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In the RV industry there are good companies and bad companies, then there are the Good Guys, the companies that go out of their way to give excellent service. Below are some of the companies we would like to single out and the reasons why. If you would like to add a Good Guy to the list please let us know why. Blue Ox
Blue Ox makes tow bars, a braking system and other towing products. We have a Blue Ox tow bar, matching baseplate for the Honda CR-V and safety cables. Blue Ox sends technicians to rallies to give seminars and while there they will safety check and adjust any Blue Ox product free, no matter how old the product. We have had our tow bar checked and adjusted five times at rallies and Blue Ox also gave us some free parts. We heard about one RVer who had a tow bar break and Blue Ox sent them a new one overnight even though their tow bar was out of warranty. (http://www.aemfg.com) Any vehicle towed by a motorhome needs to have an auxiliary braking system and Brake Buddy is one of the best. It can be quickly installed and removed and can be moved from vehicle to vehicle. When our remote alert failed Brake Buddy sent us a new one overnight. Later when our Honda started blowing fuses Brake Buddy sent us an auxiliary 12-volt outlet by overnight mail. One of our friends bought an old Brake Buddy from a private party and sent it to the company. They upgraded it to the latest model and sent it back to him - no charge. (http://www.brakebuddy.com) Fantastic Vents also attends rallies and makes free repairs on their powered vents no matter how old they are. If one of their vents fails they are happy to help owners troubleshoot the problem and then they send the parts needed free. (http://www.fantasticvent.com) Flying J is a "one stop" place for RVers. While there you can fill your gas or diesel and propane tanks, dump your holding tanks, fill your fresh water tank, eat a meal, do email (if you have a laptop) and shop for supplies. Flying J's prices are usually the lowest in its area and with a "free" Flying J - RV Card you get discounts on gas, diesel and propane. If space permits you can park overnight. (http:www.flyingj.com) HWH Corporation makes hydraulic leveling jacks and slideout mechanisms. Our jacks failed nine days after the warranty expired but HWH paid for the repairs and even sent the part overnight so we could be on our way again. If you have problems with a HWH product and are going near their factory in Moscow, Iowa, stop and they will fix your problems usually free. While their technicians are doing repairs they will treat you to lunch in a restaurant, then invite you to spend the night on their property. (http://www.hwhcorp.com) Independence RV in Winter Garden, Florida is a great place to have service performed. We stopped there with an inverter problem and they diagnosed the problem and removed the inverter. That day they drove it to Tampa to be repaired and the next day went to pick it up but it had not been fixed. Two days later when it was ready they drove to Tampa again, brought it back and installed it in our motorhome. They kept us informed the entire process and allowed us to camp in their service building three nights with electric and water. They made coffee for us and let us use their phone line to surf the internet. For all their work and expenses they were paid $45 for warranty service. The went of out their way to help us and kept a smile on their faces. (http://www.independencerv.com) L.L. Bean sells quality clothing, camping equipment and home furnishings. Best of all they stand behind their products with quality service and a smile. If you are ever unhappy with something you bought from them they will happily replace it "no questions asked." At their store in Freeport, Maine, I purchased a pair of hiking shoes and decided they were the wrong size. Two months later I returned them (I never wore them) without a receipt or the original shoe box. Without any questions they gave me my money back which I spent a few minutes later on a larger size of shoes. (http://www.llbean.com) Leisure Tyme RV in Pensacola, Florida performed service on our motorhome twice. Both times they were working on our problem five minutes after our arrival. The first time after fixing the problem they parked our motorhome in their overnight area, gave us electric and water and told us to spend the night free while touring Pensacola. (http://leisuretymerv.com) Newmar warranties their RVs with a 36 month / 50,000 mile, bumper to bumper warranty. After two years of fulltiming we returned to their plant and they fixed every little problem we had, gave us a new bedspread, fixed one problem we didn't know we had and let us stay in their full hookup campground. They treated us like we were their special customer of the week. During our warranty period we called Newmar several times asking for parts to replace defective items and they always sent them free. Once we had an item fixed at a non-Newmar dealer and they reimbursed us the cost. (http://www.newmarcorp.com) When we needed to file claims we found out Progressive Insurance is outstanding. Our motorhome and Honda were both badly damaged ($8,000) in a terrible hail storm in South Dakota and Progressive's agent came to our campground and settled our two claims on the spot with two checks. The amounts were more than enough to repair the damages. There were many RVs and vehicles damaged in the storm and we were the first RVers to have our claims settled. (http://www.progressive.com) Tom Stinnett RV Freedom Center We got an excellent deals on both of our motorhomes at Tom Stinnett RV in Clarksville, Indiana. After the purchases everyone in their dealership shook our hands and thanked us for buying from them and the owner sent us a page long hand written letter thanking us. Once we were there for a problem and they went out of their way to fix our problem in short order and got it fixed under warranty even though our warranty had expired. (http://www.stinnettrv.com) Wal*Mart and Sam's Club are RV friendly and most stores allow overnight parking (not camping). Everyone should have a Wal*Mart Atlas that lists the location of all Wal*Mart and Sam's Club stores. Their prices are right and all stores stock a limited number of RV supplies. When we make a purchase we pay with a debit card and get cash back so we seldom need to use an ATM or pay ATM charges. (http://www.walmartstores.com) |