Primetime like all others

[southernsky]

Guess the enthusiasm of Primetime wanting to be the best has gone by the wayside. I remember when someone use to follow the forum to answer any questions and to help with problems. I've emailed them to ask a question about warranty and have yet gotten a reply. Not the first time emailed and no reply. Guess they've gone with the ways of other RV manufactures and in it for how many we can put out and don't worry about customer satisfaction. JMHO

[kohai]

Originally Posted by southernsky

Guess the enthusiasm of Primetime wanting to be the best has gone by the wayside. I remember when someone use to follow the forum to answer any questions and to help with problems. I've emailed them to ask a question about warranty and have yet gotten a reply. Not the first time emailed and no reply. Guess they've gone with the ways of other RV manufactures and in it for how many we can put out and don't worry about customer satisfaction. JMHO

I think there is a huge opportunity for some company in the RV industry to do things differently. I wonder what it is that causes so many companies to start up with great ideas of being more and doing more but then to drift to the mediocre.

If I were to make a guess at what the reason is, it would be the buying habits of consumers. I would guess that the manufacturers could supply better built units with more features, but people may make their purchase decision more based on price than quality/features that aren't obvious to the casual buyer. Volume of units sold is key to the manufacturer to stay profitable. The price pressure may lead manufacturers to drop quality/features to compete on price because that may be how buyers are making their decisions. The manufacturer's profit margins end up so slim that they can't make any money offering strong warranties.

Slim profits lead to more corner cutting which leads to more warranty claims and the spiral begins. That's my guess.

[kohai]

Oh yeah, I also have the theory that the best way to make money in the RV industry is to supply the manufacturers with parts, like Dometic, Lippert, etc. That way, as the manufacturers come and go, you stay in business by just selling parts to the next company that starts up.

[Platokidd]

The rvguy has not been on the forum since 04-08-2014. Too bad, a Pt rep on the forum would be great!

[Salmon Hunter]

I have email PT on there website last month and got a reply within 24 hrs.
All my questions were answered and I have no problem with the quality of my 5er

[heavynlori]

Originally Posted by Salmon Hunter

I have email PT on there website last month and got a reply within 24 hrs.
All my questions were answered and I have no problem with the quality of my 5er

X2 for us on our Crusader too - no issues and ALWAYS a prompt response - guess we are not the norm.....


Sent from my iPhone using Forest River Forums

[wolfe4656]

I tried the snail mail way about a month ago and never heard from anyone. It is a shame to invest so much money and be forgotten so soon. I may email them next. I think they are just waiting till my warranty runs out so they don't have to answer.

[Platokidd]

Originally Posted by wolfe4656

I tried the snail mail way about a month ago and never heard from anyone. It is a shame to invest so much money and be forgotten so soon. I may email them next. I think they are just waiting till my warranty runs out so they don't have to answer.

Send a email or call them! Sometimes it has taken me 2 or 3 emails on there website to get a response.

A few times I have not been to pleased with pt response to a problem,that I can think of at the moment.

1) a couch problem with my tracer I had. The mfg of the couch said no, so pt said no. I called the mfg of the couch and had no problem getting a replacement seat for the couch.
2) tracer sub-floor , the slide kept splinting off chunks of wood. PT said it was not a problem. One of the reason I traded the unit off.
3) slide-wear problem see link. note a year later pt made it right !!
http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ing-45789.html

Now other then that...( 3 outta several issues I have had with my 2 pt units)
PT HAS BEEN STELLAR in customer service taking care of me and my unit!!

The rv industry has a long way to go, shoddy workmanship and qc that you have to rate on a curve.

[irishrv]

I consider them a cut above some others. They have treated me well overall. I would like to see them offer the 2nd year for warranty through forest river. The package of features for $$$ is very hard to beat. I'm liking the grand design reflections as well and they are offering stellar customer service with very good build quality. PT beats them on features for $$$


2014 295rst champ te
2009 2500hd GMC d/a

[Terier]

Like with any company employees tend to come and go. Are you sure the rep is still with Forest River or even listed as a commercial member here at FRF? The flip side of the coin is that sometimes reps takes a beating here. After a while many of them end up leaving.

[irishrv]

The rep was the company president. Understand why he withdrew but should have tasked a replacement.


2014 295rst champ te
2009 2500hd GMC d/a

[ironj]

Ive been out of warranty for 2 yrs and my emails a few months ago were replied to within a week and very professionally??.....

