What's up with RV Sales People?

[JnJnKatiebug]

PPL has an almost new 5th wheel I am very interested in. After being sent to voicemail several times I finally got someone to answer the phone this morning around 9:30. She was going to send an email with all the information and then call me back with some numbers. It is now after 4pm and I have called three times, all I can get is voicemail. It's not like I can just drive down there, it's 9 hours away. I have never understood how companies can thrive with such bad customer service.
Just venting.

I was thinking about putting my MH down there on consignment but now I am having second thoughts.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

Cloud Dancer wrote:
It begs the question, since they've been there MANY years: Where and how do they make their money?

Like any consignment lot - a percentage of the sale price.

PPL also sells mail order RV parts. Have purchased from them (including a large item return) - and been very satisfied with their prices and customer service.

~

[Cloud_Dancer]

It begs the question, since they've been there MANY years: Where and how do they make their money?

[mowingman]

Famous saying goes: "You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time."

[3KIDSAHUBBY2DOG]

It was at the Houston Lot. It was parked on the row along the north? fence where all the Class A's were lined up. Mine was parked over the drain that collected all the mud and water from the rains and the washing of rigs. Total mud hole that had to be walked thru to view my $150,000 coach, and like you said, nobody to tell people to wipe their feet or whatever. I sold to a wholesaler for more than I would have netted had PPL been able to retail the unit after paying commission. As far as I could tell, PPL is strictly about getting the seller to agree consign it, and then PPL will forget about it until someone begs to buy it.

I think you're one of those peeps that just can't be satisfied man!
You want this dealership to have someone stand outside your rig and tell people to wipe their feet, you want them to control the weather so no water accumulates on the pavement AND you want them to do all this for free as the commission they get isnt fair! It's my first day on this forum but I can already tell I am staying around. You sir made my day!

Some people can never be happy tallerguy just laugh and move on.

[westernrvparkow]

tallerguy68 wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

tallerguy68 wrote:
PPL is a unique dealership that has a very different business model compared other RV dealers. The vast majority of what PPL sells is consignment, meaning someone else owns the unit. PPL also sells more RV's than any two RV dealerships in Texas put together. Meaning the dealership is not the place where you find a unit you want and then spend a week thinking about whether or not you want to buy it, more often than not the unit will be gone by the time you get back.

As far as salesmen not answering the phone...The best way to get a hold of one is to leave a voicemail or leave a message with a receptionist. PPL will frequently sell 15 units on a Tuesday, and there are only so many salesman. About 325k people visit PPl's lot every month, just like every other business the customer standing in front of you will always take priority over a phone call. Certain days of the week and times will greatly increase your likelihood of getting a hold of someone. Forget about getting a hold of anyone on Friday or Saturday, not saying you wont get called back, but you will have to leave a message and possibly wait a few hours for a call back. However if you call between 8:30am-3pm Mon-Thursday you stand a pretty good chance of getting a salesman on the phone.

PPL also compensates it's salesman on an hourly rate and not on a commission system. Most customers see this as a positive because PPL never does high pressure sales. PPL salesmen will also be forthcoming with any information they have on a unit and when dealing with customers calling from out of state the salesmen are trained to be very objective to ensure customers do not waste money on travel. Even when dealing with customers in person, after the customer has seen the unit, most salesmen will walk back out to the unit with the customer and inspect the unit and show the customer any issues they find.

PPL does offer an inspection and demonstration that the buyer can chose to pay for. The inspection is beyond what the salesmen will do as it addresses all the major RV components. The inspection does not cover structural aspects or the power train of a coach. But it does cover items like jacks, refrigerator, AC, range, oven, power steps, black water tank, grey water tank, plumbing, sewage system, trailer brake, propane system, inverter and converter. If any of the items checked in the inspection are found to be broken the seller is called with an estimate for the repairs. If the seller declines the repairs needed the buyer can walk from the deal or counter offer based on the information. The whole process is very similar to buying a house in alot of ways.

