Of where this should be posted at! Today as we were going up the road i caught a glimpse off to the side, of a place that had several old motorhomes in view along with more that were hidden behind buildings and a fence. Could they be Revcons? no. Maybe Cortez? no again. Aha! FMC? Yes!!! After getting set up in an rv park a few miles up the road we drove back and found the place again. There are 20-22 FMCs sitting there, one Barth MCC with a FMCA plate # 257455. My book which is a 2007 edition, (need to get a new one!) does not show that # listed anymore. In the course of driving around the place and taking pictures we ran into.....have you guessed it yet?.....Chris Hoagland. Yes we are in Illinois near Broadwell where he is located. Had a nice chat with him. So i guess i could have posted this in Barth Sightings or maybe even the tech section or??....

How is he doing?

He is fine, not too much demand for the FMC stuff so that is slow, but he is busy with his Fedex routes and doing the work on his trucks and other Fedex contractors.

Wish he would return my phone calls----have been trying to geta hold of him for several months!!
He was working on my MCC, I guess, but all the communication I had with MCR was through his mother!!
He had trouble getting a hold of me via the telephone so his mother said and they do NOT email although they have an email address. They also have my mailing address but I guess they don't write letters either!!
So Here I am in Nova Scotia, waiting patiently all this spring for them to get in touch with me somehow !!
I was up there to check with them a couple of years ago AND they told me not to come back that they will notify me when I should go there to pick up....so far NOTHING!!
OK for the past 18 months I have been on the Eldorado Trial for Prostate Cancer and was very fatigued from that but not anymore and feeling frisky
Would appreciate it if some one would get a hold of Chris 800-786-1536 and get him to get in touch with me---I have been calling him almost every day recently and leaving my phone number but never get a answer!!
No hard feelings...
Thanks for reading my rant!!

Sadly Doug, your experience with that place seems to be the norm. I've heard too many reports that indicates that this shop does not follow through on repairs and they makes excuses instead of following through. I've had several of you tell me that "He treats his customers almost with contempt."

I know, pretty sharp words. I hesitated to put that here but when I read that Doug's coach has been sitting there for years...

Eventually people get tired of listening to excuses and take their biz elsewhere.

My only recommendation for the MCC is to use Recreational Vehicle Services

Here is a post where we discussed this a few months ago. Jack Black, the owner of the shop at this link, actually built the first few chassis.

quote:

FMC kept its commitment to its customers and arranged with Jim Black, an FMC manufacturing executive, to set up an organization to service these coaches, which continues to this day. Black, who runs Recreational Vehicle Services,C1249, in Morgan Hill, California, holds the rights for FMCparts and even has all of the original tooling. Recreational Vehicle Services can, if needed, produce large parts, such as a new 29-foot fiberglass top.

I keep telling the folks here that they should start a thread on their experiences with this place.

My hope is that the people on Barthmobile who have negative experiences with this place would post their stories - few do. Then what is posted is watered down to the point of almost being useless.

I can't post anything that I don't know first hand so I stay silent. Thank you Doug for having the courage to post that little rant - Now, my hope is that several more of you will respond to this post with your experience. Positive or Negative, I'd like to hear them all.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Smiley:
No hard feelings...

Well, if you don't mind...

Doug,

I too, have received the silent treatment from Motor Coach Restoration on parts that I ordered from them. I was very disappointed in how they handled the business.

MCR was an excellent source for Barth parts. Leslie was a gentleman who knew about different problems and updates for the various Barth models.
After his death his son Chris has downsized the business and moved it to a different location.
It seems the business is no longer a priority and customer service is none existent.

I recommend Recreational Vehicles Services Inc. WWW.RVSREPAIR.COM. Jim Black is the owner and will take time to discuss any problem and update for your Barth. He has the background and the knowledge and has great customer service.

Jim