Local dealer refuses warranty work since I bought elsewhere?!?!?

[kizler]

Anybody run into this, and find a way to "win" the situation?

I bought from BlueDog, and my nearest GD dealer is RV Country. Blue Dog is 4 hours away from me, and RVCountry is 1 hour...

Called RV Country to make an appt today- they told me that they are under no way to work on anything sold by Blue Dog- ever. It sounds like Blue Dog sold in their market or something and management cancelled any customers that bought from BD. They also refused to do the work at customer pay- which was shocking.

I have a black tank valve that has never worked (unit is 7 weeks old) and now the NHTSA Federal Recall for the LP Quick Connect- and Grand Design's nearest dealer won't address either. I am SHOCKED and am considering looking into legal recourse against GD, Blue Dog, and RV Country. At this point, if I could unwind this whole purchase, I would.

Anybody else run into this, and did Grand Design do ANYTHING to support their customers, or just their dealers?

[Soundsailor]

Anybody run into this, and find a way to "win" the situation?

I bought from BlueDog, and my nearest GD dealer is RV Country. Blue Dog is 4 hours away from me, and RVCountry is 1 hour...

Called RV Country to make an appt today- they told me that they are under no way to work on anything sold by Blue Dog- ever. It sounds like Blue Dog sold in their market or something and management cancelled any customers that bought from BD. They also refused to do the work at customer pay- which was shocking.

I have a black tank valve that has never worked (unit is 7 weeks old) and now the NHTSA Federal Recall for the LP Quick Connect- and Grand Design's nearest dealer won't address either. I am SHOCKED and am considering looking into legal recourse against GD, Blue Dog, and RV Country. At this point, if I could unwind this whole purchase, I would.

Anybody else run into this, and did Grand Design do ANYTHING to support their customers, or just their dealers?

First off, I feel your frustration. Hopefully, you'll find some sort of satisfactory solution. Do you have any mobile techs in your area? My dealer has a six months backlog of work. But they were able to recommend a mobile tech who is helping me through a warranty situation much more quickly.

BTW: From your description, it sounds like there's more going on between those two dealers than your warranty claim. What does GD say? My experience with them has been very positive, GD has handled my warranty claim with reasonable speed.

[kizler]

I left a message with GD and haven't heard back yet.

[SSROSS]

I have the same sort of situation here, when I was looking to buy I have a RV Country 30 minutes away and a Blue Dog 6 hours away. Blue Dog knocked off 25% off MSRP and so I offered RV Country a chance to meet their offer figuring if they got even close I would buy from them. They were only willing to knock off $2000 and said that was the best they could do. They also warned me if I bought from Blue Dog they would not be willing to do any warranty work for me. I have a independent RV repair shop 15 minutes from the house and they are willing to do repairs, all they do is call Grand Design and get authorization. Like Soundsailor said, I think there is some bad blood between these two dealers. I know RV Country didn’t have anything good to say about Blue Dog when I told them I was going buy from them.

[NB Canada]

You will have zero legal recourse

Dealers are private businesses and Grand Design will have zero influence on them

GD needs the dealers not the other way around
There are lots of manufacturers to sell

I am 13 hours away from my dealer and I knew going in I would have to fix things myself


2021 Imagine 2400 BH
2018 GMC Sierra 4x4 crew

[kizler]

This is so bad, and when the pandemic flow stops and all of these used units are available, and the dealers have to compete with heavily discounted units- suddenly service will matter again. I've spent $155k on RV's this past 15 months, and the quality, dealer follow up, service- all of it has gone to crap from just 8 years ago when I got my first travel trailer. Its really sad- I think the damage this easy money approach will do to this pasttime long term is awful.

[JKellerJr]

You will have zero legal recourse

Dealers are private businesses and Grand Design will have zero influence on them

GD needs the dealers not the other way around
There are lots of manufacturers to sell

I am 13 hours away from my dealer and I knew going in I would have to fix things myself


2021 Imagine 2400 BH
2018 GMC Sierra 4x4 crew

Yep, I agree. This is the risk you take when not buying local. It's not like automobiles and dealers are under no obligation to service the unit. Not saying it's right or wrong it just is.

GD has been known to approve mobile tech's when you have issues with local dealers but its not guaranteed.

[SSROSS]

Well when the bottom falls out on the sales side they will soon find out how important service is, just look at the auto industry. When I take my vehicles in for service right now they are willing to bend over backwards to make me happy. Service is the only thing that keeps them going right now. I think the RV industry is going to learn this very soon.

[huntindog]

Yep, I agree. This is the risk you take when not buying local. It's not like automobiles and dealers are under no obligation to service the unit. Not saying it's right or wrong it just is.

GD has been known to approve mobile tech's when you have issues with local dealers but its not guaranteed.

Which is why Price is my #1 priority when buying an RV. These things have wheels for a reason. I will most likely be far away from home when something goes wrong anyway.... It is nice to have some cash in my pocket saved on the purchase price to deal with it

[Toy4Rick]

When we bought ours, I was telling the local dealer that I was willing to drive 60 miles away to save $4k, they said what about warranty work... I said you guys are a GD authorized dealer, I will be bringing it to you, they said, OK, we will match the price

I find it odd they won't service it as they get paid the same

Now, if they take their purchase customers first and the next available appoint is 6 months out, that is a different story

Good luck


Rick