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Dont make the same mistake and make PC mad

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Chihuly

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Dont make the same mistake and make PC mad
« on: October 10, 2016, 04:43:01 pm »
Don’t make the same mistake I did and make Phoenix Cruiser mad.
Preface: I bought a new custom 2552 from PC in November 2015.
In January the heater goes out and I call PC and talk to Kermit, He informs me to take it to an Attwood Service center for repair. I do that and they replace the defective Motherboard and instruct me to pay the bill (which is around $500.00) and since the Motorhome was new I should send the bill and paperwork to Phoenix Cruiser for warranty reimbursement”.  I said ok and did not question this, I just was going to do what I was told (made sense at the time).
 In March on my way back to Alaska just as we are about to cross the border into Canada the heater goes out again! I again call Kermit but he is not in. I think I have learned something by this point; gosh I even have all the blinking error codes memorized. I head back to Bellingham and start calling Authorized Attwood service centers and finally I find one that can get me in in two days. They service the heater and find the same thing; Defunct Motherboard. They replace it and expect payment and supply me with the paperwork and defunct motherboard to submit for warranty. At this point I don’t question it. I wonder why they don’t submit it themselves but I am new to this stuff so I just pay the bill and am glad to finally be on the road!
In March I get back home and box up both defunct motherboards and the original invoices from both dealers and send them off to Kyle for reimbursement. It has now been eight months and several cordial email exchanges to and from PC terminating with a very short and obviously annoyed email from Kermit in bold type on July 11,
" If these were handled by Attwood service centers why weren't the covered by Attwood directly?

Thank you,

Kermit Fisher

 I responded explaining myself and my actions.
"Kermit,
    Sorry if I handled this wrong, this was the first time I ever had warranty work done. I talked to you the first time the heater went out and you instructed me to seek an Attwood service center which I did. The gentleman there told me I should send the bill to you since the MH was still under warranty. Hell, I didn’t know what the protocol was and you didn’t mention it so (MY BAD) I assumed I was doing the right thing.  I did think it was extra red tape for you to have to send it to Attwood for reimbursement.  There is crazier stuff in life than that so I didn’t put much thought in it.
The second time the heater goes out in Bellingham Washington just as we are getting ready to cross the border to Alaska headed home. I called again but you were not in. From Past exp. I called an authorized dealer and they replaced the Motherboard gave me the paperwork they said I needed for warranty submittal but they expected payment immediately for services???? Again, I did not question this I paid the bill and was on my way!
I am not in a hurry for this money and to tell you the truth it isn’t worth the time I have spent explaining myself.  I  still don’t know how  to handle this kind of stuff or what amount of time is expected to see a refund. I can easily wait until Attwood pays you or I can just walk away in disgust and say forget it life is too short . Warranty will be up shortly and you won’t have to hear from me again so there is something to smile about!
Sorry for the trouble
Mark"

On August 6th I finally just asked for everything back:

" Kyle, could you please give me an update on this. If you guys are not going to handle this please send me all the paperwork and motherboards back and I will try to resolve this with Atwood".

I still have not heard a word. I hear all these great stories about how great these guys are and keep asking myself “is it me”. I was always polite in all my emails. I am still very happy with my PC. I have given up and will no longer worry about my thousand dollars, like I said “life is too short!”
I guess the only reason I am writing this is so others can benefit. I guess if I was stupid enough to do what everyone instructed me to do maybe there are a few others that could benefit and not make the same mistake.  I still don’t exactly know the proper way to handle this. Should I have demanded the service center to submit warranty, or should I just submitted it directly to Attwood? When the gentleman said “because your Motor Coach is less than two months old you should submit it to PC” I guess for some unknown reason that just seemed to make sense.

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2 Frazzled

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Re: Dont make the same mistake and make PC mad
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2016, 05:16:36 pm »
We had trouble with our Atwood furnace also and had trouble getting warranty repairs. I had communicated with Kermit in advance so I knew that the different components are under warranty with the different companies. So I KNEW it should go through Atwood without my having to pay up front. After freezing for a while we gave up on the authorized repair center and drove south. We tried again with another Atwood service dealer with no luck. We finally waited it out and had Kermit handle it in Indiana when we got there. He had his local Atwood guy fix the unit and I sincerely hope he didn't get hit with any fees. It was definitely a warranty repair.