PPL has been in the RV business for a long time, and have many return customers. PPL shoots straight and wants nothing more than satisfied buyers and sellers. I do truly apologize for the issues you have had thus far, I hope this was informative and I hope you give PPL another chance soon.

May want to rethink a couple of your points. There is no way 325,000 people visit the lots every month. That would be over 10,000 a day. Impossible. My experience was very different from what you described, both from the point of view of the buyer and as a seller. I had consigned a 6 year old 45 foot Diesel Pusher. It never sold, and I never got a call from anyone. When I went to pick it up, I found it in about a 6 inches of mud. It was obvious it had been in that mud for some time, because weeds and moss had grown up into the engine compartment. Since the rig was only there for three months, I had to assume that was it's spot the entire time.
When I went to pick it up, it was obvious there was a problem. It would not start. The batteries were dead, even though I was assured all rigs were started regularly. The issue turned out to be a control board for the engine had failed. Not the fault of PPL, but I was never informed there was a problem with the rig. With it unable to start, it was obvious there was no chance it could have ever sold. On top of that many knobs and buttons were missing. Apparently people walking though the rigs unattended felt that my rig was the perfect parts vehicle, or they felt they needed souvenirs from their visit.
Since it took 3 days to fix the thing, I was there a often. NEVER did I see a salesperson helping anyone. Since I had nothing to do but wander, I tried to look at rigs. Many were packed so tightly together there was no way to enter them. I bet those owners had no idea there was no way their rigs would sell either. The only way to look at them were to get a non-existent salesperson to get a non-existent vehicle to pull them out so the doors could be opened. I found this to be the norm for fifth wheels and travel trailers.
The sales board was full of sales, but the vast majority were rigs that were quite old. My guess the average sale rig was over 15 years old, especially in the motorhomes. Sure wish I had known that before I drove 1500 miles to place my much newer rig there. I learned my lesson, PPL is not for me.

Well I am sure what dealership you were at but I am guessing it was Cleburne while the new lot was being paved. All the units are kept on a paved lot. I am sorry for the experience you and but I assure you that is not the common experience people have. PPL strives to work hard for our seller and our buyers.

I was mistaken on the number, I had a brain fart...hahaha. At our Houston location we have about 32k people a month on the lot durring the summer and around 325k total every year. New Braunfels and Cleburne are much smaller than the flag ship houston location but they also get a ton of traffic.

The vast majority of coaches we list sell within the first 30days. The ones that don't sell quickly are usually either priced to high by the seller or there is a condition issue.

For higher priced Diesel pushers sometimes it just takes some time to find the right buyer as there simply aren't as many people that can spend 180k on a coach.

As for the age of our units...we do sell units of all ages however in the last few years our average unit sold is between 2-6 years old.

It was at the Houston Lot. It was parked on the row along the north? fence where all the Class A's were lined up. Mine was parked over the drain that collected all the mud and water from the rains and the washing of rigs. Total mud hole that had to be walked thru to view my $150,000 coach, and like you said, nobody to tell people to wipe their feet or whatever. I sold to a wholesaler for more than I would have netted had PPL been able to retail the unit after paying commission. As far as I could tell, PPL is strictly about getting the seller to agree consign it, and then PPL will forget about it until someone begs to buy it.

[tallerguy68]

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
PPL also is the name of a national known RV consignment sales company originally located near Houston, Texas. The company opened a second location near New Braunfels - about an hour north of San Antonio a few years ago and last year opened a third location about an hour southwest of Dallas.

(Consignment sales mean that - the RV dealer does not buy your rig - he allows you to put it on his lot, and he tries to sell it. He is acting as your agent. Most of the time, the RV dealer gets no money unless he sells the rig. There are some consignment sales locations that charge the RV owner a monthly fee for the space while the rig is unsold.)

Their website says they have been in that business for almost 35 years, and have "helped over 32,700 individuals" sell their rig.

