This is the boat dealer again...I still think you ought to try the Marine Industry...we don't have anyone with enough guts to write an article as powerful as your article about Affinity.

Outboard Marine Corp. who has only borrowed $165M this year to keep afloat just signed Cabela's to sell their motors around the country. In one letter to the dealers they told them that this was an "opportunity" for the small dealers to get service work and make new customers. If anyone was stupid enough to believe that, they should not be in business. That type of shopper has only one thing on his/her mind and that is price. Because of the limited service facilities and seasonality of the business most of the major boat dealers have a policy that they only work on what they sold with the exception of people who bought from a bonafide dealer and are traveling when they have problems. We also add the category of the people who have moved into our area and had bought the boat before moving here. They are extremely good future prospects. The motor companies used to pay an additional 10-15% in parts and labor for any warranty work you did on a boat you did not sell but they have eliminated that some years ago.

Keep up the good articles and you should keep the boating industry in mind.

John Arado
The Fishing Hole
St. Louis, Missouri

Dear Editor:

We here at May's RV in Lewisville, TX live in the center of the action. Camping World is 15 miles north of us in Denton which is right next to RV World, side note - I just hired one of RV World's salesmen and after hearing his stories I sleep better at night. But back to Camping World in New B., they sell Starcraft, we sell Starcraft, they sell Wanderer, we sell Wanderer and I could not be happier. And when the manuf. rep. told us about the deal, I think he was worried I might shoot him, but I told him I did not mind, New B. is 300 miles south of us and that is a long ways to travel for warranty work because my shop runs 6 months behind for those people. We are a mom & pop shop and the days are numbered for us, but that is what they said when McClain's moved in (7 miles north) and they are a 4 lot dealer, if you WORK HARD you can kick butt, even Rec. USA which may be buying McClain's

P.S. Yes I do advertise in TL, Woodalls.

Jim Bennett
G.M.
May's RV
Lewisville, Texas

Dear Don,

Just had to respond with complete agreement regarding the parts problem. A quick story really emphasizes your point. We currently are repairing relatively minor damage on a 1994 Airstream Classic Motor Home diesel pusher. The unit suffered collision damage to the right front requiring the replacement of the lower right front segment, yet still drive-able. Based on information given to us by our "local" (120 miles away) dealer, the necessary segment was in stock and confirmed shipped by the factory, we pulled the unit in to begin repair. This is common procedure in order to discover any hidden damage. Low and behold additional damage was discovered after the removal of the damaged segment. The insurance carrier was notified, additional repairs were authorized and all we needed to continue were the "shipped parts". This all occurred early in September, it is now October 31, not only have we not received the necessary parts, but to the best of our knowledge they haven't even been made.

I wish I could say this is unusual but its not. Your article is right on target!!!!!!!!! The RV Manufacturers only seem to care about building new units and are not very concerned about customer retention.

The real dilemma is the lost customer confidence!! I know my customer is now questioning our ethics, which we make every effort to avoid, and I seriously doubt this customer will ever consider another Airstream in the future.

I hope that we can discuss this further at the Louisville show. Maybe with a lot of focused effort the manufacturers of this industry will wake up and service their existing customers.

As always your efforts to bring our industry into the 21st century are greatly appreciated.

Don MacPhail, GM
RV Body World
Phoenix, Arizona

P.S. Don if you would like to do a follow-up the details of this story are really astonishing.

Dear Don:

I just read your editorial on "Parts, Smarts ­ What's an RV Manufacturer to do? or better yet, what is an RV dealer and his customer to do?

The most serious problem I see in the RV industry is parts availability from RV "assemblers" not manufacturers.

I would like to see RV News release a report card on all RV "assembler-manufacturers" that would publish and compare the way they handle the following:

1. availability of parts

2. response time to the dealer's order

3. reimbursement for shipping and handling of warranty parts

Every state should implement a lemon law like the one in Texas. In Texas if a unit is out of service for 30 days, the manufacturer (assembler) gets to buy it back. It works.

Jack Sisemore
Jack Sisemore Traveland
Amarillo, Texas