What has happened to Excel......

[Mike Page]

I need some help......

Last summer, I made arrangements to take my rig to Smith Center, Kansas, to the Peterson Industries plant to have some work done on my 28RGO. Serious work, big ticket work. The following is a couple letters I have since sent to Excel and have yet to recieve a reply. The first one, immediately below was 4 individual letters addressed to those identified as "company officers" on their web site. I figured that maybe a mail room clerk was trying to "protect" Mr. Peterson from dealing with this problem and had not forwarded my original letter on to him. Or worse case, one of the many relatives at Peterson was trying to protect someone that had some resposnibility in this issue. who knows. Anyway, I am not about to give up on this and am hoping that someone out there reads this post and has answer......
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To whom it may concern 6 Dec 2008

I am attaching a letter I sent to Mr. Peterson on the 24th of September. After not receiving a response six weeks later I emailed the attached letter to your sales email address. Again, no response. I am now forwarding this to those of you that are listed as “Company Officers” on your web site so that one of you might actually read about my experience with your Service Department.

I am an unhappy customer and I expect you to take whatever action is necessary to make the various issues I describe in the attached letter right. I went to a great deal of trouble and expense to bring my unit to you for repair. What you did is not acceptable, the quality of work is certainly not up to the standards I would expect to see performed by a company that is alleged to be among the best in the industry.

Your lack of a response is also not acceptable, and not indicative of a professional organization. You have not survived for 40 years in an industry where companies come and go with this level of service. As I stated in the attached letter, I am familiar with manufacturing after a 35 career in Aerospace and I was more than a little impressed with what you are doing in your factory, but your Service Department needs fixing, and the issues I raised on my unit need fixing as well.

Mike Page
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Mr. Vaughn Peterson 24 Sept 2008
Chief Executive Officer
Peterson Industries

Dear Mr. Peterson

We recently met while my wife and I were being given a plant tour after delivering my 2001 28RGO to your Service Center. While it was quiet on that Monday morning, I have many years in Aerospace Manufacturing and Quality Assurance and recognize a first class operation when I see one. It was obvious by the enthusiasm of our “tour guide”, Julie, and by looking at your line and the Quality of the materials used in your processes that you certainly deserve the reputation you have in the industry as one of the best if not the very best there is in manufacturing 5th wheel trailers.

The reason for this letter however, is not to praise your company but to inform you that the face to your customer, your Service Department, is clearly not as good at what they do as the rest of your company.

I’ll start at the beginning:

I called in early July and made an appointment for September to get some major repairs completed. At the time I told Jack Yenne that I had a delamination on the drivers side of my 5th wheel and that the rear slide lower frame was broken and causing the fiberglass to flex when the slide was moved in or out, two serious problems that would take some time to repair. While I was preparing for the trip to Smith Center I noticed that the frames around the slides on both the bedroom slide and the rear slide were out of square. This is to say that while the slide itself was square (verified with my framing square) the frame around it looked like a parallelogram. On further investigation I found that the situation only existed while the full weight of the rig was on the landing gear. When the weight was on the king pin, the frames around the slides went back to a nominally square position. When I got to the Service Department I showed this phenomenon to Jack and his Technicians and was informed that “they all flex a little”. While I would not argue that they might “all flex a little” I seriously doubt that you designed them to be hard up against the inner frame when in the retracted condition….which is exactly the case when the 5th wheel is resting on the landing gear. The interference is so bad on the top of the rear slide that a good shove is required to get the slide to seat properly if the 5th wheel is sitting on the landing gear. The paint is missing on the surfaces that are on a hard interference fit at the top right of the frame.

We discussed a number of other minor repairs that needed to be attended to and agreed that a week would be required to complete the work.

On the following Monday afternoon I arrived to find that much of the work had been completed unsatisfactorily. For example; I had asked for a couple of small cracks in the front cap to be repaired. They had been repaired all right, and painted with a color that did not match the rest of the cap. When questioned, the technician stated that “it wasn’t as bad as some“. Additionally, I had asked for all defective decals to be replaced. The one on the front cap had been replaced but evidently with a slightly different configuration that left the 8 year old outline of the old decal showing. This could have been remedied by simply painting the entire cap with the “color match that wasn’t as bad as some”.

