Re: Auto Sleepers service dept

by mikethebike Thu Jul 10, 2014 6:53 pm

Hi Peter, Its not just the faults.Its the attitude of those in the trade.
There is no excuse for bad customer relations.

Most vans are ordered and customer await delivery.

If it had been in stock as a demonstrator, than it would still be up to the dealer to do a pre- sale inspection at least.

I can not accept any excuses for the treatment our members report frequently.

regards

Mike

by Jaytee Thu Jul 10, 2014 7:08 pm

Peter Brown wrote:artheytrate, I wonder was your van built to order or did you buy it from the dealers stock - ie had it ben in a showroom for public viewing?

Peter

Hi Peter,

As mine was dealer stock you have worried me. What's the difference?

by Peter Brown Thu Jul 10, 2014 7:13 pm

Some dealers have stock vans for a while and take them round the shows. Things that can be twiddled and switched get abuse. The dealer should clearly find and rectify any such faults before sale and the factory can't be blamed for letting the van out with these faults.

Jaytee, you would have identified any such issues well before now so have no need to worry.

Peter

by mikethebike Thu Jul 10, 2014 7:23 pm

Hi Jaytee,There should be no difference. I think he is looking for reasons. That potential customers have caused the faults!! If so they should have fixed them before sale. No excuses.
I have the benefit of 25 years in the service sector where customers were king.
How many lost sales by this attitude is the question.
Maybe a salesman from a dealer may care to comment?

regards

Mike

by artheytrate Thu Jul 10, 2014 8:08 pm

Peter Brown wrote:artheytrate, I wonder was your van built to order or did you buy it from the dealers stock - ie had it ben in a showroom for public viewing?

Peter

Hi Peter, I brought from dealers stock, saw it in the showroom and we fell in love with it £52,000, Part exchanged our 2011 Rollerteam, and payed the rest with Debit card.

John.

by Peter Brown Thu Jul 10, 2014 8:32 pm

artheytrate wrote:
Peter Brown wrote:artheytrate, I wonder was your van built to order or did you buy it from the dealers stock - ie had it ben in a showroom for public viewing?

Peter
Hi Peter, I brought from dealers stock, saw it in the showroom and we fell in love with it £52,000, Part exchanged our 2011 Rollerteam, and payed the rest with Debit card.

John.

All down to the dealer then - some have also been known to cannibalise stock vans for warranty repairs on others and the subsequent repair is never up to factory finish.

Peter

by mikethebike Thu Jul 10, 2014 8:38 pm

As we all know the suppling dealer is the one the contract is with.
However in mitigation we dont know how the relationship is between dealer and AS with regards to faults.
Maybe Peter can find out.

regards

Mike

by Peter Brown Thu Jul 10, 2014 9:17 pm

I don't have to find out - I have lots of personal experience of the process.

If the problem is with a third party supplied piece of equipment then the dealer liaise direct with that supplier (of fridge, cooker, power supply, toilet, pump, etc) and seeks authority to carry out the repair under warranty.

If the problem is with the AS assembly or self manufactured component then the dealer seeks authority to carry out a repair under warranty from the AS after sales department.

If the dealer feels the rectification work is beyond the resources of his workshop he will refer the work to the AS service centre.

I would add that there is no problem that I've seen reported on this forum with a recent new van that I haven't experienced and I've had a lot worse with our last van but everything has been eventually resolved to my satisfaction with only the cost of fuel to me

As a customer you have to deal with the supplying dealer and cannot go direct to the service centre for warranty work. If however you feel the dealer isn't addressing your problems you can ask for advice from the AS after sales department who may choose to invite you to attend the service centre for repair.

Its my money that I worked very hard to earn and despite the fact the new vans aren't perfect I'm still very happy to spend that money with Auto-sleeper. I firmly believe in voting with my feet and if I wasn't satisfied I would walk - not keep complaining.

Peter

by Claytaa Thu Jul 10, 2014 9:47 pm

Peter,
It's all well and good when you are "in the know". However someone buying their first Autosleeper van new would be quite rightly shocked and really cheesed off if they paid so much money for a inferior product. When you have it and have paid for it with monies that will generally taken years to save it is a stressful and pretty miserable experience. You can't vote with your feet when you have it, the only thing you can do is complain and hopefully get it sorted. These offending dealers are appointed by the maker to sell their products. If they fall short they should be given the boot!

by mikethebike Thu Jul 10, 2014 9:52 pm

Well thats the answer then. First I dont believe AS are any worse than other makes.
However feed back is surely the way to get improvements.
Its difficult to walk away with a 70,000 pound van.
We all buy with hard earned money and expect to get treated with curtesy and prompt replies to faults.
Some dealers are not up to scratch IMHO.I would expect AS to watch over and not be satisfied with bad customer relations with their suppling dealers.

Mike
My personal experience of 50 years in QC.

by mikethebike Thu Jul 10, 2014 9:54 pm

Hi Claytaa, Posting at the same time. allthumbz

I agree with you.

regards

Mike

by Peter Brown Thu Jul 10, 2014 9:57 pm

I only got to be "in the know" by buying vans and finding out the hard way.

On this forum I and others can share our experiences hopefully tailoring the expectation of those who haven't bought and mentoring those who are having difficulty. The later is usually done via the PM system to maintain confidentiality as warranty negotiations are still 'live'

Peter

by Claytaa Thu Jul 10, 2014 10:13 pm

The point is you why should anyone have to find out the hard way? Owning and using a motor home should be a pleasure, usually in later life, not a trauma.

by Guest Fri Jul 11, 2014 1:04 am

As far as I know there is no independent organisation or body that invites owners of new Motorhomes (or Caravans for that matter) to provide feedback such as J D Powers do for cars on the quality and reliability of their purchase. If there is I stand corrected.
Having worked at a major 4X4 vehicle manufacturer for over 30 years and who regularly appeared at the bottom of J D Powers surveys, I know how much time, effort and not inconsiderable money was spent in improving Q&R and vehicle development which is why they are so successful today.
In my view, therein lies the problem with Motorhome manufacturers, they are largely self governing, do not sell in high enough volumes to be able to invest in all the latest design and development technologies to produce right first time products and rely largely on the customer to identify problems and hopefully their dealers to put them right.

by Peter Brown Fri Jul 11, 2014 1:33 am

Milhouse wrote:
In my view, therein lies the problem with Motorhome manufacturers, they are largely self governing, do not sell in high enough volumes to be able to invest in all the latest design and development technologies to produce right first time products and rely largely on the customer to identify problems and hopefully their dealers to put them right.

I think you are spot on here.

Peter

by Claytaa Fri Jul 11, 2014 2:27 am

I understand Milhouses point of view, however most of the problems don't involve high technology or high investment ie badly fitting doors and windows, bits of trim hanging off, blinds that won't work correctly, basic jobs that should never leave either the factory or in last instance the dealer before the customer takes delivery. The customer having shelled out should not be expected to do the pdi himself as suggested earlier in this thread. Problems can and will occurr and most people will accept that. Surely a rigorous factory and dealer pdi will eliminate the vast majority of these snags.

by Guest Fri Jul 11, 2014 3:02 am

I agree with you entirely. Basic things you mention should not even reach pdi they should be right first time every time.
A pdi should ensure everything is fit for function before it leaves the factory

by Paulmold Fri Jul 11, 2014 5:04 am

Back in September 2012 there was a thread entitled 'quality and after-sales problems' . I can't put a link to it on my tablet but if you search for it you will find the exact same comments. Unfortunately it seems nothing has changed.