Ask The Factory Forum

[RnR]

Originally Posted by Triguy

RnR, I've watched this thread for the past few days and I bet you didn't think this would get the response it did, did you? It's a good thing.

Fortunately or unfortunately; this is not an official FR forum (as far as I know). But I think that's fortunate because most corporate forums tend to be less-than-helpful as they will attract either nonobjective fanboys or those with a grudge and a desire to tell the world; but rarely an intelligent, fair and considerate sampling of the population.

I think what we have here is a good sampling and I also think FR knows that and watches this forum. I know I would if I were an executive.

Our posts might not get a direct answer from the factory but I imagine that the forum gives FR food for thought and, hopefully, that leads to improvements.

Triguy, actually I expected to get responses and I'm not surprised at the varied replys, people are people and we all have different opinions on most all subjects and that makes for spirited discussions. Hopefully FR will follow the forum and consider the issues owners may have.

Janet, thank you for clarifying the establishment of this forum.

Happy Camping
Ron

[Bob Fields]

Wow, this was an active discussion wasn't it? AND THANKS for the concern about whether I left you or not! I have been busy with factory visits and a quick trip to Boston to see my grandson (who is finally out of the hospital!

There has been lots of thoughtful discussion in this thread (which as you all have noted is not always the case when a factory rep tries to help).

I can tell you a few things from my perspective:

1. I feel welcome, a part of the group and enjoy most of my participation
2. There are certainly days when being a member does not feel worth it
3. I believe it is CRITICAL for Concertone to be a VISIBLE member and not “lurk”
4. I appreciate the support members provide members, it makes it easier NOT to have to monitor the forum daily
5. #4 is critical because it is impossible for an executive to monitor daily
6. People should realize that their selling dealer IS ABSOLUTELY their biggest resource and support!
7. People should give all parties a chance and use direct communications for individual issues and especially for initial notification of an issue
8. All parties would like the opportunity to resolve an issue, but when you get spanked before you even know there is an issue it is pretty disheartening
9. I appreciate the positive and constructive feedback
10. If I did not care, I definitely would NOT be on the forum!

I am sure I have more impressions to share, but there is work to do and there is only limited time to participate.

And I look forward to seeing some of you in Branson next week!

[Dodge Guy]

So here are some of the questions that would be asked.....

1. Why do you still use Concertone, instead of something more reliable?
2. Why do you keep the guys that build the trailers poorly?
3. Why do you put on cheap chinese tires that only last a year or 2?
4. Why couldn`t you mave (something) over a few more inches?
5. Why can`t the guys properly wire stereo speakers?
6. Why can`t you design a much more comfortable mattress?

These are just the tip of the iceberg, I`m sure there are many other questions I missed.

Of course these are all tongue in cheek, but you can see where such a discussion would go.

Thanks for being a helpful and understanding FR Forum member and Forest River rep.

[cmhbob]

Originally Posted by Dodge Guy

2. Why do you keep the guys that build the trailers poorly?

I can give a partial answer to this after having done manufacturing for a while. They may not know who did a particular assembly or step in a process.

I used to build valves for Liebert air conditioners, in the 5-30 ton range. My valve would go into a bigger compressor assembly that would get attached to the rest of the unit. But the only person whose ID got stamped on the unit was the guy who finished the compressor assembly. Two other people built valves in that assembly, but we weren't accountable for our work, unless leaks were found before final assembly. I might build 6 valve assemblies in one shift, and they'd not be used for 2-3 days, and they might not get put in the unit I built them for, so there would be no way to correctly account for my work.

[Bob Fields]

Originally Posted by Dodge Guy

...

Of course these are all tongue in cheek, but you can see where such a discussion would go.

Thanks for being a helpful and understanding FR Forum member and Forest River rep.

Please don't take this personally as it is not meant to attack you in any way, I appreciate your perspective and I just want to give the other side. The “you’s” and “me’s” are generic…

So while you call it "tongue in cheek" I call it negative and it sets the tone of the conversation as anything other than a two way exchange of information.

