My neighbor and I like to take our families and go camping together and there was a time we both were in the market for a new camping trailer. A while back, last year in fact, we saw an ad for a handsome looking trailer called the World's Greatest Trailer and we went down to the WGT dealer together to take a look see.
What a beauty it was! It had all the bells and whistles you could ever want!
My neighbor, who owns a 4-cylinder mini van, asked the salesman about the towing requirements.
He answered, "All you need is 100hp and an 800 lb towing capacity, the WGT should be no problem with that mini van of yours!" I'm thinking with my big 8-cylinder, 300hp, 5500lb towing capacity SUV I could pull three of these suckers no problem!
The price was right, so we both bought one and spent the next week stowing all the campsiteables and whatnot into our new WGT trailers. We loaded up our families and off we went on a Friday afternoon headed for the mountains!
I wasn't more than a half mile from the house and my big ol' SUV starts hesitating and bucking like a bronco! So I pull off to the side of the road and my neighbor pulls in behind me.
I tell him, "Damn, this WGT trailer is jerking me all over the road. Something must be wrong."
My neighbor says. "Yeah, me too, I think the wife's got whiplash from it. Let's head over to the dealer, he's still open."
We both took a detour on over to the WGT dealer, jerking and bucking all the way.
Our salesman saw us drive in and came on over, "You guys enjoying the World's Greatest Trailer this weekend?"
My neighbor piped up, "Well no, not exactly, we think there's something wrong with the WGT." and goes on to explain all the starting an stopping, and jerking going on with the trailers.
Salesmen sez, "Its not our trailer guys, its your cars. What kinda gas you burnin'?"
We both tell him we're using IE Regular.
"Ah, see that's part of the problem, our trailer don't like it much being pulled using IE Regular. We recommend switching to Firefox midgrade or even better the ChromeIron Premium"
Talking to my neighbor now, he asked, "And how about you, you guys got the radio on, maybe the A/C too?"
Neighbor replied, "Well yeah, the wife likes to listen to her CDs, kids were watching the DVD player in the back, and its hot out so the A/C was on."
"Can't do it man." says the salesguy, "You barely got enough power in your mini-van to pull this trailer. You can't afford to run those accessories. I suggest you go into the parts department and get one of those PowerBooster modules.
It will sense when the WGT is hooked up and disable all the unecessary extras running on your vehicle. Radio, CD, heater, A/C, lights, windshield wipers, power seats, power windows. None of that stuff can be used while pulling the WGT.
Justmake sure your not driving in the rain or at night and you'll be fine. She might jerk or buck once in a while, especially if you have multiple passengers, but it'll be solid for you alone."
I chimed in, "So with my big V-8 and plenty of power, all I need to do is switch to Firefox midgrade or ChromeIron Premium fuel?"
"Not quite." says the salesman, "You can run your accessories all you want and still have plenty to pull the WGT, but she don't like to go too fast. Still no problem though if you use the CylinderAffinity switch on your SUV."
"What the heck's the CylinderAffinity switch?" I asked.
"Someone needs to read their owner's manual and get with the program dude." the now smart-ass salesguy said. "You'll find the CylinderAffinity switch either on the console gearshift below the handle if you got the Win7 model SUV, or if you got the WinXP model it'll be on the gearshift stalk on the column."
"OK, I'll find it, but what does the CylinderAffinity switch do?" I replied.
"Dude, if you had read the specs you'd know the CA switch will shut down half your cylinders so you're running that big V-8 on 4 cylinders only." said the gettin-on-my-nerves salesguy who went on, "Unlike your friend here, you'll still be able to drive at night or in the rain cuz you got enough power even running on 4. She might jerk or buck once in a while, especially if you have multiple passengers, but it'll be solid for you alone."
"Let me see if I got this straight." I ask the salesguy, "I need to switch to ChromeIron Premium fuel and run my SUV on just 4 of its 8 cylinders, my neighbor here needs to switch to ChromeIron fuel as well, and in addition shut down his radio, cd, A/C, and everything else, and both of us need to be alone to pull the camper without any jerks. That right?"
"Pretty much. Yup." he says "But you can still take the wife with, just don't pay no mind to the occasional jerks and bucks, let 'em go, have fun with the WGT!"
