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Topic: Final Statement regarding Classic Coach Works in Lakeland, FL (Read 1392 times) previous topic - next topic

Final Statement regarding Classic Coach Works in Lakeland, FL

I know that the "owners" will come up with a rebuttal to my comments on our experience with CCW so I
will keep this factual based on MY experience. Classic Coach Works is owned by a son and father team, Alan and Greg. 
Their motto is "The customer is NOT always right."

While traveling in central Florida in our 40ft our grey water tank valve broke in the open position so we had to find a place that could fix it for us.  Classic Coach Works (CCW) was just a few miles out of our way home in FL, so we decided to get the work done there. 
CCW also does renovations so we decided to get some additional work done:
1. Install a SeeLevel Tank Gauge system with two monitors ( 2 complete systems). $1531.00
2. Mount a TV & DVD player in the basement for outside viewing. $891.00
3. Build a walnut storage cabinet under an existing cabinet where we could store bread, chips, etc. $395.00
4. Install a black water tank flush system & reconfigure my wet bay piping so I could grab the dump valves directly.  My coach had cable pulls to operate the valves and these always broke - which is the original reason we stopped here. Total cost of this project: $1021.00
6. Build and install a custom computer desk.  $2,295.00
7. Install a new fm/am radio with remote control. $295.00
8. Remove the existing storage cabinet on the passenger side and relocate it to the basement for use as an outside table/bar. $197.00 ( IMO they charged me too much for this, but I just paid it).

A call was made to CCW and I was told they could do the work and to bring my coach in for an estimate. 
I was greeted by Alan (the owners son) and he started to give me a tour of their facilities which consisted of looking at their show room furniture, new flooring, etc.  I politely asked Alan if we could skip this tour and let's get out to my RV because my wife & dog had been waiting around for about 90 minutes by now.  He got flustered and on our way out to my RV I had to look at the carpenter shop and 2 other RV's that were in the process of getting new floors installed.  Really dude?  I just told you I was in a hurry.

We finally made it to our coach and after discussing the work to be done I was told by Alan that they could get the work done in 5 to 7 weeks.  Alan wanted to give me a quote on-the-spot, but I wanted to get home ( it had been 3 hours by now) so I asked him to email me the estimate.  Three days later I get the estimate.

Four weeks go by and I have heard nothing from CCW regarding the status of work being done so I email Alan directly and ask him to email me back or call me and get me up to date.  It took this guy SIX days to open my email.  (Yes, they have programs to track when emails are opened.)  Even after he opened my email asking him to call me, I had to run him down with the phone to get a status of my completion date.  When I asked him why it was taking so long he told me, "We have been really busy with snow birds and haven't gotten much done on your RV"  because you told us that you weren't in a hurry.  In other words - I had been bumped back.  I DID tell them I wasn't in a hurry, but THEY told me 5-7 weeks.

I dropped of my RV at CCW on Jan. 28th. I picked it up on April 23rd.  TWELVE weeks later my coach is finally finished.  Had to cancel attending a FT rally in the panhandle!

The quality of the work is "satisfactory" in my opinion, but the lack of follow up and/or status reports from the owner(s) is terrible.  Even though I asked Alan to let me know if they had any problems, I seldom heard from him until it was time to collect the final bill.

My Issues With CCW:
1. We wanted a storage cabinet with a tambour door (like a roll top desk) so we could access the cabinet when our slide was in.  They couldn't get the door to work because they thought I was going to store my coffee pot in the cabinet.  I SPECIFICALLY told Alan not to worry about that $10 coffee pot because I could always move it.  He didn't remember THAT conversation so the cabinet was built with 2 doors instead. In order to access the contents now my slide has to be out because of the swing out doors.

NO ONE called us to inform us that they had made any changes to our initial design request.  Totally INAPPROPRIATE in my opinion.  I asked for and was willing to pay for a specific design that was changed without my knowledge.  When we arrived to settle our "balance due" CCW still wanted me to pay the extra $200 for my tambour door cabinet.  I didn't.

