Monday, April 1, 2013

Allegro to Zephyr

Inger made me do it! She writes Desert Canyon Living and recently wrote about her participation in the April A to Z challenge. Her post about the challenge made me think about it... then sign up for it. What was I thinking??!! Obviously I wasn't thinking! This may not be as easy as an A, B, C book!

I learned that we are to thank(?) Arlee Bird for beginning the challenge years ago, and Arlee begins with A. So, I guess I can stop here, since I have my "A" for the first day, but, that wouldn't be as much fun! Here we go.....


A to Z
Allegro to Zephyr

We just returned from a 90-day trip in our new motorhome. We had a fabulous time. Most of my A to Z posts will provide snapshots of our trip. But, I thought I'd begin by telling you a bit about our motorhome. It is an Allegro. Specifically, it is an Allegro RED. RED stands for Rear Engine Diesel. 
This is one of several different "Allegro" products produced by Tiffin Motorhomes. In addition to the RED, there are Allegro Open Road gas motorhomes, Allegro Breeze motorhomes, Phaetons, Allegro Buses and the top of the line, the Zephyr. All of the motorhomes are produced by Tiffin Motorhomes, owned and run by Bob Tiffin. Bob lives in Red Bay, Alabama, with his family.  In the early 70's he was working for his father, who ran a huge cotton gin in town. A local motorhome manufacturer went out of business. Bob bought the operation and Tiffin Motorhomes was born. Bob Tiffin decided to call his motorhomes "Allegros" so his product would then be at the top of all lists,  alphabetically. Bob also decided that service to the owner would be his top priority. That is in evidence today, which is one reason why we purchased this particular motorhome in August last year. 


When we decided to purchase a motorhome we began asking for suggestions from folks at campgrounds, and asked for opinions from sales staff at various showrooms. Typically the name Tiffin came up as one of the top three brands to buy based on reliability, service and fiscal soundness of the company.  

We heard, over and over again, that Bob Tiffin stands behind his product. We heard stories of owners getting new windows at no charge, no questions asked. We heard stories of owners getting a new roof while out of warranty. We even heard a story about a man arriving at the service center with a problem with the sides of his 7 year-old motorhome. Bob Tiffin asked if he could stay for about a week, and built him a new one, right then, while he waited - at no charge!

Recently we visited the service center at Red Bay, Alabama. That, in itself, was an adventure! 


We stayed at the 'campground' right outside the service area. The complex was built on the grounds of an old airport, and we camped along the old runway! Each morning we were told what bay to be at...
we were to be outside the door before 7:00 AM, when work began. Yeah, it was early, but the roaring of up to 50 diesel engines warming up and driving to their service appointments meant there was little opportunity to sleep in!




We've heard that Bob Tiffin says that his RV's aren't perfect, but he will bend over backwards to fix whatever is wrong. What a wonderful Attitude! Thanks, Bob, we love our Allegro RED!



2 comments:

  1. This is an awesome way to start an A-Z about a road trip! I love this man's business ethic, wish there were far more of his kind! I'm looking forward to seeing your travel photos this month, also noted that you have some gorgeous furkids pictured over there in the sidebar! :-)

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  2. Great photos! You are doing what I did last year - my first A-Z - and starting off with a long one. Can you keep it up? I am keeping mine deliberately short!

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