With three locations, they say they are now selling 2,200-2,500 rigs per year.

An average of 8 rigs a day sell year round at three locations.

Due to Texas laws about automobile, truck and other vehicle sales - they are closed on Sunday - so they are only open 313 days per year at most.

The company says that about they have 150 to 250 people per day visit between the three locations (maybe 80 - 150 buyers if they count a couple looking at rigs as two people - most retailers do). So between 40,000 and 46,000 potential buyers look at rigs each year - in three locations. Probably 60% in Houston, 25% in New Braunfels and 15% in Cleburne.

Even then - that is way more than almost any other dealer I've heard of.

My experience with the company - New Braunfels and Cleburne - is that 2/3 of the rigs are older models in need of work where the owner is just trying to get rid of a rig they could not get a dealer to take in trade (or the dealer would give them very little for the rig). We were allowed to wander the lot and look at the exterior of rigs, and a few 'models' were open for inspection. Generally we were not allowed in a rig unless escorted.

Most RV dealers I've been to have been very quick to give my wife and I time alone in a rig to look it over and discuss details - once the salesman felt we might be serious customers. (I've had more than one salesman tell me that after a few months in the business - they can usually tell who is really ready to buy, who is just looking and who are the thieves looking at the rig as a free parts supply after five or ten minutes.)

About 1/3 of the rigs are in great shape - and sell quickly. They are steals at the price asked usually.

This is very strange as it has been PPL'S model from the beginning to not harass our customers or do any high pressure sales. The whole basis of our buisness model is an open lot. All the units are open for people to browse through at their leisure.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

PPL also is the name of a national known RV consignment sales company originally located near Houston, Texas. The company opened a second location near New Braunfels - about an hour north of San Antonio a few years ago and last year opened a third location about an hour southwest of Dallas.

(Consignment sales mean that - the RV dealer does not buy your rig - he allows you to put it on his lot, and he tries to sell it. He is acting as your agent. Most of the time, the RV dealer gets no money unless he sells the rig. There are some consignment sales locations that charge the RV owner a monthly fee for the space while the rig is unsold.)

Their website says they have been in that business for almost 35 years, and have "helped over 32,700 individuals" sell their rig.

With three locations, they say they are now selling 2,200-2,500 rigs per year.

An average of 8 rigs a day sell year round at three locations.

Due to Texas laws about automobile, truck and other vehicle sales - they are closed on Sunday - so they are only open 313 days per year at most.

The company says that about they have 150 to 250 people per day visit between the three locations (maybe 80 - 150 buyers if they count a couple looking at rigs as two people - most retailers do). So between 40,000 and 46,000 potential buyers look at rigs each year - in three locations. Probably 60% in Houston, 25% in New Braunfels and 15% in Cleburne.

Even then - that is way more than almost any other dealer I've heard of.

My experience with the company - New Braunfels and Cleburne - is that 2/3 of the rigs are older models in need of work where the owner is just trying to get rid of a rig they could not get a dealer to take in trade (or the dealer would give them very little for the rig). We were allowed to wander the lot and look at the exterior of rigs, and a few 'models' were open for inspection. Generally we were not allowed in a rig unless escorted.

Most RV dealers I've been to have been very quick to give my wife and I time alone in a rig to look it over and discuss details - once the salesman felt we might be serious customers. (I've had more than one salesman tell me that after a few months in the business - they can usually tell who is really ready to buy, who is just looking and who are the thieves looking at the rig as a free parts supply after five or ten minutes.)

About 1/3 of the rigs are in great shape - and sell quickly. They are steals at the price asked usually.

[Homer1]

I have dealt with PPL, they sold a rig for me in less than one week and for more money than I originally ask for. Yes there are a lot people at PPL lots all of the time. I have never seen so many people at any RV sales lot in my life. They were courteous, efficient and straight forward on everything. I drove 1600 miles to take my rig there as part of a trip to Canyon Lake relatives. By the time my vacation trip was over they notified me my rig had sold and for more than I originally agreed to. I am a very satisfied customer. I feel for as busy as they are, they treated me and my wife very well. The day I dropped my motor home off people were being given appointment numbers saying what time they would be seen by a sales rep. I had made prior arrangements over the phone and they kept it as promised. No I in no way work for PPL in any capacity. I do recommend them however.

