Dealer doesnt get it

[Flicdog]

So I brought my 333MKS in the middle of August for three warranty items, one being from pre delivery in February that was waiting on parts. The service dept burned down last weekend and luckily by rig was parked in a lot adjacent to the service dept and not in one of the bays (they lost 18 coaches in the fire). Now the service adviser told me to come get it and the parts for my warranty were lost in the fire. He suggested I call their other location and make an appointment and start over with the warranty approval. I blew a head gasket and am waiting for call from his boss...rant over

[bsmith0404]

The only part I don't get is the warranty approval process since that has already been approved by Keystone, you should only need an authorized service center.

As for the rest of it, not sure what you want from the dealership. The fire was an unfortunate situation, they not only lost parts, they lost tools and other items needed to do repairs. They will be waiting for their insurance to process the claim and then they will have a long process of cleaning up the mess, rebuilding, and resupplying their maintenance facility before they can provide a valid repair service to their customers.

[Flicdog]

I would expect if they have my rig for 2 months they complete three fairly simple repairs, if they had the parts wouldn't have been lost in the fire. I also expect them to arrange for the repair to be completed elsewhere and not leave it up to me.

[bsmith0404]

Did you have an appointment with a repair time window or did you just drop it off at your convenience? If you had an appointment, I would agree that 2 months should have been more than enough time to complete the work.

As for them arranging to get the work done, it's not their vehicle. They cannot make the decision of who will work on your equipment, they can only make suggestions of where you can take it.

[BSHGTO]

I would expect if they have my rig for 2 months they complete three fairly simple repairs, if they had the parts wouldn't have been lost in the fire. I also expect them to arrange for the repair to be completed elsewhere and not leave it up to me.
I don`t know, I think you should let them slide on this one.

[JRTJH]

So I brought my 333MKS in the middle of August for three warranty items, one being from pre delivery in February that was waiting on parts. The service dept burned down last weekend and luckily by rig was parked in a lot adjacent to the service dept and not in one of the bays (they lost 18 coaches in the fire). Now the service adviser told me to come get it and the parts for my warranty were lost in the fire. He suggested I call their other location and make an appointment and start over with the warranty approval. I blew a head gasket and am waiting for call from his boss...rant over

If I'm reading your post correctly (please identify what's not correct if I'm wrong), you had ONE problem that was already approved by Keystone (found during the PDI) and TWO other problems that you didn't say whether or not they had already been approved by Keystone for repair or if the process for approval started in August. If they had not already been approved, the approval process may have been "in the works" since August waiting for Keystone's approval, parts ordering, parts arrival, then work scheduling. If so, that could explain why the work had not yet been done, no matter how simple the problems may seem. If Keystone doesn't preapprove the work, the dealership stands a good chance of not getting paid.

Now, most dealerships won't "piecemeal" repairs. Even if they have parts on hand for one problem, they won't schedule the repairs until all the parts are in and everything is available to complete all the jobs. So, it's likely the parts that were in their parts department for the initial problem were "gathering dust" waiting for the other problems to be finalized by the warranty department and parts arrival.

You didn't say "when in August" you took it to the dealership, so from "then to now" could be as long as 10 weeks or if it was the "end of August" as short as 5 weeks since you delivered it for repair.

I get your frustration, but it's not up to the dealership to "scrounge a repair" for your RV. They lost their building, all the employees lost their jobs (at least temporarily) and their income has gone from "making money" to "zilch"... Just be happy that you didn't lose your RV in the fire. That would have made the "inconvenience" turn into a "nightmare".......

Good Luck finding a dealership to help you get your RV repaired. I'd suppose that you've been using it "from the PDI in February until August", so at least you can drag it home and start to enjoy your RV again.

Good Luck.

[Pull Toy]

You never said what the repairs were supposed to be, but count your blessings!

Like you said, your rig didn't burn up. Their insurance probably would have given you 50 to 60 cents on the dollar, and don't figure on "contents", as they won't pay on what "You say is inside, to them it's just ash". Their attitude... Prove It!

The dealer didn't ask for the devastation visited on them, work with him/her, and also, understand that the factory doesn't pay "Shop Rate" so your not their only priority If my rig was in the shop for that long during camping season, I'd have been on the phone every other day to remind them. That being said, it is their responsibility to "Stand Behind" their reputation, and warranty, but remember... "You catch more bears with honey, than you will with castor oil!"

p,s, I'll bet that 75% or better of all repair parts are off of the shelf items, see if they will reimburse you to do it yourself?

[notanlines]

Flic, this was a multi-alarm fire, took 70 fire fighters more than an hour to get it under control, many peoples livelihood is on the line here until repairs are made. I'm not certain that it isn't you who doesn't get it. Yes, I am being a little harsh maybe, but where do these people get rent money etcetera until the place is rebuilt?

