Oct., 2012, I purchased a new vehicle and chose to replace my 9 year old Road-Master All Terrain tow bar with a new Blue Ox Aventa LX tow bar. My trusted RV Dealer installed the new unit when I had my RV winterized. I stored my RV in my pole barn until I left for Florida. I had reviewed and been informed of Blue Ox's excellent customer support as documented on their web site.
On January 1, 2013 โ New Yearโs Day, my Blue Ox Aventa tow bar's left arm failed after six hours of use in frigid temperatures on route I-81, north of Winchester, Va. The only close RV store/facility/garage was in located Winchester, VA. at a Camping World. I was most pleased that they were open on this holiday, Jan.1st, with a very friendly staff. It was the only RV facility open in this area that we could locate. The next Camping World was six hours away in Roanoke VA. My tow bar was inspected by their RV tech who confirmed that it could not be used. They also stated that they could not repair it. I did not call Blue Ox. I bought a second new Blue Ox tow bar from this Camping World and completed my journey to Florida.
I contacted Blue Ox and they informed me because I did not call them BEFORE buying the second unit, they would not refund me my money for my defective unit. They said that I should have called them and they would have given me instructions to return this unit for repairs. I stated that this was a new unit and that I could not remain in Virginia for a couple of weeks, waiting for this action to happen. Following this conversation, I received an email, accidently sent to me from the Blue Ox Claim Department, instructing my Blue Ox contact person to email me and tell me that the damage, upon their inspection, was minor and that they were returning the unit to me. This really distressed me as I had not yet even returned my unit to Blue Ox at this time. This was extremely perplexing to me and I wondered what was truly happening with my grievance.
I sent the defective, original unit back to Blue Ox, requesting a full refund and statement of what was defective with the arm. I paid the packing; Blue Ox paid the freight. Two weeks later, I received a Blue Ox Aventa LX unit from Fed Ex and NO refund. I received no explanation of the repair done. The unit returned has the same sticker but a different color scheme on it then the one I sent to them. All contacts with Blue Ox remain the same: they will not provide me with a refund for this new, defective unit that I purchased from them under warranty. I am now stuck with two Blue Ox units; able to use only one. Am I wrong in expecting a refund from Blue Ox?
