Warranty Work Taking Several Weeks

gws154

gws154

Advanced Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2014
Messages
43
Location
Enfield, New York
I took my 2015 Solitude 369RL to the local dealer, from where the unit was purchased, with a punch list of twelve warranty items for their attention. It has taken about four weeks for the dealer to order the necessary replacement parts, and who knows how long it will take to receive the parts and do the actual work. My question is, has anyone experienced warranty service by taking their unit back to the factory? Is that an option? I'm getting incredibly frustrated by my dealership, and I now regret purchasing from them. I still love my Solitude, and hope to see it again some day. Any help would be appreciated.
 
That's a tough call as the only time that the dealer is busier than now is the spring when everyone what their camper ready go camping. That's one of the reasons that I'll fix most things myself including having GD send me parts. Some will say 'that's not right...it's under warranty' but I'd rather have it available to camp instead of sitting in a dealer's lot. As far as getting it fixed at the factory, I think you'll find them just as busy as any dealer but the advantage would be close access to parts.

Dave
 
I don't know, but 4 weeks sounds like a long time unless there were some major repairs required. What about the "Pledge" (see link) that GD made a big deal of. Does it only apply to "traveling" campers? The most common excuse many of us hear when a dealer has had our rig for weeks on end is "I'm still waiting for authorization to do the repairs" or "I ordered the parts weeks ago and still haven't received them". I agree with Dave. It's often way easier to just DIY rather than to listen to what often seem to be lame excuses. Don't get me wrong. I think Grand Design is by far the best company and product out there, BUT, I also think that there is a serious lack of Dealer accountability
http://www.rvbusiness.com/2014/10/grand-design-rv-implementing-owners-pledge-2/
 
Andy . . . well said.

GD is being totally reactive rather than proactive WRT preventative maintenance and information for DIY.
For example, when I roll in my slides, I can see slight depressions in the flooring where the traveling rollers are.
Given the floor damage encountered by others, I asked GD by email what I could do to adjust to prevent damage.
Their response is that I should schedule a service visit with my selling dealer. I am 2000 miles from my selling dealer.
This is obviously not an "emergency" need that fits their dealer pledge.
So . . . either I will figure this out myself or the floor will get damaged and GD will spend a lot of money fixing this under warranty.
Doesn't seem like the best solution for either of us . . .

Rob
 
The 'Pledge' says priority servicing for travelling GD owners...doesn't seem to limit work to emergency only, though in practice I suspect that's the case.

Dave
 
The dealerships ARE the weak link in GD's quality assurance. I refuse to take my rig to the dealer unless there is no physical way I can perform the repairs myself. I'm an engineer and I've been involved in manufacturing for over 30 years, so there's not much I can't tackle. My dealership (Lazydays) is inept, non-responsive and unprofessional. They lied to me, and did more damage than they fixed. I painfully learned my lesson the one and only time I took it in for service. I gave the dealership a very detailed list of what needed to be fixed. They told me it was all taken care of and I could pick up the 337. When I picked it up, less than half of the scheduled work had actually been performed. I had to repair the problems such as electrical outlets falling out myself. To top it off, they damaged the interior of the rig by getting ink on the walls and then tried to remove it with bleach. One of the interior panels will never look right again, and will cause a loss if and when I trade the unit in.

To top it off, it's very frustrating when you need a part for warranty work, GD responds that you can only get the parts from the dealership. I'm saving GD a ton of money when I do the repairs myself, and the least they could do is ship the parts directly to me so I don't have to deal with the delays and bureaucracy of the dealer.

Am I frustrated? Yes, and the more I hear about pathetic dealerships, the more frustrated I become. I know I need some warranty work, but I'm dreading taking the rig back to the dealer so they can get their grubby hands onto it.

GD, the dealerships are your WEAK LINK. What do you plan to do about it?

Jim
 
So . . . we rolled into the Lazy Days campground near Tampa, thinking that we could talk to them about a couple of concerns.
(Apparently they are the largest GD dealer) Nothing we have is "urgent" . . . grey tank capacity and potential floor damage.
This is an amazing 200 bay service facility . . . I've never seen anything like this !
Our choices were to "declare an emergency situation" . . . which this is clearly not . . . or schedule an appointment . . . for March.
As GD RV owners, we are all trying to protect our own situations. Tires/floors/tank capacities/ride height/etc.
GD could leverage DIY by making service information much more available. They are choosing not to do this.

