Dealer doing PDI at Factory

[TeachTexas]

This is an interesting take on the PDI front
https://www.rvbusiness.com/blog/texa...BaIRoEnBGLqJrM


Is this going to make a difference?
Is it a stunt to sell units?
Will it work?

[Kimber45]

I don't care who looks at my unit or where/ before they get my check I'm going over it with a find tooth comb till im happy. Don't know why a dealer would care they make big bucks fixing stuff under warranty.

I picked up my last unit and 6 weeks later got a call from the dealer that parts were it. I didn't even find the problem and they didn't even tell me about it until after I had it for 6 weeks and they had the parts. (such a minor issue I would of never found and it would of never been an issue) they got paid to fix it.

[D W]

Sounds like a good practice, in theory. Want to bet that Fun Town RV adds a "modest surcharge" for this service? They are not going to anything for free! Another dealer gimmick!

[upflying]

That kind of says a lot about the quality of FR products, the dealer doesn't even want it delivered until it passes their PDI.

[DogFather]

We are first-time RV owners and, furthermore, class A.

When we went to the PDI on our (new) MH we were armed with no motorhome knowledge, just some common sense.

To our surprise, we discovered numerous obvious misses requiring corrective work. It was really an insult to have to go through a very tedious two-day PDI only to discover issues that should have been caught by factory or dealer QC.

One would think that the QC would have been commensurate with the price we paid. Boy, were we wrong. I've never seen this degree of mediocre QC in anything else we've ever bought.

[KEN9XL]

Sounds like a good plan that Fun Town RV has. Wish others dealerships would follow.

As DW stated, will Fun Town RV add a fee for this service?
Will this Pre-Inspection Delivery tatic actually work?

Love to know the outcome after they open on March 15th.
Guess only time will tell.

[SSHCTX]

I wonder how Fun Town RV will test for water leaks...have a truck wash type system set up in the building? What does FR do now to check for leaks?

[Lt Jim]

I think this is a great concept from the dealer, and I hope it works out for the customers. I know the industry has lost the confidence of many RVers, but I'm a little surprised at the mostly negative-leaning comments. It looks like this dealership is actually trying to improve the delivered product, and that can only be good for the consumers. If he fails, or has other motives, I'm sure we will find out soon enough, but I applaud the effort.

[AbdRahim]

Problem with testing for water leaks is it take quite a bit to ge through to the inside. So, even though they put it though the rain bay, it may be months before a small leak makes it self apparent.

[Cowracer]

Still gonna do a complete PDI at the dealers befor delivery.

Tim

[txredfish]

Regardless of who does PDI and where, factory needs a lot of improvement with their QC. Things should work when going out their door. Sometimes I cannot blame the dealer for problems that should have been caught during a factory QC. Most issues that I had should have been caught with any type of QC. What I blame the dealer, is getting it fixed. When I purchased my RV, I made an appointment when to take it in and dealer did not look at it for a month. Took another month after ordering parts and getting it fixed.

[txredfish]

Great concept for Fun Town. But this should be done at factory before ever leaving.
This could help turn the RV industry to the better with increased sales and less service issues at the dealer.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by SSHCTX

I wonder how Fun Town RV will test for water leaks...have a truck wash type system set up in the building? What does FR do now to check for leaks?

Originally Posted by AbdRahim

Problem with testing for water leaks is it take quite a bit to ge through to the inside. So, even though they put it though the rain bay, it may be months before a small leak makes it self apparent.

They might use SealTech, I have seen it used and it is pretty amazing what it can show.

Aaron

[waybeck2018]

Originally Posted by AbdRahim

Problem with testing for water leaks is it take quite a bit to ge through to the inside. So, even though they put it though the rain bay, it may be months before a small leak makes it self apparent.

Just stopped by my dealer Friday to check on my warranty work. My salesperson showed me a unit that had just been sold, with water pouring out of the belly. Turned out, the outside shower had been "short piped" and was 4 inches too short to hook up. Dealer PDI caught that, and I believe it was intentionally left that way by the installer at the factory.

