Thor Forums

[bevedfelker]

I have commented many times on this forum about how important considering the service reputation of a dealership where you plan to buy an RV is. I have often said that this consideration about service after the sale is even more important that finding the best retail price.

We have all read of the horror stories of buyers who wind up with a list of discrepancies as long as their arm. We have also read of owners whose RV was at the dealership longer than it was at their home during that first year. We have also read about dealers keeping RVs for months waiting for parts and then taking weeks to schedule the RV into their maintenance facility.

I have also commented about the superb service I have gotten from my dealer (General RV of Tampa). Let me describe an incident that just happened two days ago.

In our last camping trip (a month in VA and PA), on the last week or so of that trip we began to have problems with our High Pointe Microwave/Convection oven. After about 8 to 10 minutes of operation it would shut completely down -- no power. If you waited 10 or 15 minutes the oven would beep and power would come back on. This happened 8 separate times. To me it seemed like a temperature problem.

I got the telephone number of High Pointe warranty service and called them. They also thought it was a temp problem. They told me to check if air was coming out the top grill of the oven when it was operating. I tried it the next day in my driveway and there was slight air coming out the grill. I was operating the A/C in the Vegas at the time and thought the fan might be weak. Called back High Pointe and they said to have my dealer validate the problem, notify them, and they'd send the dealer a new oven.

I was going to take it to the dealer later next week, but when I was taking it back to the storage lot I decided to drop in the dealer's for a few minutes to talk about the problem. When I got there, I spoke to the service rep I normally see. He said, "Wait a minute, let's check this out." He took his lunch out of the refrig in the break room and said that it needed to be heated anyway. We cranked up the Vegas generator (the A/C was off), and when we put his lunch in the oven there was no air coming out the vent at all. He said, "There's the problem, the fan isn't working." I told him about feeling air the day before. We thought for a few minutes, turned on the A/C and figured out the air I felt was A/C air going in the oven's bottom vent and coming out the top.

He took the Microwave model & serial number, and submitted the info to High Pointe by email. They are shipping a new oven today. My service rep said as soon as the oven arrives he'll call me to have me bring the Vegas over and they'll install the new one immediately. He said there was no problem waiting for Thor to approve the labor, they'd just change the oven and deal with Thor later.

This sounds pretty simple, but I've read all kinds of stories about owners waiting for extremely long times for some of the simplest maintenance actions.