November 1, 2005
Mr. Johnnie Crean
Owner and CEO
attn: Cheryl Chavez
Alfa Leisure, Inc.
13501 Fifth Street
Chino, CA 91710
Dear Mr. Crean:
Almost 100 members of the AlfaSeeYa groups on Yahoo's Internet discussion forum
are writing to you to express some concern about the Alfa Leisure motorhome
product. The AlfaSeeYa groups exist to share information about the SeeYa, Gold,
and Founder motorhomes that might be of common interest to owners and to provide
pertinent information to potential customers. The groups benefit owners such
that they can solve problems they are experiencing with their motorhome quickly
and often without dealer or Alfa Leisure's help. This obviously helps your company
avoid some expenses that might otherwise be spent on warranty claims. The groups
are also “cheerleaders” for the Alfa product, as well as forums
to discuss the negative aspects of the motorhome. When negative issues become
prominent, the members want to do something more than complain within the groups.
Proposing a possible alternative is the reason for this letter to you.
The majority of our members are proud owners because the Alfa motorhomes represent
a balanced selection of features, style, and attractiveness with the right price
and cost of ownership for our budget. Many members are potential customers for
future motorhomes whether they are a current owner or not. Every member is also
a potential marketing person for Alfa Leisure. Many of us live in our Alfa motorhomes
full-time or most of the year. Thus, it becomes an extremely important item
in our quality of life, something most of us are trying to maximize.
Therefore, a properly functioning motorhome and a timely, economical problem
resolution are important to us. Serious problems with our motorhomes can create
serious problems in our lives, often delaying family plans, impacting our healthcare
plans, placing us in dangerous situations, and incurring major costs, among
other tribulations.
We feel that the Alfa motorhome suffers from some serious quality control issues
and a few design/engineering issues which we are requesting your help in solving.
For the past six months, we have been collecting maintenance records from some
of our members through an on-line database ( http://www.rvinteractive.com/alfa/).
While this does not include input from every member or owner, we do think it
is indicative of a trend. Below are listed several of the issues to which we
would like to direct your attention.
1. Large Slide Motor. The most troubling item is the large slide motor. It tops the list in our database for the most repairs required and the most repeat repairs. It is also an item that causes a large problem when it fails, often requiring the owner to abandon his travel plans or making it impossible to move the RV, and it certainly incurs a large amount of his time. It is also an item that will keep repeat business and potential owners from buying the Alfa, in our opinion. We have enough evidence of that from former members of our group. We understand you have worked on several iterations of the design and configuration of this system, but we urge you to put your personal attention to an immediate solution of this problem for both current and future owners. Since many Alfa owners are concerned that their slide mechanism may fail prematurely due to these problems, we urge you to consider extending your warranty on this item and/or offer a retrofit to forestall such a failure. Certain members have indicated they would even be willing to do cost-sharing for such a retrofit.
2. RV Comfort Level. One item that is constantly discussed on our forum is the
problem with the comfort level of the RV in cold or hot weather due to an inadequately
sealed motorhome. Owners have identified many places over the past two years
where the motorhome leaks air and moisture. In fact, one of our members has
developed a pretty good business repairing these leaks that should not be there
in the first place. This is evidence of a design failure that many owners and
potential owners see as preventing them from making future purchases of the
Alfa. In our opinion, it is a fairly easy item to redesign and manufacture that
would provide a large amount of goodwill and comfort for a motorhome owner.
It is NOT a candidate for an Option in the motorhome; it directly affects our
health and welfare. Please consider extending the warranty on this item to cover
those of us that took a chance on purchasing the Alfa in the beginning. The
five- year warranty does not cover this, as some owners have found.
While there are several other items that tend to fail with great frequency on
our motorhomes (like the windshield wipers, and the sewer valves), the two items
above are the most disturbing to us. In general, we feel that the quality level
of the manufacturing process could be improved dramatically with some fairly
straightforward changes in your assembly line process. A much better system
of checking the assembled unit, paying attention to more details (like proper
wiring standards) and repairing failures before shipment to a dealer or owner
is needed. We would be willing to pay a bit more for a unit with fewer initial
failures. We feel this could be accomplished with an improved quality control
and testing program.
