Thor Warranty Rabbit Hole

[IDguy]

Much of RV stuff comes from Asia. There is a huge backup of container ships along the west coast due to covid. And additional backup to get truck transport. An ebike we ordered in August just showed up last week. They used this excuse. I checked and found it is true.

So it may have nothing to do with warranty process.

[makitso]

Originally Posted by ducksface

Less than 48 hrs to to resolve from abject misery to fully cured.
Would you like to reword your original post and give us some details about how it all happened in less than 16 working hours?

Was it advice you got here?
New management at the dealer?
Someone replaced the $1.30 capacitor?
A phone call you/dealer could have made 3 months ago and Thor stepped up?
What?

Unless you help us, as we tried to help you, you're not helping us.

Where do I start. First of all, the Lazydays dealer screwed up. They wanted to replace the compressor so instead of going to Thor they went to the outside distributor.

A Thor rep read this post and contacted the dealer and suggested they order a complete unit from Thor instead of a compressor from a distributor. Once Thor got the order they informed me and the dealer that a shipment should take place mid January.

Summary:

1. Thor stepped up to help resolve this issue and I am happy with their assistance.

2. Based upon the process outlined by "another" Lazydays dealer in another city, I can only conclude that the Tucson dealer hasn't a clue as to how to handle warranty problems. To top it off, they were combative, would not disclose what was going on ..... etc etc.

[ducksface]

Thanks for the follow up.
Thor stepped up.
The dealer is a squirrel.

That is almost exactly how these things generally resolve themselves.

I've said before:
There isn't a culture in the entire world that says to have faith about a car lot.

I can't imagine how loudly Thor reps just want to scream as they beat some pompous lot owner into a pulp.


Thor went above and beyond on the silly little warranty stuff I needed on my USED axis.
Only one thing didn't make it through the system.
I asked for new letters for the side of the rv, the ones saying AXIS.
It didn't happen. I assume the field rep forgot about me and I didn't go through official channels. It wasn't a thing, and I did no follow through. I blame me.

I'm glad it worked out for you.

[kprun]

Originally Posted by makitso

Where do I start. First of all, the Lazydays dealer screwed up. They wanted to replace the compressor so instead of going to Thor they went to the outside distributor.

A Thor rep read this post and contacted the dealer and suggested they order a complete unit from Thor instead of a compressor from a distributor. Once Thor got the order they informed me and the dealer that a shipment should take place mid January.

Summary:

1. Thor stepped up to help resolve this issue and I am happy with their assistance.

2. Based upon the process outlined by "another" Lazydays dealer in another city, I can only conclude that the Tucson dealer hasn't a clue as to how to handle warranty problems. To top it off, they were combative, would not disclose what was going on ..... etc etc.

Thanks for closing the loop on your original post. Glad to hear that Thor stepped in and figured things out. Thor takes a beating on this Forum and it's not always objective. For a while I thought I was the only satisfied Thor Customer on the planet. I bought my 2016 ACE new in Ringold, Virginia. I knew I was taking a chance that I would have Thor dealers, here in Ohio, decline to work on it since I didn't buy it here. I also knew that I was buying an "entry level" RV. Fortunately, 5 years and 22,000 miles later, I have had only minor issues and was able to take care of them myself. This forum has been a wealth of self help information. I've also taken advantage of Thor's customer service line to get information and they've always been helpful. My advice, when you have an issue, take a deep breath. Most people at the dealership, and at Thor, want to help. Be reasonable and in most cases things work out.

[Beau388]

Originally Posted by williamprunty

Welcome to my world. Most are like that. Thor appears to be one of the worst. Thor just bought Tiffin and they have so many other brands under their belt. Damon was great and Thor bought them in 2011 and by 2012 they started putting out crap with little customer service.

I thought I got away from them when I bought a Jayco and then I found out Thor bought them too.

Thor Inds did not buy Damon. Thor Inds bought the assets of Damon during a bankruptcy sale. Damon might have built good coaches but there sales in 2006 to 2009 were not enough to save the company. Same thing happened to Monaco. Thor Industries bought the old Monaco plant in 2011 when Monaco went bankrupt. The old Monaco pant is now Thor MC plant 850. Now Four Winds they did buy but at a fire sale price. The Hurricanes and Windsports are still produced in the Four Winds factory renamed Thor MC plant 750. Thor Inds sold their bus and truck divisions to finance the Thor MC acquisitions.

