So we picked up our TT tonight.

[kt0819]

We had an appointment with the dealer to pick up our TT tonight. It was a horrible experience that almost had me in tears. I've read on here and several places that it should be about 2 hours. Not ours. Oh no. More like 30 min, if that. The guy kept saying how it was time for him to go home for supper and moving on to the next thing. And heaven help us if we asked a question!

I am so disheartened. I had so many questions. I did ask them but he was so rude and condescending if I needed to ask another to clarify or if I repeated back to him to make sure I was understanding what he was saying. We almost had a big misunderstanding about the grey tank valves and the winterizing ones. He wouldn't even bother to bend down and show us, just pointed in the general direction and I didn't understand which was which. That was when he ignored me and started to talk to my husband about another part of the trailer. What???

I had a billion questions going in but the guy moved from one thing to the other so fast it was hard to get a sense of what was what. Now I have even more questions and nowhere to turn but here. All are ridiculous newbie questions, I'm sure, but I figured with how much we spent and seeing this is our first rv the guy would cut us some slack.

At one point I opened the toilet to look inside and he looked and me and sneered "what? Don't tell me you've never used a toilet before." What? So rude. And no, actually I have never used an rv toilet before. I had read some on here and all of a sudden I wasn't clear when to add water to the bowl- before or after use and how exactly one did that. I now know you step on the peddle half way to get water in. I would never have known had I not asked.

I have no clue about our water heater or how it works. 😞 all he said was here it is, it's ready to go for use. That's it. I looked at him and tried to engage him to give further information but he quickly moved on to next thing. I don't even know enough about the water heater to know what questions to have asked. I just know that I really don't know what to so with it. I expected more info regarding this.

The list goes on. It was a bad experience. Dh was taking video the whole time to try to help us later, should that come up. But my little guy really needed me to take him to the bathroom and the guy refused to stop for 5 min stating that it was being videoed so why wait? As it turns out they missed looking at a few things that I would have liked to have discussed because the guy clearly saw that as his opportunity to wrap things up.

Thankfully dh and I had looked at the unit prior to today (it was a new factory order) so we had a good idea as to what touch ups it needed (thankfully, VERY few).

All in all the unit looks great, if only we had leaned how to use it. So thankful for this forum, which I guess I will now be relying on quite heavily.

[Highway_4x4]

If I ever geta new TT I will check every switch, valve and everything. It will take at least 2 hours in bright sunlight and if anything is not right it will sit there till it is. I mean put water in the tank and check every valve. Plug it into elect and check all systems. A PDI is just that, a Pre Delivery Inspection of everything.

[Marsland]

And they wonder why RV and car people have a less than stellar reputations. Agree with those who say let someone in charge at the dealership know what went on. And use the tape to back it up. You've spent way too much money not to be happy with the experience.

As far as using the RV owners manual goes, they are usually so generic and cover the whole lineup as opposed to your specific model they are close to useless. Individual equipment manuals are better.

And never ever ever hesitate to post questions here.

Richard

[NolalSafari]

No excuse for being rude, but he may have done you a favor. With such an attitude the information he provided is suspect anyway. You now can read read the manuals and find out how to do things correctly without doing harm to your equipment or yourself, you can also review the warranty information provide by the OEM and know where to find their contact numbers. Yes complain to the dealer and let them know how you feel. Do ask any questions you have here but do not let this jerk sour you on enjoying your new RV.

[ktmrfs]

sorry for you experience. When we picked our up, they ONLY made morning appointments for initial walk through and told us to expect to take at least 3 hours and the salesperson would go through everything with us. Sales guy staid with us and went through stuff with us, DW found a few very minor items to fix. After almost 4 hours we had punched through the list, went to lunch, came back and checked out the items to be fixed and then were on our way.

they suggested that we could video tape any or all of the PDI if we wanted to as reference.

I'd go back to the dealer an insist on scheduling time for a quality walk through.

He and us went through every drawer, door, window, drape, appliance, etc. to make sure everything worked including things like hooking up to cable tv and verifying it worked. Verified fridge on propane/gas, same on WH, filled all the tanks then emptied them, crawled around on the roof and under the trailer and went through how to manually operate the slides.

they had a checklist of items to cover that was even more detailed than the one I had as a reference and was using as my guide. At no time did we feel rushed at all. Salesman was slow and methodical going through everything making sure he was covering everything.

[Ozark_Farmer]

We just bought a small TT that was the least expensive on the lot and the tech assigned to our PDI was just a kid (as in maybe 23 or 24) and my cranky old me was pre-disposed to expect a half arsed run through. What I got was a very thorough PDI covering virtually everything about the TT, how to keep out wasps and mice, tips on storage, where to go for our first camping excursion etc.

When I asked about some extra things I was thinking of he said they had some, he said Walmart had a good selection of stuff and he identified a couple of competitors stores as other sources. We couldnt be happier.

If I were the OP I would have walked away and told the tech to explain to his boss how his attitude cost them a sale.