When I checked the quality of the fiberglass replacement I was pretty impressed with the level of work until I opened the two doors on the side of the 5th wheel. These doors had suffered the same water damage as the side but had not been replaced. When questioned the technician stated that Jack never said anything about replacing the doors. So now I have a pair of doors that are only together because of the screws that hold the frame in place, the interior wood is completely rotted. I found his response to be totally unacceptable.

Another area that needed some attention was the valves for the black and grey water tanks. Both had minor seeps that had caused me to install a slide valve in front of the sewer connection to keep from dumping sewage on the ground when removing the cap. The black valve was replaced and the grey valve was repaired. On my way home I found that when dumping my grey water tank I now have water leaking from somewhere in the center of the frame, no doubt where the valve resides. I’ve never experienced this problem before and suspect that the hardware that was removed to facilitate the repair may not have been sealed or tightened properly.

A rather small issue but none the less relevant to the performance of your service department is my request to have the lens replaced on the assist handle. What should have been a simple job of snapping on a new lens at a cost of $1.89, instead turned out to be the changing out a defective switch at a cost of $5.65, and $42.50 in labor. My point here has nothing to do with the cost of the parts or labor, but more to do with the initiative showed to do the complete job correctly as opposed to completing the replacement of the fiberglass and framing on the side but not replacing the doors. There is something inherently wrong with the logic to do one and not the other.

Lastly, back to the flexing issue. When I picked up my 5th wheel the technician volunteered that various things had been done with the front frame to strengthen and minimize the flexing. While I did not get a clear understanding of his explanation I took his comments to mean that the problem was fixed…it is not, it is exactly the same as it was when I delivered the rig to your Service Center, after spending 6 days round trip and a couple of thousand dollars in expenses on the road.

I wouldn’t be so bold as to tell you, a very successful man, how to run your business, but your Service Center needs some serious management attention. This is the place where Excel owners judge your entire company. If they walk away from your Service Center with a bad taste in their mouth, it will have far reaching impact on the future of your company. What I haven’t told you is that your manager made a point of avoiding me when I came to pick up my rig. He spent 2 hours in his office on the phone and even though he knew I was waiting outside, ignored me. I am a somewhat imposing individual and work hard at not intimidating people I come in contact with, but his efforts to avoid me certainly don’t speak well for his customer service skills. To be honest, I am embarrassed to write this letter after all the glowing reports I have heard from Excel owners in person and read about Excel on the internet. But, I’m also damned upset about spending $7,000 to get work done on my rig that is not anywhere near the level of Quality I had expected from Excel.

Respectfully,

Michael W. Page

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So, there yhou have it....am I the only one that has had a problem with these guys. I would appreciate any comments about where I go from here, they did a poor job on my rig and there is much that they started that is incomplete. I am absolutely astounded that a company like Peterson Industries would not at least send a response of some sort, a phone call or something.....

I posted this earlier on the main RV site and someone suggested that I should really post it here....I hope perhaps someone from Excel might see it...

thanks, Mike

[Mike Page]

I need some help......

Last summer, I made arrangements to take my rig to Smith Center, Kansas, to the Peterson Industries plant to have some work done on my 28RGO. Serious work, big ticket work. The following is a couple letters I have since sent to Excel and have yet to recieve a reply. The first one, immediately below was 4 individual letters addressed to those identified as "company officers" on their web site. I figured that maybe a mail room clerk was trying to "protect" Mr. Peterson from dealing with this problem and had not forwarded my original letter on to him. Or worse case, one of the many relatives at Peterson was trying to protect someone that had some resposnibility in this issue. who knows. Anyway, I am not about to give up on this and am hoping that someone out there reads this post and has answer......
--------------------------------------------------------------------
To whom it may concern 6 Dec 2008

I am attaching a letter I sent to Mr. Peterson on the 24th of September. After not receiving a response six weeks later I emailed the attached letter to your sales email address. Again, no response. I am now forwarding this to those of you that are listed as “Company Officers” on your web site so that one of you might actually read about my experience with your Service Department.

I am an unhappy customer and I expect you to take whatever action is necessary to make the various issues I describe in the attached letter right. I went to a great deal of trouble and expense to bring my unit to you for repair. What you did is not acceptable, the quality of work is certainly not up to the standards I would expect to see performed by a company that is alleged to be among the best in the industry.

