Dealer refusing to do Warranty work?

[trukeeper]

After owning my new Winnebago Era 70A for a few weeks, I decided to take it to a local Winnebago dealer to have some warranty work done. Nothing major, really, some adjustments/repairs, and a couple of items need to be replaced (a non-functioning tail light, etc.).... In other words, typical warranty items. I went over my list with the service department yesterday and they said it would take a week or so since there were a few parts to order. Today, I get a phone call from the Service Department stating their GM instructed them to do NO Warranty work on my Era since I did not buy it from them!! Bear in mind, this dealer is an authorized Winnebago Dealer and is on Winnebago's official list. I have never heard of an authorized dealer refusing to do warrantly work before. Is this typical of Winnebago dealers? I have contacted Winnebago on this and they are "Looking into the matter".. meanwhile, my RV sits in that dealers lot waiting for me to pick it up. Any sugggestions? Do I have any recourse? Unfortunately, I don't know of any other Winnebago authorized dealers in our metro area and I really don't want to drive 700 miles (rountrip to the dealer where I purchased the RV) to get these issues taken care of. Suggestions?

[trukeeper]

Oh, and I forgot to add that according the factory, NO parts have been put on-order for my Era.

[trukeeper]

Well, I knew it was too good to last. One of my listed warranty items was one of the rear fog lights did not work. When the dealer contacted Winnebago, the factory said I needed to have a Mercedes dealer look at that item. I said ok and considered the case closed. Talked to dealer this AM to check progress on all the other items. He said they are making progress, parts are ordered, and most adjustments should be complete today. They said they decided to pursue the fog lamp issue anyway and found out the Era only has one fog light, i.e. everything was working as designed. Ok, good to know. Then the dealer went on to tell me that I would have to pay their minimum charge for diagnostic time for a non-factory warranty item.. one hour - $110. I asked to speak to the Service Manager, he basically repeated what I was already told.. they need to recoup their costs. We went back and forth, after a few minutes, he finally stated "Ok, I will not charge you THIS time, but I think you need to come and pick up your RV right now". Unbelievable!!! So I called the factory again. The factory wants to talk to the dealer again.. meanwhile, here I sit waiting to hear back from Winnebago praying the dealer is not going over my RV with a hammer or something.. what is wrong with these people????

[spadoctor]

There are other federal regulations that address the auto industry alone. They were instituted in 1979. Those regulations state that a dealer MUST perform warranty work on a vehicle they did not sell and treat that owner the same as one of their customers. I was a service manager at the time when the regulation took effect. Prior to that the dealer I worked for had a policy of you didn't buy from him you waited a min of 6 weeks for an appointment.

[booster]

Bumpyroad wrote:

booster wrote:
All of this could be fixed in a very short time if the manufacturer said that all authorized dealers do any and all authorized warranty work, and get paid a fair rate for the work.

I know in the case of car warranty work, the manufacturer pays for way too few hours to do most repair work, according to my friend who was a Dodge mechanic. that is why they hated to do warranty work
bumpy

I think that may be changing. When we had warranty work, a couple of times, on our Chevy based 07 Roadtrek, I asked the Chevy dealer if they got paid enough for the jobs. He said the rates were now fair, and they have no problem taking the work. I would bet the individual mechanics may take more issue, as they like to work on flat rate so they can do a two hour job in one hour, but get paid for two hours (with the customer paying for it). I just don't like paying the same for someone to take shortcuts as I would if the didn't. I think it is a poor system.

My dad was parts manager in a Chrysler dealer in the 50s-60s and they did hate warranty work. Very low pay rates, they had to save, mark, and have inspected and approved every removed warranty part. Then long delays to get paid. As a teenager, I went in quite a few times to help haul out the piles of parts they had stacked up for approval.

[Bumpyroad]

booster wrote:
All of this could be fixed in a very short time if the manufacturer said that all authorized dealers do any and all authorized warranty work, and get paid a fair rate for the work.

