Positive: East Coast RV - Bedford, PA

[KDHfan]

Last fall, I purchased a Coachmen Apex 288BHS at the Hershey RV Show. I bought the unit from Clem's RV in Ellwood City, PA, which is a few hours from where I live.
During a trip this summer, I noticed a pretty bad window leak in the rear upper bunk. I called my purchasing dealer three times with no success, so I called Coachmen directly to find out where else I could get warranty work done. They gave me names and numbers of a few local dealers. The first place I called (Bill's Happy Camper in Mill Hall, PA), was because they were only about 30-min away. They wanted nothing to do with my warranty work since I didn't purchase there.
So I phoned East Coast RV in Bedford. I spoke with Courtney and explained the work to be done under warranty. She then asked me if I purchased there. When I said "no", I waited for the pause, followed by the run-around... but it never came. She scheduled me in for their next service spot, chatted about my camper a little bit and wished me a great day. I have to say, she was one of the most polite customer service people I've ever talked to in any business.
Last week, I dropped my camper off. I filled out the paperwork with the Service manager, who was also very friendly. I showed him the work to be done (I also added LED light replacement to the order, since most were burned out) and left. I picked up my camper today. The experience was 100% satisfying for me. That means a ton.
I have read many horror stories about people who bought a camper, then aren't able to get service work done because they didn't purchase there. I'm thankful some companies out there still value the possibility of gaining a new future customer by treating a customer properly. I know the first place I'll call when I start looking for my next camper.

[riznfall]

I'm glad you had a good experience with them. I have been doing some research on them as my in laws just pulled the trigger on a new they have on their lot. Makes me feel better since I won't be able to make it up there for a few weeks. And it is definitely something when a business treats their customers well. Happy travels.


Tim
2015 Ram 3500 Laramie CCLB dually
2015 39R12 Vengeance touring edition.

[BillsHappyCamper]

I was looking over the forum and found your comment about Bill's Happy Camper not wanting anything to do with your work. I was concerned, as we strive to give excellent customer service. If I remember correctly, we made an appointment for your RV. We even set up for you to drop it off a week before your appointment so we could go over the issue, get everything ordered (if needed) and approved from Forest River. Please correct me if I am wrong on this issue so we can remedy it in the future, and we are sorry if this came across as not wanting anything to do with your work.

[KDHfan]

Originally Posted by BillsHappyCamper

I was looking over the forum and found your comment about Bill's Happy Camper not wanting anything to do with your work. I was concerned, as we strive to give excellent customer service. If I remember correctly, we made an appointment for your RV. We even set up for you to drop it off a week before your appointment so we could go over the issue, get everything ordered (if needed) and approved from Forest River. Please correct me if I am wrong on this issue so we can remedy it in the future, and we are sorry if this came across as not wanting anything to do with your work.

My issue with Bill's was the way the conversation went before I mentioned I had purchased elsewhere, as compared to after. After it was revealed i had not purchased from your business, the person on the other end just seemed annoyed with my call.
You gave me a service date more than 3 months out (I had a window that leaked down the interior of my camper every time it rained). I was told I'd have to go to the very end of the line because i didn't purchase there.
Your service person also informed me that if Forest River did not approve the amount you were going to charge, I would have to pay the difference... again... because i hadn't purchased there. What if i waited the 3-months and the amount FR approved was 100's of dollars off from what you were charging me? I'd be at square one, or forced to pay up for warranty work. No thank you.

Giving someone a service date does not mean you genuinely want their business. You are correct that in the literal sense, you were willing to give me a service date and conditionally accept my warranty work.. However, based on my experience, Bill's genuinely wanted nothing to do with my warranty work.

