How lucky we are in Australia!

How Lucky we are in Australia!

Outwardly the USA A'vans look the same as ours in Australia

Below are a few posts from the A'liner/Chalet board in the States. It really brought it home to us just how lucky we are in Australia. No matter how deep you dig, no where on this site you will only come across two or three owners moaning about poor dealer knowledge or service. In fact the reverse is true with happy A'vanners writing in to tell us about fantastic service particularly with work done well outside warranty for nothing. Our buying experience was great with a brochure arriving by snail mail two days after an email request. The dealer then kept us informed on the progress of our order. At no time were we rushed into making hasty decisions. We spent 4 hours on our dealers stand at a Caravan Show and at no time were we subjected to pressure to buy. The websites of Australian dealers seem to be improving monthly and some dealers will even deliver interstate and give extended warranties. We really shuddered when we read the following USA A'liner Owners Club posts! What do you think?

Bob Eustace

--- livnaboard@aol.com wrote: I have an interesting tale to share regarding both companies, but wanted to put my two cents in on the "big guy vs little guy" argument. Despite being "little guy inclined" my boating experience has taught me that there is usually some room at both ends of the spectrum for all of us and none of us gain much by bashing the other (either direction). That said, I'll still look for the quiet, non-big-guy-inclined kinds of places to stay because I personally find them more enjoyable the day after. 'Nuff said there... On to the companies. My wife and I have been trying to make a decision (pop-up vs hard side; hard-side vs "expandable" etc. for about a month now. We've done a good bit of homework, visiting dealers (if they had stock -- only found one so far), snagging brochures at the local RV show, asking dealers to fax pricing lists (MSRP--not the classified stuff), asking the company for brochures, web searching for hours, and printing out just about everything we can find and browsing this newsgroup's archives. What really frustrates/angers me is that both companies have promised information via snail mail and via e-mail; the former has yet to appear after over two weeks, the latter contained a couple of half-answers on one or two of the questions and cheerfully ignored the rest. Now...either the market is so flooded with demand that the manufacturers don't give a darn or they just don't care about the customer. I want to believe that's the case, but I've not had much to convince me otherwise. Has ANYONE had any luck dealing with a particular manufacturer?...or a personal contact that really cares about the customer? Don't refer me to a dealer unless you know someONE...all three dealers (salesmen) I've talked to on the phone knew less about the product than I did from research...frustrating. I know these are "low mark-up" vehicles for guys who routinely net 10-30 thousand dollars profit from one of those tanks we like to bash, but c'mon...I'm a customer, too.

Just curious.

Bill Huesmann

I went through a lot of the same information gathering you did, and probably the same frustrating experience, though it all worked out in the end so I've forgotten a lot of the frustration. Here's my take. The a-frame companies are small, family-run shops. The owners are more manufacturing types than marketing or customer care folk. They don't want to service customers directly because people would want to cut out the middle-man and that would anger their dealers who they very much need. The dealers are often small, sole proprietor shops. Grossly under capitalized (hence the lack of on-site product except for the spring sale boom), they take on an odd product (i.e. lower volume) like the a-frames out of personal curiosity or desire to sell a niche product. They often have several businesses and this is just one of them. In short, nobody's really to blame but the situation is far from perfect. We lucked out because we talked to an A'liner regional representative, in this case the one for Canada. They tend to have much more knowledge and are often large dealers meaning they have more inventory and more experience with more of the models. You might ask the factory who the one is for your state.

Good luck,

As a new owner of an A'liner I know how hard it is to make a decision. At least I knew that I wanted an A Frame trailer (after selling my 26' Class C) so I was not going through everything you are going through, Bill. I was hampered by the fact that in my area it is a three hour drive in two separate directions to see these campers.

My experience with the manufacturer was good. Both manufacturers sent materials promptly by snail mail. I actually approached A'liner several times. They sent me material about a year ago when I was thinking of selling my RV and simplifying my RVing. Unfortunately, I tossed it. I contacted them again after the RV sold and they sent more info. I contacted them again and they sent all kinds of info, including the weight of each option, etc. etc. ad nauseum. I have had a couple of occasions to call the manufacturer with a question like today "I tried to turn on the light and nothing happened. What do I do?". They put a technician on and he gives me step-by-step directions. That works for me!

I did not want to buy from a salesman whose only interest was to sell me something - anything - on his lot. I decided to buy from Tony who owns Backyard Boats and RVs in New Mexico. The man is fantastic! He knows A'liners inside and out. He talked to me at length about what I did and did not want and helped me to decide which model, etc. I would be best off buying. He does not keep much stock, just orders as his customers want it - although if you need it now he will try to get it from another dealer. We had worked out an agreement for him
to bring the trailer part way to me - he's in NM and I'm in CA. Then, amazingly, I found just what I want in a late model used one. (I did pay Tony for his "expert consultation" but he would have done
it for free, I just didn't feel right about that).

Good luck Bill in finding what you're looking for! I'm DELIGHTED with mine even if it is still confusing for me. Gotta go outside now and check those fuses before it gets dark.

Christine Manson
1991 Dodge Dakota
2001 A'liner Expedition