I know in the case of car warranty work, the manufacturer pays for way too few hours to do most repair work, according to my friend who was a Dodge mechanic. that is why they hated to do warranty work
bumpy

[booster]

tplife wrote:
Spadoctor, The Magnusun-Moss Warranty Act of 1975 covers warranties for RVs no differently than autos, washing machines or pencil boxes! The factory gets to choose who is an "authorized" repair facility and they reimburse the facility for the cost of "authorized" repairs per the written warranty. The customer may need to work together with the manufacturer and the facility to ensure they are both providing good-faith service in following the warranty provisions. I believe personally they get away with so many shenanigans because people don't read the warranties and hold the manufacturer and repair facility accountable to their obligations under the warranty (they fold under lies and pressure).

I totally agree.

It all boils down to a dealer reacting (poorly) to a warranty policy set (poorly) by the manufacturer. All of this could be fixed in a very short time if the manufacturer said that all authorized dealers do any and all authorized warranty work, and get paid a fair rate for the work. The dealers would quickly realize that the sales and warranty work are separate, but could still offer "perks" and such for customers over walk ins, but not on warranty. I find it interesting that a lot of dealers seem to think that because the next closest dealer is many miles away, they are justified in charging higher prices (captive customers), and then get all huffy if the customers are willing to the more competitive dealers.

Will it change? Probably not. There is a reason RV salesman have a bad reputation in most places, and it goes all the way to the top of supply chain. As Spadoctor said, an uninformed and meek public allows them to do it, so they will continue to do it.

[tplife]

Spadoctor, The Magnusun-Moss Warranty Act of 1975 covers warranties for RVs no differently than autos, washing machines or pencil boxes! The factory gets to choose who is an "authorized" repair facility and they reimburse the facility for the cost of "authorized" repairs per the written warranty. The customer may need to work together with the manufacturer and the facility to ensure they are both providing good-faith service in following the warranty provisions. I believe personally they get away with so many shenanigans because people don't read the warranties and hold the manufacturer and repair facility accountable to their obligations under the warranty (they fold under lies and pressure).

[BroncosFan]

trukeeper
Thanks for your updates and sharing it here.

[1775]

trukeeper wrote:
Update - So far today I have talked to Winnebago and the servicing dealer. Winnebago has reviewed my list of repair items with the dealer and authorized all listed items that could reasonable be construed as covered by manufacturer warranty. Some of the items I had listed were considered invalid (for instance, when I set my stereo to the "b" speakers, there is no sound.. that is because there are no "B" speakers in my RV... ok, I can accept that :)) At any rate, the dealer has now agreed to proceed on all the items that Winnebago has authorized. I consider that completely acceptable. A few other items remain, but in all fairness, I completely understand why they should be addressed by the selling dealer. All we got to do now is wait and see if everyone delivers on their commitments. Just like the comments heard from the optimist as he was falling down the side of the Empire State Building... "So far, So good!"

Glad to hear that this is being worked out for you and you will get your warranty work done at that dealer. Hopefully, he will not tell you to come back in three weeks to pick it up when he is finished with it.

[trukeeper]

Update - So far today I have talked to Winnebago and the servicing dealer. Winnebago has reviewed my list of repair items with the dealer and authorized all listed items that could reasonable be construed as covered by manufacturer warranty. Some of the items I had listed were considered invalid (for instance, when I set my stereo to the "b" speakers, there is no sound.. that is because there are no "B" speakers in my RV... ok, I can accept that :)) At any rate, the dealer has now agreed to proceed on all the items that Winnebago has authorized. I consider that completely acceptable. A few other items remain, but in all fairness, I completely understand why they should be addressed by the selling dealer. All we got to do now is wait and see if everyone delivers on their commitments. Just like the comments heard from the optimist as he was falling down the side of the Empire State Building... "So far, So good!"

[Dog_Folks]

topless wrote:
Gee I went across 3 states to buy mine. But, I only cared about chassis warranty, the rv part I just wanted information, which was easy to get by phone or email. Fortunately, I didn't need any chassis work and very little information. The docs that came with the van were lousy.

Just how much business does the KC dealer lose by treating any customer like that? Hard to say, but the way it was handled was stupid. I've been in sales my whole life and if I were going to tell a customer I couldn't cover repairs, i would not say it's because you didn't buy it from me, I would show him the refusal by Winnebago to authorize the repairs and let them take the heat. If that is the reason, if it's just the GM being a jerk, then I'd say that too. A loyal customer is worth more than a couple hundred dollars, just in referrals and local good will. I guarantee you that the possibility of making that money back is easy when you treat people well, and by treating them poorly, you lose 10x that amount. Maybe more.
I've never worked in the rv world, but I've never lost money by taking care of a customer.

