Keystone wins RVDA awards...

[CADman_KS]

Just saw this in a email from Keystone:

Keystone RV is honored to have received seven Quality Circle Awards from the RV Dealer's Association — leading the pack with the most awards to a single manufacturer! Alpine, Avalanche, Cougar, Montana, Montana High Country, Raptor & Carbon were all recognized by dealers for their excellence in quality, parts, warranty, & sales. Read up on the RVDA article here.

The intent here is not to turn this into a bashing any RV maker, but we hear a lot about how "bad" it is with Keystone, and then Keystone wins more awards than anyone else. With that being said, almost every manufacturer was given some honor, with the exception of Jayco, which I find interesting as well.

Here's what they were being judged on:

When rating their brands/manufacturers, RVDA asks dealers to express, confidentially, their level of satisfaction on four core issues:

• Reliability/quality
• Parts
• Warranty
• Sales

Apparently, when we're complaining to dealers about the poor quality on Keystones, the dealers aren't relaying that information back to corporate, and/or dealers are lying when they fill out these surveys. I would think that dealers would have no need to be untruthful on surveys like this.

With all of the struggles, it just seems odd that there are this many manufacturers (not just Keystone) that are recognized...

Interesting....

[mlh]

Isn’t it wonderful they won an award for quality and leading the pack. WOW.
Lynwood

[Montana Man]

Two things come to mind. First, I don't recall ever having been asked my opinion as a consumer so who is making statements on my behalf? Second, apparently there is no standard of quality to be met. Perhaps the ratings are based upon the relevant responses at the time.

[CADman_KS]

Originally Posted by Montana Man

Two things come to mind. First, I don't recall ever having been asked my opinion as a consumer so who is making statements on my behalf? Second, apparently there is no standard of quality to be met. Perhaps the ratings are based upon the relevant responses at the time.

Important distinction there. These were responses from DEALERS. BUT, even still, any dealer that has had issues should have been pretty vocal in these surveys. As a dealer I wouldn't want to be giving the impression that this product was fabulous, because I would know that I would have to deal with the traffic in my shop...

[1retired06]

Most dealers only care about selling product. The exceptional ones would have the concerns you expressed.

[jsb5717]

If it's a level playing field and Keystone is truthfully leading the pack in quality, then what does that say about the other players?

[WeBeFulltime]

Originally Posted by Montana Man

Two things come to mind. First, I don't recall ever having been asked my opinion as a consumer so who is making statements on my behalf? Second, apparently there is no standard of quality to be met. Perhaps the ratings are based upon the relevant responses at the time.

And Keystone's competition must be pretty ROTTEN!

[Superchief05]

I am late to the Montana brand. I was looking at Grand Design and Alliance based on online reviews. However, as of late I have read about QA horror stories on both brands and I thought that GD was overpriced based on their reputation, which is why I purchased a ‘21 Montana HC. I have to say that after a week shakedown, I don’t have any major issues, but I will keep inspecting. My cousin, however, purchased a new GD Solitude and it showed up at the dealer with a bum fridge. After replacing that, they took it home and the first weekend the coach filled with water due to a bad seam in the roof/wall. Maybe I got lucky but I am impressed with the quality of all the montanas I looked at.