[tspecs]

NanciL wrote:

tspecs wrote:
If you still have questions, just call the manager and schedule an appointment to have the questions answered and then take the trailer back to the dealer. Go through the trailer's features at home before you do this, and write down, make a list of all of your questions. Go over your list carefully, and you will find that many of the questions will be self explanatory. If you still have questions, just call the dealer's manager. Do not complain about the tech who did your walk through since he will possibly be the tech who will do your service/warranty work. The management will figure out that you received a fast shuffle on their own.

No way, I would point the jerk out in a heart beat, and he should be reprimanded or fired.
Most if not all of the appliances, fixtures, etc will be covered by any reputable dealer, and they love to get the warantee work.

Jack L

Hostility won't get the OP the desired results. A simpl request to the mgr. will be enough to tell them that they have a problem. The other thing is that maybe the tech is the owner's son or whatever. The best way is to have the management understand that they have a problem, and the best way to do that is with a simple " We need a much better walk through, we did not get the informatione we need to use our RV properly". Then, the mgr. will say " But you had a demo on your unit", and then the reply "We did not get a satisfactory demo and we did pay for one". At that point the tech will be toast.

[CavemanCharlie]

Take it back and make them do it the right way. Complain to the salesman. Tell him if he wants to sell anymore trailers and wants a good review from you he should not let that guy work with the customers anymore.

[NanciL]

tspecs wrote:
If you still have questions, just call the manager and schedule an appointment to have the questions answered and then take the trailer back to the dealer. Go through the trailer's features at home before you do this, and write down, make a list of all of your questions. Go over your list carefully, and you will find that many of the questions will be self explanatory. If you still have questions, just call the dealer's manager. Do not complain about the tech who did your walk through since he will possibly be the tech who will do your service/warranty work. The management will figure out that you received a fast shuffle on their own.

No way, I would point the jerk out in a heart beat, and he should be reprimanded or fired.
Most if not all of the appliances, fixtures, etc will be covered by any reputable dealer, and they love to get the warantee work.

Jack L

[LakeN]

Sorry your experience was so poor.....lots of good advice! Can you imagine having a PDI where the service guy pulls the black tank handle + out comes a rush of #&$#? This happened on a NEW motorhome purchased by friends. and yes.....it is on video!

[nunsie]

Sorry about your experience as well. Don't let it ruin your concept of camping or the dealer. Like others have said, contact manager and sales guy you purchased from and ask to bring trailer back for a proper walk thru. This might also help gain more experience driving with the trailer to determine if WD set-up is comfortable or if it needs adjusting. Good Luck and don't forget you have plenty of support here.

[pbohart]

Sorry to hear about your experience.

I have a very similar one with my RV purchase. I got a screaming deal on the unit so I chose to drive 3 hours to get it. They told me I could pick it up on Sunday.

When I got there they told me that since they sold it at such a low price it was a "Tow'n'go"...which meant they gave me no help at all setting up the hitch or walking me through the trailer. No PDI whatsoever.

Anyway...I found the video below very helpful. Your trailer is different, but I am sure there are tons of similarities between the Whitehawk and the Eagle.

Hope this helps:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPPjbCXPeiw

[2edgesword]

Very sorry to hear about your bad experience. There is no excuse for this type of treatment and as others have said I would let the dealer management know about the experience AND I would expect some type of compensation (three night stay at a local campground) to make up for the lack of service.

My wife and I purchased our first TT last year. We video recorded the PDI since we both realized there was no way we were going to remember all of the deals.

[jmatthews]

This kind of thing really makes me angry. When buying a new TT or any RV it should not matter whether you have 50 yrs expierence with them or 5 minutes. The dealer should be doing the customer service that is needed to make the new owners happy when they walk out. I did a video of my walk through. My walk through was very bad. I refused to put my name on the paper when they said did we go through this or that system. After being there for almost 5 hrs total I just could not take anymore so I took delivery and went home. It is really sad how once they make the sale you are just another sale and no more worries for the dealer. I have a couple problems that I have dealt with my local dealer and they have been fantastic. If you are new at this please take your time get online ask any questions here you may have. The folks here are very helpful and will guide you along the way. remember the internet is only a click away. Be safe.
I bought the book Travel trailers for dummies when I first started and it helped a lot. make a list also of the things you need to do and if possible do a dry run at home this way you can make the mistake at the house and oops run back in and fix.

One other thing dont be too alarmed if you get a couple leaks or things are not quite perfect the first couple times out. Even though it is new the small things still creep up. Like not have a fresh water hose or a blank tank sewer hose when you get there. Most places will have a camp store and will have the main necessities if you forget anything. And your neighbors at the campgrounds will probably be very helpful as well.

GOOD Luck and Happy Camping

[aclay]

I've bought two RV's so far and both times the service person was very good about answering questions. The second time was faster, as the guy was moving along, and I knew more than the first time, but he always stopped when I asked questions. He said at the outset that he wanted to spend as much time as I wanted to and that he hoped I would have a nice comment to his manager. So he he was motivated to make sure I was happy.

Like others have said, I'm sure the service and/or sales manager would like to hear about your experience. They get a lot of business from word of mouth.