Help with Vroom Slide Systems contact

Last September 2, 2023, my wife and I put a 50% deposit down for a new Vroom Slide System to be installed at one of the 8 authorized Vroom dealers in the USA. At the time, we were told there would be a 4 - 5 month wait to get the customized slide shipped to this location. That was acceptable to us because it should have put the delivery squarely in the middle of our RV off season around the first month in 2024.
I have emailed the authorized dealer every month since the beginning of January 2024 and I have been politely informed there is no news on when we might expect our slide to be delivered.
The beginning of March, I emailed the publicly advertised Vroom address for their HQ in Arizona. The same email address I had previous contact with one of their representatives to get me started on my new slide order.
In the email I provided all of my order information and asked if they might be able to provide us with an estimated delivery date, since the authorized dealer told me that they have no way to predict any delivery date.
I have not heard anything back from Vroom.
I went online to a few random RV blogs and discovered telephone numbers for direct contact with Vroom in Arizona. I have called these numbers several times only to get a recorded message. No one has replied.
Here's our dilemma: We have a prepaid scheduled camping trip upcoming for May 3rd, 2024 and it's now April 2nd. Our current slide is broken. Our service technician can fix our broken slide at what he estimated to be $ 1000. We'd really rather not spend that kind of money if the new Vroom slide is due to be delivered in time for our camping trip. Does anyone have advice that can help us? Thank you.

 

Wish I could help you but it is disheartining to hear that Vroom has been so hard to contact. Folks with that replacement all speak highly on its operation, and I have not heard anyone say they had a problem contacting them. So how about calling every single Vroom installer place and ask how they contact the company? Let them know of the problem and ask what they suggest. Just my opinion....

 

Here's a follow-up.....I called Vroom's Engineering Business and spoke with a friendly and helpful associate, Mona. She directed me to this number (520) 209-2788 for direct contact with Vroom Slide Systems. She told me to leave a message and someone would get back to me within 24 hours. I did that. Yesterday afternoon I got an email from Brian Vroom courteously directing me to email my question to orders@vroomslidesystems.com. I have done that, as Brian recommended. I await a response.

 

Here's another follow-up.....yesterday, April 8th, I received a wonderful email from Denisse at Vroom's order department. She apologized for the long delay and told me that our slide was shipped on April 5th and should be arriving at the authorized dealer's location this week. She said I should be expecting a call from that location very soon to set up an appointment for installation. I will offer another follow up when I have confirmation of that appointment.

 

That is good news, from all the reviews the new system should be well worth the problems you had. Wish you all the best.

 

One more follow-up for anyone interested. I am still waiting for any news about our new Vroom Slide System. It was reportedly shipped from AZ on April 5th; and is still in transit? I don't know where it is. How long does it take freight to travel across the country? I would guess anywhere from 7 to 14 business days, depending on weather and traffic patterns. Anyone have an opinion on this question.

 

Follow up. No one will want to believe how this story has taken such a sideways turn! I have all the answers to my questions, but cannot speak freely about it until sometime in June 2024.

 

Interesting. Eagerly awaiting your next post to see how it turns out.

 

Here's another quick snippet to share......I had my local RV service tech arrive on schedule last Tuesday, 4/30/24. He was here for roughly 5 hours performing some routine repairs and other maintenance. We had a motor burn out in the awning. We needed to have the roof treated for the summer, a complete systems check for functionality to name a few things....BUT....the one very important thing that NEEDED to be done (unfortunately) was a slide adjustment. That took 2 hours to diagnose and fix (temporarily). Come to discover.....our former RV service center (CW), well, one of their techs installed a gear upside down which caused it to bounce around in the shoe whereby stripping off two teeth, making the slide skip and bind on that rail. The tech took one of the upper gears ( there are 3 gears per side ) and replaced it on the bottom rail so I could operate the slide for the time being. Because we're good customers and always appreciate our new tech's work ethic and honesty he cut me some slack on the cost to 'adjust' the broken Lippert slide getting it operational in time for our first camping trip. He did apologize for not having a replacement gear in his inventory. Actually, whenever I get the Lippert replaced, I told him I am donating the entire slide system to him to use as he sees fit. My wife and I enjoyed our first camping trip of the 2024 season and I am happy to report that all of the systems of our motorhome were operational making our trip a real pleasure.

