AIR: What's the secret ?

[Butte64]

Unfortunately I have not seen Entegra making the effort to expand their service facilities to keep pace with production. Depending on dealers to do service is not going to work. I don’t agree with the Red Bay method. Would like to see Entegra expand service as Newmar app has done with 54 service bays.

[2BMobl]

I sent my email, detailing each issue, with photos, to Entegra on Jan. 1, time stamped 12:02am. On Monday the 2nd around 8:30 am I received a reply stating they would get back to me shortly. This morning, at 7:30 am they did and explained the end of the month was not available. I know homecoming ends on the 22nd, but it's difficult to believe so many contacted them between midnight and 2 minutes later everything was booked. I suspect there are other things at play than simply "first come, first serve".

[2BMobl]

I neglected to include, on my previous post, I had requested a latter half of the month appoint and that they did schedule me for the 12th to the 14th. I can move things around and make that work, but still....

[Victory Blue]

Originally Posted by Aspire2BMobl

I neglected to include, on my previous post, I had requested a latter half of the month appoint and that they did schedule me for the 12th to the 14th. I can move things around and make that work, but still....

I agree, it's very frustrating.

Entegra only takes about 12 to 15 coaches per week, maybe a couple more if they're emergencies. If it's a week they're holding Entegra U when everyone attending gets an AIR (and the required repairs) or a week like the Tampa Show or Homecoming when many of the techs are offsite, and limited resources become even more limited. The problem is worsened as almost every owner wants service from May through September. It doesn't take many people asking for the same summer dates 6 months in the future (all at 1 minute after midnight) for some (or many) of them to be disappointed.

I think Entegra's last service expansion was in 2015 and without further expansion, as Jerry mentioned above, the problem is only going to get worse.

FWIW, when we went for service two years ago in early December the only other coaches there were ones that had been dropped off to be worked on as the techs got to them; most days we were the only ones in the customer lounge.

[buddy110]

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

I had my request registered at Middlebury a couple hours after midnight Dec 1st. I now have to put together a detailed list of the things on my list and submit it, and then they will estimate how long I will be in the shop before I get a firm date.

The month of May is always a busy month.... as the weather is getting pretty nice and Entegra Homecoming is held about that time and a lot of owners try to get an appointment in that time period while they can stay in the mid-west and "kill two birds with one stone" (please leave the birds alone... their life is tuff enough as it is, but it is a saying my father used all the time to his son)

Gary

This is how I did it. The caveat being that I had mine done in the fall. Not so busy then. However, the AIR turned up a problem with my roof. Apparently it has been leaking where the front awning mounting bracket attaches to the roof.. The fix is to remove the entire on piece roof panel, replace all the rotten substrate and re-install. for that I had to bring it back a month and a half later. It's there now. Instead of bumping others back and keeping my coach they bumped me. It will take two weeks, or so they say.

[G6driver]

Also, along with this I just got an email back from NIRVC that they are no longer doing the AIR at any facilities. So looks like we need to figure out how to get in the que for Middlebury. Entegra needs to do something to fix this bottleneck in service.

[Victory Blue]

Originally Posted by G6driver

Also, along with this I just got an email back from NIRVC that they are no longer doing the AIR at any facilities. So looks like we need to figure out how to get in the que for Middlebury. Entegra needs to do something to fix this bottleneck in service.

We, as owners, share in the blame for any bottleneck that exists because we all want to go for service during the same 4 or 5 summer months. It’s unlikely Entegra will expand their service facilities to accommodate all of their owners so it can be operated at capacity for less than half of the year.

[mike625]

Originally Posted by Victory Blue

We, as owners, share in the blame for any bottleneck that exists because we all want to go for service during the same 4 or 5 summer months. It’s unlikely Entegra will expand their service facilities to accommodate all of their owners so it can be operated at capacity for less than half of the year.

FYI - I talked to Danni last week and Dec. is also full. So it not just 4 or 5 months that everyone is trying to get in. It appears only to be Jan thru March which are slow. So if you don't want to drive it in all the salt, your kind of $%#$% with the limited slots.

[Butte64]

Originally Posted by Victory Blue

We, as owners, share in the blame for any bottleneck that exists because we all want to go for service during the same 4 or 5 summer months. It’s unlikely Entegra will expand their service facilities to accommodate all of their owners so it can be operated at capacity for less than half of the year.

There is some merit to what you wrote, but look at Newmar with 54 service bays. I wonder what their utilization looks like. Also Spartan is trying to help their crowded summer schedule by having Factory service in Clearwater,FL during the Winter months. I don’t know which techs will be doing that but I hope it continues in future years.

[Victory Blue]

Originally Posted by Butte64

There is some merit to what you wrote, but look at Newmar with 54 service bays. I wonder what their utilization looks like. Also Spartan is trying to help their crowded summer schedule by having Factory service in Clearwater,FL during the Winter months. I don’t know which techs will be doing that but I hope it continues in future years.

Newmar is servicing a lot more RVs than the 4,000 units Entegra potentially has to service. However, I agree Entegra needs to expand the service facilities again. With the likely size of any expansion it will still be difficult to get an appointment during the preferred months. There’ll just be a smaller number of disappointed owners.

[mike625]

Originally Posted by Victory Blue

Newmar is servicing a lot more RVs than the 4,000 units Entegra potentially has to service. However, I agree Entegra needs to expand the service facilities again. With the likely size of any expansion it will still be difficult to get an appointment during the preferred months. There’ll just be a smaller number of disappointed owners.

Agree where you are going - but it's just math. When you build say 10 "I'm just using the number 10 - but though it was more" a week. Those all will need an AIR at some point, so just putting everything into one bucket does not really help. I was trying to hold off to do one service fix - which is my mistake, I should have got it worked on this year and just held off the AIR scheduling.

[DeeGee]

Entegra needs to open a factory service facility in a warmer climate. It is silly to say that half of your customers need to camp out in sometimes sub-zero temperatures to get repairs. Heck, Chuck's previous Entegra was built in those temperatures, and remember what a mess that was. I would not drive to northern Indiana (or the Spartan facility in Charlotte) during the winter.

I'm one of those who paid NIRVC to do it. I'm not sure I would do it that way again. They had the coach for 2 months, and I still had problems on the way home. NIRVC cannot just FIX something like Entegra does - they have to call Entegra and get authorization, then wait until the parts arrive. Perhaps when the new Phoenix facility is open NIRVC will start stocking a lot more parts, which would speed things up. But I feel that Entegra needs to either open a southern facility, where the RVs are, or work a deal to reimburse select dealers for taking up the load, with expedited parts delivery. But who ever listens to me; I'm just an owner.....

[Victory Blue]

Originally Posted by DeeGee

Entegra needs to open a factory service facility in a warmer climate. It is silly to say that half of your customers need to camp out in sometimes sub-zero temperatures to get repairs. Heck, Chuck's previous Entegra was built in those temperatures, and remember what a mess that was. I would not drive to northern Indiana (or the Spartan facility in Charlotte) during the winter.

I'm one of those who paid NIRVC to do it. I'm not sure I would do it that way again. They had the coach for 2 months, and I still had problems on the way home. NIRVC cannot just FIX something like Entegra does - they have to call Entegra and get authorization, then wait until the parts arrive. Perhaps when the new Phoenix facility is open NIRVC will start stocking a lot more parts, which would speed things up. But I feel that Entegra needs to either open a southern facility, where the RVs are, or work a deal to reimburse select dealers for taking up the load, with expedited parts delivery. But who ever listens to me; I'm just an owner.....

I think you’re on the right track. A respected dealer (or dealers) setup as you describe sounds like a good solution for a problem that won’t be solved by Entegra adding more service bays in Middlebury.

[Butte64]

Is it true that NIRVC will no longer do AIR? This is a big step backwards that will not help Entegra or owners. It goes contrary to Brett saying NIRVC is primarily a service company.