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Topic: Request for Alternative Maintenance Locations  (Read 1032 times) previous topic - next topic

Request for Alternative Maintenance Locations

Bought 1998 U320 from MOT fall of 2013.  They did some good work but some not so good work at time of purchase.  Have been to FOT now for 3rd time in last year, mainly for annual maintenance and repairs on an older unit.  It is nearly 600 miles so we plan to come associated with other trips.  (We are not full-timers).  Unfortunately, we have NOT had very good results trying to work with FOT maintenance. Seems like one step forward and 2 backward.  They break almost as much as they fix.  MAJOR problem when they replaced drag links.  HUGE safety issue.  They did the annual work on the aqua hot and tonight, at 30 degrees, no heat for the front cabin. Does anybody know of an RV maintenance/repair facility closer to West Texas that is more reliable?  We have spent an awful lot of money here to continually have problems.  Thanks for any input you might have.
Doss Roberts
1998 U320 40' Build 5371

Re: Request for Alternative Maintenance Locations

Reply #1 –
You could try Bernd here in Nac but he very busy, slow at times due to work load but talk to him.  I woukd very definitely contact MOT and talk to owner, he tries hard to make it right, maybe a misundestanding, has really competent folks, some new since 2013.  And try the same at FOT, talk to senior person there

If i might be able to help, give me a pm with your phone number...going to stay cold, can loan you electric heater too.

Mike
Mike
2001 U320 4010 Build 5878 (Gus)
Wrangle Unlimited Toad
Nacogdoches

Re: Request for Alternative Maintenance Locations

Reply #2 –
@dossroberts,

Welcome to the Forum.  Filling out the details in your profile (coach info, physical location, etc) will make it easier for members to answer your questions.  Since you mention Miller's RV in Odessa, can I assume you are currently in the West Texas area?  We live between Midland and Odessa, but I can't help you with finding a good local mechanical shop.  There isn't any place around here I would trust to work on our coach.  As you imply, Miller's is a parts store - nothing more.  I once went to the Cummins dealer in Odessa and the service writer actually said "We don't have time to work on RVs".  The shop was full of oilfield trucks and equipment - a much more lucrative customer group, I'm sure.

As for the Aquahot, your best bet is to contact Rudy Legett or Roger Berke (see their info in the Forum Commercial listings).  They are often able to diagnose problems over the phone.  If that doesn't work, they can point you toward the nearest recommended service facility.

Good luck with your quest!  If you ever do find a good repair shop in West Texas, I'd love to hear about it.
1993 U280 SE 40' WTBI, Build: 4359
C8.3 300hp, 6-Speed, Exhaust Brake
960 watts on the roof (6 x 160)
Sorento (or BOLT) on a Kar Kaddy SS
"Nature abhors a vacuum"

Re: Request for Alternative Maintenance Locations

Reply #3 –
This was my 1st post.  We are from Midland, Texas.  All we were looking for was somewhere closer to Midland to try and get the work done.  We have had work on the engine with the Cummins people at Roberts Trucks between Midland and Odessa but there don't seem to be too many RV repair shops in West Texas.  FOT has resolved all our issues with the aquahot, that is not the problem.  We were simply looking for maintenance closer to home.  Any help there?
Doss Roberts
1998 U320 40' Build 5371

Re: Request for Alternative Maintenance Locations

Reply #4 –
Quote from: dossroberts –
They did the annual work on the aqua hot and tonight, at 30 degrees, no heat for the front cabin.
Only 3 people allowed to work on my AquaHot:  Roger, Rudy and myself.

As to it being cold in the front of the coach, it's the check valve.  If you can hear/feel the air moving at the front heat exchangers but the air is not hot it's the check valve.  Mine would stick anytime it got to about freezing outside.  The temporary fix is to get a flashlight and a medium size phillips screwdriver, go outside and unload enough stuff that you can crawl into the small bay and get to the AquaHot.  It should be behind a panel that is the front wall of the small bay.  Once the panel is out of the way take the cover off the left side of the AquaHot, so that you have access to the burner, plumbing etc.  With the cover off, you should see 3 check valves (see photo below).  You are going to want to "work on" the right most (closest to passenger side) check valve.  You should be able to feel that the pipe is very hot below the check valve but just warm above it.  If that's that case, use the handle of the screw driver to whack the check valve on it's face 3 times.  If you "fixed it" the pipe should be hot above and below the check valve.  IF not, whack it again on the face and sides.  In a few minutes it should start to warm up inside.

