Uncooperative Dealer for Warranty work - Montana Owners Club

Montana_2005 · 04-07-2006, 05:52 AM

Long time no see all.... We were stuck workampering in the dial-up-one-terminal-for-everyone HOT PLACE for three mos, so most of my available time was wrapped up in going through email only.
I have just discovered that, in spite of making the appointment over a month ago, and detailing the issues (warranty) that we have with our 2005 3295, that Naylor RV in KC Mo. is much less than anyone would consider cooperative.
Over a month ago I called to make an appt to have several little things wrong with the trailer addressed at this dealer and then dropped it off on Monday the 3rd of April. We called yesterday to see how it was going (as we were to pick it up TODAY) and they hadn't even LOOKED at it yet! The service manager (sic) said that he would look at it and let us know what he could "get to" in the time he had.

He left a message on our phone last PM saying that he fixed the entry door that was dragging, and was going to "leave it out over night in the rain" to see about the slide leak, but that the rest of this "needs to be taken back to the selling dealer" Translation- "we didn't sell this to you, and even though we are a Keystone dealer we don't feel like honoring our commitment to the company"
I would advise everyone to avoid this place since they feel they can pick and choose what they take care of.
Huffily

Ranger Mel

sreigle · 04-07-2006, 06:04 AM

Mel, this really surprises me. We've had excellent service work, warranty and not, from Naylor RV in KCMO. But we did buy ours there so maybe that makes a difference. Is Jim still the Service Manager? I always found him excellent to work with. But, again, we did buy ours from them. I'm sorry to hear you are having a problem with them.

Montana_2005 · 04-07-2006, 07:00 AM

Hiya Steve, yes it is Jim, and the excuses we have gotten the last two days have been interesting... not the least of which is, apparantly, no one but Jim can begin work, even if it is little stuff (I saw the post by Richfaa regarding reporting even the little stuff, and I am with him... Even if it were to just send Warranty or whoever an email saying "Oh by the way, when we took delivery on, and spent a little time in our 200* Montana ####, we found the following were not correctly installed or manufactured: dead short in cargo light, Drain on Shower leaks into basement causing water damage to cargo, screws on cupboard doors over bedroom dresser were loose in sockets, causing door to pop open and break OFF in transit, slide back near desk leaks during heavier rain storms, ignitor on stove quits after only a month of use, front cargo bay door lock came apart and got lost in transit... yada yada yada... Yes, in a perfect world all that should have been found and addressed before it left the seller's lot. However! nothing about this world is perfect, and much as I love my little house, it has ISSUES. Hopefully, because of full "reporting" to whomever, the next one we buy will not.
That doesn't change the fact that I am not at all happy with getting my chain yanked by Naylor RV. I do not have the TIME nor the INCLINATION to drive 7 more hrs north, just because they don't feel like they should have to address our warranty issues. Besides, I have no SISTER in Mitchell SD to say with while my house sits another WEEK in a lot waiting for service.
Gritch grouse, grumble!
PS... I want one of those maps to fill in on line!!!!! Kevin says it only counts if we stay the night too!

richfaa · 04-07-2006, 08:15 AM

We don't think that Dealers have a "commitment" with Keystone to do their warranty work, The only committment they have with them is to sell their product.I would however give your district sale rep a call, after finding out who he is, and see if he can help you out. We have E mailed our district sales rep about issues that have been reported on this forum and we don't even have the 3400 delivered yet..We are telling him we don't want this to happen on ours and in many cases he may NOT be aware of the issues but he DOES check it out and reply. Every little bit helps. This dealer, warranty issue is one we plan to take up with Keystone as we will be long timing soon and if our 3400 breaks under warranty we need to have it fixed no matter where we are???

CountryGuy · 04-07-2006, 09:44 AM

Steve,

You may not remember, but you sent us to Naylor, to talk to Jim, he was blunt with us, would NOT look at our unit and told us, nicely, but bluntly, that warranty work does NOT pay! That they lose $$ when they do warranty work.

This goes back to the same ole thing, these babies have wheels, with which we are supposed to be able to drag them around the USA, Canada, Mexico, whereever, and if you are not within striking distance of your dealer, you are in deep doo doo.

