Quote:
Originally Posted by jimborokz
This is basically what I said on a different post that gravitated to discussion on quality. The Japanese competition brought, no forced quality on Ford and GM. I think our problem is the RV market is not large enough to attract a foreign competitor to teach Goshen how to do quality and still maintain decent pricing. Grand Design seems to be trying to do that and if they can grab enough market share from Thor you'll see some change.
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I don't know that Grand Design builds a "better RV" than any other manufacturer, rather it's how they react to fixing problems when they occur.
ALL of the materials and components used are essentially the same as Forest River, Keystone (and the rest of THOR), Winnebago and any other RV builder... They all use the same appliances, chassis, tires, wheels, aluminum tube, doors, windows, TPO, coroplast, DACOR, carpet, furniture, ducting, mattresses, carpet/vinyl, etc...
GD builds using the same construction techniques, same adhesives, same "too may staples" same Robertson #2 screws, same sealants and same workers (as they get upset or fired and move to the next plant down the road).
The significant "difference" between GD and Keystone, IMHO is the "scripting" used by Customer Service.... At Keystone, they answer the phone by saying, "Good Morning, This is Anna at Keystone Customer Service,
can I help you?" At GD, they answer the phone by saying, "Good Morning, This is Anna at Grand Designs Customer Service,
I CAN help you."
The $4000-5000 extra cost for a GD trailer (can usually be negotiated to much less) if the owner could buy a "upbeat CS policy" for their Keystone, would likely result in much improvement with complaints from Keystone buyers. We'd likely hear more reports of, "My window leaked, my floor rotted, but Keystone fixed it and paid the two payments while they had it at the factory"......
Otherwise, if you read the GD forum, you'll see, for the most part, exactly the same, "My mattress is crap, my regulator won't change over, where's my water pump, my battery was dead when I went to pick up my trailer, my black tank flush won't flow" The list of "What were they thinking?" is nearly identical to what you read on this forum, sometimes I wonder if people buy a Keystone, a Forest River and a GD and join all three forums and get their trailer mixed up as they post a complaint....
I'm not knocking GD, sort of wish Keystone management would use the same customer support philosophy, but don't see that happening as long as the investors are getting a return on their investment and dealers keep placing orders faster than the factory can "sling 'em together".....
Anyway,