New Forest River Service Policy

[MrNiceGuy]

Very interesting change in a new service policy for Forest River products. This should make for some interesting comments. Time to break out the popcorn.

New Forest River service policy irks RV dealers | RV Daily Report

[Herk7769]

Wow; good for FR.

Some of the dealerships needed a good strong kick in the tail.

[Steeljag]

If true its a good start, and the manufacturers need to focus on quality control before these units leave the factory!

[TEH721]

Very interesting, I guess that explains the letter I just got in the mail after the purchase of my new 2018 sunseeker 3010DS. It provided a phone number and asked me to call immediately if my motorhome was at the dealer for more than 7 days for a repair.

-TEH721

[asquared]

Where was this when my trailer was in and out of the dealer over the past couple years for the same issues? That said... can we do the same thing to FR when our units go back to the factory for repairs? Expect a 7 day turnaround time? I think this could be a good thing but I also think something needs to kick the RV manufacturers in the tails just as much as the RV dealers. I hope this works out the way it is intended as it could be a very positive change for the customer. Thank you FR.

[Gonefishing1]

While sounds like FR is going to start holding the dealers accountable. Now if FR would hold their self accountable for a better QA it would be great. I see no reason why a new TT or 5th wheel should have trash in the water lines like I been reading about. Or have kinked lines or plugs or lights or anything else that a new owner finds out does work on there first outing. Seems to me they need to,slow,down and pay better attention to details. Just MHO.

[formerFR]

I think that it's fair, and in good customer service standards, to hold the dealer's feet to the fire about holding the customer's rv for 'ransom' for weeks on end, while the dealer 'complains' that FR hasn't sent them the parts yet.... sometimes that's just a cover for not having the time to do the repairs, or other customers have become a priority in the meantime.
I think it's something similar to the insurance law change several years ago about Loss of Value when a vehicle has been repaired after an accident. An RV that is sitting on a dealer lot, behind a locked fence, for weeks on end waiting to be 'repaired', is a big loss for the customer. A week's vacation loss. Travel change loss. Time is money, but time to vacation when you only have certain times to do it are even more aggravating and 'costly' to the owner.

Congrats, FR!

[RedLdr1]

I see this as a good start...but only as a start. The build quality and QC at FR has to be improved as well as the dealer's service departments. But at least someone is making an effort!

[Mr Havercamp]

Originally Posted by Gonefishing1

While sounds like FR is going to start holding the dealers accountable. Now if FR would hold their self accountable for a better QA it would be great. I see no reason why a new TT or 5th wheel should have trash in the water lines like I been reading about. Or have kinked lines or plugs or lights or anything else that a new owner finds out does work on there first outing. Seems to me they need to,slow,down and pay better attention to details. Just MHO.

Lol.....to me this policy is nothing more than an attempt by FR to stuff more of their turds into their dealers pockets. How about addressing the shoddy stuff that leaves Indiana, then address your supposed dealer problems?

I suspect if it stands dealers will be dropping FR as fast as possible. The execs at Thor, Winnebago, and some other manufacturers are probably jumping for joy.

That is unless the entire thing is being coordinated by the Gestapo (RVIA) and other manufacturers follow suit with similar policies of their own.

[tmfaulksr]

I worked in dealerships on the service/parts management side over 20+ years and I was with Dodge for the years of 75'-91'. Man oh man all the A+C class coach repairs. you talk about no standards.. whew..... I was there for the Iacocca years and watched him take a company that couldn't produce a car or truck that would not leak or fall apart (I'm being kind) and reinstated Dodge's early heritage and what you see today. (i did own multiple mopar muscle cars ) Yes i know he created the Omni etc but these were transforming years. (a little grace here). I watched satellite conferences where he tore into dealers as well as his own people. Man i'll never forget a satellite meeting when Ford released the Explorer and just annihilated the Jeep Cherokee small SUV market share. wow. don't want to see that again. He was determined to turn Dodge/Plymouth/Chrysler around and establish a new mindset. i watched the warranty go from 4mo/12mo/12,000 miles to the 50,000 mile powertrain then the settled 3yr/36,000+5yr/100,00 mile warranties. people said he was crazy. TRUTH:: it was change or go away. This was significantly generated by our asian counterparts that were determined to gain market share. I worked for Datsun/Nissan, Toyota, Volvo, Subaru, etc and they slowly infiltrated the markets. I'm not making a pro or con statement just what happened. I will not start on the Gov't loan & payback, EARLY! I truly think the RV/Camper market is coming to this realization.Late, yes but hopeful, yes!