I know you are upset with Phoenix but you were, um, screwed by the Atwood service dealers. Since I had similar service issues at two separate dealers in two separate states and you had issues with two more dealers in more states, I'm going to lob out a guess that Atwood is not so good at paying their warranty claims so the dealers try to dodge it. Those Atwood dealers flat out lied to you so they could get paid right away. Atwood requires that they send in the bad part to get reimbursed for the warranty repair (I know due to many calls to Atwood). By the way, it may not be your motherboard - that is just the nice big expensive repair they claim it needs. Many times it is the igniter. Atwood seems to have some bad ones out there (though they seem to have bad motherboards also). If you keep having problems, try swapping that igniter. If it is still under warranty, get it from Atwood or verify which one won't void the warranty. I think my furnace warranty was two years so check that before messing with it if it goes out again. If they finally process your parts and determine the motherboard(s) was not bad, I'd suggest pressing Atwood for resolution since it is THEIR authorized service centers that pulled this off. Perhaps it will help prevent other people from getting the same run around.

We have come to realize that since an RV is many different parts from many different manufacturers, there tends to be a lot of finger pointing. Manufacturers try to put the blame and repair cost back on the RV builder. Phoenix packed all your warranty cards in that huge zipper case that came with your motor home. You sent those in to each manufacturer and they are responsible for warranty repairs for their product. ONLY if Phoenix installed something wrong or something else in the rig caused the problem, should Phoenix be liable. In our case, Atwood claimed we had insufficient propane pressure to run the furnace - this they diagnosed over the phone. After verifying that wasn't the issue, I was back on the phone with Atwood and back to finding a repair shop that could help us. The repair shop tested the propane flow and it was proven to be fine so Atwood could no longer deny it was their product that was faulty.

Kermit has helped us out repeatedly with issues that are not the fault or liability of Phoenix. I hope he is able to get Atwood to do the right thing by you.
John, Holly, and sometimes Chloe.
Travel Blog: Spiritofthewoods.net

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randallandchris

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Re: Dont make the same mistake and make PC mad
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2016, 07:45:01 pm »
Have yet to be able to rely on our Atwood furnace and endured many cold nights.  First repair in Calgary to replace circuit board had to pay shop and submit to Atwood, they did reimburse.  Second was to replace blower motor in Grand Junction and shop handled it so this year giving them another shot to fix again.  If still not right then going to their factory in Elkhart before warranty expires.  Hate Atwood.

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Chihuly

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Re: Dont make the same mistake and make PC mad
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2016, 09:25:19 pm »
I am not loosing sleep over the money and I'm not mad at PC . Probably somewhere in the 600 pages of stuff I'm suppose to read it might even cover what I was supposed to do in that situation. I am annoyed by the whole affair and disappointed in the service centers that smiled at me, the virgin new motor home buyer, as they guided me down the road that suited them best.(I have had several campers and travel trailers but never one that was brand new out of the box with warranties ) . If Atwood doesn't stand behind their products or trust their authorized dealers than maybe its time to look a  more reputable company. Being from Alaska I cannot think of a more important appliance to my well being and my motor homes well being when it is below zero than the furnace.
 I hope someone can learn this lesson thru this post and not have to go thru the costly lesson I did.

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ragoodsp

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Re: Dont make the same mistake and make PC mad
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2016, 09:41:38 am »
Chihuly....I really feel your pain and have over the years been caught in the old finger pointing in the game of warranty responsibilities.  Being new to the "new vehicle/RV world" I think a little more compassion could/should have been extended to you.  For the record,  the PC warranty and any other manufacturers warranty only applies to the four walls of the coach basically.  All  structural defects, paint, delamination, flooring etc is where the warranty starts and stops for PC.   All of the appliances, and accessories  have there own warranties that you must fill out the cards and return to the manufacturer to be registered, any reputable dealer could have easily looked up the units serial number and know immediately that it was still under warranty, obviously they did not want to wait for Atwood to send them a check and merely took your money as and easy fix.   There is no reason that Kermit should have yelled at you, perhaps he was having a bad day like we all do once in a while?  For "good will" sense I do think and offer to intercede on your behalf with Atwood would have been the right thing for PC to do and could have turned the entire situation into a learning opportunity to educate you on what perhaps is a better approach to get a malfunctioning appliance fixed.  Best of luck and please stay warm up there in the last frontier!   Ron G
Ron Goodspeed

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Chihuly

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Re: Dont make the same mistake and make PC mad
« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2016, 12:18:44 pm »
Thanks for the words of encouragement. At this point I would just be happy getting the motherboards and the paperwork back. Now that I know what I'm suppose to do, I can't do it.