[KEN9XL]

Kind of tough to have Quality Control at Forest River Manufacturing Plant after reading the story on drug use, injuries, and time constraints at factory.

https://www.rvtravel.com/forest-rive...rkplace-fines/

[AbdRahim]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

They might use SealTech, I have seen it used and it is pretty amazing what it can show.



Aaron[emoji41]

I had it done as soon as I bought my rig. They said all was cool. within a year there were brown spots on the ceiling. Much discussion ensued on the forums about the stains on the ceiling. Then the musty smell. After a serious leak was fond and sealed. I finally pulled down the soft ceiling where the brown stains were. It was soaking wet in there and possibly moldy.

Any rig I buy in the future I will plan the cost of RV Armor as part of the price of the rig. So much stuff seems to take time to show up.

By the same token, I like Newmar's idea of factory delivery - a week living in the rig and technicians assigned to fix all of the stuff that needs it.

[capttjl]

At least someone has recognized that Forest River really doesn't care about the consumer,quality, or place any pride in workmanship. I guess this Texas dealer will most likely fail if he continues selling FR products without his own QC department. We are on week two in the lower keys without our air conditioner. FR pawned the failure off as a Dometic issue. Our "NEW" 251 Surveyor is not a year old till the end of this month. It was built on 03/01/18 delivered us on 02/22/18. So far we have endured Two Brake failures, Loss of TV system,now the Air Conditioner, and 12 additional items that FR originally told me we could interrupt our Vacation and drive 200 miles leave our trailer at a dealer in South Florida or forfeit the warranty repairs. Of course not an option as we couldn't schedule a repair for over a month and no promise on when we would get our trailer back. and vacate a non refundable Site leased over a year prior. Our Ohio dealer did negotiate an extension until we arrive home in mid April. Actual use of this trailer, 2400 miles, total actual air conditioner total time was less than 300 hrs, We haven't watched the TV yet. We were able to get the brakes fixed on our site only because the FR Roadside first year insurance was in effect. I just spoke with the local mobile repair about our air conditioner. The best he could do was assure us that the unit was supposed to have been shipped last Monday.

[ds41crane]

Somebody needs to do PDI type inspection work at the production plant, the shoddy work coming out of the factory makes the lack of any effective quality control obvious.

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by TeachTexas

This is an interesting take on the PDI front
https://www.rvbusiness.com/blog/texa...BaIRoEnBGLqJrM


Is this going to make a difference?
Is it a stunt to sell units?
Will it work?

Sounds great , If they do it right . guess some people are listening to all the quality control issues . If they can get things fixed before the sale it will make a difference . But if the manufactures did it right in the first place there would be no need for this . someone going to pay for that nice building , employees and it won't just be the manufacture with warranty items

[formerFR]

here's what's really happening here:

this dealer orders a lot of units from manufacturers in the Elkhart area...

rather than the units sitting on 'transportation' company lots, those who ultimately deliver the units to the dealers, like Horizon or Don Ray trucking or similar companies, THIS dealer is creating it's OWN transportation lot, right in the heart of RV country.

When the units get delivered there, it certainly makes sense that the dealer would then have the onsite employees to perform 'pre-inspection' routines on each one, BEFORE they ever leave the area.
If a unit is found as defective, in any way, ALL of the parts and needs and manufacturers are already right in the area - no need to wait on parts shipping, and a unit can even be taken immediately back to the factory service center - all this before the unit ever starts it's delivery to the dealer. Makes good sense.

And, since this dealer has employees onsite, I can only imagine that the employees are the ones making the drive or delivery of the unit to the various dealer locations, rather than having the factory decide 'which' transport company handles it, and 'when' it might eventually be picked up for delivery, which can take days or even weeks.
Drivers and delivery truckers are in short supply, and high demand.

Does this mean the unit doesn't get another inspection when it does arrive at the dealer? I'm sure it still does.
Does this mean the unit does not need an inspection and PDI and several day 'trial run' by the customer? Absolutely not! No matter 'what' a dealer says they have done to the unit, the owner is the last say.

I don't mind saying that this is the way I would do it if I were a large dealer with many units being built every week. Nice idea.