Rob
 
Thank you all for your thoughts. The "we're still waiting for authorization" and "the parts aren't here yet" have been combined with "there's a glitch in the Grand Design system" at my dealership. I suppose that I need to remember that the bar is set very, very low in the industry.
A local dealer that sells brands other than GD had always treated me well when I had a Fleetwood product. Once my warranty period is over, I'll use them when practical.
Thanks again one an all, for the great input!
 
Tucson Jim and others--as Melissa Francis on Fox Business says, “it’s always about money”……..she may be right.

Back in July of this year we were told by our local dealer that he would not complete warranty work on our RV until January of 2015........6 months ……really ? Since we have known him for many years, he has always been and was quite open and candid in his feedback. He shared what seems to be a fairly common response that since we did not buy the RV from him, our warranty service unless critical will not be a priority……..but 6 months ? He went on to share that since warranty work (all manufacturers) does not pay enough to cover his service department costs, it is a low priority vs completing other higher paying work unless he sold the RV where his profit helps to offset the deficiency.

Our situation may have also been the first one for GDRV warranty dealing with us as second owners having purchased a used 303 directly from the original owner 400 miles from our home. We wanted to buy from our local dealer but obviously could not. We were ready to buy a new 337 from our local dealer but the deal on the 303 with all the dealer installed options and hitch included was too good to pass up. Having a RV industry first as I understand it, for GDRV to have a transferable one year warranty is huge but only if you can get a non selling dealer to work on it in a reasonable timeframe. As an aside, we did spend nearly $1000 with our local GDRV dealer buying from them and having them install hitch custom bed and frame rails and wiring, but apparently that did not account for enough profit to offset completing warranty work in a reasonable timeframe.

The auto industry used to have similar challenges but in the last decade or so auto dealers are more than happy to complete warranty work in a timely manner no matter whether they sold the vehicle or not. Our local GDRV dealer said this is because the auto industry has changed the business model to pay dealers enough to cover their warranty work service costs and of course we as consumers pay for that. If his feedback is correct, is that the easy answer for the RV industry to charge more for the product so owners receive timely and good service no matter where they bought the RV. If the auto dealership still operates under the old school culture that if you did not buy from us don’t expect priority service, that’s another issue that should not exist and needs to be rectified.

Waiting months for any service and/or getting poor service is unacceptable. For us, the solution for our warranty work to be completed in a reasonable timeframe and working with the superior GDRV customer service team, I identified another local non GDRV dealer who was more than accommodating to handle our warranty work and GDRV said go for it. Two weeks later we had our RV in for warranty work and the dealer working with GDRV customer service got things done and done well. Incidentally, the service department manager and dealership owner were most impressed with the GDRV product………go figure !!!

We as owners need to share feedback (not to chastise dealers/others) but to learn why things are the way they are and then have the industry/dealers/owners work towards mutual solutions. My hats off to Chris our site owner for the true mission of this site to share information to ultimately improve the RV experience and product.

Dan
 
Oh gosh, my gut gets tied up in a knot when I read these threads. I so much want GD to become a leader in the industry and yet the gray cloud on the horizon seems to be appearing too soon. Let me say that I had the same hopes for a new "start-up" company several years ago. I won't mention their name, but their initials are Crossroads RV. They came with product innovations, customer care/response beyond reproach, dealer agreements to service end users regardless of seller, etc etc. We developed a "relationship" personally after I purchased a Cruiser 28CK. They were as open minded as Jayco, Inc. folks. We exchanged thoughts, design plans, construction build plans, etc. and they made changes when warranted.

Fast forward to not so long ago ...... C RV became a product name on a corporate wallboard instead of a privately owned company. Business philosophy changed, workmanship guarantees changed, employment compensation changed, and customer care changed. No longer can anyone call and ask to speak with R.M. (a person - initials only). No longer will ideas from customers be entertained. Slow forward to last year .... I was searching for 4 corner caps for the rear corners of the 28CK. Knowing I was required to go through a dealer for parts I called my dealer, who told me the parts were not available. So I called 3 more dealers and received the same answer; thus I called "Customer Assistance" at C RV, explained exactly what I was looking for and that I had already called four (that's 4) dealers. The nice lady on the phone advised me to call a dealer ! So I explained the situation again. Her response was, "I can't help you, you'll have to call a dealer."

Time for the supervisor! Politely I explained to him my dilemma and his response was the same as the lady before him. My patience wore thin and I asked what it was about being told 4 dealers had already said they could not help did he not understand?! His retort was to ask who I called (as though I was lying); thus I gave him names, phone numbers, and addresses. Finally he advised the company that made the part was no longer in business and C RV had no idea where to get any replacements.