Your lack of a response is also not acceptable, and not indicative of a professional organization. You have not survived for 40 years in an industry where companies come and go with this level of service. As I stated in the attached letter, I am familiar with manufacturing after a 35 career in Aerospace and I was more than a little impressed with what you are doing in your factory, but your Service Department needs fixing, and the issues I raised on my unit need fixing as well.

Mike Page
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Mr. Vaughn Peterson 24 Sept 2008
Chief Executive Officer
Peterson Industries

Dear Mr. Peterson

We recently met while my wife and I were being given a plant tour after delivering my 2001 28RGO to your Service Center. While it was quiet on that Monday morning, I have many years in Aerospace Manufacturing and Quality Assurance and recognize a first class operation when I see one. It was obvious by the enthusiasm of our “tour guide”, Julie, and by looking at your line and the Quality of the materials used in your processes that you certainly deserve the reputation you have in the industry as one of the best if not the very best there is in manufacturing 5th wheel trailers.

The reason for this letter however, is not to praise your company but to inform you that the face to your customer, your Service Department, is clearly not as good at what they do as the rest of your company.

I’ll start at the beginning:

I called in early July and made an appointment for September to get some major repairs completed. At the time I told Jack Yenne that I had a delamination on the drivers side of my 5th wheel and that the rear slide lower frame was broken and causing the fiberglass to flex when the slide was moved in or out, two serious problems that would take some time to repair. While I was preparing for the trip to Smith Center I noticed that the frames around the slides on both the bedroom slide and the rear slide were out of square. This is to say that while the slide itself was square (verified with my framing square) the frame around it looked like a parallelogram. On further investigation I found that the situation only existed while the full weight of the rig was on the landing gear. When the weight was on the king pin, the frames around the slides went back to a nominally square position. When I got to the Service Department I showed this phenomenon to Jack and his Technicians and was informed that “they all flex a little”. While I would not argue that they might “all flex a little” I seriously doubt that you designed them to be hard up against the inner frame when in the retracted condition….which is exactly the case when the 5th wheel is resting on the landing gear. The interference is so bad on the top of the rear slide that a good shove is required to get the slide to seat properly if the 5th wheel is sitting on the landing gear. The paint is missing on the surfaces that are on a hard interference fit at the top right of the frame.

We discussed a number of other minor repairs that needed to be attended to and agreed that a week would be required to complete the work.

On the following Monday afternoon I arrived to find that much of the work had been completed unsatisfactorily. For example; I had asked for a couple of small cracks in the front cap to be repaired. They had been repaired all right, and painted with a color that did not match the rest of the cap. When questioned, the technician stated that “it wasn’t as bad as some“. Additionally, I had asked for all defective decals to be replaced. The one on the front cap had been replaced but evidently with a slightly different configuration that left the 8 year old outline of the old decal showing. This could have been remedied by simply painting the entire cap with the “color match that wasn’t as bad as some”.

When I checked the quality of the fiberglass replacement I was pretty impressed with the level of work until I opened the two doors on the side of the 5th wheel. These doors had suffered the same water damage as the side but had not been replaced. When questioned the technician stated that Jack never said anything about replacing the doors. So now I have a pair of doors that are only together because of the screws that hold the frame in place, the interior wood is completely rotted. I found his response to be totally unacceptable.

Another area that needed some attention was the valves for the black and grey water tanks. Both had minor seeps that had caused me to install a slide valve in front of the sewer connection to keep from dumping sewage on the ground when removing the cap. The black valve was replaced and the grey valve was repaired. On my way home I found that when dumping my grey water tank I now have water leaking from somewhere in the center of the frame, no doubt where the valve resides. I’ve never experienced this problem before and suspect that the hardware that was removed to facilitate the repair may not have been sealed or tightened properly.

A rather small issue but none the less relevant to the performance of your service department is my request to have the lens replaced on the assist handle. What should have been a simple job of snapping on a new lens at a cost of $1.89, instead turned out to be the changing out a defective switch at a cost of $5.65, and $42.50 in labor. My point here has nothing to do with the cost of the parts or labor, but more to do with the initiative showed to do the complete job correctly as opposed to completing the replacement of the fiberglass and framing on the side but not replacing the doors. There is something inherently wrong with the logic to do one and not the other.