[GaryWT]

There are 2 issues, the fire aside, what was the word before the fire, had you talked to them to see where things were. I would probably not had dropped the rig off until they had the parts. I was camping every weekend since mid August so I would not have been happy is my trailer was just sitting. As stated, lucky you still have a rig, pick it up and take it somewhere else.

[chuckster57]

This thread bothers me a lot. I work at a large dealership with 30 service bays. I can't imagine how long it would take to figure out exactly how much was lost in the fire. I have lost count of how much money I have invested in tools and tool storage. And when the service advisor said you should take your UNTOUCHED (and unburned) unit and call the other location to restart the warranty process, you got upset????

Where is your concern for ANYBODY else in this tragedy? Yeah you may be inconvenienced a little, but your not scrambling to make a house payment/rent or put food on the table like the techs. They can't even go to work somewhere else because their tools all burned up too.

The warranty process can be long and tedious, I've seen it from lots of different manufacturers not just Keystone, busy service centers aren't going to put your unit into the work flow until everything can be done at one time. Depending on how many units are in the work flow in front of you, the parts may have been there and your unit may have been on the schedule, I don't have that information, but if it were my rig, I would be giving thanks that it wasn't burnt to the ground and gladly start over at the other location. Would I be a bit frustrated? Maybe, but in the overall scheme of things, I think you came out pretty good, don't you?

Okay rant off.

[theeyres]

Sort of reminds me of the time in my former business--a print and copy shop--when somebody knocked down a power pole down the street and we lost our power. A customer came in to get some last minute copies he just had to have and when we told him the power was out he got furious at us. Really mad. He had to have those copies and it was our fault he couldn't get them.

I'm am sorry for the inconvience. You are just lucky to get your rig out of there untouched.

[bsmith0404]

To be honest, I really like this thread. Yes, the OP was a bit self centered and only thinking about the inconvenience this situation caused him, but it also provides some insight from several different people about how a tragedy like this really affects other people. It all makes me appreciate the things I have, possessions, health, and family, just a little bit more. It makes you think twice about others before you go off on a rant about your own problems.

[bmach]

I am going to go a different route with this one. I think the dealer taking the easy way out on this. Don't jump on me, hear me out. The dealer had a fire, they have customers that need service. To me a good dealer would be working with other area dealers to help those customers to fix their problems. They should not cast them out and say tough luck. They can contact keystone or whichever other dealers they sell and help move things along. So yes the dealer could do more and it would go a long way with customer relations.

[bsmith0404]

I'm sure the dealer is plenty busy with other items right now. And yes they could help, but how do they know if a customer would want their RV serviced by xyz company? Maybe the customer has a history with xyz and would rather drive 50 miles to abc instead. IMO, if the dealership cannot do the work as a result of the fire, the best thing they can do is let me know the current status, what needs to be done still, and give a recommendation. that sounds like what they did in this case.

[Pull Toy]

Have we beat it to death yet?

We have a Junior Member who thinks we're a bunch of heartless b*st***s beating him up!

Yes... The dealer has a lot on his plate right now... but he does have an obligation to his loyal customers, even if it just to help them make other arrangements. Either that or the Dealer doesn't survive. Call it "Concierge Service". Their insurance should cover that under "continuation of service, business, and etc..." Heck... All they need is dial-tone and a secretary! (Not to belittle secretaries.)

Let it go!

[Ken / Claudia]

What I have since and been around or helped at fire investigations. This type of loss might take ALL parties involved several years before they are all done. Each person who has any loss will sue or go thru their insurance to get settled and than those go against the dealers insurance for recovery. As upset as I could also be, I would be glad not to be involved in any of the fire loss and get to another dealer ASAP before they are over whelmed and cannot take on more work.

[bmach]

If you remember it was the service dept that burnt down not the whole place. That means he still has a building(s) and could very easily work with the customers to get them the help they need. If they do not want his help then they are on their own. As someone else said all they need is a dial tone and they can start the ball rolling, instead of kicking paying customers to the curb.

[chuckster57]

If you read the first post, it clearly states that he was advised the option to use the dealers other location and start the process again. He wasn't told to find somewhere else.

Have we beat this to death? I am beginning to think we may have.

[bmach]

If it is their other place why does he have to start the warranty process all over again. I should already be started. So yes the dealer had a fire but they are not taking care of their customers and are kicking them to the curb. I'm done.

[bsmith0404]

Wow, how difficult is it for a person to pick up a phone and make a phone call themselves? Personally I'd want to do it myself so I can talk to the service department, let them know what has been done, and what I need/expect to be done. I just prefer to take care of my business myself vs trust a "secretary" sitting at some desk that may or may not have real knowledge of what I need/expect speaking for me. There has been more than one time (not all with the RV) that I chose to take my business elsewhere based on a phone conversation with a service manager.

