Entegra Service Center Issues

[DSL417]

Swearin, I mentioned earlier, my experience in watching activities during numerous visits over the last five years...dropping off coaches results in leaving them inside the fence and outside as they wait their turn. The problem with this is they don't tell the owner to shut everything down, they don't recommend you leave autogen start on (with plenty of fuel in the tank), and there are no plug ins outside. This is a recipe for disaster with the batteries...same at most dealers BTW.

My only recommendation, DEMAND that they keep you plugged in, or they can replace the batteries. This seems to be the single most common cause for coach house batteries to fail on coaches (all brands). JMHO

[smlranger]

Ah, the perils of coach service. IMO, no excuse for factory service folks not being aware of the needs of RV owners and proper procedures to maintain food in fridge, batteries, etc., especially when you are there and obviously living in the coach. Drop off and leaving a coach is different and demands different procedures.

We've had factory service at both Winnebago in Iowa and the Winnebago/Country Coach facility in Oregon and they were diligent in doing everything needed. At CC in Oregon last September, I asked the tech on the last day of service to park my rig near the dump station when he was done for the day so I could dump my tanks. I saw him pull up to the dump station and he was in the process of dumping our tanks for us when we got to the coach. That was some service.

I use a local independent RV repair shop. They have an impressive process when you bring a coach in for service and you are going to leave it. First they do a walk around to note any damage (good risk management for them). Then they ask if you have food in fridge. If you say yes, they say you must remove it before you leave (unless, of course, it is going to be a quick repair or you are traveling/living in the coach...they will keep you plugged in while in the shop). If the weather is cold, they ask if you have winterized the coach. If you say no, they tell you they will winterize it (for a fee). If you don't want to pay the fee, they tell you to make another appointment and bring it back after you winterize it. They locate your battery shut offs and tell you they will keep everything off when the coach is not in the shop.

[Gary.Jones]

I had quite a few interactions with the service manager ~ 2 years ago when my 4 or 5 month old coach was leaking buckets full of water into my walls and I needed to make an emergency side trip to Middlebury. The service manager then was a sweet heart. He was worried about major problems I never thought of and strongly suggested me staying and them doing tests to ensure there were no problems and suggested repairs that went above and beyond what I anticipated.. I was delighted with the service and although there longer than 2 weeks, my batteries were up to snuff every time I came back to it (after daily of 2 or 3 day hotel stays).

Problem is, that on our Entegra coaches there are no battery switches that truly shut off static loads..... the static loads continue to slowly drain your batteries. But there is no excuse for a Jayco/Entegra facility to not know that that occurs or know that coaches need to be plugged in all the time. This is certainly not restricted to Entegra. You can tell a lot about any dealer simply by noting the number of new coaches sitting on their lot not connected to power, particularly Entegra.

The last big RV show I attended, I found that virtually every coach on display had their batteries below 12 volts and if you wasted time telling one of the salesmen that the batteries were critically low, they would smile and do nothing. It appears prospective buyers don't like generators running while they look. In another case where a dealer brought several brand new coaches off their lot for display, one of the coache's batteries were so depleted, they could not fire the generator even with battery boost and I think needed to be jumped. Amazing! Why are people in the industry so damn ignorant of how fragile these AGMs are?? Deep cycle my a**.


Gary

[Saltydog44]

Just a thought - Maybe the issue is around a "Shop Foreman" vs a "Service Manager" Attitude and inclination to see the "Customer View" vs closing a ticket?

[Rollin101]

Originally Posted by DSL417

Well, yes there is an occasional problem...with 4000 owners it happens. And I'm not diminishing this issue on OPs coach. They need to do better. That said, look at any owners forum on iRV2, and you'll find a couple of similar threads.

So, if you are afraid of this happening to you, albeit rare with Entegra, Newmar, American Coach, Winnebago, or Tiffin, best not get into motor coaching. Same with 5th wheels and trailers.

