Customer Service models matter. Perhaps this should be a new chapter in my book “Your guide to Purchasing a Travel Trailer”. Customer Service matters, in particular when you are under warranty. There is nothing more frustrating than having poor customer service response at the Manufacturing or Dealership level. I may have more to say about our most recent experience of dealership customer service in the very near future – so watch for that!
So, customer service may be something you want to investigate when researching manufacturers.
Keep in mind, we have had travel trailers from many different manufacturers over the years. Even through our warranty period with the 2017 Grand Design Imagine, I could easily call and talk to support at the manufacturer.
I can’t really compare today’s Grand Design to Alliance RV, because I don’t have a lot of experience reaching out to in recent years. However, I did place a call after the Marfa Texas trip in October of this year. I could have stayed on the hold instead of leaving a call back number, and I probably should have. They called back after a week on something as simple as giving me a price on a skirt bracket. So obviously I was just a bit disappointed on that kind of turn around.
That being said Grand Design still has phone numbers for part, service, and warranty in addition to the “inside sales team”. This is a group that I successfully interacted with both during and after my warranty expired.
Jayco is a bit of a hybrid with both a service phone number and an email service request form. I will say this about Jayco, they seemed (back when we owned our Jayco’s’) very interested in helping folks even when they were out of their warranty. I picked up on this when I was in the service area at a local dealership. Keep in mind that was prior to 2017. I have no idea how they are now that they are a part of THOR Industries.
Coachmen on the other hand has a contact page that tells you to reach out to the dealer. So, what are your to do when you have issues with your dealer? I guess I would call the main number associated with Coachmen. I am not a fan of that approach.
I’m sure there is a myriad of other customer service models across the industry. I just picked a few as examples.
Now, Alliance RV doesn’t really have a way for you to interact with RV Reps on the phone. Everything is done via emails. That at least has been my experience, because I’ve had two unsuccessful attempts at phone conversations. Both times I was told to go to the website and submit it on-line. The email process becomes very iterative, and that makes it quite inefficient for me, as the customer of a new unit.
In both cases, I had to send an extraordinary number of emails just to get answers. Multiple emails on the same topic feel unnecessary when a five‑minute phone call could have resolved everything. Instead, the issue drags into a week‑long project. I’m not sure Alliance would appreciate a couple of the answers I eventually received, either.
To be clear, I’m not here to criticize Alliance as a company. They simply represent my most recent experience with this type of support model, and I genuinely like their product.
However, using online customer service models for help is like ordering a burger and getting a salad. Technically it’s food, but not what I requested, wanted, or needed. It is the drive‑thru of problem‑solving, efficient for the manufacturer, but accuracy is unreliable. This is why you always check your bag before you leave the McDonalds drive thru window. Is this the future of support in the RV world? My guess is probably so.
Even on-line “Chat” is better than that approach, and believe me, I am not a fan of chat either. Some RV support models, and even dealerships are using that approach now.
Chat is the preferred method for my website hosting provider. It has some downsides, starting with authenticating that you own the website (not a big deal). Next, describing the problem to folks that have English as their second language. This often leads to a misunderstanding on the way information is interpreted. Lastly, they often require screen shots to use when they put you on hold and research the problem. However, unlike the on-line form approach – I get my answer now.
Now, the upside to my hosting provider chat is that they will send me a transcript of our conversation. It often contains links to help me in the future, and that’s great. They also have 24/7 support, but I wouldn’t expect that to be the case in the RV World.
So, perhaps, Alliance and other RV manufacturers that are using an email support protocol, should consider chat as an alternative as well.
The big downside of the email/on-line form issue is that if your stranded somewhere and trying to get help – its not happening. Their auto response states “Please let us know if for any reason you have not seen a reply within 2 business days.” However, my guess is that you can call their main number during business hours. Hopefully they will find a way to help.
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