At this point I'd leave the cover off (don't lose the screws) and just put the carpeted panel back.  There's a really good chance this will become part of your new morning routine.  Put on a pot of coffee,  go whack on the check valve, come in and pour a cup of coffee.  If it happens more than once, I would go ahead and replace the check valve.  It's very easy and about $25 from Roger Berke, IIRC.  If you don't feel comfortable doing it your self, any plumber should be able to do it.  Maybe the guy from the local Ace Hardware, on his day off.  If you want to have a full annual done on your AquaHot, Roger is near Canyon Lake, TX for the Winter, which is closer than Nac.

Roger's AquaHot Forums are a great resource for trouble shooting, your AquaHot.  Things don't happen as fast there as here, so you have to give it time, but you will get an answer.  Activity Stream - RV Hydronic Heater Forum

I look at the coach like a person, it has a doctor(MOT), a dentist(Bernd), specialists(Roger, Rudy), plastic surgeon(Xtreme) and a pharmacist(FOT).  Just takes a while to figure out what roll a company is capable of playing.


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Douglas and Amanda
1997 40' U320 "Brawley"
2007 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer
Motorcade #17266 Escapee #113692

Re: Request for Alternative Maintenance Locations

Reply #5 –
For my first venture into asking questions online, seems like I opened more than a can of worms @ FOT by being ignorant of how these forums really work.  1st of all, my husband is on oxygen (agent orange from Viet Nam), has a bad back (oilfield accident) and gave up computers when they changed the operating system from DOS to Windows.  Sooo, the I is me, his wife.  It is nearly 600 miles from Midland to Nac and Nac is not on our way to anywhere.  We usually go West in our travels rather than east.  In my ignorance it is obvious I should have kept what is said in the customer lounge and what our experiences have been to myself.  As soon as we showed up to have our maintenance finished Doss was kicked out of the service area and told he was no longer welcome because of my post.  I will therefore post an update to be fair to all.  As much as we thought we liked our Foretravel, after this experience it is questionable how much we still like it.
Millers in Odessa worked on our gas rigs but they don't touch Aqua Hot.  Also, they just moved to a new location last fall and were not fully functional when we left in November.  Haven't checked since we got back 3 days ago.  Other than that, 600 miles for annual maintenance is a long, expensive drive.
Doss Roberts
1998 U320 40' Build 5371

Re: Request for Alternative Maintenance Locations

Reply #6 –
Its surprising, and disappointing, that FOT appears to want to head for the bottom.

Even Walmart recently learned that if they aim for the bottom, they'll get there. And when they do, its not nice there.

And so they recently changed direction.

Any company that allows negative comments about them to remain on the Internet without something like, "Please contact us so we can fix things" or some such, on the Internet, is foolish.

I never sought services at FOT, and, at this point, am unlikely to do so.

OTOH, I did have a problem at MOT. And they fixed it when I brought it to their attention.

best, paul
1999 U320 40' 1200 watts on roof. 12cf AC/DC Cold plate fridge/freezer. VMS 240 CL Honda Element

Re: Request for Alternative Maintenance Locations

Reply #7 –
FOT wants kuddo's rather than criticism.  So, here you are.  Had work done last summer.  Fiberglass work was really well done.  Paint shop did great work matching existing scheme.  Can't tell which are the old decals and which are painted on.  Work was done in timely fashion and we were well pleased with the work.  Needed a backrest for the couch.  When we mentioned it, they already had some and we got one in no time.  A real life saver for my back.  Had a string break in the day/night shade by passenger window while down south.  Then, just before we were to leave to go have annual maint. done a last week, the string broke on the day/night shade for the driver's side window.  Decided to have all the shades restrung.  They came, took them out, restrung them, and rehung them before I (Doss' wife) even knew they were gone.  We forgot to mention we also wanted knew knobs on them, (the others were cracked and broken) and they were fixed just as quickly.  Kuddos to that crew, you did a really good job.  Our problem with maintenance, and I know a lot of others have had the same problem, is all the re-do's that seem to happen.  Have we ever had a problem not fixed? No.  They have eventually gotten things fixed.  As we talked with a member of management, we noted they were missing the whole point.  Redo's cause the customer lost time and frustration and cost FOT lost money from unbillable labor time.  There should be some sort of standard procedures that maintenance follows and some sort of quality control.  For those whose toes I (Doss' wife) stepped on to cause the nasty recoil between maintenance and my husband, maybe it would be worthwhile to ask a few questions rather than shooting the messenger.  Oh, and by the, we gave individual praise (by name) to management for several of the mechanics who do really good work.
Doss Roberts
1998 U320 40' Build 5371