[DLM1965]

And, is it true they also purchased Tiffin?

[CTRvs666]

I am in a different industry, medical devices, and the supply chains are empty. UPS won't honor ship times, employees get a cold and they are sent home for 14 days, thank goodness it is winter. I had a Coleman on a 5th wheel that failed in warranty, and the dealers said they are not robust. The replacement unit was just fine. Hopefully you bought an extended warranty, because just to replace fridge they have to take a slide out of the unit. I bought a 7 year with a $200 deductible through General RV.

I cannot believe how much technology there is in these units. I wonder how my house would do if I had to drive it around all the time. My Magnitude has been surprisingly trouble free. Not perfect but just two trips to General RV who has a fantastic service department.

Merry Christmas

[FrankBarba]

I received a TSB on my unit for the Inverter. Camping World is my selling Dealer. All Dealers are pieces of excrement. I purchased new in July 2019. Couch not working correctly, bed over driver falling down, and a few other minor items. Camping World had my coach for 6 months. Lost 6 months of warranty. Thor told me to pound sand, the Dealer also told me that it would be almost 9 months before they can install my slider couch.

I was looking at a Higher coach then heard Thor Bought Tiffin.

[CTRvs666]

Originally Posted by FrankBarba

I received a TSB on my unit for the Inverter. Camping World is my selling Dealer. All Dealers are pieces of excrement. I purchased new in July 2019. Couch not working correctly, bed over driver falling down, and a few other minor items. Camping World had my coach for 6 months. Lost 6 months of warranty. Thor told me to pound sand, the Dealer also told me that it would be almost 9 months before they can install my slider couch.

I was looking at a Higher coach then heard Thor Bought Tiffin.

I found that almost any dealer can do service work. I won't ever use Camping World. I had an issue and then a very rude service writer, slow response, and unreasonable conditions. I had a broken door lock. They would not do a warranty without the broken part to send to Forest River. They said, they wouldn't order a part, without a broken part. So they wanted me to leave my trailer without a closed door for a month. $15 at a locksmith, it was fixed. I have bought 3 RVS since then. Didn't even walk on a CW lot. They are on my no-no list.

[JimC]

I bought my new Thor class C on January 3rd, this year. In early December I went in to the Gander RV & Outdoors the unit was purchased from to make an appointment for a diagnosis/repair of the Cable TV cable. I was told the first appointment would be the third week of January and I should expect to wait approximately three weeks for the work to be completed after that. I was also told that since the appointment to be checked in is after my one year warranty has expired, that the work will not be covered by warranty.
Shouldn't the date of the claim be as of the date I reported the problem and made the appointment, instead of the later "bring it in" date? The fact that I have a Good Sam extended warranty [with a deductable] is irrelevant to the situation.
It seem to me that under these circumstances, my warranty is only being honored for eleven months instead of the advertised twelve months.
Is this a common practice or am I just being screwed?
Jim C.

[ducksface]

Originally Posted by FrankBarba

I received a TSB on my unit for the Inverter. Camping World is my selling Dealer. All Dealers are pieces of excrement. I purchased new in July 2019. Couch not working correctly, bed over driver falling down, and a few other minor items. Camping World had my coach for 6 months. Lost 6 months of warranty. Thor told me to pound sand, the Dealer also told me that it would be almost 9 months before they can install my slider couch.

I was looking at a Higher coach then heard Thor Bought Tiffin.

Sell. It.
It will never be worth more money than today.
If you were looking at Tiffin you'd know Tiffin available today have nothing to do with Thor.

[ducksface]

...make an appointment for a diagnosis/repair of the Cable TV cable....

Go to any stereo shop.
If they even charge you it'll be for their minimum..

This is a
'I need to learn how to do a few things for myself'
thing.

Just because you have a warranty doesn't mean you must use it.
It's a cable.
The chances of it being bad are about equal with the chances of you just not understanding how the system works.

If I have a choice of my rv being at a dealer for a length of time, or some nice kid at a stereo store fixing it in 15 minutes....

Please, to make life happy, try to establish a relationship with a shop away from the dealer. Not a soul here says to go to dealer for such things as your cable.

[JimC]

Originally Posted by ducksface

...make an appointment for a diagnosis/repair of the Cable TV cable....

Go to any stereo shop.
If they even charge you it'll be for their minimum..

This is a
'I need to learn how to do a few things for myself'
thing.

Just because you have a warranty doesn't mean you must use it.
It's a cable.
The chances of it being bad are about equal with the chances of you just not understanding how the system works.