When you ask questions framed as this, basically you are sending me a message and while I could provide you statistics that don't jive with your assessment all we would be doing is disagreeing. We all know no one wins in this case and frankly it is way easier for a vendor or manufacturer simply not to engage in this type of discussion. After all, and as we have seen here in some of my threads it can simply extend the negativity way beyond what would have happened had I not responded in the first place.

Vendors & manufacturers also can state unequivocally that we have hundreds of thousands of satisfied yet "quiet" customers, so who is right?

So as a vendor or manufacturer, we must decide if we have the bandwidth and testicular fortitude to engage in proactive customer communications. We must take the challenges with the easy and we must know when to say when as we will never convince everyone potentially anything.

Again, this is not personal, but I am just trying to bring the other perspective to the table and believe it or not, we have feelings too! These include satisfaction with doing a good job and disappointment when we don’t…

[BigDTx]

Originally Posted by bob fields

wow, this was an active discussion wasn't it? And thanks for the concern about whether i left you or not! I have been busy with factory visits and a quick trip to boston to see my grandson (who is finally out of the hospital!

there has been lots of thoughtful discussion in this thread (which as you all have noted is not always the case when a factory rep tries to help).

i can tell you a few things from my perspective:

1. i feel welcome, a part of the group and enjoy most of my participation
2. there are certainly days when being a member does not feel worth it
3. i believe it is critical for concertone to be a visible member and not “lurk”
4. i appreciate the support members provide members, it makes it easier not to have to monitor the forum daily
5. #4 is critical because it is impossible for an executive to monitor daily
6. people should realize that their selling dealer is absolutely their biggest resource and support!
7. people should give all parties a chance and use direct communications for individual issues and especially for initial notification of an issue
8. all parties would like the opportunity to resolve an issue, but when you get spanked before you even know there is an issue it is pretty disheartening
9. i appreciate the positive and constructive feedback
10. if i did not care, i definitely would not be on the forum!

i am sure i have more impressions to share, but there is work to do and there is only limited time to participate.

and i look forward to seeing some of you in branson next week!

thanks bob!

[wayne anthony]

And there may be alot of people with problems that say don't post either. Replaced my Z-700 once but don't know if it was the units fault or not. After the remote stopped working on the second unit went to a Concertone web site and it said push the z-700 button on remote. It worked but that could have been in the trouble shooting part of the manual. Unable to set the clock on either unit, but then there is a big clock on the wall. I have a feeling that F. R. has their shills on this site.

[wayne anthony]

P. S. Haven't used the Concertone enough to know if I have other problems or not. DVD and a few other things work. Wayne

[sherdep]

Can we get back on Topic with this thread before it goes in the Toilet - this isnt a thread to bash concertone or any other vendor or Forest River for that matter - this thread was made for about asking questions - always seems a select few have ruin the threads and then a few jump on the band wagon

Here is the Original Question that was posted -

Originally Posted by RnR

Has any thought been given to asking Forest River to join in on a forum where Forest River owners could post questions about their particular RV that could be best answered by a factory rep. I have seen other manufacturers do this and it seemed to work well.

[toshu]

Originally Posted by sherdep

Can we get back on Topic with this thread before it goes in the Toilet - this isnt a thread to bash concertone or any other vendor or Forest River for that matter - this thread was made for about asking questions - always seems a select few have ruin the threads and then a few jump on the band wagon

Here is the Original Question that was posted -

Sherdep,
I agree with you. The initial post is a great one, and I think most of us agree that it would be worthwhile.
The next question is....how do we make this happen??? Who needs to contact FR to ask to make this happen???
If, as we assume, FR is already on this site, then I would ask FR to "come out of the closet" and introduce themselves to the site Admins, and together they set up a dedicated forum where issues/problems/suggestions could be handled and the trolls monitored and their posts deleted.....and if need be, the poster banned.

