warranty secrets revealed

Newmar does, we have no problems with the coach, just appliances. but when you buy a chip board queen you get less than you pay for.

In California, your warranty is extended by 1 day for each day you can document it was at the dealership.

However I can feel for you. When my motorhome was about 9 months old, a weld broke in the front end. The dealership writer said "It will take 6 labor hours to make this repair". They asked Fleetwood to pay for it, but Fleetwood said "That sort of repair can be done in 4 hours." So basically my motorhome sat at the dealership lot for a month while they argued over the amount of money to be paid for that warranty repair. Meanwhile I was making the $600 payment on a nearly new RV I could not use. While they argued over $200, I was making another $600 payment without using it.

I also had to go to the dealership, move a water coolant filter that I had installed after taking delivery of my motorhome. I had to take off work 2 hours early, take the RV off the sales lot, remove 3 bolts and used a large tie wrap (wire tie about 1/2" wide and 1/8" thick) to hold the filter in place - yet out of the way of the repairman. Why they could not remove those 3 bolts - I have no idea.

Later that same dealership had to replace a rear axle seal under the 6 year extended warranty. During a week long trip, prior to taking it in, the brakes did have a slight oil smoking smell. After not agreeing to a $546.00 brake pad charge, the mechanic at the stealership coated the brake pad in oil, then put everything back together, WAY overtightened the lug nuts (I could not loosen them with a 24" long breakerbar, and my weight is over 225 pounds). I had to use my buddy's 3/4" drive impact gun that has over 500 foot pounds torque rating. The max torque of this lug nut is only about 150 foot pounds. I guess the mechanic felt I would take the RV right back to them once I discovered the smoking brake pads. However $55 at the local Napa store, and I had new brake pads installed in a 1/2 hour on both sides of the RV.

My feeling is the leaking seal damaged the brake pads, it should have been a covered repair. Asking 10 X the value to install the pads, that is just mark up going to the extreme. They had to install one pad anyway (the old ones or new ones) so labor was covered by the extended warranty. When my wife brought the motorhome home, she ran into the house and said "The motorhome is on fire" - there was a HUGE amount of smoke coming from the passenger side brake pads. I was able to drive it over to my buddy's house without using the brakes much (drive slow and use 1 and 2 gear to slow down, try to make all the green lights) and it did not smoke much on that trip.

Lucky for me, that was the last repair they did to the 4 year old RV, and it is now 16 years old.

Fred.

Just a humble opinion but if you read some of the fine print that rv and auto manufactures put out #1 You get reconditioned parts. Those parts may not be available immediately when new parts are. #2 They short the dealers on repair costs. The dealer gives your RV the sunshine treatment until things are slow on paid repairs. When things are slow he does warranty repairs. #3 The squeaky wheel gets the oil. You have to be pushy. #4 Don't take it in for a long list of repairs, especially little things you can do yourself.

WyoTraveler wrote:
Just a humble opinion but if you read some of the fine print that rv and auto manufactures put out #1 You get reconditioned parts. Those parts may not be available immediately when new parts are. #2 They short the dealers on repair costs. The dealer gives your RV the sunshine treatment until things are slow on paid repairs. When things are slow he does warranty repairs. #3 The squeaky wheel gets the oil. You have to be pushy. #4 Don't take it in for a long list of repairs, especially little things you can do yourself.

1. Reconditioned parts are RARELY used on RV repairs. I always receive new parts for 99 99/100% of warranty repairs
2. GOOD dealers do warranty at the same rate as CP repairs
3. They sometimes short the dealer on repair costs, but that is rare too. BUY from another dealer and yes, YOU will wait while they argue over the cost. BUY from THAT dealer and they usually EAT the difference, DO the repair and then fight over reimbursement. That is why buying and patronizing your local dealer sometimes is a better idea. LOYALTY does matter for the majority of Dealers and business's. YOU have the advantage of stating you will not buy from him again if problems arise. Buying from another dealer and the dealer figuresd "WHO CARES"? You will not patronize him anyway, so what does he lose?
4. BUY from another dealer out of your location and YES, the odds are you will get the sunshine treatment, as WHY should any dealer put off HIS loyal customers that bought from him to get you into his service dept? THAT is human nature and the fact of business. Lots of dealers will make you wait to schedule your apt and then may put you behind other customers that bought from him if you live in the area and purchased elsewhere. Doug

