When your airstream service shop lets you down...

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Our "close service" is a bit over 2 1/2 hours each way. If the issue is complicated, you drive over and back to drop the RV off and then you drive over and back to pick it up. No, that's not ideal. If they drop out of the picture, it is unclear just how far a drive any form of warranty work will be.

Is my experience at any service outfit on any vehicle ( car, truck, trailer, van, ..... ) 100% perfect all the time? No. Never has been and I have no expectation it ever will be. Get enough work done on any vehicle at any location and you will always bump into issues. If your goal is perfection, you will be disappointed. You will have a lot of cool stories to tell again and again and again .....

That said, there is also utterly horrible performance on a regular basis. That's a different beast than the occasional random issue. There is no excuse for an organization being set up to fail all the time. Unfortunately there are outfits that seem to be set up this way. It's important to sort them out from the rest and avoid them at all cost. Naming names and giving details here is *not* in the "cool story" category. It's something that does need to be done.

Sorting out one category from the other is not quite as easy as it might seem.

Bob

[Life is a Highway]

There are a few things that most folks can adjust or fix. Major defect items like yours will require a trip to Jackson Center. Our 2021 will again have to go back in July. It has been a year waiting for product. All Cabinet fronts will be replaced and ft couch cushions that are not seam matched. ( Yes they are outsourced now not made in house )With the price of fuel this will be expensive but there is no other option. Our dealer cannot do what Jackson Center can.

Originally Posted by jondrew55

I'm sure the answer from most is to get it properly repaired at the Jackson Center factory. I know that is not a convenient answer, but that will get it fixed right.

[Life is a Highway]

The man Vinnie is a saint! So booked out he will never catch up. The exact same thing happened to Ronnie Dennis of Airstream Nuts and Bolts- How is that? , Well one day your a start up operation and then a couple of YouTube Long Long Honeymoon vids and then KA-BAM wagon trains of Aluminum Trailer cash cows started to stampede these fine folks.

Is what it is, Quality work and service at both places. I am now into year two waiting for our Lithium upgrade.

Originally Posted by kathfred

I really wish folks would stop recommending Vinnie's North Bay, as he will not accept "new customers" and doesn't return calls. I cannot fathom how one runs a business this way. So frustrating.

[Just RVing]

Another shop that I have had success with is:


George Sutton RV
2400 W 7th Ave
Eugene, Oregon 97402

541 686-6296
800 256-9832


When I totaled my 1996 28 Classic on black ice, he gave me an outstanding deal on a custom order for a 2009 30 foot Classic. I took it to Jackson Center under warranty work two times in 2010 for the same AC problems.


Mr. Sutton and his crew have treated me very good and I have had numerous repairs done by them.

[Dmvp]

Originally Posted by Road Hog

I too have had a lot of issues with Northbay Airstream. I had taken my unit there twice for the same repair. Tammy has been a huge letdown. Things never got fixed like the automated blinds and each time I take it there the main breaker pops and they dint know why. I could go on for days but the worst experience ever. It makes owning a Airstream very questionable I had though I was buying a reputation along with a great brand but the service has just been pitiful. I did use Almaden RV on a previous issue with my Generator Noise and they did get it corrected the first time. I have a after market warranty so I will use them in the future instead of airstream

I was just notified by the regional manager that they shut the whole service department down in Morgan Hill due to poor quality work. We are going to take ours to Fairfield for the rest of the work, and to fix what they messed up.

[Road Hog]

Humm that really isn’t a shock at all. Fairfield is the same ownership from what I understand I hope that will workout? Post after you have tried and let us all know if it works out. Best of Luck.

[Dmvp]

yeah, it is the same company, same regional ownership, although their service department has been around for a long time, where as Morgan Hill was just started up last year when they moved to the new building...the dabbled in some service at the old location but Fairfield was the official at that time from my understanding. I sent the pictures of the storage compartment and they offered to tow it from my house to the shop to fix it before my service appointment with them because they were so horrified, so I hope this is a step in the right direction. I will let you know!

[SPOT5531]

My sentiments exactly. Wish I had my $140,000 back. I thought Airstream and Mercedes - what could go wrong.

[Tim A.]

Originally Posted by SPOT5531

My sentiments exactly. Wish I had my $140,000 back. I thought Airstream and Mercedes - what could go wrong.

Huh? A non sequitur, at least for me.

Tim

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by SPOT5531

My sentiments exactly. Wish I had my $140,000 back. I thought Airstream and Mercedes - what could go wrong.

Hi

In the case of RV's (pretty much all RV's) dealers matter. They matter a lot. The "shop only on price" mantra focuses a lot of them on sales and nothing but sales. Sorting that out is every bit as important as any other choice you make on an RV.

Expectations also matter. A "all will be perfect forever" assumption will not work out well on an RV. It never has and my guess is it never will. Recognizing that ahead of getting involved is part of the research / selection process.

Does this excuse horrible disaster type issues? No, of course not. They are part of pretty much every RV make / model. That hasn't changed in the 90 years that I have data on ( grandma *loved* to re-tell all those stories). Figuring that it will change "real soon now" has been going on that entire time.

Does it excuse those dealers who tell you they have a part, you drive 4 hours over to get it and they don't have the part ( and wonder why you trusted what they said on the phone ...) No it most certainly does not. However the answer is not to dump the RV, it's to cross that dealer off and drive 5 hours the other way to see if a different dealer is any good.

