Are FWC campers worth the money?

[waynemaple]

!!!!!!Slow Production!!!!!!!

Any fwc owners that purchased new have trouble with production times? My sale was in May 18th 2010, and I'm being told that now it won't even be built until September. I was verbally told by my sales person that it would be 12-13 weeks to build. And I had to make all the calls in regards to when it would be ready. I am fuming mad, to already have taken time off to travel with my family, and no camper remotely near the time promissed. Just wondering if anyone else had to deal with this? I have tried to contact Tom Hanagan (general manager) with no luck yet, to find out if this is standard practice with his bussiness. So far the campers seem great, but the service is starting to make me think twice.....to be continued..........

 

[davidshourd]

that is terrible to hear!

Stan! chime in and let us know what the story is! 12-13 weeks seems like a reasonable production time unless there was something unforeseen?

 

[dzzz]

Any fwc owners that purchased new have trouble with production times?

Not a FWC owner, but my Alaskan is months late. I ordered in winter, but didn't push it. May is a tough time to order a camper. A month or two late from an optimistic prediction is the norm.

Comment on smooth siding from a earlier post: It just doesn't work well from a strength and showing damage perspective. Why aren't aluminum garage doors smooth?

Smooth siding on a trailer is wavy in a way many people would not accept on a truck camper.

 

[kcowyo]

I have tried to contact Tom Hanagan (general manager) with no luck yet, to find out if this is standard practice with his bussiness.

Tom owns the company. The buck stops with him and that's who can best answer your question. The fault of the delay is no more the sales staffs, than it's the fault of the waiter who unknowingly serves you an overcooked steak... The sales staff doesn't manufacture the camper, anymore than the waiter cooks your steak.

I understand your rightful frustration waynemaple, but the answer to your questions can't be found here. Your questions & frustration should be directed at Tom. Keep calling.

.

 

[1tonpaulie]

First reply from newbie on side lines. I ordered a New Grandby 1/5/10 from Sean Dempsey in Eagle Wisconsin. He said My Grandby would be built about the first of march and he recevied it March 20th. I think FWC is a Awesome company with great customer service. That being said, A customer should only have to make one phone call to speak to the owner. Mr Tom should call him back in a reasonable amount of time. The company prides them self on customer service.

 

[waynemaple]

Tom owns the company. The buck stops with him and that's who can best answer your question. The fault of the delay is no more the sales staffs, than it's the fault of the waiter who unknowingly serves you an overcooked steak... The sales staff doesn't manufacture the camper, anymore than the waiter cooks your steak.

I understand your rightful frustration waynemaple, but the answer to your questions can't be found here. Your questions & frustration should be directed at Tom. Keep calling.

.

All this talk about steak is making me hungry again, I should clarify that my frustration is mostly directed at myself for already taking time off work to enjoy a camper that I will not be in possesion of. Your right about the sales staff not being involved with production, and I will be trying again to reach Tom. This thread was very helpful in making my decision about which camper company to buy from, so I thank you for the comments and help everyone.

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

Hello waynemaple

We are feeling your pain too.



Earlier this year we got slammed with new orders.

Both Steve & myself tried to let customers know of this when they were placing their orders earlier this year and to expect a few months for production times.

We try and get feedback from the owner and the production department week by week so we know what to tell customers for expected delivery times.

Sometimes of the year (slow periods) we can get the campers done before the customers were expecting it, and other times of the year (busy season) it can unfortunately creep past the expected delivery dates depending on the volume of orders.

We have been gradually bumping up inventory for parts & pieces and also adding more staff in the warehouse for production. But it can take weeks and months to get new employees trained and up to speed before we let them loose.

We don't want to hire a bunch of new people and throw them in to start building new campers without the proper training. The over all quality of the camper would suffer if we did that. We want the quality & construction to be top notch and is very important to us.

We apologize for the delays in getting campers ready for all of our customers that ordered earlier this year.

We are trying to get as many campers out the door right now so people can get out and use their new camper.

If we could get the campers ready earlier we would.

Again, I also feel your pain & frustrations !

My forehead is flat these days from banging my head on the wall.

As a sales person it hurts to tell the customer production times are long.

Tom would be the best person to talk with, as he is the owner of the company.

If you would like to e-mail me your name and phone number ... send it to me at ... stan@fourwh.com ... I would be glad to make sure Tom gets the message.

I'm guessing your sales person was Steve ?

Or was it me ?

:O

Either way I would be glad to get the message over to Tom.


Thanks for your understanding.

Talk to you soon.


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[dzzz]

It's surprising how many companies that manufacture for a specific customer order don't track the dates the customers are given. I expect that in many, or even most companies the squeaky wheel get his stuff before the quiet customer.

 

[jaydon44]

This thread is pretty old, but did you get your camper? if so can you give us forum creepers an update and maybe some pictures? im trying to digest everything i can on these things. thanks!

 

[JHa6av8r]

This thread is pretty old, but did you get your camper? if so can you give us forum creepers an update and maybe some pictures? im trying to digest everything i can on these things. thanks!

A better place to go to understand FWC and other pop-up campers would be the Wander the West forum. You'll get a very wide range of opinions from serious users.

 

[subterran]

Yeah, us Expo people have no idea what we're talking about, and have never seen a FWC in our lives. We just like to chat about what color chick lets come in, and how hard it is to play tiddlywinks with sewer lids.

 

[ripperj]

Certainly not as much attitude over there

Sent from my Z10 using Tapatalk 2

 

[subterran]

You're right. I apologize for my outburst. I can't help feeling that this forum is also a trove of wide ranging opinions, and serious users too.

By the way, I think the OP did get his camper, or at least from his profile pic. Good luck on your search, and Wander the west is another great resource, no doubt. Tiddlywinks, anyone?

 

[JHa6av8r]

You're right. I apologize for my outburst. I can't help feeling that this forum is also a trove of wide ranging opinions, and serious users too.

By the way, I think the OP did get his camper, or at least from his profile pic. Good luck on your search, and Wander the west is another great resource, no doubt. Tiddlywinks, anyone?

This forum is a treasure trove of information on many topics and I hit this almost daily along with WTW. Only saying the information is more focused to users of pop-up campers like NATCOA is more focused on hardside campers.

 

[Beosuun]

Yeah, us Expo people have no idea what we're talking about, and have never seen a FWC in our lives. We just like to chat about what color chick lets come in, and how hard it is to play tiddlywinks with sewer lids.

Nah, but when you get untangled from that fancy RTT, come on down and have a beer with us older folks :ylsmoke:



BTW, for real pop-up dedication, check out Overland Hadley's (The Tardis) and GC's (The Dirt Sherpa) take on building their own version of the FWCs . . . .