[Shortygc]

Amen

[sgtlm17]

Good for FR. Some not all of these dealers don't care because there is no repercussions whether they take two weeks or two months to repair your rig. Stories of saying they ordered parts or waiting for FR to approve have been proven lies countless times on these forums. WHY? Because the guy paying full price off the street for a repair jumps right in front of you because your rig needs warranty work that doesn't pay full price. They could care less that you already spent thousands with them to purchase the rig.
I can order something from Amazon and have it hand delivered in two days. I can get it in one day if I would like to pay a small extra fee. It is inexcusable for customers to wait months for parts then have the dealer say "oh they shipped us the wrong part". Now if you have been on these boards long enough you know that FR is not totally innocent here but the majority of the blame does indeed fall on the dealers. How many times does one of our members post that he checked with FR why a part has taken three or four weeks to get to his dealer and FR says your dealer never ordered that part. TOO MANY.
I think procedures like this by FR are meant to improve the system for us the customer. It will let FR know where the breakdown in customer service is. Is it the dealer? Is it FR? Now I would love to see increased quality control monitoring before rigs leave the factory. Some of the horror stories here are mind boggling. With that said some of the dealers PDI's or checklists they claim to do are down right bull.
All rigs will have minor issues. The dealers are supposed to check these rigs before you come to pick them up. There is no excuse for you to find leaks, loose cabinets, broken appliances, etc. I have owned many rigs over the last 30 plus years and have experienced the good the bad and the ugly in dealers. Is FR perfect? No, but instituting policies like this may help the whole system to improve. If the dealers whine and cry about it, I say good, don't sell FR products this way we won't have to deal with your poor service if I need warranty work.
Oh my I just fell off my soapbox lol.

[aceinspp]

The main thing here is for FR to do better QC then they can do as they request. Alos FR needs to do as car manufactures do break off from dealers that have multiple manufactures and then FR can handle the warranty work like it should be. Later RJD

[camaraderie]

New Forest River service policy irks RV dealers | RV Daily Report
Excerpt:

"
The news has raised the ire of RV dealers across the country who are incensed that Forest River has shifted liability for repairs to the dealership level, and then threatened to remove legal protection from the dealers if they do not comply with the policy.
“The company is being very unreasonable and wants its dealers to jump through a lot of hoops to take care of Forest River customers — and then only get paid whatever the company thinks is fair,” one dealer told RV Daily Report.
The policy also opens the company to major legal issues with it’s dealers, one person suggested. Others have indicated that lawyers are being contacted to prepare a more formal response to the new policy.
“Forest River is putting liability concerns squarely on the dealers. Our 20 group is furious with this,” another dealer told RV Daily Report. “They’ve crossed the line when they threaten to not indemnify us if we don’t follow this procedure to the letter. Some of the items in the policy cannot necessarily be followed by dealerships.”

This appeared as a new announcement from FR to dealers in the last couple of days. For those needing warranty repairs...it looks like you could find yourself between rock and a hard place. I await the FR response to the dealers but it sounds like the new policy could end up hurting customer dealer service rather than helping...which I think was the FR intent.

[aceinspp]

You a day late dollar short on this post. Later RJD

[tmfaulksr]

Originally Posted by sgtlm17

Good for FR. Is FR perfect? No, but instituting policies like this may help the whole system to improve. If the dealers whine and cry about it, I say good, don't sell FR products this way we won't have to deal with your poor service if I need warranty work.

This is part of what i was saying in an earlier post.
1-Manufacturer taking these internal issues seriously & setting real QC standards.
2-Makes dealer accountable to its reaction time & efforts towards consumers.
3-Manufacturer pressure & $$ sanctions if dealers don't respond appropriately.
Starts at the top. Pain & Backlash YES! Necessary to start process? YES

[B and B]

I voted with my purchasing dollars went to Heartland;

A possible good thing too late.

1. The quality of preffered Columbus went down
2. The cost of this trailer increased considerably. 15% is a lot in 2 years
3. The poor quality of our first Rockwood Travel Trailer still haunted me, the inability of desire of FR to compensate us for poor first trip unusable slides.
4. Dealers are unable to make deals, greedy, no reduction from list, poor trade value.

The Fifth Wheel was better but delamination noted but we traded it.

Initial QC on our Heartland Bighorn after 4 hr PDI I was only able to find one issue, a switch cover missing and scratch on a slide trim piece.

They are going to loose dealers over this Policy and it will make things worse for the customers

[Shortygc]

You are sooo right with your responses. I'm hoping FR will recognize where the problems are happening and correct them with better quality control and also find the dealers who are not doing there job. Lets hope for the best here.

[camaraderie]

Ahhh...didn't see it here...but anyway...nevermind!

[Mr Havercamp]

Something else mentioned in the RVdaily article.


"The new policy is fueling discontent among dealers in light of a recent decision to impose what Forest River calls a “Spring Logistics Surcharge” on every invoice to cover costs to get recreation vehicles from the factory to dealer lots."

Take a guess who will be paying this surcharge. HINT: not the dealer and not FR.