Warranty repairs

[HappyRetiree]

We recently purchased a 2019 Tuscany. Shortly thereafter, my wife and I took the RV out for a 2 day shakedown trip. As would be expected we found several issues. Some minor and a couple needing more urgent attention. I provided a type written list of all the items and went over them 1 by 1 with the Service Manager when I dropped off the RV. I was told they would submit the repairs to Thor for their decision as to if they would be covered by the mfg warranty. Does anyone have experience with this process? Does Thor generally respond to the dealer quickly.

[Judge]

It can take time for Thor to respond back to the dealers. If you think about the number of dealers and the number of new rigs under warranty, it could take several days to a couple weeks for the dealer to get an answer from Thor.

Because of the horror stories of dealers having rigs for weeks and months to complete repairs, we opted to wait until the end of season last year after purchasing ours in August 2018.

We made a list and took it to the dealer at the end of October. There were some major items like a roof leak, floor flexing in the bathroom and a plumbing issue among some other minor things. The dealer did not complete the repairs until mid-January.

For the floor issue, the dealer even told us that Thor may request we take it to their Service Center in Indiana. Thor did eventually approve the dealer fixing / reinforcing the floor after waiting a few weeks to hear back and the dealer did a very god job.

That being said we still have a leak and are waiting for Thor to give us a date to take it to their Service Center to fix along with a few other things before the warranty expires next month.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by HappyRetiree

Does Thor generally respond to the dealer quickly.

I think the answer to that is almost always - yes.
The real question is:

Does the dealer submit the request to Thor in a timely manner?

Lotsa stories on here about dealers that don't, and then try to blame Thor for dragging their feet.

[HappyRetiree]

Thanks sir for your quick reply. I’m hoping the dealer will work with us in that I don’t want to leave the rv with them for extended weeks or months. To me that would be unreasonable. I’m hoping that once they have evaluated and determined an action plan, they will allow me to pickup the rv and call when they the parts are available ready to schedule the repairs.

Do you happen to know if Thor can confirm to the owner if warranty work request was made?

[Judge]

You can call Thor Customer Service and give them your VIN and they can tell you if the dealer requested the warranty repairs and ordered parts, if approved.

[RDC54]

Originally Posted by HappyRetiree

We recently purchased a 2019 Tuscany. Shortly thereafter, my wife and I took the RV out for a 2 day shakedown trip. As would be expected we found several issues. Some minor and a couple needing more urgent attention. I provided a type written list of all the items and went over them 1 by 1 with the Service Manager when I dropped off the RV. I was told they would submit the repairs to Thor for their decision as to if they would be covered by the mfg warranty. Does anyone have experience with this process? Does Thor generally respond to the dealer quickly.

In my experience with our 2018 Compass, when we went through our dealer to address warranty issues, it took a long time (days to weeks) to get an answer from Thor, and it wasn’t always the answer we wanted. Not to mention the long wait times to get parts shipped from Thor. In addition, the local dealer made several attempts to address some warranty issues, and STILL couldn’t fix them (freshwater tank leak...3 trips to the dealer to fix it. Squeaking house door...3 attempts to fix, and still squeaking). It was very frustrating...

The situation changed when I contacted Thor directly, and made arrangements to take the rig to the service center in Indiana. They were absolutely great! Because it was the middle of winter, and our warranty expired in March, they actually extended the manufacturers warranty to give us time to get the rig out of winter storage and drive it down to them. The technician met us with a personalized binder containing a list of all our issues (based on emails exchanged), and did a walk through with us to discuss problems and hear our concerns. They addressed all of our concerns, and spotted/addressed several things that we hadn’t noticed. And because we dropped our rig off (vs trying to live in the rig while they were doing repairs) they got everything done quickly...we were back home in a week, with a rig that was literally in better shape than when we bought it new! I know others have had a different experience with the service center in Wakarusa, but I can’t say enough good things about our experience there.

[HappyRetiree]

Thanks. That’s great news. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiences. I’m new to this adventure and want know we aren’t being fed bs or excuses.

[TurnerFam]

from experience:

A) never just 'drop off' your Motorcoach to any dealer and just 'wait' for them to magically do everything as you expect - usually your expectations are way different than theirs.

B) Thor dealers pretty much ALREADY know what's covered by warranty, as this is why they are considered an 'Authorized Dealer', so that the process is easy and quick. Other non-Thor or non-authorized dealers can do the work, too, even 'mobile' RV services, but they have to then submit their requests for coverages and hourly pay schedule payments to Thor and get a response before they will proceed - since they don't know if they'll get 'paid' as they expect. Thor is not in the business of punishing owners by 'dragging their feet', but there is a process to the request.

C) for any coach, but ESPECIALLY the higher end ones like yours, I would call/email Thor's Service Center and have them schedule you at their WAKARUSA, IN factory service center, right next to where your new coach was built, for ON-SITE service and repair, WHILE YOU WAIT, with FREE 50amp service, for as many nights as you need - look at it as a 'vacation' with the professionals, and several factories tours while you wait. They come and get your Coach at 7am, and bring it back to your site at 4pm, so that you have the continued use of it the whole time you are there, whether a single day, or several.
The factory service center has the parts and the professionals to handle anything you can throw at them, and it's all taken care of when you arrive - no 'dropping off' and hoping someone will eventually call you back - it's done right before your eyes... a very nice experience.

D) most folks don't realize that you don't have to run to the dealer and have something 'fixed' immediately, especially if it's not something that really interferes with your traveling or short term enjoyment - if you let the service center start a Warranty scheduled appointment for you, even if your appointment is not for 6 months in the future, due to their backlog, you'll still be covered by the warranty even if your's has 'officially' run out by then.

