Tiffin Service at its best, Bebop gets fixed

by Jeff · August 15, 2023

Good Morning out there. I hope today finds you well and happy.

So very much has happened to us since we left California. The fast trip through the south to Red Bay, trips to Nashville, Memphis, Huntsville, Knoxville and soon to Ashville and Bowling Green and then back to our western world.

Let’s begin with red Bay, Shall we? If you haven’t read about the town yet, please do. This town is filled with folks whose families have lived there for many generations. These folks are generally pretty devout in their religious beliefs and always have a “bless you” on their lips ready to bestow upon you. They are genuinely nice people and want to help the poor Yankees. Speaking of Yankees, are we? We aren’t from the north, we hail from the west where there is no hint of the Mason-Dixon line. E’s people originally are from New York (Yankees) and my folks originated in Alabama and North Carolina (Southerners), yet we both agree on civil rights issues. Maybe we are Yankees and maybe not, but we sure stick out with our foreign accents.

The reason for our trip to Red Bay was to get our warranty work done on the Beacon known as Bebop. I try not to be negative about our experience with our brand new 2022 Vanleigh Beacon 41FL (44 feet of rolling condo with a full front living area as big as our sticks and bricks tv room), but it is difficult at times. From day 1 we have had manufacturing/quality control issues. These range from random screws found on the floor to tank gauges not reading correct levels. Noisy awnings, overly noisy slide mechanisms and the worst of all, air conditioners that don’t cool, a furnace with no ducting connected and bad electronics boards.

You may have read in our shakedown part 1, that we had our A/C replaced in Las Vegas. This worked, kind of. In reality, the air ducts that the Beacon is known for had collapsed and so we were not getting good cooling. It failed again and again to properly cool the unit and became a point of heavy frustration. In our episode about changed plans, I detailed the decision to go to the Factory service center and our trip east.

The Details of Red bay Service:

We arrived in Red Bay at the Bob Tiffin Service Center on a Sunday, got checked into the full hookup waiting area inside the fence and waited. If your RV is less than a year old or still under warranty, the company provides a lot of full hookup sites for you to take advantage of for free. These sites are first come/first serve and can fill up pretty fast. When you check in at the entry, they give you a service line number and that is your waiting list for the service center. They require a list of warranty items at least, because the service writer goes by your fcfs number and evaluates your needs by the warranty items. Some items get priority (water leaks, hydraulic issues, slide issues, emergency repairs of critical systems) so this might get you set behind the guy whose rig was towed in to the yard. If you are not under warranty, there are multiple other RV parking areas in town that are Tiffin centric. For those of you that are not under warranty or just want to go to the service center specializing in Vanleigh, then Tishomingo service center in Tishomingo, Mississippi is right up the road.

There are some major differences between the two service centers.

Tiffin: You must be under warranty to use the service center parking. You stay in your rig every night unless there is a safety reason you can’t, then they arrange for a hotel room for you for the duration that you cannot be in your RV. They are first come, first serve for service so you must have the time to spend there or be able to drop your rig off with them. They have the people on site to immediately authorize any warranty item that may be discovered after checking in (this is important) so that repairs do not have to slow down. They have all of the remaining Vanleigh parts on site and don’t have to wait for them to arrive from anywhere.

Tishomingo (Tish) is 20 minutes down the road in Mississippi. You can actually make an appointment for service there, so you know exactly when your service will take place. They are the touted “Go to” repair/service center for Vanleigh for the entire U.S. (just check the Vanleigh Facebook pages). They too have full hookup RV staging area and if your rig repair requires your RV to be in the bay overnight they let you stay in it if safe to do so. The crew there has developed an almost cult like following and I understand that it is well deserved. The downside of Tish is that they still have to communicate with the service writers at Tiffin to get your repairs authorized. This can take time and is why they want a full list of repairs prior to you arriving. The folks at Tish also offer some after market stuff that Tiffin won’t do under warranty, like the forever roof upgrades. I caveat all of my insight on Tish as being second or third hand info , as we have not been there for any service.

I sent an email to the service rep that we were on site and would see him on Monday morning. On Monday, first thing, I received an email back from Shawn Cole saying that he does not meet with repair customers but that a tech would be out shortly. His desk is literally a minute walk from where we are parked. The tech/service writer came out and we got our fix it list set up. I then walked in the office and introduced myself to Jeff Mills. Jeff is a stand up guy and welcomed me openly with a hearty hand shake and a smile, he is also the first person you see when you walk into the Vanleigh wing of the office and probably the guy you will talk to on the phone when you call for service or help. After chatting with Jeff, I turned to Shawn and introduced myself and he grudgingly got up from his desk and said hi, you could see that he was not happy that I did not give him the chance to duck out.

For the next 5 weeks we were guests of the service center, which includes two free) owners lounges (one on site, called the Allegro Club and another in the middle of town) with free beverages and leather furniture. Your pets are welcome in the free pet lounge and there are many bling items for sale if you want to advertise the brand.

During our time at the service center, we found that the techs there are world class in their skills and abilities. You drop your rig off every morning with your tech and then pick it up each evening and get a full briefing on what he/she did to your rig and what the plan is for the next day. They keep you fully in the know about what is happening. If you are headed to another department, the tech will let you know and give you the name of your next tech to contact and which service bay you will be located in.

The scheduling department (one person), the floor supervisors and the accounting folks are all there to help you and make sure your needs are met. There are always supervisors or lead techs that you can speak to if you have questions.

Make sure that all of your fix items are listed and known prior to the tech starting on it and make sure that, if under warranty, ALL items are on that list. I saw more than one unhappy customer at the accounting desks (in a public area) who was arguing about payment and costs. The labor rate is $140/hour for everything they do. Before undertaking the trip to Red Bay, I had ensured (with the exec in charge of warranty work, Greg Dees) that everything I could find would be covered by the company. This was fortuitous as the final repair cost for my warranty items came to 34,000 dollars. Tiffin (Thor) ate this as well as lots of free beverages and camping cost there.

When we left Red Bay we had a fully functional unit with all of our warranty issues taken care of. We towed to a local State park in Huntsville and spent the weekend to check out the repairs. Lo and behold, everything worked and was better than when we purchased Bebop.

So, the questions remain;

Would I purchase another Vanleigh product? Absolutely not if it was built after 2018. The Covid deficiencies started the downfall of the brand and it never recovered after the news of the sale to Thor Industries was known to the workers. Quality Control went out the window in 2019 and never reappeared in the Vanleigh factory.

Would I use the Bob Tiffin Service Center in Red Bay again? Absolutely yes. The Tech staff there is outstanding. They are true professionals and take pride in their workmanship (it was a pleasure to watch our painter hand cut all the lines in our repaired door).

Until next time,

Jeff