How long does warranty approvals typically take?

[Leeski_Clan]

We bought a new 2018 Palomino Columbus Compass 5th wheel in March 2018 and got the dreaded crack under the bedroom slide late August.

I emailed pictures to Palomino Customer Service and they told me to take it to a Forest River dealership and they would "see this through". Its been at the dealership since October 25th. I called the dealer in mid-November for status but they hadn't looked at it yet because Palomino wanted pictures of the RV hitched to my truck and videos of me hitching and unhitching it. They also wanted the dealership to perform measurements of the crack when hitched and unhitched. So, we got that done the very next day. That was 3 weeks ago and no word from Palomino yet.

Has anyone had warranty work done by Palomino / Forrest River? How long did it take for them to approve your warranty claim? I've never needed any warranty work on my last 2 RVs so I have no idea how long its typically takes.

Any insight you have is appreciated; 6 weeks and counting.

Thank you,
Larry & Sylvia

[drsteve]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

drsteve wrote:

Ralph Cramden wrote:

Ooooooh the big bad RV Dealer. If I was an RV dealer and someone bought elsewhere to save a few bucks, they would go to the end of the line in my service department for warranty work also. I see nothing wrong with such a policy. It all starts with the manufacturer and RV Industry in general for having such policies in place to begin with and its all clearly stated on every manufacturer brochure or website ever made. So belly ache as required.

I have never seen a brochure that stated dealers can do warranty work at their own discretion, or not at all.

Just because you haven't seen it does not mean it does not exist. If you look at any Forest River brochure you'll find... THIS LINK

Keystone hides it a little better but all reference selling dealer and then you have to dive into their owners manuals.
"Make an appointment to return the RV, at your expense, to your selling dealer for the necessary service."

And some like Jayco may simply put this in their warranty.
"NOTE: Jayco does not control the scheduling of service work at the independent, authorized
dealerships. You may encounter some delay in scheduling or completion of work. Also, you
must notify the selling dealer at time of delivery to have work performed on any defect that
occurred at the factory during manufacture at no cost to you as provided by this limited
warranty. (See below under WHAT IS NOT COVERED).
If two (2) or more service attempts have been made to correct any covered defect that you
believe impairs the value, use or safety of the RV, or if it has taken longer than thirty (30)
days for those types of repairs to be completed, you must, to the extent permitted by law,
notify Jayco directly, in writing, at the above address, of the unsuccessful repair(s) of the
alleged defect(s) so that Jayco can become directly involved in making sure that you are
provided service pursuant to the terms of this limited warranty."

Jayco prefers you wait 30 days before getting them involved.

The bottom line is an RV dealer is not required to do warranty repairs on a unit they did not sell in most cases. Its not structured like the Auto Industry, not even close. And it's the way the RV Industry wants it.

I knew the dealers weren't franchisees and had no obligation to act like a real dealer, and it was their policy to do whatever they wanted independent of the factory, but I didn't realize they admitted it in writing. Thanks for the link.

[Ralph_Cramden]

drsteve wrote:

Ralph Cramden wrote:

Ooooooh the big bad RV Dealer. If I was an RV dealer and someone bought elsewhere to save a few bucks, they would go to the end of the line in my service department for warranty work also. I see nothing wrong with such a policy. It all starts with the manufacturer and RV Industry in general for having such policies in place to begin with and its all clearly stated on every manufacturer brochure or website ever made. So belly ache as required.

I have never seen a brochure that stated dealers can do warranty work at their own discretion, or not at all.

Just because you haven't seen it does not mean it does not exist. If you look at any Forest River brochure you'll find... THIS LINK

Keystone hides it a little better but all reference selling dealer and then you have to dive into their owners manuals.
"Make an appointment to return the RV, at your expense, to your selling dealer for the necessary service."

And some like Jayco may simply put this in their warranty.
"NOTE: Jayco does not control the scheduling of service work at the independent, authorized
dealerships. You may encounter some delay in scheduling or completion of work. Also, you
must notify the selling dealer at time of delivery to have work performed on any defect that
occurred at the factory during manufacture at no cost to you as provided by this limited
warranty. (See below under WHAT IS NOT COVERED).
If two (2) or more service attempts have been made to correct any covered defect that you
believe impairs the value, use or safety of the RV, or if it has taken longer than thirty (30)
days for those types of repairs to be completed, you must, to the extent permitted by law,
notify Jayco directly, in writing, at the above address, of the unsuccessful repair(s) of the
alleged defect(s) so that Jayco can become directly involved in making sure that you are
provided service pursuant to the terms of this limited warranty."

Jayco prefers you wait 30 days before getting them involved.

The bottom line is an RV dealer is not required to do warranty repairs on a unit they did not sell in most cases. Its not structured like the Auto Industry, not even close. And it's the way the RV Industry wants it.

[Oasisbob]

Perspective buyers learn from this. In my opinion the warranty duration should be frozen during this time at the least. Quality is sorely lacking. I guess it is cheaper to throw them together then blow off the customer for warranty. No pride in the product aparently

[valhalla360]

Lynnmor wrote:
The dealer accepted the job, if he didn't want to do it in a timely manner, he should have stated that on day one. Those making excuses for that kind of service says a lot about that consumer.

Why?

OP already purposely bought from a different dealer, so there is no customer relationship to save.

Dealer knows the OP isn't going to drive many hours away to get warranty work done at another dealer.

What advantage is there for the dealer to tell him it will take a few months?

[BadgerMcAdams]

Leeski Clan wrote:
Wow! 2 days & 1/2 hour!!

