Old NW RV Dealer Sold

[huntr70]

Blue Dog RV (all locations) was recently purchased by RV Retailers.

[rootusrootus]

Blue Dog RV (all locations) was recently purchased by RV Retailers.

Looks like they're keeping the local management, and RV Retailer doesn't operate stores under that brand, they keep the branding on the stores they acquire. Different style from Lazydays, who AFAICT is rebranding B.Young.

[huntr70]

Looks like they're keeping the local management, and RV Retailer doesn't operate stores under that brand, they keep the branding on the stores they acquire. Different style from Lazydays, who AFAICT is rebranding B.Young.

Yes, the only reason I know is that there is one oddball store here in PA. They didn't want it, but it was all or nothing. I expect it will close at the end of this year.

[rootusrootus]

Yes, the only reason I know is that there is one oddball store here in PA. They didn't want it, but it was all or nothing. I expect it will close at the end of this year.

Yeah I never could understand why they opened up a store in PA. I guess like everyone else they thought they'd expand their footprint. Just seemed odd to pick a geographically distant spot instead of incrementally growing around their existing territory. It was slightly irritating (but only slightly) because when I was looking for a rig I could assume that anything anywhere in Bluedog's inventory was fair game. Except PA, I'm not driving that far to pick up an RV. Several times I found exactly what I was looking for ... at their PA store. LOL

[metalvelo]

I'm in Portland. We purchased our G.D trailer from B.Young almost 5 years ago. From sales to service I've never had anything but a positive experiences there over the years. . I'll be curious to see how this sale affects things down there. I don't know much about Lazy Days except the name.

[fez111]

It's interesting that a dealer would actually refuse to do warranty work for a customer that is not their own. I guess if they are drowning in customers they can afford to do that, but otherwise I'd expect them to embrace the opportunity to get someone on premises where they can pitch them on a new RV, or at least just try to make a happy future customer out of them.

Its much worse than you think. We bought a 'new-to-us' 2016 Solitude 379FL in early 2017. It was still under warranty but the recliner footrests were disintegrating with the (fake) leather tearing as the pressed wood came apart. There was a toilet issue as well. GD authorized new recliners and a toilet, but NO ONE, not even GD dealers would offer a time slot until the off season because we didn't buy from them, and then only after all of the people who actually bought their units from them
tapered off. It is very frustrating. I installed everything myself under the name of my DBA.

[mbergthold]

We bought our 2500 from BYoung in Woodland. At 68, I don't plan on buying another RV. If I can get warranty work done by the local trailer repair shop rather than a dealer, who owns them makes no difference to me.

I have used BYoung Woodland's service dept one time, and surprisingly it went well. We had a cracked window which neither they or us saw during delivery, and after providing photos showing the location and measurements, they ordered the window and let me know it had arrived and we agreed on an appointment time. I took it in, they left it hooked to my truck, and were done in less than 90 minutes. I then drove to Les Schwab and had them remove the Westlake 205/75R15s and mount the Carlisle 225/75R15s and the Ford TPMS senders. It worked out great. Granted, it was only a window, a relatively minor item, but they worked with me and I appreciated that.

[mlwerner]

I purchased my 375RES from B. Young at an end-of-season RV show back in 2018. While I was able to negotiate a fairly decent price (only because I agreed to purchase the floor model that they did not want on their lot over the winter), that was the only part of my experience with them that was positive. Once the sale was complete, they could not care less about me as a customer, including issues I encountered with my RV. I learned too late that their customer service reputation was abysmal. It took well over a year to get any attention whatsoever. I finally began sharing my dissatisfaction far and wide in the greater Portland area. It was only after my "service" rep changed was I able to have anything addressed. The replacement rep explained that the prior rep was a member of the family who owned B. Young and really was not interested customer service, instead spending every possible spare moment doing his own non-business "thing". The family ended up "promoting" him to some other position.

One response on this thread that I read was also spot on. B. Young was way over-priced for their service and accessories. I ended up taking my business with Johnson RV out of Sandy, OR. They have been truly phenomenal. They have even been willing to do remote servicing of my RV. I was first encouraged to give them a try when I had an insurance claim. The adjuster told me that he has had nothing but great success every time he has interfaced with them and he highly recommended them. Man, was he telling the truth!!! Frank, the head of the Service Department, in my opinion, is a true breath of fresh air in the Service industry. He truly cares about his customers and does what he can to meet the service needs.

I hope that those who will use Lazydays in Portland and Vancouver will have a better experience that what I had with B. Young. If not, give Johnson RV a try for your service needs.

[schindew]

I just got an email from our selling dealer, B. Young RV in Portland, Oregon that they just sold out to Lazydays. B. Young has been around the Portland area for many years and just last year, built a new facility another location just north of Vancouver Washington. I always thought that B. Young had a good reputation and we have been happy with our 2 purchases from them. As many of you know,Lazydays is a large nationwide dealer and I am wondering what you all feel about this bigger fish buying a much smaller dealer? I hope things don't change for the worse but I suspect the large corporate giant will change the culture of the much smaller dealership.

As far as I'm concerned B-Young (Woodland WA) is in for a rude awakening. I have a recall on my 337RLS and they wont work on it because I didn't buy it from them (it was purchased at the Portland area store from the previous owner). They told me that they were only taking care of their own customers and they didn't know when they would be able to look at mine. They said to call back in three or four months and see if anything changes. I'll tell you whats going to change...I will never give them a dime of my money. I'm sure I'm not the only one that thinks this is a very bad business model. Jim.

[JKellerJr]

Probably not going to be a popular opinion but I'm just curious on what some would do if they were in charge.

So you own a RV business and your service department is backed up for months already, everybody has decided that they want to rv so there are a bunch of newbies out there that require more hand holding. The manufacturers are pumping them out at a unprecedented clip, no doubt not even meeting their previous dubious build quality standards, causing even more repairs that have to be done. As talked about everywhere you cant hire any help, let alone qualified help, and if you could you can't just build new service bays overnight even if you had the space to do so.

What do you do? Give your customers priority or push them off to prioritize someone who bought somewhere else, maybe on the off chance you'll gain a new customer? Pretty easy decision in my book.