Arbutus RV & Marine Sales Ltd - PORT ALBERNI

Where to start. Bought a Grand design in October 2021. We're told delivery would be 5 days, and it began. Several times were told it was delays. Then not a month in to living in it, the hot water tank busted and leaked everywhere underneath. After several calls and saying we need hot water, finally they showed up with a temporary tank that is smaller then the original. All insulation was removed because of the water damage. 3 months later, still no new tank, no insulation and we were told this week, now it's next week. And did I mention the fridge only works on propane and the shower was leaking inside the wall so my husband had to take that apart and put new fittings on because guess what, they don't care. They tell you they have the best warranty but warning everyone DO NOT BUY. I never complain or post negative but this is the worse service ever. And there is more. So in this case you don't get what you are paying for.I asked for the warranty to begin again because they are not fixed after almost 4 months and the response was we cannot do that. But it also isn't acceptable to wait for months for warranty. So I will continue to find a solution to the problem. Next is a phone call to Indiana where they are manufactured. But I would suggest to do your homework on the service dept. And the builders of the trailers.

A huge rave to Shawn & the crew at Alberni Arbutus for coming to our rescue. Rather than tow our trailer along the detour road, we contacted Shawn about storing our RV while Hwy 4 was closed. Shawn offered to store the RV at no charge at all. Unbeleivable.!What a great way to offer this kind of support during a difficult time. We are truly appreciative. Thx so much Shawn & gang!

Thank you so much to Shawn and staff for allowing us to leave our trailer with them during the Cameron Bluff fire. We needed to get home and to do so we needed to take the detour route. Taking our trailer just wasn’t an option!! Our unit was safe at their location and they stored it at no charge. Huge gratitude to the crew at Arbutus RV Port Alberni!! Mike & Val, Qualicum Bay

Awesome customer service! Decent selection for what we needed in stock and offers to bring in others....will definitely be our dealer if we decide to commit to go down the RV route!

We purchased a new trailer from Arbutus in Port Alberni a little over a year ago. The whole experience has gone exactly as We hoped it would. Our sales person was very friendly , knowledgeable and professional. They didn’t have the exact model we were looking for but we’re able to transfer on from another branch of Arbutus that had the options we were looking for. Was a few days before we were able to get our trailer because it was brand new and hadn’t had its inspection yet. Our walk through was very informative and I walked away confident that I was ready for this ( and I was). That was over a year ago and we’ve been loving our trailer ever since. After the wonderful experience we’ve had with Arbutus rv I will never buy an rv anywhere else, and I highly recommend that if you’re thinking about buying an rv , go visit Arbutus.

I'd avoid this company at all costs if I were you - since my original review, they've done nothing but lie to me & refuse to solve my problems. Many problems that were documented by their own techs as needing to be repaired.The sales staff were fantastic - buying our RV was a great experience. Janine really went above & beyond to make the deal - we truly appreciate that. Unfortunately that's where the good news ends.Dealing with the parts & service department has been an absolute nightmare. We've had no working stove since we brought the RV home - nearly 4 months ago. I'm lucky to even get a call back or a response to an email - trying to actually get anything done has been a disaster. Zero communication, zero progress - and then after 2.5 months of waiting for ANYTHING to get done - they essentially said they can't do anything and pawned us off on a different location so we could start the process all over again.Had I known this was the service we could expect, we would have never even considered purchasing here. So unbelievably disappointed.

Just a quick note about my experience with Arbutus RV in Port Alberni. I've known Shawn Lawson for many years and always dealt with him whenever I had a new vehicle purchase I wanted to make. He was always caring, efficient and very professional to deal with. Most recently I had the same experience with him at Arbutus RV. I would highly recommend Shawn, and Arbutus RV when considering an RV purchase

My review is of the Port Alberni location. The staff were super friendly until the papers were signed. Lots of issues that the Manager seems to see as my problem now that our brand new trailer is ours. I tried to work through the issues with him, but in an incredible display of unprofesionalism, the manager just wants to have a back and forth argument. I think he sees me as a complainer, but that is certainly not the case.I just want to be treated fairly. Best of all, there does not seem to be a head office of any kind to move my concerns up the line to, so, that's why we have Google reviews...When we got the trailer home, my 12 year old could not get the door to latch from the inside. I had to use all of my weight to close it - you could actually hear the door de-laminating as you pulled the latch. We took the trailer back and we were told it is supposed to be hard to close. It has to 'break in' they said. I complained to the manager - he refused to deal with it. So I contacted TLRV, the manufacturer. The door should be easy to latch they said. They indicated that my dealer should be fixing it. Fortunately, TLRV gave me instructions on how to fix it. I'm no RV tech, but I fixed it.When we purchased the trailer from these folks, they charged us a $495 shop fee. The shop fee supplies a propane tank full of propane ($49 at 7- Eleven) and a battery ($125 at Walmart) and a 'walk through'. That's it. About $200 worth of work for $495. They tell you that they inspect the trailer in there too, but they missed the bare electrical wires under the sink, the unsealed conduit in the floor under the sink, the door that wouldn't close... and who knows what that I haven't discovered yet. I don't think the inspection was worth $295.They pressured us to buy a second battery as well. While I am still not convinced that this supposed super efficient 14 foot trailer needs a second battery, I agreed, but wanted both batteries covered which they agreed to do. When we picked up the trailer, neither battery was covered. They said there was no way to fit the battery boxes in the small space. I didn't know. They are the experts right? Apparently not - I paid for two batteries in boxes (or covered). I got two batteries exposed to the weather, to any thieves that want them and to an electrical disaster the first time one of the kids lays a lawn chair across the battery terminals. I am no RV tech, but here is what I learned afterward - they could have provided smaller batteries and battery boxes that would have fit in the space provided, they could have modified the battery boxes to fit in the space (which I have done to make the batteries safe and mostly covered), they could have fabricated a cover of some kind or they could have provided me with the lithium battery I asked for in the first place.I could keep going, but I won't. Just keep in mind that if you buy anything from these folks, you are on your own. You will pay a lot more to buy from them and they are not interested in helping you. I will be shopping elsewhere when we upgrade.

I bought a trailer from arbutus, the unit was a few years old and had some issues. Mike from service was awesome, fixed the unit, gave exceptional service!! this is my 2nd unit from them and I won't go any where else

Staff were friendly, but Karen wasn't able to answer any of our questions about the trailer itself.They are not very organized, and we were called to come pick up on a day that our trailer wasn't ready, then when we signed the paperwork, the correct person wasn't there to make any changes and we couldn't have both our names on the title.We were told by multiple staff we needed a 7 point harness, spent the $1000 to get all wiring etc installed o Ly to find out the trailer is a 4 point harness.At first manager wasn't going to do anything but say sorry my bad" but we pushed and he ended up giving $200 back.Within a week of receiving our trailer we went camping and there were multiple leaks. Manager (Shawn?) Said they weren't there when we picked up and made us pay to have them fixed. They should have been identified during the inspection and testified before we got the trailer in the first place.THEN. We pick up the trailer from getting the leaks fixed at arbutus and immediately go camping. Turns out our lights no longer work.They worked when we dropped it off.Customer service is shody at best. They have the attitude of "once you sign the paperwork