If I have a choice of my rv being at a dealer for a length of time, or some nice kid at a stereo store fixing it in 15 minutes....

Please, to make life happy, try to establish a relationship with a shop away from the dealer. Not a soul here says to go to dealer for such things as your cable.

Although your posits are interesting, in part may be good ideas,and are related to background info I gave, neither of the two questions I asked [Is this a common practice or am I just being screwed?] were addressed. Furthermore, parts of your answers came across as condescending. None-the-less, Thank you. By the way, I spent 30+ years as an AV consultant/advisor and do most of my own maintenance. I diagnosed the issue, called Thor, and they advised reporting it to the dealer in case a new cable needed to be run while the coach is in warranty.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by JimC

I bought my new Thor class C on January 3rd, this year. In early December I went in to the Gander RV & Outdoors the unit was purchased from to make an appointment for a diagnosis/repair of the Cable TV cable. I was told the first appointment would be the third week of January and I should expect to wait approximately three weeks for the work to be completed after that. I was also told that since the appointment to be checked in is after my one year warranty has expired, that the work will not be covered by warranty.
Shouldn't the date of the claim be as of the date I reported the problem and made the appointment, instead of the later "bring it in" date? The fact that I have a Good Sam extended warranty [with a deductable] is irrelevant to the situation.
It seem to me that under these circumstances, my warranty is only being honored for eleven months instead of the advertised twelve months.
Is this a common practice or am I just being screwed?
Jim C.

Did Camping world kiss you before they screwed you over?

Call Thor and talk to them. They may be willing to authorize the warranty repair before it goes into Gander/Camping World.

[Hardroad]

Originally Posted by Laco

How well your warrantee items are taken care of, has a lot to do with the dealer. When we bought the Gemini, it had the typical new coach issues and problems. I never had a problem getting it into the dealer, and they took care of every warrantee issue I had. If there were any problems with Thor, I never knew about them, as the dealer made all the contacts and arrangement with Thor.

Same for us - bought a new Winnebago and it took the dealership about a year to get things straightened out - Since then, a couple of minor items but mostly for the good. The Dealership noted that we bought it there and they took care of us - Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a party, but things got done.

[danl61]

Originally Posted by makitso

I am not sure if this applies to all RV manufactures but sure does for Thor.

I purchased a new 2021 Thor Four Winds 31WV unit in August of this year. On our first outing three warranty problems were noted. I brought two of these issues to the Lazydays dealership in Tucson in early October 2020 and am still waiting for a replacement Coleman air conditioner.

The issue here is that when you buy an automobile, say a FORD, and the radio, made by Motorola, fails, the dealership requests a warranty replacement directly from the FORD.

In the case of Thor, or maybe all RV manufacturers, Thor only obtain approve for the warranty from the manufacturer. The actual replacement must be ordered from the Lazydays dealership to a parts distributor who then requests the part from the manufacturer.

I have been waiting three months for an A/C replacement with no part in sight.

You use Ford, but this applies to every single manufacturer in the world. When you purchase a RV, you do not purchase from one single manufacturer, you are purchasing an assembled RV from many different manufacturers. Using your own example: You purchase a Ford, base model no radio, tires, a/c unit, heater, or any other thing that makes it an automobile. Then you purchase SEPARATELY all the things you need, like an a/c unit, heater, radio etc. Then you have a problem with the radio and blame Ford because they assembled it. In short, every RV is basically an assembly of other manufacturers parts. Put 6-10 thousand dollars down on a warranty and have a great day.

[Danny boy]

We had a problem with our passenger side mirror from day 1 in that you could not adjust it adequately to be able to see as well as I would like. We had an RV dealer / repair shop “fix it” 3 times with no change. I called Thor who said it was a warranty issue for Ford since it was a component part of the Ford chassis and would be covered for 3 years. I talked to Ford and they said no, it was a Thor issue. Anyway, it turned out to be a Thor issue after all and was only covered for one year. I found this out after the year period was up. I have tried to fix it myself and it is better. I have since found a good RV repair shop that has fixed a couple of other items to my satisfaction and at a reasonable price.

[d700huckle]

Some grumpy old farts should take up a hobby. Just saying.

[Scubawise]

Once all is fixed you will find it the best way to travel during covid. Merry Christmas

[Bob Denman]

Folks spend so much time finding the perfect RV; that they forget about the importance of the Dealer.