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Ted III · 06-13-2005, 07:46 PM

Our original trip was on June 5 when we turned around and made it back to Harrisburg, PA. when the differential let go. It has been a full week at Freightliner and the bottom line is that the parts have been ordered from Meritor and Meritor has no idea what delivery on the components from their vendors is. We have no clue when the parts are even going to ship. Alpine has been working on this with no success at all. My suggstion to Alpine was to use one of their rear assemblies but Meritor will not warrant the entire assembly.My feeling is that Alpine/WRV is not a large enough purchaser to put the appropriate pressure on Meritor. I am going to request that Alpine take the credit from Meritor for the warranted part of the broken assembly and accept the balance of the cost on their own shoulders.I truly do not know what other options are available other than to start legeal proceedings. Do we have any suggestions?

Ted III · 06-13-2005, 07:46 PM

Our original trip was on June 5 when we turned around and made it back to Harrisburg, PA. when the differential let go. It has been a full week at Freightliner and the bottom line is that the parts have been ordered from Meritor and Meritor has no idea what delivery on the components from their vendors is. We have no clue when the parts are even going to ship. Alpine has been working on this with no success at all. My suggstion to Alpine was to use one of their rear assemblies but Meritor will not warrant the entire assembly.My feeling is that Alpine/WRV is not a large enough purchaser to put the appropriate pressure on Meritor. I am going to request that Alpine take the credit from Meritor for the warranted part of the broken assembly and accept the balance of the cost on their own shoulders.I truly do not know what other options are available other than to start legeal proceedings. Do we have any suggestions?

06-13-2005, 10:12 PM

When was the unit purchased? Have you discussed with them about replacing unit?
Sorry to hear of your situation.
Derek

EngineerMike · 06-14-2005, 07:53 AM

Maybe I don't understand. The rear end certainly includes the differential. Does it not include the casing, axles, bearings, etc. as a unit? How could the unit not be warrantable? That doesn't make sense to me.
Arvin-Meritor's axle page seems to indicate the unit is delivered w/differential, axles, wheel "ends," seals... WRV must add the brakes, suspension adapters...
Whoever sells that unit should be backing it up when there is a self-destruct mechanism placed into service.

Ted III · 06-14-2005, 08:16 AM

To Derek & "Engineer Mike" The answer to both of your comments is yes. The unit was purchased at the beginning of April 2005 brand new. This was our first trip. I have discussed with them about replacing the unit(I am assuming you are referring to the entire motor coach) They are willing to do so (I think) but I move into a 2006 and add at least an extra $30,000.00 to my cost if not more. Engineer Mike, The unit as Alpine purchases it does include the differential, axles, bearings, etc. From what I have gotten Meritor wants to replace only the differential area that was broken. I am going to suggest to Alpine that they provide Freightliner with the entire assembly (which Alpine has in their stock) and whatever Meritor does not cover Alpine can absorb the balance. Right know it is pretty d*** frustrating. Bought this coach with the thought we were buying a relatively high end unit. I didn't expect it to be a Prevost, but I thought it would make 1000 mile trip the first time. Thanks for your thoughts & suggestions, they are all appreciated.
Ted

EngineerMike · 06-14-2005, 09:57 AM

If I was in your shoes, I'd be satisfied if WRV shipped out a full rear so my coach doesn't sit hostage to an unknowable repair schedule, and then dealt w/Meritor on the warranty of their improvised exploded device.
If I was WRV, I'd expect Meritor to want their junk back to see what went so far wrong to make a reasonably bullet-proof design into junk in <1000 miles. Its disappointing to hear that Meritor is balking @ taking a first-rate quality approach to their product.
If WRV allowed a replacement coach, I'd say that was high-end service, and a helluva recommendation for working w/WRV. Stuff happens, and there is a warranty process to cover it; swap-out of the whole coach is way more than the process expectation, IMO. I guess I'm not sure why that would mean an '06 coach, though. Unless you have options that cannot be configured on a dealer-located '05?

Ted III · 06-14-2005, 11:44 AM

Engineer Mike
Bottom line is that Alpine is sending a complete assy from their inventory to Freightliner and then they are going to fight with Meritor. Meritor took a real bad attitude toward "coach down" in that there comment was the parts will be available sometime after July 1st. Normally when you hear "coach down" everybody ships air and gets the thing back on the road as quickly as possible. Anyway things have advanced in that parts are know moving to Freightliner. From what I heard Freightliner will be thrilled because they want the coach out of there as it is tying up one full bay because it can't be moved as it is. I was delighted to hear it was inside. I will continue with updates as they are passed along. Thanks for everyone's interest.
Ted

Tom and Patty · 06-14-2005, 08:34 PM

I agree with Engineer Mike. For WRV to offer a replacement coach is way beyond what I would expect. Ask any car manufacturer to do that. Like you , I would want a complete NEW rear end assembly.

WRV seems to have stepped up to do the right thing to get you back on the road. You should feel good about their product support.

Too bad Meritor feels they don't have the same responsibility to help get you on the road as soon as possible. Being in the service business myself, my team knows that an attitude like that would never hunt. Every customer counts.

It is possible that WRV isn't big enough to get Meritor to do right now, but I have a feeling WRV and Meritor will work it out. At least WRV will get you on the road now. I'm sure the 11? days have seemed like a month.

One reason we bought our Alpine was that we don't see ourselves comimg and going down the road.

Good luck, and hope you are cruising down the road enjoying your Alpine!

Ted III · 06-15-2005, 02:01 AM

Tom & Patty, keep in mind that Alpine never finalized anything as far as coming up with a new coach, but it was one of my original suggestions and they were definitely looking into it. There certainly would have been additional monies owed had it ever come to that. Anyway it looks like we are progressing and it sure will be nice to get the coach back to our dealer. We will feel much more comfortable at that point. Meritor definitely did not step up to the plate at all, but Alpine did, possibly a little later than they should have but it truly was Meritors move.
Thanks for your interest and I hope we can go on our shakedown trip soon or any trip for that matter.
On the plus side from some of the things we have read on this forum. We had no trouble putting fuel in the coach. It handled and road beautifully and the performance was outstanding,I just never thought the rear would fall out. Thanks again for your interest.
Ted

SteveS · 06-15-2005, 10:08 AM

I am certain everyone on this forum is feeling really good about WRV and their willingness to step up. Customer Support seems to keep making strides, which ultimately will be one of the significant issues on future sales. Although Ted's rear-end failure was not attributed to WRV, they came through, as they should. They even went WAY beyond by offering a 2006 as a replacement. There seems to be some initial QA issues that manufacturing needs to focus on but, I for one, am glad to to see so much effort given to customer service. For those who do research prior to these types of purchases, QA and customer service surely is of prime concern and, for motorhomes of this value, probably is the discriminator.

Warpath · 06-15-2005, 11:56 AM

Hey Ted I feel your pain.

Although I do not own a WRV product, my Freightliner chassis had a ton of issues before I could even see it. The motor had a blown head gasket after the 280 mile run from the FL factory to the dealer. It sat for 21 days waiting for parts. After the coach was built it had to go back to the FL dealer for a week of additional repairs. Really had me going crazy.

Sounds like Apline is stepping up and that is great to hear.