lucchese1
Tehachapi, Ca. 93561
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Joined: 02/18/2004
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I'm making a family trip to Red Bay to see the factory, any comments on what to expect, intrested a 2005 allegro bus quad slide, in a previous post someone said you can order as early as May for a July delivery, going on a 3 week family trip to Yellowstone this August and would like to drive the new rig instead of my old one. any help appreciated.
Thanks Ben!
[i]Ben :C ,Maryanne :W, Dominic :p & Vincent :E[/i]
[i]2005 Horizon 40KD/400ISL/Allison[/i]
[i]2006 Jeep Commander Toad[b][/b][b][/b][/i]
[b]Teaching our Kids the [red][u][b]U.S.A.[b][/u][/red] the [blue][u]American[/u][/blue] way !!
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brandy2064
Magnolia, Tx. 77354
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Joined: 02/20/2004
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I just bought a 2004 Allegro. Plan on going there myself. Understand that the visit is well worth the time. Phone conversations have been outstanding, more than willing to answer questions.
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tyoungs
Brighton, Michigan USA
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Joined: 04/08/2003
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Send Bagman a PM - he was there last year with his new rig and can give you lots of good info.
Tom & Mary plus Snowflake the Bichon
2008 HR Endeavor 40PDQ, 400 Cummins
HRRVC #106803, FMCA #F358972
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GerryEgan
Raleigh, NC
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My wife and I visited the Allegro plant in Red Bay, Alabama in November of last year. We were very impressed, treated very well and had a wonderful time. Red bay is a ---small--- town but it's very nice.
We arrived without any reservations at the Allegro Campground and were given a spot and some forms to fill out if we wanted service work done. We turned those forms into the office and the next morning a young man came to our motor home and talked about the things we wanted done. We were told it might take four to five days to get to it, but it only took two.
In the meantime we toured the plant and the surrounding areas. The plant tour is very impressive and all the more so because you can move freely about anywhere on your own and talk to anyone you want. We started with the guided tour but later went back to specific areas of interest on our own.
We enjoyed our time in the town of Red Bay. We used the local library's computer and internet connection to stay in touch with our office and ate at several of the local eateries. My wife's favorite was the lunch room in the back of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store. The food was good, plentiful and cheap. Hard to beat that! We also liked Catfish John's on the outskirts of town.
When they took our motor home in for service on Wednesday they didn't finish everything they were doing by the end of the day. The said I could either return to the campground for the night or stay in the service shop. They hooked us up to water and electric and, along with a number of other folks, we 'camped' in the service shop for the night. What a unique treat!
By the time we were done, they had warranteed a kitchen floor replacement for our well out of warranty motor home because they said it shouldn't have had problems and very reasonably taken care of a couple of other minor problems and adjustments I'd asked for.
My wife says our next motor home will definitely be another Allegro!
Enjoy your trip.
Gerry Egan
Raleigh, NC
GerryEgan@ForEquipmentLeasing.com
2005 Tiffin Phaeton 40QDH
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sigthor
san antonio, texas, usa
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We there this past Nov also. The Plant tour is worth seeing. Was not able to get in for service after waiting 3 days! They did not and would not provide a waiting time projection. Due to time constraints, I had to leave. I was not as favorably impressed as others. Point to ponder - For a supposedly quality product, they are booked up until 2005 on appointments. I do like my coach though but I am not so sure I would consider another Allegro.
2001 Allegro Bay DP, Banks Stinger Installed
2007 Wrangler X Unlimited 4WD, Blue Ox Aventa II
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Dennis Henderson
Crystal River, Florida
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Joined: 08/03/2001
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Although your question seems to be more of what can you expect to see at the factory on a visit, others are commenting on the service aspect of the visit to the factory. Here is a reprint of a post we made last fall which should be of interest to you, too, if you eventually purchase a Tiffin product and wish to have any service issues performed at the factory.
By the way, many folks question "Why do you have to take your motorhome back to the factory for service?" My response is that we CHOOSE to go to the factory instead of to a dealer because Tiffin permits it and the work done is excellent. Parts are there and so are the experts. Not many companies even permit customers to return to the factory.