Entegra management is aware of the issues here (I'm confident). They probably called in the last day or two as they became aware of the thread. I am relatively confident they will make OP whole. That doesn't fix the hassle and disappointment of OP, but in following most of the major coach makers forums in here, they all eventually do the right thing to the owners satisfaction.

For OP, recommend you stay on the phone with Entegra management towards them eventually making this right.

Dave, the way they're doing people now is a bunch of crap. Putting scratches on a customers mh or not fixing the wet bay properly is inexcusable. I don't think their upper gives a d--- about anything except selling new ones. There service has gone to pot and it needs to be called such.

[DSL417]

Well, I got my scratches (side facing of a slide, so I didn't see it till I was 1800 miles away and first opened the side) during a slide adjustment; they couldn't help but know they did it and my guess is they said nothing to their manager....pictures forwarded; no response. Maybe if I was in the service manager's shoes, I would not believe it, but that would mean we are lying (which I am sure they have experience atlas once from an owner). JMHO

I think these issues are the exception as opposed to normal, as Gary suggests, but when it happens to you, you like them to be responsive. Oh well!

[DSL417]

Back to OP's original problem with the basement flooring. I am sure that it is multiple pieces of marine grade plywood, somehow seamed together. Sounds like the service techs just didn't seam it the same way as the factory techs do it on the floor during build (heck, maybe it isn't possible). But my recommendation is to keep pushing them to make it right; long term I am betting they will. JMHO

[Rollin101]

Originally Posted by DSL417

Back to OP's original problem with the basement flooring. I am sure that it is multiple pieces of marine grade plywood, somehow seamed together. Sounds like the service techs just didn't seam it the same way as the factory techs do it on the floor during build (heck, maybe it isn't possible). But my recommendation is to keep pushing them to make it right; long term I am betting they will. JMHO

To start with it's not marine grade plywood in the wet bay. I tried to get them to change that,to marine grade, several years ago, obviously with no result. They should have taken the little piece out and replaced the whole thing, but I'm saying again they don't give a d---.

Thanks to another member on here I just checked my rear view camera and found they dropped it during mh build, bent one of the ears which caused the clear dome to be 3/16 in. from the sealing surface. Needless to say it caused water, dirt etc. to ruin the camera. Inexcusable to just go ahead and put it in. Luckily I found it before warranty was up, but how much other stuff did they cover up.

[Magic-carpet]

Originally Posted by Rollin101

To start with it's not marine grade plywood in the wet bay. I tried to get them to change that,to marine grade, several years ago, obviously with no result. They should have taken the little piece out and replaced the whole thing, but I'm saying again they don't give a d---.

Thanks to another member on here I just checked my rear view camera and found they dropped it during mh build, bent one of the ears which caused the clear dome to be 3/16 in. from the sealing surface. Needless to say it caused water, dirt etc. to ruin the camera. Inexcusable to just go ahead and put it in. Luckily I found it before warranty was up, but how much other stuff did they cover up.

When did they stop using 7 ply marine grade? I know I saw it in the factory back in the spring at the Homecoming event.

[Rollin101]

Originally Posted by Magic-carpet

When did they stop using 7 ply marine grade? I know I saw it in the factory back in the spring at the Homecoming event.

That's only used on the main floor.

[DSL417]

OK, my bad on the type of basement plywood (although all I saw was marine grade on the floor during the last visit, I can't be certain), but it still doesn't change the perspective...it is not an 8'6" by 20+ foot single piece of plywood...regardless of the type. So it had to be seamed together somehow.

[jherrin99]

Here is another update to my original post. I have been in contact with Entegra upper management and they have been very apologetic. I have sent them pictures of the mess that was made to my wet bay floor. They are supposedly investigating what went wrong. I was also contacted by Motor Home Specialists. They have offered to fix my mess at their shop. Since they are only about an hour a way, I have made an appointment for next month. I will update this thread after I get it repaired at Motor Home Specialists.

