Sad Development At Cedar Creek!

[MPI_Mallard]

Ya' know when something's going good you can always rely on some idiot to screw things up which is now the case at Cedar Creek's fiver'
division! About a month ago I called (repeatedly) cedar Creek's fifth wheel tech department and after about a week and a half they finally called me back. I wanted to inquire about buying new day-night blinds for my Daydreamer and was told that Cedar Creek will NO LONGER be selling parts or doing any OUT-OF Warranty repairs and from now on we CC owners will have to go through the dealership! The last time I dealt with the "stealership" the in warranty repairs (The extended warranty wasn't worth the paper it was printed on)cost me over $600(one of the sales people were at a car show and wondered why I didn't want to buy a new fiver off them, right!). So now I have a leaky water supply line on my fridge and again I called CC's tech department from last Tuesday until today with,, wait for it,, NO RESPONSE! I left several messages that I just wanted to know how to pull the Amana Residential fridge out of the cabinet properly to repair the supply line myself, luckily my local RV shop back in Canada (Tisdell RV in Tilbury Ont. Great shop,,) told me how to do the whole she-bang (thanks Larry) so for the last long while I was one of those "Creekers" bragging about how great the outstanding after-the-sale customer service is that probably sold many fiver's (three of which I know of) has come to a unfortunate end, thanks for nothing Warren!

Red Green: We now come to the part of the show
called "If it ain't broke, you're not trying!"

[colliehauler]

Ralph I understand your analogy between the Auto industry in the RV industry. The problem lies with non-existent training of service personal or just a incompetent dealer. If you bought a new Ford and the engine took a dump I doubt the truck would sit at the dealers lot all summer waiting for repairs. Then find out the repair was not done correctly or not at all or even additional damage was done to the unit.

I am fortunate that any repairs my RV'S have needed I have been able to complete myself. Never had a frame or axle issues or fiberglass delamination (yet). Ever major industry is cyclical automotive, aircraft, housing, boats, RV'S to name a few.

[Ralph_Cramden]

Just a sign of putting the clamps on costs, because they know the downturn is coming. The RV Industry has always been cyclic and they've reached the top of the curve and are going to make the downhill slide. Sales are dropping and the supposed boom can not be sustained. I say supposed boom because making and selling 500,000 RVs in a year is not really a boom when you sold 390,000 in 2006 and it took 10 years, until 2016, to beat that number.

Over at Forest River you certainly do not want to be the division/brand shown at the bottom of the bean counters spreadsheet when Warren and Charlie look at it.

Nothing is guaranteed because they can change the rules of the game any time they want and they do often. Buy a brand today, any brand, because they have great manufacturer service and support, and you may not have it a year from now. Especially so if the bottom line starts suffering. Go buy a Grand Design. They have great after the sale support. My friend has had his back to the factory 3 times and once they sent Lippert to his house to rebuild all his brakes due to leaking grease seals, ultimately solved by a 4th trip to the factory and totally replacing both axles with Dexter. That said when the sales drop which is going to happen and from what I am seeing is already starting to happen and the bottom line starts getting smaller, don't expect it to last forever.

We had a 2011 Aerolite made by Dutchmen. Outstanding service, communication and support, at least for the first year we owned it in 2010. They had shipped parts to my house a couple of times direct including a complete Norcold fridge. By 2013 that had all gone to the wayside when Dutchmen was rolled into Keystone for customer support. Keystone does not sell or send parts gratis, authorize out of dealer network repairs, or anything else. You need anything, go to a dealer.

On these RV boards is the only place people expect such foolishness anyway. Go buy a new Ford F150 and if the starter motor poops out in the first month of ownership, see if Ford will send someone to swap it out in the driveway or send you the part to install yourself. About the most you can expect is them sending a rollback over to pick it up and you might not even get that without doing a lot of ear beating.

[azrving]

Surprising they did it to being with. How would you like to be a dealer when the factory is repairing the product. Factory builds it, dealer services it and sells parts for it as they contracted to do. Any particular dealership issues are a different story.

[goducks10]

Should've bought a Grand Design. 🙂

[colliehauler]

That's to bad, that's the only thing that put them above Keystone in my opinion after owning trailers from both. Wouldn't bother me a bit to go through the dealer IF they had factory certified trained mechanics and competent dealers. I think this will cost them more in the long run in sales then they'll save.

[Bird_Freak]

Thanks for posting this. I was looking at new CC's at the Atlanta show last weekend.

[guidry]

On the flip side of the coin, I called Northern Lite Campers about a brake light issue I had with my 2003 TC and they were fantastic. Quick email response and problem solved! Sorry CC is failing...

[donn0128]

This has been the norm for about two years now. Last time I tried calling them thats what I got too. CC used to have great customer service, now it just run of the mill poor attitude.

[ReneeG]

I'm sorry to hear this. All the more reason to locate a really good local RV repair shop. And on another note, does CC have a users forum that you can email for help like this?