Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Like Night and Day–Future Ford RV/Fleet Center is Thumbs Up With Us

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Remember back in April we tried to get our “new to us” motorhome serviced before we left Florida to come to California?  The Ford Dealer right by our Condo, Karl Flammer Ford, said that they could get the work done in three days, and after having for two days they had not even touched it?  Well, we really needed to get that work done, and this was the week.  Now I don't know about you, but it is not easy to leave your "home on wheels" overnight for work. Heck, I get nervous about just having the oil changed even when I am right there the entire time.  Something about some of these repair places....you kind of feel like a lamb being lead to be slaughtered.  For instance, my daughter Stephanie had a breakdown on her way up to Park City, Utah, a couple of weeks ago.  The repair place was like a Parana, and tried to eat her for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Thank goodness she knew how to handle it, called and talked to Arny and I about it, and got out there just losing a few hundred dollars and not the thousands the guy was looking for just to replace a sensor.

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Future Ford of Roseville RV/Big Truck Repair and Maintenance is right off of Interstate 80 in Roseville near Rockland.  Arny’s son, Rob, does a lot of business with them.  Rob owns and operates Auernig Auto Body also in Roseville. Rob once worked for his dad, Arny, when Arny had a Corvette Shop for many years….and Arny has even helped his son out a time or two. Anyway, Rob highly recommended Future Ford of Roseville RV/Big Truck Repair and Maintenance.   He gave Arny the contact names, and last week Arny set up the appointment for us.  We had hoped that we could get it back on the same day, but it was a 10+ hour job….so we would need to spend one night outside of the motorhome....not something we looked forward to, but if you have to, you have to.
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To keep these motorhomes going, you have to maintain them.  Since we had no records of maintenance, we decided to do a bunch of preventative maintenance right up front.  We knew this when we bought it, and since we got it for well under the Insurance payout from the one we lost in the fire, it was all in our master plan to have this work done when we decided to purchase the Dynamax.  We had all of the coolant lines replaced with the radiator flushed and new fluids.  The serpentine belt was replaced.  The oil was changed with a new filter. The transmission fluid was replaced and the transmission serviced.  The Generator was serviced including new oil.  Back in Arkansas I had found a new generator filter in a bay, and put that in myself…today the service advisor says, “We did not replace the generator filter because it was new.”….I had forgotten all about replacing that one.  The tires, brakes, differential and other vital areas were checked.  They also did a diagnostic check, and found two spark plugs and two coils needed to be replaced.  They even gave it a complementary bath to get the dust and dirt off of it.  

How long did it take?   Took it in at 7 am Tuesday, it was ready for pickup Wednesday before 1 pm.  

And now the big one…How much did it cost?  Let’s just say that none of this I cheap, and it was more than reasonable for 10+ hours of work, and all of the parts…knowing Rob provided us a big break in the price, that is for sure!  

As for the new spark plugs and coils….let’s just say that I saw an immediate difference when I pulled out of their shop…and a remarkable difference as I drove it home on the freeway.

Needless to say, we HIGHLY recommend Future Ford of Roseville RV/Big Truck Repair and Maintenance.  Chris Estrada is the RV / Fleet Service Advisor, and Jim Webber is the manager.  They have one certified RV specialist, but other certified techs (I think there are around 20 techs in total) who work on trucks and RVs as needed.  Remember, we made an appointment, so you can't expect this type of speed if you don't give them some advance warning.  Also, we would still recommended them if we paid the normal price which was over $2,000....this was a lot of work, and it does cost $$$$.  If you are in the area, and especially if you have a Ford product, give them a shot at doing your maintenance.  Now we just need to find a reliable place back in Florida...because the service we had here in California is like the difference between Night and Day with the experience we had in Florida.

5 comments:

  1. So nice to hear about a good place for repairs. Glad you were finally able to get what you needed done. I'm wondering if you have ever had the situation where a blog you posted never showed up on the blog rolls. I have been tinkering with my latest post for 3 hours to no avail. It's posted but on no one's roll which is where most people access it. Give me a shout if you have a clue.

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    1. Sent you an email.

      Yes, it is nice to find a good place to get repairs...feel like when we do find one, just gotta share it. When it is bad, share that too.

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  2. It's so important to be able to trust a repair place. That's why we're going to hit the Winnebago factory on our way back west. It will cost us, but we know they'll do it right.

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    1. Yes, I could not agree more with you. Here we had a night and day experience between two Ford Dealers, one GREAT, one VERY BAD....question is, how do you tell the difference?

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  3. Just got back this morning from putting 3+ dozen donuts on Jim's desk in appreciation for the work these guys did. Jim says, "Oh, you don't need to do that!" I told him about how my Great Uncle owned the Sacramento Wheel Service which has been closed down now for many years....about how as a kid we would go in there and the best time these guys had was when it was "Donuts Break Time". I could think of nothing more appropriate than this to show our appreciation....and I told Jim that the RV Tech gets first shot at them.

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