Crestview RV Service

We had a problem with our RV pulling to the right. We were in Texas for the winter and took it to Crestview since they were a Winnebago dealer for an alignment. Nick was the service advisor that handled our work. After the work was reportedly done they said they could not actually tell if it corrected the problem during the road test due to the strong winds on that day. I was somewhat hesitant with the explanation from Nick when we picked up our RV. I asked how far it was out of alignment and Nick stated that he could not tell me since the printed for the machine was not working, but they were able to get it working for the final printout after the alignment was performed. That printout showed everything within specs except for the left front due to a bad kingpin that needed to be replaced before they could bring it into spec. However, they never called me to advise me of the kingpin issue and to ask if I wanted it repaired or replaced before they called to say it was ready. Upon returning home I took it to the local Freightliner dealer for the kingpin and alignment since it was still under warranty. I show them the final printout provided by Crestview and the Freightliner service advisor stated that those were not the specs for my motorhome chassis. After a through inspection and alignment it was determined that the tires were causing the pulling and that the kingpin was not bad and it was in perfect alignment. There were no frame or suspension issues either. Everything checked out perfect and well within all specifications. They had serious concerns if Crestview did anything at all. Since our 2010 Winnebago was new to us I also asked Nick several other questions I had about my motorhome. I later discovered after thoroughly reading the manuals that Nick had no idea what he was talking about or just made stuff up to placate me at the time knowing we were from out- of-state and would probably never be back. We have friends that live in Georgetown, Texas and they said, afterward unfortunately, that they have had issues with Crerstview and Nick specifically in the past. They now take their motorhome to an out-of-state dealer just so they don't have to deal with Crestview.

Replaced chassis and engine batteries and cables. Changed engine fuel filter and oil. Lubed chassis. Replaced all 4 jacks. Coolant flush, replaced coolant reservoir and belts. Repacked wheel bearings, replaced king pins, outer tie rods, front and rear sway bar bushings. Aligned front end. Replaced air suspension bags and drag links.Dash air, replaced fan motor assembly and fuses. Cleaned dryer vent tube and fixed ducting. I recently took my motorhome to Crestview RV, Georgetown, TX for extensive repairs. The reviews for this service department were not flattering; however, their geographic location made it convenient for me. Extensive repairs were necessary and approached 17K. Crestview Service Department personnel were professional, courteous, and accomplished all repairs promptly and completely. Their philosophy of repairing it once and correctly was apparent. All repairs were shown to me and each one reviewed. The experience revived my opinion of service departments. I will return to Crestview, Georgetown for further repairs, and I hope Terry will help me again. Thank you, Terry. Good job.

Had four new house batteries, new A/C thermostat, and new transfer switch. I was having electrical problems while visiting my son in Georgetown. I was so glad to find Crestview RV just a short distance up the rode. Although I had to return a couple of times, one night when I did not have any A/C after getting it back, they put us up in a hotel, 93 degrees here, even though it was later discover that is was a totally unrelated to my original problem with the A/C thermostat. Expressed shipped the part needed overnight and I'm now back on track enjoying RVing again. The staff here is very friendly. Nick, the service writer, was very professional and gave me the feeling that he was on top of the process all the way getting my coach repaired quickly and correctly while arranging payment with my Good Sam CSP insurance company. Even our little pug "Cocoa" was welcome. They also have a very nice waiting lounge with coffee and cold water. All systems up and running. I would return here again for sure. Excellent

