Frustrations with dealer, new trailer order

[NavyLCDR]

Venting, and hoping this doesn't happen to anyone else. On 2/13 I visited a dealer in Florence, Oregon. We knew we wanted a Vintage Cruiser 23RSS. They had the 23BHS on the lot with the Red exterior and Woody interior. We loved the combination of the Red exterior and Woody interior, and the dealer told us they had one that was already completed at the factory and was just waiting for the weather to clear up to be delivered and they thought they should have it the last week of Feb or first week of March. So we put down $500 refundable deposit and left very excited.

We sold our travel trailer and I got approval for 3.5% financing on the new trailer. Fast forward to March 1 and dealer tells me the trailer is still waiting at "freight", but it might be 6 weeks before they can deliver it. Wow, so delivery moved from 3/5 now to possibly 4/9? I know there are huge delays in building and delivering RVs, so, oh well..

Fast forward to this morning, 3/11. I couldn't stand it anymore and thinking I still probably would not get any answers, I called the Gulf Stream factory in Indiana. That was probably the best customer service experience I have had in a long time. A very helpful gentlemen informed me that my trailer was ordered on 2/26, it was scheduled to start build on 3/19. If everything went perfectly, which is very rare right now, my trailer would finish build in about a week, 3/26. Then final inspection and release, probably another week, 4/2 then go to waiting for delivery which would be out of Gulf Stream's control. Again, if all the planets aligned, we could expect delivery 4/16 at the earliest.

Further research revealed the dealer did not cash my deposit check until 2/24. I guess they were waiting for "buyers remorse" to kick in. They delayed ordering my trailer for 13 days, meanwhile telling me that it was already built and just waiting for delivery. I would love to cancel my order and go to a "less dishonest" dealer but that would set me back at least 3 more weeks, so I just have to ride this out, but I am furious!

If the dealer just would have been honest with me, I still would have ordered the trailer. I was fully expecting to wait 3 months. But I would not have sold my previous trailer and would have been camping right now. Also, I have a loan approval now that is going to expire, and I don't know if I will be able to get the 3.5% interest rate again.