RoadTrek / Erwin Hymer Group Criminal Scandal Destroying Lives and Careers Worldwide

[Logan]

I purchased a 2018 RoadTrek Simplicity SRT in August and it has been a total nightmare since day 1.

Now this international criminal scandal at Hymer / RoadTrek has destroyed my life and career, and it appears we have no recourse.

It is as stupid as it is long, but this is my story: https://www.loganlynnmusic.com/2019/...2019-canceled/

Because I’m a touring musician who lives in the RV full time, and the vehicle was purchased specifically for that reason, we have had to cancel our tour. Here is that story today in IndiePulse Music Magazine: https://indiepulsemusic.com/2019/02/...vie-star-tour/

It’s a mess. Posting here so no one else gets tricked, and in case anyone has any ideas. I’m at a loss for what next steps even look like for a person in my situation...

[wincrasher]

You purchased the cheapest, shoddiest product they make and expected a bulletproof luxury experience? Even the biggest noob amongst us could see how much a POS the Simplicity is, along with the Axxion and Carrado products.

Your lofty expectations aside, it is a cautionary tale for the less experienced travelers amongst us. There really isn't any secret sauce here folks - you get what you pay for. Sometimes even less. But never more.

[bobojay]

Logan I'm sorry for your troubles and lost dream, but like wincrasher said, you bought the lowliest, one of the worst quality class Bs on the market, that's easily visible, based on what you read on the internet?
Too bad you didn't do due diligence and check all your sources and other brands such as Winnebago, Pleasureway etc and their internet presence...

Good luck on your future path..

[Logan]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

You purchased the cheapest, shoddiest product they make and expected a bulletproof luxury experience? Even the biggest noob amongst us could see how much a POS the Simplicity is, along with the Axxion and Carrado products.

Your lofty expectations aside, it is a cautionary tale for the less experienced travelers amongst us. There really isn't any secret sauce here folks - you get what you pay for. Sometimes even less. But never more.

I didn’t expect bulletproof. I expected the basic tenants of the thing to work, for the warranty to be legit, and for the company to actually exist.

Not too much to ask for $85,000.00.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by bobojay

Logan I'm sorry for your troubles and lost dream, but like wincrasher said, you bought the lowliest, one of the worst quality class Bs on the market, that's easily visible, based on what you read on the internet?
Too bad you didn't do due diligence and check all your sources and other brands such as Winnebago, Pleasureway etc and their internet presence...

Good luck on your future path..

At the time of purchase, RoadTrek had all 5 stars on every reviews site. All of the testimonials I read were positive.

I don’t expect perfection, but I definitely expect bare minimum. This exceedingly failed by even those standards.

[InterBlog]

I have a lot of respect for Wincrasher but I don't support the particular opinion expressed above - I think it's unduly harsh.

Logan, as a self-employed businessperson myself, I feel your pain because once upon a time, I was in a very similar place to where you are now.

And when I say I'm a business owner, I do NOT mean that I'm making hair bows or weaving ankle bracelets to sell at the next wienie roast. I mean I have a Master's degree in a STEM field and I am an industrial consultant running an LLC which has actually paid the bills - REAL bills - for 13 years now.

I was initially thinking that I'd buy a nice campervan and be able to work on the road, traveling while I work, integrating my own skilled professional interpretation of #vanlife in the process.

What a rude shock I got when I found out how limited and poor quality these vans are. Sure, it was my bad - I made too many assumptions. But those assumptions are common among newbies and they are not unreasonable on their faces. We pay a lot of money and it seems reasonable to expect a certain level of performance and reliability. Then it's like, "Whaaa??!!" when we find out that it just isn't there.

What happened in our case is that my husband and I poured four years of our free time and about $20,000 of our cash into our van, which now does what I was hoping one would do at the outset. I've remained off-grid and in remote locations for up to 5 weeks at a time, working successfully and not losing my professional clientele, which was the whole point.

I was lucky in that I have a mechanical engineer husband who contributed the lion's share of that van conversion effort. Many professionals simply cannot make that kind of a van DIY commitment *AND* do justice to their brands and their businesses - there just aren't enough hours in the day for both.

Again, I feel for you - I'm sorry you got mixed up in all of this, the Roadtrek thing in particular. Good luck to you going forward.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

I have a lot of respect for Wincrasher but I don't support the particular opinion expressed above - I think it's unduly harsh.

Logan, as a self-employed businessperson myself, I feel your pain because once upon a time, I was in a very similar place to where you are now.

And when I say I'm a business owner, I do NOT mean that I'm making hair bows or weaving ankle bracelets to sell at the next wienie roast. I mean I have a Master's degree in a STEM field and I am an industrial consultant running an LLC which has actually paid the bills - REAL bills - for 13 years now.

I was initially thinking that I'd buy a nice campervan and be able to work on the road, traveling while I work, integrating my own skilled professional interpretation of #vanlife in the process.