I can't prove this, but when I dropped off my RV my backup camera was working just fine. 
When I picked it up the monitor didn't work.  I DO know that someone spliced some video wires together under the dash to try and get my monitor working.  CCW did have to cut some wires because the backup monitor was also my old tank level gauges.  I just decided to get away from CCW and get a new camera from some where else to the tune of $750.

I would NEVER bring my RV here for more work unless it was a critical emergency and I would NEVER recommend Classic Coach Works in Lakeland, FL to any of my RV friends.

That's MY experience. 
Cheers!

Re: Final Statement regarding Classic Coach Works in Lakeland, FL

Reply #1 –
Well, I have thought about your report and have to thank you for taking the time to post.  As a business owner I read lots into what you have said and are unhappy about in your dealings with that company.

Looks like a couple of things would have made a huge difference in the experience for you.  Simply, they could have listened, and updated you on progress.  Nothing in the terms of cost to them, and yet huge for the total projects success.  I deal with homeowners daily on projects to their homes.  I have had the occasion to shoot photos and upload them to the client as we progress. Once a client was away for a month, we installed 47 new windows in his home one week.  He enjoyed the daily updated photos on our website.  You have gotten my attention, and helped me, thank you.

We too have a new $10 coffee pot, and would have gladly found somewhere else to park and store it, to have had the tambour doors in the design.  When we talked to David, in charge of remodels at FOT, he explained that the man who built our coach cabinets in 1993, would be build the new ones if we decided to do the remodel. 
Dave Cobb
Buckhorn Lake Resort The Club, #6202, Kerrville TX
check the map.  I do rent it out when I am traveling!
2001, U320, 36' #5887, in Kerrville, FT Club #17006, (7/23 to present)
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee L, Summit, white
EX: 98 U295, 36' #5219, (mid door), (4/13-10/23)
EX: 93 U225, 36' (4/11 to 4/13)

Re: Final Statement regarding Classic Coach Works in Lakeland, FL

Reply #2 –
Quote from: Dave and Dolly Cobb –
Well, I have thought about your report and have to thank you for taking the time to post.  As a business owner I read lots into what you have said and are unhappy about in your dealings with that company.  We too have a new $10 coffee pot, and would have gladly found somewhere else to park and store it, to have had the tambour doors in the design.

You hit the nail on the head.  When we were working in the home building business the office closed at 6pm. After that we spent many a hour in the evenings updating our customers with pictures and photos as well.  It wasn't the cost of the project... it was the lack of response from the owners to my questions. 

A side note: When we left the RV my wife remembered that we had left several packs of bread/rolls in one of the kitchen drawers.  We called their office and asked the woman who answered the phone to please get to our coach and throw the bread away for us.  She assured us it would be taken care if immediately.  Twelve weeks later the DW found the bread still in the drawer.  Yikes.  She grabbed the 3 packs of nasty old bread, turned around and handed it all to the owners son and said, "Here, I asked you to take care of this 3 months ago. Take care if it now."  I think she handled it just great considering that she's affectionately known as "The Angry Hungarian" in our family. :o    If I don't get satisfaction, I just turn my wife loose on someone.  hehehe  Ever watch The King of Queens?  She IS Carrie!  And I look like an older Doug. HA!

Re: Final Statement regarding Classic Coach Works in Lakeland, FL

Reply #3 –
There is a website called "RV Service Reviews" dot com.  I would not hesitate to post your entire comment on that site ... INCLUDING the bread!!
Carol & Jeff Savournin
Usta have a '93 U225 36', Usta have a '95 U320 40', Usta have a '02 U320 40'
Usta have a 2006 Born Free, Usta have a 2011 Phoenix Cruiser
Usta have a 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 4dr
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."  Steve Jobs

Re: Final Statement regarding Classic Coach Works in Lakeland, FL

Reply #4 –
This makes FOT and MOT so much more valuable and is why I am happy to drive 1400 miles to Nac.  Sorry you had to have such an experience.
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: Final Statement regarding Classic Coach Works in Lakeland, FL

