I am trying to find out if it is common practice to simply be misled perpetually, or if this treatment is specific to me. I suspect this is all highly unusual (I certainly hope so), but would appreciate any input from those who may have been through it before. As concisely as I can describe the situation, I have a motorhome that apparently cannot be fixed.
I purchased a brand new Diesel Pusher from another state about a year and a half ago. My wife and I enrolled our kids into a private online school, and set off to travel the country. The problems began from the date of purchase, when constant service delays kept us from being able to have our coach picked up and delivered to us. The same problems have been persistent, albeit intermittent, ever since. There are times when it seems to be working fine, but at other times, the electrical system will essentially shut itself off. This means no lights, no A/C, no furnace, no water pump, no slides, etc. It is particularly troublesome in extreme heat or cold. Furthermore, two sets of house batteries went bad within the first year, and both roof A/C units went bad within the first eight months, along with other misc. items. It seems to probably be affecting the entire electrical system.
Including the initial service when this began on the dealer's lot, it has now been in for service 7 times for this issue alone, at six different Thor authorized service locations around the country (and I am not including other repair and Freightliner service stops in that figure). I have been told that this electrical issue is fixed and/or working properly multiple times, but the problem keeps resurfacing. (Last November, after the fourth service stop related to this same issue, I was begging Thor to let me take it to their factory for a fix, but was told this was absolutely not an option.)
Eventually, after a year of perpetual troubles, and still nobody willing to get me in for service despite serious safety issues (we just left 9 weeks of service in VA with no luck), I sent a certified letter to Thor to initiate a different response. As it turns out, the Thor factory is, in fact, available for service. At the time, however, I was now unwilling to drop it off on my own. I told Thor that I would not backtrack. It was problematic enough with the issues described above, but in addition to that, the dashboard hadn't worked since Virginia (it remained totally dark with no gauges the entire trip to Seattle -- roughly 3k miles). I suspect you can feel my frustration by this point.
The liaison at Thor asked for my cooperation to work this out together, essentially to avoid getting state attorney generals or other legal entities involved. I was happy to cooperate. I'd been all around the country just trying to get things to work properly, but I was running out of options, as I had significant safety issues, an expiring warranty, refusal of timely service everywhere I called, and six previous repair attempts for the same issue with no resolution. The liaison assured me he can make it right, and gave me his word that he'd tell me if they can't. The obvious implication, if it wasn't stated outright, was that they'd repurchase the vehicle if they can't fix it.
He told me they'd pick up the coach and would need 28 days once it arrived in Indiana. I said to go ahead and take 45 days. Ultimately, he agreed in writing (through e-mail) to provide an extended warranty, that the timeframe shall not exceed 45 days, and that they would hire a third party inspector to verify everything had been resolved and was working as designed.
To date, they have failed on every item. It has now been three months since it arrived in Indiana for service. They ignored my request to repurchase the vehicle since they can't meet their end of the agreement. Thor claims the 45 day timeframe was only relevant if they didn't find anything that would take them more time. Furthermore, they never provided the verbiage for the extended warranty, and they have yet to provide a report from a third party inspector... but they tell me one has been out twice to check everything for them. In short, they keep telling me it's ready to send back, but they have not done anything they promised, or at least aren't willing to directly state that they have.
I've stated twice that they are welcome to ship it back... as long as they state in writing that they've done everything possible to be sure the main electrical issue has been identified, rectified, and resolved, and that this has been verified by a third party. I'm simply asking them to state in writing that they did what was promised, so that I'm not given the coach back a seventh time with simply, "it seems to be working fine right now."
I am trying to be concise, but there is plenty more. I'm simply at a loss as Thor already has completely dismissed the timeframe they agreed to, won't provide extended warranty verbiage as promised, and won't even state that the issue is resolved... and yet keeps trying to send the coach back to me. If any of you have dealt with this, or anything remotely similar, I'm very interested in hearing your recommendations as to my next steps. Is it their standard practice to simply ignore agreements, refuse and delay, rinse and repeat? Has anyone ever heard of them voluntarily doing the right thing and admitting that something cannot be fixed (if that is the case)? This has merely become a very expensive paperweight that just sits halfway across the country. I can only hope that I'm alone in this kind of treatment for non-functioning motorhomes. I know that motorhomes will have problems, but this feels extreme.
Thanks in advance.
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