What a rude shock I got when I found out how limited and poor quality these vans are. Sure, it was my bad - I made too many assumptions. But those assumptions are common among newbies and they are not unreasonable on their faces. We pay a lot of money and it seems reasonable to expect a certain level of performance and reliability. Then it's like, "Whaaa??!!" when we find out that it just isn't there.

What happened in our case is that my husband and I poured four years of our free time and about $20,000 of our cash into our van, which now does what I was hoping one would do at the outset. I've remained off-grid and in remote locations for up to 5 weeks at a time, working successfully and not losing my professional clientele, which was the whole point.

I was lucky in that I have a mechanical engineer husband who contributed the lion's share of that van conversion effort. Many professionals simply cannot make that kind of a van DIY commitment *AND* do justice to their brands and their businesses - there just aren't enough hours in the day for both.

Again, I feel for you - I'm sorry you got mixed up in all of this, the Roadtrek thing in particular. Good luck to you going forward.

Thank you. I appreciate this compassionate perspective, and it’s hopeful that you were able to eventually figure it out. I’m doing whatever I can to figure it out too.

And I stand by my belief that for nearly $100,000.00 one should be getting at least the bare minimum of what was promised.

[bobojay]

Guys, that's not how the RV industry works in North America. Never has, and won't in the near future. That is common knowledge and stated multiple places on all forums, and Facebook groups having to do with RV's. The price doesn't reflect what you are getting in assembly quality, except for AdvancedRV, somewhat with LTV and Pleasureway, and a couple class A makers.
Roadtrek has been in severe decline since 2009-2010. In 2009 they were virtually bankrupt and out of business, not building anything. Under 2 new owners, (with the same managers) each year since, building worse quality units, and with their Etrek system, hit bottom in reliability. The numbers were more important than the quality and engineering. They made their owners beta testers of their new options and designs.
Again common knowledge in the RV world, all over the internet to people that didn't drink the Roadtrek Kool aid BS....

Repeating, sorry for your experience and being stuck with what you have

[booster]

Roadtrek did one thing well, and that was controlling what kind of information new customers would find on the internet. With a loyal bunch of ubersupporters, they were able to load up the review sites with positive reviews and articles. They got Wendland to pretend that he was an impartial customer while he was purging any dissent on his website. It is understandable how folks would miss out on the other side of the issues like were available on this site and some others.


That said, IMO any class b sold, regardless of price, should be expected to do the basic functions of it's major systems, and if they don't work should be fixed promptly. Quality materials, fit and finish, convenience, etc would not be part of that, but electrical systems, plumbing, heat, would be. If the manufacturer is priced so low they can't furnish those items in a functional manner, they are need to raise the price until they can, or improve their methods or materials. Just ignoring the issues and the customer problems is not an acceptable way to do things.

[Boxster1971]

Logan - I second InterBlog's sentiments

Your story of lost dreams is a sad tale faced by many novice RV owners. The RV industry has players who often mislead unsuspecting owners. I read about them every day.

Best wishes as you move forward.

- - Mike

[Logan]

Originally Posted by booster

Roadtrek did one thing well, and that was controlling what kind of information new customers would find on the internet. With a loyal bunch of ubersupporters, they were able to load up the review sites with positive reviews and articles. They got Wendland to pretend that he was an impartial customer while he was purging any dissent on his website. It is understandable how folks would miss out on the other side of the issues like were available on this site and some others.


That said, IMO any class b sold, regardless of price, should be expected to do the basic functions of it's major systems, and if they don't work should be fixed promptly. Quality materials, fit and finish, convenience, etc would not be part of that, but electrical systems, plumbing, heat, would be. If the manufacturer is priced so low they can't furnish those items in a functional manner, they are need to raise the price until they can, or improve their methods or materials. Just ignoring the issues and the customer problems is not an acceptable way to do things.

BINGO.

I did extensive research. The support of RoadTrek was cult-like, which is why SO many of the official RV review sites have been issuing apologies over the past week. Being fed mass bad information doesn’t make the consumer stupid, as others on this thread have suggested. It’s just plain bad business. They misrepresented their product, their warranty, and their resale value.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

Logan - I second InterBlog's sentiments

Your story of lost dreams is a sad tale faced by many novice RV owners. The RV industry has players who often mislead unsuspecting owners. I read about them every day.

Best wishes as you move forward.

- - Mike

Thank you. I appreciate that.

[rowiebowie]

Logan, you are really in a living nightmare. One that could neither be expected nor anticipated by even experienced rv'rs.
.

[wincrasher]

Sorry I was so harsh. My simpathies if you spent $85k on a Simplicity! I didn't know that was even possible. You could have had a Travato plus $15k in your pocket. They have a community and avid following really second to none. Lots of people living and loving in them full time all over the US.

[TerrierTude]

You guys are really indulging in some really mean victim blaming. The reality is that, almost every major review site through the years was rating Roadtrek as one of the best Class Bs out there. Maybe in the deep recesses in of the forums of the cogniscenti, the true story of Roadtrek was out there. But for a regular person doing a typical Internet research, Roadtrek looked like the rig to buy. Some of it was residual reputation from back when Roadtrek practically invented the Class B and turned out bombproof rigs. Some of it was the rigged forums dominated by people like Mike Wendland, heavily censored and dominated by the kool-aid drinkers.

