5/4/08

Coach breakdown. At 1:30 pm broke down at exit 118 on I-4 heading East. Called Coach Net and tech found a Freightliner that said they would check out the coach but if it was anything serious it would be Monday 5/5/08 before the job could be completed. Ace towing service showed up at 2:20pm and did an excellent job hooking up and towing our RV to Freightliner. Got to Freightliner and Kevin their service manager said he told Coach Net they could not get to our RV till Monday. My husband sleeps with oxygen and we had to find a hotel that would take our little dog and spend $100.44 per night Sat. and Sunday. Sunday afternoon at 5PM my husband found out there was a Cummins Coach Care located 4-1/2 miles South on 441 from the Freightliner Service center we were taken to. They said they have 24/7 emergency service and 50 amp service hookups for customers to stay.

When I called Coach Net and spoke to Supervisor Beth she explained the tech called Freightliner first and they said they could accomodate us by Monday 5/5/08 and we could dry camp at their place of business. I asked why we were not told about the Cummins Coach Care 4-1/2 miles down the road with 24/7 emergency service and she said because the first place that was called said they could take of us in a couple of days so no more phone calls were made. I asked again, since we had a H/R with a cummins engine in it - why we were not told about the Cummins Coach care place or if they were contacted and told the tech they could not take care of us. She checked and said they were not contacted. I asked her to please report that I was very unhappy about this because we are an RV and would certainly prefer a place that specializes in RV's and they advertise they specialize in RV's. Because we were not given a choice and told about this place being available it has cost us an extra $200.00 plus for this repair. I just switched to your emergency road service because my husband had heard such good things about you. We are both very disappointed in our first experience with you and when I asked Beth if she thought the procedure would change with our complaint, she said "I don't think so". That is very upsetting to hear because we RV fulltime and naturally would prefer RV specialty centers to any other if one is close by. They cater to RV's and supply hookups and let animals in the building and have a waiting center. This place we are at, will not allow animals in the building and when it is 90 degrees there is no choice but to stay outside all the time with the animal. I would like to receive a response to this complaint and see if the situation will be reconsidered and when an RV calls in and there is a Cummins Coach Care place within a few miles of where the Tech wants to send us we will be told about it and given the option to be towed there. I would have gladly paid the extra 4-1/2 miles of towing to be taken there.

Thank you for considering my complaint and responding to my question and concern.

It is now 5/7/08 and we are still at Freightliner, however, we should be out of here tomorrow afternoon

Acker1,

I have read your complaint and will look into this with our Quaility Assurance Department. Once they have had a chance to review all documentation and call recordings myself or another supervisor will be in contact with you.

Thank you for your patients while I look into this matter.

Acker1,

I'm sorry I forgot to mention that I will need you to contact our Member Services Department at 877-801-0333 so we can locate your membership in our system. Please ask for Denise Mason she is the department manager.

Thank you!

Thank you Tabitha,

Just so you know, we are still here and will be until Friday 5/9/08 and we are having to run the generator 24/7 which is costing approx. $50.00 a day from Monday through Friday on top of the $200.00 already spent for the 2 nights in a hotel. If we had been sent to Cummins Coach Care, we would not have had any of these extra expenses.

I did call Denise Mason and she assured me the techs did everything they needed to do to get me taken care of. No one seems to understand, we went with your service because you specialize in RV Emergencies and anyone owning an RV will most likely prefer being sent to a Cummins Coach Care versus a Freightliner Service Center. Coach Care centers are equipped to handle electricity, pets, and be extra careful when working inside your RV as far as cleanliness. Please let me know what you decide about this issue.

Has there been any resolution of this problem? A follow-up post would be very helpful.

No resolution. Disappointed with Coach Net. We switched to them because of all the great reports we heard about them. All my wife was trying to get them to understand is that the Cummins Coach Care facility would have been a better place to tow us. And it was only a 4 mile difference. And Freightliner ended up calling the Cummins place to send a tech to program the new ECM. 10 days later.
She called CN and posted here hoping that they would realize that there might be better options in an area, not just for our situation but for other RVers.
Total--$4600 repairs, $200 motel, 8 days/nights dry camping with genny running @ $50 per day. Coach Care had hookups! And a lounge that we were allowed to take our dog into.
It is over and done with now but my wife is seriously considering changing when renewal time comes around.
Lesson learned--ask the person on the phone IF there are other options available and not just ASSUME they will know where to take you. Coach Net said they are not going to change their procedure and that we had every right to request a certain facility. Like we knew what was available in the area. I thought thats what they were there for.

That is truly disappointing. Particularly to those of us who currently subscribe to the Coach-Net service. The main reason we use these services is because we are not familiar with what is in the area. If we have to ferret out that information ourselves to avoid situations like yours, one has to wonder just how valuable the service is.

Dale

Hey Everyone,

The best source of communication with any company is through telephone, writing or email. Coach-Net is a very good company, and there could be the possibility that Tabitha is out of the office at this time.

If you look back on the other threads, Coach Net has worked diligently to help members and will continue to do so.... Tabitha, Coach Net Director, did mention to Dale, Teachers Pet, on another thread that she tried to view the forum whenever she possibly can. You guys know that we do have other jobs that need to be completed. However, I know that Coach Net will fix the problem and continue to perform in an A+ manner.

Hugs,
Kellie

acker1- As per your conversation with Denise Mason she has followed up with our Quality Assurance Department. She has tried contacting you but could not reach you and has left you a message advising to please contact her at your earliest convenience.

Thank you,

A supervisor has followed-up with Acker1 in regards to how their service was handled.

