Caveat emptor

The converter on my one month old R-Pod failed while I was on a trip to Alaska.  I called the Forest River warranty department and explained that none of the Forest River dealers near where I was had the unit in stock.  I was told that if I paid for the repair out of pocket and submitted the invoice and proof of payment, I would be reimbursed.  Following is the email exchange that I had with the warranty department after I emailed a copy of the invoice and proof of payment.  I was not told that I had to send the defective part back to Forest River during my first conversation about reimbursement.  I've put this information on the forum because I was appalled to learn that the warranty is basically worthless.  Perhaps forewarning about what you will have to deal with if you need warranty work done will inoculate you against some of the frustration I have experienced.

Do you have the bad converter we can have picked up to get it back to the factory?

 Thank you,

Samantha Ferguson

Surveyor/Rpod

Warranty Administrator

(574) 642-3119 ext. 275

sjhoover@forestriverinc.com

fax: (574) 343-5920

Dear Ms. Ferguson,

 I just arrived home from my trip.  While I was traveling, I did not see your email, hence the late response.

 The old converter is still in the R-Pod.  If I remember the conversation accurately, the owner of Bulletproof Trailers who installed the new converter said that the original fuse panel and converter were all one unit.  He said there was nothing wrong with the fuse panel and that only the converter had failed.  Moreover, he said he did not have a single fuse panel-converter assembly in stock, but he did have the IOTA 55 amp power supply.  He bypassed the connections to the old converter and installed the new one behind it in the space under the seat.  I have had no electrical problems since the installation.  Even if I were to bring it to an R-Pod dealer to extract the failed converter for you, I would then (if I understood the technician who did the work correctly) have no fuse panel.  

 I note that other R-Pod 180 owners have reported on the R-Pod owners forum that they also have had the converters fail in their 180’s.  This leads me to believe you must have multiple claims for these failures and already be familiar failures of this unit.

 I hope you will process my reimbursement as quickly as possible.

 Thanks!

Maureen Rubano

Maureen,

        I would need the bad converter back for our vendor to test. Once I receive that back I can start the reimbursement process.

 Thank you,

If this is the case, then you need to direct me a Forest River R-Pod dealer who will replace the defective unit under warranty and return the defective part to you.  I will then keep the converter I paid for out of pocket as a spare.  Please advise where I may get the warranty work done.

 Thank you.

Maureen.

        Can you not take it to your selling dealer?

 Thank you,

Samantha Ferguson

I live in Maine.  I drove to Ohio to purchase the unit.  Please advise what local (i.e., New England) dealer will perform this warranty work.

Thanks.

Maureen

 http://www.forestriverinc.com/DealerLocator.aspx

 Above is the link to our Dealer Locator feature from our website, Forest River cannot advise what dealer to take the unit to as all of our dealers are independently owned and operated.

 You plug in your zip code, first drop down box choose Travel Trailer and second drop down box is a list of Forest River products, you don’t have to stick with Rpod as any Forest River dealer or Camping World location can do warranty work for Rpods, please keep in mind that being that these dealers are independently owned and operated that some may work on units they didn’t sell and some may not.

 Thank you,

Samantha Ferguson

Do you understand that your warranty is worthless if Forest River cannot compel its retailers to honor a warranty because they are all “independently owned”?

I apologize you feel that way, however, that is why we strongly suggest to purchase locally.

 Thank you,

Samantha Ferguson

This is not a matter of “feeling”.  If Forest River cannot get its dealers to honor the manufacturer’s warranty, then the warranty is a fraud.  I can only assume a class action suit will eventually be filed.

If you want to go that route than I can no longer speak with you.

Thank you,

Samantha Ferguson

This is not a problem, since Forest River has failed to honor its warranty and there really isn’t much left to say.

Forest River has not failed to honor its warranty, I clearly gave you instructions on how to find a dealer if you cannot take the unit back to the selling dealer.

 Thank you and have a great day,

Samantha Ferguson

Instructions about how to find a dealer does not equal reimbursement for money I paid for a failed component of my one-month old Forest River trailer.  Telling me that whatever dealer I find through your instructions may choose to replace the part for me — or not — does not honor Forest River's “warranty”.  “Warranty" means the manufacturer will fix, or cause to have fixed by a retailer of its products, a defective part: it does not mean providing information about finding a dealer who may elect to fix a defective part — or not.  “Warranty” means you tell me which dealer is going to replace the defective part without cost to me.  You have not done that.

I will say a few things here..
1) RV dealers ALL operate this way, as far as warranty issues. They are independent contractors. Hate it, but it is what it is.
2) The dealer in Alaska is/was wrong. Not only is the converter/charger section of the power center replaceable, the part can be found for under $100 if you try, and a bit more with no effort at all. Now you were in Alaska, so everything takes longer to "get here" but I can have one on my porch in 36 hours from when I realize I need it.
3) It takes 5 minutes to change it out. I just did one, at a rally, while drinking a beer and chatting with a friend. 5 wires and 2 screws. The power center does NOT have to be removed.
4) If you look in my mods file in my signature, there is a post about changing mine out for a 4 stage I had laying around..
5) Car, Truck, RV, whatever, manufacturers all require proof that there is an actual issue, and the owners word is never the proof.
6) The WFCO 8955 power center is NOT specific to your, or anyone elses RV, thousands of them are installed every day. Very FEW fail. They do occasionally. Far more are murdered by bad/faulty/improper power connections then just "quit". The converter I changed at the ERU was destroyed by plugging the pod into a miswired plug, the pod took 240V. Killed several things.

There has been no change that I am aware of. And I am pretty sure I would have noticed. Honestly, other then the people at the factory or a repair tech at a very large dealership, I have probably worked on, repaired, trouble shot, and modified more pods then anyone else in the country.

Again, the WFCO 8955 is a standard unit, placed in thousands and thousands of mid sized and small 30A RV's annually for at least the last decade. I am sure the dealer sold you what they had and could make work, getting you back on the road with as little vacation time lost as possible.

I have no clue why you where told what you were about sourcing one either, but I can assure you, it was wrong. Here is an Amazon link, for the replacement part. If I ordered it right now, it would be here noonish Friday. How any particular dealer does their parts ordering, I don't know, but I assure you this isn't a rare or hard to come by item.

LINK

The tire comparison doesn't work very well for the RV world, because Costco stores ALL belong to Costco. Again, RV dealerships are ALL independent dealers, except in a few rare instances where one owner may own a couple. LazyDays come to mind, they have lots in FLA and AZ.. I assure you, if you took the tire to Sam's, even if they sold the exact same tire, they also would not honor a Costco warranty.

As far as handy, yes. Even more so then owning a home. Your home doesn't suffer near the abuse a TT does. But you should be handy, unless you want to pay for repairs, if you own a home. And even more so any RV.

Since you bought at Couch's, did you notice on their website the links to how to handle any warranty issues? They have a pretty full explanation of how to handle them. And as was pointed out, FR strongly encourages people to buy local, (and has a explanation on their site as well), just for this reason.

The best spin I have ever been able to put on it for people who buy from a wholesaler like Couch's, so as to "save thousands" over buying from a local dealer is.. If you have a warranty issue that you end up paying for, odds are it will still cost less then the difference. So you still saved thousands, just a little less so.

This has been really, really helpful.  I think I am going to back out of my 180 since I was going to buy it in another state.  The local dealer, with a higher price, basically said he wouldn't be interested in doing warranty work.  I had no idea that dealers wouldn't honor the work.  Guess I was thinking about card dealerships. Thanks.