Warranty work refused

[dubob]

Life’s little experiences can bring sadness or joy. I had one yesterday that ended on a happy note – at least I hope it did and will be in the future. It’s regarding the warranty service on my new (yes new) 2011 Lance 992.

I bought the unit from Bozeman Ford & RV in Montana. I was going to buy a 2 or 3 year old used unit, but when I found this unit at not much more than a used one, I bought it instead. I knew Lance had a dealer in Salt Lake City, UT about 40 miles from home, so I wasn’t worried about having a resource for the warranty service. Little did I know.

The first issue under warranty was the Jensen radio/CD player doesn’t want to work when it’s cold. I called the SLC dealership to see about getting a replacement. I explained where I bought the unit and why. Their service department told me I would have to take the issue back to Bozeman, MT because I didn’t buy it from them and they had no interest or desire to do warranty work on a unit that wasn’t purchased from them.

I called Bozeman RV and talked to the manager and explained the situation to him and how driving 700 miles (round trip) wasn’t going to happen. He had his Lance regional sales rep call me and he relayed my complaint directly to Lance. Lance called me yesterday and I explained the situation. The Lance rep was very accommodating. He is shipping me a new replacement radio which I will install. And if I need warranty service in the future, I’m to call Lance direct and they will intercede with the dealer for me to get the needed service.

The sad thing for this SLC dealership is the fact that I will not ever choose them for any kind of service or parts in the future (except warranty work) and they have lost a potential customer. I will also not recommend there business to anybody who asks me for advice about service work. I would think that the SLC dealership would want to establish a good relationship with any and all Lance product owners. But apparently that is not the case.

If your travels will take you through Utah with a new Lance product and you find yourself in need of some warranty work, I sincerely hope you will be treated better than I was.

[RustyJC]

Unfortunately, this is the case with many RV dealers. It seems that, unlike new car/truck dealers, they're under no formal franchise obligation to handle warranty work on RVs that they handle but didn't sell through their dealership. At best, you'll often go to the end of the line for scheduling even if they will service it. I'm sure there are exceptions, but what you experienced is not all that unusual - it shouldn't be that way, but it is.

It makes it tough when you're on the road and 5 states away from the selling dealer when something breaks!!

Rusty

[yorgor]

Bad practice, word gets around and they lose business.

[adonh]

Maybe a couple of things caused the local dealer to balk. One, maybe they don't have that big of a service department and they provide very limited service. Especially if they sale units from a number of manufacturers. Two, maybe the "Lance Warranty" is limited and getting work orders approved is difficult and time consuming.


In any event no excuse for being rude.

[dubob]

Just to set the record straight, I wasn’t asking for, or demanding, warranty service. I called the local dealer and explained my problem to whoever answered the phone in the service department. I wanted it to be known that I didn’t purchase my unit from them – and WHY. In my mind there is no reason I can think of to keep information like that a secret.

I wasn’t asking for any special treatment; just asking for some advice as to how to proceed with a process to determine a solution to the problem of my radio not working properly. The local dealer didn’t offer to try and work me in around his current work load or tell me he was days or weeks out on working me in; he just simply said that we would not work my problem because I didn’t buy the unit from their dealership and I should contact the selling dealership for a resolution.

I could have lived without a working radio for as long as it took the local dealership to work me in, but they were not willing to even discuss that solution. I believe Lance to be a reputable company that supports both its customers and its dealership network based on the majority of positive comments about Lance that I read on this and other websites. I also believe that my local dealership would have been reimbursed for any warranty work performed on my unit at their facility.

After all the discussions on here and other sites about this issue and a ton of anecdotes about how RV and automobile dealerships do, or do not, treat customers, I’m still at a loss to understand how it makes ANY sense at all to turn away business in a manner that is sure to cause a loss of any future business.

I used to run a small (and I do mean small) business catering to a sporting activity for which I sold accessories for the sport. If a customer came to me with an accessory problem, even if they DIDN’T buy it from me, I would do my best to try to help them resolve the issue. If I had to use my materials to fix the issue, then I told them there would be a charge but they could possible get it done free by the dealer they bought it from. I never turned them away and I never charged for advice.

Call me naïve if you must, but I almost always assume that I’ll be treated the same when I seek advice or service from other businesses. And, yes, I DO realize that it ain’t going to happen in some cases. But it does happen often enough for me to continue expecting it in the future. Unfortunately for me, it didn’t happen when I asked my local Lance dealership for service on my warranty issue. I did get it resolved by ultimately working directly with Lance, but it left me very disappointed with the overall attitude of my local dealership. Enough said.

[RustyJC]

From post #1:

Originally Posted by dubob

It’s regarding the warranty service on my new (yes new) 2011 Lance 992.
.
.