[BillsHappyCamper]

I am very sorry you feel that way. If you would look at the back of your Apex brochure, you will find the "Buy Local" seal. It states that "Forest River, Inc. encourages our customers to purchase their Forest River products from a local dealership whenever possible for the following reasons:" and then goes on to list 4 reasons - reason number 1 states "Forest River, Inc. dealers are independently owned and operated businesses so priority service and scheduling is at their discretion and is often provided to customers that purchased their unit at that dealership." Unfortunately, you called for work to be done in the "heart" of camping season when we are extremely busy. And, yes, we do give priority to customers that purchased RV's from us. I do not think we should be blamed for taking care of our customers warranty repairs in a timely manner and Forest River stands behind us on this.

This is a major reason they encourage customers to "buy local" and is something to consider when purchasing an RV. An "amazing" price at a show can tempt customers to forget the fact they have to drive several hours to take it back to their selling dealer (which is why, I'm assuming, you didn't mention anything about your service experience at the selling dealership....I'm guessing there was never a call there to have the work done, because of the drive/inconvenience).

We also believe in being upfront with customers and did not have any information as to why the window was leaking. If repairs were needed because of customer fault, Forest River does not cover that, which is why you were told about paying for anything that wouldn't be covered by them. Not saying yours fell in this category, but as an example. Certainly, if it was a manufacturer's defect, nothing would have been owed. We believe in letting customer's know this beforehand, rather than surprising them with a bill after the fact. This is why we set up for you to bring it in earlier, so we can verify that it was manufacturer defect and order any parts for the repair.

Again, we are sorry you feel this way. To be clear though, we never said we didn't want anything to do with your camper/repairs. In fact we set up an appointment, but just because it wasn't as quickly as you would have liked and because we were upfront, doesn't mean we wanted nothing to do with the warranty work.

[KDHfan]

Your assumptions in your PP are not at all accurate. However, this thread is a positive review for East Coast RV. No need to muddy it up with a disagreement. If you'd like to continue this discussion, feel free to PM me.

I also noticed you're new to the forum. Welcome.

[BillsHappyCamper]

We were not trying to "muddy" anything up with any type of disagreement. However, in your "positive review", you mentioned our name and we felt we had a right to explain the situation and how it aligned with Forest River's stance.

We would be happy to discuss any issues you had; if you would like to discuss them please feel free to contact us in any way.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by BillsHappyCamper

I am very sorry you feel that way. If you would look at the back of your Apex brochure, you will find the "Buy Local" seal. It states that "Forest River, Inc. encourages our customers to purchase their Forest River products from a local dealership whenever possible for the following reasons:" and then goes on to list 4 reasons - reason number 1 states "Forest River, Inc. dealers are independently owned and operated businesses so priority service and scheduling is at their discretion and is often provided to customers that purchased their unit at that dealership." Unfortunately, you called for work to be done in the "heart" of camping season when we are extremely busy. And, yes, we do give priority to customers that purchased RV's from us. I do not think we should be blamed for taking care of our customers warranty repairs in a timely manner and Forest River stands behind us on this.

This is a major reason they encourage customers to "buy local" and is something to consider when purchasing an RV. An "amazing" price at a show can tempt customers to forget the fact they have to drive several hours to take it back to their selling dealer (which is why, I'm assuming, you didn't mention anything about your service experience at the selling dealership....I'm guessing there was never a call there to have the work done, because of the drive/inconvenience).

We also believe in being upfront with customers and did not have any information as to why the window was leaking. If repairs were needed because of customer fault, Forest River does not cover that, which is why you were told about paying for anything that wouldn't be covered by them. Not saying yours fell in this category, but as an example. Certainly, if it was a manufacturer's defect, nothing would have been owed. We believe in letting customer's know this beforehand, rather than surprising them with a bill after the fact. This is why we set up for you to bring it in earlier, so we can verify that it was manufacturer defect and order any parts for the repair.

Again, we are sorry you feel this way. To be clear though, we never said we didn't want anything to do with your camper/repairs. In fact we set up an appointment, but just because it wasn't as quickly as you would have liked and because we were upfront, doesn't mean we wanted nothing to do with the warranty work.

Well said!