terrible repair service

[slemnah]

I am livid, I took my older motorhome to a "reputable" repair shop to have my all of my radiator and heater hoses replaced and a "C" service including valve adjustment done. After having the motorhome for 5 days and never giving me an accurate estimate I went to pick up the motorhome and found that they didn't replace all of the hoses, there are three sections of original heater hoses still on the motorhome, one of the hoses they installed doesn't fit the pipe tightly (the only thing holding back the coolant is the tightness of the clamp), the hoses to the water heater run unprotected above the rear wheels (road debris, duh!), the carpet and the tile are a greasy mess, the valve cover has no finger prints or smudges which makes me wonder how they adjusted my valves or if they truly flushed the cooling system and I now have a diesel fuel leak by my rear filter. Left the motorhome and I will be back to the dealer at 7am tomorrow morning to "talk" to them and get these items fixed. I am a Master Automotive Technician (since 1975) so they screwed with the wrong person. I feel sorry for someone that has no clue about the mechanicals of their motorhome. I can just imagine driving down the road feeling fat and happy that I won't have any cooling system problems and suddenly burning up my engine. I won't mention the repair facility yet as I want to get this repaired but I am just warning everyone that takes their vehicle in for service to look it over closely, be willing to crawl under it or have someone that knows what they are looking at to check the repair work. I am ashamed that there are still repair facilities that are ok with doing this type of shoddy work especially at $125 per hour.

[MaverickBBD]

So sorry. You may want to post a review on RV Service Reviews

[slemnah]

Good idea, will do after the repairs are completed.

[TQ60]

Many states have consumer protection department, get lots of photos of the untouchef things, incorrect hoses and all evinence of things billed and not done.

Oil and water samples.

Write a very detailed report of each item, since you are a licensed pro you can use the correct terms and be specific on everything you can find.

Verify the exact name of the department, address the report to them and print it out.

Include your license data in the report.

Hand a copy of the report to the service manager, advise it is up to him to correct every item on the report in such a manner that you would not consider sending it in.

If he fails then send in the report, likely not first time it was done, but maybe first time reported by someone who could properly describe issues.

[Arch Hoagland]

That's why I try to do all the maintenance myself. Had the oil changed many years ago on a car, got home and discovered it hadn't been changed, still black.

They changed it when I went back but it's a hassle.

I'm curious why you didn't do it yourself as you are Master Technician.

[slemnah]

My biggest one is time, I travel for a living and my wife wanted me to spend my time with her rather than under the motorhome plus if you have ever crawled under your motorhome to look at where the heater hoses are it was grunt work I was willing to pay for. The "C" service was added to save me the hassle of doing it in front of my house and as for the cooling system flush I didn't want to have to dispose of the chemicals. Believe me, I am upset at myself for trusting that the repairs would be done correctly. It will be taken care of or I will get all my money back and redo the work myself. I just wanted to make other's aware of the less than stellar repair facilities out there.

[melvonnar]

I"m 80 but I still do "all" the maintance on my motorhome myself' when I get to the point I can't maintain my motorhome; rather than take it in to some grease ball. I"ll drive it till it quites, then I'll give up traveling.
Thats pretty rash but to trust my life to find out that the service I paid for and didn;t get; realy greats me. Not all mechics are theives, but there are enough of them out there. to ruin it for the honest ones.
sorry for the rant.

[slemnah]

Here is what happened to day. This morning at 7am I was at the shop to talk to a different service advisor. He wisely brought his administrative assistant out to take notes. I then pointed out to them all of the failings that I saw with the admin taking notes. I then left with the promise that the center manager would contact me. I had sent the center manager the pictures I had taken along with a long email describing the shortcomings. He stated when he called that he would first talk to the service advisor, then the technician then to me with the results of his questions. He then called me and told me that he was ashamed at the level of service and lack of professionalism that I received and that he has written a letter of reprimand for both the service advisor and the tech. They are going to have the repairs redone by their top technician and make clean the tile and the carpets as well as wash the grease from the mattress cover. They will thoroughly road test the vehicle and steam clean my engine for me. I will pick it up later this week and go over all of the repairs with the center manager. Having been in his shoes in the past as a Service Director and Fleet Manager I feel that I will give him the opportunity to make it right for me. I will update this as it unfolds. I did tell him that I am glad that this happened to me and not someone that has no idea if the job was correctly done. I can see nothing but bad things that could have happened to someone that was unsuspecting. Let's give him a chance to make this right.

[RickO]

Thanks for the great post.

Sorry this happened to you.... but, as already mentioned, it's probably a good thing it was you. Sounds like they are going to do the right thing.

Rick

[KSCRUDE]

If they did that to you, we all know that the tech that did yours turns out that kind of work every day. And grease on the carpet and bed and stuff, that is nothing but sloby, piggy behavior. I would be madder then you I think. Hope it all works out. If they have any kind of self respect I don't even know how they could even charge you. The whole RV world needs to be aware of who this organization is! And I wouldn't be near as shy about it as you are, and I could care less whether they had fixed it or not.

[melvonnar]

OK you caught them; how about the next 9 people that go there for service, a lepord doesn't change its spots. get your motorhome repaired to your satisfaction and write this service center off as a lost cause;
Old saying:
Full me once, shame on you.
Full me twice, shame on me.

[MaverickBBD]

Originally Posted by melvonnar

OK you caught them; how about the next 9 people that go there for service, a lepord doesn't change its spots. get your motorhome repaired to your satisfaction and write this service center off as a lost cause;
Old saying:
Full me once, shame on you.
Full me twice, shame on me.

...or as "W" said: "Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice shame on me"

[flaggship1]

Originally Posted by MaverickBBD

...or as "W" said: "Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice shame on me"

That's certainly may be what W meant to say but what I believe he actually said was....

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

Just to keep the record straight.

[melvonnar]

Originally Posted by flaggship1

That's certainly may be what W meant to say but what I believe he actually said was....

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

Just to keep the record straight.

And I will add:

At least when I get s;;;;ed I like to be kissed. or something to that effect.