Cummins steps up

[JFC]

Kind of a long post. In mid October I took my 2007 Scepter with a 400 HP Cummins in for routine service. I usually have the coach’s annual service done late in the year. This year I wanted it ready for Thanksgiving week and then a long Christmas trip starting in early December. I dropped the coach off for service and also said the engine “didn’t feel right” could they generally check it out. I then went out of town.

When I returned a week later I had a message from the shop. The service was complete, but now I needed to make arrangements to have the coach towed to Cummins West in San Leandro, CA. The shop explained that they had found a problem with the turbo, and the problem extended to the charged air cooler as well. I spoke with Cummins West, and they agreed with the shop’s diagnosis. They said it had to be towed and if it was a Cummins problem, they would cover the cost of repairs under the engine warranty.

I contacted Coach-Net and explained the problem. They just asked when I’d like to meet the tow truck at the shop to tow it to Cummins. It took the driver a couple of hours to get the coach on the road. We had to remove the exhaust from the front generator as well as a couple or brackets for the generator and the rear mud flap. Perfect tow, no damage and the coach was delivered to Cummins.

Cummins said the turbo was toast and they would replace it with a new one. They said the turbo had taken out the charged air cooler, and they sent me some pictures. They ordered a new CAC from Monaco and then the fun started. At first Monaco didn’t even provide a delivery date for the CAC. I asked the dealer I purchased the coach from to get involved to try and get Monaco to expedite the CAC. The dealer did his best, but all he could get was the name of the vendor for the part. After a week, we still didn’t have a firm date from Monaco, but they did provide the name and contact for the vendor they purchased from. That vendor gave us a date of “at least 12 weeks”.

Both Cummins and I felt that was unacceptable. Cummins corporate checked with their specialists and found a company in LA that they felt was qualified to build a replacement CAC. After Cummins corporate gave the go, Cummins West shipped the CAC to LA so that vendor could use it as a model to build a new one.

The coach was in the shop for five weeks at Cummins West. They did everything they could to get the part, up to and including finally deciding to have a custom part built. When the part arrived, they had the coach back on the road in one day. They also reattached the generator parts that were pulled to tow the coach and even reattached the mud flap before I came to pick it up.

The total cost for all of this was some where around six grand. My cost was the $100 deductable listed in the Cummins warranty.

Cummins and Cummins West went above and beyond in getting my coach back on the road, despite the lack of customer service from the new Monaco.

[CaptPat]

Sorry to hear of your troubles, but it is always good to hear about companies that step up and even go above and beyond in customer service.

happy holidays

pat