Kunes RV of Elkhorn — Local services in Elkhorn

Kune’s is poorly managed and charges for services that they don’t do. They don’t care for the customer. It’s a lot of lip service.

Where to begin. First, we purchased a 5th wheel that included a hitch to be installed in our truck. We made the initial trip from Michigan to Wisconsin to see the rig. We agreed upon a price and they started the paperwork. They also took the specs on my truck to order a hitch and direct frame mount system to be installed the following weekend. Leading up to the closing appointment I had to hound the sales rep for even tidbits of information. Vital information to closing on a deal for an RV, like what is the interest rate, or what is the monthly payment? It wasn’t until 6pm on Friday before I said enough and told them we weren’t planning to close the next day. The threat of losing a deal finally prompted a manager to call me with the details I had been pushing for all week. They also confirmed they had everything for my hitch in the shop. So we woke up at 3:30 am the next morning and made our way back to WI.

1 hour of waiting and the manager came out with a that look on his face. He informed us that they were missing the vehicle specific frame mount and wouldn’t be able to get it until later that week. Mind you we had just traveled 5 hours dragging our 2 year old camper that they were taking on trade and already had customers walking through. The logical side of me should’ve kicked in at this point but the impulsive side took over. Somehow they managed to persuade us to move forward. They agreed to allow me to have the frame brackets installed back home and reimburse me for that plus transportation mileage for another return trip to Wisconsin.

So here’s the big rub. Early in the deal the sales rep informed me of a $2500 prep and delivery fee that they charge for all new RV’s. This was an astronomical fee compared to anything I’ve seen through other dealers, many who have no fee whatsoever but account for it transparently in their bottom line price. I was told this fee was to cover initial delivery to their site and for their service team to perform a final check on everything in the rig to ensure it’s in proper order, and to remedy issues missed before leaving the manufacturer. Mind you, this is all stuff that any customer expects from a certified dealer of any manufacturer. That’s literally their job. The problem is, they didn’t do a thing other than dust the counters and wash the outside of the RV. No systems, appliances, outlets, latches, etc were tested. Not only that, they didn’t even de-winterize the unit. This was evident when I went to fill the fresh water tank. I turned the pump on and RV antifreeze came spraying out the fresh water inlet because the bypass valve was stuck. This led to hours of my time necessary to remove the valve and free it before I could start de-winterizing it to do the “prep” for a camping weekend. This was a fee I paid for but was not provided. It got worse from there. We hooked to shore power and started the process of cooling the fridge to ensure we could safely transport our cold items for the weekend only to have the fridge not work. But how would they have known because it wasn’t prepped as promised. It was DOA. The light is on but the compressor simply doesn’t work. I spent a day this past weekend going through every possible troubleshooting step known for the fridge. Nothing worked and now we wait for an approved warranty repair to have a working fridge. Then we get to the hot water heater. The hot water heater would heat for a few seconds and then shut off while greeting us with an E1 error code. Again had they run the hot water for even 45 seconds, they’d have identified an issue that needed attention. Beyond these major issues there are 7 other items that we’ve found such as parts simply missing like the grate that goes under the stairs to block the cold air return. Simply never installed. And a missing soundbar remote.

Run, don’t walk, run from Kune’s. ...

Update on my review:

Shawn and Danny reached out personally to apologize to us about the whole situation.

Shawn refunded us the installation of our laundry units and sent us new brackets for the washer. Told us to let them know if anything goes wrong with the washer.

Shawn also reimbursed us for our time with the microwave mess.

They made things right with us, which we are happy with. Just sad it took a review to get things moving. But I guess there was a change in management so better late than never.

We hope to work with Danny again if we ever make it back to that neck of the woods.

Oh where to begin.... First and foremost I want to say Danny was great to work with and is an excellent salesman. He sold us our beautiful Alliance Valor 40v13. Our problems began after we gave our deposit.... We asked for them to wait to run our credit report because we were in the process of closing on our house. We told them we would call to give the okay to run the credit report when the closing of our house was done because we didn't want anything to happen during our closing process that would have been affected by another credit check. We were told they can not run credit until we give the okay and that they hold the unit for 30 days after the deposit was given. So whenever we were ready for it to be ran was fine just to let them know. After we put the deposit down the manager Shawn kept calling multiple times a week to run the credit report. Our second issue we were missing a key and remote for the fireplace. Alliance is taking care of this issue but it should have never happened in the first place. They also waited until the day we came to pick up our rv to tell us about a protection package. Which caused headaches and delays for us leaving. If the protection package would have been offered to us prior to us getting there to pick up the rv alot of headaches would have been saved and we wouldn't have delayed our trip.

