Wilkins RV of Rochester

Superb facilities, great selection, great deal, great people Let me start by saying that I am not a “smile sheet” reviewer – I only write ratings when a business is very bad or very good. I don’t need to waste Let me start by saying that I am not a “smile sheet” reviewer – I only write ratings when a business is very bad or very good. I don’t need to waste time rambling on unless there is a significant reason to comment. In this case, I am very pleased to do so. We were RV’ers when our family was younger and now that we’re retired, we thought we’d give it a shot once again. I’ve dealt with many dealers in the past but never the folks at Wilkins. During our recent search, we visited several dealers and while they were “OK”, none of them really impressed us. I’m sure you know the drill … run through as many RV’s as you can, pick one and sign here. Usually not a lot of product knowledge and usually a sales pitch that pushes the aesthetics of the RV (“isn’t that phony graphic on the wall beautiful?”). Our first visit to Wilkins changed all of that. When you arrive at the large, brand new location, you are greeted by a knowledgeable sales person who first spends the time needed to assess your needs. Then, you are taken to view RV’s that actually meet those needs. You aren’t up sold to squeeze money or down sold to push a quick sale – rather, you are guided to several RV’s that closely suit your criteria. The best part is that you aren’t at all rushed – they take as much time to answer every single question you have about each RV you view. We ran our sales guys through 5 or 6 hours of detailed questioning over three visits. Never a loss of patience and always focused on answering the questions. Another good sign was that emails were answered promptly (on Sunday no less) and thoroughly. Another thing we liked is the team approach. When our salesman couldn’t answer a detailed question about a side deck, he immediately reached out to his manager who personally met with us. Not “deal “ questions from the manager – but detailed, product oriented answers. When we wanted a 43’ 5th wheel pulled out to drop down that deck, they couldn’t immediately find a jockey to move the rig so the manager hopped into the truck, moved it out and dropped the deck. When I went back for an unannounced second visit the very next day, my salesman was tied up with another customer. No problem … I was covered by an equally competent salesman who spent time answering my follow-up questions. When commissioned sales people do stuff like this, it shows that they are more interested in the customer than in making a quick buck. They back eack other up and in the end, they all benefit. Now for the dreaded negotiation phase. Painless. They negotiated openly and fairly. Did I get the absolute rock bottom, low, low whispering price that might be available in some unknown corner of the country via an “internet” special? Probably not. Did I get an extremely fair, highly competitive deal from a competent local dealer? You bet. If arguing over a couple hundred bucks is how you’re going to establish your relationship with the same dealer who you expect to provide you with world class service, you probably shouldn’t be looking at RV’s. Moving on to the finance person, I can only say that Shannon was efficient, knowledgeable and worked very hard to find and get us the very best financing. She also sold me a service plan that made sense to us – and I’ve never been a service plan kind of guy - ever. It took 30 minutes to get the loan app filled out and I had an answer in less than 24 hours. The service department is clearly an industry leader – new building, many large, clean bays and certified technicians. I haven’t used their service yet, but I certainly don’t expect any problems when I do. Not only was I impressed with the facility and the mechanic’s qualifications … I also checked these guys out before I ever stepped through the door. They get the highest customer ratings. Finally, after you’ve just spent big bucks on a shiny new 5th wheel, you’re probably not thinking it would be a great deal of fun to spend even more money on it. Wrong! Now, if you are a current RV’er, you probably have most of the stuff you need for your new toy. However, we don’t, so we needed a washing machine, a satellite dish, all the hoses and hookups, a propane grill – the list goes on and on. Now, I’m not a great shopper and I like working with someone who knows what they’re talking about so I can get in, get out and move on. Uncharacteristically, I actually enjoyed dropping the bucks here because Kayla and Nancy stayed with us during the entire visit, answered all of our questions and provided great advice. Also, if they don’t have it, they can find it and get it. Now, this review isn’t really complete because although we bought it, we haven’t taken delivery of our new Big Horn fifth wheel. However, I’d be stunned if that experience isn’t as delightful as where we’ve already been with these folks so far. We felt very comfortable and confident during the entire buying process. There is a large, competent team here and this is a great company. However, special thanks to all of those we worked with … both Mikes, Rob, Shannon, Kayla, Nancy and others. You all did a great job and we’re really looking forward to hitting the road in our brand new Bighorn from Wilkins. More