Seems that no matter how loud we scream and protest about this RV manufacturers don't really care, if they did, they might come up with a new plan to make us happy and get us our warranty work without us having to scream, yell, cry, boo hoo, have fits and get close to strokes and cardiac arrest. It is such a shame to put people through this.

Other choice, I suppose, find a repair facility on your own, and pay. Might be easier on the nerves, eh???

Montana Sky · 04-07-2006, 10:38 AM

Well maybe it is time that we the MOC! get ahold of Keystone and let them know it is time for them to step up. Keystone needs to get their dealers back in line. I have never had a bit of trouble taking my Chevy into any GM dealership for warranty work, both the GM warranty and my extended warranty. If the auto industry can do this, I know the rv industry should be able to follow.

Joyce H · 04-07-2006, 10:54 AM

I have to step up here and say we have had no problem getting another dealership to do warranty work for us. We purchased both our units from Camper City in Buford, GA. Just this week we had a list of warranty items taken care of at TriAm in Ocala, FL. This included changing out the dreaded remote control thermostat (which we had pre approved by Keystone). They also changed the hose and shower head which had a pin hole leak in it, fixed a loose socket in our stove light bulb receptor, and researched and repaired a small leak under our shower. The staff at this dealership met us with a friendly attitude and were very helpful. We did call ahead and make an appointment. So this tells me it really depends upon the dealership. We were told when we purchased our Montanas that warranty work could be done by any authorized Montana or Thor product dealer. Perhaps we should find out from Keystone's Montana division exactly what the policy is suppose to be. It sounds like each dealership is making their own rules re warranty work.

Hemlockusa · 04-07-2006, 11:18 AM

Hi Rangermelb - I have to agree with Steve, Christa and I, however, did purchase our unit from Naylors RV. I have had two issues that were addressed immediatley and fixed the first time!! You know everyone has a bad day now and then, perhaps Jim was having one.. I think if you would have talked to the owner Mr. Barry Lawson your problems would have been discussed with you and probably resolved. Barry is a hands on owner and normally on site.., not playing golf or laying on the beach, he's there and take's care of business. I would sure get ahold of him and see if you can't resolve the problem. The way I understood things when I purchased our unit is that dealers are not required by Keystone nor obligated to work on warranty issues that are on a unit that hasn't been purchased from their business. They do however honor the warranty and work on Montana's and other Keystone products when their own customers have been helped first. It's not like major automaker's dealerships nationwide. Give Barry a call.

John Hogan

Dave e Victoria · 04-07-2006, 12:13 PM

I think Warranty is a really mixed bag. We bought our Cambridge at Burnside RV in Michigan. Tried to get some one to look at a couple of things in Albuquerque at an affiliated dealer and got no where. But since we are in AZ the folks ad Orangewood RV could not be more accomodating. Like everyone else, they seem to be over booked yet they are always cooperative.

Montana_2005 · 04-07-2006, 12:33 PM

Hi again everyone,
I Just got off the phone with Barry from Naylors.. Someone from here (Hogan... izzat you??) called him up and told him he was getting bad press in here.
He talked with me at legnth and explained part of what his situation is with service work at the moment. While I can understand sickness and the backlog having two service guys out of three down with the crud, I still feel that making an appt 6 weeks out, and then being told "no problem to get it back to you on Friday" is as good as a bond, and since they KNEW when we dropped it off, and have had it reinforced yesterday and today that we LIVE in this unit and are not simply readying it for a summer of fun on the lake, that we might have been given a bit of a prioritization. This esp. holds true as none of the issues that our trailer has are very labor or material intensive. The worst is the leak along the back of the dining room slide, it may not be doable.
You were right about Barry being a very hands on dealer, but I rather think that if I had not called Keystone to complain, and then posted my displeasure here, I wouldn't have gotten nearly so proactive a response.
Heading east to work a KOA in Ohio if we ever get our house back!

richfaa · 04-07-2006, 01:06 PM

RangermelB ...What KOA in Ohio and where???