Lastly, back to the flexing issue. When I picked up my 5th wheel the technician volunteered that various things had been done with the front frame to strengthen and minimize the flexing. While I did not get a clear understanding of his explanation I took his comments to mean that the problem was fixed…it is not, it is exactly the same as it was when I delivered the rig to your Service Center, after spending 6 days round trip and a couple of thousand dollars in expenses on the road.

I wouldn’t be so bold as to tell you, a very successful man, how to run your business, but your Service Center needs some serious management attention. This is the place where Excel owners judge your entire company. If they walk away from your Service Center with a bad taste in their mouth, it will have far reaching impact on the future of your company. What I haven’t told you is that your manager made a point of avoiding me when I came to pick up my rig. He spent 2 hours in his office on the phone and even though he knew I was waiting outside, ignored me. I am a somewhat imposing individual and work hard at not intimidating people I come in contact with, but his efforts to avoid me certainly don’t speak well for his customer service skills. To be honest, I am embarrassed to write this letter after all the glowing reports I have heard from Excel owners in person and read about Excel on the internet. But, I’m also damned upset about spending $7,000 to get work done on my rig that is not anywhere near the level of Quality I had expected from Excel.

Respectfully,

Michael W. Page

------------------------------------------------------------------

So, there yhou have it....am I the only one that has had a problem with these guys. I would appreciate any comments about where I go from here, they did a poor job on my rig and there is much that they started that is incomplete. I am absolutely astounded that a company like Peterson Industries would not at least send a response of some sort, a phone call or something.....

I posted this earlier on the main RV site and someone suggested that I should really post it here....I hope perhaps someone from Excel might see it...

thanks, Mike

[ExcelRVGuy]

Before everyone gets started on this issue, please respect Peterson Industries' policy not to air out individual owner/factory disputes on a public forum.

Respectfully,
Bryan Tillett
President

[Rough2000]

Bryan,

Where's a guy to go when the company won't reply to him. I'm not taking sides on this issue but if everything he said about contacting the company with no response is correct...I understand his frustration.

[TXiceman]

Bryan,

Why not take the initiative and see that Mt Petersen gets the letter delivered to him personally.

I can see why the poster is a bit frustrated.

Ken

[Mike Page]

Bryan
...it is OK if I call you Bryan isn't it? Had you responded to the letter I sent you personally on the 6th of December...a letter that included my email address and telephone number, we wouldn't be on this web site discussing the shortcomings of your company.

Had your CEO responded to the letter I sent him on the 24th of September you guys could have simply contacted your nearest dealer and told them to make this situation right. Instead you ignored a customer that had a legitimate problem with major work performed by your service department....

I am looking forward to hearing from your nearest dealer so I can get my rig fixed, at your expense...correctly this time.

Lastly, Bryan, I have been around the RV business as a consumer for a long time. Never have I had an experience like this. As I said in my letter to your boss, I am somewhat embarassed to write a letter knocking Excel after all the good things I have heard over the years, and believe me, I checked you guys out throughly before I decided on your product.

Hope you and the entire Excel family have a happy holiday and a great new year...

Mike

[Bob Wilson]

Hi Mike,

I understand your frustration ... waiting weeks for a response, wondering if the letter was received, makes things fester. I've been there.

But I'd like you to know that a couple of years ago I was very frustrated with Excel, but Bryan took care of me. And my problem was major too ... my 36RDO was one of a very few rigs with a broken frame.

I'm now an Excel customer for life; and when this is all in the past, I hope you'll be able to say the same.

Best,
Bob

[Rough2000]

Mike,

I feel sorry that you are not getting a response from Exce. I'll bet that Mr. Peterson is not aware of this situation.

You may want to try Trailer Life's Action Line. link to Action Line. Good Sam's Magazine "Highways" also has an Action Line.

Don't understand why Excel would risk all this bad press by not responding to you.

[Link]

It sounds like the Excel guy is just trying to sweep this under the rug!!

Why on earth should it not be discussed after this long of Excels not reponding??

[MonacoMama]

Guys...
I think I am going to close this topic at this time. Peterson Industries has contacted the OP again and it is now up to the parties involved to work this out in private. This is not the place for this matter.
May I wish good luck to both parties involved.

MonacoMama
Moderator