First Visit to Thor Factory Service Center

[MichFigs]

Our experience with everyone involved at the Thor service center was exceptional. All the employees were pleasant and helpful all going beyond my expectations. My DW and I both agreed that we should have brought the Vegas to them for "all of the warranty work", if only we would have known. We would not hesitate in the future to have more work done in Wakarusa, Indiana.

[Mustang46555]

The Thor service center staff has always done top quality work for us. They have done all work on our coach both warranty and normal service from the day we brought it home. Their hourly rate is actually cheaper than our selling dealer who I wouldn't trust to change a light bulb.

[RichRob]

Best of luck to you. The service has to be better than Camping World, Berkley,Ma. I also had a long list for my 2018 Vegas and it took two years to get things better, not necessarily like new, but better.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Judge

Well..... I am getting great customer service all the way around now.

The service manager at the dealer was able to get the Theater Seats to Wakarusa yesterday. My contact at the Thor Service Center emailed me to to let me know he had them in their possession.

They also sent my coach to the body shop. They are going to start on the paint Monday. They are targeting to have everything done on or around the 18th.

I'll let you know when I get back up there to check out all the work that was done and bring it back home.

How did everything work out? Any update?

[Judge]

Originally Posted by EA37TS

How did everything work out? Any update?

Just got back from a week's vacation but picked up the coach just before I left.

I still have a couple open issues we will need to work on but overall I am very pleased with Thor's Service Center.

The paint repair they did under the awning area was excellent and looks like a factory finish. I even got a complete touch up paint kit with all four of the paint colors.

They went above and beyond with all of the items on my punch list but a couple of the tougher intermittent issues will still need some attention.

1) Inverter shutting down after an hour or two on the road - There an issue with loose wiring at the Battery Isolation Manager that was causing the house batteries to not be charged intermittently. We both thought the Inverter was shutting down because the house batteries were discharging at times and not getting a charge from the alternators. They did fix the BIM wiring issue but on the way home the Inverter still shut down after about 2 hours and the Solar Controller showed the house batteries at 14v.

I contacted them when I got home and asked them to ship me a new Inverter so I could swap it out since I seems like that is the issue. The new Inverter showed up Saturday as I got home from vacation (I told them not to ship it until last Wednesday so it would get here when I got home and they did!). The weather has turned lousy here so it may be a while until I can sway out the Inverter and test it.

2) MobilEye - They moved the camera / sensor module and it was not acting as erratically but on the way home it kicked out an error message on the display (ER-DA) several times. The error would come up and then it cleared and happened about 6 or 7 times over the 5 1/2 hour drive.

According to the documentation it says to contact MobilEye Tech Support. I did but have not gotten a response. Thor told me to let me know what they have to say but Thor said I can bring it back at my convenience and they will tackle it.

3) Left Turn Signal Camera - Every now and then the left turn signal camera would go blank on the display when other times it works just fine. They tried both turn signal cameras numerous times and saw my issue once. They went through a reset process on the system and it didn't happen again. But on the way home about 4 hours into the drive the left camera stopped working but then again it started working again and worked the rest of the way.


They have been very responsive and great to work with through the entire process. I told them our warranty expires next October and we will likely have a couple more issues by then since we only have been out with it twice and now it is winterized till spring. I will probably plan a trip there next September to get the MobilEye resolved since it is not a showstopper... unless a major issue develops. They told me they will work around my schedule to get things fixed right.

Now I need to find a Ford commercial truck center. I have gotten three minor recalls already on the 2019 F-550. But I don't think I will have that stuff done until spring at this point.

[Bob Denman]

Glad to hear that the remaining issues seem to be minor, and not affecting the coach in any functional way.

[Judge]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

Glad to hear that the remaining issues seem to be minor, and not affecting the coach in any functional way.

Yep... I can live with theses issues for now. Hopefully nothing major pops up next season and I can take it back on the fall to get these items addressed.

I think the new Inverter should solve that problem so that will just leave MobilEye and the left camera. I'm hoping another 6 or 9 months will give Thor time to get more experience with the MobilEye system and hopefully the left camera will just fail to make it easier to diagnose and fix!

