Dutchmen Customer Service

[franktafl]

marketing!

[TonyB]

Getting a sales or marketing manager is not the problem. They collect money. It's getting a Customer Service Division Manager that is the problem. I can talk all day long to the local customer service guy. he is as useful as balls on the pope. I need someone in Customer Service management at a corporate level. The customer service people at keystoneRV.com are the low level people that wont give their bosses name or phone number.I need someone at least at division manager level. Maybe since no one there does anything for a living, they dont need a division manager.

[BYTchick]

Please forgive me if I am screwing this up. I am new to forums and new to owning a travel trailer. We purchased a brand new Coleman 1605FB at the end of July 2017. It started leaking 5 days after purchase. Camping World Service Dept fixed it and we went on vacation a few days later. During vacation it began leaking in another location with water coming thru an interior light and speaker. We took it back to Camping World where it sat for a month with nothing being done. They said Coleman hadn't approved the warranty work. Now the passenger side wall is delaminating...everywhere. We decided to pick it up from CW so we could use it (and put the new license plates on) with plans to return it after camping season. We've only had it 71 days! First, is this normal? Camping World's behavior has been unethical and shocking. They said travel trailers aren't built to be traveled in! Really? Dutchmen said CW is responsible. Should we take a loss and unload this trailer ASAP? Any advice would be much appreciated. We LOVE camping BTW. It has been the bright spot in this horrible mess.

[snakebitten]

Nothing to forgive you for. You are simply telling your story to the folks that share your frustration. (Which sadly, won't stop a leak)

You won't like my advice, but I promise you that it IS what I would do.

I would either TAKE THE HIT financially, and then force myself to get over it and not let it fester inside of me.......poison is nasty stuff, no purchased item is worth it...............OR, If I really love that camper and would buy it again if I somehow KNEW it was going to be dry, I'd fix it. Myself. Or get someone I trust to fix it.

The only problem with option number two is that your description indicates that the leak has already done damage that I wouldn't be willing to address. (delamination) I feel confident in climbing up on my roof and using products that are easily obtainable to make my roof weather proof. Believe me, the guys at the factory are no technically skilled craftsmen. The Coleman TT's that don't leak weren't done much better than the ones that do. Stuff is globbed on haphazardly, if you go up there and look.

Told ya. You wouldn't like my opinion. I don't like it ether. But I can't stomach the heartbreak and frustration that you are being subjected to. It just hurts my feelings too much. Determination tastes better in my mouth than getting cheated or made to feel like your problems don't matter.

Regardless, good luck!
Can't wait for a future post from you someday with pictures and stories about how much fun you are having RVing.

[BYTchick]

Determination tastes better in my mouth than getting cheated or made to feel like your problems don't matter.

*****Amen to that!!
I really appreciate your advice. This whole thing has been eye opening. We've been leaning towards the "take the loss" option. I guess we'll take it back to Camping World for the winter and hope that the warranty work gets done. And then trade it in this spring. I have no idea what to trade it in for? After reading so many terrible reviews and forums, it sounds like the RV industry sucks. All I know for sure is that we will never be going back to Camping World to buy anything.

[franktafl]

You don't need to take the loss since the vehicle is new. You can always write TRAILER LIFE MAGAZINE, I am sure they would LOVE to hear your story. Don't give up the fight, take it to another dealer.

[Brown Lantern]

Originally Posted by BYTchick

...All I know for sure is that we will never be going back to Camping World to buy anything.

As a recent buyer of a 2018 Coleman from Camping World I feel your pain. Keeping my 1805RB dry on the inside has been a constant battle due to inferior assembly at the factory. Look through my posts and you will see 4 months of constant repairs and struggles with dealers. But it has also been 4 months of trips to the mountains with my granddaughter and a trip to the beach with my wife. Don't let them do this to you without a fight. Most people roll over and play dead and that's why they do it. After much research I have determined that the RVIA owns congress and they do as they please and get what they want.



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[BYTchick]

Originally Posted by franktafl

You don't need to take the loss since the vehicle is new. You can always write TRAILER LIFE MAGAZINE, I am sure they would LOVE to hear your story. Don't give up the fight, take it to another dealer.

