Problems In Nacogdoches?

Topic: Problems In Nacogdoches? (Read 6627 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #100 – June 13, 2014, 10:31:04 pm

Carol, Who is this Mr. Wonderful at FOT?

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #101 – June 13, 2014, 11:03:11 pm

Quote from: BamaFan – June 13, 2014, 10:31:04 pm

Carol, Who is this Mr. Wonderful at FOT?

LOL. That would be her hubby, Mister Jeff, I believe.

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #102 – June 13, 2014, 11:50:20 pm

Quote from: Brad & Christine Slaughter – June 13, 2014, 11:03:11 pm

LOL. That would be her hubby, Mister Jeff, I believe.

Ah. Fred Flintstone.

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #103 – June 14, 2014, 01:07:56 am

Quote from: Tom Lang – June 13, 2014, 11:50:20 pm

Ah. Fred Flintstone.

Tom, I will get you for that comment...

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #104 – June 14, 2014, 01:09:54 am

Quote from: Jeff Savournin – June 14, 2014, 01:07:56 am

Tom, I will get you for that comment...

OK.

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #105 – June 14, 2014, 01:14:05 am

To Royce & Denise ... Yes, Mr Wonderful IS my hubby, Jeff. He has EARNED the name, believe me. Replying to John Haygarth ... I can see how you might look at things that way, but it was a long time ago. The issue with the billing mistake that also coincided with the incorrect serpentine belt happened in 2008, I believe. In the years since, we have had many visits to the Factory. They have worked on our '93, our '95 and our present coach, the '02. I can remember hanging out in their parking lot for days while they tried and tried to track down an air leak ... unsuccessfully. We changed out a fitting or two, left for a week and came back with the same issue. Back into the shop for more looky loo. FINALLY, the culprit revealed itself. A bad fitting of some sort was replaced and all was well. AND ... we were happy to see that great allowances were made with regard to labor time for the final repair, since we had just spent a good amount of frustrating time the week before. I think that is very fair. Our '93 had seen some "creative" alterations to wiring and rigging of the dash AC. We watched 4 mechanics (including Alton and Hector) spend the better part of 2 DAYS trying to figure out what had been monkey-rigged and then restore it to a working system. We were aghast and mentally calculating massive labor hours!! But when the final bill was tallied it came to about 4 hours. This was also in 2008 ... and we were told,"Oh, well ... we can't charge you for trying to figure things out." Some years later I watched Alton and Bob Irelan scrutinize schematics and trace wires for hours deep inside the dash of our '95 (another creative rearrangement by some previous genius). I eventually wound up holding tools and flashlights for Bob as the day wound down. All was finally restored to the original plan, dash AC was restored by correcting the wiring, not replacing little motors deep in the dash in hopes that the easier solution was the right one. That all could have added up to BIG money ... but it did not. We were not charged for many of the hours spent. I have been in shops that stick you for every minute and round UP to the quarter hour according to their job time estimates. We have been at the mercy of urgent circumstances and really couldn't negotiate for kinder treatment. Our only recourse is to never return. We have arrived at FOT with an emergency and been finagled into the schedule ... while having a comfortable and secure place to stay while we waited. We have asked to be allowed to stay a bit longer during times of medical necessity and were graciously invited to remain as long as needed as their guests. We pay anyway ... by treating the Service Department to pizza at lunch and doughnuts in the morning. I know I sound like a somewhat tiresome FOT cheerleader ... but honestly ... I can be a relentless "witch" (spelling change optional) when I am not treated fairly or encounter real rudeness, incompetence or downright crookedness. I post reviews on consumer websites, write letters to anyone I think bears responsibility and generally make myself a nuisance, when I think it is warranted. If Foretravel had not earned a place in my good graces ... I wouldn't keep going back and I would let the world know why.

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #106 – June 14, 2014, 11:10:21 am

Good for them Carol, and maybe, had all this been explained my comment would have been different!! but given the info you posted before my reply I had only that to go on. Your problem seemed to be fairly recent by the intonation I read into it.
I do not have any beef with FOT personally and agree that it is a good outfit that makes a great coach, but if mention is not made when things are not correct (and you agree on this one) then they soon would join the rest of Coach Builders falling off the wall!!.
I do not expect, nor can they be perfect with the miriad of items that make up our coach's, just be honest and do the best they can. This is all we can ask for.
I have only had one time that things that did not get done correctly and as that mechanic is now not there I will not "talk behind his back"
Take care.
JohnH

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #107 – June 14, 2014, 11:46:37 am

"and we were told,"Oh, well ... we can't charge you for trying to figure things out." " The mark of a customer-centered service operation!

