Some Observations on RV Service
(Revised 02/2016)
Just the thought of taking an RV in for a service appointment is enough to make the hardiest of RV owners shudder. Take your car in for service, and very often you can wait in the lounge, enjoy the newspaper and a cup of coffee, and with a modicum of luck your repairs are soon made and your on your way again.. Not so with the RV service appointment, which is all so often measured not in hours, but in days. And some will tell you stories of weeks.
No doubt dealers and service centers are responsible for their fair share of these delays, miscommunications, unordered parts, and fixes which don't stay fixed. But in fairness let's keep in mind these folks are dealing with complicated machines. It's more than just a chassis and a "house". It's a house on wheels which shakes, rattles and rolls for tens of thousands of miles over all types of terrain in all climatic conditions. It is a dizzying and complex assembly of component parts manufactured by hundreds of different companies, and assembled by the manufacturer into the final product we recognize as our ticket to the RVing lifestyle. Neither cars nor houses are a fair comparison. Let's face it: We wanted more goodies, more gadgets, and more amenities. We wanted bigger units. We wanted units that have rooms which slide in and out to give us more living space. And we wanted smaller "go anywhere" units which still offered all the amenities available in bigger rigs. While some manufacturers were able to respond with offerings which have proved more reliable than others, no doubt all were trying to produce what they perceived we -- the "market" -- wanted; and at a price we'd be willing to pay.
Let us repeat lest we be misunderstood: None of this is an excuse for the lack of quality control in the manufacture of units, or justifies a lack of competence in providing professional service and repairs. However, after a year of full time living on the road, and our fair share of service appointments, we've concluded the issue of RV service is very much a two way street. While we have not compromised our level of expectation of what a professionally managed service experience should be, we've seen enough to appreciate that RVers often are unwitting contributors to what turns out to be an unsatisfactory service experience. And when that happens, we're quick to blame the dealer or service center for an unhappy event. Unfortunately we're slow to acknowledge that in some cases we've been one of the causes of what turned out to be an exceptionally frustrating happening.
While no RV owner can take steps that will guarantee a satisfactory service appointment, there are several things we can do which can significantly improve the odds. And by doing so we not only help ourselves, but every other RVer who who is also getting service that day. Let's have a look at what some of these things are:
- Perhaps one of the most crucial matters has already occured by the time we arrive for our appointment. Usually we've called in to make an appointment, and described the item or items which need to be fixed. When we pull into the service shop, the service advisor -- who will be responsible for a number of owner's rigs during that same day -- has the list in hand. All too often we find ourselves, with hindsight perhaps, thinking up a number of additional items that we want looked at during this visit. Without prior warning that list of 3 items grows to 6 or 8. The service writer, whose time fwas allocated on the basis of the list we first called in, is suddenly "behind" -- and all the other RV owners who have appointments that day are likely to be delayed as well. Moreover, by doubling the size of items to be fixed that day, we're likely doubling our claim on available service technician time -- again causing a delay for everyone else who's in the shop that day. The service department will surely get the blame for all the delays, but guess who helped create them!
- A related problem is that by belatedly adding new items during the service check in process, we create the risk that needed parts may not be available. This is an almost sure fire guarantee of a delay of at least a day or more while the parts are located, and arrangements are made to get them shipped in as quickly as possible. Again we see fretting owners, who may have only themselves to blame for this avoidable interruption in travel plans.
- Another issue, according to service advisors with whom we've discussed this matter, is the tendency of so many of us to stray from the essential facts when we're attempting to describe the problems we want fixed. We challenge the service advisor to sort through the mass of "facts" which we supply to find those few material ones which will determine how the service center will solve our problems. They really don't care what town we were in when the problem was noticed; what restaurant we were parked next to; or what the weather was like. They also don't want to focus on our diagnosis of what's wrong. They just want to know what doesn't work properly, and under what conditions the problem has been detected. Service advisors report that some of us will talk for a full half hour without reaching the issue of precisely doesn't work. Someone is paying for all this lost time. And guess who it is -- it's all of us who are now paying higher hourly rates in the service departments.
- One issue which we've seen time and again firsthand is the lack of effective communications. Typically we call someone who schedules appointments and describe our problems. That person "translates" what we've said to a written list that goes to the service advisor. The service advisor discusses these matters with us, makes a few notes, and now this "updated" written description goes to the service techs -- the guys with the wrenches. There are many opportunities between our first call to the scheduler, and what the service techs finally sees on the list, for communications to be far less than perfect. We found that by writing the problems down the way we experienced them, and then faxing or emailing them to the service scheduler, our version of what was wrong had a better chance of making it onto the initial list that went to the service advisor. We always made a copy of that written description to hand to the service advisor. This is because the scheduler with whom we'd first spoken may have omitted one or more key facts when writing down what we had said when first calling to make the appointment. Probably the best process we experienced was at the Country Coach service center. There everyone has access to email, and we could make our initial appointment request with a writing which accurately described the items we wanted to have repaired or adjusted. If new items needed to be added, we did so by email in advance of our visit. On the day of the appointment, after we'd reviewed our list of items with the service advisor, and provided a copy of the list we'd emailed the scheduler, he called in the service tech "team leader" who would be doing the actual work on our coach. Yes, it took another 5 or 10 minutes to review the list once again, but absolutely nothing was missing from either our request or our description of what wasn't working properly. The communication here had been as good as it could possibly have been.
- Finally, we'd note that as RV owners we have a legitimate expectation of competent, efficient service when we take our rigs into the shop for repairs or maintenance. However, our expectations should also be fair and reasonable. Sure we want to get the work done and be on our way as soon as possible. But is it reasonable to anticipate that a service center is going to stop work on everything else to get us "out the door first"? We think not. And most of us have unfortunately seen examples of RVers whose demands were excessive, complaints unreasonably vocal, and expectations unrealistic.
We'd like to end where we started: RVers should indeed be able to expect competent and efficient service at fair prices. Too often we find these standards are not met. And many of the factors which result in unsatisfactory service experiences are beyond our control. However, there are other factors which we can control; and which can significantly improve the odds of our having a positive service experience. Let's be aware of those factors, and make sure we do our part to improve the success of our service visits.