RV wrecked on delivery- dealer insists we keep it

if you buy an RV and it's delivered damaged do you have to keep it the answer may surprise you we didn't know that when it was being delivered to us they were going to wreck it welcome to the channel I'm Liz I have been rving since the 80s and I have been making videos about the good and bad in the RV industry helping people especially that have had problems with their new RVs today we're going to talk about how buying an RV is not like buying a TV I'll have more to say about that later as well as the dealers side of this situation Stacy's story is a cautionary tale with mistakes made and Lessons Learned mark my fiance has been camping since he was about 3 years old has owned 11 campers including the one that we have now I started camping in my teen years and have owned four campers with him since we've been together we wanted to find a camper that would be our retirement camper something that we could be able to stay here in Ohio in the summertime spend time with our family and be able to travel so we located a 2021 ja Pinnacle fifth wheel at Harry Town RV in Grand Rapids Michigan it was a unit that that had never been used was brand new leftover unit sitting on the lot and I fell in love with the camper I mean it has a beautiful sitting room in the front has two fireplaces within it it just had the perfect setup for what my family needed at that time we had looked at probably 25 different dealerships and chose Grand Rapids now we wish we wouldn't have started the process of dealing with a Salesman there it was a great experience in the beginning he was very eager to help us purchase the unit when we had talked to the salesman he told me there was a couple of other people that were interested in the unit so we needed to put a deposit down on it immediately and this was like a Saturday Sunday that he was actually talking to me the dealership wasn't even open on Sunday and he asked me to run a credit card to put a deposit down on the unit so that it would be held eventually made arrangements to travel the six hours from where we were located to the dealership to do the walkth through they had sent us the VIN number and stuff for the unit that we were going to purchase when we got to the dealership they could not locate the camper with that VIN number so that was kind of a red flag for us then after 3 hours of going back and forth with the salesman he told me that there must have been a mistake a mess up somewhere but they would do whatever they could to make it right Mark had excited at that point that he wasn't really sure we wanted to go through with this because it wasn't really the unit we wanted as we continue with the story I'm going to be sharing with you the dealers side this is from Matt courtman who's the general manager of Terrytown upon visiting our dealership and seeing the fifth wheel for the first time they noticed several missing options and features pictures of another 2021 Pinnacle with different options and features had been mistakenly posted on our website the customer understandably assumed that the items pictured on the website were included with the trailer that they were looking at however the fifth wheel pictured had been sold so the unit with fewer options was the only one available once the mistake had been identified we continued working with the customers we took responsibility for the missing equipment agreed to install some of those features and even threw in some of those with no charge at all or a substantial discount we offered the option of canceling the transaction thus informed the customers made the decision to proceed with the purchase they made arrangements to provide on the unit that they had on the lot the stuff that we wanted they agreed to let us bring the paperwork home to sign so we left and came home our camp season opens in April out here and we actually live in our unit from the 1st of April till the 1 of November March 24th they had made arrangements to bring it to us and they had hired a Transport company to bring it he was about 15 minutes from our campsite where it was going to go and there was a overpass bridge that was clearly marked with a height level our camper at the time was approximately 13.5 is what they measured it at and he thought that he could still make it under the bridge and when he did he wrecked our brand new camper he hit hard enough that the lady that lives in the house close to the bridge heard it and actually came out and helped him back the unit back out from underneath of the bridge he left the scene he didn't even stay there and called the cops when he got here he brought to the campsite I saw that the air conditioning unit lid was split back he jumped out of his truck immediately and apologized told us that he had wrecked the camper he had paperwork in the truck with him that we were supposed to get we were supposed to sign off on and I told him he could keep the paperwork and he could keep the unit we had not purchased a damaged unit nor were we taking a damaged unit he did let us go in the unit and look the air conditioning on the top had actually shoved down through the center of the roof from the top and had split the roof the um wood braces that are in the roof of the ceiling were cracked all the way through from the front of the camper to the restroom part of the camper there was wood chips and stuff all over the upper part of the camper and we couldn't even get the slides out he had contacted one of the owners not sure if she was the owner or who she was at ter town she handled the insurance and stuff up there and because there was a deposit put on the camper basically they stated that was our way of saying that we were going to be taking the unit well we were but we didn't know that when it was being delivered to us they were going to wreck it Stacey maintains that all they did was put a deposit on it they didn't actually purchase it well this is what the dealer has to say the customers had much more than just a deposit or a vague intent to buy they legally owned this fifth wheel the purchase agreement title application and bank finance contract were all signed and dated March 6th 2023 more than two weeks prior and she told him that you know he needed to find a place here to put the unit down and that we needed to turn it into our insurance and I wasn't doing that because I wasn't the one that wrecked it it had never even been unattached from the tow company's vehicle like when he pulled in here Terry town was very insistent with Brad that he needed to find a place here to set the unit down because it was basically our problem to deal with it was snowing there was really no place for us to store it where it wasn't going to be damaged even more I had asked about the cops being contacted and he had told us at that point that they hadn't B so we had notified the state highway patrol and he came out basically told the tow driver too the same thing you need to take this unit back this couple didn't purchase a damage direct unit and they're not going to keep it he did turn around and take it back to Terry town the customer's refusal to accept the fifth wheel does not change the fact that it was already their property before the driver hooked up to it now this is where buying an RV is much different than buying a TV you can go online you can order a TV it can arrive damaged guess what you don't have to take it but it doesn't work that way and I think what happened with Stacy in buying the RV is she thought if she didn't