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Old 06-26-2010, 03:40 PM   #1
dpam
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Some Keystone Dealers not supporting Warranty

There are no Keystone Dealers that sell new Montana product in Calgary Alberta (1 million + population). There is one Montana dealer approximately 50 miles away, but they were not willing to negotiate a price, so we bought our 3150RL in British Columbia at a dealer 400 miles away. We had our rear day/nite shades fall off the wall when the screws came out of the wall, so I called Keystone Customer Service and they provided me a list of Keystone Dealers in Calgary. Keystone stated the even though the Keystone Dealers don't sell the Montana product they can still provide warranty service. I contacted 4 larger dealers out of a list of 6 dealers that were within 14 miles. One out of the four told me they will provide warranty service, but gave me a service date 6 weeks into the future. Two told me they only provide warranty service for trailers they sell. I called the 4th dealer called Field of RV Dreams (Keystone Dealer) and they stated they will provide warranty service and we made an appointment for 5 days later. When I took the 3150 RL to the Field of RV Dreams dealer for the work the Service Department said their owner stated they are not to provide warranty service for a trailer they do not sell. After driving 14 miles to get to the dealer I wanted to get the day/nite shades re-installed so that we can use our Monty. They agreed to do the repair after they charged my Visa $62.00. So in other words they will not honour the Montana warranty because I didn't buy the Monty there (they don't sell the Montana product), but they were willing to do the repair if I paid for it even though they are a Keystone Dealer. I called Keystone to make them aware of this issue, and a great Customer Service person told me to send in the work order and copy of the receipt and they will reimbursement the repair cost. Guess where I will not be buying our next 5th wheel, and since the Field of RV Dreams is lacking business ethics it is my suggestion that all Canadians avoid going to shop at the Field of RV Dreams.
 
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Old 06-26-2010, 04:36 PM   #2
rames14
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Dave -
Welcome to the world of RV service. We found out the hard way that RV dealers do not have to service what they don't sell. We moved from Illinois to Wisconsin and needed some cosmetic work done. The local dealer said they would get back to me if they wanted to service my unit. I ended up buying my next unit from them. I don't want to have to drive that distance for service. We found out that dealers don't always get reimbursed for all of the service work. They kept records and found on average they spend $1100 per unit for work they perform that they don't get reimbursed for in the end. After we sat down and discussed it, I understood their point. Also, if they staff to service the units they sell, they can better predict how much staff they need. Did I pay more to buy locally? A little. Do I have good service locally? Yes. By the way, most dealers will take care of a traveler on the road with problems of an emergency nature. Best of luck with your unit in the future.
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Old 06-26-2010, 07:07 PM   #3
dpam
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Ron, I don't disagree with your point of view. If a local dealer sold 5th wheels that we wanted...yes we most likely would have bought there even if we had to pay a little more, but in our case we wanted a Monty and no dealers in Calgary sold the product. I still don't understand some RV Dealers mentality. For example look at the auto/truck industry. Just about all car/truck dealerships are happy to provide warranty and service to a vehicle that was not bought there, because they know they will get paid by the manufacturer. They also know that if they provide you excellent service you will buy your parts there, and if you have an extended warranty they will get your service business for many years. Also, if they provide you excellent service you most likely will buy your next vehicle from them. My point of view is that maybe some RV Dealers need to get past the issue of not getting a sale, and think in terms of all the service revenue they will have a shot at, and maybe a new sale. If they thought in terms of new opportunities maybe a lot of them wouldn't have gone out of business.
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Old 06-27-2010, 05:23 AM   #4
CamillaMichael
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I sure can't speak for Ron, but I think what he is saying regarding warranty service is that manufacturers do not always give the dealer a fair shake. I know this has happened to a couple of dealers I have worked with...even when they got reimbursed, the rate was not very good. I believe the bottom line is that there are some structural problems within the RV industry relative to product quality control and service after the sale. Since I have very few of the answers, I do not know how to fix the problem, other than take care of my rig as best as I can, and to be reasonable with the dealer/manufacturer when dealing with problems.
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Old 06-27-2010, 05:41 AM   #5
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Dave -
I agree with you, but got caught in the same trap. Fortunately for us, we did have a local dealer - sort of. We wanted a Big Sky and our dealer wasn't a Big Sky dealer. The sale almost got cancelled at the last minute. As Camilla said, it's an industry problem. I don't know how to make it change either, but it is a problem. Fortunately, once you get some of the early hour issues fixed, they are very reliable. Best of luck.
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Old 06-27-2010, 02:54 PM   #6
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Dave
We were very concerned about warrenty or other repairs as we are going to be fulltiming stating Aug 16th. The dealer we bought from is a route 66 dealer and there are approximately 150 of them across the US, this is a dealer organnization that the dealers have to be invited into. The criteria that they have is that they have to treat customers with respect and fairly, and trrat any Route 66 dealer customer as if you bought the unit from them, in addition you receive a membership card that you receive a 10% discount on parts and accessaries. Incidentaly our dealer (Greenway RV) had the best price.