Okay, I'm done kicking the horse as well.

[Javi]

I was brung up to do for myself, not depend on others to wipe my nose..

[JRTJH]

So I brought my 333MKS in the middle of August for three warranty items, one being from pre delivery in February that was waiting on parts.

The service dept burned down last weekend and luckily by rig was parked in a lot adjacent to the service dept and not in one of the bays (they lost 18 coaches in the fire).

Now the service adviser told me to come get it and the parts for my warranty were lost in the fire.

He suggested I call their other location and make an appointment and start over with the warranty approval.

I blew a head gasket and am waiting for call from his boss...rant over


OK Members: If you care to, read each of the sentences above for their "literal interpretation" (not for what "might be"). Or is you choose, just ignore this post. Nowhere does the OP state that the dealership "refused" to repair his RV, quite the contrary, they stated that he "should make an appointment and start over". ("He suggested I call their other location") ....

The final statement indicates that the conversation ended with, "I blew a head gasket and am waiting for a call from his boss"....

So, the facts (as I pieced them together from other posts:
The OP bought his RV in January 2015 http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?p=161563#post161563

The OP has posted a number of times that he is quite happy with his RV and reports numerous trips that he considered successful. http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/search.php?searchid=2300061

He also started a thread about his awning "rolling up backwards" in which he states that he didn't find the problem, the dealership found it and was making repairs. http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=23695 (This post was made on 9-22-2015) after he delivered his RV to the dealership in August for warranty work and we were led to believe that it has been "at the dealership for repair since that time). It appears he waited about a month to post about the awning. Make your own conclusions about that time frame.

There was a problem that had been deferred from the PDI in January until August when the OP towed it to the dealership for repair. He identified two other problems that needed warranty repair (was one the awning?) and they were going to be completed at the same time (but of course after approval by Keystone and parts arrival). This thread

The dealership service building burned down but the OP's RV was not damaged. This thread

The OP was notified that he could pick up his RV, tow it to the dealership's other location for warranty repairs. This thread

He "blew a head gasket" and posted his comments in this thread.

Now, for some information:

This thread was initially started at 4:12 PM on 10-14-2015
After one post he responded at 4:26 PM on 10-14-2015
He signed off immediately after that response and has not yet returned to the forum.

So, even though there have been 21 posts in this thread, 18 of them AFTER his last post (and last visit to the forum) we continue to "discuss his plight" even though he hasn't signed on to read what we think.

I don't want to belittle the OP, nor do I want to diminish his problem, but I asked myself, could it be that he posted to "rant the information" without regard to any concern for what we think?

You decide what you believe. I know what I think of the situation.

Regards,

[{tpc}]

Edited cause I cross posted with john, and he has brought more information in than I had when originally posted.

[bsmith0404]

Somebody contact him and let him know we have all put a lot of thought and effort into his situation and that he has a lot of good, suggestions, and opinions from extremely insightful individuals that are very important for him to read :p

[Festus2]

Let's not forget that the OP has never asked for any opinions or advice from us about his situation that he now finds himself in. Instead, we have been given a brief, one-sided description of what took place after the fire at the dealership. His two posts have been, in his own words, a "rant" and I am not sure if the poster really wants to read what we think or suggest. If he is at all interested in our opinions or recommendations, he is free to log on, read what we have to say and comment if he chooses to do so.

I don't see any point in offering suggestions or advice to someone who doesn't want to listen. Besides, there's nothing to be gained by "arguing" amongst ourselves as to who is at fault here - the dealer or the customer - especially since we have heard only one side of this story.

I would suggest that we might be better served if we were to spend our time and energy elsewhere on the forum and resist the urge to comment further on a thread that seems to be going nowhere. :banghead:

[bsmith0404]

Damn, you guys take all of the fun out of a forum...I couldn't resist the urge to further comment on a thread that's going nowhere.

BTW, you can't rant or get on a soapbox without getting others opinions, invited or not.

[Festus2]

Brent -
Maybe you have too much time and/or energy on your hands.
:D

[bsmith0404]

Bored out of my mind sitting in a hospital waiting room

[JRTJH]

Bored out of my mind sitting in a hospital waiting room

Hospital waiting rooms seldom mean "great fun"... I hope the reason you're there is not serious and that the outcome is good. :)

[Pull Toy]

If it had been my rig that was spared.... I would have kissed the ground that it was parked on... while everyone else's world turned to sh*t, he gets to haul it away?!

Then He/She doesn't even have the courtesy to listen to "OUR RANTS"! What Gives???? LoL

[chuckster57]

This fire has burnt long enough. The OP hasn't logged in since his post in this thread, and it seems we all just keep stoking the flames. Since this thread doesn't seem to be going anywhere and the OP has left the conversation, I am closing this thread.