Service of my Fleetwood Bounder

Anyone have any difficulties getting service for their MH either warranty or other services, at a dealer other than the one where the unit was purchased?  I have heard some stories that some dealers will put non-purchasers at the back of the line, even though it was in to be serviced before other customer units came in.  Will they do warranty work without charging or do I have to go to Fleetwood for restitution?  Anyone have any experience in this area both postitive and negative? :-\

There is a problem with warranty work in general for most dealers is that they do not always get reimbursed easily or promptly by the manufacturer.  In addition, they might need to order a part which can take a long time.  If they use a part they have on hand, they have to apply to the manufacturer to get approval to do the fix, plus the wait for reimbursement.  So warranty work is not very profitable.  I learned this from talking to dealers while trying to get my many warranty issues fixed.

Another problem is the time of year you try to get things fixed and how much they are backed up. At certain times, dealers are swamped with work to do, and so put paying customers and their current customers at the top of their priorities. I would do the same if I were a dealer, but this doesn't help if something essential has broken and you are traveling without a month to wait for an appointment. 

I have a 2012 Fleetwood Tioga Ranger, and frankly, got the worse service from the dealer I bought it from new.  They refused to fix things that were supposedly my fault, and argued with me about other things, and were just plain difficult at times. 

By all means call Fleetwood Customer Service for help, but know that they can't force a dealer to fix anything.  I also would strongly suggest that if you can, you take it directly to their factory service center in Decatur, IN. Their service guys there seem to know what they are doing, so stuff gets fixed right the first time.  In my case, I got NO arguments from them about things being my fault--they just fixed stuff.  And they even fixed stuff I didn't know needed to be fixed.  They let you sit in your vehicle hooked up to electric while they work, if you want to.  I hooked up to internet and got some work done.  They issue you safety glasses and tell you to wear closed toe shoes, but you can wander in the service area.  There is a parking lot with electric and a dump station with water if you need to stay overnight. 

I have been to the factory service center twice--one for new steps and minor warranty things and once for a broken weld in the platform where they had to remove a slide, my flooring, and a chuck on plywood, then put it all back together--no complaints or anything from them at all for this very expensive work.  They do excellent work.

On the other hand, once I got past that warranty period, not too much else has broken, and I am very happy with my motorhome! 

Thanks, Judy, very encouraging news.  You pretty much confirm what I had heard about warranty work, particularly if the unit was not purchased at the dealer requested to do the work.  Not too happy about going out to Indianna, but the results seem worth it.  As I am retired, time is not a problem. ;D

We had a problem with the dealer we purchased our Fleetwood brand fifth wheel from. Their service department was horrible; they hacked up the rig on a previous repair and I refused to return.

There was another Fleetwood dealer nearby, but they didn?t sell our particular brand trailer. I had to jump through some hoops, but they did resolve the warrantee issues completely.

I set up a conference call between Fleetwood customer service and the dealer, and things moved pretty quickly afterwards.

Fleetwood will pay any authorized dealer for the product, and if an emergency will authorize one-time repairs at most any qualified shop.

Many of the parts on your motorhome have their own warranty, e.g. fridge, water heater, a/c,, etc. If you know what is broken, usually most any RV (dealer or service shop) can perform warranty repairs on those. You don't need Fleetwood for those things (though it is perhaps more convenient to let them sort out who pays).

I've personally not run into any problem getting service, warranty or otherwise, but we haven't used dealers all that much. Many of them are so shoddy and so backed up during the summer, we try to avoid them anyway. But when we had a new coach under factory warranty, three different dealers across the USA gave us prompt service when we needed it urgently.

I heartily recommend ARG/Fleetwood factory service - the boys & girls in Decatur are excellent. We've had our American Coach (same ARG service center) there twice.