Here is our experience:
"We own a 2003 40' triple slide Phaeton and have been to the Tiffin factory in Red Bay, Alabama twice for service, once in January, 2003, and now in September, 2003. Here is what you can expect when you choose to come to the Tiffin factory for warranty repair work:
You really should call to make an appointment ahead of time. Appointments are running months in advance, so think ahead and reserve a spot. Right now at the start of October, 2003, appointments are being taken for May of 2004. Apparently many people, probably the vast majority of the folks in the campground, have come without an appointment and are waiting their turn in line for a repair bay. The couple who arrived 5 minutes ahead of us waited for 3 weeks for an opening in a repair bay. Our appointment was for September 11, and we were actually taken in a day early, September 10. Please, if you can, plan ahead and make an appointment!
There are also a number of bays now called Express Bays. These are for folks without appointments whose repairs are minor and will take 3 hours or less to complete. So while it may appear that someone without an appointment who arrived at the campground after you has been called in before you, they may have needed only minor repairs and so were taken to the Express Bay and sent on their way, while your repairs may require a number of days so you will have to wait for one of the the regular repair bays to open.
There is an Allegro campground about a mile from the factory. It is a level macadam and gravel parking lot on an old airport runway that can accommodate 79 rigs. There are full hookups at each site, although if you visit in the colder months, as we did in January, there may not be water at the sites due to freezing temperatures or a broken main line as we found in January and February of 2003. At that time, although there was not water available at each site, there was water available at a spot near the office to fill your fresh water tank every day. There is ample room at each site for you to extend your slides and your awnings and to park your towed vehicle. There are no trees, of course, so be sure to bring your sun screens for your windshield as you will have either morning or evening sun in your front windows.
There are helpful and pleasant campground hosts on duty from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. When you check in at the campground, you will be given a packet of papers describing the entire factory repair procedure, listing campground rules, and asking for relevant personal information. Also given to you will be a form to fill out detailing your service requirements. Noted on this paper will be whether or not you have an appointment. A number is assigned to all who arrive regardless of appointments just for identification purposes. This number is to be placed on your windshield for easy identification. A credit card number is taken at this time but no charge is run through. You are told that the charge per night is $10.00, but there will be no charge if you are there for warranty work. The campground hosts assign you a site and give you directions to get to the proper space. They will tell you where the laundry is, where the showers are, and where the Camper's Choice store is, and the hours of operation and that a modem hook-up is available in the Camper's Choice store. The hosts tell you that once you are finished fillling out the repair work order form, to take it back to them where it will be picked up by a service writer from the factory. If you have an appointment it is likely that you will be taken in to a repair bay on time. On both our visits we were taken in either on the day of the appointment or one day earlier. If you do not have an appointment, the hosts will tell you how long the wait is at that time. The folks who checked in just ahead of us were told that there was a 10 day wait at that time. The wait did get longer, and they were finally taken to a bay after 21 days of waiting. If you have an appointment but you have requested a specific technician, you may also have to wait until his current customer is taken care of. Once he is free, then you are moved right into his bay.
Folks who are without appointments and are just hanging out waiting to be seen do lots of sightseeing in surrounding areas and report back on all the restaurants they have tried. Many of them visit the factory daily either to take the tour, to look inside the new rigs off the line waiting to be driven to their destination, or to wander around the repair bays seeing what is going on and visiting with friends who are already in the bays. Every evening they ask those who have returned to the campground after being serviced, "Are you about finished?" not so much with concern for your situation, but instead with hope that you'll say yes as that will free up the next spot in line! : ) When your turn does come up and it appears that some more rigs can move into the bays, you are visited by the campground host who will tell you that you are to report to "Standby" the next morning at 7 a.m., or, that you are to report to "Standby" at 1:30 that afternoon. You are given a little map and directions to the factory showing where the "Standby" area is near the repair bays.
Those who have appointments are visited by the campground host and also told to report to "Standby" at a certain time. At that time or close to it you are visited by a repair technician who will direct you to his bay. This bay will be your "home" from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for as many days as you are there. Most folks return to the campground every afternoon and drive back to their assigned bay the next morning. There are some folks, however, who choose to stay overnight in their rig inside the bay. You will have an electric hookup at the bay, but you will use your own water supply and holding tanks. Unless there is a skylight in just the right position, you will not be able to get any television or satellite reception. You will have good cell phone reception even in the building.
