Shotty Workmanship, Bad Warranty.....Very Disappointed to say the least

[Judge]

This is not an LCI issue. LCI makes the slide mechanism.... motors, H-channel, rollers, etc.

This is a slide frame i.e structural issue and that is Thor's responsibility.... plain and simple. Clearly crappy workmanship with no quality control sprinkled on top.

I'm not sure that many extended warranties are going to cover structural items. I would still be sending pictures to Thor and doing a full-court press.

My question to Thor would be.....

2020 and earlier coaches had a 3-year structural warranty and then in 2021 they made it 12-years. What changed?

Are they using stronger and better materials? Are they using more skilled assemblers? Have they ramped up quality control?

As I have read reports on some of the many issues reported on new 2021 and 2022 coaches, it sure looks like they are using the same materieals with the same questionable workmanship and quality.

[Pillbox]

Judge,
You r right.
We were going to buy a new 2021, but upon just looking at the quality, uck.
The salesman says “Thor will repair 5 items at their rally”
REALLY, repair before you ship it was my response then I said, Good Bye.
Bought this super c, I knew roughly the problems I was buying.

Terry

[Judge]

Originally Posted by Pillbox

Judge,
You r right.
We were going to buy a new 2021, but upon just looking at the quality, uck.
The salesman says “Thor will repair 5 items at their rally”
REALLY, repair before you ship it was my response then I said, Good Bye.
Bought this super c, I knew roughly the problems I was buying.

Terry

You probably made a wise move. A 2017 coach is going to have all of its belmishes either fixed or uncovered. The way the new ones look right now it's a crap shoot so you might as well head to Vegas and put everything you have on black.

When the day comes to sell my Magnitude, I'll be asking for top dollar. After all of the repairs and upgrades that I have done on top of what Thor has done as well. There won't be a better Super C out in the market!

Good Luck!

P.S. I just posted an answer to yoru sealant question.

[Roo]

Originally Posted by Jimbo56

Just my thoughts on the matter. You must realize even if you do find that Thor or warranty company will fix it, it won’t be quick. Your unit will sit somewhere quite a while, unusable by you.

It looks as though in the pictures that you’ve already taken some of it apart. You also state that they’re the worst welds you’ve ever seen. So you or a friend have experience with welding (?). I’d suggest that you finish taking the wood off, and get your buddy with the welder(and a 6 pack), and have at the fix yourself. It’ll be much better than before. And you’ll be back on the road enjoying your unit sooner. Plus, not to mention the bonding time with your buddy.

But a word of caution, no more than 6.

Yes, has already been many, many, many months. Not counting the months spent at a local RV repair place that pretty much gave up or just didn't want the work... whole other story......

1) I wouldn't consider myself a welder (even tho I did take one welding class many years ago in college) but I have worked around aircraft, cars, trucks, off-road vehicles etc. and watched countless hours of tv shows of the same and can spot a good or bad weld, as I am sure many on this forum could do the same. It's not that difficult especially with these welds (even my wife knows these are bad welds)

2) The problem is, with such confined quarters and welding aluminum, there is A LOT of smoke and fumes and the smell would forever be in everything in the interior. Let alone the possibility of setting it on fire.... For best results, the slide needs to be removed, remove the wood on the frame, re-weld and re-bond wood to frame and install slide out. Not in a hurry, just want it fixed, fixed right and to last....

And further more, doubt we could stop at just a 6 pack anyway.......

On another note, I emailed Thor, but no surprise, no response "yet"..... gonna give them the benefit of the doubt... but sure as hell not gonna hold my breath... (prolly being too nice on my part and gonna get screwed for it).

I also called my extended warranty and long story short, It sounds as if the repair shop told them it was the bedroom floor for some reason WFT ?!?! so of course it was denied, for the floor being one of the exclusion.

I explained to them, IT IS NOT the floor but the slide out frame.... Called the repair place and told them they need to call the warranty and explain better because there is definitely a disconnect and miscommunication somewhere, but trying to get them to do something that they have no "skin in the game" per se other than a pay day, is gonna be like pulling teeth, SO, what I may end up doing is taking a day off and going to the repair shop, calling the warranty peeps with the repair shop and me there together.....

[Scubawise]

Roo..sad sad story! Sounds like you need to trade it in..
It could take a long time to fix.
Wish you were in montana my repair guy would try and help.
Good luck..hang in there

[Roo]

Originally Posted by Scubawise

Roo..sad sad story! Sounds like you need to trade it in..
It could take a long time to fix.
Wish you were in montana my repair guy would try and help.
Good luck..hang in there

Thanks. Thought has crossed our minds and have come close but would lose our butts on trade. However, With the used RV market the way it is at the moment, we may still try to sell private party and see how we do but, we really like the coach and would want it fixed regardless and as you know no guarantees with the next one either.

How far is Montana from California anyway.....