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #108 – June 14, 2014, 01:15:32 pm

Quote from: kb0zke – June 14, 2014, 11:46:37 am

"and we were told,"Oh, well ... we can't charge you for trying to figure things out." " The mark of a customer-centered service operation!

z

Funny... that's been my "MO" for decades. My customers pay me to know what I'm doing. If I have to learn a technique then I do that off the books.

I'm not a lawyer; I don't charge for research.

Craig

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #109 – June 14, 2014, 05:26:04 pm

Ok, for fear that I putting out this post with not much to it, it seems a good place for me to ask and I think it has nothing to do with the original post. And yet it relates for me to the latest posts and costs.

Do shops charge by actual time or do they go by a schedule for labor for some particular task?

At FOT they told me that the labor would be x hours to do the air bags. As I recall, it was a fixed total cost. No one said that if if took more time then the labor would be higher.

(This goes in part to whether I pay for time to teach someone how to do a job, they take x+y hours)

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #110 – June 14, 2014, 05:50:23 pm

To partly answer that one, a great deal of car/truck dealerships have a book that gives them a set time that a repair should take and usually go by that, but, having said that if there are unexpected problems with the job some may charge for the extra time. They do not usually tell you what time has been alotted for a certain repair-just in case, but may give you an expected timeline.
I would think places such as FOT etc charge by actuall time taken (but I stand to be corrected)!!
I personally would ask up front what time they EXPECT to take to fix the problem.
JohnH

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #111 – June 14, 2014, 08:23:55 pm

My recollection is that they allot the time according to the "book" ... and whether they put one guy on the job or two guys, that is generally what you are charged. Sometimes it is less because things go well ... sometimes there are extenuating circumstances that cause additional labor time. We have had that happen, and someone from the shop will come to us and let us know the whys and whats before proceeding. Sometimes we THINK we know what needs repair (The framistan is making a noise when it contacts the widget.), but the actual issue is something a lot more complicated. Another discussion and labor time is calculated. I appreciate not having expensive surprises ... that is why we almost NEVER leave the coach and lose contact. On a slightly different note ... if you were having your coach serviced somewhere and spending a good bit of money ... where it was not easy or handy to have access to fresh water ... and you asked the location if they would be able to fill your water tank for you when someone had a little time ... would you expect to find a charge for $100 on your bill? Just curious. Happened to someone I know. He found the charge well after the fact (because he didn't go over his bill line by line) and was told that because he asked them to do it, he was charged. If he had done it himself it was free. $100!!!!! I am figuring shop time at $109 per hour ... 15 minutes of hooking up hose and unhooking hose ... Maybe $17 incl tax. Am I out of line?

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #112 – June 14, 2014, 08:45:24 pm

I would be upset and as I was spending my money there I would have hoped they did it for free, or at least said " we are pretty busy right now and that will take one of our Techs 15 mins, so, if you do not mind that cost we will do it. Otherwise there is the tap and hose and feel free to help yourself"
I too agree that there must be a set time for all jobs especially as they know the product they built so pricing it would be easy before hand. I personally cannot see any reason for extra time, as I said, they built it!!
JohnH

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #113 – June 14, 2014, 08:48:30 pm

Some things just can't be done with a flat-rate pricing. Consider tracking down and fixing an intermittent short or open circuit. The problem might be in the very first place you look, or it might be at the far end of the line. I would expect that I'd be charged more for the latter than the former.

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #114 – June 14, 2014, 08:50:00 pm

My turn !
I had an issue with the dash air conditioning, erratic operation, so I pulled up my trousers and the FOT shop had a go at it. I was expecting 2 days labor, dash totally dissembled and find some expensive widget.
Oops ! Right off, they fetched the fella from the manufacturing shop, after discussing the issue for 10 seconds, he jumps into the dash thru the swing open door, started removing screws, electronic box's and laughed, found the issue right off, a wire connector had gotten shaky and the connection was erratic, he fixed it, end of problem.
that was about 2 yrs ago. So nice to watch someone who knows what they are doing. Oh he also showed/explained about the issue of the A/C compressor use when in the defrost mode, I thought it needed wired so it would work, is just a switch position. Total bill about $100.00
Other good experiences there including Wayne in the front end shop, steering gear leak etc, alignment.
Not complaining, just grinning.

