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Old 11-25-2016, 11:55 AM   #1
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Warranty Repairs / Forest River

In June of this year, just prior to my warranty expiring on out 2016 262 RGX Wildcat, I noticed that an area on the trifold sofa bed had worn / tore through at the hinge / pivot point on the leather like material. In looking at it further, I saw where there was a protrusion of the metal hinge just under torn area (bad design point, or lack of padding?). Contacted my dealer who then went to manufacturer to get a replacement part. This took 4 months to achieve. After many phone calls and back and forth it was replaced. but I do not understand why it took so long. As an afterthought, I sent an email to the Forest River customer service asking about what if, due to design, this thing tears again. Note that this unit has been lightly used and the trifold bed only extended less than 4 or 5 times. The unit itself has only been used less than 15 days since new. Never heard a word back from Forest River customer service. Maybe the factory rep who views this forum can answer the question because i am not getting anything from FR proper.
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Old 11-25-2016, 01:31 PM   #2
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First, most part order delays are the dealer's fault. They wait on placing the order until they have numerous orders so they save on shipping costs.
But they tell the customer that it's FR that's causing the delay.
Happens all the time

Second, I'm not aware that there's a Wildcat rep that's a member of the Forum anymore.
Wildcat Chris has been gone for quite awhile.
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Old 11-25-2016, 04:25 PM   #3
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I suppose BIKENDAN, that the dealer could have been the holdup. At least it got repaired under warranty, so I am pleased about that part. I have just found that warranty work, beyond the missing screw things, tends to really get bogged down. I was hoping that a rep may still be cruising the site since I can't seem to get a response back from FR warranty.
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Old 11-25-2016, 04:42 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by bikendan View Post
First, most part order delays are the dealer's fault. They wait on placing the order until they have numerous orders so they save on shipping costs.
But they tell the customer that it's FR that's causing the delay.
Happens all the time

Second, I'm not aware that there's a Wildcat rep that's a member of the Forum anymore.
Wildcat Chris has been gone for quite awhile.
I have read numerous times where dealers delay parts shipments from the factory.to save on shipping costs and have them shipped in a unit being delivered. I have yet to have anyone explain why it happens when it comes to legitimate warranty claims.

That is unless dealers pay for parts and shipping from the manufacturer for warranty work?
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Old 11-26-2016, 07:25 PM   #5
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Maybe this is common in the RV industry? But I don't think the dealer should have to pay for shipping costs on warranty work. If the factory had done the work properly, there would not be any warranty work in the first place. I also wonder how much of the warranty work is for poor workmanship that should have been caught before it left the factory compared to component failure (refrigerator, water heater, etc) later in the warranty period. I would bet more warranty work because it should not have left factory with the problems which should be caught with better factory final inspection.
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Old 11-26-2016, 07:59 PM   #6
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And yet another issue is parts availability. This is not like the automotive industry where there is a steady parts supply chain. Part of this is due to the small volume. 300,000 RV's compared to 16 million or so cars and light trucks sold in the US every year.

The RV industry will order things in batches, they order enough to build the projected number of units, those in turn get shipped to the dealers who don't maintain much of an inventory of repair parts. If a repair part is needed the request goes from the dealer, to the factory who in turn has to contact the original supplier to get a part... if it is even still available. Definitely not the best system.

You have to remember that very few of the RV "manufacturers" actually manufacture much of their units, most of them are more like assemblers. They may make things like walls inhouse but that is about it. I have toured a couple of plants and the bulk of the appliances, furniture, axles, frames, windows, and such are all made by third parties and delivered to the plants for assembly.

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Old 11-26-2016, 08:07 PM   #7
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I was talking to our local small dealer about another make not Forest River but he was telling me that it is taking up to two years to get their costs back from the manufacturer (labor , etc.)........... no wonder many dealers do not like doing warranty work esp on a unit they didn't sell........


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Old 11-27-2016, 11:47 AM   #8
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After being in parts and service for auto and trucks for the last 40 plus years, the systems for parts orders have improved leaps and bounds. Any 3rd party legitimate warranty part, with serial number, should be dropped shipped to the dealer. The freight and labor would be billed back to the 3rd party through FR. This takes time by the dealer to make sure the proper parts and labor are on the correct RO. Some parts are scrapped at the dealer. Others would have to be returned, manufacturers choice. FR needs to update and get into the 21st century. That's my 2 cents. I'm getting tired of leaving my coach at the dealer for ever for warranty repairs. It cost me $60 round trip for repairs. I can't afford to run the unit back and forth all of the time.
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Old 11-27-2016, 05:54 PM   #9
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Next time buy an RV from a MFG that will allow calls to the tech/service dept and get parts sent directly to your home. Very few small MFG's left. But that's where better CS is at.
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Old 11-27-2016, 06:03 PM   #10
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Next time buy an RV from a MFG that will allow calls to the tech/service dept and get parts sent directly to your home. Very few small MFG's left. But that's where better CS is at.
I am all for that... but they are few and far between.

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Old 11-27-2016, 06:14 PM   #11
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I am all for that... but they are few and far between.

Aaron
Very true. One just got sucked a couple months. Sign of the times.
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Old 11-27-2016, 06:29 PM   #12
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The Wildcat division of Forest River has been there every time I have needed them. Both in warranty and out of warranty the Wildcat team has been but a phone call away.

Many times it is easier to place the blame on others be it the dealership, the service dept or even the failure of reply to a sent email. It seems that interpersonal communications have become a thing of the past.

Contact information is not a hidden black list secret of individuals at Forest River. It is as easy as a quick Google search for Forest River which will bring up a page listing the different product brands and contact numbers. Most of the time it will be a operator that answers the phone, you simply ask for the persons name of the department you need and to be transferred to that person.

Now, yes they may not be at their phone 24/7 to answer your call. Leave a direct message of what you are calling about as well as the last 9 digits of your VIN, your name and contact number. Thank them for their attention in this matter and ask if they would please take a few minutes out of their day to return your call.

You may also want to take into account what the item is that you are calling about. Such as most of the furniture is going to be from Lippert manufacturing, a/c will most likely be Dometic and so forth. You could call these manufactures direct also and take out the middle man as in many cases the warrant request may be transferred information from FR to Lippert.
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Old 02-15-2017, 04:37 PM   #13
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Finally got warranty work completed and replaced a section of the trifold bed. Dealer treated me OK, just took forever to get the replacement section.
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