Who knows.....

[wmcclay]

I have found them to be responsive, I have kept the tone of my emails pleasant. Rodger has been GREAT. I have had several other brands and they cannot hold a candle to Primetimes warranty, service or design.

[another_newfie]

Of course they are like all the others... They build and sell RV's...

I've owned quite a few rigs over the years and I've dealt with a number of manufacturers and I'll say that PT is far from perfect, but from my perspective they are a cut above. Every single concern I've had has been responded to in a timely fashion and dealt with to my satisfaction. In fact my rig is sitting at their repair facility right now getting a number of things fixed at no cost to me. My rig is out of warranty as well.

We are incredibly happy with our experience with PT. We would buy another PT product in a heartbeat and have and will continue to recommend them to anyone.

[kohai]

I'm new to the RV world with my first RV this year. What amazes me is the acceptance of the RV community (manufacturers, dealers, and buyers) that all RVs have problems when you first get them, that you have to do a shake-down trip to find all the issues, and then you have to go back to the dealer to get them fixed.

Nobody would ever buy a car from a manufacturer where 100% of their cars have to go back to the dealer for repair after your first couple days driving it.

In a world of six-sigma and continuous improvement philosophies being implemented in manufacturing business, I'm very surprised we have an industry in America that ships products they know will be back in for repair at the dealer within one trip. In fact, they have built their processes around the community's acceptance of quality problems at time of delivery.

[ironj]

Its a shame really....but they continue to sell like no ones business....10yrs ago I would have laughed uncontrollably if somone told me I would be spending 90k on a CAMPER!!...yet here we are looking for one....and we love it..manufacturers have us by the short hairs and they know it.....

I understand there MAY be issues with any new unit (heck our new bmw x5m was back at the dealer the first week and now is having the wood replaced for clearcoat cracks)...and thats a company that prides itself on quality builds...

In the end, prime is slightly better as far as my experience than others .....up to this point...time will tell..

sent from fat fingers via a space dish thing with no regard to grammer.

[kohai]

Originally Posted by ironj

Its a shame really....but they continue to sell like no ones business....10yrs ago I would have laughed uncontrollably if somone told me I would be spending 90k on a CAMPER!!...yet here we are looking for one....and we love it..manufacturers have us by the short hairs and they know it.....

I understand there MAY be issues with any new unit (heck our new bmw x5m was back at the dealer the first week and now is having the wood replaced for clearcoat cracks)...and thats a company that prides itself on quality builds...

In the end, prime is slightly better as far as my experience than others .....up to this point...time will tell..

sent from fat fingers via a space dish thing with no regard to grammer.

I agree that there are likely to be some issues, but the acceptance that all units WILL have problems, and a lot of them, is weird.

Car manufacturers are rated on problems per 100 vehicles produced. Then they are compared to each other. See here.

When companies are rated and measured, they improve. Something like this rating system would be awesome for the RV industry. Then we as consumers can easily compare manufacturers AND the manufacturers can compare themselves to others (and improve). I think this type of rating system would cause the manufacturers to start doing continuous improvement.

I would say my RV had 15-20 problems. Assuming that is typical, that would be 1500-2000 problems per 100 units manufactured.

[jbrostek]

One down side to their growth is as you grow things like monitoring a forum starts to take a back burner. It could be staffing, it could be that its been forgotten as the company grows. So far I have never had an issue picking up the phone and calling primetime and getting a person on the phone who can answer or directly me to the answer for my question. I do not randomly post on forums looking for a solution. I cannot comment on emailing them since I have not relied on that form of communications with primetime.

[Platokidd]

Originally Posted by kohai

I'm new to the RV world with my first RV this year. What amazes me is the acceptance of the RV community (manufacturers, dealers, and buyers) that all RVs have problems when you first get them, that you have to do a shake-down trip to find all the issues, and then you have to go back to the dealer to get them fixed.

Nobody would ever buy a car from a manufacturer where 100% of their cars have to go back to the dealer for repair after your first couple days driving it.

In a world of six-sigma and continuous improvement philosophies being implemented in manufacturing business, I'm very surprised we have an industry in America that ships products they know will be back in for repair at the dealer within one trip. In fact, they have built their processes around the community's acceptance of quality problems at time of delivery.

The RV industry really is a piece of work. It's like no other industry I ever known. You'll get used to it in time.

[another_newfie]

Not so sure I'd say that, the boating industry can be just as bad re: quality and level of service.