Had a call last night from a friend, who is on his way to join us for a few days, taking his first trip ever in his brand new Tiffin motor home.  He just bought it from Vogt RV in Fort Worth.  This is his very first RV of any kind.  He asked them to have it ready for him to take specifically including putting some water in the tank.  

First off, they made no attempt of any kind to walk him through the coach or the systems.  Secondly they delivered the coach with nothing, fuel, propane, water, nothing.  He found out about the water low point drain being open, the hard way.  He found out about the bi-pass valve on the water heater, by calling me and perhaps the hard way as far as the electrical element is concerned.  Fortunately, they may have closed the propane valve when they drained the HW heater which they explained to him over the phone this morning after his first night on the road in his new ($) RV with no hot water.

The point of my rant is that I bought this used (not new like my friend's) Beaver from Beaver Coach Sales of Oregon and my experience was much different.  I got the idea from BCS that they were not going to let me have the coach until they did at least a 4 hour walk through and covered every system!  I had been full timing for a year then in another product but, yes, the Beaver was much more coach so I welcomed the time to go through it.  It gave me the opportunity to learn plus I knew that when I rolled out of there everything was working.  Ah, to recreate that moment!  Anyway, I did know a lot about the coach before I left with it and BCS did a great job of making that happen.  

My friend and I also talked about having someone at the dealer that he could call for help (not).  I directed him to Tiffin for support, never the dealer I said, then stopped to think who I would call...certainly not Monaco.  So I am telling him the exact opposite of what I would do.

My point is that Beaver Coach Sales truly is a cut above and situations like this cause me to appreciate them.  Although I know I could not have persuaded him to go that far for his first coach, I know he would have been well served if I would have prevailed in sending him there.

Just a thought for anyone with a friend buying his first coach.

Bruce      

I agree 100% with Bruce about Beaver Coach Sales. I bought my coach from them in 2004 and they were the most thorough and competent dealer that I have ever dealt with, and most importantly they were totally honest in every phase of the transaction.

Gerald

I bought my Beaver used at Giant RV in Traveland USA (Irvine, CA.) and the salesman was great I passed on the "extended warranty" and so my first trip out, the electric (front) curtain motor broke and when I took it in to have them fix it, they said "sorry, but the motor manufacturer is no longer in business I wasn't to happy to hear that! So just for the heck of it, I googled the company (AM-SOURCE) and found them, talked to the owner of the company and they sent me a new ($320) motor in two days!! Just seemed to me that once I wrote them a check, they didn't want to see back with a little problem!

Tiffin was one of the companies we considered before we bought our coach, and I think I can confidently say, from the research we did, that  (Bob) Tiffin would be extremely displeased to discover one of their dealers had so neglected a buyer of one of their new coaches.  I agree that BCS has set the bar high in the customer satisfaction dept., and it would surprise me to hear any other dealer met that standard.  We are spoiled and find it difficult to imagine any reputable dealer would not provide a standard "walk through".  And how on earth could Vogt have the gall to not properly introduce a totally inexperienced customer to RV systems in general, at the very least?  Not providing full tanks when delivering a new vehicle is inexuseable, and may even be in violation of law or RVIA rules and standards.  They should be reported to the RVIA.

If he bought it in Ft. Worth, perhaps it would behoove him to scoot over I-20, up the Natchez Trace Pkwy, and down I-78 to northwest Alabama and Red Bay.  I'm sure the Tiffin factory staff would go out of their way to give him a great learning experience.  Barring that, I'm sure that when he arrives to join you, Bruce, you will provide a welcome resource and teach him the dos and don'ts.  That's what friends and forums are for  .