Warranty work refused

[dubob]

Life’s little experiences can bring sadness or joy. I had one yesterday that ended on a happy note – at least I hope it did and will be in the future. It’s regarding the warranty service on my new (yes new) 2011 Lance 992.

I bought the unit from Bozeman Ford & RV in Montana. I was going to buy a 2 or 3 year old used unit, but when I found this unit at not much more than a used one, I bought it instead. I knew Lance had a dealer in Salt Lake City, UT about 40 miles from home, so I wasn’t worried about having a resource for the warranty service. Little did I know.

The first issue under warranty was the Jensen radio/CD player doesn’t want to work when it’s cold. I called the SLC dealership to see about getting a replacement. I explained where I bought the unit and why. Their service department told me I would have to take the issue back to Bozeman, MT because I didn’t buy it from them and they had no interest or desire to do warranty work on a unit that wasn’t purchased from them.

I called Bozeman RV and talked to the manager and explained the situation to him and how driving 700 miles (round trip) wasn’t going to happen. He had his Lance regional sales rep call me and he relayed my complaint directly to Lance. Lance called me yesterday and I explained the situation. The Lance rep was very accommodating. He is shipping me a new replacement radio which I will install. And if I need warranty service in the future, I’m to call Lance direct and they will intercede with the dealer for me to get the needed service.

The sad thing for this SLC dealership is the fact that I will not ever choose them for any kind of service or parts in the future (except warranty work) and they have lost a potential customer. I will also not recommend there business to anybody who asks me for advice about service work. I would think that the SLC dealership would want to establish a good relationship with any and all Lance product owners. But apparently that is not the case.

If your travels will take you through Utah with a new Lance product and you find yourself in need of some warranty work, I sincerely hope you will be treated better than I was.

[jimh406]

The point is that it isn't an either or scenario. You can think that service is part of the deal, but if you've followed the thread, it isn't for hardly anyone here.

We can understand the warranty work only if available, for instance.

[The_Texan]

Eric&Lisa wrote:

The Texan wrote:

My feelings exactly. If I ever had a service manager tell me that, then it would be the last he EVER saw of me or any of my extended family.....

Here is thing... My uncle's dealership could not stay in business simply doing warranty & service work for on vehicles purchased from other dealerships. They HAD to sell new vehicles in order to stay in business.

You can be unhappy and tell all your friends, but what choice does the dealer have? Option 1: Do the warranty work and slowly bleed to death financially. Option 2: Risk losing the future business of you & your friends who have already established themselves as bottom line buyers and not value based buyers.

Quality
Service
Price

Choose any two out of the three. No one will fault you for your choice, only for naively expecting to also get the third as well.

-Eric

Quote my entire post, where I said that the local dealer won us over as buyers, BECAUSE of his service department. The vehicle he was servicing was purchased at his competition, but his service sold us 2 since then.....it's called karma. I'll reiterate, if he treated me as you said he would, it would be one time only......

[Eric_Lisa]

The Texan wrote:

My feelings exactly. If I ever had a service manager tell me that, then it would be the last he EVER saw of me or any of my extended family.....

Here is thing... My uncle's dealership could not stay in business simply doing warranty & service work for on vehicles purchased from other dealerships. They HAD to sell new vehicles in order to stay in business.

You can be unhappy and tell all your friends, but what choice does the dealer have? Option 1: Do the warranty work and slowly bleed to death financially. Option 2: Risk losing the future business of you & your friends who have already established themselves as bottom line buyers and not value based buyers.

Quality
Service
Price

Choose any two out of the three. No one will fault you for your choice, only for naively expecting to also get the third as well.

-Eric

[Lantley]

LanceDuyen wrote:
What these manufacturers need to understand is that sooner or later we are going to buy another camper. The question is who will we buy our next one from? It's a shame they don't understand they are making or breaking future sales of their product. This seems to be a problem with more than just campers.

Again it is a two way street what smart consumers learn is that there is more to the sale than just price.
After the sale service is important especially if you are not a handy or DIY type person. I'm not suggesting that you only by from your local dealer, but I do think you need to factor warranty service into your overall decision. If you choose to travel and buy out of state beware that your local dealer may and has the right to refuse warranty service.
In most cases the local dealer can match or beat out of town pricing, If the local guy refuses to come close in pricing, don't hesitate to travel to purchase just be sure to have a back up plan in case you need warranty service.
Those who think the dealers are turning away future customers maybe right. However the dealer's future is now. They are striving to take care of their loyal customers first and counting on getting repeat sales by taking care of there own customers vs. taking in excess poor paying warranty work and ultimately providing poor service to everyone.
They also hope that the consumer will value local warranty service more on there next purchase,and place more emphasis on buying local to ensure warranty service is easy to obtain.