To address the questions about the wet bay floor, I am quite confident what was in there originally was not a marine grade plywood. It was rotted in just under 3 years. Common sense would dictate using some type of material that would withstand exposure to moisture in a place like a wet bay where all your major plumbing and connections are located. What they replaced it with I am fairly confident is not marine grade either. It appears to be a standard grade 3/4" plywood that they covered with thin black flexible covering on the bottom and stapled to the plywood like the rest of the coach. The original floor was one solid piece and had a white plastic looking laminate glued on top like a formica counter top. On the replacement floor it was just a thin plastic looking sheet that was just cut and fit and laid on top of the plywood and taped and sealed along the seams. It was not laminated to the plywood like the original. My wet bay floor is approximately 4'x8'.

[bonzocfi]

I would ask MHS to save the flooring they remove from the wet bay so that I could inspect it.

[jherrin99]

Here is a final update. Joyce and Entegra did come through and reimbursed us for replacement batteries and all the food that was lost in the refrigerator. It wasn't long after I returned home that I received a phone call from Robert Brake, the General Manager at Motorhome Specialists. He told me that he had heard about the problems I had at the Entegra Service Center. He said MHSRV had the facilities and capable techs to repair my wet bay floor and he would appreciate the opportunity to fix our coach and make it right. We discussed the previous problems with the service department at MHSRV. He said he knows all about the issues with their service department and he takes full responsibility for it. He said MHSRV had grown much faster than anyone anticipated in the sales department and then the service department quickly became overwhelmed. He told me that they have been expanding and upgrading their service department to keep up with their sales. It was easy to build the facilities, but getting the right people to do the service was the hard part. With all the improvements, he believes they are finally catching up in the service department. I also explained to him that I had nonstandard plumbing. I had completely modified the plumbing in my wet bay. This caused a problem at Middlebury. After they had disconnected some of my plumbing while working on the wet bay, they refused to hook it back up like they found it since it was not factory. Robert assured me their techs have seen it all, they work on all different brand coaches and it did not matter what it was, they could work on it and put it back exactly like they found it. Now I bought my coach at MHSRV back in April of 2014. We took it back a couple of times for service right after we bought it including a major water leak in the wall and under the floor. Their techs could not find the leak let alone fix it and were tearing up stuff trying to find it. We ended up taking the coach to Middlebury to have the leak repaired and I swore I would never go back to MHSRV. Recently I had talked to Joyce and PJ about MHSRV. They both assured me that MHSRV had expanded and improved their service department and were doing great work now. PJ said that they had been sending techs to Middlebury for Entegra specific training. Since MHSRV had so graciously offered to fix my wet bay floor, I decided to take them up on their offer.

Everyone at MHSRV was very friendly and very accommodating. They now have about 50+ open and covered bays besides the original service center building and they are still expanding. Each bay has a large concrete pad with a roof and full hookups. Every bay was full and every RV, large and small was plugged in, I checked. I really liked the open bays, but the techs probably don't like them in really cold weather. It was easy to drive up and see what they were doing. I checked numerous times on their progress while we were there. I liked seeing what kind of job they were doing and what kind of materials they were using. When they were done, I knew exactly what I got because I saw it being done. First, they tore out the junk that was installed in Middlebury. For some reason the original factory floor and the replacement were both just a cheap grade plywood. Common sense would dictate that if you have a bay that contains the majority of all your plumbing, all your holding tanks and connections, where there is always the possibility of leaks, that you would use materials that could withstand exposure to moisture and leaks. It was quite obvious the plywood Entegra uses was not a very good choice. The framework below the floor was rusting from all the exposure to moisture. They took the time to cleaned it all up and paint it. They used a treated plywood for the floor, which they sealed on both sides with Flex Seal (silicone sealant). They also recovered the walls and sealed all the seams. They cut the drain pan where the hole actually lines up with the sewer connection unlike before. There is no need for a 45 or 90 to hook up my sewer hose anymore. We were blown away by the job they did and the way we were treated at MHSRV. We could not believe that this was the same dealership that we both swore we would never set a foot in again. We are glad we decided to give them another shot. It was a lot of trouble and took a lot longer than we ever anticipated to get our rotted wet bay floor replaced, but we are very happy with the end result.