New Tiffin policy

[Tntman]

Tiffin has instituted a new policy. If your coach is five years old or older, you will only be allowed to use the express bay for three hours. Items to fix will be prioritized and they will do only three hours on your coach. The kicker is you must wait SIXTY days between express visits. Sounds like that renowned Tiffin service just took a big hit. Is this also going to reduce the trade in value of older coaches.

[2gypsies1]

I don't know... a RV company that has 53 service bays and no appointments would scare me! They're anticipating a lot of repairs.

http://www.tiffinmotorhomes.com/owners/service-center

[hotjag1]

I'm not convinced that this "new" policy would lower the trade-in value unless a purchaser lived a fairly reasonable distance from Alabama. Since I live on the west side of the US, I wouldn't even consider driving all the way to AL if I needed to get work done.

I can find competent repair places in the western states IF I ever need a coach related item repaired. So far, the only things I have needed repaired were Cummins and Dometic related. Everything on the coach itself has worked as designed with no problems, and this is on a coach that is 14 years old.

[Tntman]

I guess I should have explained better. I believe that this policy is going to lower the trade in value and give prospective buyers some concern about buying an older coach. I bought my Tiffin because of their reputation for service. Anytime a dealer touched my coach, they didn't get it fixed or made the situation worse. When my coach was built, they had a final Finish Dept that took care of any problems. Now they say that the quality is built in on the assembly line. So now more new coaches need repair. This goes to the quality issue so many manufacturers are having trouble with. I love my Tiffin and felt Tiffin would be there for me as long as I owned my coach. Just venting as I feel that I have been abandoned or Tiffin is attempting to force me to buy a new coach. This is frustrating.

[accsys]

tinkerer wrote:
No they didn't allow him more than the 3 hours even on his new Allegro Bus which was under warranty. It took him almost 2 years to get all of the problems worked out. I know Tiffin people are proud owners, but this person sure had a lot of quality control issues.

Then he didn't do what he was supposed to do when he checked in. When the scheduler comes around after you check in, he looks at your list and gives you options as for going to an express bay or a regular bay and lets you know that if you accept an express bay you are limited to three hours and then have to get back in line. Apparently that was the route your friend selected when he should have opted for a regular bay. The waiting period for an express bay is much shorter (read that in days not hours) than for a regular bay but you shouldn't opt for the express bay unless you are sure you can get everything done in three hours. I can understand that your friend is upset but a good portion of that is his fault not Tiffin's.

Your friend also needs to join the forum at TiffinRVNetwork if he hasn't already as asking a few questions there could have saved him a good bit of aggravation.

[tinkerer]

lj2654 wrote:
RV repair facilities have been in bad shape for several years. Way too much demand for what is available. I have a superb Mobile Company I use. Plus I do almost all repairs myself to this point. I have had my DP in two referred shops only to have issues at both. Either they have your RV sit forever waiting in line, or don't get things fixed correctly making a return visit again likely. The more people purchase RV's the worse this will get, just not enough qualified repair shops for all the newer coaches with issues.

This fellow became so frustrated with Tiffin he ended up getting somethings fix at private RV shop, because Alabama is along ways from Wisconsin. No they didn't allow him more than the 3 hours even on his new Allegro Bus which was under warranty. It took him almost 2 years to get all of the problems worked out. I know Tiffin people are proud owners, but this person sure had a lot of quality control issues.

[BobGed]

I agree with everything 'accsys' posted. Also keep in mind the three hours in an express bay is for two men, so you're actually getting six man hours. With your active supervision they can accomplish a lot. Just don't drop off the coach and go sit in the customer lounge. 😉

[Bruce_Brown]

I'm not a Tiffin owner (or a Tiffin fan either) but from the outside looking in I don't see this as a big issue. After 5 years I'm thinking maybe more people might have been using this more like an emergency room vs an urgent care. Its 5 years old, how much more stuff should need fixing??? If it can't be done in 3 hours I'm thinking you have bigger problems than using a service bay.

[accsys]

tinkerer wrote:
Again nothing new, I know a fellow who bought a new bus from Tiffen and got the same treatment. Had more issues than Heinz had pickles. They would alot him the 3 hours then had to go back to the end of the line. I wasn't impressed.

I think the fellow you knew misspoke or you misunderstood. If it was a "new bus" they would have worked on it until it was fixed, period. If it was a "new to him" old bus he may have been right.

As far as the "new" old policy, older coaches cannot get a "regular" bay where they stay in that bay until all issues are fixed like a less than three year-old coach can. However all of the specialty bays (windshield, slide, hydraulic, cabinet, etc.) are still available to the older coaches and if they need one of those bays they will get in it for those repairs. It's also pretty amazing what they can accomplish in the express bays in a three hour period and they are know to work a little longer than that if needed.

We have had our coach for seven years now and, though we go through Red Bay (for other services) at least once a year, we haven't used the Tiffin service center in the last five years. Too many other places in the area to get anything you want done to your coach, and they make appointments unlike the service center!

[lj2654]

RV repair facilities have been in bad shape for several years. Way too much demand for what is available. I have a superb Mobile Company I use. Plus I do almost all repairs myself to this point. I have had my DP in two referred shops only to have issues at both. Either they have your RV sit forever waiting in line, or don't get things fixed correctly making a return visit again likely. The more people purchase RV's the worse this will get, just not enough qualified repair shops for all the newer coaches with issues.

[tinkerer]

Again nothing new, I know a fellow who bought a new bus from Tiffen and got the same treatment. Had more issues than Heinz had pickles. They would alot him the 3 hours then had to go back to the end of the line. I wasn't impressed.

[MarkTwain]

Lwiddis wrote:
Wasn't this new policy announced back in February?

yes

[hanko]

old news

[MarkTwain]

yes

[Lwiddis]

Wasn't this new policy announced back in February?