WH warranty

[Craig H]

Well I like the Workhorse chassis and all, but their warranty and reimbursement policies need improvement. When I discovered that I had a leaking front axle seal on my eight-month-old coach, I called WH to see about having it repaired at my local RV mechanic since the nearest WH Service center is about 100 miles away from me. The person I spoke with on the phone explained that it was a case-by-case decision but she thought that it would be covered. So to avoid a 200 mile round trip, and probably driving back and forth in my toad, and having faith that a company such as WH would honor the warranty and reimburse me, I had the work done and submitted the invoice, proof of ownership, VIN # and mileage to WH. A letter from them followed and said that they would reimburse me but (based on some unknown formula) it would be for $72 less than what it cost me. There is no policy to cover those of us who live at some distance from a service center, and no way to know if WH will reimburse or reimburse for the full amount. Very disappointing. $72 won't break me but it could have bought WH a good amount of good will, now the opposite is true. Be careful WH owners. I have expressed to WH that they need more service centers; maybe if we all wrote them they might do something about this situation. I like the product and will probably buy another, but the new FRED sounds good too.

fixed title typo

[Craig H]

Well I like the Workhorse chassis and all, but their warranty and reimbursement policies need improvement. When I discovered that I had a leaking front axle seal on my eight-month-old coach, I called WH to see about having it repaired at my local RV mechanic since the nearest WH Service center is about 100 miles away from me. The person I spoke with on the phone explained that it was a case-by-case decision but she thought that it would be covered. So to avoid a 200 mile round trip, and probably driving back and forth in my toad, and having faith that a company such as WH would honor the warranty and reimburse me, I had the work done and submitted the invoice, proof of ownership, VIN # and mileage to WH. A letter from them followed and said that they would reimburse me but (based on some unknown formula) it would be for $72 less than what it cost me. There is no policy to cover those of us who live at some distance from a service center, and no way to know if WH will reimburse or reimburse for the full amount. Very disappointing. $72 won't break me but it could have bought WH a good amount of good will, now the opposite is true. Be careful WH owners. I have expressed to WH that they need more service centers; maybe if we all wrote them they might do something about this situation. I like the product and will probably buy another, but the new FRED sounds good too.

fixed title typo

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Craig Heyne:
$72 won't break me but it could have bought WH a good amount of good will, now the opposite is true. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>If you will please allow me to respond to this may I suggest that your glass is at the very least half-full.

When you have your motorhome serviced at a WCC Center, Workhorse has control over parts and labor therefore cost. When service is sought out-of-network it's not unremarkable that WCC authorized the 3rd party service center however they have "0" control over cost and labor. This would be consistent with practice we see everyday with medical insurance.

Workhorse knows how much they will pay their service center to perform the service and I'm sure that figured into the calculation.

To your benefit you saved more than $72 in fuel to accomplish the 200 mile round trip. Certainly you would have to agree that a. the situation is resolved and b. you saved money.

[Craig H]

I agree with you DriVer, but I feel that a company as large as Workhorse should hava a policy to cover those of us who live at some distance from a service center. I was not asking for something for nothing. Workhorse certainly wants to sell its products to people who live in every corner of the country, being able to get service goes along with that.

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Craig Heyne:
Workhorse certainly wants to sell its products to people who live in every corner of the country, being able to get service goes along with that. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Getting to be a Service Center is not as easy as it would seem. WCC does not build service centers however they have over 800 authorized centers. Your best resource to locate a service center or authorized alternate is to call 877-W-HORSE-1.

[JCM]

They are not very frequent north of the rawhide curtain. There are only 2 in BC and some motorhome dealers are ordering Ford chassies so the units can be repaired locally (sadly). I had to travel over 350 miles to get a manifold leak repaired.
I did find Workhorse very helpful if and when possible but it would be nice to see more service centers up north.

[Full-Timers]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Craig Heyne:
I agree with you DriVer, but I feel that a company as large as Workhorse should hava a policy to cover those of us who live at some distance from a service center. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>They do, and you took advantage of it.
Like DriVer says, If a Service Center wants to mark up their parts 500% and charge $200/hour labor, you can't expect Workhorse to write a blank check.
Maybe the answer is to find out what Workhorse will pay, then take that price to your Service Center. I can almost guarantee they will do it for that price rather than to turn you away and get Nothing.

