Frustrations of a Top End RV

[f350ms38rssa]

I drove from Michigan and picked it up.

[Porthole]

Originally Posted by Cummins12V98

If you are asking me I had to have RollingRetreats deliver my rig to NW WA. So at one year we went to DRV Factory to get everything done. Was not the best decision.

To do it again I would have waited to go to RR for PDI and get everything dealt with there as I know for sure they would have fixed EVERYTHING on my list.

What do you suppose will happen to RR?

This is not meant to disparage them at all. But Alicia & Slade have quite the revered following.
And if you go by facebunk there are only two dealers in all of the CONUS that are worth your hard earned money.

Buying from RR just was not in the cards for us. Between mileage, time and lack of trade value ruled them out.

Although Alicia was still kind enough to offer advice on our order.

Our dealer although in business for a long time was new to the DRV line just prior to the Hershey show. They were hungry for business, and I have no doubt DRV stepped up to help make deals. And the trade offer was unmatched by any dealer in the country. With the extra value perceived in the trade we were almost 40% off MSRP.

That deal allowed me to be a little flexible with the service department being new. My PDI guy, although fairly knowledgable, did his first DRV PDI with our rig.

So back to RR. What is going to happen when they can't handle the load, start expanding and end up like many big dealers?
Or worse, with a stellar reputation it is only a matter of time before the big basket of cash is dropped in front of them.

As it is, most non-customers cannot get an appointment anymore for warranty work at RR. Knowing their commitment to work quality I would now go the extra miles past Howe to get my warranty work completed, but they can't handle the outside work like they used too.

[f350ms38rssa]

Nobody near me could come within $15000 from Rv’s for less, I have 3 dealers in Michigan.

[Porthole]

Originally Posted by f350ms38rssa

Nobody near me could come within $15000 from Rv’s for less, I have 3 dealers in Michigan.

Tried them. Even stopped there on the way home from Tenn..

Of the 4 main DRV dealers, my cost where we bought (Wilkins RV in NY) was $12K less on the unit and 15K higher on trade. And only RV's for less offered anything on a trade.

[rynosback]

Originally Posted by Porthole

What do you suppose will happen to RR?

This is not meant to disparage them at all. But Alicia & Slade have quite the revered following.
And if you go by facebunk there are only two dealers in all of the CONUS that are worth your hard earned money.

Buying from RR just was not in the cards for us. Between mileage, time and lack of trade value ruled them out.

Although Alicia was still kind enough to offer advice on our order.

Our dealer although in business for a long time was new to the DRV line just prior to the Hershey show. They were hungry for business, and I have no doubt DRV stepped up to help make deals. And the trade offer was unmatched by any dealer in the country. With the extra value perceived in the trade we were almost 40% off MSRP.

That deal allowed me to be a little flexible with the service department being new. My PDI guy, although fairly knowledgable, did his first DRV PDI with our rig.

So back to RR. What is going to happen when they can't handle the load, start expanding and end up like many big dealers?
Or worse, with a stellar reputation it is only a matter of time before the big basket of cash is dropped in front of them.

As it is, most non-customers cannot get an appointment anymore for warranty work at RR. Knowing their commitment to work quality I would now go the extra miles past Howe to get my warranty work completed, but they can't handle the outside work like they used too.

They must be filling up now. As I have a couple texts out to Slade to book a couple small items that would only take a couple hours at most. And no reply.

[MnP]

Originally Posted by rynosback

They must be filling up now. As I have a couple texts out to Slade to book a couple small items that would only take a couple hours at most. And no reply.

Paul Cross at Interstate RV is the same way. This October when I was there for slide work I tried to make an appoint for May 2019 for annual PM. He was booked up until July 2019. 9 month lead time for an appointment!!! He said his additional workload was due to DRV no longer doing non-warranty work. He is adding 2 additional work bays and is hoping to hire some help.

[Walker]

We would have ordered from RR or RV's for Less if we had had time. We have been fulltime for 5 years, 4 years in a Carrilite that was totaled by insurance. Part of the insurance package was "Purchase Price Replacement" meaning they wrote a check for our original purchase price of the Carrilite. I was on a project in North Dakota and need a rig NOW. RR and RV's for less had no stock in July 2017 that was an acceptable floor plan to us. So Alie picked a floor plan and I searched until I found the right model with all the options we wanted. What we found was at Lazy Days Tampa. Price was great... PDI was a nightmare.... Repair from PDI even worse.....
Repairs for warranty and the Lazy Days nightmare were undertaken by Kansas RV center which did a good job with what they had to work with.