Finally, we would like to ask that you consider assigning someone from Alfa
Leisure management to become an active member of the Alfa SeeYa Motorhome Discussion
groups on Yahoo (http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/alfaseeya/, http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/SeeYaDP/
). When your previous representative (Steve Wishek) was active, these problems
tended to be less on our minds because a member of Alfa management was listening
to us. As many have said on our forum, we can suffer quite a few minor failures
in our motorhome if we know that Alfa is working to fix the problems and is
willing to listen to us. Participating in our forum is a VERY inexpensive way
to build customer goodwill and improve the word-of-mouth sales force that our
group is providing you.
Customer Service is the investment you make for return business. We feel that
the technology of the Internet can be used to improve customer communication
with your Customer Service group and provide good follow-up between manufacturer,
dealer, and customer. We encourage you to use it to your advantage.
Again, we are great supporters of the Alfa Leisure motorhome but feel you need
to improve some of the manufacturing processes, quality control, and customer
support that are all very much a part of making this great motorhome. We'd like
to see an even better quality motorhome from you.
We would appreciate a personal response. You can contact the signatories via
the coordinator of this letter, James N. Perdue, at the email address, alfa@rvinteractive.com,
and your reply will be sent to each of them. In any case, we request that you
let us know when you have made improvements in the items discussed above. Of
course, the best way we have to measure your improvements is through the experiences
of our members. They relate those to us all on the Yahoo Forums.
Good luck with your task. There are many people counting on you.
Members of the Alfa SeeYa Forums on Yahoo’s Web pages.
Cc: Mr. Larry Jones, President, Alfa Leisure
Signatories: Each of the people below have read the letter and indicated by
an affirmative email message that they concur with the contents of this letter
and wish to be a signatory to it. (see next page for those signing this letter.)
Sue Conant, Sioux Falls, SD, SeeYa Serials #70249, 70724, Gold 72200 (Former
Owner now)
Roy D. Wilf, Destin, FL Alfa Gold Serial #72306
Rob Young, East Haven, CT, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71076
James Reed, Tucson, AZ, Alfa SeeYa Serial #72323
James Giola, Palm Beach, FL, Alfa SeeYa Serial #72938
Lynn and Deb McLarty, Horseshoe Bay, TX Alfa SeeYa Serial #71544
Fred Denison Alfa SeeYa Serial #70811
Harry N. Hirschensohn, Sherman Oaks, CA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #70032
Armand Racine, Killeen, Tx, Alfa SeeYa, Serial #72614
Kenneth J. Baas, , Grand Rapids, MI, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71385
Roy & Linda Pickrell, Isleton, California, Alfa SeeYa Serial # 76896
James Reed, Tucson, AZ, Alfa SeeYa Serial #72323
Bill Ratterree, Arlington, Tx, Alfa SeeYa Serial #72033
Lon & Margi Walters, Alfa SeeYa, Serial #70658
Jim Poel, Daytona Beach, FL Alfa SeeYa Serial #72201
Jere Andrews, Rogersville, AL, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71608
Barry and Donna Behler, Brodheadsville, PA, Alfa SeeYa #70198
Herbert McNeal, West Chester, Ohio, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71477
William A. Harju, Port Ludlow, WA, Alfa Gold, serial #72104
Jack Buening, Jacksonville, FL, Alfa SeeYa Serial #72469
Jerry D. Guess, Burbank, WA, SeeYa Serial #78671
Robert W. Rimbey, Mt Airy,MD, SeeYa Serial #71587
James A. Overton, McArthur, CA, SeeYa Serial #72205
Richard Megyese,Virginia Beach, VA, SeeYa Serial #73543
Ronald R. Tanton, Joliet, IL, SeeYa Serial #71881
Robert Roeske, Rothschild, WI, Alfa SeeYa Serial #79021
John Tymn, Sanger, CA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #72296
Donald Mac Elroy, Cypress, CA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71285
Ken and Rosemarie Keslink,Bayville, NJ, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71755
Jess Mickelson, Missoula, Mt, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71019
James and Donna Perdue, Sioux Falls, SD, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71086
