Order Change Order

[CPT Davenport]

Quick question: I have a Hawk on order from Woodland FWC. It will not be ready until late August. I originally ordered the 65 liter 2 way fridge. I asked today if I could pay the difference to upgrade to the 85 liter. Sales got back and said sure, but I also must pay a $250 change order fee.

Is this a common thing with FWC?

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

A change order fee is common with FWC. As I recall from my order, it was spelled out on the purchase agreement. Check your paperwork.

 

[AWG_Pics]

Change Orders are the bane as well as the milk and honey of all providers of goods and services. Creates headaches for them, and they make you pay for that headache.

If you do have changes, make sure you have them ALL bundled into one ask.

 

[CPT Davenport]

Ouch!

Painful, but so it shall be. I think it will be worth it to have the bigger fridge. No more changes for me though!

It is a sellers market and they have a great product. Yet it is proven once again that they have me by the cajones.

 

[Jon R]

Go look at the fridges if you haven’t before submitting your change order. We selected the 130 liter 2 way and have not regretted it. It’s been common that we a start a trip with it full.

Also make sure you have the electrical system you want before you submit your change.

I suspect that, with the order backlog and people feeling the pressure to quickly confirm an order to lock down a production slot, a lot of people are doing change orders after doing more research. The goal should be to do your change order early and do it only once because each change order costs $250, and at some point they won’t make changes.

We rushed our initial order to secure a dealer pre-ordered slot, and later made a single change order. After more research I added all the exterior lightning options and deleted all the electrical power options in favor of doing my own LiFePO/charger/solar installation

 

[CPT Davenport]

I felt very rushed in my order as I was told that the august production slots were almost gone! With a 9-12 month wait time, I feel they are gauging with the change order fee (perhaps offer one change for free?). Again, supply and demand, they make the rules.

 

[fish more]

Well the good news is you can now bring more beer !!

 

[Jon R]

The dealer is just following FWC policy, but the strategy I wish they would have told me was to buy their production slot as they ordered it, then take your time figuring out one change order. Instead, they had me make a rush decision about configuration at time of commitment to change their speculative order to my configuration, for which I was charged the 250 change fee. Then later after research I did another change. There was no need for the first change order given they were 8 months out. I later pointed that out to the salesman, and he acknowledged it. I think he honestly didn’t think about that as a strategy. When I made my final change order it was going to save me so much on the electrical power system I didn’t worry too much about the change fee.

 

[JWL]

There were things that I would have changed/added but the fee kept me from doing it. I just wonder how much money FWC is loosing with that policy. I realize the paperwork etc is a pain but how long does the initial order sit there before the work on that particular unit starts? It would seem something like “Any changes 3 months (or however long) before the scheduled delivery will result in a $$ fee” .
But what do I know, it’s been a long time since I actually did production scheduling for a large manufacturer. And back then the customer came first.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Coming from a career in healthcare insurance, I appreciated the philosophy of our Customer Service team. Paraphrasing, we need to follow the rules, but there are times when you simply do the right thing.

 

[goinoregon]

after reading this, i would wait until as long as you can, before u submit the change order. u just might have another idea to change something, and it would be better to bundle.

 

[Jon R]

If you are going to wait until late in the process, tell your dealer what changes you are considering and ask how late you have to make those changes. They should be able to get dates from FWC. For me that was about 60 days before delivery, but my changes were deletions and lights, which are easy. It might be different dates for different changes.

 

[CPT Davenport]

I will be contacting FWC on Monday to ask some questions and gain some clarity on their policies.

 

[CPT Davenport]

I don't think $250 is unreasonable for a change order fee. Can you imagine the chaos if they didn't have one?!?

It is not the amount that is unreasonable.

It is the fact that the fee was not mentioned by FWC during the purchasing process.

Furthermore, when I first inquired about the purchasing steps with the sales representative,

He said:

" There are only a couple spots left for the next production date, so you better hurry. Just put down your deposit to secure the spot, and then you can take your time and dial in the order just how you want it"

Exact words.

This would have been a great time to disclose the additional fees for the change order. Business practices like this lead me to believe that they are counting on making the extra money for the change orders. Seems shifty to me.

 

[Jon R]

I think you may have a complaint about your dealer not being clear, but FWC’s ordering and change processes are made quite clear in the contract you sign when ordering. In addition, I don’t believe that, in their process, there is such a thing as “putting down a deposit to hold a spot.” You either place a complete order with deposit, or you don’t. If your dealer told you such a thing was possible, your issue is with them.

What may have actually occurred for you might have been what I did. I bought a camper that had already been ordered on speculation by the dealer. In such a case you’d think the dealer could agree to the sale without putting in a change order at that time. However, as I said in a previous post, I didn’t think to ask to do it that way because at the time I thought I knew what we wanted.

 

[CPT Davenport]

I'm really not too worried about it. Life goes on. As I have said, they offer a great product and they are in high demand. They make the rules and I understand.

I'm just super excited to become a fellow owner/adventurer of such a versatile camping rig.
Can't wait!

 

[Jon R]

Sorry, I forgot you had ordered directly from FWC at Woodland, so ignore what I wrote. I can see why you’re frustrated with FWC not being clear with you.

 

[goinoregon]

i ordered an ATC in 8/20 and added about 3 things between then and pickup in 3/21. no change order charge

 

[Wallowa]

i ordered an ATC in 8/20 and added about 3 things between then and pickup in 3/21. no change order charge

That was then, this is now.....current insanity in retail sales/construction has no end in sight.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Regardless of current insanity, to the best of my knowledge, ATC does not and has not charged for change orders.