[Cummins12V98]

We never received a call back fro RV's for Less when they and RR were sent the exact same email. I also called RV's and asked for more pics of the unit they had on the internet. They guy said no problem and asked if I could wait until the rain letup, I guess it has never stopped raining. The email sent to Alicia was slow to be returned but that's the way it is with them as she does all the ordering and customer consultation.

We left 1/1/2015 and drove to SoCal and then across to ElkCity, OK and stayed on their lot and spent 3 days with her to get our order how we wanted it. NEVER any pressure! We got a very fair trade on our 07.5 DRV and the final price for what we ordered was great.

YUP, small Business but well worth the LONG drive!!!

[gringosity]

Originally Posted by Walker

So we have been finally moving south today. While clicking off the miles down I-35 we started listing all the items that have failed on our RV.
We bought this DRV Memphis model July 2017 off from Lazy Days Tampa. Is the below list of issues normal for a $100k+ unit?

-Rotten Slide Floor
-Leaking Kantleak
-Rotten Slide Roof
-90-day factory caulking
-Insulation falling in front and rear caps
-Floor tiles buckling in front of slide rollers in kitchen- fixed twice now
-Only 3 rollers under kitchen slide
-Living room slide leaked- water dripping out of lights
-Air leaks lack of wiper seal under bed slide
-Leaking front jacks
-Leaking Hydraulic pump
-The ceiling fan that is decoration only- doesn't move air
-Coax cabling mislabeled broken in the walls somewhere
-Brake Caliper bolts with no Locktite
-Brake Caliper slide pins dry causing brake pads to hang and wear.
-Axle hub seal caps overtighten and cracked
-Holes in all the airconditioning ducts above the vents
-Light recesses drilled into AC vents
-Shower door tracks hold water
-Most of the drawer self-close mechanisms have been replaced
-Xantrex inverter that you have to unplug to reset
-Pull cable valves that are/were to stiff to operate.
-Water tank shelf/brackets under supported
-Furnace ductwork crushed and torn
-No floor heat to front bedroom vent
-Bubbles in the roof membrane
-LED disco lights
-None of the slides were adjusted to be flush/tight at the inside when open, or be flush on the exterior when closed.
-Surge Guard transfer switch had to be replaced- twice
-Midship exterior lights only work as running lights, not turn signals. DOT violation
-2 of the exterior hatch doors are not square in the holes. They scrub when opening and closing.

Some of these are product quality issues, other are installation issues, still, others are lack of QC.
We take full responsibility for driving off the dealer lot without living in and testing-using the RV more thoroughly. We had work-related circumstances that caused us to leave Lazy Days Tampa after staying in their delivery lot for 4 days.
Many of the items were repaired during the warranty period. But over time many more issues have surfaced.
Is this the "Quality" you expect of the DRV brand?
This isn't to be taken as a rant, or such. I'm asking as a serious owner that wonders, need to ask if other owners are under the same opinion?
Thanks for reading.

Hi Walker, we bought a Thor Freedom elite in August 2018 and besides going back to camping world once already I have also fixed a bunch of stuff myself. I thought the Thor brand waz better than most but when you really get a chance to look behind the cabinets and under the vehicle, it's shocking how bad the quality of work is. I told a friend who has had a trailer since new in 2009 about my issues and he just smiled and told me about his issues. I'm new to class C but from what I gather, there are few manufacturers out there who really bother to get it right the first time. Best of luck to you.

[rynosback]

Originally Posted by Cummins12V98

We never received a call back fro RV's for Less when they and RR were sent the exact same email. I also called RV's and asked for more pics of the unit they had on the internet. They guy said no problem and asked if I could wait until the rain letup, I guess it has never stopped raining. The email sent to Alicia was slow to be returned but that's the way it is with them as she does all the ordering and customer consultation.

We left 1/1/2015 and drove to SoCal and then across to ElkCity, OK and stayed on their lot and spent 3 days with her to get our order how we wanted it. NEVER any pressure! We got a very fair trade on our 07.5 DRV and the final price for what we ordered was great.

YUP, small Business but well worth the LONG drive!!!

I also sent a email quote to RVs 4 less and even left a couple of voice mails. And never heard back from them.

