Time with Fleetwood in Decatur

In Decatur, we were once again spoiled by the superb customer service provided by Fleetwood at their American Coach Service facility. While no one wants to have warranty work completed on their new coach (like most, we are spoiled by the quality of new cars) if you are going to have service, it is great to have it done by very qualified and knowledgeable RV technicians, with strong parts support. The repairs get done in a timely fashion and we usually leave totally satisfied and nothing left on the list. It makes us wonder how those that bought orphaned RV’s handle these repairs, since even if they have third party extended warranties making arrangements to get repairs properly completed in a short span of time must be quite a challenge.

We are becoming familiar with “Camp Decatur” and the gravel covered parking lot which has about 50 individual sites with electricity, and a communal dump and water station. We have even been able to get used to being up at 5:30am and being taken into the shop at 6:00am. Service hours finish at 2:30pm. One nice feature we appreciate with a small dog is that we can remain in the RV except when the coach is in the paint shop. I highly recommend the service facilities in Decatur, which is open to all Fleetwood motorized RV owners. Make an appointment well in advance, since drop in time can extend out up to a week after arrival without an appointment. Take the RV plant tour and see the latest RV’s being constructed. It is well worth the time.

One highlight of our visit to the Service Center this time was a Customer Appreciation dinner. We were invited to a dinner given by the Parts and Service staff and many of the Fleetwood executives that were in town dropped by to share dinner with the service customers. This event served two important functions: It demonstrated Fleetwood’s appreciation for our business and secondly it provided an opportunity to meet and chat with the personnel in charge of service, parts, dealer relations and future design. I always find these casual meetings lead to discussions that do not occur in more structured settings. This helps the customer appreciate the company’s perspective on things and gives the customer time to compliment the excellent sales and aftermarket service at dealers they have dealt with, thank Fleetwood for their care and concern over our repair issues and opportunity to pass along improvements and additions that might make their way into new models. With the changes in the 2011 American Coach lineup we were able to pass along some recommendations for future product. Dialogue is always good. In this day of tightening budgets and expenditure slashing it is great to see the re-introduction of a dinner that historically has proven to serve all concerned.

Travelling around in Decatur we drove by the local plants and it was very obvious that the Class C and value priced Class A RVs are in high demand. Those coaches were continually being parked after coming off the assembly line and driven away to dealers near and far. The RV business has gone through a transition and RV manufacturers are making the changes required to move forward. 

This part of our trip was a prelude to our next travel destination in North Carolina.    

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