[tallerguy68]

mike-s wrote:

JnJnKatiebug wrote:
PPL has an ... I have never understood how companies can thrive with such bad customer service.
Just venting.

I know, it's almost as frustrating as people using undefined acronyms.

If you're not happy with that dealer's attitude, go to another, and tell the manufacturer why. There are lots to choose from. The only reason they "thrive" is because people put up with it.

If you are referring to the acronym "PPL" it stands for "Person to Person Listing".

[Beaker]

325k people visit PPl's lot every month,

Must be my old math but isn't that 10,000 people a day?

[westernrvparkow]

tallerguy68 wrote:
PPL is a unique dealership that has a very different business model compared other RV dealers. The vast majority of what PPL sells is consignment, meaning someone else owns the unit. PPL also sells more RV's than any two RV dealerships in Texas put together. Meaning the dealership is not the place where you find a unit you want and then spend a week thinking about whether or not you want to buy it, more often than not the unit will be gone by the time you get back.

As far as salesmen not answering the phone...The best way to get a hold of one is to leave a voicemail or leave a message with a receptionist. PPL will frequently sell 15 units on a Tuesday, and there are only so many salesman. About 325k people visit PPl's lot every month, just like every other business the customer standing in front of you will always take priority over a phone call. Certain days of the week and times will greatly increase your likelihood of getting a hold of someone. Forget about getting a hold of anyone on Friday or Saturday, not saying you wont get called back, but you will have to leave a message and possibly wait a few hours for a call back. However if you call between 8:30am-3pm Mon-Thursday you stand a pretty good chance of getting a salesman on the phone.

PPL also compensates it's salesman on an hourly rate and not on a commission system. Most customers see this as a positive because PPL never does high pressure sales. PPL salesmen will also be forthcoming with any information they have on a unit and when dealing with customers calling from out of state the salesmen are trained to be very objective to ensure customers do not waste money on travel. Even when dealing with customers in person, after the customer has seen the unit, most salesmen will walk back out to the unit with the customer and inspect the unit and show the customer any issues they find.

PPL does offer an inspection and demonstration that the buyer can chose to pay for. The inspection is beyond what the salesmen will do as it addresses all the major RV components. The inspection does not cover structural aspects or the power train of a coach. But it does cover items like jacks, refrigerator, AC, range, oven, power steps, black water tank, grey water tank, plumbing, sewage system, trailer brake, propane system, inverter and converter. If any of the items checked in the inspection are found to be broken the seller is called with an estimate for the repairs. If the seller declines the repairs needed the buyer can walk from the deal or counter offer based on the information. The whole process is very similar to buying a house in alot of ways.

PPL has been in the RV business for a long time, and have many return customers. PPL shoots straight and wants nothing more than satisfied buyers and sellers. I do truly apologize for the issues you have had thus far, I hope this was informative and I hope you give PPL another chance soon.

