Blue Ox

Blue ox tow bar failed after only 18 months. It was supposed to be guaranteed for three years.

While exiting a gas station parking lot my Blue Ox tow bar broke into. Fortunately I was only traveling 5-10mph and there were no injuries or deaths, but when I returned it for replacement they denied the claim saying there was too much difference in height between the RV and the tow vehicle.

I have driven professionally for 44 years for UPS and towed everything from tandem trailers to Uhauls. I won't ever buy any product from them again.

Have had app for a long time. Only recently started having problems. Will not open on iPad, only on iPhone

Thanks

Ana Ward

9/13, 2021

Paul Edmonds, MD

18315 Salvador RD

Edmond, OK 73012

405627****

I have been in telephone communication with Roxanne in customer service regarding this issue.

I purchased the complete Blue Ox system to tow my 2019 Equinox behind my 2018 Class A motor home.

Date of purchase: 4/27/2021

Vendor: Etrailer

Installer: McLain RV, Oklahoma City

We travelled from Oklahoma City to Panacea, Florida over Memorial Day without incident and the brake system performed as advertised on the factory settings of Force 5.

On the return trip after travelling 40 miles, a moderately hard brake was used to stop at a traffic light. The speed was 45 MPH.

The Equinox brakes locked, leaving 75 feet of rubber on the pavement before dragging the motor home to a complete stop and then releasing the brake. After checking the system and monitor, all seemed to be normal, other than flat surfaces on the tires where the pavement had scrapped the rubber off. Since these were relative new tires, we decided to drive on after checking the Patriot to see if the green light as instructed indicated all to be ok and reducing the Force to 3. The monitor also showed a normal configuration.

I have replaced the tires as they had bald spots on the treads.

We had no more problems until leaving from Maine after summer vacation. Essentially, the same thing happened at about 35 MPH as we were stopping at a signal light entering Ellsworth, Maine on a slight right turn down hill stop. Again, leaving strips of rubber from the new tires on the pavement.

Again, all indicators on the Patriot and the monitor indicated all to be normal. We had another episode before arriving back in Oklahoma, luckily at only 25 MPH.

I have tried to reproduce the braking malfunction without success, but still do not trust the system.

My wife and I are experienced Class A motor home drivers, as this is now our 4th one that we have used to tow a vehicle. We picked Blue Ox as the reviews and the promotional videos indicate high quality. We obviously are disappointed and concerned about the danger of unexpected locked brakes on the towed vehicle.

Currently, the patriot has been returned to Blue Ox for evaluation.

They have no explanation so far.

Returned from Blue Ox after new software was installed. They accept no responsibility for this obvious defective product.

Leslie was great and had my parts on the way fast. The place I bought my camper did not register my hitch so when I sent Leslie the sheet where they installed it so acted fast and solved the problem. Leslie is the kind of person a company needs.

Thank you

Allen

My order was placed they took all my money and have not sent me the product. They put me on hold and wasted 45 min of my time with no results.

they told me to check with my neighbors I don't even know how this order was sent how do I find out what happen to this product. They are horrible and I hope no one buys anything from this company.

I ordered a towbar (RV mounted) accessory kit, and vehicle mounting plate from Blue-Ox-Towbars.com. to the tune of $1600+ once priority shipping was applied.

I later received a call stating that the bar and vehicle adapter plate were on back order from the manufacturer Blue Ox towbars. I inquired as to how long the wait would be, and the answer was one week on the bar, and that the Representative would call be back on the vehicle adapter plate.

One week, after call from rep noting back order = No shipping confirmation, no call back, Still out the money, customer is getting antsy.

Call Blue-Ox-Towbars.com again 1(86*)876-****, assured of a will check, and a call back... =No call

over a month now,

Customer is pissed, ready to cancel order and job. has to change travel plans for trip planned in september. It is now October 22.

Call Blue Ox customer service (factory direct contact) 1-80*-228-****. Michelle was wonderful, told me to contact her if I could not get some resolution out of Blue-Ox-Towbars.com.

Call Blue-Ox-towbars.com AGAIN. I am again assured that they will check and call me back... AGAIN =NO CALL.

23 October, With fuming customer in front of me, AGAIN call Blue-Ox-Towbars.com and HOLD for an answer.

The representative assures me that the 1 week answer from a month prior was misinformation and that the adapter and bar will ship manufacturer direct on the following Friday and Monday respectively. Rep assured me that everything is a three week wait as the items have to be built for the vehicles in question.

23 October, contact Michelle at Blue Ox (direct again) and was assured that Blue Ox has over 2500 units of the tow bar on the shelf ready to go and has had as many units for a very long time. The adapter plate numbers in the mid 300's available and ready to ship have been for months.

23 October, Attempted contact with Blue-Ox-Towbars.com receives no answer leave a message = no call back (x3)

I was just lied to, and at the expense of over $1600, NOT A HAPPY CAMPER!

Essentially I am the victim of a fictitious "back order" and an extreme lack of customer service, ethics, and professionalism.

After finding the factual statistics on this "back-order" I now want to know the real story and exactly what this company is going to do to make things right for myself and my customer.

From the look of things by the other complaints on line, I expect that not much will be easily done in resolution or restitution. they have damaged my credibility and ruined my customers travel plans for the use of his New RV and tow vehicle.

This is really unfortunate because Blue Ox towbars are an amazing product. where the distributor Blue-Ox-Towbars.com is clearly not of same caliber and quality as the product they market.

Knowing that Blue Ox has this volume of product available will have me searching for a more direct route of purchase in the future.

I ordered a Blue Ox Patriot braking system from Blue-Ox-Towbars.com. After waiting 4 months and calling many many times to find out why they have not shipped my order I finally asked to cancel my order The lady (Dee) on the line was very friendly but that's where it ended.

I cancelled my order and to date (30-days) have not received my $900+ dollar refund. The customer service rep said it would take 7-10 days for the refund to be processed. Be very leary of this online company. Order at your own risk.

Their website looks very professional but thats where it ends. This website is not connected with Blue Ox however their website looks very much like it is a divison of Blue Ox.

The only difference is they put a dash between the words. Sneaky and one more way they try to deceive consumers.

To be clear this company is not the manufacturer but an on-line retailer. Placed an order, was promised delivery approximately one week after placing order.

Credit card was charged 3 business days after order, 4 days before promised ship date. At 8 business days after order I cancelled and now at 20 days after order, 10 days after cancellation and no refund.

This on-line company (Blue-ox-towbars.com) is very shady and I'd think twice before ordering from them. Not only do they bill before shipping, but they can't fill the order and won't refund the money.

PPL Motorhomes beats Blue-ox-towbars.com prices anyway. Finally placed order with PPL and had the products two days after order.

I ordered a hitch using the tools on their web site. When it arrived, it did not work for my motorhome and car. I talked to their staff and ordered a replacement hitch that would work. They told me to return the first one and I would get a refund.

When I returned from a cross country trip, I paid $80 to ship the first hitch back. I have receipt from UPS showing they received it. One month later, no refund. They said they mailed a check out 6 weeks after the item was back at their location.

They agreed to put a stop payment on the first check and send another. I offered to pay for Fedex to get a tracking number, they said they would cover it. They also agreed to waive the 15% restocking fee.

It has been 8 months and still no refund. Of course the credit card company refused to be of any help after 90 days.

I have left numerous messages and I never get a call back or a refund.