Trust me...it's definitely used in CW's eyes. LOL They only mentioned it 50 times when we went back with a leak 5 days after purchase. They said it was now titled and therefore used. They wouldn't make it right with a replacement. I don't think I've ever been treated so poorly as a human being. I'm pretty sure they thought we were a joke.

Trailer Life is a good idea! I'll look into it. TY

[BYTchick]

[QUOTE=Brown Lantern;55676]As a recent buyer of a 2018 Coleman from Camping World I feel your pain. Keeping my 1805RB dry on the inside has been a constant battle due to inferior assembly at the factory. Look through my posts and you will see 4 months of constant repairs and struggles with dealers. But it has also been 4 months of trips to the mountains with my granddaughter and a trip to the beach with my wife. Don't let them do this to you without a fight. Most people roll over and play dead and that's why they do it. After much research I have determined that the RVIA owns congress and they do as they please and get what they want.

Oh no. That's not encouraging. You do know my pain then. And anger. I will look thru your posts! I think you may be right about RVIA owning congress, because it's shocking what they get away with. We're not protected at all.
We've been enjoying trips in ours despite the fact that it's falling apart too. LOL We took it back to CW after owning it 21 days and gave them a month to do the repairs. It just sat on their lot. Nothing. We decided to take it back when we realized they'd had possession of it longer than we did and we owned it!! I pray those repairs get done this winter, but I don't know what to think anymore.

Are you planning on keeping yours or have you thought about trading?

[Brown Lantern]

RV dealers and manufacturers have this thing where once you leave the lot it's instantly your baby. So if there is a poorly sealed area on the roof and you go into a major rainstorm on your way home from the dealer and it leaks in your RV, it may be your fault due to improper maintenance. They may or may not repair the damage.

If the sunroof in your new car leaked on the way home from a car dealer you would expect them to repair the leak and any damage it caused. Right?

The difference astounds me. Many people justify it by saying RV's are complicated beasts. Well, a new diesel pickup with all it's turbos, computers and safety systems is way more complicated than most new travel trailers.

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[Brown Lantern]

Forgot to answer your question [emoji3] We thought about trading but poor quality and manufacturers ignoring the warranty is an industry wide problem, I wouldn't know what brand to replace it with or where to make the purchase.

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[BYTchick]

Originally Posted by Brown Lantern

RV dealers and manufacturers have this thing where once you leave the lot it's instantly your baby. So if there is a poorly sealed area on the roof and you go into a major rainstorm on your way home from the dealer and it leaks in your RV, it may be your fault due to improper maintenance. They may or may not repair the damage.

If the sunroof in your new car leaked on the way home from a car dealer you would expect them to repair the leak and any damage it caused. Right?

The difference astounds me. Many people justify it by saying RV's are complicated beasts. Well, a new diesel pickup with all it's turbos, computers and safety systems is way more complicated than most new travel trailers.

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IKR !!! As a newbie, we had no idea this was the way the RV industry worked or we may have decided to stick to cruises and condos.
CW said repeatedly that travel trailers weren't built to be traveled in. WTH? There is no logic in that statement!! But in the end, I guess they were right since ours is falling apart. So pathetic.

[franktafl]

Originally Posted by BYTchick

IKR !!! As a newbie, we had no idea this was the way the RV industry worked or we may have decided to stick to cruises and condos.
CW said repeatedly that travel trailers weren't built to be traveled in. WTH? There is no logic in that statement!! But in the end, I guess they were right since ours is falling apart. So pathetic.

I do believe there is a lemon law for RV's also. Don't back down, you spent a lot of $$$ on that thing so make them make it right. By the way, ALL RV's are not that way.