Since it has been 6 weeks, I'm getting the feeling Palomino is giving me the run-around. It seems out of the ordinary for the dealership to have to provide pictures of the RV on my truck and videos of me hitching/unhitching it before they approve the warranty work. Hmmm....

It could just be my normal paranoia, but what it sounds like to me is that they are going to try and find a way to blame You for the damage to the slide floor. That is the only reason I can think of for them wanting videos of your hitching/unhitching process.

[mich800]

drsteve wrote:

Ralph Cramden wrote:

Ooooooh the big bad RV Dealer. If I was an RV dealer and someone bought elsewhere to save a few bucks, they would go to the end of the line in my service department for warranty work also. I see nothing wrong with such a policy. It all starts with the manufacturer and RV Industry in general for having such policies in place to begin with and its all clearly stated on every manufacturer brochure or website ever made. So belly ache as required.

I have never seen a brochure that stated dealers can do warranty work at their own discretion, or not at all.

Because they don't. Here is Jayco patting themselves on the back for their warranty. I guess not so much.

[drsteve]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

Ooooooh the big bad RV Dealer. If I was an RV dealer and someone bought elsewhere to save a few bucks, they would go to the end of the line in my service department for warranty work also. I see nothing wrong with such a policy. It all starts with the manufacturer and RV Industry in general for having such policies in place to begin with and its all clearly stated on every manufacturer brochure or website ever made. So belly ache as required.

I have never seen a brochure that stated dealers can do warranty work at their own discretion, or not at all.

[Leeski_Clan]

rrupert wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

delwhjr wrote:
I think it's the dealer that is playing with you. I would ask for documentation of those very strange requests.

My bet is the dealer has plenty of paying work who will go elsewhere if they don't get to it quick.

Your's is warranty, so they are creating a backlog to keep them busy with lower paying work during the winter.

X2

I heard this too, warranty work for manufacturers doesn't pay as much as services provided to the general public. This is why they booked my drop-off date for Oct 25th when I made the appointment in late August.

[Leeski_Clan]

bikendan wrote:

Leeski Clan wrote:
The dealer I bought the RV from is in Nebraska, I live in Western Canada. (Saved ~$10,000) Palomino Customer Service told me to bring it to any Forest River dealer so I did but they are not a Palomino dealer. I wonder if that make any difference.

there's your answer. since you didn't buy from that dealer, they're putting you at the back of the line and are in no hurry to do the warranty work.
Common dealer practice. they're just coming up with excuses not to do it.

I booked my appointment in late August, they gave me a drop off date OF October 25th, well after Canadian Thanksgiving (Oct 8th) . This gave them plenty of time to perform winterizing services and such related to the end of the camping season.

I know I'm at the back of the line since I didn't purchase from them. I've had a relationship with this Forrest River dealer for years and put well over ~$8000 through their service department and another $5000 in parts. (See solar setup in my sig)

I believe what others have said previously, Palomino is delaying the approval. Perhaps they are trying to wiggle out of fixing the crack. I found it very unusual that they requested pictures of my truck hitched to the RV and video of me hitching and unhitching it.

EDIT: Canadian Thanksgiving is October 8th.

[rrupert]

valhalla360 wrote:

delwhjr wrote:
I think it's the dealer that is playing with you. I would ask for documentation of those very strange requests.

My bet is the dealer has plenty of paying work who will go elsewhere if they don't get to it quick.

Your's is warranty, so they are creating a backlog to keep them busy with lower paying work during the winter.

X2

[Lynnmor]

The dealer accepted the job, if he didn't want to do it in a timely manner, he should have stated that on day one. Those making excuses for that kind of service says a lot about that consumer.

[Ralph_Cramden]

Toolguy5 wrote:

bikendan wrote:

Leeski Clan wrote:
The dealer I bought the RV from is in Nebraska, I live in Western Canada. (Saved ~$10,000) Palomino Customer Service told me to bring it to any Forest River dealer so I did but they are not a Palomino dealer. I wonder if that make any difference.

there's your answer. since you didn't buy from that dealer, they're putting you at the back of the line and are in no hurry to do the warranty work.
Common dealer practice. they're just coming up with excuses not to do it.

Yep that more then likely is the problem.

Ooooooh the big bad RV Dealer. If I was an RV dealer and someone bought elsewhere to save a few bucks, they would go to the end of the line in my service department for warranty work also. I see nothing wrong with such a policy. It all starts with the manufacturer and RV Industry in general for having such policies in place to begin with and its all clearly stated on every manufacturer brochure or website ever made. So belly ache as required.

[Toolguy5]

bikendan wrote:

Leeski Clan wrote:
The dealer I bought the RV from is in Nebraska, I live in Western Canada. (Saved ~$10,000) Palomino Customer Service told me to bring it to any Forest River dealer so I did but they are not a Palomino dealer. I wonder if that make any difference.

there's your answer. since you didn't buy from that dealer, they're putting you at the back of the line and are in no hurry to do the warranty work.
Common dealer practice. they're just coming up with excuses not to do it.

Yep that more then likely is the problem.

[bikendan]

Leeski Clan wrote:
The dealer I bought the RV from is in Nebraska, I live in Western Canada. (Saved ~$10,000) Palomino Customer Service told me to bring it to any Forest River dealer so I did but they are not a Palomino dealer. I wonder if that make any difference.

there's your answer. since you didn't buy from that dealer, they're putting you at the back of the line and are in no hurry to do the warranty work.
Common dealer practice. they're just coming up with excuses not to do it.