sign off for it with the transport driver she didn't have to accept it but as the dealer said she already legally owned it before she received it I kept dealing with Brad hrich the driver and he had just kept telling me that he was waiting on his insurance company to come out out and evaluate it to determine what to do from that point while it was sitting on Terry Town's lot the day that it went back it was snowing he drove through a horrible snowstorm to get it back to the dealership we had no idea if the unit was parked in a garage up there sitting outside in all the snow fa town was insistent on even though we had not signed the paper that the camper was ours was not going to take no for an answer they refused to replace the unit they had told us that they had sold our tradein unit so they we weren't getting it back either because we had asked since they had damaged ours if we could just have our trade back and we just go back to the way it was and they said that it was sold we had to keep the unit that we had they would not replace it even though they had another unit identical to the one that we got sitting on their lot they would not provide us with the rental units they would not provide us with uh replacement units they would not help us out at all we paid out of our own Pockets to rent units so that we had place to live the dealer continues to assert that the RV belonged to the customers they had completed their purchase they had signed legally binding title and financing documents the deal had even been processed through the state of Michigan I double check with Stacy and I said hey is there any proof that you have that you did not sign those documents on March 6 and no she doesn't have any proof she just says that that March 6th date is not accurate and I really think this just goes back to that she didn't want to buy a damaged RV and when it arrived she probably probably felt hey I don't have to accept it because that's not what I bought this is very unfortunate but even damaged that r v belonged to Mark and Stacy we will talk more as we go on as to how these mistakes can be avoided for anyone out there who's shopping for an RV so in July we received the unit back here on the lot it still had issues there's marks from where it had hit and scratched or the ladders when they were working on the unit had scratched the paint and stuff off the front of the camper the ceiling inside still has issues door knobs that had been bounced off when the wreck hit they had bounced off cupboard doors and left imprints from the door knobs door handles that were broke we came out and met with an insurance adjuster here about two months ago it's the first time we had been in the unit since we had closed in November and the ceiling tiles in the bedroom that they had fixed are starting to fall in it's been it's not even been six months since they replaced it and we're already having issues with the camper so what happens in five six years down the road are we going to continue to have problems is it going to leak you know where are we going to be then dealer says the customer accepted the fifth wheel upon delivery to its destination and noted concerns about the fifth wheel with our service team some time afterward both our team and an adjuster from the transport company's insurance provider has since concurred that these issues were not caused by or related to the accident just want my unit fixed take it back go over it make sure that everything works everything is taken care of you know we have wrinkles on the roof already that are very noticeable this was $153,000 unit that's huge you know and that's something that as a retirement home you work hard to get to have and I don't want the issues that's going to come with it I mean you pay that kind of money for a unit and you don't expect it to be damaged first of all and then you expect it to be fixed properly when you get it back Progressive Insurance is the insurance company that the gentleman had that wrecked the camper and they told us that Terry Town guaranteed them 100% satisfaction and we are not 100% satisfied like just fix it if you're not going to take it back and you're not going to give us a new unit then fix this one given that these issues are likely covered by the manufacturer's warranty the customers were offered the option to schedule a service appointment at our dealership which of course would necessitate a return to Michigan at their expense however the customers can also have repairs completed locally under warranty provided the manufacturer guidelines are followed we advise the customers of these options more than once as recently as November 2023 because the customers are unwilling or unable to move the unit from its campsite to a qualified repair facility even a local one they are demanding that our dealership provide free service or a new RV H sight to go back over this we would have provided ourselves with a vehicle to go call our own camper so that we would not be in the situation that we're currently in I think a lot of these problems could have been avoided not just by having a truck which would have been so helpful particularly since they were going to travel but also by shopping at a local dealer sometimes people will be like oh I'll save a few thousand by driving a few hundred miles in Stacy and Mark's case it was a 6-hour one-way drive that can come back to bite you I highly recommend maybe paying a little bit more but at least having a dealer that's closer and more accessible what was supposed to be a retirement home that was supposed to be exciting for us has turned out to be a a nightmare for us Stacy reached out to me in the hopes that I could help them get a replacement RV or at least get this one fixed this is a painful lesson and my heart goes out to her but there's really nothing I can do buying an RV is not like buying a TV I want to thank TerryTown RV in Grand rapis Michigan for responding to my requests for for more information and providing documentation to back up their side of the story and I want to thank Stacy for sharing her story Lessons Learned as painful as it was so here's my update on the lipip situation if you're one of the few people on the planet that missed that video I received a cease and desist order from liard I guess I should say a letter cuz it wasn't an order but it was from attorneys demanding I take down two videos what what was upsetting Lippert is I read some very alarming comments from an informant who works in the industry so what I did in response to the cease and desist is hey I don't need that aggravation I'm just a little YouTuber here I'm just trying to enjoy life so I edited both videos and removed the informance comments if you found this video valuable please like subscribe and share let me know any questions you have or any RV shopping tips that you may have in the comments and if you are shopping for an RV it may not be a good time to be buying something new out of el cart these days certainly not mass-produced there are lots of well-built quality RVs out there but you'll need to do your research to make sure that you're getting a good one and get an inspection thanks for watching and stay tuned

Channel: Liz Amazing

Views: 360,468

Keywords: RV life, fifth wheel, RV industry, RV dealerships, RV buying regrets, rv regrets, buying a new RV, New rvs, RV shopping, rv inspection, rvindustry, RV quality, Jayco, Pinnacle, TerryTown RV

Id: HqR5XQUNWAw

Length: 14min 22sec (862 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 19 2024