A RANT ABOUT SERVICE

Big day yesterday - we moved less than twenty miles to Beaudry RV Resort. Beaudry is a true "resort" with all the expected amenities: wide sites with concrete patios, tables and chairs at each site, cable TV, swimming pools and hot tubs, a well equiped fitness center, "library" with comfortable seating, computers for the use of the guests who want to check their email, an on-site restaurant and bar, and friendly staff.

We usually don't stay at parks like this: too big, too orderly, and too expensive. Their current overnight rate is $44, which Odel managed to talk down to $36 by flirting with the young woman at the front desk when we checked in. Good job! Considering that the park is not even half full in "high season", maybe they should think about dropping the rate a little...

We are here because Beaudry is an RV dealership with a large service center, and is the authorized Cummins (our engine) and Spartan (our chassis) service center in Tucson. We had two repairs to be made: our water pump (to supply fresh water to our faucets when drycamping) needed to be replaced, and we had a leaky valve on our air suspension that needed replacing. We had an appointment at 7:30 this morning, so decided to pay the premium price to avoid a cross-town rush hour trip.

The day started off great. They must have 40 repair bays here. At 7:30, we checked in with Mike, who got some info, gave us the scoop on how everything happens, did a walk-around looking for pre-existing body damage, and passed us along to Larry, our "Service Advisor".

Larry had a nice, heated office (which felt great as it was freezing in the shade at 7:30 am), took more detailed information, gave us an estimate on charges, gave us an estimate on time, and told us to come back at 2 pm, when Scoopy should be ready. We walked off to the Camping World commenting on how professional it all seemed, with smiles on our faces.

You know what's coming, right? Yes, it all went downhill from there! This reminds me of comments I have heard that all hospital patients should have a friend or family member along as an advocate... man, did Scooopy need one, and that one was Odel.

Service Advisor Larry had told us that Beaudry will not do warrantly work for Shurflo, the maker of our water pump, because Shurflo doesn't pay. Our pump is only a couple of months old, so Odel called Shurflo; they assured us that they Beaudry would get credited for the pump if they replaced it and returned the defective pump to the distributor.

By the time Odel walked over to discuss this with Larry, it was around 9:30 am. Scoopy was still sitting in front of an unopened service bay door. At open bays on both sides, service staff were diligently working on RV's. When Odel mentioned this to Larry, Larry said our water pump replacement had been assigned to Aaron. Odel walked back to the bay... no Aaron. He asked the service guys on either side... hmmm... they hadn't seen Aaron today. Well, guess what? Today is Aaron's day off!

So, we arrived at 7:30; at 10 am Odel informed Larry the Service Advisor that it is Aaron's day off. Major strike one.

Larry and Odel discussed the water pump issue. Larry called his Parts Man who said Shurflo wouldn't authorize warranty repairs without a receipt. I won't bore you with the details, but it involved several more phone calls on our part, ending with a visit to the Parts Man's office, where Odel called Shurflo from his cell phone, handed it off to the Parts Man, and we FINALLY got an authorization number for the replacement of the pump.

Really, I felt like we had to wheel our patient in on a gurney, find a doctor working today, then get authorization from our insurance provider to have the surgery done! Sheesh.

Next time we checked, the water pump work was proceeding, so we went off to get some lunch. Service technicians and Service Advisors break for lunch from noon until 1 pm - we Patient Advocates did the same.

After lunch, we spend a little time "relaxing" with Luna, all of us completely tense and longing for our home. At 1:45, Odel headed back to the "hospital" to check on the status of our patient, due for discharge at 2 pm.

Fast forward to 5:30 pm, half an hour after the shop and offices are supposed to be closed. Scoopy has just been moved over to the cashier's office and we have been presented with a bill for around $150-$200 more than we should have been billed, since they included the time the Service Technician spent installing a defective valve, testing it, and removing it. Our Service Advisor tried to dodge into his truck and depart when he saw us coming, but we surrounded him.

Since it was too late to hit the road, we agreed that we would spend the night at the RV Resort once again (kiss another $40 goodbye) and continue the billing conversation in the morning - we ALL wanted to leave. We drove back to our site and rescued poor Luna from her day in the Jeep; she went straight back to the closet, meowed until I opened the closet door, then went into a far back corner to curl up and sleep, as far as possible from the front door.

So... we have our home back. YAY! The pump has been replaced. YAY! The valve is replaced. YAY! We're still in Tucson. BOO! We have conflict to resolve. BOO! But now Jeopardy is on, we had a good dinner, and I have a glass of wine at hand... life is on an upswing.