Hemlockusa · 04-07-2006, 02:21 PM

Hi Ranger Mel... I hope that my phone call to the dealership and Barry has assisted you. I know after the fact, is a problem, but getting to the right person which has now happened should help. There are a lot of Dealers (and I know some) that even after my phone call, would not have responded or even bothered with a phone call to you.. Barry is a well orientated RV person, and does CARE... This forum is a very powerful tool and can help both fellow members and dealerships if used in the right way. Were ONE BIG FAMILY!!!!!!

Safe Travel John Hogan (aka Hemlockusa)

Montana_2005 · 04-07-2006, 04:03 PM

Yes Hemlock, it did help! Or at least I hope it did... Where "topeka area" Hemlock?
Rich, we are going to be at the Shelby/Mansfield KOA until October. I don't know how close that is to you guys.

richfaa · 04-07-2006, 04:25 PM

That would be near Willard off Rt 224.We have been there. It is about 1 hour south and west of here. Let us know when you get there and were you are in the park..There are a couple of places we like to visit in the area. Will stay in the park and visit...

gojodo · 04-08-2006, 03:21 AM

Thank you group for identifying this issue. We just bought a new 3075RL which has not been delivered yet. It sounds like I need to ask a few questions like who will do the warranty work and if they dont' who do I contact. Also, I may reconsider purchasing an extended warranty. I would guess that if this group MOC was to collectively complain to Keystone they would at least pay attention.

sreigle · 04-08-2006, 08:30 AM

We also have never had problems getting warranty work at other dealers although we only had to do this a couple of times. We're now out of warranty.

I am very disappointed in Naylor for treating you and CountryGuy that way. I am glad John called the owner and suggested you do the same. Does this mean they are now going to fix it for you?

Montana_2005 · 04-08-2006, 01:28 PM

I don't really know as of now Steve, the last official word was that someone was going to call me either last night (didn't happen) or Monday, since even though they are so horribly backed up now, they still don't run the service ccenter on Sat.
We were planning on leaving Sunday, or at the latest Monday. Went over there today and got more clothes for us, and dog food for the "kids" and it seems they have essentially done "not much that we can see". The broken door from the bedroom cabinet is now leaned against the Kitchen Slide by the door... progress?
Steve, the lady in the office said your name sounded familiar.
Rich, we should be there by Saturday, and will be there till mid Oct or later.

sreigle · 04-09-2006, 01:01 PM

Hmmm, I don't know the lady in the office. Maybe my name has been used in vain a couple of times(!)

Montana_2005 · 04-11-2006, 03:11 AM

I can't imagine anyone using your name in vain..
Well, we are picking our house up, ready or not today. They were to call yesterday AM... didn't till after 3. Then Jim was to call us back in the evening and let us know where he was at. Havent heard from him. I am SO NOT AMUSED with these people's performance.
They finally called about 9 to say it was 'ready'. We got there and found that all they had really done was replace the door in the bedroom that was broken, caulk my desk window so that it won't open now, and put a new latch on the fridge that doesn't work as well as the old broken one did.... I got in the trailer in transit today and the door to the fridge was hanging wide open. Luckily, Nothing much fell out, and the food hadn't gotten too hot.
Sigh... Kevin is going to just go ahead and fix most of the rest of the problems

richfaa · 04-19-2006, 07:54 AM

We just had lunch with a local Rv dealer and a very good friend of ours.Among other things I needed some advise on extended warranties and I actually apologized for not purchasing from him. he Is Keystone dealer but not Montana. The Challenger is his high level camper and in this blue collar area, what he can sell.He loves Keystone from the dealer point of view and here is some interesting information. On Warranty work Keystone will pay the dealer the dealer hourley rate not a flat rate like some other Manufacturers..In other words Keystone will pay what the dealer charges and the dealer likes that..However..If the dealers rate is 60.00 per hour and he charges Keystone 75.00 per hour he will be in deep do do with Keystone. With that information I wonder about some of the problems folks have been having with dealers that will not do warranty work.Could it be that they are attempting to rip off Keystone and Keystone will not pay them????? Oh also here is some good info on Extended Warranty it is called Star RV www.inds.com this dealer says they are excellent. This is also a company that does not set a flat rate and with few execptions, as mentioned above, will pay what the dealer charges. It is worth a check out.

You may also like: