April 2017 Entegra/Spartan Training Class at MHSRV

[WallyRover]

DW and I recently attended the 'abbreviated' Spartan training class, which was hosted by MHSRV in Alvarado, Texas. It was a three day training course vs. the five day full course.

First the Host: MHSRV went all out in providing the best experience possible. They provided assistance with parking and setup, excellent training facilities, breakfast and lunch each day, a terrific barbecue, complete with live entertainment on the final evening. They performed repairs, warranty items, the replacement recalled macerator hoses, etc. While we were in class, they washed our coaches. I thought it worth remarking that each member of the MHSRV team was in high gear the entire time, working to keep customers happy. Clearly, they have focused on Entegra customer service as a top priority.

MHSRV set up a dedicated team of Entegra service technicians a few months back and the team has clearly been trained to do what ever it takes to make and keep the Entegra owners satisfied. Grant, JP, Michael and Robert were our primary contacts during the event, and they just did a fantastic job from my perspective.

Now the training: Both Entegra and Spartan provided excellent training personnel.

Entegra: PJ was there for Entegra. Many of you know PJ, and his excellent reputation is well founded. The sessions were absolutely full of useful information. Nothing but good to say about PJ and his training skills and depth of knowledge. Although he has much of his training in online videos, it was very good to be able to ask questions and get him to provide more detail in person.

Spartan: Big Mike O'Neil and John Merrifield were there for Spartan. Both did an excellent job as well. For those of you who are thinking about the Spartan training, I am making a few comments below to provide some insight of just my personal perspective.

The Spartan portion of the training, was, for me at least, focused too much on 'general' vehicle maintenance and diesel theory, especially given the abbreviated time available. I was hoping for more specifics and demonstration of Spartan/Cummins chassis maintenance. They did the best they could in the time available, but several sections of the training were completely skipped. I am sure the complete course would have allowed more time to cover more subjects, but the abbreviated course should have been more laser focused, maybe with less 'stories' and more information. I think the training materials are more focused on theory than on 'here is how you keep your Chassis maintained'. As an example, a great deal of time was spent on why the tires need to be properly inflated (tire wear, footprint, heat, etc.), but almost no time or information on how to calculate how much pressure should be in each tire. In summary I think the writer of the materials assumed the very thing that many of us in the class don't have, i.e., Spartan chassis and Cummins diesel maintenance hands on.

Apologies for the long post, but hopefully this information is useful for any of you that are considering the course. I will be writing much of this to Spartan as part of the course review. I may be alone in this, being new to Spartan, but just wanted you pass this along to the forum.

[coachmanrvr]

I would agree 100 percent with the above. MHSRV was an exceptional host and did a fantastic job!

Having done the Entegra PDI at the mothership it was a welcomed pleasure to have them service the coaches in place. They were VERY dog friendly as we travel with around 250 lbs of fur puppies!

We had the coach AC serviced, Aquahot boiler fluid changed, new fantastic fan for the bath, headlight unit replaced, and a few other minor items. It was a great experience.

I agree with you on the Spartan training as well. Your comments are spot on. We sent feedback to Greg Rinehart about our training experience in a separate email.

[brobox]

Nice to see two of the four top selling dealers putting service out there as is should be. The two other dealers, I have a feeling are going to be left behind constantly looking for new customers with no service after the sale. One has no facilities and the other is so over sold, appointments are not kept or the work is shoddy. Just my experience.

[tkmcdon]

Originally Posted by brobox

Nice to see two of the four top selling dealers putting service out there as is should be. The two other dealers, I have a feeling are going to be left behind constantly looking for new customers with no service after the sale. One has no facilities and the other is so over sold, appointments are not kept or the work is shoddy. Just my experience.

Would those two other dealers be Lazydays and RVOne? I would really like to know as the DW and I are hoping to join the Entegra family soon. Thanks!

[brobox]

Good guesses I can't speak personally of RVOne, but I sure can of the other one. We did not purchase from RVOne as the told us they did not have a servicing facility.

If NIRVC had been in Atlanta at the time and all the good being said about them, we would have made the drive without a doubt. From our location, Atlanta is always on the way to somewhere.

[anthem16]

Wife and I also attend MHSRV, learned alot and had a blast with all the Spartan Entegra MHSRV and all that attended the class. Good to meet all the people. Was a first class event.
Just about went to Canton TX afterwards to the flea market on the weekend. But decided to head back to North Dakota instead.

[WallyRover]

I guess by now you realize that you missed a terrible tornado there. 5 people killed. However the really good park there, Mills Creek, I think, was not touched.

[anthem16]

Yes had planned on going until the morning then just decided to head back north. Wind and snow storm in Kansas was bad enough. Can't remember the names of couple next to us was telling me about the flea market there. Sure hope they changed there mind to.