Poor RV Dealer Customer Service
Just wondering if my experiences are the exception or the rule. Twice now when I've needed to buy parts for my Travel Trailer, I've contacted the dealer where I bought it new in November of 2013. A sm...
Forum Discussion
delwhjr wrote:That line of reasoning comes from the "the customer is always right" mindset. That, unfortunately, is not true. At some point, businesses have to make decisions that are based on profit. They can't always lose money and time because there is a chance, and only a chance, that they will somehow make money off the customer somewhere down the road. The internet has changed customer service, that is a fact. We all do it. We shop around, see something we want or need, and if we can buy it for less from an internet supplier than we can locally, that's where we buy.westernrvparkowner wrote:
It is bad form and bad customer service to treat customers like the OP has been treated, but in all fairness it is probably the logical conclusion to our wired internet age.
This is the likely scenario to play out on the OPs request for the availability of a slide seal. The dealer will consult their parts manuals to find the actual part number. They will confirm that part with the customer. Then they will tell the customer the price. Then armed with that information, the customer will order it off the internet (cheaper price and no two hour round trip to pick it up. The savings in gas will more than make up for the internet suppliers overnight shipping charge). The dealer will have spent 15 minutes of an employee's time for no return. Multiply that by 10 or 20 calls a day and you basically have an employee doing nothing productive.
Unless the dealer specifically runs a dedicated parts department, they see customer requests for parts as a loss position as far as profit goes. They fail to realize that they maybe creating a new customer if they would only treat them right. They only see the now and not the future.
Someone mentioned the OP might have bought from the dealer instead of ordering because he could have it in an hour instead of the next day. Really? It's a seal for a slide, not a life saving dose of snake anti-venom and the guy hadn't just been bitten by a Black Mamba. Time is seldom of the essence when you are dealing with RV parts.
