Colerain RV

Horrible service department. They run 4 – 6 weeks out. Multiple returns for same repair. Employees wont even return phone calls. Avoid with all costs.

Curious about other people’s reactions. Our friends bought a new Pinnacle for something near $ 60K. They’ve had issues from day one, mostly minor but some, pretty major. They’ve owned their unit for 6 months but it has been at Colerain for 4 months, off and on, getting warranty work done. Things like the black tank wouldn’t drain because it was never hooked up, cosmetic issues, tank flush line not hooked up, and finally, a bent frame. Many visits and phone calls seemed to produce little urgency on the part of the Service Department and a common refrain of «We’re waiting for…» Parts, Jayco to call back, time on the schedule. A lot of waiting. Now Jayco wants to have the unit sent to a frame shop to have the frame straightened. They are offering no compensation for loss of use nor are they considering any compensation for whatever devaluation will occur as a result of having the bent frame straightened. The trailer was built on the bent frame and should have been repaired or taken off the line at that point. I don’t see Colerain being particularly responsible for the shortcomings of Jayco’s production staff but I’m very disappointed at their lack of effort on behalf of their clients and the lackadaisical attitude toward resolving the issues now that the check has cleared. We bought a used Redwood from them a couple of weeks ago and was pleased with the Sales staff but unhappy with the Service department’s installation of the fifth wheel in our truck. We’re going back up to drop the truck off again to see if they can do the complete job as promised originally. Our next unit will be a new, retirement unit but I’m not sure, with my friends’ experience, if it will be a Jayco product or if it will come from Colerain. Time will tell.

First, let me say that the service department at Colerain is top notch and provides wonderful service.
This review is NOT about the Service Department. The staff there are excellent!
While I will continue to do business with the service department, the sales dealership may have lost my business for good.
This all started when I was at the Struble Rd. location getting my current camper serviced and decided to stroll through the sales lot and look at the clearance sale they were holding. I soon discovered just how irritating the sales team was – they are the polar opposite of the service team. They no longer have the family friendly culture they were once known for. They now seemed more focused on catering to the high end consumer, which is a sad thing since I purchased two campers from them myself in the last two decades, and my parents had bought all of our campers from them I was younger. In fact, I believe our family was one of the first customers they had in 1968.
My wife an I were thinking of upgrading to a new camper, but we still wanted a basic design: function above form. The very first thing that turned us off about the new sales team was the derisive attitude towards people like us that prefer a well made, but basic fold down camper. This attitude shows even in the inventory they display on the floor and hold out on their lot. The other regional locations (Indy and Columbus) have the «bargain» inventory, we were told, and if we wanted to see a better selection we would have drive across the state.
They acted like we are a burden to deal with. Essentially, if you are not there to buy one of the palaces on wheels they push, don’t expect a fair deal or respect as a consumer – you are seen as a budget shopper. Even worse are the games they play with the «closed office minute-​long meeting» with the various offers tended and possible trade in allowance. Keep in mind the trade in was purchased from them and regularly serviced by them.
I have walked out of auto dealers for doing this crap when we are talking about a much more expensive purchase so I am certainly not going to take it from a camper dealer on a deal less then 8K. Time is too short to play games. Just give me you best price and if the product is good and the price is fair, you have a deal. I don’t want to spend two hours on a lot playing «guess the number in my head.»
The experience really soured when my wife stopped up there a day later to look at the units I liked and took notes on. She became VERY unhappy with what they had to say about our trade-​in. Essentially it was implied «You can polish a turd and paint it gold, but it is still a turd.» In other words, they were calling the camper they previously sold us in 2004 (and serviced by them regularly for ten years), a piece of shit. I guess this is because we were not buying a monstrosity of luxury with a large profit margin.
Long story, short, they claimed the units we were looking at were the rock bottom price for the fall clearance sale. We were told they were 2015 models (we later ran the serial numbers and found they were last year’s models) which led us to ask why they were including «new» models in a fall clearance in 2014. Then they went into the whole script about the lower end models really not being in enough demand to make it worth their while to stock many tent campers. My wife was informed that they would not accept a trade on these clearance models, especially if the trade was a ten year old fold down tent camper, unless of course, if we went to a more expensive unit.
Ironically, if you go to their website, you will find they actually have several dealerships in the Midwest. Apparently the new sales manager only keeps a handful of tent campers because he wants the Struble Rd location to be his elite showroom so the «riff-​raff» like us will need drive to the «outlet» locations of Columbus or Indianapolis where there are many models and styles to choose from. Checking their online inventory, by the way, I found several used fold downs they were selling out of these other locations that were far older and more worn than mine at prices from $ 1,500 to $ 3,000. Apparently gold painted turds do sell, he just doesn’t want them on his lot outside the window of his office on Struble Rd.
While I will still do plenty of business with their wonderful Service Department (I have decided to keep my old camper and just keep it well-​maintained), I will not buy so much as a marshmallow fork from the sales department until the culture changes to respect the no frills people that just want to enjoy the outdoors in a suitable camper.