Please remember that our service is designed to tow the members disabled vehicle to the nearest qualified repair facility, which in this case was a Freightliner and Cummins authorized facility. If after advised of the facility’s abilities to handle their needs is not adequate because of unusual circumstances we would then try and locate a different facility if available to handle the members needs better.

If you have any special needs please advise us at the time of your call, so we can be better prepared to assist you and provide the best customer service...

Thank you,

Sounds to me like the OP originally did communicate with Coach Net by phone and that this thread is about how unhappy the OP is with the results of that phone call. Of course a phone call, in writing or email is private and when there is a gripe, no one else in the SKPs community will be able to see the 'resolution process' in action - or inaction, as the case may be. I do understand that company representatives won't be monitoring the forum 24/7 but... their participation in this forum is, I presume, voluntary. They must see some positive business reason to participate - increased sales and image building are a couple that come to mind. I don't think it's too much to expect that, a company that wants to reap some benefits of this type of public exposure, would have some low paid staffer check this one section of the forum once per day and if there is something of interest, to print it out and give it to a person with the authority to handle whatever the discussion item is.

The last substantive post (not that substantive IMO) from the "Endorsed Vendor" was on May 8th at which time the "Endorsed Vendor" was going to review the recordings and documentation with the "Quality Assurance Department" at which time the writer, herself, or some supervisor was going to contact the OP. Sounds like the only thing that has happened since is that the OP, as instructed, called a person at CN on May 8th and provided their member number and received what sounds like a standard CYA line about having done everything by the book. OP then commented that CN markets itself to the RVing public and its phone techs should therefore have some specific RV knowledge and asked the Endorsed Vendor for a comment. May 8 to mid day May 21 silence does not, Kellie, sound like 'diligent work' and speaks, IMO, volumes in opposition to your ringing defense (which you shouldn't have felt compelled to make).

In full disclosure, I have never used a third party marketer of ERS instead opting for the less expensive alternative of having ERS as an endorsement to my regular insurance coverage (also through Endorsed Vendors, BTW). Over the past 10+ yrs of FTing, I've made use of that brand of ERS at least a half dozen times. At no time, did I leave it to the discretion of the insurance company to decide where to tow me. For my truck, I have books furnished by IH and Allison listing their locations, and I tell the insurance company not only where I'm located but also the address of where I'm to be towed. Mileage has not been an issue. I also call the service manager of the nearest facility and describe my problem and, on one occasion, they suspected an easy fix (cam sensor) and gave me the name and address of a much closer facility that they'd recommend.

[On edit - I see that CN has responded (prompted or not) while I was composing my post but do think theirs was a few days late]

First and foremost, the representative did call acker1, and left a message. Second, no one but acker1 and Coach Net know the whole conversation. Third, Coach Net is a reputable company and did work diligently on this issue.

Remember, this is not a venue to complain but only to ask questions about benefits and services.

--Kellie

Kellie, my bad! I really thought the forum was more encompassing than merely a sales tool so we could ask questions and the Endorsed Vendor via its "Director, Affinity Sales" could make a case for its product - a softball approach if you will. But even if it is basically that type of forum, the OP specifically posed a marketing type question/suggestion in his May 8th post which the vendor finally and correctly (IMO) addressed on the 21st by stating that if there are special needs, one must make the vendor aware of those needs at the time of the initial call.

My belief that the forum was more than a place to just ask questions about benefits and services is derived from the introduction of and rationale given for the birth of the forum

quote:

Posted November 28, 2007 03:58 PM
Hi All
We are preparing to launch a new forum category called the "Experts Area". The idea is to provide each of the Escapees endorsed service providers a forum where they can answer your questions directly. We hope this will help anyone who needs assistance from, or has questions for, our Endorsed Vendors.

We will start the new area soon, and you may see an occasional flash of it on the forum main page as I test the setup. I'll keep you posted on progress!

Mark (Nemeth)

And a couple of days later

quote:

Posted November 30, 2007 08:37 AM
It is not our intention to make this new forum area a sales tool for the vendors.

The reps who will be participating are customer service folks. The idea here is to give you a place to ask questions and get help with issues.

The new forum area will be up the first of next week!

Mark (Nemeth)

(Emphasis added)

I hope you'll now understand how I got the wrong impression about the purpose of the Ask the Experts! area. So I, for one, apologize for my part in this thread. I have no product or service questions for this vendor as I am happy with the ERS product and service that I currently have. And now that you've made the purpose of this forum area crystal clear, at least you shouldn't have any problems from the readers of this specific thread (only) making the mistake of asking incident specific questions (though I still think that the handling of incident specific questions is as good a barometer of product/service as is the - dare I say it? - sales speech). Again, sorry.

I most certainly have no problem addressing any questions or concerns.... Please remember that I will never discuss anyone members particular situation over the forum as I feel that is up to the member if they wish to discuss the outcome of how we handled their situation or service event.

In this case I immediately reacted and advised the member to contact us so we could get more information in detail in which the member did call that same day and spoke with a supervisor. After the initial call it was then taken one step further and forward to our Quality Assurance Department...Before I posted a response on the forum I wanted to make sure the member who was involved was adequately informed...

Next time I will at least post something that states I am waiting to reach the member before I post, when it involves a specific service event that took place with a member...

Thank you, Tabitha!

Hey Everyone,

I have emailed Avan, and answered his previous post. The one item that I need to reiterate is that when this topic area was developed, it was for the discussion forum members to ask the endorsed vendors about their benefits and services, whichever service it happens to be. Of course, those services sometimes do have issues (with questions) that will occur from time to time. Yes, those questions can be asked.

Unfortunately, this thread started as a complaint, which should not have began on this forum. As I stated before, complaints are better served with phone calls or letters not public forums.

Hugs,
Kellie