warranty work and submission process

[Juiceman]

We purchased our GD in another state far from home for various reasons, but mostly because our closest GD dealer would not order a new unit for us.

Now, we are heading home and have some open warranty tickets from GD on some items. I called the local GD dealer and the service manager told me they would not submit any warranty claims or do any warranty work for units they did not sell. I said that the selling dealer had submitted the case and they would transfer it to this local dealer. They would do the work, but GD would have to reimburse me for it directly.

Is this a common practice/game in the industry?

[geotex1]

It is a common headache in the camper industry - definitely. So much so, that I had established great relationships in the ranks of each manufacturer we've owned so I could handle most everything myself. DIY is a very common trait in long-time owners!

Let me suggest you find a good mobile RV repair tech for anything you can't DIY. I found a fantastic one who reps for every RV appliance maker, awning producer, etc., and that's made it very easy to get those sorted - we had our Dometic 15K A/C replaced under warranty 5 times on our last camper, and the Solera awning twice. He handled everything with those.

GD is reportedly good about helping owners find local support. I haven't had need yet as everything from PDI issues and shakedown failures has been rapidly handled through my dealer. Granted it was sending the items to me and I did the R&R, but I prefer that anyway over interrupting plans to schedule service.

Give GD a call.

[boyscout]

I called the local GD dealer and the service manager told me they would not submit any warranty claims or do any warranty work for units they did not sell.

I've encountered this myself and seen reports of it here and elsewhere. If we use our trailers to travel any distance away from our dealers, we can't rely on getting warranty service from other dealers.

The issues that you've had in your first few hundred miles, were those problems with things that were checked in the exhaustive Pre-Delivery Inspection that all Grand Design dealers complete before handing over the trailer to you? <nasty sneer> Hint: it seems that more than a few dealers don't do much or any PDI.

Call Grand Design first. Let them know what are the issues, and of course let them know of their local dealer's refusal to work on your trailer.

You can ask GD if they can recommend a local technician to do the work. I've found that they don't have an exhaustive nationwide list of them, but they might be able to recommend someone in your area. If not, find one yourself.

Grand Design will require you to get a written estimate for the work before they will authorize you to have it done by the local tech.

When they authorize the work you can try negotiating with the local tech to bill Grand Design for it but at least some of them won't agree to that. Pay them yourself and Grand Design will reimburse you within a few weeks.

Good luck.

[[email protected]]

One thing that really made Grand Design a hit with us was that they were willing to send me parts when I could do the work myself. Being full-timers, that was a MAJOR plus! We only had to have the dealer do one item for us, a repair to fix a leak under the bedroom slideout. I don't have a forklift or anything for that type of repair, and we were at the mercy of the dealer on that one. The dealer screwed up in a number of areas (ordering the parts, the schedule, etc.), but Grand Design overnighted parts to them and we were only out of the trailer for a few nights. Thankfully, the repair worked.

We even had a leak on one of the cargo doors. JD at Grand Design shipped a new door to me. Remove about 12 screws, 15-30 minutes to cleanup the old sealant, add some new sealant, and about 5 minutes to put the new door in and re-install the screws, and the repair was done and it's never leaked again.

Their willingness to ship parts and let me do the work was fantastic!

[J&J___]

We purchased our GD in another state far from home for various reasons, but mostly because our closest GD dealer would not order a new unit for us.

Now, we are heading home and have some open warranty tickets from GD on some items. I called the local GD dealer and the service manager told me they would not submit any warranty claims or do any warranty work for units they did not sell. I said that the selling dealer had submitted the case and they would transfer it to this local dealer. They would do the work, but GD would have to reimburse me for it directly.

Is this a common practice/game in the industry?

I talked to a dealer the other day that only does one warranty claim a month for units that they did not sell but they were happy to sell me a replacment for the burnt out light that I needed on my two month old Reflection 337. Crazy.

[livinthelife]

One thing that really made Grand Design a hit with us was that they were willing to send me parts when I could do the work myself. ...

Their willingness to ship parts and let me do the work was fantastic!

This is not the norm. Every time we've needed to get a replacement part, we were told "order it through a dealer".

[arhayes]

This is not the norm. Every time we've needed to get a replacement part, we were told "order it through a dealer".

My experience under warranty was as the other poster said. In fact I had a broken spring while 2 years out of warranty, called to find out who to order it from and GD overnighted one 2 me at their expense to get me down the road. True on normal parts needs they will require you to use the local dealer. Definitely not convenient for full-timers, but we are a breed apart.


Alan

[sande005]

I was well out of warranty, and said so when I called GD about my thermostat going wonky. I just wanted to confirm the model number to order from Dometic. GD sent me the entire kit-n-kaboodle, at no charge.

[Juiceman]

Great information from all of you on this topic. I am afraid that I am on my own, lucky that I am pretty handy for the simple stuff. Home is 120 miles to the dealer who does not work with non-customers. I will look for a local mobile person, but I am not hopeful as this is pretty rural area.

[boyscout]

Great information from all of you on this topic. I am afraid that I am on my own, lucky that I am pretty handy for the simple stuff. Home is 120 miles to the dealer who does not work with non-customers. I will look for a local mobile person, but I am not hopeful as this is pretty rural area.

If you're handy and willing to look after warranty repairs yourself GD will *happily* ship the required parts to you despite what @livinthelife says above. Ask me how I know.

Good luck.