AlbanyRV/RVone should I feel disappointed or ripped off?

[S-n-L]

I would love your input. I purchased the motorhome in my signature from Albany RV in August of 2013. I had them replace the 6 rear tires at my cost (Bridgestone). With all of the excitement of getting the rv and so much to check on the PDI I never checked the manufactures date of the tires. I guess I was assuming I would be getting new/fresh tires. Well, just one month ago I got the notion to check the date and to my surprise the date was 2211. For those who do not know the tires were manufactured on the 22 week of the year 2011.

I purchased 2 year old tires. What a bummer. With a life of 6 to 7 years that is a big loss of useful tire life for me.

I welcome your input, feelings and opinions on this.

Thank you,
Stuart

[lunch_surfer]

Email and call Bridgestone. make sure you have all you paperwork and can prove you bought the tire as-new and they were 2 years old. Hopefully Bridgestone wants to know who is selling their tires for new, way out of date. The RV dealer may have not even looked either, but the tire dealer knows and that is a no no if they are Bridgstone dealer. Talk to Bridgstone professionally, not much emotion, let them know you will be dealling with a safety issues soon and ask for their help. You probably will not get all your money back but I bet they will help you out on a new set of tires. They want to keep customers happy and they do not want to make the news for having places old tires on a 40k lbs vehicle.

My 2 cents

[GGeorge]

Since we are being truthfull about our purchases, likes and dislikes about our dealership, here is what I did.... (no one need to kick me, I have done it many times to myself)

1) I purchased at and RV show.
2) I purchased an RV I had no reseach on.
3) I purchased from a dealership I did no research on.
4) I purchased $99,000 of tile floor that the DW fell in love with.
5) I have no storage unless what you are storing is 11 inches or less in height.
6) This RV will not do everything I would like it to do.
7) I have had it to the dealership 5 times in 10 months. I drive 125 miles one way to the dealership, on 2 occassions I drove there and they did not fix anything, they just looked at it and said "we dont stock parts, so you have to bring it back when we get parts". I scheduled both appointments and told them exactly what was wrong.
😎 I will never purchase an RV from GeneralRV again.

I guess the old adage of the older you get the smarter you get is true.

G George

[S-n-L]

I have never purchased a new rv however from what I have read and learned on this and other forums is to take a factory delivery. At the factory they really do things right. Also, regardless of what and where you buy take it slow and don't feel pressured from the dealer to rush along. I also think you should get things straight right up front in regards to expectations on the pdi. If the dealer expects a 2 hour pdi, make it clear that you need more time.

Also, I like the idea of camping at or somewhere near the dealer for a few days to test all of the systems.

Although I made the mistake on the tires I have learned so much on the forum it did prevent me from making larger mistakes.

Last, be careful, very careful where you bring the rv for service. Choosing the wrong place could be a waste of time and money and the least and at the worst you will end up worse off than when you brought the rv in. Meaning, many rv techs will make the situation worse.

Stuart

[peaches_cream]

GGeorge wrote:
I have learned a lot from this post.

I learned never purchase tires from Albany RV even if I am on the side of the road with a flat!

I learned to always check the date on thie tires when purchasing new ones and special ordering if I have to.

And I learned when I purchase a new RV always take time to check everything no matter how long it takes before driving off the lot.

GGeorge

George, I'm with you. I think everyone should take at least 2 weeks on a PDI. I also think the dealer should assign a mechanic to follow us around and repair things as we find them. If those conditions cannot be met, then walk from the deal. Never give a deposit unless the bank the dealer uses guarentees a complete refund if customer is not satisfied. If it takes the factory longer than 2 weeks to build the unit from chassis to delivery,(walk on the deal). :h

[GGeorge]

I have learned a lot from this post.

I learned never purchase tires from Albany RV even if I am on the side of the road with a flat!

I learned to always check the date on thie tires when purchasing new ones and special ordering if I have to.

And I learned when I purchase a new RV always take time to check everything no matter how long it takes before driving off the lot.

GGeorge

[timmac]

I don't usually check the dates on tires when having them done on my truck or Jeep but did check them when having my motorhome done before install and I guess I was lucky because all 6 were just 6 months old.

However my spare is 6 years old but never used.

[traveylin]

I use 50000 miles or 5 years as a change standard. I never want a tire failure on the side of the highway. Tires are checked every morning with a hammer bounce test. on trips out west I carry a mounted spare with tools and jack to change.

[10forty2]

Someone else said it.... Live and Learn.....

When we bought our coach several months ago, we were told by the sellers that the tires were replaced 2 years ago. So, I'm figuring that I'll get at least 4-5 more years of of them. I trusted the sellers and did not check the date codes...turns out, they did replace the tires 2 years ago, but they were sold old tires....8 years old to be exact....making them 10 years old when I got the coach. Well, I found out AFTER we had a blowout and the service tech told me how old they were...on the side of I-40... with traffic whizzing by... Now, we have 6 brand new tires with 2014 date codes....just in time to store it for the next 3-4 months while Old Man Winter kicks around. Again...live and learn.....