 

Just got the word, albeit tongue in cheek and with a great deal of negotiating, from Vroom's authorized installer. It's been since September 2nd, 2023 that we placed the order and we FINALLY have an appointment scheduled for June 10th, 2024. It wouldn't be all that bad except we were told it would only take 4-5 months to have the installation completed and we were repeatedly lied to about the scheduling. I don't know exactly who dropped the ball, perhaps a combination of the two businesses. I hope the Vroom Slide System lives up to its stellar performance reviews after all this!! I'll let you all know. I can tell you that we're limping along with the malfunctioning Schwintek Lippert Slide heading out on our second camping trip this weekend to a new camp ground that has terrific reviews. We booked this trip last October because we got skunked trying to make a reservation last year. It's 'that' popular! The camp ground sent us an email last night inviting us to partake in their pig roast Saturday night. We signed up and paid with a credit card. $ 28 for the two of us and we'll get plated with fresh, slow roasted pork plus all the fixings and a beverage! Can't beat that. Looking forward to enjoying their pig and their camp grounds. Fingers crossed the broken Lippert slide hangs in there for one more trip before it gets replaced. We never know if it's going to work properly. My local service tech has offered me some great troubleshooting tips to try if the Lippert acts up. He also told me that he'll be monitoring his cell phone for any emergency calls from me. He told me, if needed, he'll drive to the camp ground to fix whatever problem I can't solve myself. I never got this type of dedicated customer service from the other RV place that we started with.

 

Hello Jonathan491, been following your posts. Will you update and let us know how it went if you get a chance? We are in New Hampshire and didn't want to drive to Tucson in the middle of the summer for installation. Instead we put a deposit on the slide system with an 'authorized dealer' in New England last February and were told 'about four months.' Crickets since and I suspect that we are getting the same treatment you got. I bet it's the same dealer. Now I'm wishing we just drove out there.
Nancy

 

Hello, Nancy ~ I apologize for the delayed response. My wife has "officially" retired after 43 years in the insurance business and there was a lot of pomp and circumstance leading up to her 65th birthday and retirement. Now we can catch our breath a little. Let's get down to it. Yes! I am 100% certain you will be dealing with the exact same 'authorized installer' in CT that we went to. There were moments during our odyssey that I felt a trip to AZ would have been a better choice. That being said, we FINALLY have the new VROOM installed in our Thor Quantum. It's working fine. No issues. It took us from September 2nd, 2023 to June 14th, 2024 to get through this process. I will tell you the lady you are no doubt dealing with for your scheduling is not exactly truthful in her time estimates. She told me the same line she's told you - 4 months. Clearly that's a lie! Then she told me that "as soon as she gets the Vroom slide for our RV delivered, we are TOPS ON HER LIST and she'll get us right in". That was another lie!! I had to contact VROOM directly for information. I spoke with Denisse Garcia who was a lovely lady to email back and forth with (no phone calls are permitted apparently??) and Denisse told me that my slide was, in fact, shipped and delivered to CT on April 11th. Guess what? That information was never told to me. When I emailed the lady in CT she never responded to me. I was done with her. I was afraid that if I really called her out on her remarkably poor customer service and bad attitude, we'd never get an installation date out of sheer spite. I turned all further correspondence over to my wife. She has better patience than I do and as a senior VP of her company she was accustomed to dealing with disgruntled personalities. She called the lady and was met with a passively aggressive attitude. More excuses and snarky comments about delays and being too busy to get us in. Long story short, my wife had to stay on top of it and called the lady again about a week later. My wife was told that they couldn't possibly get us in until June 10th. My wife asked if they would be able to get to the installation within a week's time because we had already booked another camping trip for June 21st. My wife was told it will take two weeks! No apologies, no attempts to work with us towards a reasonable solution either. My wife and I spoke afterwards and agreed that we should cancel the June 10th date and go later for the install. From my first contact with the lady in CT, I was operating under the belief that we would have the new VROOM installed during the off season - based solely on trusting the lady at her word. We booked most of our 2024 camping reservations last fall, again assuming the timeline that was given to us was accurate. It was not to be the case!! My wife called a third time to cancel the June 10th date. The lady told her that she would not be able to schedule us until August, or possibly September. I do not know exactly how the conversation went, but my wife and this lady seemed to cross a hurdle and the lady admitted to my wife that she 'HAS' to tell the customer two weeks, but in fact the install could take as little as a day or two provided there was nothing out of the ordinary that needed extra time for the install. On June 10th, we drove to the installer with our motorhome and dropped it off in their parking lot. I stayed outside. My wife went inside and met the lady, who pulled our folder to review her notes, accepted our keys and told my wife she would contact us when the job was done. That was it. Cold, sterile and to the point. On June 13th I got a call from the service department. A polite, respectful man, "Ben". He told me that the install was going well and wanted to ask if he had my permission to replace a very badly worn upper weather seal. Naturally I said yes. He told me that "Rick" was doing the install and reported all was proceeding without any hick-ups. I was told, the coach would be ready for pick-up the next morning. We arrived at the appointed time, 9:00 a.m., and my wife once again went inside to speak with the lady and to pay our balance. My wife told me later the lady was of a completely different personality. She was polite and friendly, almost bubbly. Quite a transformation from the usual negativity and misinformation we had come to expect from her. Rick, the man who did the actual install came outside to meet me in the parking area and go over the details of the system. Here's something that you might find very interesting. Not only Ben, but Rick also told me that the VROOM system is "not bullet-proof, but is bullet resistant". In other words, it had the capability of failing at some point in some manner or form. Rick showed me how to calibrate the motors should it fall out of sync. Rick also demonstrated what to do should I ever need to manually push the slide back in. It's not all that easy, but is far easier than the Lippert. Rick told me it's much more complicated to get the slide out manually should it fail while retracted. I'd say it's impossible for the average RV owner. Rick also suggested I cut a precisely measured length of 2x4 to prop against the inside wall and slide should I ever have to push the slide in manually. The 2x4 is meant to act as a "door-stop" so the slide doesn't glide out while driving.I thought this was odd commentary because no where in my research about the VROOM system was anything like this ever mentioned. I thought the system was bullet-proof! I will say this, Rick was outstanding! He's friendly, honest and extremely knowledgable. It was a relief to have him go through the new system answering all of my questions. Before I left, I shook his hand and gave him a nice gratuity for his professional customer service! We have been on one camping trip since the new VROOM was installed. I happened to notice that the computer module was flashing an LED warning that the system was out of sync when I extended the new slide at the campgrounds. I ignored it. I have been told that the computer module is overly sensitive. It's better to listen to the motors as you extend and retract the slide. Allow each motor to turn off before releasing the button. When I retracted the slide at the campground, the computer module was not flashing. I'm going to assume the flashing LED warning was my fault, due to a quick finger releasing the button before both motors had shut down. We are headed out for our next camping trip in one week. I will always be watching closely for any signs of slide malfunction, but I do rest a little easier with the VROOM. You can definitely see the heavy duty materials, as advertised. The installation on our coach was stellar. Rick did an amazing job sealing everything and as of this writing all is well. Should anything happen, I will be sure to write another review in this forum. I hope this helps you with your own dealings with this "authorized installer". My wife has talked me out of filing a complaint with VROOM HQ in AZ about the misinformation, or lies, I was told. Were it not for that lady, I'd have to say everything else about our experience was good. Best of luck to you!!!