I've waited a couple of months before submitting this review because I've been too upset to be objective. I was one of the first customers Crestview had when they opened up their first day and have been a pretty satisfied customer since then. Until now. I had my motorhome in to install a new frame structure for my main awning earlier in the year and just within the past two weeks I finally had a chance to use it. It's STILL having the same problem it had before in that one of the arms will not retract into the channel when closing. I still have to get the ladder and bang on the arm to properly seat it. I've always dealt with either Nick or Shawn (service advisors) and they have always worked well with me. This time I used some one else to repair/replace a jack that had somehow become bent (LOOONG story not pertinent to this story). I also asked for some other smaller things to be done. The jack was eventually replaced but still didn't work properly initially nor did another jack. It turned out that Crestview techs had broken a cable to the solenoid and had to replace the solenoid on their nickel at least. The jacks still are giving me problems. When they called me to pick up the motorhome the other items hadn't been touched. So I left it with them and they were eventually repaired. When I went to pick it up again they had LOST THE KEYS!!!! How in the name of all that is good and holy do you lose the keys? The service advisor told me to have replacements made and he would pay for it. We all know that he should have done that himself but by this time I was totally frustrated with the whole thing and got replacements made (they called me several weeks later saying they had found them and mailed them to me while I was on a trip). One of the repairs they did was to replace a slideout awning that had ripped. Easy to do except that as I was driving across nowhere NW of Lubbock it started to unfurl. My wife had to climb up to the roof (a story for another time) to place bungees on either end of the awning and pray that they would hold (they did, just barely). When we arrived at our destination we noted that the anti-billowing device that comes with the awning was missing. No one had bothered to say a thing or to replace it. So arriving in Salt Lake City today on my trip to the NW was the last straw when I saw the main awning arm was opened - away from the channel - about three inches. I should have talked with the Service Manager prior to leaving home and I won't be able to do that until I go home in mid-September. I hope by that time I've calmed down enough to have a reasonable discussion with him regarding the obvious disconnect between the service advisor I had and the technicians who worked on the motorhome. Giving a rating is tough because they have always been good for me. They have a wonderful group of folks that I deal with in Service and Parts, but one bad experience has left a really sour taste in my mouth. Shoddy, poor communications both internally and with me. Very disappointing.

Installation of new awning and replacement of spring for levelers. This is a first to me. I've been using Crestview RV in Georgetown, TX ever since the first day they opened. I use them routinely and whenever something out of the ordinary pops up and have never been unhappy with the work they do. After my normal end of year work plus some additional services, yesterday I received a letter from the service manager offering me a small reward for the next time I use their services. This was completely unexpected but sincerely appreciated. I have recommended the use of their services in the past and needless to say I will continue to do so, with or without the incentive. As an old marketeer I understand the wisdom of such a reward. I've just never seen one before.

Turbo charger, coach A/C, chassis A/C, air horn, refrigerator, battery disconnect So far the turbo charger is working (I'm not holding my breath), the coach A/C is working better, the chassis A/C is cold, however there is little air flow, the battery disconnect is functional, but even though the Buda branch said they replaced the house batteries the Georgetown store said they were bad and needed to be replaced stating that the charging system was fine and there were no power "leaks". After getting it home this last time, the cables on the chassis batteries were found to be loose and therefore not charging. The freezer is working fine, but the refrigerator is not cooling below 50 degrees and they told me that I needed to "cycle" the refrigerator i.e. setting the temp to the lowest level and then taking it back to the highest level and that would "reboot" the system. As has been the experience with Crestview in Buda the Georgetown branch doesn't bother to call with updates. Since April of 2011 the coach has been in the service center of either the Buda or the Georgetown store for more than 16 weeks and yet there are still multiple issues that were identified that are still non functional.

Lube, oil and filter Drain and refill oil in front hubs Check axle fluids Rotate tires and re-angle valve stems on outer duals as unable to use pressure gauge. Test Chassis Battery My main complaint is regarding the tires. Shawn stated that their machine was unable to break the tires off the rims, thus no rotation was done. For the valve stem problem they had installed 90 degree extenders($33 for 2). As I left the area the next day, I did not look at the valve stems for several days. The following day in checking tire pressure, I discovered that they had actually bent the valve stems on both outer duals before installing the extenders. I also found that contrary to my specified pressure of 80#s, the driver's side duals and both front tires were pressurized to 90#s but the passenger side duals were 80#s. For the other work, I have no way of evaluating but based on the tire problem, I would not return to Crestview.

