Is it just me or do all repairs that this long, refrigerator

[miaoreo]

Forgive me if this turns into a RANT.... but ya know If I was living or Rv'ing full time and it took MONTHS to get my refrigerator fixed... I would be pissed off!!!
2018 Keystone Alpine.. Norcold 4 door gas/electric refrigerator... took it to AZ in January... fridge worked... DH says it ran all the time.. but I didn't notice. We get home and the next day, Fault Code.. not a user repairable item take to dealer... Camping World of Lowell is close so I took it there... a MONTH later, after many many phone calls on my part (they never called me). They said it was fixed... I go to pick it up... guess what? Not fixed.... I made a scene in their store at the service desk and they put a mechanic on it right then! Said they robbed a part of another new unit to fix mine... it seemed to be working, at least the fault code was gone and it was cooling... by the way they didn't have the other little items I had put down to be fixed either... they never filed a warranty claim.


fast forward 3 weeks... friends came to stay.. stayed in the Alpine... I had turned the fridge on for them... 2nd day... "OH did you know your refrigerator isn't cooling?" Checked it.. 22 in the freezer, 72 in the fridge, after it had been running for 3 days... Monday morning phone call to Norcold... Lady tells me my fridge had never been registered and Camping World did NOT file a claim. Told me who to take it too.


Called new RV repair place... "OH we can look at it in 2 weeks, bring it up" I brought it up Thursday before Memorial day weekend... I got it.. long weekend... They didn't look at it until Wednesday after memorial day. "Oh your cooling unit is bad" I know that. "We have to file a claim with Norcold", I know that too...I called the next Wednesday.... "Well we have to take all these readings and photographs, but the camera battery is dead!" OMG. Called yesterday... "Oh I think that she sent everything in to Norcold, we are waiting to hear back.... cause if we send it in and it's not bad we have to pay for it." HUH????? YOU Said it was BAD....
It has now been 4 months and my refrigerator is not fixed....
Sorry but 4 months????

[sourdough]

Understand your frustration.

When you have a serious issue as you are having, multiple things have to be going on IMO; 1) you need to be in frequent, steady contact with the dealership - don't wait weeks, 2) up front, when you take the trailer in you need to make them aware of your time expectations and understand their limitations, 3) when the first failure of your expectations occurs elevate the situation immediately to the service manager, and if warranted, the GM/owner, 4) from that point on communicate directly with those individuals; they can talk to the service advisors, techs etc. and 5) make yourself present as often as possible to "check" on the progress.

You said you took it to the dealer nearest you but seemed to indicate you didn't buy it there. Did you buy it from any of the dealers that are servicing it or did you just pick one? As I've said, and many concur, the selling dealership, their service dept. and overall treatment of "their" customers is probably one of the biggest items to consider in the purchase of an RV. Many don't think so and have no problems, do their own work or.....have problems and frustration.

I'm wishing you luck, and sounds like the folks that have it now are at least trying to get it fixed albeit slowly, so maybe they will get it going and you won't have any further SERIOUS issues.

[miaoreo]

No I did not buy it locally... no one had the model I wanted.... my understanding is that Warranty is Warranty if they are a dealership.... If you bought a Ford you would expect any Ford Dealership to honor the warranty... And I assure you I have called and called both dealerships... they NEVER call me... to busy I suppose... and I am given excuse after excuse... the last one being the freaking camera battery was DEAD!.. At least this dealership I have not caught them LYING to me like Camping World did....

[sourdough]

You might want to do a search on this forum for who has to do what on warranty repairs with an RV. Short explanation; they aren't car dealerships. Any RV dealer can refuse to work on your RV if you didn't buy it there - even if they are a dealer for that particular RV, and if you didn't, expect those long wait times and being put "at the back".

[Canonman]

From a recent post by a member who is an RV Tech:"Don’t forget consumer demand. RVDA reported this will be the third year in a row of record wholesale deliveries- 520,000+ units."
520,000 units a year sold. How do the dealers keep up with the warranty issues that will, by the law of averages, need service?? The answer is they can't. An RV is NOT warrantied like a car or truck. I wished they were, but they are not. Dealer's service centers have to verify the problem, document it to the manufacturer, get their approval for repairs, order parts and when the parts are received and only then are the repairs actually scheduled! Yup, weeks and sometimes months of delay. Having a good dealer is so important. They know the ropes in getting the manufacturer to approve the repairs and will work with the buyer/owner with scheduling. Poor Dealer and you get poor coordination with both the manufacturer and the buyer. Sad but true.
Some have suggested working through a mobile or third party service facility with some success. Can't hurt to check them out.
We got lucky but the warranty horror stories are real. So many units being sold without any real increase in service support, plus a criminally inefficient service system can only end in customer disappointment!

[chuckster57]

The tech refered to above is me. I have dealt with Norcold on the 4 door model with a failed cooling unit. Yes it is a PITA, yes there are forms from Norcold that have to be filled out with measurements, readings, and a bunch of other stuff. And yes LOTS of pictures. It is a lengthy process and even after doing all the diagnostics Norcold asked for, they (Norcold) said it was a heating element failure. I was on the phone and asked “how can that be if it doesn’t cool on Propane?”....it is a daunting task for ANY dealership to get warranty work approved anymore. And yes if the dealership does ANYTHING wrong, the replacement is charged back to the dealership.

The other part, if you didn’t buy from the dealership, they are under NO OBLIGATION to work on your unit. As I respond our dealership is booking appointments for the third week of JULY and that’s for OUR CUSTOMERS. That’s just to drop off the unit, it may or may not sit for a week before it gets looked at. I can say that the industry is trying to change at least the wait time between drop off and diagnosis. It’s a slow change and as long as the public keeps buying them at a record pace, getting them worked on will take longer.

Before anybody jumps on the “hire more techs” bandwagon, understand that being a tech requires knowledge of a lot of different systems and constant training on new technology. We don’t have OBD II or C.A.N. To plug a code reader into. We won’t discuss salaries in this thread as that’s a whole different animal, flat rate vs. hourly.

Some of us in the industry completely understand your frustration, and try our best to get your investment back to you in a timely fashion, but the process takes time.

Rant over.

[Canonman]

I couldn't agree more with Chuckster and have the utmost respect for the techs that have worked on our Cougar. Certified techs are hard to come by and likely harder to keep. My intentions were to amplify the importance of a well trained experienced service team. Also to reinforce the importance of working with a reputable honest dealer. And, finally to give my sense of meaning to what seem to be lengthly and unwarranted delays to the OP.
I meant no offense to any technicians, honest guys trying to make an honest living under difficult circumstances.
Apologizes if my remarks were taken otherwise.

[chuckster57]

I know you weren’t meaning me. No offense meant or taken. Yes finding qualified techs is getting harder by the day.

[gearhead]

Forget the dealers. Find a place that only repairs RV's. No sales. They live and die by their reputation of fixing problems. Call around and find one that is an authorized Norcold repair shop. Ask other folks with RV's for a reference for an independent shop.
I made 3 trips to the dealer for my Dometic and no fix. Mom and Pop repair shop fixed it one trip.