Blue OX Customer Service - Is this Fair ?

smlranger wrote:
I'm also wondering if there was a supplemental braking system on the toad. If not, a few quick or hard stops may have put enough stress on the bars to bend them, especially if the stop was on a downhill grade.

X2

My Tahoe weighs almost 7,000 lbs. I never even considered it for a toad for the MH!

I'm also wondering if there was a supplemental braking system on the toad. If not, a few quick or hard stops may have put enough stress on the bars to bend them, especially if the stop was on a downhill grade.

I am going to ask you a question you may not have thought of

Do you have aux brakes on your towed? Or do you rely on the motor home to stop it?

A Tahoe is a fairly hefty ride.. I mean the company I worked for uses a bunch of them so I have seen 'em (Ever wonder what happens when a Corvette Driver tries to out run a Michigan State police Tahoe??? (If you do, the Corvette drivewr winds up wearing a lovely matched pair of stainless steel braclets made by Sminth and Wesson).

So every time you stop, it is the same as backing up.


I had to replace a Blue-Ox tow bar due to major damage. now I know how it happened, and I know what happened, and it was NOT a manufacturing defect or error (it was in fact an accident)... The fun thing was It ook me like 2 minutes to figure out there was no defect, I so informed Blue Ox on the first call.. They still Express shipped me a new tow bar and postage to return the old one... They told me if THEY decided the damage to the towed was due to their error or defect they would pay for it.. (As I said it was NOT their fault) Took them about a month to confirm what I told them when I called 'em but I was very favorably impressed.

You know it sounds like maybe you went up or down a steep driveway and it bottomed out and bent it. Having both bend can really only mean they took a punch somewhere. You would have not have felt it but could of heard it if you had the windows down.

Really these tow bars are really almost indestructible and all these years I've never heard of one just bending.

but they would give me a $150 credit,..

Upside is they DID give you a discount. BlueOx is like that even if it's not their problem they are always willing to give some sort of consolation.

Sorry guys been offline working and just had a quick sec to check feedback.
All good info, let me try and answer some of the questions.

Bar was bent up, not side to side, other bar did not look bent to me and it went in and out, but BO said it was bent.

Alignment of Tahoe to hitch on RV looks straight, but I should put a level on it and check.

Just so you know, I was not expecting BO to just give me a new one for free.
If the Bar was bent during use, whatever caused it, I did not see that they would cover the damage. (unless like one poster said, that his appeared to be locked in, but it was not)
But I would have liked to see some flexibility in the price to replace or repair, since I have had it less than a year with minimal use.
If I had gotten that I would have felt well taken care of by BO.

That's not the way they do business, so next time I will buy from someone else

I've had very good experience with my Blue Ox. To say that I've been easy on it would be completely untrue.

I tow a Chevy Silverado with a lot of stuff loaded in the bed as well as the cab and have backed up for a significant distance after getting boxed in by unthinking car drivers even though I had parked far from anything upon arrival. Overall nine years and 40,000 + miles.

Thus far nothing I have done has caused any problems so I will add my support to those who say that the product should not be the problem. I would think that the possibility of a out of level installation would be a possible culprit.

Did you by any chance cross over any steep type rail road crossings on your way to destination putting bar in a strained position? By the way was it bent sideways L ∨ R or up and down.

Funny, I haven't seen Jcat the OP reply to all this advice.

I don't have a tow bar, heck I don't even have an RV but all the good advice here would seem to get a reply from the OP.

If it were me and I truly had no idea why the bar bent, I would take it back to the installer and get his opinion. With that opinion I would contact BO and see what they could do,

sounds to me like someone messed up the install. i have used bo for 11 years with no problem. as stated bo has offered a good will gesture. i cannot believe it is a manfg, fault. i have been to the bo factory in pender twice and they are the most accomadating company i have ever dealt with.

I bought a Blue Ox Aventa 7445 system last summer and had it

installed on my RV and Tahoe by a professional shop that has done many of these systems.

On my 2nd trip, when I arrived at my destination, 1 arm would not retract and it looked like the housing was bent, but the arm looked good.
I talked to BO and sent the unit back so they could check it out.
They said both arms were bent and needed to replaced.
I asked how much to replace them and they said $750 but they would give me a $150 credit, so net was $600.

I explained that I could buy a new one for $550 on amazon and asked them to give me a discount on the repairs as they are the manufacturer.

I had only used it 2 times, I did not backup while using the product and I was not in an accident or did I pinch it against the RV.

X2 on all of the above that the bars don't 'just bend'. I find it hard to believe that it is a manufacturing problem. Which is why they won't replace it.

The ARE offering you a discount IMHO simply as a gesture to help you out.

That all said I bought a new Blue Ox tow bar and had problems with it with one arm not always locking while in motion. Levers where up but the inside clip would not stay firmly in place allowing sway of toad. Hard to detect because it was not consistent and levers where in the up position.

Long story short I had a blueox distributor at an RV dealership help me out and call blueox, explain what he had observed, and they approved the dealership giving me a brand new replacement tow bar for FREE.

They are a very reputable company and many of us have had good relations with them repairing, replacing their products. I just don't see bent tow bars arms as the manufacture's problem.

I can see where maybe the tow bar and the RV level was not correct causing the damage to the tow bar. And/or the base plate not installed correctly.

AND I would have taken it back to the shop that installed it. Just because they are a shop that 'does a lot of them' doesn't mean the mechanic that did the job has.

I paid an RV dealership to pick out the right hitch/ball and to hook up my new TT. I came back to pick it up and the TT was on a 45 degree angle. You'd think an RV dealership service guy would know better.:R

Can you post pictures of your set up and tow bar?