 

Jonathan, than you so much for taking the time and detailing your experience. 5 months have passed and no word. I emailed the woman today about the continuing delay. If I don't get the right response, I am going to quietly contact Denise at Vroom and find out if it has been shipped or not. If it has not, I think I will cancel and have to eat the$195 admin fee. I just don't want to deal with them. We had a terrible time with the dealer service team last year and now this. It's a 25' rig with a 12' slide. A 4 hour job. The lower right block seems to now be dragging on the way back in. My husband and I are thinking of just repairing it ourselves. He wants me to cancel. At this point we're pretty much hating the coach.
Best wishes to your wife on her retirement! I retired in 2021. Will let you know how it all works out.
Regards,
Nancy

 

Hi Nancy,
Your experience trying to do the right thing by installing a Vroom Slide System sounds identical to our own experience. The seemingly willful contempt that was portrayed by the lady in CT was hard for me to take. She is not a good representative for Vroom as she appears to lack basic Customer Service skills. Had she simply been honest and communicative with me, it would have been far easier to deal with the delays. To ignore my emails and then have the negative attitude on top of it is not acceptable. I think you're on the right track by emailing Denisse at Vroom Corp HQ in AZ. Please let me know how you make out. As an aside, it did take Vroom about 7 months before they shipped our slide. I think the estimate of 4 months is vastly erroneous.
We are packing up for our trip this weekend and I can tell you that new Vroom slide is working as it should. (knock on wood, so far so good!) I had to extend it so we can more easily access the cabinets to load our sundries we like to have for camping. I still hold my breath each time I either extend or retract the slide. That's how traumatic the old Lippert slide made me feel.
Hang in there. I can tell you it's an enormous relief to have the peace of mind of "reasonable assurances" the slide isn't going to malfunction each time you use it. (fingers crossed - )

Best,

Jonathan

 

Thank you Jonathan!

 

As a past owner of a few small businesses if someone was unhappy with any of the staff and I was unaware, it did neither of us any good. If a customer informed me of some issue, I took action to fix, repair or remove that issue. I sure think Vroom would need and want to know of the issues with the company they are tied to that is causing customer problems. I for one had considered upgrading my Tiffin to his slide out system, but have held back and if I was a bit closer to switching I would want to not deal with a hard to deal with rep of their comany.

 

Hello, I emailed the CT folks Monday AM, have not heard anything. Going to call them tomorrow. Maybe the representative we have been dealing with is on vacation, and I can talk to someone else.

I have just emailed Denise at Vroom, at the address Jonathan provided above. I've have asked for a status on the order. I also explained my regret at not coming to their facility for the installation. I'll update this thread as I get more information.

 

We have Vroom slides on both sides and so far, they have been fantastic. This week, we are having a problem with one side of the slide coming in ahead of the other, which would indicate that the motors are out of sync. You mentioned that the tech showed you how to recalibrate the motors. How is that done? Thanks for your response!