End of (most) factory service

[CRM]

7 minutes ago, ChrisMI said:

Hopefully we’ll have a sticky thread on the forum devoted to service center experiences.  There will be one or two that will rise above the rest with the knowledge and desire to fix things correctly in a timely manner. 
 

I'm guessing Oliver will face a lot of pressure from their dealers to not allow any type of negative feedback about them on these forums. We're probably looking at a high level of moderation here on dealer service/sales experiences or elimination of the forums altogether. Do any of the other manufacturers allow such open discussion on their company run site?

[ChrisMI]

4 minutes ago, CRM said:

I'm guessing Oliver will face a lot of pressure from their dealers to not allow any type of negative feedback about them on these forums. We're probably looking at a high level of moderation here on dealer service/sales experiences or elimination of the forums altogether. Do any of the other manufacturers allow such open discussion on their company run site?

I find the moderators on this forum to be very rational and do a great job of keeping the peace. If the thread concentrated on positive reviews vs negative it would be very beneficial.  I don’t see the forum drastically changing anytime soon unless there was a major shakeup at Oliver. 

[dewdev]

@ScubaRx and @SeaDawg. Since you are moderators, you may know more about the end of service at the factory then us other owners.

Has OTT explained to you how OTT be training the  local dealer's service personne and when?

Will OTT explain the services that they offered at the factory during their annual maintenance services?

Edited March 31 by dewdev

[topgun2]

50 minutes ago, dewdev said:

Will OTT explain the services that they offered at the factory during their annual maintenance services?

Take a look at THIS thread.  A list of all the annual services can be found here along with the approximate price.  The specific post is about 6 down from the top.

Bill

Edited March 31 by topgun2

[Geronimo John]

On 3/31/2024 at 3:54 AM, ChrisMI said:

I don’t see the forum drastically changing anytime soon unless there was a major shakeup at Oliver. 

For our OE2 purchase, and I suspect for a lot of other OTT trailer owners, a significant part of the premium price we willingly paid included access to the outstanding benefit of this forum and access to the top Service Team in the country. 

Should they go the way I have now predicted twice, frankly there will be many owners feeling abandoned by a company we trusted to be there for us.  No service team, no forum.... those would have serious implications.  

Edited April 1 by Geronimo John
Some Re-Thinks.

[dewdev]

51 minutes ago, topgun2 said:

Take a look at THIS thread.  A list of all the annual services can be found here along with the approximate price.  The specific post is about 6 down from the top.

Bill

But will the new independent service locations offer the same annual maiintenance program that OTT offered?

Or put another way, will the independents even be told and trained of what OTT offered for the annual maintenance?

Edited March 31 by dewdev

[John Dorrer]

I spoke to the Sales Manager at the new Indiana Dealer. Decided to wait to talk to service until the Service Department has been trained.

 

In the meantime I started researching mobile RV companies and have reached out to two. While I usually stopped in Hohenwald in late February, there are things I will continue to do myself like winterizing, dewinterizing, and sanitizing. I will also continue to check screws, wires, etc. I have a truck place that does our zerks and will be checking suspension, springs, etc. Having a mobile guy will hopefully provide some piece of mind.

Edited March 31 by John Dorrer

[rich.dev]

14 hours ago, Geronimo John said:

 

• Likely down side for existing owners is that the next step could be to reduce their Service Team. 
• That would over time impact our access to the Service Team's tremendous amount of institutional knowledge that Jason and his staff have garnered.

👆🏻is a huge concern for me! Most of the dealerships have a bunch of brands that they have to service, and unless they will have Oliver only “certified” service people their service will never be on par with Oliver.

case in point …..

1) Had an issue with my solar panels not charging, I put a ticket in and within an hour received a call from Hannah, took her maybe 30min to diagnose the problem. Why, because she is familiar with everything a-z related to layout, ie electrical/gas/plumbing etc diagrams, components and component layout.

2) Something as simple as the 3 additional jack fuses under the street side bed, if the dealerships service people (who have to service numerous other rigs) are not familiar with this, could make for a frustrating diagnosis.

I would assume (Hopefully) the dealerships will have detailed schematic drawings of all the wiring/plumbing etc. 
 

 

 

[topgun2]

3 hours ago, dewdev said:

But will the new independent service locations offer the same annual maiintenance program that OTT offered?

Or put another way, will the independents even be told and trained of what OTT offered for the annual maintenance?

All I know to tell you is for you to re-read THIS.

Sorry - but - that is all I know.

Bill

[Steph and Dud B]

8 hours ago, CRM said:

Do any of the other manufacturers allow such open discussion on their company run site?

The Forest River forums often have posts complaining about dealer service issues and/or factory build problems. It's allowed as long the post is asking for help/making suggestions and not just complaining. 

[Rivernerd]

2 hours ago, rich.dev said:

1) Had an issue with my solar panels not charging, I put a ticket in and within an hour received a call from Hannah, took her maybe 30min to diagnose the problem. Why, because she is familiar with everything a-z related to layout, ie electrical/gas/plumbing etc diagrams, components and component layout.