May want to rethink a couple of your points. There is no way 325,000 people visit the lots every month. That would be over 10,000 a day. Impossible. My experience was very different from what you described, both from the point of view of the buyer and as a seller. I had consigned a 6 year old 45 foot Diesel Pusher. It never sold, and I never got a call from anyone. When I went to pick it up, I found it in about a 6 inches of mud. It was obvious it had been in that mud for some time, because weeds and moss had grown up into the engine compartment. Since the rig was only there for three months, I had to assume that was it's spot the entire time.
When I went to pick it up, it was obvious there was a problem. It would not start. The batteries were dead, even though I was assured all rigs were started regularly. The issue turned out to be a control board for the engine had failed. Not the fault of PPL, but I was never informed there was a problem with the rig. With it unable to start, it was obvious there was no chance it could have ever sold. On top of that many knobs and buttons were missing. Apparently people walking though the rigs unattended felt that my rig was the perfect parts vehicle, or they felt they needed souvenirs from their visit.
Since it took 3 days to fix the thing, I was there a often. NEVER did I see a salesperson helping anyone. Since I had nothing to do but wander, I tried to look at rigs. Many were packed so tightly together there was no way to enter them. I bet those owners had no idea there was no way their rigs would sell either. The only way to look at them were to get a non-existent salesperson to get a non-existent vehicle to pull them out so the doors could be opened. I found this to be the norm for fifth wheels and travel trailers.
The sales board was full of sales, but the vast majority were rigs that were quite old. My guess the average sale rig was over 15 years old, especially in the motorhomes. Sure wish I had known that before I drove 1500 miles to place my much newer rig there. I learned my lesson, PPL is not for me.

[mike-s]

JnJnKatiebug wrote:
PPL has an ... I have never understood how companies can thrive with such bad customer service.
Just venting.

I know, it's almost as frustrating as people using undefined acronyms.

If you're not happy with that dealer's attitude, go to another, and tell the manufacturer why. There are lots to choose from. The only reason they "thrive" is because people put up with it.

[tallerguy68]

PPL is a unique dealership that has a very different business model compared other RV dealers. The vast majority of what PPL sells is consignment, meaning someone else owns the unit. PPL also sells more RV's than any two RV dealerships in Texas put together. Meaning the dealership is not the place where you find a unit you want and then spend a week thinking about whether or not you want to buy it, more often than not the unit will be gone by the time you get back.

As far as salesmen not answering the phone...The best way to get a hold of one is to leave a voicemail or leave a message with a receptionist. PPL will frequently sell 15 units on a Tuesday, and there are only so many salesman. About 325k people visit PPl's lot every month, just like every other business the customer standing in front of you will always take priority over a phone call. Certain days of the week and times will greatly increase your likelihood of getting a hold of someone. Forget about getting a hold of anyone on Friday or Saturday, not saying you wont get called back, but you will have to leave a message and possibly wait a few hours for a call back. However if you call between 8:30am-3pm Mon-Thursday you stand a pretty good chance of getting a salesman on the phone.

PPL also compensates it's salesman on an hourly rate and not on a commission system. Most customers see this as a positive because PPL never does high pressure sales. PPL salesmen will also be forthcoming with any information they have on a unit and when dealing with customers calling from out of state the salesmen are trained to be very objective to ensure customers do not waste money on travel. Even when dealing with customers in person, after the customer has seen the unit, most salesmen will walk back out to the unit with the customer and inspect the unit and show the customer any issues they find.

PPL does offer an inspection and demonstration that the buyer can chose to pay for. The inspection is beyond what the salesmen will do as it addresses all the major RV components. The inspection does not cover structural aspects or the power train of a coach. But it does cover items like jacks, refrigerator, AC, range, oven, power steps, black water tank, grey water tank, plumbing, sewage system, trailer brake, propane system, inverter and converter. If any of the items checked in the inspection are found to be broken the seller is called with an estimate for the repairs. If the seller declines the repairs needed the buyer can walk from the deal or counter offer based on the information. The whole process is very similar to buying a house in alot of ways.

PPL has been in the RV business for a long time, and have many return customers. PPL shoots straight and wants nothing more than satisfied buyers and sellers. I do truly apologize for the issues you have had thus far, I hope this was informative and I hope you give PPL another chance soon.

[Homer1]

You could write a book about all the reasons people abandon the RV lifestyle after they invest so much money. Some finance and find out they are under water almost immediately, some the highway travel scares them off. Many of the rigs sold even as new,develop so many problems they just cannot keep up with them. My first 60 days was spent in dealers for repairs of **** that should have been taken care of at the factory. Dealers are not super friendly after the sale. In general just realize they made a major mistake and get out while they can.