A few years ago our family embarked on the journey of purchasing our first Sprinter van. The decision to spend $200k on a converted van so I could road trip with the family was not an easy decision. I had never spent that kind of money on ANYTHING in my life. There were numerous concerns.
Concern #1
Purchasing a vehicle online, especially out of state, is stressful and risky. I researched the dealer extensively and had multiple phone calls with the sales rep, eventually deciding to place a deposit on a new van. The instructions were to wire $25K to their corporate account, which I did after receiving detailed instructions via email. My bank confirmed the transfer.
However, 24 hours later, the dealer claimed they hadn’t received the money and asked me to send the deposit again. I was shocked and worried I had been scammed. After several emails and calls, I discovered the sales rep had mistakenly sent me the account details of their parent corporation, REV. The money was stuck in limbo, with neither the bank nor the dealer able to locate it.
Thankfully, after three stressful days, the funds were returned to my account. The dealer apologized and sent updated instructions for a second attempt. Reluctantly, I wired the money again, and this time the transaction went through without any issues.
Concern #2
Delivery of a vehicle is an exciting time. When I received the confirmed delivery date, my wife and I were overjoyed. I even took the day off work. The delivery day came and went without any contact from the company. I began to have flashbacks of concern #1 and thinking I had just been scammed.
I contacted the company and went back and forth with them again. This time the delivery driver had a breakdown with his truck and was stuck somewhere in the midwest in the middle of winter. The company couldn’t give me specifics but informed me a new driver was enroute to take over with a new truck. A new delivery date was confirmed.
Delivery day 2 was somewhat more reserved anticipation. Again, I burned a vacation day so I could effectively inspect the vehicle and enjoy the experience. However, day 2 also came and went without contact from the company. I was completely convinced I was being scammed. I was planning to reach out to the company first thing in the morning.
The next morning I woke up and walked into the bathroom like I always do. I looked out the window and saw a giant van sitting on the curb in front of my house. Confused, I went back to my phone and reviewed the security cam footage from the night before. Sure enough, at roughly 3 am, a truck came through and dumped a large van on the curb and drove away.
On the bright side, I wasn’t scammed! There actually was a van. It existed. Jen and I immediately ran out there like a kid on christmas.
Concern #3
We began a quick exterior inspection. The van appeared as though it had been driving through a monsoon in Arizona. It was covered in the Arizona equivalent of rain, also called “dirt”. If you have never been in a “haboob” in Arizona, it may be difficult to understand the amount of dirt that can cover your vehicle.
We checked the doors but they were all locked… Normally I would be happy that they at least locked the $200k vehicle when they left it on the street without verifying they were at the right address or obtaining a signature from the customer. However, they did not send any instructions or let us know if they had hid a key somewhere. My wife eventually found the key in the tow hitch.
Concern #3
Finally being able to unlock the vehicle, we hit the button and waited patiently as the sliding rear door slowly revealed the magic awaiting us inside. Words cannot express the amount of mud or the damaged and torn interior panels staring us in the face. Almost every single upholstered panel had been torn and the entire floor and seats were covered in mud.
We were crushed. The amount of anticipation that lead up to this moment culminated in absolute and utter disappointment. The expectations of spending the amount of money we did on this vehicle were completely destroyed within a few seconds. I didn’t have time to process the situation due to having to rush to work.
I asked my wife to clean it up as best she could and we would inspect everything when I got home from work.
Concern #4
After contacting the company, we did a virtual walkthrough utilizing face time. I tried to remain positive and go through the customer service reps checklist to introduce me to all the great features of the van, but it quickly became rather comical in a very cynical kind of way.
System by system we attempted to operate the van so I could learn how things worked. System by system I demonstrated how everything was either inoperable or obviously damaged. My personal favorite part was when water began leaking on the floor when I kicked on the water pump and water heater. The water never got hot, but at least the water pump worked.
We eventually wrapped up the conversation with roughly 70+ things needing to be repaired. Given the extent of damage and failure, the company recommended sending a driver back out to pick it up and ship it back to the factory in Indiana. Its not like I had a choice, so a few days later off it went.
Concern #5
After a couple of months, the van was eventually returned to me. Unfortunately, some of the issues were fixed, while others were not. The water heater was still not working but at least it wasn’t pissing on the floor. There was considerably less saw dust coming from the overhead vents and they were actually blowing air out. Some of the damaged upholstered panels were replaced while others looked like someone used a sharpie to color in the smaller tears but somehow made them look worse.
I went through their same process of doing the virtual walkthrough and watching the reps face change from “this customer must be an asshole; to the omfg I feel so bad for this customer”. I can honestly say the company seemed genuinely apologetic but their response was not as urgent as I would have hoped for. Over the next several months the van was shipped back to Indiana three more times. Each time it came back, they had more repaired defects but seemed to be adding minor damage. One time it returned with two dents in the passenger side quarter panel.
The worst of the issues were finding out the hard way that the seats were not bolted to the frame. Yes, you read that correctly. While driving down the 91 fwy, with my wife buckled into the driver side rear captains chair and our 2 year old in the passenger side one, my wife leaned over to help the 2 yo when her seat simply fell over. When I got home, I checked both seats and was surprised to find no bolts were holding either chair in place.
Solution
We owned the van for almost a year. We had it in our possession maybe 2 months total. The van was eventually replaced as a lemon law issue. The second van was light years better but not without its issues. We eventually sold the second one just to get away from the entire company. We ended up purchasing an empty van from Walters Mercedes in Riverside and are currently working on building it ourselves. I had heard stories of how embarrassingly bad the RV builds were but until I experienced this, I didn’t believe it. A few life lessons learned from the experience –
- Never buy a vehicle sight unseen. Always inspect it before transferring money.
- Never buy a new RV. Let someone else fix the problems for you.
- If you have the ability, build it yourself.
- Just because its expensive doesn’t mean its quality!
