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**jcanavera** · 07-10-2005, 07:26 AM

OK folks,

Vote and expound upon why you had your unit serviced at Jackson Center.

If you have multiple reasons you can check additional boxes.

Jack

**jcanavera** · 07-10-2005, 07:37 AM

I went to Jackson Center in 2001 because I was vacationing nearby. My dealer and I disagreed about the performance of my air conditioner so I thought I would have the folks at JC check it out. While there I also had them remove the puny stabilizer jacks supplied with the 2001 Safari and mount what is now the standard jacks supplied today.

While I had an appointment, my one day stay ended up to 3 days due to a motor home whose faulty airconditioner took 2 days longer to resolve than expected. I was next in line but had to wait. End result no problem was found with my A/C unit.

Jack

apple 1 · 07-10-2005, 08:24 AM

The first two times were for clear coat repair and tape stripe repair which were both under warranty and items my delaer suggested I take to the factory. Jackson Center is just a little further distance than my dealer in Grand Rapids. The third time was for body repairs after a truck hit the rear of my trailer in a rest area. The damage also affected interior panels which allowed Airstream to repair the exterior with buck rivites. The body repair was cost was $6000.

swebster · 07-10-2005, 08:48 AM

We needed to have a new door window installed after a brake in. After calling my two closest AS dealers, neither would perform the work, stating they didn't have the tools or the skills. One additional AS dealer said they would do it but did not give me the confidence on the phone that they had done it before.

Factory did the work in half the quoted time....they even let me look on while they did the replacement. The tech gave me a freebie by fixing the rattle in my screen door while I was there. Very educational for me.

AgZep · 07-10-2005, 09:47 AM

We wanted to have a dual-coax outlet installed (to support satellite and TiVo), and our dealer was entirely uninterested in tackling that, or even obtaining the parts to do so. We also had a punch list of small repairs, only some of which the dealer could accomplish in one day, without ordering parts. Since we were leaving the area immediately to full-time and didn’t want to wait around for parts to arrive, we arranged to stop in JC on our travels and have the various services performed. Airstream Service did a spectacular job on the new installation as well as the punch list repairs; the techs were quite competent and everybody was friendly and helpful. We (2 people, 2 cats, 1 dog) hung out at the factory service center for 3 days as they worked to fix a pesky plumbing issue, but we left satisfied with all the work that was done. If we need complicated work done in the future, we’ll definitely try to go to JC.

FWIW, the trip to the factory service center was very educational in that we were able to see how quality/build/engineering problems in newer units such as ours are dealt with by the factory service techs when the unit comes in for repairs. At one point, there were three or four techs working on our plumbing problem; they went over and dragged the factory engineers in on it as well. I’m certain our particular dealer would not have had the ambition (or perhaps even the knowledge or skill) to undertake such a project. The Airstream brand appears to be our selling dealer’s smallest product line, so it’s not surprising that they were less than enthusiastic about performing warranty repairs. Not sure what Airstream can do to remedy this, but judging from the busy production line at the factory, they’ll have to think of something soon.

flyfisher · 07-10-2005, 10:10 AM

We have taken our trailer to Jackson Center for repairs 3 times during the past year while we were en route from PA to MT, and return.

We got a good price, but bad service, from the dealer we bought our trailer from last year. I would not take the trailer back to him for more of the same.

Our service experiences at Jackson Center have been quite positive overall, and I actually enjoy being there. The facilities are comfortable, the people are friendly, and the service guys are efficient and effective.

As I have posted on the 2004 Quality thread, however, we still need to get the vinly replaced in our trailer under warranty. I have been told that this repair must be done at Jackson Center, and that I must incur the one way transportation expense expense for this repair, which I believe is an unfair requirement.

Although it's not part of your poll, we experienced 2 areas that we would suggest for improvment for Jackson Center's Service center:

1. A better clean up of the shop floor around the units being worked on so as to not track all the floor debris, grease or whatever else is on the floor into the units being worked on. This last service visit, I taped a drop cloth on the floor of my trailer beforehand. On our other 2 prior visits, I had grease, dirt and grime from the shop floor tracked throughout our trailer's interior.

2. Better advance planning would expedite the service work being performed, and improve Airstream's inventory management and control. On a couple of our visits, the parts needed for the repairs (which they knew were needed when we scheduled our repair) were not obtained in advance and we (and the service mechanics) had to wait while the parts were sourced from manufacturing. One way or another customers are paying that $80 per hour shop service rate (or whatever it is) waiting for the parts to arrive.

John

cosmotini · 07-10-2005, 10:38 AM

I have an appointment to go in October. I didn't vote because none of the choices matches my situation.
I have what seems to be a bolt coming up from the floor in front of the closet area in the hallway. When I took our trailer over to the dealer for repairs last year, they said it was just something I would have to live with. Not a good answer! I was also disappointed with some of the work they did do to hide where the vinyl was cut poorly under the galley cabinet. It was cosmetic but bothered me. I called the factory to see about getting some of the materials they use so I could fabricate some new kick panels myself. They asked me to send pic's and ended up building new panels that are 'upside down' from the traditional panels. They then overnighted them and I installed them. They turned out very nice. That really gave me confidence in the company and motivation to drive to the factory for any major repairs and or modifications. In addition to the bolt in the floor, I want to get the new steps and see about a modificaiton to my kitchen cabinets to accomodate a microwave oven. I don't think the dealer has the facilities to do that and based on what they did to my trailer I wouldn't want them to.

Dennis

wb13798 · 07-10-2005, 03:15 PM

i to have had heart burn from dealers poor quality expensive repairs. never have i departed jackson center unhappy with a repair. i do most of my repairs but occasionaly i cant fix it . i take it to jackson center and it is fixed .cant complain about the quality of the repair. on my last trip i noticed that the older repair types are saying good by. next trip i will probably not recognize any of the mechanics.

