features and amenities are terrific and every time we go out we enjoy it a little bit more.

I've had my '13 3905 for almost 6 weeks and 3 trips so far. I think the build quality and layout is much better than my '08 Fuzion. Yeah, I'm having a minor problem with my main slide and the rollers under the rear part of the couch marked the floor before I solved the problem. I fixed the drawers not staying closed and the extra legs under were too long for the garage bottom bunk. I pumped the hubs full of grease, they had none, and checked the bearing preload and brake adj. Same problems with my Fuzion. The Voltage floors are more solid, walls apparently have an inner skin of sheet metal that I found adding hooks to bath and bed room closets, screen doors are MUCH better made, fiberglass under the fifth wheel behind the pin instead of flimsy plastic, bla bla bla...
They're trailers and all will have problems. My dealer is hard to get moving but when I bring it to them it's done in a day or so. I get them to order parts before hand when ever possible (used them for my Fuzion too).
So far I'm very satisfied with my Voltage and I hope everyone gets the bugs worked out = )
Maybe see you on the road!
Capt. John

I just drove through that area yesterday. That dealer south of Ogden along I-15 ( think thats where it was) must have had 15 Voltage trailers on there lot. That was an amazing amount of inventory.

Dave Wilburn wrote:
So far, the sevice department at my local dealer (where we bought the trailer from) has been less than impressive.
I scheduled an appointment to fix a few little things (a couple that I found during the PDI). Basically it was all stuff that I could have handled myself in under a day. I gave them a list of things and made the counter guy type it all in the computer.
So I dropped it off at the scheduled time and left. I did't get a call that it was done until a week later, and when I went to pick it up, it wasn't even all done. It was mostly some silicone caulk on one of the slides that had pulled apart, but they din't even do it. I just left.

When I first got our trailer that same dealer fixed a few things for me and was terrific to work with, then we used the trailer a few times and discovered a few more little things so I scheduled an appointment and dropped the trailer off (this was Jan 31), I had a lot of travel for work and was gone most of Feb so on Feb 28th I am in town and gave them a call, guess what, trailer still not done.

I say, hey, whats up, you have had a it a month, and they said they would get right on it. A week later, still nothing so I call again, and they said we are just finishing it up, feel free to pick it up tomorrow.

I drive up, (an hour drive for me) and they get the trailer out, I decided to double check their work before leaving the parking lot and half the items were not done, additionally, somehow they messed up one of the slides, so I go home without my trailer.

It took another two weeks for them to "order parts". I finally got the trailer, but heck, it sure took a long time!

It seems to me that something changed up there in their service department from my first working with them in October until February. Some of the people had changed, I am not sure if that is their "winter staff" or not as I haven't been back.

I don't think if I need service in the future I will go back there, I will head to the other dealer (in Draper) instead.

Dave, Can you post a picture of the Couch replacement please?
We have thought about doing something with the couch, but we need to set 5 comfortably.

So far, the sevice department at my local dealer (where we bought the trailer from) has been less than impressive.
I scheduled an appointment to fix a few little things (a couple that I found during the PDI). Basically it was all stuff that I could have handled myself in under a day. I gave them a list of things and made the counter guy type it all in the computer.
So I dropped it off at the scheduled time and left. I did't get a call that it was done until a week later, and when I went to pick it up, it wasn't even all done. It was mostly some silicone caulk on one of the slides that had pulled apart, but they din't even do it. I just left.
So after that, when the WFCO water pump died, I just pulled it out myself and took it down and they called dutchmen and got the $65 that Dutchmen would give them for warranty replacement, and I bought a shurflow pump and accumulator, with me paying the price difference.
Over Memorial day weekend, the generator transfer switch (WFCO, see a trend?) quit working, so we had no genny power for half the weekend. I checked and sure enough, it was getting power from the genny, but would not switch over. So when I got home I pulled it out and took it down to the dealership to have them warranty it out. They told me they hadn't seen any of these fail, so they needed to test it themselves before doing the warranty return through Dutchmen. It took them a week, with me calling every day to inquire if it had been done for them to finally verify that it was indeed bad. It then took them another day to figure out that Dutchmen would only give me $120 for the switch. I took that and bought a parallax 50 amp switch. Of course I had to pay the $100 price difference, but at least the new one is made in USA and is in a steel box vs. the plastic POS, and it WORKS.
It just amazes me that the dealership is so slow even when I do all the work and just need the parts warrantied out. For all I know they are also billing Dutchmen for labor too.