The silver lining is that the warranty period is generally only one year. After the warranty expires the issue goes away on its own.

[LanceDuyen]

What these manufacturers need to understand is that sooner or later we are going to buy another camper. The question is who will we buy our next one from? It's a shame they don't understand they are making or breaking future sales of their product. This seems to be a problem with more than just campers.

[dakonthemountai]

wnjj wrote:

dubob wrote:
I’m still at a loss to understand how it makes ANY sense at all to turn away business in a manner that is sure to cause a loss of any future business.

I share your position on this. Everybody who walks through the door of a business is a potential customer, especially if they aleady own a product the business sells that may someday need replaced.

"LIKE"

Dak

[wnjj]

dubob wrote:
I’m still at a loss to understand how it makes ANY sense at all to turn away business in a manner that is sure to cause a loss of any future business.

I share your position on this. Everybody who walks through the door of a business is a potential customer, especially if they aleady own a product the business sells that may someday need replaced.

[dubob]

Just to set the record straight, I wasn’t asking for, or demanding, warranty service. I called the local dealer and explained my problem to whoever answered the phone in the service department. I wanted it to be known that I didn’t purchase my unit from them – and WHY. In my mind there is no reason I can think of to keep information like that a secret.

I wasn’t asking for any special treatment; just asking for some advice as to how to proceed with a process to determine a solution to the problem of my radio not working properly. The local dealer didn’t offer to try and work me in around his current work load or tell me he was days or weeks out on working me in; he just simply said that we would not work my problem because I didn’t buy the unit from their dealership and I should contact the selling dealership for a resolution.

I could have lived without a working radio for as long as it took the local dealership to work me in, but they were not willing to even discuss that solution. I believe Lance to be a reputable company that supports both its customers and its dealership network based on the majority of positive comments about Lance that I read on this and other websites. I also believe that my local dealership would have been reimbursed for any warranty work performed on my unit at their facility.

After all the discussions on here and other sites about this issue and a ton of anecdotes about how RV and automobile dealerships do, or do not, treat customers, I’m still at a loss to understand how it makes ANY sense at all to turn away business in a manner that is sure to cause a loss of any future business.

I used to run a small (and I do mean small) business catering to a sporting activity for which I sold accessories for the sport. If a customer came to me with an accessory problem, even if they DIDN’T buy it from me, I would do my best to try to help them resolve the issue. If I had to use my materials to fix the issue, then I told them there would be a charge but they could possible get it done free by the dealer they bought it from. I never turned them away and I never charged for advice.

Call me naïve if you must, but I almost always assume that I’ll be treated the same when I seek advice or service from other businesses. And, yes, I DO realize that it ain’t going to happen in some cases. But it does happen often enough for me to continue expecting it in the future. Unfortunately for me, it didn’t happen when I asked my local Lance dealership for service on my warranty issue. I did get it resolved by ultimately working directly with Lance, but it left me very disappointed with the overall attitude of my local dealership. Enough said.

:C

[Lantley]

wnjj wrote:

Lantley wrote:

wnjj wrote:

Lantley wrote:
Dealers are willing to endure this for units they sold however for units they did not sell, that have local owners many dealers do not feel obliged to play the warranty game. It is a loosing proposition for them

Why does it make any difference if it's a unit they sold? They already have the money from that purchase.

Answer: They hope to get repeat business or referrals from the buyer in the future.


So why wouldn't they consider an owner who didn't happen to buy from them any less likely to buy from them next time, especially if they can make them happy with service in the meantime? Not to mention any of this "future" buyer's family & friends. It sounds like this dealer doesn't need the business.