Burdge Law Office :: How to Get Rid of Your Lemon RV

[lcv800]

Heart goes out to you. A lot of cash laid out. I agree with the previous posts; don't give up. Perhaps CW general or regional manager can help you with a trade-in/upgrade. If not, try a different RV repair facility, like General. Sometimes you get more personal and better service at a small, private dealer/repair facility as opposed to "big box" dealers. It may be worth the drive for you to travel and find one. I too was surprised that warranty work isn't performed like it is on autos, where some dealerships won't even work on an RV they didn't sell, let alone the poor quality and number of hoops you have to jump thru. For what it's worth, it doesn't matter what brand you buy (within the same reasonable price), there are good units and lemons. Probably more good than lemons, you just don't hear about them. They all have some issues, especially when you figure that they aren't built like houses, yet we drag them all over, on and off road. Things will always loosen, break, or leak. You just have to stay on top of them, otherwise in 6 months you have a piece of junk; especially with leaks. Thankfully we were lucky, as our 3990 is 3 years old, lived in full time six month each year, and has 14,000 miles on it with no major issues other than those I created (don't want to hex myself). Keep up the good fight, and good luck. You have a bunch of people on this site that will help you resolve most any issue. Worst case, drive out to Aaron's place, he can fix anything!!
Rusty

[franktafl]

Originally Posted by franktafl

I do believe there is a lemon law for RV's also. Don't back down, you spent a lot of $$$ on that thing so make them make it right. By the way, ALL RV's are not that way.

Burdge Law Office :: How to Get Rid of Your Lemon RV

Here's the Indiana lemon law

http://www.lemonlawamerica.com/indiana-lemon-law

[Brown Lantern]

Originally Posted by franktafl

Ask them to arrange with a dealer all of the repairs they need to do. Get a letter of introduction from them with the dealer's name in it with whom they have made the arrangements. There usually is a district manager for Dutchmen sales and he can also coordinate. he was instrumental when we purchased our RV in getting us the things we wanted.

Originally Posted by franktafl

I do believe there is a lemon law for RV's also. Don't back down, you spent a lot of $$$ on that thing so make them make it right. By the way, ALL RV's are not that way.

Burdge Law Office :: How to Get Rid of Your Lemon RV

Great link and I actually got a replacement car once with TN's lemon law but...where they get you is most lemon laws require a certain number of attempted repairs by a dealer within the warranty period before the lemon law takes effect. I have yet to get a dealer to even attempt to repair mine. One quarter of my factory warranty is gone and no dealer has attempted repair. My first problem, the cross-threaded lug bolt occurred a week after my purchase.

[franktafl]

Originally Posted by Brown Lantern

Great link and I actually got a replacement car once with TN's lemon law but...where they get you is most lemon laws require a certain number of attempted repairs by a dealer within the warranty period before the lemon law takes effect. I have yet to get a dealer to even attempt to repair mine. One quarter of my factory warranty is gone and no dealer has attempted repair. My first problem, the cross-threaded lug bolt occurred a week after my purchase.

maybe it matters that they attempted the repair or not (in some cases). The fact about YOU having them attempt the repairs you can say that you brought it in for repair X number of times and it still has not been repaired.

[Brown Lantern]

Originally Posted by franktafl

maybe it matters that they attempted the repair or not (in some cases). The fact about YOU having them attempt the repairs you can say that you brought it in for repair X number of times and it still has not been repaired.

I hope so. My repairs are supposed to begin by the middle of October. But as they say, I ain't holding my breath.

[sundancer 87]

This is a sad story for sure. It makes one wonder how these bastards sleep at night.

I've been stuck in this situation before with autos and motorcycles. A few times I was escorted from the showroom floor, seems they didn't like the loud mouthing that was going on about their crappy service and products.

I think they have a contest to see who can come up with the biggest load of BS to tell us.
Your Travel Trailer isn't supposed to be traveled in and I was told my toy hauler with all the rated insulation and furnace wasn't supposed to be used in temperatures below 32 degrees.
I'm sure there are other unbelievable excuses that had been said to prevent being a real stand up type of service.

[BYTchick]

Originally Posted by Brown Lantern

Great link and I actually got a replacement car once with TN's lemon law but...where they get you is most lemon laws require a certain number of attempted repairs by a dealer within the warranty period before the lemon law takes effect. I have yet to get a dealer to even attempt to repair mine. One quarter of my factory warranty is gone and no dealer has attempted repair. My first problem, the cross-threaded lug bolt occurred a week after my purchase.

Exactly. When we checked into the lemon law, we were told the same thing. They're allowed so many attempts to fix the problem. So I guess we were supposed to leave our brand new camper ~21 days after purchase~ for MONTHS over at Camper World waiting to be fixed. While tick tock, the warranty is disappearing? I don't think so.