Crestview did the recall of the Bosch calipers for my Workhorse chassis, the recall for my Norcold fridge and removed my old AS-2003 satellite from the roof and replaced it with the new Winegard SK-3005 satellite HD antenna. When we picked it up we were a little confused as to how to use the antenna and they sent a tech out who worked with us and even called Winegard while we were there to get some technical information. Excellent, everything was done to my satisfaction and we are happy campers. As usual, we are very happy with their work and appreciate the attention that Shawn at the Service desk provided us.

Replaced water pump, repaired water line feed to fridge, several other small fixes. I took the motorhome in and was called back the same day with an evaluation of the work to be done based on what my original complaints were. I picked it up less than a week later with all items repaired and in working order. Since they are located close to me, it is easy for me to use them. The fact that they have always been helpful and friendly just confirms to me that my choice to take my motorhome to them was the right one.

This time was for a state inspection and to realign the awning material that wouldn't allow the awning to close properly. I've used this facility several times before and originally bought my motorhome at the Crestview of Buda location. At the Buda location, the work was adequate but they always kept the unit way too long. Hopefully they have corrected this in the past two years. At the Georgetown location, I've never had a problem with the work they do, just the time they took to do it. I've always felt that if you make an appointment, it doesn't mean your motorhome should stay there in storage until they got to it. This location, as with virtually ANY other service location I've been to, needs a lesson in communicating with the public and public relations. This time I dealt with two on the admin staff that I would like to give a shout out to. Rebecca was very cheerful, attentive and helpful and Misty was also helpful. The only reason I didn't give this location "excellent" is because of the original lack of communication (not with Rebecca or Misty). I will say, however, it improved and that was very much appreciated by me.

