It seems there are a lot of posts related to Pre-delivery inspections and the poor quality of service received from many dealers during delivery.
Here are my thoughts:
Keystone (or any other RV manufacturer, for that matter) could boost sales, and possibly put the "other guy" out of business if the following practices were adopted:
Each dealer would have a "highly trained, certified PDI professional" on staff. Not the salesman, a mechanic, or anyone else who happens to be free at the time of delivery. This person would
1). be familiar with all aspects of each unit on the lot
2). perform a Pre-PDI. Some of the little problems we found with our new RV would have been discovered if someone had taken a bit more care in checking things over.
3). during the final PDI, make sure any important questions not asked by the new owner are addressed and answered, if needed
4). follow-up, after delivery and make sure everything is A-OK. You buy a $50K+ pick-up and someone from the dealership calls, at least once, to make sure you are happy and everything is working fine.
5). make house calls. With today's technology, this could even be a "virtual house call". Some issues might not require hauling the RV into the service center.
6). accompany the purchaser on a short shake-down trip so the owner has a thorough understanding of packing, towing, leveling and securing, taking down; might also provide tips tailored to the owner's specific needs; an "RV personal trainer", so to speak.
7). if any question or problem cannot be resolved, the PDI professional would contact, via a hotline on the spot, a higher level person at Keystone and have an answer as quickly as possible.
8). the manufacturer would provide all owners with an online video library with demonstrations of maintenance, functions, etc. In a tech world, these could easily be kept up to date. Owners shouldn't have to rely on other RV owners to provide these (though another perspective is always good)
I know these things are a bit far-fetched, and the possibilities are endless, but you get the idea. The concept of customer satisfaction and consistently providing a quality product and service have been practiced by successful businesses throughout the years. The increased expense would be the cost of success, not to be passed on to the consumer, but returned to the company in the way of increased sales, integrity and goodwill.
On another note: being a business major, I have wondered why you don't see a lot of media advertising on the part of RV manufacturers. All the auto companies sell their products via television and major magazines. An advertising campaign designed around this "new way of business" just might be the key.
for listening