Shop foreman Andy Dietz recalls a time in the early 1980’s when the main office for Lazydays service department was a utility trailer and service workers risked life and limb on a daily basis as they ventured back and forth across Florida Avenue to get from the Service facility to the Sales building. “That was the set-up back then. They would sell a coach on one side of the road and we would service it on the other,” remembers Dietz. “Our biggest challenge at that time was traveling back and forth across Florida Avenue all day long, more so when it expanded to five lanes of 55 mph traffic.”
Dietz and many others on the Lazydays service team have seen a lot of changes since those early days on Florida Avenue when the department consisted of fewer than 40 bays and shared lot space with a local radio station. Today, it features more than 273 service bays and successfully services more RVs each year than any other RV dealer or service center in the world. Through it all, one thing has remained constant. “From day one, it was all about customer service,” remembers Dietz. “When you started work here you were told, ‘We take care of our customer. The customer is everything. Period.’”
For the past 30 years, the service department has followed founder Don Wallace’s philosophy that the customer is the basis for everything that Lazydays does and for the company’s existence. By continuously improving and perfecting its methods through experience and innovation, the service department strives to better serve the person who matters most: the customer. After only a couple of years in business Wallace saw the need to provide customers with an even broader range of service so he allocated garage space for what was to become the cabinet and upholstery shop, an innovative and visionary expansion whose worth would soon be realized.
Lazydays Service Bay
When customers bring their RVs to Lazydays for service, they’re tapping into the wealth of knowledge and experience found in the minds of more than 150 RV technicians. “It’s pretty rare that we come across a problem that someone in the service department hasn’t dealt with before,” says Senior Technical Trainer, Bill Hazell.
From day one, Wallace understood the value of educating and training employees. Dietz explains, “We were the first [company] to have a group of technicians obtain RVIA/RVDA Certified status and then step-up to RVIA/RVDA Master Certification status.“ Additionally, Lazydays was one of the first RV dealers to send technicians to its manufacturers’ factories as part of their training, a practice that is still in place today. “If you understand how the RVs are built, it’s easier to know how to work on them,” says Dietz.
Hazell believes that Lazydays success in building “customer for life” relationships with a significant number of its customers is attributed to the ability of team members to effectively communicate with customers. “Our training program is not limited to technical procedures, we train our team on everything related to RV service, including terminology,” he states.
The customer’s concerns are the focus of Quality Council meetings held by Lazydays and its RV manufacturers. “At these meetings, we get together [with manufacturers] and discuss the biggest areas of pain our service customers experience. We prioritize these service issues and work together to mitigate them by developing improvements in processes and/or product quality.”
Delivery Manager Ken Schielka, explains “We want to keep our customers as informed as possible so that they feel good about the purchase they made from Lazydays.” In order to fulfill this high standard, Lazydays employs a team of experts that each day ‘make customers for life’ through what has become the most informed and thorough delivery process in the industry. With similar processes in place for service customers Lazydays currently achieves a 92 percent customer satisfaction rating.
Customer Bob Logan believes the system is an “extraordinary experience.” Logan further explains, “They spent virtually the whole day with me. They explained everything about my travel trailer to me so that I had absolutely no questions at all.”
Additionally, Lazydays has a designated recovery team that is led by Mary Caldwell. This team of customer service professionals is dedicated to “resolving customer problems and keeping these customers in our family,” said Caldwell, “by listening to their issues and concerns and handling them as efficiently as possible.”
“Of the complaints we receive,” explains Caldwell. “we are able to recover about 95 percent of these upset customers. Most of the issues are small, but we treat them with a lot of care and concern because our customers are important to us.”
In response to the production and introduction of the diesel pusher motor coach in 1992, Lazydays created the Highline department featuring the best team of technicians Lazydays had to offer in order to provide service for the more complicated, high-end luxury motor coach. In 2001, the Highline department was transformed into CrownClub. “The service that we provide our CrownClub members goes above and beyond anything that is currently offered in the RV industry,” asserts CrownClub Service Manager, Danny Moore. CrownClub Service Manager J.R. Bolton adds, “In the old days, it was real simple. All you needed was a screwdriver and a wrench. It’s not that way anymore.”
“We want to stay ahead of the curve and take care of our customers the best way possible,” asserts Moore. “That’s the Lazydays way. It supports the philosophy of ‘making customers for life’ that was passed down from Don Wallace, and we live up to it.”
Servicing more than 25,000 RVs yearly, Lazydays is the busiest RV service center in the world. Lazydays commitment to its ever-growing customer base often results in scheduling issues for those who require an immediate appointment or who have a limited time frame in which their service work must be completed. Grady and his department heads believe that educating the customer is key in effectively heading off these scheduling issues. “During the pre-delivery process we suggest that when customers take delivery of their RVs they make an appointment to bring them back in for service because we have found that there are always things that will need addressing,” says Grady.
“The nature of an RV is that if it’s going to break down or have a repair issue, it’s not likely that it will happen close to home or close to the dealership,” explains Ken Schielka. “It’s going to occur while on the road.” Because of this tendency Lazydays has dedicated RV technicians who provide technical support via a toll-free number seven days a week. This support ranges anywhere from answering simple questions regarding the operation of an RV to arranging for a tow truck to provide service to the nearest authorized factory dealer or RV service center. Schielka confirms, “We do whatever it takes to help our customers.” Additionally, Lazydays understands that in the unpredictable world of RVing, emergencies can arise at a moment’s notice. For that reason, Lazydays has developed an Emergency Service Team to take care of scheduling and servicing customers whose RV needs immediate repair. The Emergency Team handles the leaks, fuel problems and electrical issues that incapacitate usage of the RV.
Lazydays customers lounging in the pet-friendly Service Pavilion
For those who face extended waiting times while their RVs are being repaired, Lazydays provides hook-ups in the service bays to allow them to spend the night in the comfort of their own RVs. Many customers affectionately refer to themselves as ‘Bay Club’ members during their stay, a term they coined out of appreciation. “Many of our customers travel a long distance to get to us for service,” claims Grady. “Staying in the service bay is the least we can do to accommodate them. It’s part of being easy to do business with, which is one of our keys to building great relationships with our customers.”
The Lazydays service department has come a long way since its humble beginnings on Florida Avenue. Over the last four years, the service facilities have expanded to include 43 new luxury service bays as well as a new computer system to improve customer communication. Grady believes that the lessons learned from the past point to an even brighter future for the department. “We are always focused on finding ways to improve our customers’ experience,” Grady states, “Service initiatives for 2007 include improving the shop throughout in addition to increasing the availability of parts.”
Through innovation and education, the Lazydays service department continually strives to build on its 92 percent CSI rating while continuing to embody a standard of excellence that is unmatched in the RV industry.