Rotate and balance tires/brakes A few months ago we got the new to me Gulf Stream. I knew about the problems it had and then found a few more. So yea whatever, its a RV. Pretty close to when we get it home we wanted the front end looked at since the steering was a bit sloppy and it drifted to the right. I call Crestview and ask them if they can service this vehicle. I ask them if their machine can handle a 31 foot class C, Brandon tells me no problem, bring it in as soon as you get the chance. I ask how about in 2-3 days, we will be camping in it for a few, "no problem". When we bring it in, we talked to Gary. We told him what the issues were and told him that we wanted a "PDI" done. We wanted this looked over by someone that lives working on these on a daily basis. While taking down our concerns he was trying to print out the repair order but couldn't and stated that he doesn't usually do this so he wasn't sure what the problem was at the moment. I asked him for a PDI sheet to make some notes for the technician. I got the paper and noted: Do the PDI, I want a second-third set of eyes to look it over rotate and balance the tires, look the tires over for being out of round, do not mess with the HWH jacks, I know the motor is acting funny. Confirm that the coils need to be replaced on the fridge, leaking ammonia. Replace the black twist locks on the outside of the fridge door--I had duck tape on the door. Check the sensors in the tank. Black reads 3/4 full when empty. Align the front end. So after some conversation with Gary we talk about the front end and he starts to tell me that Ford front ends are very sturdy and ours is most likely just fine. I had to explain to him that as a master service adviser-one adviser to another-please don't guess on my vehicle when you haven't even done the walk-around on it. I want it looked at and want the problem rectified. Period. A few other short conversations till he says that here is my (Gary) business card and he will be running the ticket and will answer any questions about it while its there. Hmmm. But you usually don't work this.......? We asked when we could get a call on what we need to do to get it back in good working order and he states in about 2 weeks...?? Yea well OK then, we'll just suck up the lost camping time for fixed issues, right? In about that time frame we get a call from Brandon. He talks a few minutes about the RV and explains whats going on with the progress and everything looks good but the brakes are a little worn, the fridge unit needs a new unit or replace the coils and the HWH pump motor smoked when they tried to check the operation. Remember the list I noted on the PDI sheet they handed to me.... He then tell me that the coach is too long for the front end machine to check it out. Second sign to me that this is not going to go well. We agree to have the rotors turned and new pads to the brakes. About a day later I get a call from Shawn to call him back about some issues on the RV. I call Shawn back and either leave a paper message to his desk or his voice mail. Never get a call back from Shawn. This tells me already that poor ticket management is going on in the service area when your getting calls from 2 people advising you of issues with your vehicle. A few more calls to Shawn, then to Brandon. Finally get back to Brandon and tells me that its ready for the tune of about $2800.00.. Way over his quote of about $1800.00, he says that the final bill went way over since he had to replace the all the calipers. The seals were busting out and we could loose our brakes at any time. Of course I asked why wasn't I told about this? He says that he left multiple messages and never received a return call. I told him he better have the old parts to show me. We just decide to go pick it up and get out of the Crestview management mumble. When we go pick it up, he says that he gave us the calipers at cost. I told him to show me the old calipers and he says that they may already be back in the parts dept, he couldn't get to them. I told him to find them. He walked to the shop and returned with a caliper that was Ford, might haven been to our vehicle, I wasn't certain. The seal was gimped up, but to me it looked more from an improper use of a screwdriver compressing the brake pad to open the caliper.. Gimped up seal, was it really bad, maybe-maybe not--OK you got me. After reviewing the bill more and more, they only replaced the rear calipers, not all four. He also stated that the tech had to clean the black tank for about an hour and fifteen minutes. He was going to charge 1 hour since it wasn't a hard job. After a few more stern concern reviews of the bill we decide to pay up and lets see what we really have gotten ourselves into. We asked what the PDI report showed and he says that everything looked great and its a road worthy vehicle. So I go out the look it over and find that the fridge door locks weren't replaced. I opt to go and purchase them from their parts counter and put them in myself. I tried but as to never used them, I didn't have an idea how to get the new ones installed. Brandon insisted they were the correct ones. I asked him if he could assist me in getting them installed right, he told me that he couldn't because he already had too many customers vehicles to work on. Remember that bill I just paid? I drive it home and the tires still feel like garbage, never mind the front end drift, I know they didn't touch that. I am positive they are out of round from being just low end private brand tires. We pack it up for another state park trip still getting the feel of it. At the state park the wife tells me that that tire looks really low. I pull out the air gauge and its at 50psi. opt! I need to get this taken care of now. I proceed to check the rest of them. ALL are at 50psi. Now I really pissed. Luckily at the state park they had a maintenance are that had an air compressor, they were very helpful in getting that issue taken care of. Wow did it drive a bit better, not so sloppy. We also noticed that the toilet doesn't hold water after the service there. I removed the toilet, look over all the seals, move the flapper, spray with cooking oil, no avail. It doesn't hold water after the service. Trip to a Houston state park reveals a low tire again, down to 30 psi. I put the portable compressor to it and take it to Discount Tire. Tire had a nail. I asked them to replace both the fronts. The other left front tire was requesting 8oz of weight. Of course working for them in the past i know pretty much everyone and go to the back and put my hands on the tire. The tires were a piece of junk. Out of round, flat spots.... I pulled the rear hubcaps off the wheels and they had weights scattered on the wheel well. That is a sign of an improperly trained person at the balancer at Crestview. Both front tires show some even wear on the inside of the tires, more conformation that the front end has a problem. We put 2 new Michelin's on the front end and away we go. You know that little hum of a new tire you get when their right off the shelf? Thats all I could hear out of the front end and then the back end was doing its flat spot slapping. We will be replacing the rears as well pretty soon here. A few days later I'm snugging up the steering box preload to take out some of the sloppy steering. I had to remove the air cleaner and filter to get to it. The air filter was filthy. the air cleaner housing had a very old dead rat in it. Now we don't live in the country, but the precious owners had the RV under a large shed out in the piney woods, they told us they had a few problems with some critters at times. I wonder where that rat came from? Yes this was a long read if you made it all the way down here, thanks for reading. But service to your coach is really important that they get it done and get it right and don't feed you short stories and try to do a CYA for their own stupidity.. For the most of us we know that it isn't always the first time everything is fixed right, but too many mistakes and blunders is a true sign of a incompetent facility. As the life of good service goes : good service you tell some 2 people about : bad service you tell everyone about.