Re: Request for Alternative Maintenance Locations

Reply #8 –
I would talk to Cory Rucker about your experiences.  I have always found him to be approachable and very fair.
2025 Wanderbox Outpost 32 on F600 Expedition Motorhome
2015 Born Free Royal Splendor on Ford 550 nonslide version  for sale
Former Coaches  covering. 360,000 miles
1999 34 U270
2000 36 U320
2001 42' double slide U320
2018 Jeep Rubicon

Re: Request for Alternative Maintenance Locations

Reply #9 –
I am sorry to hear of your less than positive experience at FOT. Just so I am clear on what you are saying, may I ask if you are referring to your first post above resulting in your husband getting kicked out of the shop at Foretravel because they didn't like your comment? If so, that really surprises me! Firstly, because it would indicate they they are no strangers to lurking on the the forum! Secondly, because I had a mostly good experience there getting worked in for fuel lines and other stuff in December of 2012 during ladies' driving school. They didn't execute everything to perfection, but they were accommodating and the technicians were very approachable. I really liked the people there and the parts and service guys were more than helpful.

My one main complaint about the whole thing is that the front end alignment honcho (Wayne) didn't catch that the drag link boots were shot, and the work order specifically said that inspecting all the tie rod ends and boots was part of the service. This resulted in me having to have a second front end alignment and the drag link boots installed elsewhere because Wayne was too busy to do the work by the time Xtreme discovered the problem alerted me to it (about 1 week after the front end alignment). Also, on the subsequent alignment in a different shop, I was told that the toe in hadn't been touched and needed adjustment (there were no signs of wrench marks disturbing the greasy dirt coating on the the tie rod lock nuts). Wayne did set the castor however, and that made a significant improvement in the tracking of the coach, so it wasn't all bad news. Overall, the experience at Foretravel was positive and I will likely have work done there in the future when I am in the area. Unfortunately, what happened to you would likely happen elsewhere with another brand of coach as the internet is full of accounts of horror stories when people take their coaches in to their respective motherships for service. I believe that you are on the right track to seek advice form people to get some first hand accounts of positive experiences of shops in the area that is convenient to you.
Don
Quote from: dossroberts –
For my first venture into asking questions online, seems like I opened more than a can of worms @ FOT by being ignorant of how these forums really work....
In my ignorance it is obvious I should have kept what is said in the customer lounge and what our experiences have been to myself.  As soon as we showed up to have our maintenance finished Doss was kicked out of the service area and told he was no longer welcome because of my post.  I will therefore post an update to be fair to all.  As much as we thought we liked our Foretravel, after this experience it is questionable how much we still like it.
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Don & Tys
1999 U270 3602 WTFE #5402
Xtreme Stage 1 w/Headlight, Step Conversion, etc.
2009 Honda Fit Sport with Navi
Freedom is NOT "just another word for nothing left to lose"... with apologies to Kris Kristofferson

Re: Request for Alternative Maintenance Locations

Reply #10 –
I hope someone from FT is lurking out there.  Maybe they will actually call me back.  I paid my extra MC $25 in January.  What it got me was a definite no that they weren't going to get me in to adjust my slide compared to an indefinate maybe.  So when I called with a technical question yesterday I hoped someone would actually call back.  So far nothing.

I called Cummins (a technical support person answered) to find out where the total fuel accumulator data link on the data buss is connected to the engine.  They said it was installed by FT and I had to ask them.  Wish me luck.

Roger
Roger Engdahl and Susan Green
2001 U320 3610 #5879 (Home2) - 2014 Jeep Cherokee or 2018 F150
Hastings, MN
 

Re: Request for Alternative Maintenance Locations

Reply #11 –
Well I guess that someone at FT is keeping an eye on the Forum.  James Triana called me back this morning.  Thank You James!

Every one of us has a vested interest in keeping the Foretravel brand, the factory and the service culture built up around Foretravel in Nacogdoches strong and healthy.  My guess is that the good experiences far outweigh the not so good ones but as is common the bad ones get more publicity.

If you have a less than acceptable outcome anywhere do your best to work it out the the service provider and then let us know both sides of the story.

I sincerely hope that Foretravel is listening and paying attention to the thousands of Foretravel owners on this forum who talk about their expectations for service, customer support, customer appreciation, communication, and what they hope to find in their next Foretravel.

There are a lot of us with early 2000's who just don't see a ten year newer coach that comes close to meeting what we would want to have for our next coach.

Thanks for listening.  I appreciate it.  I sure wish we heard from you more often.

Roger
Roger Engdahl and Susan Green
2001 U320 3610 #5879 (Home2) - 2014 Jeep Cherokee or 2018 F150
Hastings, MN