[Pete'sMH]

Do you like the mobile eye? I’ve seen the retrofit kit advertised but have never heard anything about its effectiveness from a real world user.

[Judge]

Originally Posted by Pete'sMH

Do you like the mobile eye? I’ve seen the retrofit kit advertised but have never heard anything about its effectiveness from a real world user.

I travel a lot for work so I get to drive a lot of different rental cars. Many of the newer ones now have systems like MobilEye.

The more I drive cars with these systems, the more I like the idea of getting any type of advanced warning about a possible collision or related information.

A coach is big and heavy and harder to stop in an urgent situation so I think this system could be helpful. And even when you try to be a good driver and not distracted, stuff happens so again getting a warning to help you know there is possible trouble can be a good thing.

We just picked up a used 2018 GMC Canyon that will eventually be a Toad for us. It has a similar system and I like it so far as well.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Pete'sMH

Do you like the mobile eye? I’ve seen the retrofit kit advertised but have never heard anything about its effectiveness from a real world user.

I had MobileEye added to the Accolade by the dealer at purchase. It is a warning only system and not active like the system on my Jeep. I like it and believe it is worth the price.

[Bob Denman]

Integrated active systems: might just be the next bif deal on these RVs.

[Lt Keefer]

From the responses on this thread it seems like everyone thinks a trip to the factory for repairs on a month old $150,000.00 motorhome is a good thing. Am I missing something?

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Lt Keefer

From the responses on this thread it seems like everyone thinks a trip to the factory for repairs on a month old $150,000.00 motorhome is a good thing. Am I missing something?

I do not believe that is the case at all. I believe it is a case of if service needs to be done and a trip to the factory is possible that is better than a trip to a fly by night dealer.

I have an appointment to take my $184,000.00 Super C to the factory in April due to me not letting the dealer repair a defect known before purchase. My coach, my money, my decision, no problem.

We don’t need another thread highjacked by the poor quality fanatics.

[Pete'sMH]

Originally Posted by Lt Keefer

From the responses on this thread it seems like everyone thinks a trip to the factory for repairs on a month old $150,000.00 motorhome is a good thing. Am I missing something?

What people are telling you is that the factory repair center is a first class place. Efficient, professional and offering first rate work with parts on hand. If you believe you can find this locally then go for it. Many (MANY!) posts here suggest that most dealers are not able to match this level of performance and using them is very frustrating and time consuming. (Obviously they SHOULD, but they simply don’t). You bought the machine to travel in so just plan a trip to Indiana - it’s a lovely interesting state - and get it fixed right the first time. It is what it is and the choice is yours.

[Lt Keefer]

Fanatic huh? No, just someone that expects to get what he pays for and hates to see people enabling bad behavior. As consumers we need to hold manufacturers responsible for the products they sell. Buying a new coach knowing it needs a trip to the factory to be repaired does not help out the next buyer. Letting the poorly built coach sit on the dealers lot unsold does.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Lt Keefer

Fanatic huh? No, just someone that expects to get what he pays for and hates to see people enabling bad behavior. As consumers we need to hold manufacturers responsible for the products they sell. Buying a new coach knowing it needs a trip to the factory to be repaired does not help out the next buyer. Letting the poorly built coach sit on the dealers lot unsold does.

Our decision to take the Accolade to the factory was made before we officially bought the coach and signed any paperwork. We had a conference call with the dealer, Jayco Factory Service, Jayco Warranty Reps and ourselves to discuss two issues of concern. During the phone call our appointment date for factory service in Middlebury, IN was confirmed and I had the name of my factory service adviser. After the phone call we (us and the dealer) negotiated a substantial discount on the price of the coach. The discount negotiated would cover the cost of at least 5 comfortable round trips to Jayco factory service from our home in Virginia. We made a business decision to purchase the coach with the 2 defects that will be repaired at the factory.

Did this help out the next buyer... I don't care one way or another. It was our decision and if the next buyer isn't smart enough to adequately inspect a unit and make their own decision that is their problem, not mine. I don't feel guilty for someone else making a bad decision before, during or after their purchase. It doesn't take a village to buy an RV.

