Arn't we a strange bunch!?

We read about on going problems with the satellite TV hook up and the air conditioner not blowing air and we still take them home after a PDI knowing they wont work! I conceder myself pretty well informed and did about as much research as anyone and I did the very same thing!! To my defense the coach was in a wash bay for the PDI and the air seemed pretty good with no sun on the roof. Had my fingers crossed that the satellite deal had been dealt with as the dealer has no dish to check it and I forgot mine at home. After all hooking up a dish is as about a simple thing as can be done. I see our "06" two weeks old and another gentleman has a coach that is an "07" and a 100 serial numbers newer and still no air conditioning. The diverter mod takes minutes to do. Is anyone listening!
On a parting note: my buddy has a Sunny Brook and I found out their satellite didnt work when they brought it home either!

Hay other than that ChopperBill hows the BigHorn. I have had a pretty good experience with my Golden Gate so far 9 months and counting.

Mr Bill
I agree with Cooper, It seems that we have heard so much about the few items that you have had issues with, what about the items that are good! I am very happy with my bighorn, and I know a lot of other people who are also.

Not saying the BH isn't a nice rig it is just a couple of the problems that I knew about and brought it home anyway. My fault. Have lots complements on how nice it looks. I brought mine home 2 weeks ago and have not used it yet. Taking it back to the dealer to get some work done before our first voyage. Fixed the a/c my self thanks to this forum. No vacuum hoses, no big deal. 3 day night shades bad, no biggy. Euro chairs mis matched. No biggy. Day light showing threw a slide when its in. A biggy. Don't need water on the inside. Satellite doesn't work. Got kind of POED as this is an on going problem. Spent a couple of frustrating hours and decided to let the dealer mess with it when it goes back. Water coming out from inside the belly when I turn the valves to "drain" Not good. No 12v outlet in the bedroom cabinet but have a non connected satellite outlet. May have dealer install Prosine inverter when it in there so that will work out. I have found a ton of saw dust and wood cut outs in the compartments, even under the TV. Nothing that cant be cleaned but would have been real easy to do when the coach was built. Think that is normal in the RV industry. Darn glad I bought from a local dealer as they seem more than ready to remedy these problems.
Great looking coach, look forward to the first trip. But, correct me if I am out of line, would like everything to work on that outing. I purchased long before I REALLY needed it as we still have our truck camper so have time to "get r done"
on edit: just got home and looked at my to do list and there were 4 more items but did not want to turn this into a belly aching thread because it started as "why we bring 'em home when we know things are wrong". I know its going to fixed and have NO buyers remorse as I think I still make the right choice and have great factory participation here.

I am glad this forum has an ignore list feature.

I hear you, ChopperBill. We are strange bunch to expect that a new fiver should be clean, have properly working systems, and be built to spec when we pick it up. You have every right to post your concerns. I don't believe; however, that was really your intent. I think you are simply saying that you are still happy with your decision to buy a BH, as I think most of us are, you were just inquiring why we all seem to accept some of these common problems at PDI and take the rig home anyway.

So, to stay on topic, I would say that we accept these problems because we have a great forum that will help us to resolve them. That is not to say that we SHOULD, we just do. It is a "safety net."

Please feel free to correct me if I didn't understand your intent properly.

terawatt said:

I hear you, ChopperBill. We are strange bunch to expect that a new fiver should be clean, have properly working systems, and be built to spec when we pick it up. You have every right to post your concerns. I don't believe; however, that was really your intent. I think you are simply saying that you are still happy with your decision to buy a BH, as I think most of us are, you were just inquiring why we all seem to accept some of these common problems at PDI and take the rig home anyway.

So, to stay on topic, I would say that we accept these problems because we have a great forum that will help us to resolve them. That is not to say that we SHOULD, we just do. It is a "safety net."

Please feel free to correct me if I didn't understand your intent properly.

Click to expand...

THANKS for reading my post as it was intended! I think our BH is still our best choice and I was looking at other manufactures that have been in business for decades. I call a spade a spade and always will. Never did learn anything or get any help from dancing fairies throwing rose petals.
I still think it is kind of funny how I knew about a couple of known problems and wrote the check and hooked it up, what the post started about. I have a great dealer and am looking forward to many, many trouble free years in my Bighorn. I will post them for all to see if you haven't put me on your ignore list.

I read some other forums and I have to say that our problems pale in comparison to others. Sure they could get better, but I believe that is why Heartland participates in this forum. They want to the be the best and understand the listening to customer concerns and acting on them is the quickest way to accomplish their goal. How could they possibly improve if they never received any criticism? I think it is a ridiculous idea to ONLY mention good things.

I'll one up you. I had my rig in to look at the ac flow problem and, after reading TimK's post, called the dealer and told them to stop working the problem because I knew how to fix it. I used the fix, and it works great. To solidify my point, I think, since we read this forum, that we know how to fix the problem better than the dealer. This is also true when we first pick up our rig. We are so excited, that we ignore the problems thinking that we can fix them later ourselves. In the same way that everyone thinks their opinions are right, we also think that we know how to fix things better than others.

One other semi consoling item. I called a very, very knowledgeable computer/dish installer today about putting a dish on the roof. I told him my interest and mentioned the connections didnt work like they should, just to let him know he would have some additional work. His reply. "Not surprised!" He has worked on about every RV made to get the satellite working, including the high, high dollar Provost motor homes. Seems that NO one gets it right! Kind of gave me a warm fuzzy feeling that I wasn't the only one "picked" on.
I guess I am an over achiever in some respect. Had a camper that advertised the size of their black water tank. After a couple of trips I began to question it and proceed to take a container and measure the gallons it took to fill it. Was 4 gallons shy! May not seem large but when you have less than 20 gallons to start with thats a lot of poop! Called the manufacturer and told him of the deal. He called back and did the same thing and said I was right and the tank manufacture had shorted him. They immediately had a new tank built and gave us more than originally advertised. All new campers have the correct tanks. Had no one took the time to question it and the manufacturer had ignored it nothing would have happened.

Thanks

Chopperbill,
Thanks for posting what you do. I don't consider what you or anyone else on this forum does as complaining only for complainings sake. We all share information and ideas about fixes. And like you said, these things aren't perfect and none are. Therefore all the help and heads-up that we can give each other just puts us ahead in the game. Thanks man.

ChopperBill let us know how you come out at the dealers. My first trip back to the dealer I had to do some let say loud talking but, sense then they have been great.