My take after my first year of RV ownership and some suggestions to Alliance
First thing is my background. I owned VERY large specialty construction equipment. The kind it takes 4 tractor trailers to move around the country. They were comprised of many different components made by different manufacturers. Every machine made was different in some way. So inevitably, they couldn’t keep all the different parts on the shelf for repairs needed. It was simply too many skews and caused slow moving or dead inventory. I owned 13 at one time and it forced me to take matters in my own hands. I stripped them to their frames, rewired them the same, and started making my own shafts and other components myself. I had to control my own fate. I also owned a few small engine shops.
The RV owners seem to be comprised of two types of people. Those that can do the repairs themselves and those that rely on a dealer/manufacturer. Those that rely on a dealership, I think your experience will never be good.
The dealerships can’t find, or they are unwilling to pay for a worker that can do everything from plumbing, electrical, and wood working. These types of people are going to be expensive IF you can find one. For this reason, dealerships are just businessmen that have large tracts of land to floor plan the many RV types for people to walk through. The workforce available is simply not there. I would suggest they find retired tradesmen wanting to do part time work and trouble shooting. They can also possibly train the younger workforce into competent service techs.
Those of us that can do our own repairs, there is something Alliance can do for us. Alliance is in the unique position to know what is going wrong and can do a better job of having some of the critical components on the shelf to ship faster. For example, Invertors, rims, refrigerators, stoves, and other items. Parts dept should be open every day of the year. Being closed is unacceptable in my opinion. It’s the cost of doing business. If Alliance doesn’t want to house parts, then why can’t they pull from the floor and ship out and replace, on just warranty items. I know they have a rolling inventory for builds and it is just simply a process that most likely requires an accounting entry. This can be easily automated, like the rest of what they are doing. Maybe they can negotiate with their parts suppliers, to floor plan a % of what they sell in parts. Alliance could surely make a case of what part components are failing in a given year. It would make the parts supplier a better partner and more accountable.
I am guessing they will not. There has always been a separation between the white-collar side and the get it done side. The white-collar side always wins and the get it done side takes the brunt of their decisions. This will never change.
I see the same in Alliance, that I do in all the other manufacturers, except their empowerment videos. They know that the key to their corporate success is catering to the FYI guys. Give them the information and help them help themselves. I just think warranty items need to be replaced faster.
The people that rely on the dealers, I think, will always suffer at the hands of the dealerships. Only a percentage will convert to a second Alliance purchase and that will be dependent on their tolerance or quality of the dealership. Tightening up the replacement of the parts timeline will be critical to that percentage. That’s my take anyways.
In closing, I am happy overall with Alliance. Yes, I had issues. My disk brakes fell off on the first trip...LOL.....
First thing is my background. I owned VERY large specialty construction equipment. The kind it takes 4 tractor trailers to move around the country. They were comprised of many different components made by different manufacturers. Every machine made was different in some way. So inevitably, they couldn’t keep all the different parts on the shelf for repairs needed. It was simply too many skews and caused slow moving or dead inventory. I owned 13 at one time and it forced me to take matters in my own hands. I stripped them to their frames, rewired them the same, and started making my own shafts and other components myself. I had to control my own fate. I also owned a few small engine shops.
The RV owners seem to be comprised of two types of people. Those that can do the repairs themselves and those that rely on a dealer/manufacturer. Those that rely on a dealership, I think your experience will never be good.
The dealerships can’t find, or they are unwilling to pay for a worker that can do everything from plumbing, electrical, and wood working. These types of people are going to be expensive IF you can find one. For this reason, dealerships are just businessmen that have large tracts of land to floor plan the many RV types for people to walk through. The workforce available is simply not there. I would suggest they find retired tradesmen wanting to do part time work and trouble shooting. They can also possibly train the younger workforce into competent service techs.
Those of us that can do our own repairs, there is something Alliance can do for us. Alliance is in the unique position to know what is going wrong and can do a better job of having some of the critical components on the shelf to ship faster. For example, Invertors, rims, refrigerators, stoves, and other items. Parts dept should be open every day of the year. Being closed is unacceptable in my opinion. It’s the cost of doing business. If Alliance doesn’t want to house parts, then why can’t they pull from the floor and ship out and replace, on just warranty items. I know they have a rolling inventory for builds and it is just simply a process that most likely requires an accounting entry. This can be easily automated, like the rest of what they are doing. Maybe they can negotiate with their parts suppliers, to floor plan a % of what they sell in parts. Alliance could surely make a case of what part components are failing in a given year. It would make the parts supplier a better partner and more accountable.
I am guessing they will not. There has always been a separation between the white-collar side and the get it done side. The white-collar side always wins and the get it done side takes the brunt of their decisions. This will never change.
I see the same in Alliance, that I do in all the other manufacturers, except their empowerment videos. They know that the key to their corporate success is catering to the FYI guys. Give them the information and help them help themselves. I just think warranty items need to be replaced faster.
The people that rely on the dealers, I think, will always suffer at the hands of the dealerships. Only a percentage will convert to a second Alliance purchase and that will be dependent on their tolerance or quality of the dealership. Tightening up the replacement of the parts timeline will be critical to that percentage. That’s my take anyways.
In closing, I am happy overall with Alliance. Yes, I had issues. My disk brakes fell off on the first trip...LOL.....