[rynosback]

Originally Posted by rynosback

They must be filling up now. As I have a couple texts out to Slade to book a couple small items that would only take a couple hours at most. And no reply.

Update, they are booked until mid February right now.

[ramn4ver]

Your nightmare sounds exactly like my 2013 Thor Crossroads Jefferson. I've repaired all of those issues myself over the last 5 years. I wouldn't trust the stealer dealer....good luck...

[MichaelRV]

After owning my Heartland Landmark for 15 month and having it in the "shop" for 4 of them I bailed on it. Took a bath, but I could see the writing on the wall. Three star hotels are now in my future.

[alarmingfriend]

This is the norm. Our 2018 Thor Challenger was a nightmare and the dealer took care of everything, yes it took 2 separate weeks and your list of things is about right for us. it is the cheap labor and higher profits. You cannot put out Quality product with minimum wage assembly workers. and Q/C is the same. Our $197,000 rig is great now but until all items were fixed it was a nightmare. Enjoy.

[DogLovers]

Cheap fan fix? Glue a couple 3/4" boards together. Then cut out a circle the size of the fan to ceiling base. Then cut out the center section with a jig saw. Measure up the fan ceiling mounting holes (paper template works great) and drill coresponding holes. Sand, stain, finish the outside portion or your wooden mounting ring. Mount it to the ceiling then mount the fan to it. Should add a bit of space. Use more wood if you need a thicker space. Go to the home improvement store and buy the smallest cheapest piece of aluminum siding trim you can get. Cut then angle bend a piece to fit each fan blade and glue into position on each blade. If you can do quality work it will look great and solve the issue cheaply. Otherwise drop the whole fan and buy a new one with the pole drop and you can cut it to whatever size you need. One thing I learned about ceiling fans over the years, don't buy a cheap one.

Good luck.

[Walker]

Originally Posted by DogLovers

Cheap fan fix? Glue a couple 3/4" boards together. Then cut out a circle the size of the fan to ceiling base. Then cut out the center section with a jig saw. Measure up the fan ceiling mounting holes (paper template works great) and drill coresponding holes. Sand, stain, finish the outside portion or your wooden mounting ring. Mount it to the ceiling then mount the fan to it. Should add a bit of space. Use more wood if you need a thicker space. Go to the home improvement store and buy the smallest cheapest piece of aluminum siding trim you can get. Cut then angle bend a piece to fit each fan blade and glue into position on each blade. If you can do quality work it will look great and solve the issue cheaply. Otherwise drop the whole fan and buy a new one with the pole drop and you can cut it to whatever size you need. One thing I learned about ceiling fans over the years, don't buy a cheap one.

Good luck.

I understand this.... But my frustration is why should I have to fix it after paying $125k....

[Sue T]

I'm so sorry to hear about all your problems, but not unexpected.

Please, don't get me started! You are welcome to private message me regarding my new Freedom Elite causing serious health issues which includes dozens of issues from a lemon to say the least!

Very sick, worried and devastated.

[knucklehead]

We bought our 2nd RV this past May. A 29m Windsport,2018. It has had many things break and fail. Levelling system, leaks at window and windshield, leak at outside receptical that shorted out the circuit, auto step broke, bad motor on driver side of drop down bed, fresh water tank bracket pulled loose, cargo doors out of alignment, failed coach door closer, kitchen sink drain under slide out came apart and water on floor and many other small things. I will say this however.... Thor and Camping World of Statesville, NC has been very helpful and EVERYTHING CW has fixed has stayed fixed. All I can say is I like the coach enough to wade thru this hell cause eventually I hope to get it all fixed and then just maintain it. I'm not nieve and realize a house rolling down the road will have things fail and break. If your not handy with your hands and have basic home and auto repair skills, stick with motels and hotels..... that's just how it is seems to me!!

[Chuck and Mary Ann]

Flat blades will never move air regardless of the direction of the fan. Go to Lowes or Home Depot and see there are any blades and brackets. The bracket would seen to be the culprit - flat brackets equal flat blades equals no air movement. Just my two cents!

[rynosback]

Originally Posted by The Gritz Carlton

I was told by one the Thor Peeps...it's all relative to the Plant they are built in. Huge variations of quality issues from plant to plant. Boils down to production management.

Not relevant with DRVs as they are all built at one plant. Just look at the header and you will see that you are in the DRV section.