Our 21' Escape Trailer purchase issues

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This is my experience purchasing my Escape Trailer.

Upon my retirement I started searching for a travel trailer. I found Escape on the internet saw the pictures but knew no one who owned an Escape so we could see it in person. I sold my wife on the idea so I started reading the escape forum, and learned about the trailer.

At this point I start talking to the wife about my intent of purchasing an Escape although there were none to show her in person. The fact of sending all the money for a trailer you don’t have in possession, or a company I knew little about its a little nerve wracking. Upon deciding on the Escape I started the process of the purchase.

My first dealing with Linda at Escape was nice. Linda is business polite (If that’s a term) like everyone else had been during my dealing with Escape. The initial paperwork contract etc was all done online through the internet but it was official. I also noted that most of the contract was to protect Escapes interest in the deal. So I sent my deposit.

Several weeks later the Canadian dollar went down to its lowest in quite some time. I wanted to take advantage of this huge opportunity the problem was escape trailers were on vacation. I cannot believe a company that knows that most payments are wire payments, and a lot of people watch the dollar value before making a move someone should have been in work given the situation. I sent numerous emails that I wanted to pay but heard nothing. When escape came back to work I called accounting and spoke to them about the situation they told me they did not get the email. Really. Its funny because then she says I am going to send some test emails and I GOT EVERY ONE….plus I never had any problem conversing with Linda via email.

I sent in almost all of the payment so the trailer was paid all but 300.00. I then received the bill of sale indicating the trailer was paid all but 300.00.

Next was the planning stage having never seen an Escape trailer or camped in more than 25 years we really did not know where to start. The forum helped a lot but some people are much friendlier with the Escape people so sometimes the truth on topics really don’t come out because of this friendship and some of these people post a lot. So at first I believed a lot but now I know these players I tend to not read their posts.

Linda our salesperson was not as helpful for somebody like us. She offered no suggestions but did answer our questions, but the problem was the customization that Escape is known for she was not sure on a lot of things and had to go and ask.

One in point was a super holiday deal I lost out on the RV65 WeBoost connect. I wanted to purchase this the first day of the sale so I emailed Linda with the info and the point was to have escape put a coax connection outside the trailer. By the time she got back to me the sale was over so I lost out on the savings and yes escape put the coax connection on (although I have not used it to test it).

During this time I had minimal contact with her since our sale was easy we did not need to be sold on the trailer just need help on putting the deal together. After our planned trailer was about to be built Linda calls me about the trailer issues that were addresses and decided on but somehow Linda was unclear on our final decisions which in my mind made me think if there is going to be an issue.

So as the time approaches we are preparing for what was a 7000 mile trip to BC from Massachusetts. We spoke to Linda about the trip and whether we stay in Canada or the US after the purchase. She stated that some do and others don’t so we decided to stay on the US side since I am allowed to carry a firearm in the US.

At the same time I am in contacts with my Lawyer while he is planning a trust for our estate. I send him the bill of sale from escape with all the trailers info and then a week or so I got to the insurance company with the escape paperwork to get the trailer insured and registered.

The day before I go to the registry I see that the bill of sale provided by escape has a 300.00 balance I know I can’t go to our registry with a bill of sale owing a balance so I call escape and pay the actual 50.00 balance and escape sends me out another bill of sale showing a paid zero balance.

I then take the documents wait two hours at our registry when I get to the window she takes the documents and determines that the VIN numbers on the bill of sales and all my prepared and signed documents are wrong. This turned into a three and a half hour ordeal because of Escapes mistake not to mention the lawyer for my estate planning had to redo his documents not sure what this costed me since all I got was one final bill from him The insurance had to cancel and open a new policy on the trailer.

A short time goes by still have not gotten any phone calls from escape but I do get an apology email from Karl Kenny which was short and sweet and ended with Please let me know if there is anything we can do to make amends. What do you say to this?