"Can you fix that jerking and bucking?" I asked.
"We're looking into it, but its really your vehicle's problem." he said.
"Could it be a problem with the trailer brakes, or the axle, or maybe the tires or hitch?" I probed.
"Sorry, I don't really know the details and can check with the service manager if you like and get back to you on it. But really I'm told its not the trailer's problem, its your vehicle's problem."
I pondered my options for a minute, decided to bail out and tell him, "I want to return my WGT trailer."
The salesman, without hesitation, said, "Sure, no problem, just park her in that empty spot over there."
"OK, thanks." I replied "Just as soon as we get our clothes, food, and camping stuff moved out of the WGT into our SUV."
The salesman moved in front of me, "Whoa now, I can't let you do that since you're returning it."
"WTF are you talking about?" I yell. "Those are OUR things in the trailer!"
"Not according to the agreement you signed." the saleman said while blocking me from the trailer, "You shoulda read the fine print terms and conditions dude. Whatever you put into the WGT stays in the WGT! Its ours."
About this time, a geeky looking, young stranger who had been standing nearby in the lot taps me on the shoulder and says, "I overheard what's going on man, screw 'em and leave the WGT. Come with me and take a look at The World's Only trailer. There is no jerking and bucking with TWO no matter what you're driving. And its got lots more room and even more bells and whistles than the WGT."
As I'm talking with my new found friend the WGT salesman yelled over to us, "I heard what he said! I know where your going! You'll be back! OUR WGT IS PRETTIER! So what if it jerks and bucks once in a while? You'll be back. Yeah! Just look at her! Ain't she a beaut? Huh? Come Back! We got energy drinks for ya! Ain't she PRETTIER? It's PRETTIER I'm telling ya.......Its Prettier.........Prettier"
Needless to say my neighbor and I, having invested in new camping gear and all, brought the trailers home and did the things the salesmen said and have been using it for a year or so with the occasional jerks and bucks. Yeah once in a while it jerks so bad I hit my head on the steering wheel.
But I found out if it gets to jerking and bucking real bad, all I gotta do is pull off the road, get everyone out of the SUV, close the doors, and lock it up. Once I reopen it and get everyone loaded up again it runs just fine for a hundred miles or so, then it starts jerking again. Maybe its the Firefox midgrade I'm using.
Anyway, after just a year of use, my neighbor and I both notice things don't work as well as they once did. We got duct tape holding a couple of cabinet doors closed, and last weekend we were camping and the neighbors came over for a game of Blitz. Just when I scored a triple bonus, the leg holding the fold out table collapsed sending game pieces everywhere and ruining our game. Fixed it with some duct tape too.
I'm frustrated with the drawers sticking. You pull easy and they don't open, you pull hard and they fly open and off the tracks dumping silverware or socks all over the floor.
I dropped the WTG off at the dealer, and gave them a list of the problems I had found and asked them to fix 'em all, they said they'd get right on it and look into it. They called that afternoon and said "pick 'er up she's ready to go!" I drove on over and a service guy came running out and hooked my trailer up to my SUV. I asked him if they fixed the problems I had with the doors, drawers and table.
He says "Hell I don't know, I just work here. You should try sending an e-mail to ignorethis@wgt.com and ask customer support. You be sure to let us know if stuff is broken, you hear? Oh, and here's a roll of duct tape for ya in case you need it."
Well nothing was fixed and I haven't had a reply to my e-mails from customer support. On top of all that, I noticed the engine struggling to pull the darn trailer! I called and spoke to the serviceguy at the dealership.
"Yeah, we did that." said the serviceguy. "Some of our more experienced customers were complaining the trailer was too easy to pull, so while your trailer was here in the shop, you being the good and loyal customer you are, we installed free of charge the Legend option on your trailer.
The new Legend option designed to make your trailer 20% harder to pull. You'll get used to it don't worry. Oh, and we will be coming out with options you can buy to make it pull easier if you can't get used to it. In fact, I got the Legend roller bearings in stock right now, gonna reduce that extra pull by 2% and their only $1.75 per set. Better buy several sets because they only last a couple of trips."
I hung up on him. What a way to run a business!