[HappyRetiree]

Thank you Turnerfam. I appreciate your response and depending on how my experience goes with my local dealer, I will definitely keep the factory service in mind.

[pavemike]

I took mine to CW (bought it from a different dealer) with a small list of warranty items, most important was a leak in the windshield. The service manager told me to give Thor customer service a call in a couple of days. He said Thor tends to react quicker to the customer than they do a dealer. Two days later I called Thor. The gentleman I spoke to looked at the list sent by CW and a couple of pictures they sent of the windshield leak. He told me the warranty work would be approved the next day. Sure enough, CW called me at 8:30 the next morning to tell me they received approval from Thor and they would schedule the windshield tech to replace the seal that week. I was impressed with the response from Thor. I also have to give the service manager at CW a pat on the back for giving me that piece of advice.

[HappyRetiree]

Pavemike, Thank you for your response and advice. This forum is great for helpful information. I hope I can be as helpful someone soon.

[axis earl]

Originally Posted by HappyRetiree

Pavemike, Thank you for your response and advice. This forum is great for helpful information. I hope I can be as helpful someone soon.

Happy,
The previous comments are all the same things that I would have told you based on my experience with Thor. I have dealt with SOB company and it was the same with the difference being shorter time. One thing I decided to do early on- written correspondence via email. People tend to forget telephone calls, especially at the dealership. You can forward responses to the dealership that you receive from Thor.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by TurnerFam

from experience: ...


D) most folks don't realize that you don't have to run to the dealer and have something 'fixed' immediately, especially if it's not something that really interferes with your traveling or short term enjoyment - if you let the service center start a Warranty scheduled appointment for you, even if your appointment is not for 6 months in the future, due to their backlog, you'll still be covered by the warranty even if your's has 'officially' run out by then.

One word of caution, there are some items that must be identified, recorded and verified, within the first 30 days (or other time frame) of ownership or they are not covered under warranty. This includes "fit and finish" items such as scratches on wood work, flooring or window treatments. Even if the dealer cannot get you in due to being overloaded have these warranty issues recorded with dealer verification prior to the time limit. Read the warranty to identify which items are handled in this manner and take action accordingly. In my case I got the Thor customer service rep to verify my trim issues via email with pictures and the issues were handled 9 months later.

Again, just a word of caution and suggestion to read and understand the disclaimers in the warranty.

[HappyRetiree]

All good advice.

Thanks !

[Hooligan2]

My experience with THor warranty approval. I had several problems, none major, when RV was new, dealer had Thor approval and parts on order that morning when tech discussed his results. Appointment was made to complete repair when parts received.
One exception was a tear in the overhead bunk mattress. New mattress took several weeks to arrive. Thor does not warehouse parts, everything is scheduled to arrive at factory as needed to install. Mattress and fabric was special order.
I really agree with 'check with Thor after a few days to confirm work order, approval and parts ordered'. There was a post here earlier, that after several weeks "waiting for parts from Thor" an irritated call to Thor determined they had no paperwork on problem or repair. Dealers reply then was "when we can get the unit into the shop we will order the parts"...

[M&M_MURPHYS]

I am sure it varies by dealer. In our experience the (large CA Bay Area) dealer we used first took 10 weeks to turn our unit around.

The process - They take the unit in and go over details with the owner. Next they schedule their Tech to look over everything and write up the problems from his prospective. Next they get THOR authorization. Next they order your parts. Only when parts arrive will they schedule you for the work. This process was outlined as an 8 week process but in our case it literally took 10 weeks. They had our rig the whole time we waited. We did not have the option of getting the rig back while the process was going on. Very bad experience I will not dwell on any more here.

The next time we took it in for warranty service we found a great smaller repair shop who does not sell RVs. They looked at everything, ordered parts and scheduled the repairs. We took the unit home and used it until our appt date. We brought it back and they got everything fixed in a couple of days.

The interesting thing was that they requested warranty repair approvals from THOR but we were on the hook for anything THOR would not cover. In our case everything was covered by THOR.

In short, it depends on the repair facility. Hopefully you have one near by that will not tie up your rig for weeks while they fumble around with their process. I am very happy with the second repair shop we tried and have been using them since.

[Alex Morgan]

I'm really pleased to the Thor customer care service. they always dedicated to their job and try to deliver best.

[lwmcguire]

Originally Posted by Judge

You can call Thor Customer Service and give them your VIN and they can tell you if the dealer requested the warranty repairs and ordered parts, if approved.

Very best thing to do, keep them in the loop and nothing gets lost in translation

[Badmanrick]

Always and I repeat always call the manufacturer customer service first and advise them your problems. They will usually have a pre approval for your local service dealer.

[Satonit]

Originally Posted by HappyRetiree

We recently purchased a 2019 Tuscany. Shortly thereafter, my wife and I took the RV out for a 2 day shakedown trip. As would be expected we found several issues. Some minor and a couple needing more urgent attention. I provided a type written list of all the items and went over them 1 by 1 with the Service Manager when I dropped off the RV. I was told they would submit the repairs to Thor for their decision as to if they would be covered by the mfg warranty. Does anyone have experience with this process? Does Thor generally respond to the dealer quickly.

Just got notified today ( Saturday ) that my new 2018 Windsport which has been at the dealers for 7 weeks, is finally ready to go and bring home. Parts are major problem ! Takes 7 - 14 days from Indiana to central PA. totally inexcusable !