Bill and Laurie
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Old 06-27-2010, 11:20 PM   #7
KardRV
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I'd have to agree with the posts I've seen. We purchased our 5er in Virginia and brought it back home in Connecticut, because the selling price was much better than out local dealer would negotiate. The issue we have now is the local dealer won't even call me back to schedule an appointment for anything, because we didn't purchase the rv from their dealership. I haven't had any reasons to bring my rv in for service, as my issues have been solved with the help of the MOC. But I can already see there will be an issue when I do need service, and it will be Keystone dealing with my local dealer. I can only hope that the industry will look into some of the issues we the customer are having when it comes to work on our units.
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Old 06-28-2010, 04:04 AM   #8
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We like many others travel a lot and really have no local dealer. Thus far we have had no problem with a Keystone or a Montana/Keystone dealer doing warranty work on our 3400.
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Old 06-28-2010, 04:10 AM   #9
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I can't blame the local dealer. My dealer tells me that he has seen several customers who went 200 miles away and bought a Montana for $500 dollars less but they've found out that the place where they bought it was too far away to be running to for warranty work. So they want their warranty work done by the local dealer. The local dealer will do the work but the customer goes to the bottom of the list priority wise.

I'm one of those who is much more willing to pay for good service than to get a rig for less cost. My unit is over 10 years old and when I come to town they get me in right away. Doesn't it make sense to pay for service?

Orv
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Old 06-29-2010, 07:53 AM   #10
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This brings up a good point about service. And, we can offer up yet another perspective.....when we bought our first trailer from Curtis Trailers in Portland (Hillsboro), it was a Cougar. Wonderful salesman, great people. Then, we decided to upgrade, and after much "knashing of teeth" we decided on the 3400. Unfortunately, Curtis, while a Keystone dealer, did not sell the Monty. So, down the road we went to Holiday RV. Good people, fair service. Then, 9 months later, they went out of business. I went back to Curtis, saw our salesman from the previous Cougar purchase, and talked to him. He said no problem. We were considered good customers and they'd take care of us. Side note, Curtis picked up the Montana franchise for the area after Holiday went out of business. So, we're back where we started out, and they are treating us just like "family." The service writers are a husband and wife team, and are great to work with. They are dealing with a warranty issue for us right now with the fridge (Dometic) and are going the extra mile for us. Couldn't ask for better. If/when we ever buy another unit, it will be from Curtis Trailers. Of course, after this "promo" I'm going to have to bug the salesman for a "royalty check"......!!!
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Old 06-29-2010, 09:21 AM   #11
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The other side of the coin is you really do not have to service something you don't sell!! If you cut the corners like qualified employees, not doing warranty work, and by the way there are no standards for warranty payments to the dealer.
I think the comment about you get what you pay for is right on the money. I got a real good deal but service from selling dealer was lousy, all the things the service manager said they did was not done, but Montana and Keystone did take care of it in the end. They did give me a list of dealers to go to.
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