If your travels will take you through Utah with a new Lance product and you find yourself in need of some warranty work, I sincerely hope you will be treated better than I was.

From post #5:

Originally Posted by dubob

Just to set the record straight, I wasn’t asking for, or demanding, warranty service.
.
.
Unfortunately for me, it didn’t happen when I asked my local Lance dealership for service on my warranty issue.

Sorry if my response in post #2 didn't address your situation, but somehow I had the impression that you were dealing with a warranty repair that was refused by your local dealer. At any rate, I'm glad Lance resolved the problem.

Rusty

[UFO Pilot]

I never understood the logic of refusing work I asked the local RV Service Center here about this very issue. The service manager asked me, "Why would I turn down work? The factory rate is the same no matter where the RV was purchased." Unfortunately they didn't survive the economic downturn and closed their doors after 35 years in business.

[Muddypaws]

That seems to be a common problem in the RV world. Short sighted and frankly quite stupid. Who knows how much future business this will cost them. Put your experience on yelp and rvservicereviews too!

Perhaps you should have removed anything that identified it as having been purchased elsewhere and told them you bought it used but it was originally purchased from them......

I've shied away from some brands based solely upon the distance to the nearest 'authorized service center'. Luckily there is a Fleetwood shop about 5 miles from our home base.

[dubob]

RustyJC,

Sorry for the confusion; my bad. However, I did say in Para 2 that:

I wasn’t asking for any special treatment; just asking for some advice as to how to proceed with a process to determine a solution to the problem of my radio not working properly.

You can construe that to mean service; I somehow don't. I was hoping they would help me with the solution (whatever that solution might have been; service, refer to Mfg, etc.). Again, my bad for not wording my post more carefully. The ONLY solution they offered was to contact the selling dealer. They could have just as easily told me to contact Lance and given me a phone number to call; but they didn't. Again, poor attitude on their part in my opinion.

[RustyJC]

No problem. I was just pointing out where I got the impression that you went to the local dealer for warranty service. I agree, though, this is a problem that shouldn't exist within the RV industry. It should be no different than going to a Ford, GM, Dodge, etc. dealer for warranty service.

Rusty

[LEHAFER]

I must have a horseshoe somewhere! I bought a new motorhome in Mass in November of 2006, I headed for Florida in December with the unit still winterized. When I got to Norfolk and stopped for the night I found the water pump would not pump. After a quick call to the pump manufacturer they told me to take the pump to Johnson RV and swap it for a new one. When I got to Florida the refrigerator quit working. I called Norcold and they told me to contact RV Medic in Tampa. John Martinez(spelling)at RV Medic hooked up the fridge so it would run wide open and offered me a spot in their service yard with water and electric while I waited for the replacement part from Norcold. I couldn't ask for better service and I had never met these dealers before.

[bluepill]

Just some background info on warranty work. Years ago, I worked for a Nissan dealer in the service department. The dealership owner wanted to know why warranty reimbursement from the factory was always so low. For example, a job that takes one hour for a good mechanic to perform would be reimbursed at a rate of half an hour - and not at the full retail labor price, but a discounted "warranty rate".

When the owner complained to the Nissan district manager, he was told this:

Nissan makes a profit on every vehicle sold to a dealer, and the dealer makes a profit on each vehicle sold to a retail customer. Since both the factory and the dealer share in the profit, both have to share in the loss created by a warranty repair.

This actually does make sense to me, but you can see how a dealer feels about taking a loss on a repair for a vehicle that he made no profit on in the first place.

There are enlightened dealers who consider that handling warranties on units bought elsewhere is a goodwill gesture - and, in effect, simply an advertising expense. I believe that most will recoup that expense in the long run, but there is no shortage of short-sighted businesses.

[RustyJC]

LEHAFER,

In both cases you describe, you called the manufacturer of the failed component and they directed you to a cooperative shop that works with them - in one case, that appears to be an RV dealership.

I've had that happen to a Norcold fridge in a previous RV as well where the selling RV dealer wouldn't touch it for weeks but a local service shop (that happened to be an authorized Norcold repair center) got the cooling unit changed out in a few days - that included the time to order and receive the replacement cooling unit from Norcold. In my case, when the dealer told me he was booked up for 6 weeks, I called Jayco (the RV manufacturer) who made arrangements with Norcold for me to go to this service shop the same day.

But back to my analogy - if I had an alternator problem with my truck, should I have to call Denso (or whomever the alternator manufacturer might be) and have them send me to an automotive electrical shop, or should I be able to drive into a Dodge dealer and have them take care of the problem? We expect to do the latter routinely with our vehicles, but often have to take other actions such as you describe to get our RVs repaired.

Rusty

[Mr_D]

Not at all unusual with RV's. The selling dealer made the profit on the sale, the dealer close to you doesn't owe anyone but his customers anything.

People may not like it but it is the truth.