Pickup bus from Spartan Chassis in Charlotte MI

I just got my 96 BMC 40 back from Spartan, it was there for over seven weeks. This experience was a blessing and a curse. A blessing in that the bus is 100% straightened out, a huge list of items expertly repaired. I only have great things to say about the mechanic, he was top notch.

The curse part is the experience of dealing with Spartan management. The are not proactive with communications, completely disinterested in the customer experience. I would have to call every three or four days and leave a voicemail or shoot over an email asking for updates that never came. If my service rep did accidentally answer the phone he never had a meaningful update. As the weeks went on I was most commonly told the shop foreman was to blame for the bus being taken out of the bay and not being worked on. Later I was told the shop foreman said it was because the parts guys were not getting them parts. The parts counter guys spent much of the time, at least according to my disinterested service rep, surfing the internet for parts that would never come.

In comparison, the new coach owners that I talked to while hanging out in the lot and waiting room all said they had a really great experience. I was relieved to hear this, at least until my customer service rep told me they would be pulling my coach out for a week or two to work on the brand new zillion dollar coaches. He said they book all these special new owner classes which includes coach service, so my older rig had to go to the bottom of the list. I get it, working on a 30 year old coach is not where they make the money, but they could have told me that before I drove it to Michigan! Next time I will use one of the many competent bus shops here in the Northeast. Lesson learned.

I will say the mechanic that first worked on my coach was really squared away, an old timer who worked on the BMCs at Spartan when they were new so he knew his stuff. He took me down into the pit and walked me front to back. He promised he would be the one working on it and it would be done right. He was a man of his word, I have the thirty page inspection report and the bill for over $15k. Not major issues, but a huge list of deferred minor maintenance items by previous owners that I wanted to get done, ie every weeping seal replaced, brakes checked and replaced, every rubber bushing replaced, all faulty air components replaced and every air leak found and repaired. The only person who didn’t let me down was the mechanic, great guy, really knew his stuff. If I do go back it will be to have him work on my bus!