Bob

[LRM]

Waited a couple of months for appointment with service department for some simple under warranty repairs, then told it would take 3 weeks. It’s now been 4 1/2 weeks, and they have not repaired anything! It’s at Airstream Adventures in Portland OR. Any advise?

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by Dmvp

Thanks for the advice…I wish we would have fixed the cabinet ourselves the first time around, but I figured since we were already going in for something else..what more could go wrong 🙃. Might take a look and see if we can salvage it, but I think they used some sort of epoxy or glue to hold the new screws in place with the washers. Definitely learned our lesson that it’s better to do these things ourselves. Thank good we did the solar ourselves

A very typical Airstream learning experience...do it yourself. Learning is good.

“Education is what people do to you,
Learning is what you do to yourself”
Joichi Ito

Horace had it right....“Time will bring to light whatever is hidden; it will cover up and conceal what is now shining in splendor.“

Bob
🇺🇦🇺🇸🇺🇦

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by LRM

Waited a couple of months for appointment with service department for some simple under warranty repairs, then told it would take 3 weeks. It’s now been 4 1/2 weeks, and they have not repaired anything! It’s at Airstream Adventures in Portland OR. Any advise?

Hi

Check out the dealer *before* you make the appointment. Many dealers focus on sales and service takes a distant back seat. It is not at all easy (or cheap) to keep a service organization properly staffed and functioning. Many dealers simply take the easy route and put up a barely functional service setup.

That said, parts are not at all easy to come by these days. If indeed they started the process and ran into a unique part ( or several unique parts ) that they had to order in .... welcome to the club. We spent about 4 to 6 months waiting on this and that to come in. The service itself was done the same day we took the van in.

Bob

[Dmvp]

Originally Posted by Road Hog

Humm that really isn’t a shock at all. Fairfield is the same ownership from what I understand I hope that will workout? Post after you have tried and let us all know if it works out. Best of Luck.

Finally picked up the airstream and all the issues were resolved, in addition to some warranty items that the service advisor pointed out. Very happy with the results, although it took forever to get here. The fixes seem solid, so I would have no problem recommending the technicians at airstream adventures in Fairfield. They're doing an overhaul at AA Morgan hill's service department, so I hope that they will be up to speed at some point. At least I can say I have had free storage for the last 1.5 years since its been at the shop so much.

[Dmvp]

Originally Posted by LRM

Waited a couple of months for appointment with service department for some simple under warranty repairs, then told it would take 3 weeks. It’s now been 4 1/2 weeks, and they have not repaired anything! It’s at Airstream Adventures in Portland OR. Any advise?

seems about right these days. There have been a lot of equipment/parts delays and I think a lot of service centers are backed up. I was told it would take a day to fix mine, and it took 6 weeks. I think a lot are short staffed. I just kept bugging them since I had a trip I needed to leave for

[Genebuilder]

Enjoyed reading the last three pages of griping about a dealer's delay in doing your warranty work. Let's rise above the dust and look at the dealer, not the Airstream owner.

The service department is a profit center in the business. It is put there and staffed to generate revenue and make a profit for the ongoing business.

It has set labor rates and typical times required to do repair work for the business. When you look at the labor rates and repair times the service department get to charge the manufacturer for warranty work, it is always, always much lower than the service department can charge their everyday, walk-in, non-warranty customer.

When an Airstream (or any other) service department tells you they cannot fit you in for work for months, they are not standing around with hands in pockets waiting for your parts to come in. They are busy generating income by working diligently on their non warranty business, earning bonus pay for coming in under time targets (which warranty work does not offer).

When a new hire joins the service department, it is not out of the realm of possibility that his first assignments in order to judge his ability to perform as a capable repairman is warranty work.. They can pay him less and the manufacturer (Airstream) picks up the bill.
Multi serviceman department - one warranty probie.

Dealer service departments assign warranty work the lowest priority. It pays the least.

It pays to understand the service department is a profit center. It is not necessarily your best friend offering huggies for your misfortune.

How do i dare write such anathema? A good part of my global corporate career was spent in the auto, aviation and HVAC industries.

Take a walk through your dealer's service center (if they will let you), and see whats being repaired...

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by Genebuilder

Dealer service departments assign warranty work the lowest priority. It pays the least.

..

Very true for AS dealers...

BUT... if AS treated warranty as it applies to auto dealerships,(at least at GM), the dealer would be rated on their customer CSI reports and pay a price for low scores, AMHIK my bonus depended on it.👍
POI rookies rarely did warranty work, school first.

Bob
🇺🇦🇺🇸🇺🇦

[Dennis C]

I’ve really only had one Airstream service done at my local dealer. The service was the repair of a damaged wheel well, flashing/trim, and brake line from a tire blowout, as well as polishing the aluminum above the wheel well to remove scratches. I paid cash for this service, so it had nothing to do with warranty work. It took 2-1/2 months to complete this work. I’m happy with the quality of the work, but the dealer’s responsiveness was horrendous. On average, I had to leave ten voicemails before I would get a returned call. It was unacceptable. I know that they are busy, but that’s just not good business. I got to the point that I was considering reporting the Airstream as being stolen to the police.

I hope I don’t need another dealership service visit anytime soon!

[mixolydian12]

I had a really poor experience at Colonial Airstream recently which was very surprising given how people rave about them. Maybe it’s just their friendly sales department people like?

Several repairs failed immediately, others billed for and not completed, and some items warranty coverage was refused only later to be reimbursed directly by Airstream.

The service advisor was also unfriendly so I can’t imagine going back. A real bummer.

[NevadaGeo]

Perhaps the advertising they get on here doesn't worry the shops much any more.