Disappointed in lack of concern for customer satisfaction We viewed the Landmark 365 Newport and put a deposit down on it on June 4 2016. When we viewed it, We pointed out several issues with the RV that need We viewed the Landmark 365 Newport and put a deposit down on it on June 4 2016. When we viewed it, We pointed out several issues with the RV that needed to be addressed before we returned to pick it up. We were concerned about the counter top around the sink as it had an unfinished sharp edge and the cutting boards were not applied properly to the underside of the sink covers. The carpet was dirty with traffic stains and a more prominent stain on the carpet in front of the recliners. Our sales man, Nate, made note of all our concerns and assured us that our concerns would be addressed and that someone would go through and clean the RV. We also wanted to know if there was any way we could swap out the recliners with the love seat theatre seating as I am short and the recliners were very hard for me to get out of. We stressed that we wanted the issues taken care of as we did not want to make any extra trips to bring the camper back as the Wilkins RV in bath Ny is 3 hours away from us. Which is a full day of missed work to drive there and back. I called our salesman, Nate, the next week to touch base with him and get an update on the love seat. He said he was still trying to find out and would get back to me. He did not call me back. I called again the next week and he still had no information for me. My husband talked to him the day before we were to pick up our RV and he still had no information, so my husband told him we needed to know before we came to pick it up. Nate called us back and told us because we were given such a great deal on the RV that we would have to purchase the theatre seating and he sent us a picture of one they had there in stock. He sent us a picture of a used love seat from the waiting area in the parts department that did not even match! My husband was talking to Eric from financing who wanted to schedule a time for the next day for us to pick up our RV and my husband told him that we felt none of our concerns were addressed and that we felt they would have been if we would have had a more experienced salesman. He explained to him that here we are the day before they want us to come get it and our salesman hadn't given us any information how we could get different seating. Eric told my husband he would find out and call us back. In the meantime our salesman called us to ask what our other concerns were?! He didn't even remember! They hadn't even been taken care of yet! Eric called back in an hour to let us know that we could purchase a matching love seat with theatre seating but it would take 3 weeks for it to be shipped to the dealership. He said, they would buy our recliners for $400.00 and we would have to leave them there and come back in 3 weeks to pick up the seating. We were so disappointed, because if our salesman would have told us that right away, we would have ordered the seating and came in three weeks instead of two. We would have just waited one more week. But at this point we couldn't leave the RV there for another 3 weeks or was anyone gonna wait for us to come finalize the sale for 3 more weeks. Plus we also had camping plans already scheduled with our new RV. Eric was able to find out in one hour what our salesman couldn't in 2 weeks. We stressed again that we needed all other issues addressed before we got there the next day. When we arrived the next day on June 16, 2016 we were taken to our RV for an instructional run through. The RV had been brought inside and was still wet from just being washed. As well as the floor the whole way around the RV during our run through. So we had to enter the inside of the camper with wet shoes. Also, a camper right beside ours was being washed and I hurried in our new RV and shut all the windows so the inside of our camper wouldn't be wet from spraying the camper right beside us. First, when we were being shown the outside, my husband noticed something sticking out of the bedroom slide. It was our screen from the bedroom that someone didn't put back on the bedroom window and it got caught and crushed in the slide and was literally sticking out of the slide all the way through from the inside to the outside of the camper. They grabbed another screen off another landmark to replace it before we left. When we entered the camper I knew right away it had not been cleaned and detailed. The carpet still had obvious traffic marks up the stairs into the bedroom from being walked on with dirty shoes. There was still trash in the trash can that was there when we first viewed the camper. There was a wadded up dish towel in a drawer, another drawer was stuffed full with brochures and literature from our RV being taken to RV shows. There were empty wrappers from the remotes laying about. It was obvious the RV had never been cleaned after being shown at RV shows and many people walking through it. It was very dusty and the counter and sinks very sticky and smeared with the pink anti freeze that had never been cleaned up from winterizing. Once again this was now June! Our original concerns had not been fixed. The sink cover with the cutting board was not even there. It was only just then taken somewhere and being looked at. Which wasn't fixed when it was returned to us before we left. It appeared that someone had just been trying to fix the countertop around the sink and we commented that it was better but was still not the proper smooth, polished, rounded edge it should be. The run through guy explained that Nate had told him something different from what we were telling him was wrong with it. So it was very evident once again that Nate was not concerned about our concerns or even remember exactly what it was we were concerned about. We told the guy to forget about it that we would have to hire someone to fix it as we were not bringing the RV back again to be fixed later. The spot was gone from the carpet but must have just been cleaned with a spot spray as it was evident the rest of the carpet had not been steam cleaned. So I'm certain the spot will reappear as it had not been rinsed properly by steam cleaning. The run through guy told me a female employee got the spot out with some kind of spray as he commented on how quickly she was able to remove it while sitting there in the floor. Not only had the RV not been cleaned and our initial concerns addressed, we found more