Originally posted by Richand Cindy
Dave. While it sounds as a no brainer not to turn
away warranty work it is done quite often. Some dealers hourly rates
are higher than what FR will pay them. So according to these dealers
they lose money on warranty work. But of course they want to keep their
customers happy and do the work. But for an outsider driving onto the
lot and asking for warranty work there is a big risk they will be turned
down and FR will say nothing to that dealer if he did not sell it. My
closest RPOD dealer said he will not do any warranty work because he has
too much work for his own customers so I had to look elsewhere. Also
that is why many people report having to pay for warranty work. They
are paying the difference between what the dealer wants to charge and
what FR will reimburse the dealer. Keystone brand is worse, they pay
dealers the least. Just a fact of RV life. So it is better to know in
advance so one can decide if it is worth it to save money not buying
locally
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Rich,
I'm sure your right that there are some dealers that TRY their best to turn away warranty work...but there are some problems with that for the dealer not you!
First, you are covered by the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act
which is a Federal law that applies in all States whether you are buying a car
or an RV camper trailer. If the manufacture sells a product with a written
warranty then they and their dealer’s must follow this law. You can get your
Forest River product, ie R-Pod, serviced at ANY of their over 2400 Authorized
Forest River Service Centers in the U.S. and Canada that perform warranty
service by just calling in the U.S. 888-417-8299 or Canada 513-863-7000 to find
your nearest service center. Since there are over 2400 service location that
preform warranty work what do you want to bet your nearest Forest River R-Pod
dealer is an authorized service location? If you take your R-Pod into an
authorized service location and they do not preform the warranty work authorized
by Forest River in a reasonable time again call Forest River about your problem
and I’d be very surprised if this dealer continues to delay working on your
R-Pod. Because this action by the dealer can not only be a violation of the Magnuson-Moss
act but also applicable State warranty and Lemon laws in the State your camper
is licensed. Remember these manufactures and especially their dealers don’t
want or need pissed of consumers who are contacting Federal and State
regulators and worse spreading complains against such all over the internet. As
for a dealer not wanting to do a warranty repair to a RV or what ever because
they are not being reimbursed by the manufacture of the product they sell for
as much as they charge for non-warranty work. Then all I and the Law have to
say about that is too bad that is NOT the consumer, your, problem period!
Now I am sure there are R-Pod dealers that will tell you
that they will not preform warranty service your camper that you need to take
it back to where you bought it from for this warranty work. These same unscrupulous
dealers are counting on you first not knowing the laws and second not calling
Forest River to make sure they are an authorized warranty repair shop. I will bet if your local dealer is selling lots of R-Pods and other Forest
River products they are an authorized service center and if in doubt just a
quick phone call to Forest River can confirm. Now as to why your local dealer
is selling a camper two or three thousand of dollars more then what you can buy
from a distant dealer. It’s all a matter of the dealership owner business practices
of either selling a few and maximizing mark up prices or selling many campers
and there for lowering the mark up profit they make on each sale. Most dealer
will not negotiate the sales price much if at all and why is that? It's because they don’t
expect you to dive three hours much less three states away to buy a camper!
They also have no problem lying to you if you buy elsewhere you can’t get warranty
service here even though they are an authorized Forest River service center
because they never think you’ll check it out.