ALUMIBUNK SERVICE OR LACK THEREOF

aardvarkman · Jun 19, 2005

HAS ANYONE OUT THERE HAD A REAL HORROR STORY @ ALUMIBUNK(AB) ?????

I PURCHASED A NEW M2-106 WITH AN 84" SLEEPER ON IT AND A PROHEAT. I WAS GIVEN A SPEC SHEET LISTING WHAT I WAS TO EXPECT ON THE TRUCK. UPON TAKING DELIVERY I FOUND THAT INSTEAD OF A 33,000 GVW IT WAS 29,700 FROM THE FACTORY AND BUMPED UP BY AB AFTER CHANGING THE TIRES TO LO=PRO 22.5'S FROM SOMETHING SMALLER. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO COME WITH 22.5 TALL MICHELIN RUBBER. INSTEAD I GOT THE LO-PRO GOODYEAR. AFTER MUCH COMPLAINING ABOUT LOW MILEAGE( 8 MPG ) AND VIBRATION IN THE FRONT END THEY REPLACED THEM WITH 22.5 TALL NO-NAME RUBBER. AFTER A WEEK I HAD ANOTHER VIBRATION AND THEY HAVE SINCE FOUND BAD TIRES AND I NOW HAVE DUNLOPS. STILL HAVE A VIBRATION WHILE NOT AS BAD.

INSTEAD OF A MERITOR FRONT AXLE I HAVE A MERCEDES. DITTO FOR THE REAR END. I FEEL LIKE THE VICTIM OF A BAIT & SWITCH. I HAVE LOST A LOT OF TIME & MONEY TRYING TO FIX THE PROHEAT - STILL NOT WORKING. THE SAME GOES FOR THE TRUCK A/C. FREEZES UP ALL THE TIME. EVERY TIME I GO TO A DEALER THEY CAN'T GET TO ME UNTIL IT THAWS AND THEN IT WON'T FREEZE UP. THEY KEEP CHARGING ME AND SAYING THEY CAN'T DUPLICATE THE PROBLEM. I HAVE LEARNED AT LEAST ONE THING SO FAR. IF I CAN EVER GET ANYTHING FOR THIS HEAP, I'M GOING BACK TO ANOTHER PETE 330 - HAD ONE FOR 5 YR WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS. ALSO GOING BACK TO THE CAT. I'LL ALSO SPEC IT MYSELF AND GET THE SLEEPER DONE BY ICT AGAIN OR MAYBE BENTZ. I WILL STAY MILES AWAY FROM AB. MY DRIVER HAS STARTED CALLING IT ALUMIJUNK.

I FEEL A LITTLE BETTER NOW THAT I HAVE VENTED SOME - BUT NOT ENOUGH TO EVER GO BACK TO AB OR FREIGHTLINER FOR ANYTHING.

EXCURSIONKING

x( x( x( :-( :'(

Glen Rice · Jun 19, 2005

Sorry about your lemon. I have had bad Petes in the past so I know what your talking about. There is nothing worse than driving a truck you are frustrated about! I hope you get results for your many problems and bite your tongue when you are in there repair facility. You will get better results by being the professional business man you are. Good luck..

Doggie Daddy · Jun 19, 2005

> I hope you get
>results for your many problems and bite your tongue when you
>are in there repair facility. You will get better results by
>being the professional business man you are. Good luck..

glen you have got to be kidding me,have you ever dealt with these people before? i think not!! the only way that you are going to get anything from them is to go in there and jump up and down and demand it.DD.

rode2rouen · Jun 19, 2005

>glen you have got to be kidding me,have you ever dealt with
>these people before? i think not!! the only way that you are
>going to get anything from them is to go in there and jump
>up and down and demand it.DD.

DD,

Your reply begs the question...Why go back if each time the experience is akin to having a root canal done??????

I have read a number of negative posts regarding AlumaBunk. The Co. I drive for has one truck that is AB sleeper equipped and I've seen a number of their units up close in various truck stops. My personal observations lead me to believe that AB equipment is, at best, second tier from a quality standpoint. It seems from the many complaints that their service work is substantially below second tier.

AB has nothing to offer that justifies my paying them any money for my expediting tool needs.

