lookng at purchasing a new THOR

[kwplot34]

Fortunately for me, I have very good mechanic skills. I do all the maintenance and repairs on the coach. For cab. chassis and drive line repairs I take it to a ford dealer.

[Mr Sunshine]

Must add another

We've had our Vegas 25.2 11 months now, and our minor issues were resolved under the warranty. I agree that it is annoying to have any issues, but you have to remember that you are dealing with all the systems of a house in a relatively small, mobile structure. There are many fail points. Those higher priced units have even more complex systems and more complex problems.

Seems like the dealers constantly fight Thor's delivery of the wrong parts. Because of that, they won't schedule the repair until the right parts arrive. When you are not a priority, they often like to have your coach to work on when more profitable work isn't scheduled.

We were concerned about Thor's reputation, and the experiences of some of the early owners. We found that many of the complaints of those early owners were addressed by the time we picked up our 2016 in June. We've fount the quality and the reliability acceptable for the price point.

Your results will vary.

[Spacelink]

Seems there is one extreme or another with these coaches! People either have NO problems and love them, or they are severely plagued with problems and we HATE them! Looks like there is a common thread between the two extremes that the manufacturer continues to overlook, Quality Assurance! How in the world can some rigs come out 'near flawless' and others 'totally flawed'?!?!
We had (and probably still do in area's I haven't discovered yet) so MUCH debris from the FACTORY that it almost filled an old paper grocery bag!
This is Friday the 13th and we have yet to be able to use our 'new rig' since December of '15 when the slide failed majorly for the Second time! In the meantime, I'm making payments on the loan, paying insurance AND paying to store it and the factory is NOT coming forward to assist us!

[Spacelink]

Don & Elke,

Thanks for the response but there is something fundamentally wrong with part of your statement that disturbs me about the industry as a whole, yet, we as consumers CONTINUE to ALLOW IT! That statement is (I'm paraphrasing your statement), 'the vehicles all have some problems and once you work them out, you should really enjoy the vehicle'. WRONG!!
I have NEVER spent over $100k for anything (except our homes) and when I did, did NOT expect to be plagued with problem after problem after problem!
Here's my point, purchase ANY other vehicle (Boat, Airplane, etc) and have THE AMOUNT of problems you do with an RV and it would be all over the news!
We as consumers should NOT have to tolerate this amount of piss poor quality that these manufacturers continue to get away with and then when you have to exercise legal action, you are on your own!
The lemon laws from state to state are inconsistent and the federal law is squishy at best. This is also unacceptable and should be changed.

[mrsempeel]

We just spent FOUR DAYS at the Thor Factory Service Center having about 45 line items corrected, reinstalled, replaced and fixed. Our coach is two weeks old and had one "shake down" cruise. The good thing is after one "dealer" tech visit (they didn't have a clue) I talked directly with Thor and they worked us in. I can't give enough praise for the work they did and how pleasant they were to work with. The sad part is, the unit should have come out of the factory this way.

[Spacelink]

Bigben, not EVERYONE posting has a 30' SINGLE SLIDE in their vehicle! I've had consistent service with the Thor manufacture, Piss Poor at best! They are NON-RESPONSIVE, lazy, did I mention NON-RESPONSIVE and have ZERO customer service or solutions. I now know MORE than most of the so called technicians I've spoken too over the last year.
Their documentation (Owner's manual) was totally INCORRECT in respect to the index corresponding to where to find the item of interest in the manual... Would you have accepted this in the Army? I think not and I'm Retired Army and spent a couple of years as a helicopter crew chief/mechanic and those documents were CONTINUALLY updated, just as is ANY other manual in the US Military! This should be NO different!
Do you hear the anger in my message? I'm beyond livid (not at you or any other member), I'm sick and tired of having spent my hard earned money only to given an inferior product and NO support along with the continual inconvenience of having to take the vehicle in for this or that!

[Spacelink]

Thanks for sharing, and that is Exactly MY POINT!!! And, I've tried to tell people, would you accept this type of treatment if you purchased a New Car, Plane, Boat? I think not and why is it so prevalent in the RV industry and CONTINUE to go unchecked!?!?!?
Shaking My Head in disgust!

[bigben]

Originally Posted by vkb

Our situation with our new 2016 Axis, in January, is well documented on this forum. We had a major problem...which turned out to be the fault of an
unscrupulous dealer ... CW of Stafford, MO...robbed a part from our coach..sent our coach to CW of KC (Grain Valley) for our purchase. Once we figured out what our problem was...(thank you everyone involved in the discussion)..through this forum and having an independent RV repairman come to us...CW of KC replaced the part in 2 hours.

