New Forest River service policy for dealers

[amxpress]

Just read an interesting article in an RV industry publication that all Forest River owners might find interesting. It's a policy they're implementing at all of their dealers that makes them more responsible for repairing a customer's RV. If you own a Forest River RV, it's a good read. The article is too long to cut and paste so here's the link:
NEW FOREST RIVER SERVICE POLICY

[wowens79]

I think it's a good start. I will say I had a window replaced, and a few minor things done under warranty, and they ordered the part, and had my camper ready to go in 10 days. After all the horror stories I heard on here I was totally shocked how quickly it was done. Although I did call every other day to check on it. One thing was disappointing was that they left the old silicone around the window, and when I said something about it, they sent a guy out with a metal putty knife to scrape it off. I told them, I'd clean it took off before he could scratch it up.

[Paul_Clancy]

I know for one of my warranty visits I called the manufacturer after 3 weeks and was told the dealer had not ordered the parts they said they had. Another visit the work was pre approved by me contacting manufacturer and the dealer service mgr wanted more money from me because he said they (fr)weren't paying enough. This service manager also told me I wasn't allowed to call the manufacturer directly. Nice try. There are a load of shady dealers with underhanded practices. The model is a strange one but dealers get the rv at a fairly low price and are supposed to make enough profit on the sale to cover much of the warranty labour moving forwards as the labour per hr payment is low. This is why dealers are against doing warranty work on an rv not bought from them. I hope this is changing for the better.

[stallsmi]

jrs1871 wrote:
While I appreciate that Forest River wants to be timely informed of repair issues, I think the dealers have a legitimate beef when they can't get the repair parts needed. It seems like both sides need to work together on this. The end goal is to have satisfied owners but that will take teamwork between FR and the dealers. And to be quite blunt, some of the problems dealers have to contend with should have never made it out of the manufacturing facility. A little more QC on the front end would be a definite plus.

You hit that nail squarely on the head!

[jrs1871]

While I appreciate that Forest River wants to be timely informed of repair issues, I think the dealers have a legitimate beef when they can't get the repair parts needed. It seems like both sides need to work together on this. The end goal is to have satisfied owners but that will take teamwork between FR and the dealers. And to be quite blunt, some of the problems dealers have to contend with should have never made it out of the manufacturing facility. A little more QC on the front end would be a definite plus.

[time2roll]

So if you do not buy at the dealer FR will call them out for sitting on the warranty job three months?

[lawrosa]

Im happy I think. I have a new coachmen finally was custom built/ordered. Picking it up Tuesday.. Coachmen is Forrest river product I assume even though they have separate website.

My issue is im picking up the camper 3 hours away. Any warranty work Im calling coachmen to get approval for local warranty work..

Local dealers couldn't beat the price, and did not want to special order for me..

[mike-s]

Sounds like a completely reasonable policy - Forest River wants to be aware of issues which aren't being quickly resolved.

Dealers wrote:
The news has raised the ire of RV dealers across the country who are incensed that Forest River has shifted liability for repairs to the dealership level, and then threatened to remove legal protection from the dealers if they do not comply with the policy.

Which is complete BS. Forest River says:

Forest River wrote:
The dealer must contact Forest River whenever the vehicle has been in repair for seven or more days, whether at one dealer or in combination with other dealers, for an issue that may substantially impair the use, market-value or safety of the vehicle...Forest River reserves the right to withhold dealer indemnification if dealer fails to comply with any of the dealer requirements in this addendum.

...so, they're not removing any legal protections, that's just the hammer to make the dealer comply with a perfectly reasonable requirement. And, that requirement is obviously meant to make FR better aware of any issues the end users are having with their products which aren't being quickly addressed by dealers.

This seems like a good thing for Forest River owners - this will only make dealer's service quicker, and give FR better visibility to how well their dealers are taking care of the customer.