Silvertwinkie · 07-10-2005, 08:09 PM

I made the 10 hour round trip for several reasons.

1) The Illinois dealer didn't really impress me very much.

2) I had asked about the new dealer in Milwaukee on this forum and didn't get a lot of great feedback, plus they were less than 12 months old.

3) Jackson Center has more years of exp with Airstreams in one person than most dealers have in a whole service department.

4) If they built it, they can fix it, prob better than any other place.

5) I have always been impressed with the factory folks providing suppport, answers to questions and in the end servicing our Airstream.

BTW, John, not sure if it was due to your feedback or not, but when we were there for service in late April, they had drop cloths on the floor and areas where they worked. I didn't have a single issue with anything being tracked into the Airstream while it was in for service for 2 days.

**jcanavera** · 07-18-2005, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silvertwinkie

I
BTW, John, not sure if it was due to your feedback or not, but when we were there for service in late April, they had drop cloths on the floor and areas where they worked. I didn't have a single issue with anything being tracked into the Airstream while it was in for service for 2 days.

I think they laid cardboard down on the floor when mine was there in 2001.

Jack

dmac · 07-18-2005, 10:15 AM

I had given the local dealer a list of things to fix... they fixed one item properly, the rest were bungled. The local dealer was unable/unwilling to replace/repair skins with peeling clear.

My impression is that the local dealer sells and services a lot more SOB. Airstream is an afterthought. It is too bad that a metro area of 3 million people can't support one decent Airstream dealership.

redeagle313 · 07-18-2005, 10:43 AM

Jackson Center is 30 miles closer to us than our dealer. Add to that the fact that our dealer has been selling Airstreams for less than one year.

wheel interested · 07-18-2005, 12:52 PM

I went to the factory because the dealership does not always have the parts, the terraport and area is nicer than staying in the dealer's lot, the dealer seems to shy away from replacements, and the responsibility falls directly to the factory and the rate of reimbursement for dealer service is not a large incentive. And I would like to think that there is more experience from the service techs with volume repair and known issues, etc.

As a bonus the factory has internet, free cappacino, factory tour, Airstream store, full hook-ups and a lovely surrounding area away from the hub-bub of the city. Not to mention that the personnel is very warm and friendly and eager to listen and accommodate, even above and beyond.

2airishuman · 12-01-2007, 08:26 PM

interesting thread.

i've been back to j/c 3 times for service, and 9-10 days of stuff.

the last 2 times were to repair things they messed up the first time.

of course ALL the trips were on my dollar.

the forum buzz has directed many many many more folks to ohio in the last 2 years.

lets read why.

cheers
2air'

wasafari · 12-01-2007, 08:49 PM

Two words: Hurricane Ivan

thecatsandi · 12-01-2007, 09:13 PM

I've been back several times as well. All on my dollar. I was "passing thru". Within a hundrd miles or so.
They fixed a water leak and the water heater. The second time. Accident repair.
the third. final warrenty repairs in 10 days.

SilverCabin · 12-01-2007, 09:40 PM

We made our first trip to JC on 10/01/07. You can read about it on our On The Road thread http://www.airforums.com/forums/f42/...ney-36490.html. JC seemed like a logical choice for us for two reasons: we wanted the factory to address the corrosion problem, and we were planning a trip to Michigan in the Fall. Also, we had a badly stained front curtain that our dealer only offered to dry clean for us. At JC, they replaced the curtain and fixed a suspicious area that may have been leaking and caused the stained curtain.

The tech we got was superb, and he either accomplished them or saw to it that all our warranty and routine maintenance items were taken care of. He even came out to the terraport to fix something we noticed after the trailer was returned on the second day. We arrived on Sunday, had two service days, and left on Wednesday morning.

Our current travel plans put us back through there next summer. Well stop again for routine maintenance and any other warranty items that may come up that can wait until then.

HOG-I · 12-01-2007, 10:12 PM

After a blowout on the interstate in VA during a 6wk trip we decided to upgrade our 16' Quick Silver axles and wheels to the 4300lb axles and 15" wheels and tires. Our local service folks, Holiday Trailer in Albuquerque, NM, are tops and they were willing to do the change out but had never done this upgrade. They did a super repair job on the damage done to the wheel well by the blowout (slapping rubber can cause major under carrage damage). We both agreed that it might be better to go to JC for the upgrade if we could afford the time.

It's a bit of a trip from Las Cruces, NM to Jackson Ctr., OH; however we ended up turning it into another 3 week trip. Chis Burch, Svs. Writer at JC, really had his stuff together and the upgrade was completed in one day. The over night stays are free if you are having work done at the factory (otherwise it is $10 per night).

During the second night our converter went out (talk about opportune timing). They pulled us back in the next morning and had us on our way by 1pm. A side note, the tour of the factory is worth a trip if you are in the area.

Tin Can · 12-02-2007, 02:54 AM

We visited Jackson Center to have a leak fixed in the bedroom under warranty. They did a wonderful job. It also gave us a chance to see where it all began for our "Tin Can". I have to say that the people there are tops and they certainly know how things are supposed to be.

Tom

davidz71 · 12-02-2007, 02:54 AM

I recently had brake failure on one axle which resulted in bearing/drum/tire failure along with outer/inner fenderwell being destroyed. The factory was quick to give me an estimate based on pictures. My insurance company took the information, took pictures and sent me a check. I have an appointment on Dec. 17 which was the second of two choices they mentioned before the end of the year. I figure that the factory builds them, had the parts so they know how to repair them.