Rex

mcbride · Jun 22, 2005

Your reply begs the question...Why go back if each time the experience is akin to having a root canal done??????

Not wishing to speak for DD but it has been our experience that many repair facilities will not touch a problem/repair specific to Alumi-bunk. In addition, our experience has been that most Freightliner dealerships will not guarantee or fix a problem if the actual truck has been altered by Alumi-bunk.

Also, many have had problems with the aux generator set up...which is actually not a generator...when purchased we were supposed to be able to take these units to any Onan or Cummins repair facility for maintenance. This claim turned out not to be true. Now if you are
unfortunate enough to have an aux unit on your truck, you have to go to Alumi-bunk to have it repaired. If you can afford it that is...we were quoted $500 to replace an alternator on our unit. Our unit does not produce heat or air at this point...but we can't afford to get it fixed...only to have it break again. We are looking to purchase an actual RV generator unit at this point. As I understand it, once again...the "generator" units being used by Alumi-bunk are once again not working as well as expected.

I guess I got off track here a bit..the point I was trying to make is many of us HAVE to have certain aspects of our trucks "repaired" at Alumi-bunk. The problem with Alumi-bunk in my opinion is not the trucks they produce as much as it is the total lack of service they provide after you purchase one. Many trucks have issues when first purchased...BUT not being able to get them fixed ASAP in a proficient reasonably priced repair facility, in my opinion, is the pitfall of owning an Alumi-bunk truck.

mcbride-
O/O-D unit-Team-6yrs
--What goes around comes around--
LEGAL NOTICE: The views and opinions expressed in this post are those held by the posting author and do not represent the views or opinions of Expediters Online.com, On Time Media, LLC, it's agents, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertisers or sponsors.

rode2rouen · Jun 22, 2005

>>snip<<
>
>.....experience has been that most Freightliner dealerships will
>not guarantee or fix a problem if the actual truck has been
>altered by Alumi-bunk.
>
>>snip<<
>
>.....many of us HAVE to have certain aspects of our
>trucks "repaired" at Alumi-bunk.
>
>
>mcbride-
>O/O-D unit-Team-6yrs

I can certainly relate to an OEM dealership not wanting to warrant a component or system that has been altered/modified by an outside vendor, but I still can't see why anyone would HAVE to continue using AB for any service or repair work.

If I were in this situation I would do some serious talking with local independant shops until I found one that I was comfortable with.
I would do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get ALL documentation for the AB equipment (wiring diagrams, plumbing schematics, manuals, etc.), and make them available to the shop I chose to work with. Yeah, it may be a learning experience for the shop to get acclimated with the AUX, but the bottom line is that it is a "nuts and bolts" situation. ANY tech worth his/her salt will be able to do most repairs.

Think of the situation like this: You go to AB for service/repair work, you get charged for work that does not hold up. You've lost time and money and still have no joy. INVEST the time needed to find a shop that will give you good service and stand behind their work. It will pay off in the long term.

There is no need to keep hitting yourself in the head (and wallet) with the AB hammer!!!!!

my $.02

Rex

mcbride · Jun 23, 2005

>If I were in this situation I would do some serious talking
>with local independant shops until I found one that I was
>comfortable with.

Yes, Rex this is something we have done. Although, once again, we find that some issues that one would not think arise from this as well. For example, we had halogen lights on the raised roof part of the cab...these lights were ordered from A/B on two occasions to replace two that blew. We went to several "other" locations including Freightliner, Peterbuilt, on line via the internet etc., looking for replacement lights, but found none. Apparently, these lights are privy to Canada only somewhere... We, (surprise), never got our replacements from A/B and had to resort to having all the lights replaced with ones that we could find in several other locations.

>Yeah, it may be a learning experience for the
>shop to get acclimated with the AUX, but the bottom line is
>that it is a "nuts and bolts" situation. ANY tech worth
>his/her salt will be able to do most repairs.

We can't locate ANYONE that will touch the Aux with regard to major repairs. Apparently Aux parts are non-existent. In addition, we don't want to sink another dime into the thing for a major repair anyway. The Aux is a lost cause and frankly, it is a piece of crap.

>There is no need to keep hitting yourself in the head (and
>wallet) with the AB hammer!!!!!