The bottom line is that $85,000 is not chump change. It's a price point where you expect the basic systems to work. The warranty also signaled a company that was willing to stand behind the product.

Alas, much was an illusion. But that is not the fault of the poor duped consumer.

Can you not muster an ounce of sympathy for Logan? I recommended this site to Logan as a place where helpful people with a lot of technical knowledge would have some suggestions going forward.

C'mon. You are better than this.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

Sorry I was so harsh. My simpathies if you spent $85k on a Simplicity! I didn't know that was even possible. You could have had a Travato plus $15k in your pocket. They have a community and avid following really second to none. Lots of people living and loving in them full time all over the US.

Simplicity SRT’s MSRP starts at $78,000 with nothing on it. Mine was fully loaded.

And like my original post says, I don’t have a time machine. My having been stupid for purchasing this RoadTrek is the one thing I am already crystal clear on.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

Logan, you are really in a living nightmare. One that could neither be expected nor anticipated by even experienced rv'rs.
.

Thank you for that. I feel like I did every possible thing a non-expert would do. My research process was years long, not months. I was a fan from afar for a long time.

Honestly, as I mention in my post, there were some stories of certain units going wrong and having to be rebuilt but all of those RoadTrek owners cased those experiences in having been taken care of 100% while their warranty work was done.

If the truth was out there, it wasn’t easily searchable. All the major RV sites recommended this thing as the perfect beginner rig that wouldn’t give me any trouble! Wild stuff.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by TerrierTude

You guys are really indulging in some really mean victim blaming. The reality is that, almost every major review site through the years was rating Roadtrek as one of the best Class Bs out there. Maybe in the deep recesses in of the forums of the cogniscenti, the true story of Roadtrek was out there. But for a regular person doing a typical Internet research, Roadtrek looked like the rig to buy. Some of it was residual reputation from back when Roadtrek practically invented the Class B and turned out bombproof rigs. Some of it was the rigged forums dominated by people like Mike Wendland, heavily censored and dominated by the kool-aid drinkers.

The bottom line is that $85,000 is not chump change. It's a price point where you expect the basic systems to work. The warranty also signaled a company that was willing to stand behind the product.

Alas, much was an illusion. But that is not the fault of the poor duped consumer.

Can you not muster an ounce of sympathy for Logan? I recommended this site to Logan as a place where helpful people with a lot of technical knowledge would have some suggestions going forward.

C'mon. You are better than this.

Thank you. This place has been really terrible so far. I just wanted resources and to potentially see if others could relate.

We all already know I’m an idiot for putting all of my money into this thing! I literally led with that.

[TerrierTude]

Keep hanging in there, Logan. EMotions are running high. People are angry and sometimes that comes out in odd and inappropriate ways. There are a good bunch of people here. There is a lot of DIY knowledge that can steer you to resources, components and fixes that might get you on the road.

When things calm down, you will find this place a good resource.

And stop feeling stupid. You were duped, there was fraud. I thought I did my due diligence, I'm pretty internet and research savvy and I bought a Roadtrek Agile. I was patting myself on the back for getting a showroom model at tens of thousands off the retail price. Well three years later, every fricken system has been replaced -- sometimes twice. Luckily all done by Roadtrek, but the rig still doesn't work completely. I'm now looking at out of pocket to remove the problematic Ecotrek and the inverter and get some best of breed stuff. I went through a few days of feeling like an idiot. But now I just feel righteous anger.

There are some good resources out there. Independent service people with parts and expertise. The famous Dan Neeley is one. Tony (I believe) Pineda is another. You will find someone who can fix your Roadtrek or you will learn to do it yourself. You will get back on your feet. Roadtrek didn't steal your musical talent. YOu still have that. You're going to get through this.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by TerrierTude

Keep hanging in there, Logan. EMotions are running high. People are angry and sometimes that comes out in odd and inappropriate ways. There are a good bunch of people here. There is a lot of DIY knowledge that can steer you to resources, components and fixes that might get you on the road.

When things calm down, you will find this place a good resource.

And stop feeling stupid. You were duped, there was fraud. I thought I did my due diligence, I'm pretty internet and research savvy and I bought a Roadtrek Agile. I was patting myself on the back for getting a showroom model at tens of thousands off the retail price. Well three years later, every fricken system has been replaced -- sometimes twice. Luckily all done by Roadtrek, but the rig still doesn't work completely. I'm now looking at out of pocket to remove the problematic Ecotrek and the inverter and get some best of breed stuff. I went through a few days of feeling like an idiot. But now I just feel righteous anger.

There are some good resources out there. Independent service people with parts and expertise. The famous Dan Neeley is one. Tony (I believe) Pineda is another. You will find someone who can fix your Roadtrek or you will learn to do it yourself. You will get back on your feet. Roadtrek didn't steal your musical talent. YOu still have that. You're going to get through this.

Righteous anger definitely feels more useful. I’m so sorry you’re also in this situation! Ugh.