I 'll break it down for you. I am an independent contractor. I am not going to do warranty work for a project I did not complete and hope I get paid.
In my business all contractors may buy our material from Home Depot however we are not affiliated.
The RV biz is the same,two dealers may sell Lance campers, however the dealers are not affiliated.
Now if it is a project that I completed, then I we see to it that that my customer is satisfied in hopes I get more work from said customer. If it is a project another contractor completed I hope that contractor keeps his customer satisfied but in the end it is really not my concern.
Now if someone comes to me willing to pay for me to correct an issue or problem that maybe the responsibility of another contractor I am for hire. But I'm not just going to warranty a project I had nothing to do with simply because the materials came from Home Depot!.
What most consumers simply don't understand is there is no dealer warranty network. Nada. None. Dealers have the right to accept and refuse any warranty work they want without fear of repercussion from the manufacture. Many dealers simply take responsibility for there own sales and refer all other warranty issues back to the selling dealer

Respectfully, I don't need you to "break it down" for me. I think you misunderstood the point of my post. My point was that the dealer has NO obligation toward ANY warranty service on ANY of the units so why draw the line between the ones he sold and ones he didn't? Both are potential future customers.

Because the dealer wants to ensure his customers are satisfied in hopes of repeat business. Customers that did not buy from him are not his concern. the dealer cannot afford to ensure every customer that ever purchased an RV is satisfied. They must limit their exposure to units they sold.
If someone chose to purchase elsewhere the dealer owes them nothing.
They were not loyal to the local dealer,therefore the dealer chooses not to be loyal to them. It's a two way street!
This loyalty is all about the exposure,and payment risk associated with warranty work.

[jimh406]

mark1228 wrote:
The car business is very different than the RV business. RV dealers are "dealers" not "franchises". There is very little loyalty between dealers and manufacturers and very little legal protection for dealers. The warranty in the RV business does not pay well at all or dealers would embrace it like they do in the car business.

Based on what the one poster said, you couldn't bring your Ford to his uncle's dealership. 🙂 Well, if he worked at a Ford dealership.

[rumcoke]

I think there is a difference between a car purchase and an rv purchase. Cars are usually driven locally. I was in the rv business for 25 years. Never once did I refuse to do warranty work on a camper regardless of where it was purchased and, never was stiffed by a manufacturer for a warranty claim. Simply called the manufacturer to be sure the claim was valid. A buck is a buck and remember, treat people the way you would like to treated.

[mark1228]

bedrocker wrote:
Whats the difference from a Ford dealership
and a Lance dealership I can take my Ford to
any Ford dealership if I need warranty work
I don't have to take it to the factory or the
one I bought it at!!!!

The car business is very different than the RV business. RV dealers are "dealers" not "franchises". There is very little loyalty between dealers and manufacturers and very little legal protection for dealers. The warranty in the RV business does not pay well at all or dealers would embrace it like they do in the car business.

[bedrocker]

Whats the difference from a Ford dealership
and a Lance dealership I can take my Ford to
any Ford dealership if I need warranty work
I don't have to take it to the factory or the
one I bought it at!!!!

[wnjj]

Lantley wrote:

wnjj wrote:

Lantley wrote:
Dealers are willing to endure this for units they sold however for units they did not sell, that have local owners many dealers do not feel obliged to play the warranty game. It is a loosing proposition for them

Why does it make any difference if it's a unit they sold? They already have the money from that purchase.

Answer: They hope to get repeat business or referrals from the buyer in the future.


So why wouldn't they consider an owner who didn't happen to buy from them any less likely to buy from them next time, especially if they can make them happy with service in the meantime? Not to mention any of this "future" buyer's family & friends. It sounds like this dealer doesn't need the business.

I 'll break it down for you. I am an independent contractor. I am not going to do warranty work for a project I did not complete and hope I get paid.
In my business all contractors may buy our material from Home Depot however we are not affiliated.
The RV biz is the same,two dealers may sell Lance campers, however the dealers are not affiliated.
Now if it is a project that I completed, then I we see to it that that my customer is satisfied in hopes I get more work from said customer. If it is a project another contractor completed I hope that contractor keeps his customer satisfied but in the end it is really not my concern.
Now if someone comes to me willing to pay for me to correct an issue or problem that maybe the responsibility of another contractor I am for hire. But I'm not just going to warranty a project I had nothing to do with simply because the materials came from Home Depot!.
What most consumers simply don't understand is there is no dealer warranty network. Nada. None. Dealers have the right to accept and refuse any warranty work they want without fear of repercussion from the manufacture. Many dealers simply take responsibility for there own sales and refer all other warranty issues back to the selling dealer

Respectfully, I don't need you to "break it down" for me. I think you misunderstood the point of my post. My point was that the dealer has NO obligation toward ANY warranty service on ANY of the units so why draw the line between the ones he sold and ones he didn't? Both are potential future customers.