[oemtech]

This isn't any different than getting warranty work done for your rig at a non-dealer repair shop. Newmar allows this. But, you need to get who pays what an how much up front before the work is done.

[Craig H]

Well that's the problem. When I called WH and explained the situation, I was told that they would "probably" pay for the repairs. All I'm saying is that they should have some sort of policy.

[max49]

Any bets that if you called WH and asked how much they would pay to fix a 'leaky front axle seal', under warranty, that you would not get a straight up answer?
Also since you had it fixed , not at an authorized WH cntr. , you probably have no further warranty with WH.
I had to wait almost 3 weeks fora WH air bag. They had an aftermarket bag and WH said they would pay for it but it would'nt be covered for the remainder of the warranty.
Craig, why don't you tell us how much you were charged to replace the wheel seal? If you really got ripped we could understand WH not paying for all of it. The funny part is that if you told them the wheel seal was leaking and you think the oil has contaminated your brake pads or are afraid it will going to the svc cntr. , I would imagine they would have to pay for the tow. There fore they saved money and should have been able to afford to pay you the $72 since the tow would have been plenty more.
It's funny how businesses will spend plenty of money advertising and promoting their product to get new customers but don't want to spend an extra dime to keep the customers they have, happy.
Wh and their svc. cntrs. could care less how far we have to drive our 7 MPG gas hogs to get to a svc cntr. And of course you have to have someone pick you up and take you back because they seldom ever work on it right away. Even if they did, they'd probably have to order parts and if they're WH parts , it'll be awhile.
When my warranty is up, I'm back to my mobil RV/ truck mechanic.

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by max49:
Any bets that if you called WH and asked how much they would pay to fix a 'leaky front axle seal', under warranty, that you would not get a straight up answer? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Honestly, I don't know why any business would want to offer that type of information to the public.

Once you are outside the warranty period your local truck shop would seem to be a good choice. Remember not all components go out of warranty at 3 yrs /36K miles. The emission controls et al, are warrantied on a different schedule.

[Craig H]

Max, I agree with everything you say. The garage that fixed the seal is a Good Sam service center, for what that is worth, and he charged $280, parts and (mostly) labor. I don't know what it would have cost to be towed 100 miles, but add that cost to the cost of fixing the axle seal and I am sure it would have exceeded $500. Again, all I am saying is that WH should have a standing policy to cover these types of situations. It would save everyone involved a lot of grief.

[max49]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by DriVer:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by max49:
Any bets that if you called WH and asked how much they would pay to fix a 'leaky front axle seal', under warranty, that you would not get a straight up answer? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Honestly, I don't know why any business would want to offer that type of information to the public.

QUOTE]
I did'nt realize it's highly classified information, what they pay to replace an oil seal in a front wheel and it's not just the 'public', it's their customer.
Maybe it's not a big deal anyway since Craig would'nt tell us what he was charged. The wheel seal and an hour of labor should have covered it. Since WH shorted him almost an hour labor, he might have been overcharged. I can see no reason why WH could'nt just tell their customer, "sure you can get the seal replaced else where, We pay XYZ to replace the seal, however if there are other things that caused the seal to leak, we will have to evaluate before we will approve this repair".
No big deal, and it might help to get repeat customers. WH depends on the RV industry much more than any other chassis mfgr, they should try to make things easier for their customers especially if it does'nt even cost them any more.
It seems to me that doctors gouge the insurance companies and dealers gouge the mfgrs on warranty work. Dealers have told me , they sometimes could fix things but the only way they get paid under warranty is if they replace parts.

[edgray]

Posted by Craig:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">and he charged $280, parts and (mostly) labor. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Posted by Max:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">The wheel seal and an hour of labor should have covered it. Since WH shorted him almost an hour labor, he might have been overcharged. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I almost hate to admit this, but I find myself agreeing with Max! If the repair shop charged $280.00 to R&R a plastic hub seal held on by a few screws it is no wonder WCC didn't want to pay ALL of the bill. Apparently they reimbursed Craig $209.00 which seems more than FAIR, IMO. ED