Dear George Sutton RV:

Thank you so much for your continued support of CBS News Sunday Morning. It is the only must-see t.v. that my husband and I watch, so we see your commercial regularly.  This morning, as I often do, I murmured, “Thank you, George, for supporting Sunday Morning,” and my husband said, “He can’t hear you from here.  You should send a thank you!”

So here is my thank you, George.  Grateful thanks to you and your company for supporting the best television has to offer.  If I ever need an RV, your business would be my first choice.

Best wishes for a grand holiday season,

Carol Roth
Eugene OR

Morning Tina, Tony here from  Australia, I am importing two Adventure campers from your company in the next few days and I just need to shout out some praises about your salesman Shawn. He has been so helpful, courteous and most of all patient with me while we have worked through the tedious logistics of this process for the last 6 or 7 weeks.

I am really pleased  now it is all coming together and hopefully, I will be able to market these light weight campers to fit our smaller Australian trucks. So all being well, hopefully, I will be contacting Shawn in the future for another shipment. But for now I just needed to tell someone further up the pecking order to give him a good pat on the back from me.

Kind regards,

Tony

Dear Sutton RV:

My wife and I are currently driving from Washington state to our home in California. We are in the market for an Airstream trailer and were quite excited to discover that the second largest Airstream dealer in the world is right on our path home in Eugene. Browsing through your website it’s clear that have an amazing facility. We didn’t want to miss the opportunity to visit you and perhaps arrange an Airstream purchase. However, to our surprise, “America’s Favorite RV Place” is closed on Sundays. We are both struggling for an answer to why this would be. Weekends are the time when many people (such as ourselves) are passing through your area. Clearly you’ve made a significant investment in your facility and inventory. To make it unavailable on one of the most convenient days of the week (for buyers) does not make much sense from a business perspective and is very disappointing from a customer’s perspective. I understand that everyone needs time off from work and your employees appreciate having Sundays off. However, you are a business and I would think you could arrange a work schedule that provided time off for employees as well as meeting your customers needs. I do see that your website indicates that appointments can be arranged on Sundays. But we’re not interested in an appointment; we wanted to just stop in and take in your facility without the need to make special arrangements.

I regret that we won’t have an opportunity to meet today. As a potential customer, I strongly encourage you to consider the impact your “closed on Sundays” practice is having on your customers and your business. The fact that I’ve taken the time to write you this personal email should indicate that I am (was) indeed a serious customer.

Disappointed in California

Dear Mr. and Mrs. “Disappointed in California”:

I love getting letters from folks. It is my way of questioning what we are doing or being proud of it. We are not the typical Rv dealership. Anyone who knows Martha or me will tell you it is a passion of love more than a labor for money. Yes, you are correct that Sunday is a convenient time for consumers to shop. We have left much of our dealership accessible, and especially the Airstreams, so people have the ability to look around without a sales person. Most appreciate the freedom but for those that need assistance the phone number goes directly to the person on-call for that particular Sunday.

The issue is not about business, it is about what is best for our people. Being closed on Sunday enables them to be refreshed and get ready to work hard the next day. In 43-years, I do not recall a single deal that couldn’t wait for the next day or be done by appointment. I have worked many a Sunday in my life but it certainly did not make up for my absence from family gatherings. For me, Sunday is a day my staff can stop thinking about the dealership and spend time with their loved ones. One would not work a team of horses for seven days, why do business owners always think they should work human beings?

My dad always wanted us to be closed on Sundays because of his faith. All my life I heard that being closed on Sunday was the right thing to do. He had a Ford Agency in Inglewood for 37-years. He was told by all the factory people it was crazy to be closed on Sundays. When he sold the business, all three of the succeeding owners opened seven days a week. All three separate owners went bankrupt. When dad passed away almost four years ago, we promised to run this dealership in a manner that would be honoring to him. We have survived some major setbacks and economic challenges. Our competitors have told all that would listen that we were surely going out of business. The funny thing is we have prospered and our people seem to respect the way we do business. We are fair, kind and know the value of family relationships. I hope this helps you understand why we choose to be different. It may cost us in some ways, but we more than make up for it in others!