Reply #5 –
Quote from: Carol Savournin –
There is a website called "RV Service Reviews" dot com.  I would not hesitate to post your entire comment on that site ... INCLUDING the bread!!
I already did write a review for that web site. CCW wasn't on it at all and I wanted to be the 1st :))

FWIW, the only place I'll ever go in the future to get any more mods done will be MOT/FOT.  I've posted my experience on the Escapee forum, the Tiffin forum and the IRV2 forum.  It's amazing how much feedback I'm getting from other people who also had a bad experience with "customer-no-service" CCW.    If I had seen any of the comments BEFORE went to CCW... well, I would NOT have gone in the 1st place.

The internet is a powerful source of info.  Google, Bing and Yahoo all allow people to post reviews about any business.  Trust me - a couple of bad reviews can really damage a business.  If you have a good or bad experience take a few minutes to share it with the world! :)

Re: Final Statement regarding Classic Coach Works in Lakeland, FL

Reply #6 –
Such a common experience no matter where you go, Nac or otherwise (IMHO).  I have learned to stay on top of everything that is being done.  Ask lots of questions and inspect everything, and I do mean everything, that is done on our RV.  You just can't leave these RV service guys on autopilot.  The biggest challenge is to try and think of everything that can go wrong and then make sure it does not happen.  I'm beginning to think it is better to do almost everything myself.  I may have to do it twice to get it right, but I learn a lot about the coach systems in the process.  As Karl B once said, "If you own a coach, you had better have gotten "A"s in your high school shop classes!"
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George Hatfield

  Never ever use World Line Motors of Nacogdoches for service!

Re: Final Statement regarding Classic Coach Works in Lakeland, FL

Reply #7 –
Quote from: George Hatfield –
I'm beginning to think it is better to do almost everything myself.  I may have to do it twice to get it right, but I learn a lot about the coach systems in the process.  As Karl B once said, "If you own a coach, you had better have gotten "A"s in your high school shop classes!"

You are so right.  I wish I had the property & tools to actually do my own work.  I could learn :)  Gave/sold all my tools & big house in 2008 and now we have nowhere to work on my rig really.  Heck, I can't even get my RV down the main street in my subdivision because of all the low trees.  I'd love to have a place in one of those RV resorts with a house and a big RV garage, but we have to stay where we are for awhile to help with the family. Sigh.  No choice but to take it to a shop sometimes. 

I'm jealous of all you guys who can build all your own cabinets ( I could NOT do that), repair the engine (now I want a resonator!), replace refrigerators, replace an entire wet bay, etc.  Fun!

Re: Final Statement regarding Classic Coach Works in Lakeland, FL

Reply #8 –
Steve & Kathy, if the low trees are the only thing stopping you from taking your coach home (ie; no zoning/deed restrictions), and your street is public owned, you need to complain to your city/county commissioner. The public works dept. told me that I was over a year down the list for my subdivision trees to be trimmed, so I contacted my county commissioner, and explained that the county did not need to have an insurance claim for two brand new air conditioners every time I brought my coach home. Within a matter of weeks, our trees were trimmed. Granted, I can't undertake any major mechanical work in my driveway, but there are still a lot of things I can do. 
Steve & Ginny Hill
96 U295 36'/Wrangler
Tampa

Re: Final Statement regarding Classic Coach Works in Lakeland, FL

Reply #9 –
Just reading this topic now and wanted to add my 2 cents.  As we are all too aware nobody is immune from making mistakes.  The best people just admit it and work very hard to correct.  FOT is great, I have given them a lot of business.  But when I have gotten less than perfect work, the good news is they ususally didn't quibble about it and work to make good.  So my rule of thumb is when I contract for anything major (RV or other), I try to have a conversation up front about fixing problems to set the right expectation.  When I don't remember to do this I find myself wishing I had.  ::)
Larry Rubin
2004 U295 38' build 6278
2014 Jeep Cherokee