The big day comes and we leave Massachusetts with my brand new GMC Sierra 1500 Denali what a truck, and ride (it should it costed enough) heading to Chilliwack, BC 1500 miles into this trip I get a call from accounting while we are on the road she says this is escape trailers calling has anyone contact you about the vin number to your trailer. In my mind I am going WTF is wrong now and my voice might have shown it. In the end she offered me a free hotel night in BC the night before my orientation. Why she would ever start the conversation I don’t know. Well at this same time while talking to her there was an accident and detour that I needed to pay attention to so I told her that and I may of said I will call you tomorrow.

Well sorry anyone who has driven this type of distance understands but I forgot to call her the next day I was driving but she never tried to call us again. So thinking that she may of rented us this room I call escape to find that she had taken the day off and one person new about the room situation but just told me she was not in today so in the end I felt funny that I had just called escape begging for a room.

OK so after all the planning it was the day we drive cross the boarder and arrive in Escapes lot Massachusetts plates and all. No friendly workers to be found here we saw many employees going into work but no waves or friendliness shown. They know why we’re here. They look at us they look at the plate we look like we drove a long way. We go inside in awe of our first viewing of an Escape trailer as well as ours. The wife’s pretty surprised (remember this was my idea not hers) so she was filled with doubt and anticipation.

Everyone we met was business polite we see Linda for a short time, and then we go through the orientation process our hitch installed by Trevor at some point we went into their showroom area killing time. Since we watched the videos we now see the owner of the company Reece out on the showroom floor my wife says he’s the man in the videos. I said yes he probably will come and say hi. In my mind figuring we had just spent $49,900.00 CAD on his trailer. Well I walked by him several times no so much as a head nod pretty disappointing. I have purchased cars from less desirable salesman and they come and shake your hand and Thank you for the purchase. This is supposed to be some family type business not seeing it.

The gentleman Trevor was a real nice guy he installed our hitch. He is a credit to they’re business because out of our whole time there he was the nicest.

After four hours there we are explaining to the woman at the desk were we were from and our trip back camping, boon docking, etc we leave I say this because we were using the trailer we were not going directly home we were first time campers made it known to anyone there who cared to listen.

We pick up the trailer everything is gone over one thing is there is no propane in the tanks and no one tells us. OK my fault when your building this trailer there is an option for toilet paper, sewer slinky etc. I ordered this at first but then through the use of the forums I found better products and eventually go for them. In the end I found I did not need Escapes kit they offer so I declined it.

The fact is someone should have reminded us there is no propane included since I opted out of the kit. Really no propane warning, new campers, staff knows we are camping as soon as we drive away. If asked we would have paid any price to have the propane tanks filled. I signed so many documents why not a no propane warning. Sorry I bought many cars always came with gas.

So now we get to our first escape camping experience sleeping with wife middle of night it’s cold we go to turn heat on no heat won’t come on. Great start to my retirement and the wife first impression. Morning comes and we use kitchen sink numerous times. At some point we open cabinet and find water in bottom of cabinet sink plumbing leaking. The wife is so very happy to clean up the water.

I am now tasked to make my first call to escape. Only being in Washington escape sent Dustin over. Dustin is a polite guy he gave us a time and came to our site. The issue was no sightseeing day in campground waiting for service as well the start of talks/disagreements about the purchase. Dustin determined our issue no propane as well as fixed the plumbing.

OK the first is no propane 97% my fault but really a big 3% is Escapes. As for the plumbing I watched but did not study what he did but he completely removed the plumbing pipe showed me glue or something in the pipe he did more than I would be willing to do on a brand new trailer. As for Dustin I was extremely embarrassed over the no propane issue and it leaves me feeling like he thinks you’re an idiot (just my thought).

Since I am a new camper we made a lot of purchases to which all were packed in the truck as well as removed to the hotel in preparation for boarder crossing. There was a cooler packed but necessities that the trailer had were not being duplicated on this journey. Camper new like me learned about shopping as soon as you find a good store cause it might be the best or last one in the area.

We stock up at the store load the fridge all in good working order and on propane as we now move towards Montana. While on this route while camping we found that over night the fridge stopped working and the food was cool. No lights on the display boards wife not happy but I don’t gamble perishables like meat, cold cuts thrown away. Ok neglected to tell you this is the crowded 4th July week/end had the weekend to rehash with the wife this issue great fun.