LOL, yes, I agree but once again we keep thinking, albeit foolishly, that one day A/B will change. LOL

mcbride-
O/O-D unit-Team-6yrs
--What goes around comes around--
LEGAL NOTICE: The views and opinions expressed in this post are those held by the posting author and do not represent the views or opinions of Expediters Online.com, On Time Media, LLC, it's agents, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertisers or sponsors.

davekc · Jun 23, 2005

Rode2 wrote;
If I were in this situation I would do some serious talking with local independant shops until I found one that I was comfortable with.
I would do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get ALL documentation for the AB equipment (wiring diagrams, plumbing schematics, manuals, etc.), and make them available to the shop I chose to work with. Yeah, it may be a learning experience for the shop to get acclimated with the AUX, but the bottom line is that it is a "nuts and bolts" situation. ANY tech worth his/her salt will be able to do most repairs.

Great advise if folks have a used truck. As McBride points out, this gets complicated if vendor only items are to be serviced or located.

The other issue comes about when these are purchased new. Finding a independant shop might create problems.
Why? Because the truck is under warranty. Some services performed might void the warranty.
Additionally, you would have to pay for these repairs. That may be a better option verses continuous downtime? Reimbursement for unauthorized repairs will be difficult at best. Even more so if they weren't afforded the opportunity on a initial repair.
It almost makes a used truck attractive?

Lastly, conference calls between AB and chassis maker are a given based on recent posts. On one side of the coin you are dealing with the chassis maker on a warranted item, only to be told it had been altered by an outside vendor.On the other side of the coin, AB may feel it is a component failure by the manufacturer that caused a certain problem.
No easy answers.

Davekc
owner
20 years

rode2rouen · Jun 23, 2005

Point taken, Dave. Based on talk of out of pocket cash, my assumption was that these units were beyond the warranty period.

Here's a thought:

As nearly all local TV stations have an investigative reporter or consumer troubleshooter, might it not be worthwhile for the affected owners to contact (as a group) one of the stations in AB's area and make the investigator aware of what may be a pattern of questionable dealings???

This approach may be easier (not to mention less expensive) than getting lawyers involved. TV stations are always looking for ways to spice up their local reputations. Coming to the aid of hard working expediters who are losing time and money in their dealings with AB might be an angle they would jump on.

Rex

RichM · Jun 23, 2005

Newspapers also usually have a local advocate column that assigns a reporter to handle complaints. Don't forget the old Better Business Bureau of the area that your truck was delivered to you. What disturbs me about A Bunk is the lack of support after the truck is delivered.
I would like to see A Bunk invited to respond to these allegations and make public their policys. One complaint is too many but there appears to be a recurring pattern here.

davekc · Jun 23, 2005

Rode2 wrote;
Point taken, Dave. Based on talk of out of pocket cash, my assumption was that these units were beyond the warranty period.

That would have been my initial assumption as well. But I am finding that some of those problems require initial out of pocket cash even under warranty.

The problem comes when for example a A/C repair is needed. The dealer says the sleeper company must reimburse under the warranty because they tied into the system. The sleeper company may not reimburse because of a component failure from the manufacturer.

This requires the owner operator to pay just to get his equipment back. He can't afford to have it tied up for several weeks while a repair bill is being negotiated.
Once the bill is paid, the incentive from chassis maker and the sleeper company disappears. They already have their money.
This is a place of common problems if a outside vendor has added something to a truck and is part of a OEM system.

I would like to see it come to pass when the whole truck carries a warranty from one place.

The only time that happens is certain applications where the whole truck is factory.

It is not just limited to trucking. My brother who is a fire chief in Michigan has these go arounds on fire equipment.
However, with a government entity, vendors are much faster and accomadating.

Davekc
owner
20 years

SHARP327 · Jun 24, 2005

I've removed every AB sticker (except for the data stickers) from my truck, painted over the AB signs on my mud flaps because I'll be damned if I'll advertise for them! as a matter of fact I'll tell anyone I meet out on the road what I think of AB.

My next truck will be a Western Star! not that my International is a bad truck! it's just that it's associated with AB and they have alot of quality, business and moral issues they need to address real soon because the word is out now and folks are getting the word alot sooner now days then they have in the past!

BUYER BEWARE!!!!!x(