Access to the expertise of the Service team in Hohenwald is also critically important to me.  Perhaps delegating "hands on" service work to dealer techs will free up more time for the excellent Service Team in Hohenwald to provide just the kind of expert help rich.dev describes above to more Oliver owners, as the number of hulls on the road continues to increase?

[Steph and Dud B]

5 hours ago, dewdev said:

But will the new independent service locations offer the same annual maiintenance program that OTT offered?

I think that's unlikely. There's a big shortage of techs. Most dealers are having trouble just keeping up with warranty service and emergency repairs to RVs sold by their dealership. They probably won't have time for elective work. You might have better luck with an independent RV tech.

[SeaDawg]

I think, personally,  we all need to take a step back, and breathe.

Yeah, I know, I have a 16 year old trailer. 

So, I can say, unequivocally,  Oliver has never failed me. My belief is, they won't ever on the future,  either.

Right now. The amazing service staff at Oliver hq is charged with training outposts, which we have all longed for, over the years. 

That takes time.

Obviously,  I have been in for the long run, and will continue to be so.

I can only think that service will continue to get better, with outposts around the country, closer to many owners, with the great support of Oliver central awesome staff.

 

 

Edited April 1 by SeaDawg

[SeaDawg]

13 hours ago, HDRider said:

made the mistake thinking that I could call and ask questions when I struggled with something.  That process is broken. 

Edited 13 hours ago by HDRider

I don't believe that is a true statement. 

Though Jason may be training,  I believe other qualified team members will step up. 

[Geronimo John]

6 hours ago, rich.dev said:

I would assume (Hopefully) the dealerships will have detailed schematic drawings of all the wiring/plumbing etc. 

For each of the years various configurations and options.  In hard and electronic copy.  Not likely to happen in my lifetime. 

 

[Geronimo John]

17 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

I can only think that service will continue to get better, with outposts around the country, closer to many owners, with the great support of Oliver central awesome staff.

Sherry:

In the military, and civilian life as well, when leadership does not keep their troops in the know; They begin to wander ever increasingly from the line of march.  Ultimately the team will spiral down the drain tube of mission failure.  From my perspective, that in the past has not ever been the OTT path.    

Training of tech teams who will be "Authorized" to maintain OTT's is certainly something that must be done for the whole dealership concept to work.  And there is no one better than the OTT Service Department to do so. 

Is OTT obligated to tell us what their plans are.  Of course not.  But not doing so with respect to the changes being made is not logical.  Why?

Good will is built over years and many thousands of encounters.  It can be destroyed 1,000 times quicker than it can be re-built.  It is the Service Department that IMO is primarily responsible for the huge Good Will that is demonstrated to the world many dozens of times a day.   Hence, having the Technical Resources at the Mother Ship and this forum to help filter out the work load they see is imperative to the continued success and growth of OTT and their dealerships as well. 

In some eyes, the Technical Advisory Role and Forum future are concerns by the owners that could continue to fester, or be put to rest in an excellent manner....It  just takes communication.  

GJ        

Edited April 1 by Geronimo John
Clarification of Points of Concern

[Geronimo John]

4 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:

But will the new independent service locations offer the same annual maintenance program that OTT offered?

I'm not so sure of that.  For the sake of example, let's assume that 90% of all RV's are not used year round.  Those unused months, mostly in winter, are perfect times for the Service Department to do scheduled annual maintenance. I feel certain that Jason and Team can train up the dealership Techs to do annual service, and do it to the Mother Ship's high standards.  For me that is not an issue.

It is the diagnosing and trouble shooting of systems that is next to impossible to teach in a short period of time.  This is the part of the OTT divestment plan I am most worried about.  Followed closely of course is their continued support of that process and this forum. 

GJ

[ScubaRx]

10 hours ago, rich.dev said:

I would assume (Hopefully) the dealerships will have detailed schematic drawings of all the wiring/plumbing etc.

 

4 hours ago, Geronimo John said:

For each of the years various configurations and options.  In hard and electronic copy.  Not likely to happen in my lifetime.

Unfortunately, there isn't and never was any schematic drawings of electrical and plumbing systems for the years 2007-2009. Likewise for the twenty-one 2014 models and the thirty-seven 2015's. Somewhere during the 2015-2016 period they had a company come in and design a wiring harness for the Elite II's. They bought them from that company at first and then started making their own. I remember meeting one of their interns during this period and he was working on both a wiring and plumbing schematic. I saw them on a computer screen in the supervisor's office out on the factory floor. So at least at some point there was that. At one point they provided them when when you bought a trailer. And then they didn't. I've never been able to get a straight answer from anybody at the factory as to why they no longer share them. I do know that one member has copies of whatever is (or has been) out there. I don't know what year trailer his copies reference. I suspect that they would be of little help to the folks that have a trailer less than 3-4 years old. I won't out him but I do know that he as shared freely in the past with other owners. If he sees this he'll probably reach out.

[Geronimo John]

Sherry:

Thankyou for your response.  I would like to tie together the discussions about the changes being undertaken by OTT and the feelings of many owners. 

Concerning documentation, June and I are lucky as our 2018 Owner’s Manual has a pretty good set of schematic drawings. 