Unfortunately I felt bad for Escape’s Dustin because I save his number (He may have told me too) I called him and he knew I was extremely unhappy. He did not know why the fridge had no power ran me through some troubleshooting but nothing worked Dustin had asked me if I had tried that toggle switch under the table which I was well aware of and what it does. I told him what position the switch was in which it was in the correct position so we did not troubleshoot the switch. Dustin then said he would get back to me again waiting around the trailer no sightseeing or travel. At some point Dustin did not know the cause and said for me to call Dometic that night I was trying to do some trouble shooting and toggled the shut off to the battery one simple click the first time it breaks and does not switch. I was outraged this switch is not damaged in any way and I welcome escape to look at it if they don’t believe me. BUT in my opinion that is the dumbest idea and the only one that I can see to have that type of switch installed where it is. The worst is the quality of the switch CHEAP. During our trip I call Dustin to set up service we loose the call through the mountains never hear from Dustin again. I say this cause I called him.

OK with this broken switch in the off position great guess what no solar, no boon docking, no stays in Walmart parking lots the rest of our trip had to be at sites with power.

The call to Dometic consisted of a LONG wait before an older woman answered. Oh and guess what the woman was totally unhelpful. New campers beware when you have this problem in the middle of no where like us Dometic did nothing to help us find a location for service.

OK sometimes your lucky and you meet some nice people the campground had a repairman that would come to the campground ( new campers beware this is the only guy in miles, and he cared to get us up and running the bad was he is busy and it was when he was free another great day in discussions. New campers beware what I am finding that NEVER in my life have I had this much time for discussion and doing nothing I am not complaining but I would have preferred a different escape discussion. So the repairman arrives as well as other campers all looking at the big repair van at my sight funny thing I had one if not the newest trailers gave us great feeling on our new purchase.

The repair a fused link also told about a reset button in the back that Escape for what ever reason never told us but the repair person said that clears issues he has been seeing. OK our issues were that the fused link in the back of the fridge had blown. It took him all of thirty seconds to fix. When I asked him about the switch I saw him lift the bench but he must of looked at the box next to it and says its a special switch he did not have one I never looked at the switch but funny thing when this happened I found a $4.00 switch at Walmart that I bought just in case. He was a good guy paid him his $80.00 fee he told us when we asked this happens a lot, and unknown what causes it He said it could happen again.

Great more discussions since now its fourth of July weekend. We are trying to get back to some quality time together in doing so go back to the store restock fridge working on ac power. We leave the next day for some sightseeing gone all day into evening return fridge not working oh happy times.

Well no use calling escape because its Friday this makes for excellent weekend camping discussions.

Someone must be wondering but NO nothing from the Escape office. No calls. No corespondence at all as of the writing of this it has been 23 days since my purchase. I kept Dustin in the loop and hoped he would let the people at Escape know which he said he would.

In the end the fridge is a bearly used 23 day old fridge that has now blown fuses twice what should I expect a replacement or let them fix it so it can blow again where is escape helping me with this.

As for the toggle switch I have now looked at it and see that it is pretty close to the same 3.00 switch I bought from Walmart. Pretty sad if it’s the same.

Let me add to this during one of my long days of discussion with the wife I wanted to call my salesperson Linda I really wanted her to know the joy of our new purchase. She was not in so I was going to the voicemail so I instead asked for the person who initially answered the call to listen to my controlled polite unhappiness. I told her everything in this letter and her response was to laugh. I kid you not. I then said do you think this is funny and of course she said no, but a laugh. Really.


Well in the end brand new trailer will have to find a repair shop. Its funny for my truck I would go to a GMC guy. Its not a great feeling when the repair guy says he has never heard of an escape.

Thanks Escape for the service above I hope it meets your standards. Thanks for the enjoyable retirement trip.

Please this does not need to be critiqued this is my account of what has happened. I have no reason to lie and the only reason I am posting this is for awareness. I did not do well in grammar its obvious so critique all you want.