Jon S. Zern, Alfa SeeYa #70168
Gregory Vederoff, Livingston, TX, Alfa Gold Serial #72963
Charles F. Davis, Nokesville, VA, ALFA Gold Serial #73029
Fred & Diane Hawley, Bakersfield, CA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71336
Ken & Elaine Litke, Vancouver, WA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #73498
David Johnson, Geneva, OH, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71341,
Dennis A McDonald, Livingston, TX, Alfa SeeYa Serial #70246
George Dumas, Goleta, CA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #72186
Hubert McKeever, Emery, SD, Alfa Seeya Serial #71298
Terry & Jodi LaBombard, Rochester, NY, Alfa SeeYa #Serial 72697
Harry Tracy,Naples, Florida, Alfa SeeYa Serial #70652
John E. Buening, Jacksonville, FL, Alfa SeeYa Serial #72649
Roger Weare, Phoenix, Az, Alfa SeeYa, Serial #70540,
Joe Fischnaller, Kirkland, WA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71320
Ken Wing, Alpine, CA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #70133
Roger & Donna Squires, Livingston, TX, Alfa Gold Serial #73388
Steven Kidd, Nephi, UT, Alfa SeeYa Serial #70838
Peter Genereaux, Midvale Utah, Alfa SeeYa Serial #70520
Brent Rouse,Edgewood, WA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71696
James & Judy McMurry,Fremont, CA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #70655
Vincent Ash, Buckley, WA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #70751
Janet Shaw, Canby, OR, Alfa SeeYa Serial #72030
Jere Andrews, Rogersville, AL, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71608
Don Mulligan, Livingston, TX, Alfa SeeYa Gold Serial #72175
John Foard, Garden Valley, ID, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71796
John Stewart,Jonesborough, TN, Alfa SeeYa Serial #72097
Stewart C. Clark, Waterford, CT, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71286
Clifford Brown, Sioux Falls, SD Alfa SeeYa Serial #72388
William and Laree Uihlein, Green Cove Springs, FL, SeeYa Serial #70836
Richard & Karen Hugo, Livingston, Texas, Alfa SeeYa #70834
David Vaughn, Owosso, MI Serial #70352
Dennis G. Horcher, Suches, GA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #70514
James Tilley, Henderson, NV, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71322
Bruce and Joanne Stupy, Rio Rico, AZ, Serial #73361
David L Clark, Coralville, IA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #72151
Butch Ballot, Lady Lake, FL, Alfa SeeYa Serial #72014
Howard & Karen Utlaut, Dunnellon, FL, Alfa SeeYa serial #71624
Dan Begy, Lake Wales, FL, Alfa Gold #73xxx
Barry Behler, Brodheadsville, PA, Serial #70198
Marion & Beverly Cederburg, Sioux Falls, SD, SeeYa Serial #72032
Ray and Louise Wetzel, Spokane, WA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #70565
Jerry D. Guess, , Burbank, Wa, Alfa SeeYa Serial #72671
Daniel C Sheppard, Richland, Wa, Serial #71590
Malcolm Underwood, Cincinnati,OH, Alfa SeeYa Serial #73402
Arland E. Washburn, Cincinnati,OH Alfa SeeYa Serial #71198
Ron & Vicki Flowers,, Missoula MT, Alfa Gold serial #72541
Gene Huebner, Omaha, NE, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71713
Charles and Carolyn Houston, Long Beach, CA, Alfa Gold Serial #71515
Robert Mitchell,Stanwood, Washington, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71180
Mickey and Maureena Michellich, Renton, Wa, See Ya #71269
Brent Wisely, Chino Hills,CA, Alfa SeeYa #70349
John Walker, Fremont, CA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #71995
John & Dottie Morgan,Arcata, CA, SeeYa Serial #71777
Terry Sutherland, Sioux Falls, SD, Alfa SeeYa, Serial #71495
William and Anita Herrick, Springville, CA, Serial #72412
David & Darla Copmann, Elko, NV, Alfa SeeYa, Serial #71346
Robert Stowell, Frazier Park, CA, Alfa SeeYa Serial #70837
Marty McCauley, Des Moines, IA, interested SeeYa buyer
Don Breitling, Amarillo, TX, interested SeeYa buyer
Diane Kessinger,Westborough, MA, interested Gold buyer
Mike & Yvonne Davison, Lubbock Tx, interested SeeYa buyer
Dennis Watters, Elm Grove, LA, interested SeeYa buyer
Mr and Mrs Jean Lambkin, Fayetteville, GA, interested SeeYa buyer
Robert E. Fischer, Vienna, Virginia, interested SeeYa buyer
Alfred "Buz" Wood Jr., Franklin, MA, interested SeeYa buyer
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