Now as to me going to the factory for service, the issue on my coach is a slide must be removed and then raised with shims (it is not a Schwintek slide system). Once that is done a good portion of the driver's side if not all of the driver's side will need to be re-painted so the graphics line up (4 color full body paint and clear coat) and some diamond shield replaced. I do not trust the dealer to perform this work. My dealer has stated they do not have the ability to remove the slide from the coach to begin with and they do not have a spray booth for painting so this would have to be contracted out to a third party (no thanks). I do have an appointment in two weeks to have the dealer install a few parts related to other warranty issues (mud flap, bed prop, bed trim pieces, power code electric reel). Other items we noted during the shakedown cruise will be added to the factory service center repair list for April.

Since my coach has a 2 year warranty, similar to Judge I will take at least one additional trip, if needed, to Middlebury to have final warranty issues resolved. When I talked to Jayco after the purchase, they volunteered to schedule quarterly or semi-annual appointments if I wanted. I don't think that is required but I will keep that in mind.

As to enabling bad behavior, that is a subjective opinion and people are certainly entitled to have their opinions. If folks are so adamant about poor quality and enabling bad behavior why do they buy their motor homes after inspections and test drives? Shouldn't they have been left on the dealer's lot rather than being purchased and having a bunch of suspension and steering upgrades done?

We made a decision that works for us and unless something drastically changes we are happy with the decision we made. Is someone missing something by others thinking it's OK to take a 150K or 184K motor home to the factory for service? In my opinion, yes, they are missing the understanding of how to negotiate "the deal". The other thing that is missing is the understanding that unlike other manufacturing industries and product lines, there is no such thing as the "RV Quality Standard". Currently RV quality is the subjective opinion of the consumer and there is no objective standard.

[The Gritz Carlton]

Originally Posted by Lt Keefer

Fanatic huh? No, just someone that expects to get what he pays for and hates to see people enabling bad behavior. As consumers we need to hold manufacturers responsible for the products they sell. Buying a new coach knowing it needs a trip to the factory to be repaired does not help out the next buyer. Letting the poorly built coach sit on the dealers lot unsold does.

Anyone here that's been here for a while knows that you just have a piss-poor attitude about everything. I've been to Wakarusa under warranty and it was an exceptional experience. My daughter went with me and the time with her that week was priceless! I can afford to drive 1600 miles round trip for an oil change if I wish. It's a great opportunity for a road trip. Going forward...any major repair I need will be done in Wakarusa...warranty or not. It isn't about where you're going....it's how you get there that matters. Do it once and do it right. Your famous attempts to derail good, positive threads is getting a bit old. Move on!

[Lt Keefer]

Well Gritz, I'm just not stupid when it comes to spending my hard earned money. I didn't buy my RV to take trips to the factory. I guess you also think that the Big 3 made great automobiles back in the 70s and 80s.

[Pete'sMH]

Originally Posted by Lt Keefer

Well Gritz, I'm just not stupid when it comes to spending my hard earned money. I didn't buy my RV to take trips to the factory. I guess you also think that the Big 3 made great automobiles back in the 70s and 80s.

Wow. I bought a new Chevrolet in the 70s. It was terrible. I had it fixed and moved on. It was nearly half a century ago and I haven’t fussed about it in decades. I’m not going to forego my highly enjoyable RV experience and not buy an RV just to try to “punish” a whole industry in hopes that it will be better for someone after I’m dead and gone! Each of my motorhomes has had a few issues. Some bigger than others but I’ve enjoyed them all. Life is too short to be angry all the time.

[ducksface]

Some people aren't happy unless they aren't happy.

My hobby could have been 'the grousing' , but I took up 'modification to suit' instead.

Satisfied is pretty easy to accomplish.
Dissatisfied takes a LOT of work.

Sell, give away or throw away or modify those things that cause dissatisfaction whether it's the loose stair tread in your home or the busted ball valve on your rv toilet or some basement dwelling BIL taken in to your home.

Dismissal is the best way to dislodge the dissatisfaction.


The age old question:
Why do you still have this torment in your life?