issues that should have been known and addressed before our arrival and before ever showing the camper to anyone actually. The led light strip that is inlaid in the counter top over the dinette was out in several spots. Our salesman never even turned it on and showed us. We didn't even know it lit up until we were home and saw it on a video online after already putting a deposit on the RV. After asking the instructional run through guy how to turn them on, which he had to figure out cause he didn't know, we were very disappointed to see the light was out in several spots! It did not light up in one continuous strip. Another issue was the freezer door is not flush with the refrigerator door and appears to be open a bit but is not. Also, the latch to hook/ lock and keep the refrigerator and freezer doors from coming open during travel was broken. Something we are wondering is if the outside tv was swapped out after we put a deposit down because there is an extra lg remote that is in the camper and the tv outside is an insignia. No one seemed concerned about any of the flaws in our camper. The instructional guy took a picture of the lighted countertop being out in several spots but didn't tell us what would be done with it. We thought we would hear something from the dealership but it has been almost 2 weeks and we have not heard anything. The only guy that was helpful and seemed to want to please his customers was Joe Stewart, the salesman in the parts department. We told him about our disappointment in the recliners and asked if there was anyway we could still purchase the love seat and have it delivered directly to us. He told us if we had a business and could accommodate a semi delivery then yes. Which we do and can. So we plan to sell the recliners ourselves as the dealership would only give us 400$ for both recliners and purchase the theatre seating later. My husband's sister and her husband just purchased a used fifth wheel from Tom Johnson in Charlotte NC and when they went for their run through and pick up, everything was plugged in and shown that it was in working order. It was already clean the first time they were shown it but it had been given another thorough cleaning before their pick up. The water lines had all been flushed out from any antifreeze. They were given 2 weeks of free camping. They also got a one year Good Sam membership upgraded to Gold which gives them 30% off of any items they purchase in any camping world store or online. We had received an email from Wilkins RV that their June special was a free gift with any new RV purchase. No one ever mentioned it to us throughout the day so finally when we were signing our papers we asked what the free gift was. The finance guy pretended not to know about any free gift and then laughed and said " yes there is " but still didn't tell us so we had to ask what it was. He told us it was a t-shirt. A t-shirt! Which he ignored mentioning from that point on and walked us to the door and said goodbye and never gave us our free gift for purchasing our brand new camper! My husband's other sister just bought a new fifth wheel a month before in buffalo NY and they were given a free Yetti cooler. They trade their RV in every 2-3 years and we have already told them we do not recommend purchasing a fifth wheel from Wilkins RV. I feel that our salesman was more concerned about the finality of the big sale then building some kind of rapport with us to ensure future purchases from him. He definitely did not go above and beyond to make us happy, satisfied customers. I am very disappointed that I had to dust every surface of our new camper. The window sills, trim, counters...everything. I had to dust out of all the drawers and cabinets as they were dirty with wood shavings and saw dust and bits of wire from the installation. The pull out bed was covered in saw dust under the cushion which was all over and sticking into the underside of the couch cushions. I had to clean the toilets which were dusty around the outside and on the floors behind and dirty inside with pink ring stains from the winterization. I had to clean the hard floors as they were filthy with dust, dirt, gravel and bits of wires and screws and also had black scuff marks from shoes on them. Not one sticker had been removed from the glass and cleaned or from the floor. I also had to vacuume and steam clean all the carpet. I also had to clean under the mattress when I discovered the plywood under the mattress was dirty with screws, and pieces of wood shavings ...that were stuck and slivered into the fabric of the mattress just as the underside of the couch cushions were. I understand that the saw dust, wires and screws left behind on the floors, in the drawers, in all the cupboards and under the bed and couch should have been cleaned up by heartland workers but since it hadn't been, it should have been cleaned up by Wilkins RV before anyone ever walked through to view that RV. I have contacted Heartland myself about other flaws, for example, the nail holes in the trim were not all filled in with filler and not one hole was stained with matching stain. There is also some staples sticking out in drawers and several places that are a hazard and drawer fronts that are not completely on. The laundry closet door and a crack and chip in it as well. Also light switches and outlets installed crooked. In my opinion that camper should have never been sent off the production line like that. However, these are issues Wilkins RV should have noticed and had fixed themselves. We were so looking forward to picking up our new landmark and were excited on our drive there to pick it up, but after arriving there and seeing the camper hadn't been cleaned and seeing all the issues that needed taken care of, it really took the excitement right out of it. We are disappointed with the lack of attention to detail Wilkins RV has and the lack of concern they have for their customer's satisfaction. More