Kemptons Travel Town Refused Warranty Service! Mesa Arizona

I found the owner's rebuttal to be fascinating and completely lacking in fact. He states there were conflicts both times prior when the unit was serviced - actually, the only conflict was the first time we brought it in - they simply did not want to service the unit, and felt the items that required service should have been taken care of prior to delivery of the unit. I won't argue that point; however, my point was that as a customer seeking warranty service, they should still be willing to service the unit. It was obvious at that point - the very first service - they were not happy with servicing the unit, as they were not the place of purchase. The second time the unit was brought in was for a blown converter - there were no issues on this service at all - they promptly serviced the unit and it was a done deal.

The third time I attempted to bring it in was when issues occurred. As stated in my original post, they were very rude when I dropped off the unit and I sent a very professional letter to Kempton's regarding this. This is when the owner got involved and they refused to service the unit. And the owner's story of a "personal conflict" is a not accurate. I involved Forest River direct in the issue, since I felt it was ridiculous they were refusing to service my unit.Forest River stated that they were unwilling to service the unit because Kempton's felt it was a conflict of interest - no mention of any personal conflicts. Forest River could not mandate that they service it.

Now, you want the real facts - I saved reference to all correspondence regarding this issue (Forest River and Kempton's). I sent Kempton's multiple letters / correspondence (mostly unanswered), and the only reply I received was a fax - telling me it would be best if I come and pick up the unit. The closing words on the fax, and I quote "Good luck to you in the future. One final note there are many things to consider when purchasing an item...Among them is service, maintenance, and warranty". You can interpret that comment however you want - again, no reference to any "personal conflict". I am unable to leave an e-mail address(site rules) in this rebuttal, but I will shortly follow up with a web address where you can click and review ALL correspondence to/from Forest River and Kempton's - completely unedited and in original form. I will also include contact information of everyone I spoke with. On a positive note, the manufacturer (Forest River) did end up being helpful in the end - originally, it was hard to elicit a response, and of course they were unable to mandate that the authorized dealer service the unit, but thye managed to allow another dealer (who typically doesn't do warranty service for that model) to service my unit. I think their hands were just tied on the issue. 

As stated, I did try to give Kempton's the opportunity to make the sale. However, forgetting all of that - if I were the dealer in this case, I would continue to provide excellent service, in the hopes that I could win the customers' future business, rather than act in an unprofessional manner as Kempton's did. It is quite obvious to me I was being punished for not giving them the sale opportunity. And again, I did send a letter of complaint to Kempton's when we brought the unit in the third time when the service representative was rude to me - but the letter was very professional and courteous, and as you will see when I post the correspondence to my web site, not demanding at all. What - you are not entitled to make a complaint without being refused service? And how does a simple complaint cause to a conflict of itnerest - quite obvious they didn't want to service my unit. One final note... I have purchased from Kempton's in the past - my first trailer was purchased from them back in 98 or 99.Nice way to treat a customer.

We do not refuse service because they bought some where else.

As a prior small business owner, I would like to reply to this "commentary". I appreciate the predicament that he is reporting but do have my questioning. Many and I mean many people do not take into consideration being loyal to their community businesses. This person's mentioning of their choice in buying from a competitor not for pricing but for availability is questionable.

Case in point RV dealers inventory is always rotating, they could always order a specific unit. If the immediate need, is the cause for his out of community purchase (which does happen) then consideration should be given to the fact that any business, is going to give priority to thier consumers over those that would purchase from another! We would just call that good business sense. Especially of you understand the Rv industry.

I would like to inform Kevin of a little fact! Service centers in the RV industry (as well as the vehicle industry) cost the sales department money! They are an unrequired aspect to being able to sell RV's. Dealerships that do choose to operate and maintain service centers do so to have a competitive edge in obtaining future sales, lifelong customer loyalty and referals to gain more sales.

It is irrational to expect a business to show you the courtesy that you yourself did not provide them.