The difficult part of technical record keeping and document production is the frequency of change.  For OTT, each year more than a few individual components change and new features are added.  So, the schematics and their supporting documentation have to be updated just about every year.  This takes time and resources.

Cumulatively over the years the changes creates a lot of data points that Service has to keep up with.  Jason and his team do this exceptionally well.  But at the dealership level it would be impossible to do so at the same level.  So, in addition to the owners needing the info, the dealerships certainly will need it even more.

So long as Jason and his team are employed by OTT with the mission to support the technical and diagnostic questions of BOTH the new dealerships and the DYI owners, we will ALL be fine.  However, their departmental name likely would need to be changed from Service Department to maybe “Technical Services” to better reflect what OTT management is trying to do.  I can think of no individual at OTT that would be more qualified than Jason to also supervise the individual that will be necessary to produce the technical documentation that is needed by both the dealerships and OTT trailer owners.

Now if only OTT would come forward and state that they will continue to support this changed mission of the existing Service Department, and also the continued existence of this wonderful forum, I think the situation would be greatly defused.  For me, that would erase all my concerns.

Hoping and praying for the best outcome for OTT and all their customers.

GJ

Edited April 1 by Geronimo John

[HDRider]

18 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

I don't believe that is a true statement. 

Though Jason may be training,  I believe other qualified team members will step up. 

I have only talked to Jason once since I got my trailer last August.

 

I stand by what I said about the service being a broken system.   I am not speaking to the most recent develops, but rather my experiences since I got the trailer.  It is ripe for process reengineering. 

[HDRider]

17 hours ago, Geronimo John said:

Those unused months, mostly in winter, are perfect times for the Service Department to do scheduled annual maintenance.

I took my trailer to a off brand dealer for service, with Oliver's approval, on the first of October.  It took them two months to do two hours of work.  

 

My invertor went bad.  When I got it back the invertor was not configured properly.  To their credit Oliver service walked me through the config in about 20 minutes. 

[Geronimo John]

1 hour ago, HDRider said:

I stand by what I said about the service being a broken system.   I am not speaking to the most recent develops, but rather my experiences since I got the trailer.  It is ripe for process reengineering. 

 

1 hour ago, HDRider said:

I took my trailer to a off brand dealer for service, with Oliver's approval, on the first of October.  It took them two months to do two hours of work.  My invertor went bad.  When I got it back the invertor was not configured properly.  To their credit Oliver service walked me through the config in about 20 minutes.

Sorry that the "off brand" dealer's performance was subpar.  By chance was it one of the dealerships that is now in the OTT program?

Your comment about service "being ripe for process reengineering" is true especially for warranty work.  Down the road as you get to know your trailer out of warranty, likely you will be much more comfortable to doing repairs DIY style as many of us do.  For out of warranty owners especially, this forum can provide you with great details on how to do almost anything you can imagine with your rig.  Just ask a question and our members are rarely shy about giving you options.  Often we will encourage an owner to put in a service ticket if it is something that needs to be tracked for QC reasons or simply to get the Service Team's technical diagnosis or thoughts.   

I do believe that transitioning the Service Leadership Team to that of a Technical Services role for dealerships and with owners via this forum will serve all very well.  Likewise having trusted dealerships out there, for both and routine service, will be very much more convenient that only the Mother Ship Option. 

I wish you well.

GJ  

[Patriot]

18 hours ago, Geronimo John said:

Sherry:

In the military, and civilian life as well, when leadership does not keep their troops in the know; They begin to wander ever increasingly from the line of march.  Ultimately the team will spiral down the drain tube of mission failure.  From my perspective, that in the past has not ever been the OTT path.    

Training of tech teams who will be "Authorized" to maintain OTT's is certainly something that must be done for the whole dealership concept to work.  And there is no one better than the OTT Service Department to do so. 

Is OTT obligated to tell us what their plans are.  Of course not.  But not doing so with respect to the changes being made is not logical.  Why?

Good will is built over years and many thousands of encounters.  It can be destroyed 1,000 times quicker than it can be re-built.  It is the Service Department that IMO is primarily responsible for the huge Good Will that is demonstrated to the world many dozens of times a day.   Hence, having the Technical Resources at the Mother Ship and this forum to help filter out the work load they see is imperative to the continued success and growth of OTT and their dealerships as well. 

In some eyes, the Technical Advisory Role and Forum future are concerns by the owners that could continue to fester, or be put to rest in an excellent manner....It  just takes communication.  

GJ        

GJ,

Very well stated. I received a call from Mike Sharpe last Friday. He did say that Oliver would continue to have a technical support staff that owners could call for troubleshooting. 
 

- Patriot

 

[Geronimo John]

3 minutes ago, Patriot said:

Very well stated. I received a call from Mike Sharpe last Friday. He did say that Oliver would continue to have a technical support staff that owners could call for troubleshooting. 

More great info just keeps dribbling out.  Thrilled for your sharing this key info. Thanks

[HDRider]

29 minutes ago, Geronimo John said:

By chance was it one of the dealerships that is now in the OTT program?

No.

The nearest Oliver dealer is 16 hours round trip from me.  Hohenwald is 7.