[Pillbox]

1 blue state away…

[Parne]

Talk about shoddy workmanship and Thor standing behind their product.

[Cpd]

Originally Posted by Roo

Unfortunately, it is a 2018... Dealership tried to get Thor to cover it under "Good Will" but guess Thor has no good will.

Our 2018 freedom elite 30 fe was out of warranty. Problem with the slide, started the year before. I talked with thor cs and told him we were NOT paying for repair as it was shoddy workmanship. We got an appt , went to thor in wakarusa and it was fixed. Cost to us? 0, zip, nada and they fixed a few other things they noticed.

Don't give up. It didn't happen with the first call.

[Connieb]

We got a lawyer once for shoddy workmanship from Thor,and wrong parts. The best the lawyer could do was get us a new unit. No,no,no,

[chuckb]

Give this guy a call, he doesn't sue them but does what is called a letter of demand, got me a few thousand, and everything in my RV fixed, I have been out of warranty for a few years now and just got my final repairs about a week ago, no money upfront either. Talk to him can't hurt.

Mick Kennedy
Patrick Law Firm, PC
6244 E. Lovers Lane
Dallas, Texas 75214
(214) 390-3382 Direct
(214) 390-3343 Office
(469) 914-6565 Fax
mick@patricklaw.com

[Roo]

I got a response from Thor a few days ago, and as expected, they are not gonna cover it, no surprise there. It is a surprise (but not really) that they will not stand by their work/products. Ya, ya, ya, I know the factory warranty has expired (1 year warranty) but stand by your product and work Thor....

It is a sad thing that these RVs cost what they do and MOST people have to finance them for 10, 15, or 20 years to make them affordable... and you only get a 1, maybe 2 year factory warranty at best. Please..... The RV industry needs to be changed and have either a better warranty period or better quality control, or both...(ya right).......

Rant over......

So, as far as the extended warranty goes, there is still hope, albeit a small (very small) glimmer of hope that they may cover it.

I called the warranty peeps and they said the repair shop wrote up the work order as the bedroom floor was the issue. I explained to them that it is NOT the floor, but rather the slide out frame, any half wit can see that..... But since the repair shop wrote it up as such there was not much that I could do with them....

So then I called the repair shop and told them what the warranty peeps said, and of course they said no, that is not what they put in their repair order. I asked if they could call the warranty peeps and explain to them that it is NOT the floor but in fact the bedroom slideout frame, he said he would...

The next day I got a call from repair shop saying that the warranty peeps are gonna send out a third party person within 48 hrs to take a look and see what's up, this was all towards the end of last week. Still waiting to see if they showed, and what the determination is..... what a cluster .

[Edki45]

Originally Posted by Roo

I got a response from Thor a few days ago, and as expected, they are not gonna cover it, no surprise there. It is a surprise (but not really) that they will not stand by their work/products. Ya, ya, ya, I know the factory warranty has expired (1 year warranty) but stand by your product and work Thor....

It is a sad thing that these RVs cost what they do and MOST people have to finance them for 10, 15, or 20 years to make them affordable... and you only get a 1, maybe 2 year factory warranty at best. Please..... The RV industry needs to be changed and have either a better warranty period or better quality control, or both...(ya right).......

Rant over......

So, as far as the extended warranty goes, there is still hope, albeit a small (very small) glimmer of hope that they may cover it.

I called the warranty peeps and they said the repair shop wrote up the work order as the bedroom floor was the issue. I explained to them that it is NOT the floor, but rather the slide out frame, any half wit can see that..... But since the repair shop wrote it up as such there was not much that I could do with them....

So then I called the repair shop and told them what the warranty peeps said, and of course they said no, that is not what they put in their repair order. I asked if they could call the warranty peeps and explain to them that it is NOT the floor but in fact the bedroom slideout frame, he said he would...

The next day I got a call from repair shop saying that the warranty peeps are gonna send out a third party person within 48 hrs to take a look and see what's up, this was all towards the end of last week. Still waiting to see if they showed, and what the determination is..... what a cluster .

I have been having the same problem with my 2020 Axis 25.6 since the day I bought it. It has been to the factory and they said there was nothing wrong with it. Did you ever get your taken care of? If so, how?

[Edki45]

Roo, I have the same problem with mine ever since the day I bought it new. I sent it to the factory and they said there wasn't anything wrong with it. They did fix everything else. Did you ever get yours fixed? If so how?

[TheDustyGeek]

My bed frame looked very much like the OP's. If anyone else wants to try to tackle this on their own (e.g., out of warranty), here's some pictures of the rollers under the bed before and after my improvements.

Here's what it looked like underneath originally, which explains why the slide/bed frame started to tweak/bend on the outer cutouts (see the OPs pics). It's actually not the roller bracket that's bending, it's the frame member because it's soft pine and only held together by staples. Bed slide is out, and you're looking inside the cabinet under the bed where the electrical rat's nest is housed. There is a cut-out when the slide is out and the bed is retracted to allow access to the rat's nest.