Golden HVAC; Sounds like you were just dealing with a VERY shady dealer. I've heard so many horror stories of people taking their RV to dealers that they didn't buy the unit from and waiting months for service. I take my 2012 Winnebago Journey to a dealer that I didn't buy it from and get excellent service from them. If you pay attention as to how you're treated when you first walk into a dealers service center you can get a fairly good idea of how that dealer does business.

In 2010 we bought a new 5th wheel and 5 days later we were on our way to Rockport TX. Upon arrival we had some issues and contacted a local dealer for repairs. Since we were winter Texans and I wasn't going to pay for a service run we had to take our unit to the dealership. We explained to them that we lived in that thing but it didn't do any good. We had to take it back 8 times and each time we asked them to call us when they were done so we could come and get it. Once at 4:30 I called and asked what the status was and they said we tried to call you immediately after you left to tell you that the part wasn't there for us to put on but you didn't answer. I pulled my phone records up later and there was no call from them listed. Anyways to make a long story short I had to wind up taking my unit back to the dealership where I bought it from after we returned home for 2 additional problems. They informed us the previous dealership introduced additional problems fixing the problems that we took it to them for.

We Cant Wait wrote:
Golden HVAC; Sounds like you were just dealing with a VERY shady dealer. I've heard so many horror stories of people taking their RV to dealers that they didn't buy the unit from and waiting months for service. I take my 2012 Winnebago Journey to a dealer that I didn't buy it from and get excellent service from them. If you pay attention as to how you're treated when you first walk into a dealers service center you can get a fairly good idea of how that dealer does business.

We had similar problems......Took RV in to be recaulked, have the backup camera repaired (or replaced) and have the dash A/C repaired. Three weeks......they told us to come get it because they had hail damaged vehicles coming in the next work day. They called us 45 minutes before closing and said COME NOW. We checked rig before going into the shop. They had had a party inside....candy wrappers, pop cans all over the place. Back up camera not fixed, caulking not done, and A/C parts all over the floor.....no protection for the carpet. We went into the office and they tried to charge us $275........for doing the caulking. Nope...refused to pay....told them they had NOT done it.....argument......finally he agreed, they hadn't done it....I grabbed the keys and walked out. NEVER will have another rig that requires a warranty .......bought an old one that DH can fix. and this is only ONE story of what we encountered with that rig.

Took our dealer from the 16th of July to 10th of October to complete the repairs on our 2013 TT. I had to call the factory myself to expedite the replacement front cap. I had told an assistant sales manager that I wanted either a new TT or my old one repaired ASAP and he hung up on me. This was Tom Johnson's RV center in Marion,NC where I had purchased it in MAY. No more Forest River products for this old boy nor from Tom Johnson's either.

My experience with motorhome dealers and their repair shops, is many of the people they hire seem to have no idea what they are doing. When I'm having to show the repair technician how to operate some system in the motorhome that is a clue. I don't think they have any type of a certification process, or if they do have it many don't use it, like a regular mechanic has. I get the impression they hire people to work on motorhomes and those new hires get trained by the guys before them that learned on the job.

I actually thought about going into the mobile motorhome repair business myself at one time and I think I was only able to find one training program out there that was designed to train somebody to repair and service all the various house systems of a motorhome. When I had my motorhome in for warranty repairs it was one guy doing the work. From a generator repair, to an electrical repair on the turn signals (which they ended up having to take to Freightliner after the dealer couldn't fix it) to a repair of the awning to cosmetic repairs on the cabinets. You probably wouldn't have the same guy come to your house and do electrical work one day, plumbing the next, fix your heater the next, install some cabinets the next, and then fix the refrigerator. I know there are some really handy people out there who probably could do all this, but there are all different professions yet motorhome dealers seem to have their technicians doing all these different repairs. At least that's what I saw.

Might be that way with your Tiffen..but was NEVER that way with my Country Coach