I hope we get the opportunity to speak. I would recommend Mark Henrich as the Airstream person for you to speak with. He is currently picking up a used Airstream we purchased from down south. I expect he will return sometime next week. If you would like, I will be happy to have him call. Just provide a phone number. Mark owns two Airstreams and will provide significant information and insight you will not find elsewhere. He is also a friend.

I trust this helps you judge whether or not you would like to work with us.

Thanks again for writing,

Sincerely,

George

It’s been less than six months since we purchased our Airstream from your dealership and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for being in business so close to us down here in Roseburg. We are thoroughly delighted with our trailer and, with only 4 outings, it feels like home. We are pleased with this product in almost every way, design, construction quality, ease of use, and towing ease. More importantly, we are pleased with the relationship with Mark Henrich and his understanding of us and our needs plus his vast depth of knowledge about the product and its history. In my opinion, Mark was the perfect person to sell me an Airstream and I must believe he is one of your greatest assets!

We are also very pleased with the service depart and Mark’s and their response to any issues that we’ve had.

No product is perfect and we still need to get the trailer in to repair 3 defects in manufacturing, which is a little surprising. These are: failure of the tongue jack switch, a video cable apparently pinched behind the wall, and a defective closure on the front window awning. We’ve already discussed this with service and are just waiting for a convenient time to bring the trailer in. I mention these things only for your feedback to the factory.

May I say in closing, your dealership is everything your advertise it to be and I would go nowhere else to buy another travel trailer.

Sincerely,

Gary Holt

Dear George,

We often hear the “bad” news and not often enough the “good” news. I am very happy with my AS (Airstream), albeit the learning curve is rather steep. Would a 747 have been easier? Digesting the Hensley hitch is a challenge, but they are terrific folks with whom to deal. From the first day, every one in your dealership was friendly, courteous and unhurried. The lady who carries the keys around, opening trailers is a real people person and was one of our first contacts. There was a certain time during the sales process that if someone had given me even the tiniest reason to walk, I might have done so; only because spending large amounts of money tends to make one nervous.

I had initially contacted your competitor in Oregon, mainly due to a perceived larger inventory. It became clear after one telephone call that the sales person didn’t know much of anything about Airstreams, nor was I going to be more than a sucker number. Contacting your dealership and getting Mark was a blessing.

He treated me and my husband with respect, was extremely knowledgable, and fun to boot. My motto is, “if you are going to spend a lot of money, it has to be fun.”

Mark has provided fabulous customer service -extending to after hours and giving me his cell phone number when he was on vacation. I did not call him, as people need their get-away time. After taking delivery, we stayed in Armitage Park, as Mark had recommended. We invited him over for a social visit.

He arrived, but refused refreshment until he had gone through the AS with us to answer any questions. Most sales people take your money and that is the last one sees or hears from them. We have called him twice while on the road. Just a couple of little things, but he had the answers.

Tom, your service manager, sent over Jason to fix a switch. Another outstanding employee who was most helpful and this was on his way home. Mike in warranty service was extremely nice and helped us when Tom was busy. I wish to compliment Bart on his very thorough walk through and Noah for his knowledge of the Hensley hitch. Noah was most helpful and even had to lengthen the safety chains due to hitch configuration. We did not have any business with Kelley, who was creating glowing trailers, but he was very friendly and helpful.

Did not finance through Jeremy, but again a very friendly, helpful individual. And guess what? Your employees enjoy working for you. It is only as good as the back office which is why I wanted to meet you before sealing the deal. When one is almost seventy, one has experienced a lot. Your dealership is outstanding in my book and I will not hesitate to say so.

With Best Regards,
Joan Girdler Good

The stylish, popular and environmentally friendly EverGreen Element will be featured in November’s issue of Trailer Life. The issue’s cover (below) shows the Element being pulled by a small SUV.

Read more about the EverGreen Element at Sutton RV.

The Evergreen Element can easily be towed by a small SUV such as the Porsche Cayenne hybrid.