[kbrown1075]

I am all in favor of a factory rep sub forum, as long as it stays civil on both sides. I am very happy with our TT and all the components in it. I have made a few mods that allow me to enjoy it more and be safer with it. I would enjoy the oppotunity to share with a rep, some of my concerns. Example- no backup lights on the TT. Problem solved inexpensivly. It really would be much cheaper to at least have them as an option.

[Goomph]

I believe it was already implied that there are FR representatives monitoring the forum. It is obvious that they do NOT fund or direct the forum, which in my opinion is preferred and is a good thing.

I wish the moderators or administrators would/could fill us in if there is any interest on the part of FR people reading the forums to make their presence known ..... I now it is asking a lot, but I really want this to happen. I believe it would benefit FR as much as the forum members. I am sure this thread attracted their attention already.

And as it was mentioned, negativity, sarcasm should be left at the door when people step into such a sub forum.

[Dodge Guy]

Originally Posted by kbrown1075

I am all in favor of a factory rep sub forum, as long as it stays civil on both sides. I am very happy with our TT and all the components in it. I have made a few mods that allow me to enjoy it more and be safer with it. I would enjoy the oppotunity to share with a rep, some of my concerns. Example- no backup lights on the TT. Problem solved inexpensivly. It really would be much cheaper to at least have them as an option.

And that is why I posted the questions that would pop up in a forum that is being requested here. those weren`t my questions I posed, just what we all know will show up. as Bob already showed he will not answer negative questions, that`s just how it works. and FWIW we are on our second Forest River product 2 different Chrokee`s and we love them. we are trying to sell our current Cherokee and will more than likely be buying another Forest River product (class C).

Thanks again Bob.

[Goomph]

Dodge Guy,

You do have a point ....and there will be a lot of those kind of questions. I guess, we could either moderate those kind of questions, or, FR representative(s) could put on a thick skin and simply ignore those kind of questions.

Just because we know that there might be some issues along the way, we should not refrain from trying this out. As long as both parties go into this knowing what awaits us, I don't see a reason why it should not work to the benefit of both parties.

[sherdep]

There is another way to Moderate a Forum like that and have an Admin or Moderator approve the post before it is posted on one of "Factory Forums"
This would resolve any issues of bashing or un-wanted posts to a particular forum - I would think this forum is made off of the V Bulletin Platform like most sites like this one.

[toshu]

Originally Posted by sherdep

There is another way to Moderate a Forum like that and have an Admin or Moderator approve the post before it is posted on one of "Factory Forums"
This would resolve any issues of bashing or un-wanted posts to a particular forum - I would think this forum is made off of the V Bulletin Platform like most sites like this one.

I like that idea....it should work!!

[bclemens]

I am a factory rep for the Class C division. I try and make a habit of monitoring the forum, but with shows, dealer visits, etc it can be sporadic. Emails are directed to me off of the Sunseeker Facebook page, I would be OK with making my profile easier to search...maybe the admins can give me some direction on what they would like to see.

I cover the Northwest for Sunseeker, Forester, Lexington, Solera and Ridegview

[Triguy]

bclemens! And thanks for supplying your information and introducing yourself.

I vote that the other factory reps also supply the same information for direct contact. Now, THAT would be useful to have.

[Itsthetwoofus]

Bob Fields was here at the FROG Rally in Branson MO. He is really a super guy and very knowledgeable about the Concertone equipment. He answered questions and looked at equipment in the different trailers/5th wheels. He brought some of the new equipment with him to show us and his presentation was very professional. We really enjoyed is visit with us all at our information meeting yesterday.
He and his wife supplied all the refreshments for the meeting.

[bclemens]

I would just like to say we encourage feedback. We are constantly trying to improve the product, so if you have some complaints, it's nice to hear those so we can make changes (that only helps us in the long run).

Having said that, as a factory rep, we also like to see positive posts (which I can say I have seen already). The last thing we want to see is a forum with nothing but complaints when a prospective buyer comes to visit...so as long as everyone is just as eager to post the positive...we're all big boys and can handle the negatives.

We also love suggestions. I make a habit of walking through "used class C's" on dealer lots to see some of the aftermarket and custom upgrades. We're always looking for innovative solutions.