X2 Could not say it better.

[spadoctor]

trukeeper...I understand your point about the dealer...however none of us know his business. If you were one of a handful that inquired about a certain model or floorplan most dealers are not going to add a unit to their floorplan costs for a sale they may never make. As for not following up...you are right. poor communication on his part. We bought a new unit in 09...it was a left over 07 that because of complicated circumstances the dealer had a large number of units he was disposing for the factory at low prices. I got a MSRP 42,000 trailer for just over 17,000 with full warranty. A year later had a major issue which the dealer took care of and the factory made delam repairs and a complete new roof all at no charge. Hence when we decided to buy a new rig last year we not only stuck with the brand but also the same dealer which is 2 hours from me...1.5 hours further then the local guy. It was all about service and treatment from that dealer....not saying the local guy is not a good guy buy to me I reward the guy that did me right....even if its not as closet for service. Then again I would not expect the closer dealer to do my warranty work as if it was close enough to buy its close enough for repair....JMHO

[trukeeper]

spadoctor wrote:
The RV industry is NOT like the auto industry. Auto dealers are required under federal law to do warranty work on the vehicle no matter where it was purchased. You may have to wait but they have to do it. Not so with an RV. My first 2 trailers came from a family members dealership. As has been stated here items like adjustments and paint touchups are covered under the PDI fee paid to the selling dealer and NOT paid for later. Only repairs are covered and at that it like pulling teeth to get paid. Some manufacturers even charge freight on warranty parts ordered. I know of 2 dealers that dropped all Forest River products because the could not get paid....even when they had prerepair authorization. One did a repair as a favor to the factory on a different brand FR product then he sold....was given written go ahead and did the repair only to never get paid by FR. My current dealer told me he puts a small amount of money into a warranty slush fund to cover things he cant get paid or...yet has to pay the help and parts. I think if I was in their position I too would be leary of doing another dealers work....IF it was a local residents unit but not for someone traveling. They are in business to make mony not lose. The only fault I find with the OP....he should have called that local dealer with the number he gave to the Iowa dealer and given him the chance to sell or not. Then he would have a better case.

I can certainly appreciate any dealer's need to make money.. if they don't they will be out of business. I understand your point regarding bouncing the offer I got from the Iowa dealer off the local guys.. I fully intended to do just that.. what I didn't plan on, however, was the Iowa dealer accepting my initial offer right off the bat.. no negotiations, nothing.. strangest vehicle sale I've ever experienced. Even though I felt I got a very good deal, when a sale goes like that you can't help but think you left some money on the table. I mean, the whole negotiation took about 5 minutes. Regardless, in my own defense, if my local dealer would have taken even the SLIGHTEST bit of initiative over the prior year and 1/2 to follow up with me, arrange for me to see a 70A, or even make a simple phone call or send a single email checking up with me regarding my interest in buying a Winnebago, I probably would have purchased from them 6-10 months ago. Bottom line, I do feel a little bad I didn't buy from my local dealer this time, but I absolutely do not feel guilty about it in the least.

[vic46]

Observation:
We hear all the crying and moaning about BAD dealers. I bet it would be really interesting to hear the other side of the story!

[topless]

Gee I went across 3 states to buy mine. But, I only cared about chassis warranty, the rv part I just wanted information, which was easy to get by phone or email. Fortunately, I didn't need any chassis work and very little information. The docs that came with the van were lousy.

Just how much business does the KC dealer lose by treating any customer like that? Hard to say, but the way it was handled was stupid. I've been in sales my whole life and if I were going to tell a customer I couldn't cover repairs, i would not say it's because you didn't buy it from me, I would show him the refusal by Winnebago to authorize the repairs and let them take the heat. If that is the reason, if it's just the GM being a jerk, then I'd say that too. A loyal customer is worth more than a couple hundred dollars, just in referrals and local good will. I guarantee you that the possibility of making that money back is easy when you treat people well, and by treating them poorly, you lose 10x that amount. Maybe more.
I've never worked in the rv world, but I've never lost money by taking care of a customer.