We have had 2 previous motorhomes, one a Thor product (loved it), and a toyhauler.
As several others have stated...there is so much to learn about each unit you might own. On our Dorado...we created an owners manual, which we passed on to the person who purchased it.
**Thanks to Ed, we have an excellent owner manual available for the Axis/Vegas models.

We have made 4 short trips in our Axis and are looking forward to our summer 2016 !

WE LOVE OUR AXIS !!

Vbk - always nice to hear from folks that have a good a time with their Thor. Our coach has enabled us to enjoy a full and active retirement life with many of our grandchildren. :-) :-)

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

Count me as a happy camper with Thor as well.

Funny thing: We do an annual stay at a local campground with some friends & relatives--some of whom we only see during that stay. When we first showed up with the Axis (as proud new owners) everyone else there also had new units (it was like the year of the new camper!). One of the other new units was a new non-Thor motorhome. They had more issues than we've ever had with the Axis and they had specifically not purchased a Thor unit because one of their prior 5th wheels was a Thor and they had problems...

I think the best advice you'll find on here is: Find a good dealer. That is key. Crappy dealers will kill the experience for you and horde your camper for months while they wait for parts (you should never ever leave your camper at a dealer if they are waiting for parts--tell them we'll bring it back when the parts come in). In addition, keep in contact with Thor. This way if there are issues (not saying there will be but if) having a Thor contact can help expedite the parts process, and the repair.

Originally Posted by Jegdrum5050

I don't think you need to be a senior member, I have had other brands, and am still on the forest River site, many problems for all units no matter the brand or type. An owner of a RV needs to learn sytems and how they work. They also need a good dealer to help them with there problems. The RV industry is one with little Quality control, so having said that, study your brand and learn as much as possible about your unit. I really like my Thor and would refer a new person to the Brand. Just my 2 cents!!!

[Mel556180]

My take is that the RV industry is coping with high demand as the "baby boomers" are retiring. The manufacturers are increasing model offerings and cranking out more units with little regard for on-line or final QC. There is high turnover on the factory lines.

For their part, dealers are going through rapid consolidation (think Camping World) and loosing a lot of experienced techs in the process. The customer becomes the QC inspectors with inexperienced dealer techs trying to fix issues after the sale as they arise.

The manufacturers' customer service units then must correct the many major and minor issues that their build QC should have caught, and dealers are unable to resolve.

These are industry-wide problems that won't get better until demand slackens and Quality becomes a more important selling point.

Until then, the manufacture with the best follow up warranty service should figure into the buying decision.

[Kev]

We have a 2016 Thor Vegas and had a couple of minor fit and finish issues that were resolved. We are very happy with are coach and enjoying using it as much as we can. A couple of things to consider is that you can get a lemon no matter what product you buy. I have owned the same vehicle as someone else and didn't have nearly the issues they did. Thor is the biggest manufacturer of RV's so by shear number the complaints will be higher. And another thing to consider is that people that are unhappy are most likely to post their complaints.

[rabbittracker]

We've had only minor fit issues with our 2015 Axis. We've also had good response from Thor the two times we've contacted them.

I can't explain the discrepancies in the experiences members have had when dealing with Thor itself, but I will say that I have read negative things about every single manufacturer. We have, in the past, owned Fleetwood, Trail Light, Forest River and Keystone, and had almost no problems with any of them. If I'd believed only the negative things I read online (and there were plenty), we'd never have bought any of them.

That said, I'd be extremely upset and frustrated if I was dealing with major issues with my RV. But the good reports from so many others can't be ignored. I'd never tell anyone not to buy a Thor product.

[vkb]

Ideal scenario would be for each RV MFG CO to have its own authorized dealerships nationwide just like automobile dealers.
Dealerships have techs trained in service and repairs of the RV's they sell.

Regarding the Mfg end...have QC inspection of each unit before it leaves factory....signed off by inspector #_ or name _ ...

It won't happen, as ideally...each phase of production should be inspected before the unit moves on to the next ... demand is so great for RV's ... they are pushing them out the door as fast as they can.

And as someone stated in this thread...thousands of units are manufactured...the lemons are the units we all read about.

Check, inspect and check, inspect. Will save these companies big bucks if they would only do it !!

