Dealers not happy with Dometic fridge recall

Greg Gerber of RVtradeDigest.com writes:

Several months ago, Dometic announced a recall on some RV refrigerators built between April 1997 and May 2003. While the company says a serious problem resulting in a fire may occur in an exceptionally small fraction of Dometic two-door refrigerators, others suggest the issue could affect up to a million units.

Unfortunately, due to a disagreement between the company and dealers who must complete the repairs, some fear the recall will be ineffective.

At the heart of the issue is the amount of compensation Dometic is offering dealers to repair the units. Currently, the company pays a $40 flat rate to complete the repair for what they say is a 10-minute task. Dealers, on the other hand, say the repair takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour once the unit is pulled into the service bay and another 10 to 15 minutes to complete paperwork to order parts and submit the warranty claim.

At average current shop rates of $100 per hour, dealers say they are losing $80 to $120 for every Dometic refrigerator they must work on as part of the recall. Consequently, I’ve learned some dealers are deliberately not alerting customers that their refrigerator may be subject to a recall. Unless the customer comes to the dealership specifically to get the recall work completed, the dealers don’t mention the recall. Read more.