After reading so many good things about them here, I decided to place a pretty good order to match my truck to my new (to me) travel trailer. Spent about $1500 in hitching gear and accessories. To start, my order didn't ship. I kept watching and watching. Still pending. I finally called and found that one $50 accessory was back-ordered. Ok, could you maybe ship the rest of the order? So, they release the rest of the order. It arrives today. The hitch, a Reese Titan, that I paid close to $400 for, came wrapped in thin plastic wrap. Completely scratched and banged up. Not quite what I was looking forward to mounting to my perfect truck. Then I look deeper into the shipment. The Reese 1700# WD bars I ordered to replace my under rated 1200# bars were 100% identical to the 1200# bars in size and weight. I 'm thinking, great, I just was duped into an upgrade. Alright, I call. They tell me the bars are different and can't for the life of them tell me how. This from a company who specializes in hitch equipment and carries Reese as their premium brand! Then they tell me all hitches come banged up on pallets and will ship me touch up paint. Great, that won't rust in a year. I hang up disgusted. Then I log into my credit card account to check the total they billed me. Well, didn't they double me. Not $1500 but three grand!! I call them back. After some digging a valley girl wannabe tells me the accountant billed me twice by accident and issued a credit yesterday. Never once apologized for billing me $1500 extra and sounded genuinely annoyed in having to explain all this to me. I called my credit card company and they have no record of the credit yet, but I was told this could take a day or two. Interesting, seeing as though the charge went through instantly. I have to say, I would not shop here again. Sorry for the rant, but just trying to save others some aggravation.

 

I wouldnt worry to much about the hitch paint, down there you are going to be touching it up once in a while. As for the bars, I think the diff in 1200 or 1700 lb bars is in the treatment of the steel, not the weight, its how much they deflect, for a given amount of pressure, I should think you will be able to tell hitching up how much pull is required to set them. I only have 1000s on my Equalizer hitch and after the 1st 1 inch of deflection, they is pretty hard to move. Sorry for your troubles on the CC, watch em like a hawk, also, they should not be processing the back order item until they ship it?

 

Thanks for the input mhoefer. Yes, they charged me for the backordered item too. As for the double charge, will be disputing the charge if it's not returned by tomorrow.

 

If you question the difference in the bars, I would call Reese. Based on my own experience I would place little faith in folks who sell. I agree with the comment above. I suspect the difference is in the treatment of the steel in the bar. Again, in my experience that is pretty typical.

My own experience with etrailer has been mixed.

Disputing the charge in this case should be very simple to do with your credit card company.

Sorry to hear you have had a problem.

Steve

 

Thanks Steve. I did contact Reese via their web email form but no reply yet. They don't list a phone number ANYWHERE. The part about etrailer that kills me is they were annoyed at my query about a $1500 double charge rather than being apologetic.

 

Hey man,

Trying to reach someone at these companies can be a chore. Here's the deal. Reese is owned by Cequent which is owned by Trimas. One of the ways these companies have cut costs is to cut customer service and one of the real disadvantages of being a consumer is customer service is becoming a thing of the past. And, even when you get someone on the phone, you do not reach the same department a dealer talks with. One manufacturer has recently started charged technicians to answer their questions. Credit card number first, then we talk.

So as not to get too long winded, here is the link to the Trimas phone numbers:
TriMas Corporation - Packaging, Energy, Aerospace & Defense, Engineered Components and Cequent.. If you wait for an email, we may both die of old age. I have been underwhelmed with eTrailer customer service in the past.

Good luck,

Steve

 

Wow, thanks for the link. Will be calling today!

 

Thanks for the heads up! One more reason I suppose to deal locally. I am getting a Reese 18K signature installed tomorrow. Will be looking it over carefully!

 

From what I have seen with any hitch, you should take it down and get it sand blasted and powder coated. My factory paint/finish on my Putnam hitch was horrible I took it off a couple months after having it on and had it redone and have had no rust issues since. I really should get an updated pic of it.

 

Well, just called Reese. The guy in tech told me that they only use two different sizes of material, one for the lighter systems and one for the heavier systems. All use the same material, same tempering, etc. The only difference is the taper of the bar. To my eye they are identical, but ok, if they say so...

 

I'm glad you got hold of someone. Reese has always treated me well. I don't have those parts in stock or I would take a look. On some of the bars there is a rating stamp. Not the ones you have?

Steve

 

Hi Senix,

I think there are several good reasons to buy locally. The obvious one is the service. What many folks don't realize is there is essentially no money at all to be made doing warranty work. With my own customers, I go way beyond the written warranty. By that I mean, for many components, only the component is warranted, not the removal and reinstall. I cover everything. But, I don't accept warranty work from anyone else. It is just too much of a hassle. I also have driven as far as 60 miles when the only problem was the customer didn't know how to turn on the appliance. Happens a lot. Try that with something purchased on the Internet.

Secondly, if you are an established customer, you can call me about anything to do with your rig. If I can answer it, I will any day of the week. Loyalty goes a long ways.

Finally, I find is many times folks buy items on the Internet for prices I have no trouble matching locally. The same holds true for those who buy used RVs. I am sometimes amazed at how folks assume just because something is on eBay, it is a cheaper. I do the eBay listing for one of the local dealers, but you can walk onto the lot any time and buy the same unit for the eBay price or less.

Just the rant of a very small business man,

Steve

 

Well, I did finally get my double charge refunded. Took a few calls. Then they tell me that Reese sends them "touch up kits" as large hitches are frequently damaged in shipping. Well, maybe they should send me one then? So, today I get the "kit" from UPS. I go to the garage to touch up my hitch and what do I find when I open the box? A can of discount spray paint bought at Walmart! I gave it a go. Was such cheap crap that it wouldn't cover the bare spots and was not the same finish as the factory paint on the hitch. Now I have half covered shiny spots on my hitch. Real nice. I would never shop etrailer again and would advise anyone considering it to shop elsewhere...

 

My old man ordered a hitch from a mail order place once. He only made that mistake once and I learned from his mistake. The hitch was in a box and UPS beat it to hell. Spend the extra money and get one at a local dealer. The dealer gets them on skids so they don't get beat up as much.