Just my opinion !

[bigben]

I can only imagine that if we'd had the problems others have had with your unit and gotten the responses that it sounds like you've received - we'd be as angry. The truth for us is that we've had issues (some more serious than others) and each time had a solid, honest response from Thor. Previous coach was a Georgetown. There support was MIA - in total.

[DNS]

We have had 3 MH's and 1 travel trailer over the last 14 years. We started with a Winnebago 21.5' Vista Class C that had the basic features without all of the bells and whistles, as did the Coachmen TT. Had very few issues with either one of them. No slides, hyd levelers, auto gen start, etc..
Once we went to a Class A, the bells and whistles increased along with the number of items that can develop problems. So the less complex, the less chance of things to have problems. The 2 Class A's have had a similar number of warranty items between a Coachmen Mirada and our Challenger. Some were the result of the manufacturer's QC issues and some were due to components that the manufacturer purchased. All of our issues were resolved pretty quickly.
Just my 2 cents worth, based on my personal experience I would not hestitate to purchase any of these brands again. I would agree with what others have said about the dealer is probably the key to a good vs bad or horrible experience. Overall we love our Challenger.

[Chance]

DNS makes a great point from my perspective. The more complicated things are made and the greater number of moving parts, the greater the probability of issues and/or failures.


I'll also add that quality issues could be separated into design/engineering deficiencies and manufacturing/assembly problems. I personally like to make this distinction because issues related to manufacturing can be corrected much easier than issues that are directly related to poor design or engineering.

[davidgebo]

Spacelink mentioned using lemon laws to get satisfaction for RV problems. The problem with that is most state lemon laws I know of come into play for an owner when the SAME problem is unresolved after several attempts at repair, without resolution. That can take months. Many of us new RV owners are usually faced with several different problems all at once. We experienced this issue. CW fixed the defects usually after 1-3 visits. We experienced 15-20 separate defects and design flaws, that required visits to CW for warranty-covered repair. We went back to report the problem, then they had to get OK from Thor, who then sent out parts in their own good time, usually 30-45 days. Then CW called us to set up appointment for work to be done. This sometimes encompassed 4-5 problems at one visit. The actual repairs took 5 days, if we were lucky. Then a return 1 hour trip to pick up our coach. On 2 occasions, before I left the facility, I tested the components they claimed they fixed. The problem remained, and we returned home without our coach, and a cancelled trip and lost deposits. WE cancelled 3 trips in the first year of ownership due to malfunctions and piss-poor workmanship at the factory level. We were so frustrated and angry we decided it was just not worth this hassle for something that is intended to provide relaxation, enjoyment, and escape from lifes troubles. We were very close to trading the Vegas for a used fifth wheel. I fixed many problems myself, finally got warranty problems completed, and now enjoy our coach. After a full year of aggravation, calls to Thor, frustration with CW, and expense of driving to and from CW 15 times.
True, there is no viable acceptable excuse for this type of shoddy workmanship, design execution, and factory QC. Furthermore, with CW techs being so unfamiliar with a motorhome they sell is just poor customer service and a lack of concern for the buyer. They could not even tell me where the crankcase oil fill was, let alone operation of some of the coach components. This is a relatively rudimentary, simple entry-level coach. This Vegas is not a high-tech computer controlled multi-system diesel pusher. I have vented many times on this venue before over our experiences with Thor and Camping World. I will not purchase again from CW, and would have to think long and hard before buying another Thor RV. They did do their due diligence in making repairs, but these repairs should have never been needed in the first place.

[RVCampingNut]

You know, it doesn't matter what you buy, how much it costs, there will always be the handful of people who complain and others that love their coach. There are no manufacturers out there that have 100% satisfaction or 100% coaches with no problems. I have had a Forest River and now ordered a Thor Challenger. I can say that from what I have seen, Thor has a much better quality than Forest River had. Again, that was my coach and my opinion. I think most of my issues were with the dealer and the final prep not in the manufacturing process. I have stayed in many campgrounds and have spoken to people with $50k RVs that love them and they are perfect for them. I have also spoken to people with $700K RVs that love them but also had issues with parts failing. The bottom line is that no matter what you get, most manufacturers use the same parts for water pumps, stoves, refers (both RV and residential). The major factor is whether you get linoleum, tile, heated tile, marble countertops, corona countertops, etc. The issue most people have is with the "other" things breaking like a water pump failing after 1 trip, slides failing after a year. That's not necessarily on a particular manufacturer, but rather the main company supplying the parts. Again, you will NEVER have any company that will guarantee 100% that their part will not fail. You should just find a coach that fits your lifestyle and your needs. If it's new, expect issues because everything needs to be broken in. After going to multiple RV shows and looking at each manufacturer, I went with Thor because they had just what I needed (plus reading the forums helped a little). I know that when I get my new coach in 2-3 weeks (been waiting about 9 now for it to be built), I am going to have issues, it's inevitable. They do what they can to make sure everything works, but it's not stress tested, that's my job.