Dave M

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #115 – June 14, 2014, 08:59:35 pm

Quote from: Carol Savournin – June 14, 2014, 08:23:55 pm

My recollection is that they allot the time according to the "book" ... and whether they put one guy on the job or two guys, that is generally what you are charged. Sometimes it is less because things go well ... sometimes there are extenuating circumstances that cause additional labor time. We have had that happen, and someone from the shop will come to us and let us know the whys and whats before proceeding. Sometimes we THINK we know what needs repair (The framistan is making a noise when it contacts the widget.), but the actual issue is something a lot more complicated. Another discussion and labor time is calculated. I appreciate not having expensive surprises ... that is why we almost NEVER leave the coach and lose contact. On a slightly different note ... if you were having your coach serviced somewhere and spending a good bit of money ... where it was not easy or handy to have access to fresh water ... and you asked the location if they would be able to fill your water tank for you when someone had a little time ... would you expect to find a charge for $100 on your bill? Just curious. Happened to someone I know. He found the charge well after the fact (because he didn't go over his bill line by line) and was told that because he asked them to do it, he was charged. If he had done it himself it was free. $100!!!!! I am figuring shop time at $109 per hour ... 15 minutes of hooking up hose and unhooking hose ... Maybe $17 incl tax. Am I out of line?

I consider that a Blatant rip off, Is that company still in business, Word of mouth like that, will put you out of business here, Very Quickly,
I live in a Tourist area, Lousy food from new Restaurants, They only last six months and are gone, Word of mouth, Kills them,
Same as bad service, They dont last long,

I have twice dealt with Foretravel, A windscreen and a Gas convertor for the Genny, All done over the phone,
Both times, Foretravel have gone out of their way to help me and get my parts to me,

Their service was excellent, And I am in Australia, These parts are totally unobtainable here, They just dont exist here,

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #116 – June 14, 2014, 09:03:27 pm

hey Dave, I can go one better. 3 yrs ago I had an electrical issue with banks as there was no 12v coming from engine for computer to work. I was in mexico and had an auto electrician come over to look at it. He asked a few questions (he did not know what Banks was etc so I told him how it needs to sense power from engine) and he jumped down alonside engine with- get this one- a piece of wire , an old hacksaw blade with a bulb soldered to the end of it and proceeds to check a few things. A minute later the bulb lights up and he points to a wire. He bares the wire then connects it back up with a crimp connector and that is that--it works. he smiles, jumps out and tells me that is 10 pesos. I go "you must be kidding me" and he said no as you helped me!!! I give him 100 ($10) and he goes away very happy. See why I love Mexico and it's people? If you had your generator business there you could make at least $20 and hour!!!!!!
JohnH

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #117 – June 14, 2014, 09:15:46 pm

Dave, could you explain a little more about the A/C and defrost switch position please.

Thanks, richard B

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #118 – June 14, 2014, 09:30:16 pm

rbark,
Oh yes, I have suffered with the condensation on the windshield, turned on the defroster, expecting it to remove the moisture from the window, ZERO effect. Very disappointed, so next time in Nac, and with the erratic A/C I wanted the mechanic to wire it up so when in defrost, it would run the A/C compressor. OH, when the selector is in the defrost position, the A/C is NOT on, just back up one click, still defrost but with theA/C running. No more issues with condensation. Could never find a booklet that explains the different positions.

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #119 – June 15, 2014, 01:30:11 am

Thanks, David, if I ever have that problem I'll know what to do now.

Re: Problems In Nacogdoches?

Reply #120 – June 25, 2014, 06:13:18 pm

Quote from: amos.harrison on June 08, 2014, 05:32:34 AM
...but what has happened when you mailed in surveys on poor service? Have you gotten immediate responses, or have your comments been ignored?

Quote from: Mark Benko – June 08, 2014, 08:37:48 am

I just mailed one in. Did not receive poor service but there were a couple of issues I identified as needing improvement. Will post if I receive a response to my comments.

Update: Just received a survey followup call from Drew Pierce (VP of Operations). We discussed a couple of items identified on my survey. My conversation with Drew echoed Carol's in regards to appointments, quality checks and team lead sign-offs on work performed in various departments. Appears they are following up and do want to make improvements. I take that as a good sign and a good direction.

Affiliate Notice