GraphicQueen
07-31-2006, 11:59 AM
I am not wanting to start trouble here but would like to ask some questions. I was told by a friend, who hapens to be a salesman for an RV dealer. I will tell you up front that the dealer he works for does not sell the brand of fifth wheels that we are seriously looking at for purchase. I say that so you will understand that he is not trying to get our business by talking bad about a certain brand.
Anyway, so you all will know, we are both on a fixed income and we already have our tow vehicle; a 2004 1-ton dually Chevy, 8.1 Vortec, 4.10 axle ratio, 4x4 so we know what we can handle weight wise and all. We have our property for sale and as soon as we close we plan on either ordering or possibly buying something that is already on a dealer lot that we would be happy with. We do plan on full timing in our fifth wheel also.
We have narrowed down our choice to Prairie Schooner, Heartland Bighorn or Keystone Montana. We really liked the Prairie Schoner and the floor plans and what all they offer as standard and options for their units. The salesperson friend of ours told us that we would have major problems getting repair work done at any place other than a Gulf Stream dealer because other places have a very hard time getting approved to do the work and then getting the actual money from the manufacture. I have to say that it really scares me that many dealers will not work on that particular brand. Is this true? If it used to be, has Gulf Stream fixed this problem with the factory? The reason I ask this because we would have to drive quite a way to actually buy any of the units we are looking at. And I have to say that I really like the Prairie Schooner and lean toward it. The local dealers would have no problem with working on the Montanas or the Bighorns. How can a person get by this problem and why would Gulf Stream make it so hard for other dealers to do warranty work on their units? As a full timer we would not be staying around the actual dealer we purchased from so we would like to be sure that our unit repaired wherever we happen to be at any given time. Is this asking too much? Is there a way for us to ok the warranty work with the factory before we actually go to some repair facility? And how does one go about this?
GQ
Anyway, so you all will know, we are both on a fixed income and we already have our tow vehicle; a 2004 1-ton dually Chevy, 8.1 Vortec, 4.10 axle ratio, 4x4 so we know what we can handle weight wise and all. We have our property for sale and as soon as we close we plan on either ordering or possibly buying something that is already on a dealer lot that we would be happy with. We do plan on full timing in our fifth wheel also.
We have narrowed down our choice to Prairie Schooner, Heartland Bighorn or Keystone Montana. We really liked the Prairie Schoner and the floor plans and what all they offer as standard and options for their units. The salesperson friend of ours told us that we would have major problems getting repair work done at any place other than a Gulf Stream dealer because other places have a very hard time getting approved to do the work and then getting the actual money from the manufacture. I have to say that it really scares me that many dealers will not work on that particular brand. Is this true? If it used to be, has Gulf Stream fixed this problem with the factory? The reason I ask this because we would have to drive quite a way to actually buy any of the units we are looking at. And I have to say that I really like the Prairie Schooner and lean toward it. The local dealers would have no problem with working on the Montanas or the Bighorns. How can a person get by this problem and why would Gulf Stream make it so hard for other dealers to do warranty work on their units? As a full timer we would not be staying around the actual dealer we purchased from so we would like to be sure that our unit repaired wherever we happen to be at any given time. Is this asking too much? Is there a way for us to ok the warranty work with the factory before we actually go to some repair facility? And how does one go about this?
GQ