[EA37TS]

IMHO, the dealer's service department is critical in the perception one has with an RV. My coach went in for warranty service in January. Along with warranty issues (about a dozen) I had the dealer do a chassis service, roof inspection and state safety inspection. I dropped my coach off on a Saturday and on Tuesday the dealer called me with the status on the coach. In the status report the dealer informed me that all warranty repairs except 2 were approved by Thor and that parts for three items were sent by Thor and the dealer told me the estimated delivery dates for all parts. All parts were scheduled to arrive in 5 to 7 business days. This included two parts that were color coordinated for interior trim.

The two items not approved were divots on the floor (because they mysteriously disappeared) and my Axxerra radio. The radio issues was due to communication between myself and the dealer and once we were on the same page Thor authorized replacement and a new radio was sent (again 5 days shipping).

Not counting the time they called me stating the work was complete my dealer called me 4 times with the status of repairs. Then when I picked up the coach I was provided with an invoice which included a record of all communication between the dealer and Thor as well as the UPS tracking numbers for the parts ordered.

I will tell you that my dealer's sales staff have a lot of room for improvement but so far their service department has been top notch.

[Spacelink]

David, thank you for your input. I believe we have a systemic problem within the RV industry and that customer support and satisfaction no longer exist. This is our First RV and after this experience, our last! Our primary purpose was to allow our family something that we had NOT been able to do as a family for over 7 years, travel (for more than a day or two because we have dogs) and be comfortable as a Family.
Thor quashed that as our failures were inclusive of minor AND major failures. The final straw was going to Florida between Christmas and New Years for a week long trip only to have the ONE and ONLY slide FAIL!!! 60 square feet of ADDITIONAL living space makes a HUGE difference when you CANNOT use it and you have 2 adult, 2 kids (one severely autistic) and 3 dogs. Rather than finish unpacking and go home, we made the best out of a bad situation but I unleashed on Thor when we got home.
The sad part is even after a previous similar failure (and supposed repair) they could not get us in until the first part of February and picked it up a month later only to have the entire plumbing system blown out. So, here we sit unable to use the rig (yet again) and it has been unusable for over 5 months now as we roll up on our One Year mark of when we purchased it.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by Spacelink

David, thank you for your input. I believe we have a systemic problem within the RV industry and that customer support and satisfaction no longer exist. This is our First RV and after this experience, our last! Our primary purpose was to allow our family something that we had NOT been able to do as a family for over 7 years, travel (for more than a day or two because we have dogs) and be comfortable as a Family.
Thor quashed that as our failures were inclusive of minor AND major failures. The final straw was going to Florida between Christmas and New Years for a week long trip only to have the ONE and ONLY slide FAIL!!! 60 square feet of ADDITIONAL living space makes a HUGE difference when you CANNOT use it and you have 2 adult, 2 kids (one severely autistic) and 3 dogs. Rather than finish unpacking and go home, we made the best out of a bad situation but I unleashed on Thor when we got home.
The sad part is even after a previous similar failure (and supposed repair) they could not get us in until the first part of February and picked it up a month later only to have the entire plumbing system blown out. So, here we sit unable to use the rig (yet again) and it has been unusable for over 5 months now as we roll up on our One Year mark of when we purchased it.

Your post raises an interesting issue regarding slides that I've never seen discussed before.

Research I've read over many years says that slides are still the #1 quality/repair complaint with RVs, although the reports don't generally provide a breakdown by slide type, size, etc.

You mention your full-wall slide adding 60 square feet (seems high to me but let's use that for comparison), which could replace three smaller slides. The question would be what is more likely to have a problem, one large slide or three small ones?

Obviously a large slide may be more prone to having problems, but since there would be three small ones, would the chance of the larger slide be three times as high?

I personally expect that having a failure in any one of three small slides is more probable than a failure in one big slide, although the consequences of failure are much greater with a full-wall slide.