[RayChez]

If you use the coach often, you have no worries going five or six years from the date of installation. But if you are one of those RVers that will spend 500K for a coach and park it for six months at a time, THEN you better change them at three years. Tires do not show tire sun rot if you move your coach at least once a month and drive it some miles. But if you are in the south west part of the country with your coach in the summer months, the sun will rot the tires if they are not moved.
Don't worry! You will be OK.

[S-n-L]

Tubojimmy,

I would have been thrilled with what you got for dates. All in all this is minor stuff and I need to let it go. Next time I will be more careful.

Rick, I too would buy from them again only if I got a killer deal and could take factory delivery. Never again will I have service done there.

Jwll, thanks for your input. This does make me feel better about having older tires. I do take very good care of them so things should be fine.

Stuart

[turbojimmy]

I got 6 "new" tires this past May. I didn't check the date at the time. In September I got the 7th - for the spare - from the same dealer. I checked the date code on the "new" spare and it was October 2013. I then checked the rest of the tires and they're the same. I guess 6-7 months (at the time the first set was installed) isn't too bad.

[jwmII]

Here we go again. Another sincere customer that trusted a dealer and did not get what he expected. There is an upside tho. I feel the same way as another poster here who has some doubt about the 7 year replace your tires rule. Several things are involved here. Depending on how well you care for your tires can play a HUGE role in their service life. Can you park so that water cannot puddle around the tires? Can you park on metal or plastic so as to prevent moisture from coming up from the ground and contributing to dry rot? Do you monitor your tire pressure? Do you avoid going over curbs or scuffing the sidewalls on the curbs?

I know from my own experience that by following all of the above and by not using various tire dressings but still keeping them clean, and by getting out and driving and warming up the tires once in a while you can vastly extend the life of your tires

My Michelin XZEs are 12 years old now. They are looked after pretty closely and have served well. One other thing that helps is to avoid sustained speeds of 75 M.P.H. and above.
I will be shopping for new tires in the next few weeks as I feel as tho I have gotten my use even tho the tires look nearly new.

I am not suggesting that everyone do this and run their tires 12 years. I do suggest that good care and maintenance of your tires will let you get more time from them. Time is the limiting factor here as it seems none of us runs our RVs tires until tread wear requires tire replacement.

I believe that in many cases we are to kind to our tire dealers with the frequency in which we purchase new tires.

[S-n-L]

Hi Rick,

I hear you loud and clear and am not letting this stress me out. I would be good to help someone else avoid the same mistake as I did. Yes, RVone does sell rvs at very good prices and that is why they are so busy. I too needed to have many things re-repaired that they had fixed and would never bring my coach there for service again. There are many good shops that will do a great job and luckily we have found some in our travels this year.

As for the tires, I too have been very careful with tire pressure and not running over curbs, etc. I guess it is better having the tires sitting in a warehouse for two years that out in the elements and on the road. I also keep them covered when I am sitting for more than a few days. We also don't sit long and from what I hear lack of use is the worst thing for tires.

Stuart

[Rick_Jay]

S-n-L,

Not sure this will help you feel any better, but I'm not sold on the "change your tires every 5/6/7/ years" concept. Our tires are 10 years old this year. We only have about 27,000 miles on them, and they still look great. I do plan on changing them soon, though, but I figure 10 years is a good service life.

However, I never take my rig out on the road without checking the tire pressure. Every trip, every time. The tires have NEVER been run under inflated. I haven't been "jumping curbs" or running over objects either. In short, I know the history of my tires. I think that is an important piece of the puzzle. On used rigs, you never know their history.

Putting new tires on your rig was a smart decision, in my book. I would not worry about the 2 years of sitting in a warehouse. Just treat them well. Get your rig weighed and adjust the tire pressure according to the tire manufacturer's weight charts.

As for RVDirect/AlbanyRV/WhateverTheirNameIs?, we bought our motorhome new from them in 2004. Dealer prep was probably non-existent. However, they were about $10k less than the other two GBM dealers for the unit we wanted, so the decision was easy. From what I had heard about them back then, I didn't expect stellar service from them and I didn't get any. I brought the rig back once for them to correct a bunch of minor issues. They were suppose to have it done in 3 days. Half-way through the last day I called them to confirm I was to pick it up that afternoon. They tell me they just started on it and asked if they can have it for another week? We had a trip planned, so I told them no. We picked up the rig that afternoon and it's never been back. I fixed all of the issues myself. Still way ahead on the purchase price, though.

Anyway, safe travels.

~Rick