Your repair technician may drive the rig into the bay for you, but it is more likely that he will direct you and you will drive it in. Once inside, the tech will introduce himself and welcome you and will ask to go over the list of repairs with you. If you had typed up a neat organized list and attached it to your form at the campground office, he will have a copy of it. It helps if you have made an extra copy or two so that you can make notes and cross off items as they are completed. Organizing your list according to areas such as outside and inside, and living room, bathroom, bedroom, etc. and numbering each item helps for easy cross reference.
You are permitted to stay in your rig even as work is being done on it. (As dog bites have occurred in the past, pets are asked to be kept outside the bays on leashes.) Protective carpeting will be laid down on your floors and the tech will be very careful in his work both not to soil anything and to clean up after a repair--vacuuming, Windexing, etc. Your technician may have a helper or two. As they are addressing your repair items, they will ask if you are satisfied. You will be told often that they are there to please you and they mean it. If something is out of warranty, you will be advised of the charge for that repair and can decide whether to proceed or not. Some folks drop off their rig and leave for the day to go sightseeing or whatever. Others set lawn chairs outside the bay and read or sit in the sun or shade during the day. As repairs are being made, often an expert will be called to advise on a situation and give advice for how a procedure should be handled. The work is done with care and without hurry. You will always be asked if you are satisfied. If it still is not right, the tech will continue until it is right or the best that can be done. At no time will be you made to feel as if you are being too picky or as if you are a diffcult customer. The technicians are extremely polite and often very friendly but never overly familiar. You will NEVER hear an epithet. You will NEVER hear an argument between employees. You will NEVER hear a rude remark about another customer or about the company. You will NEVER see inappropriate dress or grooming. You will ALWAYS see employees who show total respect for their employer and their customers.
You will sometimes hear unhappy customers who may, for instance, be asking for replacement of out of warranty items and declining free repair of the item. Unfortunately there are some who demand unreasonable resolutions to their problems and make their displeasure known. However, they are in the minority and reasonable customers click their tongues and shake their heads upon hearing their stories. Most of us are in awe of the measures to which the Tiffin employees will go to make us happy.
The technicians take a morning break and a lunch break and before you know it it is 2:30 p.m. and time to pull out of the bay and head for the campground. Folks at the campground walk their dogs, sit out on lawn chairs, and visit during the evening hours wowing each other with stories of the great work being done on their rigs. Many folks walk the length of the runway and up and down the site rows for exercise. Once in awhile someone passes the word that a potluck will be held the following evening and folks get together to cook hotdogs on a grill and share favorite dishes. Those without appointments listen eagerly to hear if you are near the end of your list knowing that they will be one step closer to getting into a bay if you are done.
The next morning you drive over to your bay at 7:00 a.m. and the work resumes. Eventually your list of repairs is complete. If there is work to be done at the welding shop or at the body shop, your technician arranges an appointment at those places for you and directs you when and where you are to go. When all has been completed, you and the technician will go over all the repairs, the hours worked, the materials used, and the total cost. If the entire job was under warranty, it will be noted and you will simply sign your approval of the itemization and no money is owed. If some repairs required payment, you will make that payment at the office.
Technicians are permitted to accept tips. Often cash is given along with a card of appreciation. It is strictly up to you whether you wish to reward your technician for outstanding work with a tip. One technician told a story of a female customer who baked fresh biscuits in her rig every morning for his team to enjoy at their coffee break. He said that was as enjoyable to them as a cash tip would have been. Others have received gift certificates to Wal-Mart, but I suspect a cash tip would always be most appreciated. In any event, being a polite and pleasant customer and greeting your technician warmly every day and thanking him often as his work is being completed will go a long way in making your technician look forward to working for you each day. Only you know what kind of work the tech had to perform to satisfy you, and you will be the judge to determine an appropriate method of thanking your technician. NOTE: If any of your repairs had a toilet or a sewer involved, TIP and TIP generously!!!!!! : )
Upon your final return to the campground, you will take your paperwork to the office and check out. If you will be staying that night after repairs have been completed, you will be asked to pay the $10.00 charge. If it is early in the day and you will be on your way, there is no campground fee for that day.
Hope this will be of some help to you who have never visited the factory for service, and perhaps will put your mind at ease about how well things will go for you there. Kudos to the Tiffin family and factory employees for a great experience!"
Our next appointment is May, 2004 for some items to be worked on that we put off the prior visit. We are looking forward to returning to Red Bay!
Dennis and Cindy Henderson
fulltiming, currently at the Encore Orlando SuperPark
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