On a side note, this weekend we replaced the uncomfortable couch thing with an actual couch with recliners. Way more comfortable! I put one of the Voltage swivel rockers next to it. Funny thing is, we now have comfortable seating in the living area for more people than with the huge couch thing.

Napria wrote:
I would think a dealer would want to do warranty work. Don't they get paid by the manufacturer to do that? Also, there's the good-will factor. If they cheerfully take your unit in and fix it, you'll come back in the future, or so one would think. I swear, some dealers just don't get it...

You would think that but it's a bit more complicated, at least from my discussions with some dealers. They don't get paid their full shop rate by the manufacturer, further they manufacturer will tell them how much they are going to pay. They'll estimate how much time it should take, which is usually on the low side of things, and then some are very slow to reimburse. Most dealers are far more helpful in the winter months when it's slow, but during peak spring/summer they want to make the most of it.

Good will factor it true, but if they've just lost a sale because you went to one of the wholesale out of state dealers they are probably not going to get your business again, so why should they care. Even worse some want to "punish" you for not shopping locally.

I can see both sides of the coin. We the consumer want the lowest price, but the best service and we want is yesterday. I've priced the internet wholesale stores and used those to leverage my local dealership, done that three times. I don't expect them to meet or beat the price, but to come close. I found out what local service meant two summers ago when my fridge went belly up 48 hours before our big trip. My local dealer worked hard to get a fridge, we even went and picked one up from a dealer a couple hours away so they could install it and get me on the road. This same dealer took care of me when I moved to town with a rid I'd just purchased, but they were honest and told me that customers that bought from them were taken care of first, I could live with that and the honesty.

During my time on various RV forums I've made note of the dealerships that have refused service to people for various reasons. Some I think are legit some are just poor service. I know I wouldn't want to be a small dealer fighting the big guys that can blow me away on price and then have john doe come in demanding my help after I didn't buy from me. Tough position for everyone.

I would think a dealer would want to do warranty work. Don't they get paid by the manufacturer to do that? Also, there's the good-will factor. If they cheerfully take your unit in and fix it, you'll come back in the future, or so one would think. I swear, some dealers just don't get it...

I've just read all six pages of this forum. We're looking for a toy hauler and after looking at all fifth wheel toy haulers on the internet, we spent part of last weekend and this morning looking in person. So far I really like the Voltage V-Series 3105, which is not even out yet. But we saw some other Voltages, including a V-Series 3005 this morning and so far I'm impressed.

No problem, I didnt take it as sarcasm. My frustration is that Dutchman / Thor allows the dealers do refuse warranty work. What if GM or Ford did that? Not likely. But again the RV world is a little DIFFERENT.

Doughboy12 wrote:
My last line was NOT sarcasm...I do believe you.

sofar-sogood wrote:
You dont have to believe, just call Palm Beach RV (561) 689-5788 and ask them if they will do warranty work on a Voltage. And the kicker is that when I bought mine, they didnt yet sell any of the Dutchman line. Also Dutchman wont get involved, they told me that the dealer has a choice to do the work or not.

Doughboy12 wrote:

sofar-sogood wrote:
The local dealers wont even look at it because we didnt buy it from them. Waiting for Dutchman to answer.

That is so stupid...I would be happy as can be to have NOT bought from them if that is how they run their business. What if you didn't buy from them because you just moved to town??? Would they look at it then?
Always heard people say that but NEVER believe them...I tend to believe you for some reason...?

My last line was NOT sarcasm...I do believe you.

sofar-sogood wrote:
You dont have to believe, just call Palm Beach RV (561) 689-5788 and ask them if they will do warranty work on a Voltage. And the kicker is that when I bought mine, they didnt yet sell any of the Dutchman line. Also Dutchman wont get involved, they told me that the dealer has a choice to do the work or not.

Doughboy12 wrote:

sofar-sogood wrote:
The local dealers wont even look at it because we didnt buy it from them. Waiting for Dutchman to answer.

That is so stupid...I would be happy as can be to have NOT bought from them if that is how they run their business. What if you didn't buy from them because you just moved to town??? Would they look at it then?
Always heard people say that but NEVER believe them...I tend to believe you for some reason...?