Next I found a Crossroads RV dealer in Knoxville, TN (who happened to be a GD dealer also) and I called them out of desperation. Spoke with the parts mgr. and although he did not have the part, he knew what I was looking for and he went out onto their lot looking for other mfg's that use the same or similar piece. He called me and advised that a new company - Grand Design uses a very similar piece; however, since he could not give GD a serial number of a unit that needed the piece, he could not get it. Now - this was a man that had/has never met me, has never sold me anything, nor has the dealership where he worked; however, he is someone that apparently has the same philosophy that I do ..... help someone when they need help ! That made me look at Grand Design.

Fast forward again to today. Grand Design owners talk the talk, but the walk appears to be slowing. There have been several recurring/multiple occurrences with defective components. So far the solution to all but one has been to wait until the end user complains, then GD will "react". Sometimes the "reaction" is to give the end-user a phone number and have the end-user call the component mfg. Now I AM an RV capable "rebuilder", but on a new unit; that is probably the last answer I want to hear !! Reason: I did not buy the component from the mfg, I bought an RV from Grand Design. Grand Design purchased the components as they saw fit for whatever reason and Grand Design is the responsible party to me. When I buy a component from the mfg that's when they will be my contact.

I'm hoping GD's business philosophy will turn around sooner than later. Yes, they have "reacted" well and faithfully so far, but as any military strategist or sports coach knows - wars/games/business success are not won by reactionary forces, winning is the result of strong leadership with a strong offensive game plan. Come on Don, Ron, and Bill ..... step up, show what you're made of. What we want is an Issue with One in a Thousand RV's, not an Issue in every One Thousand RV's.

Dealers are often given the blame, but truth be told; the dealer should not be required to correct construction problems before a sale is possible, only clean the bugs off because there are no problems. That defines "Quality" for RV's. IMO.

Sorry for the rant. I am basically pleased with my Reflection 303RLS. It has some issues that I will not air at this time because I'm giving GD a chance to figure out what went wrong. I want to see Grand Design building and selling quality products for many years to come. Hopefully they listen to their customers .... the end-user. We are the ones that make the paychecks at GD possible. We want to keep funding those checks.

R. Kaiser
 
This is a thread that I hope Grand Design management/ownership gets to see. I believe it reflects the sentiment of so many RV owners that it should not be ignored.

Chris, If there is a way this thread can be made visible to those at GD that should see it, I for one would appreciate it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Andy & Julie
 
Some good, cogent thoughts here. Would hope to see a candid response from GDRV management/owners.

I guess I've been lucky to not have a repair issue that kept me from using the 5W. Just nuisance stuff that needed to be fixed.
Some I have taken care of myself (blown fuses, tightening water connections/leaks, fixing some loose trim, etc.)
I have had it in to the dealer twice. They are 75 miles away. I had to wait 30 days each time to get an appointment, but they
only kept it 2-3 days each time. My last call to the dealer, they said I would have to wait until Jan to do some things and March
for the others because they involved de-winterizing the plumbing in order to fix. The most critical one for me was getting the
fireplace repaired. Dealer suggested I pull the fireplace out and just bring that in. That saved me a bunch of time AND FUEL.

Every time I get a customer satisfaction survey from the dealer I tell them they need to shorten their wait times.

I remain optimistic, but I do hope everything that is gonna fail does so soon and while still under warranty.
Then I won't hesitate to take it to my local place where the wait times are much shorter.

This forum is terrific for giving us a heads-up on common failures to keep an eye out for.
The strap for the propane line under the kitchen slide that breaks is a perfect example. I would not have noticed
that mine was failing until it broke completely if I had not been keeping an eye on it.

K
 
I made an appointment for Nov 4. I had wheel grease seals leaking. They checked and found the right front leaking and the right rear had leaked the grease in the brake drums. I called the over a week ago and they said Grand Design sent the wrong parts. So over three weeks and no RV. Don
 
Hi Everyone:

Darn, I really hate reading these comments. I'm so proud of what we are doing at Grand Design and I truly feel we are raising the bar on quality and customer service. However, these are real issues that we need to hear about and understand so we can get better. I really appreciate the feedback and I assure you all that we will be looking into how we can improve. We will also respond with some specific items that we have addressed or will be addressing. It's late Wednesday and tomorrow is Thanksgiving so it may be next week before we can reply properly.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and please have patience and keep the faith in Grand a Design RV.

Sincerely,

Bill Fenech
Co-Owner
 
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