Forest River Changes Warranty Policy

[BamaBob]

Well, this is certainly GOOD news!

Forest River Unveils New Warranty Parts Policy | RV Business

[dblr]

Well that's a good sign but now who will dealers put the blame on when they take so long to do a warranty repair

[BamaBob]

Originally Posted by dblr

Well that's a good sign but now who will dealers put the blame on when they take so long to do a warranty repair

Hmmm Had not thought of that...

X2

[5picker]

Originally Posted by BamaBob

Well, this is certainly GOOD news!

Forest River Unveils New Warranty Parts Policy | RV Business

Let's HOPE it is good news!

[Tapex]

Originally Posted by 5picker

Let's HOPE it is good news!

X2

[doc73]

Maybe the next step will be to get rid of the dealers refusing to make repairs on trailers under warranty unless they were bought there.. With the RV industry booming they need to make sure they stand out above the rest to rise above the other 50 RV makers out there.

[325BH]

Originally Posted by doc73

Maybe the next step will be to get rid of the dealers refusing to make repairs on trailers under warranty unless they were bought there.. With the RV industry booming they need to make sure they stand out above the rest to rise above the other 50 RV makers out there.

With the industry booming there is no incentive to change anything. Until people stop buying, no change will come.

[doc73]

Originally Posted by 325BH

With the industry booming there is no incentive to change anything. Until people stop buying, no change will come.

Not necessarily. By your logic they should not have changed the warranty procedure, since there is not reason as they are selling like hot cakes.

With the boom mean EVRYONE makes an RV. These companies need to keep buying up the small guys but they also need to make sure they stand out. They all pretty much make the same layouts in just about all price points so what is left to make themselves shine? Correct the terrible service they fail to provide to the end user after the sale.

[325BH]

Originally Posted by doc73

Not necessarily. By your logic they should not have changed the warranty procedure, since there is not reason as they are selling like hot cakes.



With the boom mean EVRYONE makes an RV. These companies need to keep buying up the small guys but they also need to make sure they stand out. They all pretty much make the same layouts in just about all price points so what is left to make themselves shine? Correct the terrible service they fail to provide to the end user after the sale.

You're assuming the reason cited for the change in procedure is the real reason.

I would bet money the real reason has more to do with benefiting FR and not customers. I'm sure the bean counters figured it saves FR a ton of money by relieving pressure off of them to supply warranty parts. While this might seem like a positive to warranty claims, I'm sure the intent was for FR.

Wonder how warranty claims will work on previously warranted items that are no longer FR parts? Which raises a question: what parts are "FR" parts? Maybe I'm not understanding this 100%...

[BandJCarm]

Sounds great. FR is willing to accept other market parts, pay the going price, and live with it.

No legal way they can do that and then turn around and say "No warranty, that's not the right part".

Sounds positive. If there's a negative, I'm missing it.

[ResQfrog]

Originally Posted by dblr

Well that's a good sign but now who will dealers put the blame on when they take so long to do a warranty repair

The owners for breaking it.

[doc73]

Originally Posted by 325BH

You're assuming the reason cited for the change in procedure is the real reason.

I would bet money the real reason has more to do with benefiting FR and not customers. I'm sure the bean counters figured it saves FR a ton of money by relieving pressure off of them to supply warranty parts. While this might seem like a positive to warranty claims, I'm sure the intent was for FR.

Wonder how warranty claims will work on previously warranted items that are no longer FR parts? Which raises a question: what parts are "FR" parts? Maybe I'm not understanding this 100%...

I agree it is all about the Benjamin's... By having the dealer go to 3rd parties means they can use that new cabinet in a new 20,000 trailer not to fix your broken trailer. If demand IS as high as it is then they man also not HAVE spare stuff lying around for repairs.

[KMP44]

Originally Posted by 325BH

I would bet money the real reason has more to do with benefiting FR and not customers. I'm sure the bean counters figured it saves FR a ton of money by relieving pressure off of them to supply warranty parts. While this might seem like a positive to warranty claims, I'm sure the intent was for FR.

Exactly. I'm sure FR caps what price they will pay for each part. Dealers can't buy whatever they need at any price and get reimbursed.

Small dollar items that FR has to buy, stock, manage, and ship out for warranty repairs probably end up having more overhead & shipping costs on them than the value of the part itself.

If FR can push the sourcing of those items back to the dealers, it probably saves FR money and it certainly saves them time and effort to manage the process.

The fact that the customer may get their repair done quicker is probably more of a side effect than the driving reason for it.

[Wobbles]

I think a lot of you guys have hit on the issues.

I have been noticing for awhile that any product manufacturer can get you a replacement quicker and cheaper than dealing with the "Let me look at it first or Send it back to me first" attitude.

It still costs the same to R&R a part after all of the blood letting is done.
The difference in parts savings/cost benefit, goes to the reputation/sales of the "general" manufacturers goods.

IMHO, it could come down to the manufacturer policing the dealer that may be offering a covered repair when it should not have been covered and speeding the consumer to a resolution that could be days to months faster than it is now.

Every horror story I have read about slow repair was always attributed "by the manufacturer" to the dealer who was waiting to gather enough orders to cover shipping. Does the dealer have to ship said broken parts back or wait until the manufacturer says "no need"? To what avail, maybe they need to?

The manufacturer can save money regardless of who pays shipping either way and make it up in reputation/sales. To me it means that the dealers will have to be looked at and the dealers will have to think about selling bad products. If this became true then they both will be calling out the third party suppliers on their fails.

We all know there is money to be made here and with the explosive growth in this industry, to a dealer, what you sell is could mean a lot.
I just hope that it gets worked out in my lifetime.
It also might be cool to think that your unit resale could be worth more than a donation to charity.