Broken down @ Marathon - Jon to the rescue!

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Jim opens the door a little to what may be the concerns of some owner. He mentions fear of retaliation. My first reaction is that I am sure a lot of coach owners have that concern, whether they express it or not. I think to a degree it may be a justified concern if the coach has a lot of proprietary features.

But rather than irritate a converter to the point where the service manager or the management really do want to retaliate I would think that the best path is to quietly step away and take your business elsewhere. Even on the most sophisticated coaches, with the greatest amount of converter installed proprietary operating systems there is an extremely high percentage of the coach or the house portion that can be worked on by anyone reasonably competent. By stepping away from a deteriorating situation you are preserving the future ability to get assistance when you truly need help.

I think each converter has to some extent their own proprietary devices or control systems in our coaches. That is the stuff that we as owners should save for the experts to repair or replace. But if an owner just doesn't respect or get along with the converter go find someone else to do the repairs or begin training yourself.

[Jim Skiff]

If Jon had't reached ROCK STAR status yet, he has now.
And I thought Obama was on a roll.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

If Jon had't reached ROCK STAR status yet, he has now.
And I thought Obama was on a roll.

JON FOR PRESIDENT

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Cmon, AJ.....document your experiences.

[jimshoen]

Jon, Quietly going someplace else is exactly what I did. However, when I saw AJ's post I could not control myself anymore and threw caution to the wind. Last August 3rd when I was at the Marathon Coburg shop there was another Marathon customer getting the same treatment as AJ and I. I felt real sorry for the guy. He was in his late sixties or seventies and was completely at a loss for what to do and had no fight in him. He sat there silently and took it, what a shame.
Marathon, Liberty, Featherlite, Prevost etc. would do themselves and their customers a big favor by reading what we are all saying on these chats about maintenance issues. A quick reply by the builder on a problem would reduce phone calls into their tech support and get the information out to many other customers. Plus, I can rarely write as fast as the tech guy talks. Having it in writing would be great.

[ajhaig]

In thinking about our recent experience at Marathon and in fairness to Marathon, I thought I should point out that we had a very positive experience when we went to Coburg on two occasions last fall. Many of the people, including Pat, Leon & Jim, actually remembered building our bus (although this is most likely because it was built for a well known country singer) and seemed to know the systems inside and out.

I also thought I should give an example (I could pick from many) of what has me so disturbed about our experience at Marathon FL.

The initial problem that brought us to Marathon was leaks in the air system. Our coach has a remote air-dump on the curb side that we never use (with the exception of a mishap in a parking lot). Rather than spending time and money troubleshooting the air-dump, I asked to have the line disconnected and capped in the steer bay. The tech capped the line (but capped it after the regulator, leaving a potential weak link in the system). After I paid my bill I noticed that I was charged 3.2 hours to cap the line. When I questioned the amount of time, the service manager called the tech into his office (with me still in there) and questioned him about the amount of time he had billed. It was incredibly uncomfortable for me, as a customer, to stand by watching this tech, who seemed like a good guy, get grilled by his boss, and it went on for about 10 minutes. I even told the manager that I was uncomfortable and that I wanted to just forget about it and asked for my invoice back. In the end, I was credited back two hours. Incidentally, I later discovered that the regulator that was left on the live end of the system had a major air leak and had to be removed.

I could go on but I think you get the point.

Maybe they are catering to the rich and famous. One interesting thought is that since Marathon was acquired by the current owners, consumer spending has been on a tear. My hunch is that should the economy enter a consumer led recession, these guys will quickly learn that selling expensive campers is not so easy and attitudes will change.

We very much like our Marathon and I wouldn't hesitate to have it serviced in Coburg, although I'll avoid the Florida branch. Should we get black-balled, so be it, they are not a public utility and they can do business with whom ever they want. I thought about complaining to senior management but figured it would be a waste of my time; Jim - thanks for confirming that. As the old marketing expression goes, "Good customers don't complain, they just don't come back."

[garyde]

In any Service buisness your going to have good and bad experiences. When your traveling, on vacation, with a time limit, I get very anxious if I don't get fast, reliable, efficient service.
I am sure the people that work at these facilities feel the constant grinding pressure.
No excuse for being rude but understandable in the busy seasons.

I remember having to have my Boat repaired on a vacation to Northern California and the fits I had because my vacation was slipping away and it was going to take days to repair the boat. That pressure was certainly being felt by the service manager and the mechanic.
I have to be thankful those guys were there to save the rest of my vacation for myself and my family.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

AJ is really restraining himself because I know most of the story about his FL visit, and the dollars it cost him. He is being a real gentleman here, and if Marathon is reading this they need to contact him and apologize for his treatment, and find out what they should do to make amends.

Jim S, I am going to have to brag about Liberty and will take whatever heat anybody cares to dish out. Liberty is not perfect and they have some design issues that really need to be improved, but in then nearly 2 decades I have owned a Liberty Coach I have never lacked support. Ever. Every phone call for help always ended to my satisfaction. I always had the answers I needed and the information necessary to correct any problem. On the few occasions I have had them install or service something the work has been first class and has been done to my satisfaction with no need to bring it back for repairs.

Liberty has been the standard by which I have measured all other businesses I have done business with, and I have not yet had dealings with any other company that has measured up to their standards of customer support. Fire away guys, but don't expect me to change my opinion. BTW, I do think our comments are read by converters.

[truk4u]

I can't argue with Jon anymore on the Liberty thingy, they have their act together.

I feel the same way about Parliament, my last two visits for service were outstanding.

Marathon - Hello, hello, is anyone home!

[jack14r]

I agree with Jon about Liberty,s response,attitude,and service.All the service techs that I have dealt with at Liberty are well trained and seem to be very Quality conscious,as well as just good guys.I will be in Stuart on Monday for some minor warranty work,I look forward to the trip.Even though Marathon Florida has some apparent problems in service,I have nothing but praise for the work they did on my 2001 XLII on two trips to their Florida location.