Our biggest issue lies with the service department.

The third issue lies with the microwave. When we walked through the unit there was no microwave. We were told there was a recall on it and that a new one would be installed prior to us taking possession of the unit. New microwave was installed however the service technician at Kunes RV of Elkhorn stripped and cross threaded the one bolt for the microwave damaging the case to the microwave. When getting ahold of someone to fix this issue Alliance reached out and was confused as to why our unit originally had no microwave and that there was never a recall on it. Our fourth issue we told them how we wanted things installed and they ignored what we wanted until Danny corrected them and told them I wasn't going to be happy if it wasn't done the way I requested. We paid for installation of the washing machine in our toy hauler. The technician who installed it failed to remove the transportation screws from the washing machine prior to installing the washing machine and screwing the mounts to the floor. The first time we ran the washing machine the washer was shaking violently and broke free from the mounts. The next time I ran the washing machine it continued to shake violently and vibrated the top of the washing machine off. The washing machine was never leveled. It wasn't until I took to the Alliance RV facebook page to ask others about the washer that I was asked if the dealership removed the transportation screws. Sure enough the service department never removed the transportation screws prior to installing the machine. We would have never know this if the machine wasn't acting up. I would have never been able to pull the washer forward if it hadn't broke free from the mounts. I had to pull the transportation screws from the washer along with the rubber gaskets from the washing machine. This is something that should have been done when we paid for installation. I am just glad we had the tools to do this. Hopefully the washing machine isn't ruined due to lack of proper installation from the...

I reached out to Kunes a few months back and spoke with Butch concerning a couple pre-owned units found on the website. Butch answered all my questions and provided more information than I asked. Butch has since retired, enter Ron.

Ron followed up recently, checking to see if I was still in the market for an RV. A couple weeks later, the exact year-model showed up on Kunes's website. I called Ron who answered my questions and put me in touch with someone at the Elkhorn location. Enter Jack.

Jack is a terrific person and salesman. He called almost immediately after Ron provided his contact information. Jack provided details about the rig and answered any questions I had at the time. The deal was too good to pass up. We called Jack back and gave him our deposit.

On Sunday, July 1st, we rented a car and drove from Houston, TX to Elkhorn, WI. Jack was in contact with us all the way North. We met him Tuesday to see the vehicle. Jack introduced us to Keaghan who provided the walkaround. We took a couple hours to work from the outside in. Keaghan demonstrated all the workings of the vehicle from the water heater, to the wet bay, to all the outdoor storage. We moved to the chassis motor compartment and then the interior. Function by function, question by question, we were fully informed. We were allowed to take recordings by phone and/or write down any information. Keaghan allowed all the time needed to make the walkthrough successful. We eventually made our way to the interior of the coach and worked through all that it had to offer.

Did I forget to mention, we made the trip with our two dogs? The staff offered to watch our dogs while we completed the walk through. Thanks to all of you who helped with that small task.

Once we were done, we took the rig out for a test drive. All was successful. We were ready to sign the dotted line. We were introduced to Morgan in the Finance office. She went over all the available options; insurances (key fob, tires, extended, etc). We opted for nothing and she was okay with that. There was no "high pressure". We completed all the paperwork. Morgan provided the wiring instructions, and we were finally off and out the door for our new adventures.

Over the next day and half, we came up with additional questions which Jack was more than happy to run down the answers. Jack offered some suggestions for our trip home (which were homeruns by the way!). He even kept in touch to make sure things were going smoothly.

Upon arriving home to Houston, we realized the beating a rig takes just driving over this country's roads; from poorly patched roads, to pot holes, to just the expansion joints between concrete pads. We decided we really needed to get the extended warranty. I called Jack once again who made it all happen. Morgan called the following day and put together the paperwork. We also managed to add the cost into the total sum of the wire amount which made things a bit easier.

Just another note, we stopped in Peoria on the way home and met a great individual who managed an RV park. When he saw the Kunes name on the rig, he mentioned he has seen many RVs come and go from the same dealership. To me that says, Kunes has made a great name for themselves. I experienced the hospitality first hand. I highly recommend them.

Thank you Ron and Morgan. But thanks especially to Jack who made it all happen. We are so excited to see what Retirment holds and the new adventures...