Why Choose Blue Compass RV?
When it comes to RV dealers, RVers can be notoriously loyal and yet equally as fickle. It simply comes down to, are you taking care of me and my investment?
With the advent of social media, these same RVers are now quick to point out when a company, large or small, reneges on their promise. Even the corporate giants aren’t safe from bloggers unafraid to state their opinions.
Rather than tilting at windmills, Blue Compass RV, led by Founder, CEO, and President Jon Ferrando, has fueled their rapid growth by acquiring & building successful RV dealerships focused on exceptional customer service.
“We’ve got an opportunity to create a powerful retail brand around an exceptional customer experience…”
Jon Ferrando – Blue Compass RV CEO – Forbes
A focus on customer service
While the growth of Blue Compass RV is nothing short of amazing (over 100 stores in just four years), the focus remains not so much on growth, but on arguably the most contentious part of RV ownership: service.
The days of every RVer being handy and accepting the fact that they’ll be doing all of their own repair work are gone. Today’s RVs are more sophisticated, and the demographic footprint of RVers has skewed younger. Those younger RVers coming into the hobby have grown up with automobiles that require almost no maintenance, often for tens of thousands of miles, outside of a simple oil change that most have never done themselves.
These new generations of RVers have also grown up expecting quality service and leaving reviews if the experience is not satisfactory. “That’s just how RVs are” is not an acceptable answer to the next generation of RV owners. Today’s modern RVer may or may not understand, or care about, the challenges the RV industry faces, and they most certainly will not accept excuses for bad service.
The burden on this customer satisfaction now rests fully on the RV dealer. This is where Ferrando and his team have set their focus. It can be more difficult than it sounds, but Blue Compass RV is deeply committed to bringing their customers the best service experience possible. Fixing the RV service problem comes with first understanding it.
“The practical reality is, as you go across the industry, there can be a significant wait time to get in for service for a number of reasons, including the supply chain and parts availability.”
Jon Ferrando – Blue Compass RV CEO – Forbes
Blue Compass Training
There is no path towards exceptional customer service that doesn’t start with training. To that effect, Blue Compass RV has roughly 850 certified service technicians, with a goal of exceeding 1,000 by years’ end. To facilitate the company’s overall training initiative, Blue Compass RV utilizes three training centers at key locations in the US: Texas, Utah, and North Carolina.
Upon graduation, those service technicians then find themselves in one of the 1,000+ service bays in the Blue Compass RV family of dealerships across the country. They join the thousands of other highly trained associates that are passionate about providing an exceptional customer experience that’s second to none in RV sales and service.
Ferrando sums up the service initiative best by stating, “It’s a substantial investment for us and a long-term focus for building up loyal, qualified, certified, skilled technicians.”
Building loyalty
That loyalty is not just reserved for technicians either. Blue Compass RV wants to build a loyal following of RV sales customers too. RVers that buy from Blue Compass RV appreciate the customer service and come back to buy their 2nd or 3rd RV as well.
That loyalty is cemented with the ability to service the RV you purchased at any of their Blue Compass RV locations across the country. This flies in the face of a decade-old industry practice of local dealerships servicing only their own.
Buying your RV from Blue Compass RV means that in the event you might need some type of service on your motorhome, 5th wheel, or travel trailer, any Blue Compass RV location will take care of you.
“RVers travel all over the country. We can service you wherever your travel takes you”
Jon Ferrando – Blue Compass RV CEO – Forbes
Selling RVs
Amidst all this talk of great service and an exceptional customer experience, let’s not forget that Blue Compass RV sells RVs too, offering a selection of premium brands with over 15,000 new and pre-owned RVs for customers to choose from.
The purchase experience for RVers across the country will find the same features and offerings at every dealership. From their friendly and knowledgeable staff to their RV Complete peace of mind package, the experience, in their words is: Real. Value. Complete.
Learn more about Blue Compass RV
In just over four years, Blue Compass RV is now the second largest RV dealership chain in the country. However, being number one isn’t only about the most stores; it’s about being number one in sales, service, and the follow-up experience.
If you can accomplish both without sacrificing those core values, then more power to you. Blue Compass RV seems to be headed that way.
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Customer service is definitely lacking at the Blue Compass in Lexington, Ky. Brought in travel trailer purchased in July this past Oct. 16th to have larger sway bar installed and awning checked, would not retract all the way. Service person TJ said would be turned in for warranty work. After several calls, messages left and unanswered, went to see Service Manager in person. Nothing had been done this past month! He is working on having camper picked up and repaired soon. We’ll see.
I do not recommend the Rockport location, nor at this point, Keystone RV’s. We purchased long distance, and we were guaranteed NO damage on this brand new 2022, even after a storm went through, I called again and verified no damage. We drove from MN to Rockport with limited time to pick up this unit. Arrived and were given a 30 min. “walk-thru” in the rain. We were told the TV had been stolen, stereo didn’t work, we noticed a “wet” spot in the slide out along with several other issues. We were told by the young man giving the walk-thru this location gets vandalized often from kids in the area, they break into the units, steal stuff and jump on the roofs of the units. BlueCompass RV of Rockport had only repaired one screw on the roof prior to our arrival however they had 2 weeks to work on the unit. We pointed out several items that needed to be fixed and they verified all warranty work remaining would be handled in MN at a certified dealer. We delivered our brand new camper to Camping World upon arrival home, they are an authorized dealer for Keystone. Upon inspection, they found numerous items that needed to be fixed but the most concerning is the roof. They noted water damage, a possible broken truss, holes & scrapes on the roof indicating damage. There is a soft spot in the roof which caused the water damage inside the unit, scrapes, holes, etc.- We have been trying to work with BlueCompass RV and Keystone since May 2023 but neither one will take responsibility. In fact- they suggested we damaged the unit, (somehow a tree hit it or grazed it while we drove it home on the freeway?). IF we did the damage then why wouldn’t the solar panels, air conditioners and vents be damaged? BlueCompass suggested “their” pictures don’t match ours (which by the way, the unit sat since 2022 on their lot). They actually implied the pictures look like they are from a different unit. What their pictures look like to me is they uploaded their pictures from 2022 when the unit was first delivered to them and then dated them May 2023. Keystone won’t do anything because they don’t feel it is a warranty issue. Next step, attorneys.
Let’s be honest! It will take years before they can claim they have the best service in the industry. Mainly I think because training new crews takes time and the number of those qualified individuals are not there yet to support the need.
Our unit was in for four months with heating/cooling issues and after all that back and forth with the warranty department and the dealership and the fact that they were short of techs tell me they can paint all the pretty pictures they want with big announcements but the core problem is still shortness of techs and politics with warranties.
Seems this article is a bit premature since I only see actual locations in Florida while the other 32 states show “coming soon”. I hope they do get to expand into the other states and offer some strong competition to the current dealers and service that is available currently.
What are RV manufacturers doing in the building process to ensure higher quality products?
How widespread is PDI (pre-delivery inspections)? Is it an established standard?
Hopefully the service is better than the crap RV1 superstores Tampa provided. Seems to be industry standard to want to sell that RV but the hell with the after sale service. Hope they cleaned house when they converted the dealership to blue compass
Tried to find all these 100 locations and could only find the ones in Florida. What gives?
They are starting the transformation in Florida and then the rebranding will move to other states. On paper they have all converted to Blue Compass but the rebranding of each individual store will take time.