Here's the other side with the roller removed. If you look closely, you can see the top is tilted a little forward.


And the roller was only held on by a handful of short #10 screws.


Here's my fix - a 1/2" piece of plywood, cut to size and glued+screwed into the frame (very rigid now). The roller was reattached with some lag bolts and washers. The lower screws are likely unnecessary, but added to keep it from slipping down should the lag bolts loosen up at all. Note this pic was taken with the slide in.


And because it wouldn't be one of my projects if I didn't introduce some overkill, so I added some extra rollers at the end of the cabinet because the bed really needs some extra support when the slide is in. It also helps quite a bit to support the end of the bed when it's out as well. What you don't see is another piece of plywood to make an L with the one you do see. The screws go through the roller bracket, through the plywood you see and into the edge of the one on the backside of the face frame. The one on the back side is screwed to the face frame to give some extra strength to the corner. It was also the easiest way I could come up with to attach the roller without doing something like removing the slide or tearing apart the face frame. Due to what I've done, most of the weight is transferred to the vertical face frame piece. Note this pic was taken with the slide in.


I wound up lifting the end of the bed something like 3-4" because it was sagging that much (almost hitting the cabinet frame), and flexing each and every time we ran the slide in/out. The entire slide+bed is perfectly level with the cabinet now, which is level with the floor and the entire bed is rock solid, either in or out.

[Scubawise]

Great job will help many

[Jimbo56]

Originally Posted by TheDustyGeek

My bed frame looked very much like the OP's. If anyone else wants to try to tackle this on their own (e.g., out of warranty), here's some pictures of the rollers under the bed before and after my improvements.

Here's what it looked like underneath originally, which explains why the slide/bed frame started to tweak/bend on the outer cutouts (see the OPs pics). It's actually not the roller bracket that's bending, it's the frame member because it's soft pine and only held together by staples. Bed slide is out, and you're looking inside the cabinet under the bed where the electrical rat's nest is housed. There is a cut-out when the slide is out and the bed is retracted to allow access to the rat's nest.


Here's the other side with the roller removed. If you look closely, you can see the top is tilted a little forward.


And the roller was only held on by a handful of short #10 screws.


Here's my fix - a 1/2" piece of plywood, cut to size and glued+screwed into the frame (very rigid now). The roller was reattached with some lag bolts and washers. The lower screws are likely unnecessary, but added to keep it from slipping down should the lag bolts loosen up at all. Note this pic was taken with the slide in.


And because it wouldn't be one of my projects if I didn't introduce some overkill, so I added some extra rollers at the end of the cabinet because the bed really needs some extra support when the slide is in. It also helps quite a bit to support the end of the bed when it's out as well. What you don't see is another piece of plywood to make an L with the one you do see. The screws go through the roller bracket, through the plywood you see and into the edge of the one on the backside of the face frame. The one on the back side is screwed to the face frame to give some extra strength to the corner. It was also the easiest way I could come up with to attach the roller without doing something like removing the slide or tearing apart the face frame. Due to what I've done, most of the weight is transferred to the vertical face frame piece. Note this pic was taken with the slide in.


I wound up lifting the end of the bed something like 3-4" because it was sagging that much (almost hitting the cabinet frame), and flexing each and every time we ran the slide in/out. The entire slide+bed is perfectly level with the cabinet now, which is level with the floor and the entire bed is rock solid, either in or out.

Damn nice job! Thanks for pics too. When can I schedule mine into your shop?

[GVP-The Boxcar Children]

Wow what a horrible experience. We too have had issues with our dealer, and our extended warranty folks. I'm appreciative of the fact that I as a baby boomer can still do most of our needed repairs, and that is my intention going forward as much as possible.

So sorry to hear of your difficulties!
Gary

GVP

[Roo]

So latest update, Extended warranty is not gonna cover repair (they say structural and is not covered) and after submitting to Thor again, they are still not gonna cover the repair either (Thor says coach is out of its messily 1 year warranty period). So guess I am stuck holding the bag

Not sure if it would be worth looking into getting a lawyer, the time and money spent doing that, could just pay for the repair myself.

[Judge]

Originally Posted by Roo

So latest update, Extended warranty is not gonna cover repair (they say structural and is not covered) and after submitting to Thor again, they are still not gonna cover the repair either (Thor says coach is out of its messily 1 year warranty period). So guess I am stuck holding the bag

Not sure if it would be worth looking into getting a lawyer, the time and money spent doing that, could just pay for the repair myself.

The cost of a lawyer outweighs the cost of the repair... unless the lawyer can get a lot more out of the litigation and after his fees it is still worth it to you.

I would get a wrriten denial from then warranty company stating it is structural. The I would look at the details of the Thor Structural Warranty and send the Thor waranty info, your extended warranty denial and pictures to the CEO at Thor and ask him about the Structural Warranty Thor touts about being so great.