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Old 04-25-2017, 12:00 PM   #1
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Freightliner Service Report: Truck AG & Auto in Stephenville, TX

This is a report about a recent service experience with Truck AG & Auto in Stephenville, TX (west of Dallas/Fort Worth). The service was performed in December 2016. It's long-ish as I make a specific recommendation at the end against using this facility, and I want to provide context for that recommendation. It's worth calling out that this is only one side of this encounter, although I've attempted to accurately and dispassionately portray the events in question.

My wife and I purchased a 1998 Newmar Dutch Star DP M-3883-FRL from a widow friend in October of 2016. Although it had few miles showing (about 13k), it is still nearly 20 years old and I wished to have the cooling system serviced including all hoses replaced, the wet wheel bearings and seals serviced, and the air brakes inspected/adjusted. There was other work such as fresh tires, fluids, filters, batteries, and so forth that was performed outside of this service engagement by different vendors, but I wanted the aforementioned items done by an actual Freightliner facility so that I could have additional confidence in the proficiency of the work.

I visited the official Freightliner Custom Chassis website and browsed to the list of certified service locations. I cross-referenced the ones in my area against online reviews. I selected Truck AG & Auto as the best-reviewed of the bunch (although that, frankly, is faint praise).

After explaining my wishes an appointment was made to take the coach to them (about a 3 hour round trip). Their expectation was that all service would be performed in two business days. That timeline was met, sort of.

Right on time, two days later we picked up the coach and headed back home. We made it about 10 miles when the "Low Coolant" warning light and alarm sounded. Pulling over right away, I found the entire back of the coach (and our toad) covered with coolant. I filled the coolant reservoir and headed back to their shop, cautiously watching the temperature gauge, and stopping another time on the way to top off again.

Once back at their shop they raised the rear bed platform to access the engine bay and discovered that they had mispositioned the new upper radiator hose, causing it to be cut through the bottom by the fan blade.

While they were in there I observed several coolant hoses that had not been replaced. As it turns out, NONE of the coolant hoses except the two radiator hoses had been replaced as directed.

They didn't have a new replacement hose but did have the old one. As we were scheduled to go out of town in the coach the next day we asked them to temporarily reinstall the old upper radiator hose, carefully positioning it away from the fan blade. We brought up with the service manager that the other hoses in-scope for the repair weren't done and agreed to revisit the issue upon our return to have the 2nd new upper radiator hose installed. Once again leaving the coach behind we took the filthy toad in search of a car wash to cleanse the coolant from the paint and then went back home.

Returning the next day (trip departure day) I retrieved the keys and went outside to find the coach in a lake (a lake - not a puddle) of coolant that was running out of it. The tech had forgotten to tighten a hose clamp and it simply was running out on the ground. I am genuinely puzzled at how this could have been not seen.

More delay ensued whilst a tech was brought out to go back in and tighten the offending clamp.

After leaving the shop again, down the road I noticed a terrible rattling sound coming from the front left wheel. Stopping at the side of a busy road, I discovered that they had not tightened the nuts on that wheel - at all! They were all only finger-tight and were backing out. Thankfully, I had the tools on hand to properly tighten the nuts, and double-checked the remaining wheels just to be sure.

A couple of weeks later I still had not heard back from the shop about the arrival of the replacement upper radiator hose. I finally called them and set a time to return to the shop for the third time. I had a conversation with the service manager about the additional hoses and we came to an agreement that for an additional sum they would complete that work. As a side note, I asked the service manager if I could have communicated my expectations more clearly and he confirmed that the expected scope was clear but the work simply wasn't done. No explanation for this discrepancy was offered, and since at that stage there was nothing to be gained by pressing the point I allowed the statement to stand on its own.

Yet again, a few hours later we departed. Yet again, the next day we came out to find coolant on the ground. Despondent and no longer trusting this shop to fix their self-caused issues, I ended up fixing the leaks on my own by tightening three loose hose clamps (yes, more loose things again).

To wrap up - the scope of work was not completed in the original visit, a significant safety issue was introduced by the loose wheel nuts, and after three visits they still couldn't manage the simple replacement of coolant hoses properly. All of these issues were workmanship-related and not defects in materials or any other factors.

I never lost my temper with the staff or management of the facility nor engaged in negative verbiage or facial expressions, but privately I certainly wasn't impressed by the work performance. The staff I encountered were reasonably personable, and it would have been great to have their demeanor paired with good workmanship, but alas, such was not the case, and ultimately I can't recommend this repair facility based upon my experience.
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Old 04-25-2017, 01:02 PM   #2
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Make sure you contact Freightliner. I believe there is a website about service relations also. Cant remember name.
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Old 04-25-2017, 02:36 PM   #3
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Sorry to hear about your trials and tribulations.

Trying to make the best of a bad situation at least you know your coolant has been flushed "completely. "
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Old 04-25-2017, 03:04 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JNSNWT View Post
Sorry to hear about your trials and tribulations.

Trying to make the best of a bad situation at least you know your coolant has been flushed "completely. "
LOL!

I certainly do have very, VERY fresh coolant.
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Old 04-25-2017, 03:06 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiesta48 View Post
Make sure you contact Freightliner. I believe there is a website about service relations also. Cant remember name.
Thanks for the idea. I did find upon their website a contact address for feedback about service locations. I've referred my narrative to them, should they choose to spend an hour to read it.
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Old 04-25-2017, 03:27 PM   #6
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At Camp Freightliner the management gent that personally reads the comments dropped by and assured us that they are read by him and others and acted on. They also use those to counsel their dealers, esp the RV Oasis ones. Hope you hear back.
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Old 04-26-2017, 07:24 AM   #7
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Be sure to post this on URL="http://rvservicereviews.com/"]rvservicereviews.com[/URL] where people can find it easily by geographic location as well as other criteria and benefit from the time you put into writing such a through review.
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Old 04-26-2017, 07:52 AM   #8
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Be sure to post this on rvservicereviews.com where people can find it easily by geographic location as well as other criteria and benefit from the time you put into writing such a through review.
Another great idea. I have done so. Thanks for the nudge.
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Old 04-27-2017, 03:20 PM   #9
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I would recommend going to an authorized Oasis Freightliner service center also.
There is an app for android and iOS that will locate where the nearest one is locted it's called 24 7 direct . What I like about the app is it will have the Oasis logo at the top to let you know that is an Oasis service center. I looked up the service center in question and they are not an Oasis service center
The oasis service centers caters to RV's they will have shore power for those who are traveling and need to stay over night in there MH.
Where I live here in SW Mich. We have 2 FCCC and only one that is an Oasis service center that have experience tech who work on MH's the other will work on it but from what I was told they are reluctant due to the lack of experience working on MH's. Hope this help in you future need for service.
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Old 06-16-2017, 09:17 PM   #10
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Unfortunately Oasis dealers are few and far between. And the industry is pumping out thousAnds of rigs per year.
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