Prospective Buyer - Concerns / Questions

First of all I would like to thank Jim for doing a great job with this forum and I would like to also thank Scott and the other People from Heartland who are taking the time to listen and help their customers. Because of all of you the Sundance has been pushed towards the top of my list.


This will be our first RV purchase and I am trying to do plenty of research before spending thirty some thousand dollars. We were given a travel trailer by my wife’s father and the bug bit us hard after that! I have a few concerns / questions I would like to ask everyone. I have been reading about the toilet not holding water, the shower surround leaking and Flex Guard issues. I have seen AC and plumbing issues in the Bighorn, has anyone been having these issues with the Sundance? Has Heartland done or plan on doing anything about these issues? I may be wrong but, I believe the manufacturer should take care of these issues before shipping them to the dealer and hoping the dealer will take care of the issues during dealer prep.

I want to thank everyone in advance for your time and knowledge, you are the people who make rving so relaxing and enjoyable.


Thank you,
Wes



 
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RugRat

Well-known member
I haven't had any of the issues with my Sundance yet. Everything appears to be working fine. I did do the A/C mod to blow more air to the bedroom. Big improvement.
 
RugRat, thanks for the reply! How happy are you with your purchase? If you were able to do your purchase over again, what would you do different? I am looking at the 2800RLS and the 2900RK. I wish Heartland had a floor plan like the McKenzie Starwood LX 31RED, Holiday Rambler Savoy LX 31RED or the Starwood / Savoy SL 29RES. My top 3 manufacturers are Heartland Sundance, Monaco Starwood / Savoy and Jayco’s Eagle / Jay Flight. One concern I have is Service. The local Heartland dealer I went to made an inadvertent comment that they will not do warranty work on units that were not purchased from them. This worries me because I do not think they will deal with me on price and I have no Idea how good their service department is. RVSFORLESS is about 8 hours travel from me and I have read from other posts on this Forum that they are a fantastic dealer. The local Starwood and Jayco dealers are Route 66 Network Dealers. Any comments, suggestions, experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Wes
 

RugRat

Well-known member
So far I am happy with my purchase. There are a few small items. I am a little concerned that during my walk through I pointed out a problem with the entry doors and the dealer is still waiting for the factory to send new ones almost 3 months later. I think that you get a lot of nice options for the price. If I had to do it over again, I might have bought a Mountaineer 342PHT which had a slide in the bunk area. I have heard good things too about RVFORLESS and would contact Heartland directly to discuss what would be done if you needed warranty work and local dealer wouldn't perform the service. They may authorize the warrantly work at another dealer. I had to work hard to get the price I wanted at my local dealer, but in the end I am happy I purchased locally. Otherwise, I would have purchased from RVFORLESS or Lakeshore RV. It does seem that Heartland is honestly concerned with making sure quality problems are fixed.
 
RugRat,
I want to thank you for all your help and suggestions, I hope you can get your door taken care of. The more I read I can see that Scott and the others from Heartland are really trying. I’m not ready to purchase yet and haven’t made up my mind what brand I will purchase. If I decide to purchase a Sundance, I will talk to the dealer and see what he can do for me. Again, thank you for your time.


Thanks,
Wes
 

Scott

Well-known member
Sorry I didn't get drift of this thread earlier. I know there are not a lot of SD owners on this forum, but I think you can tell from the other HEARTLAND owners that we do our best to stand behind our coaches once they get out in the field, as well as heed the input of our dealers and customers to help improve the products as we build them.
ST
 
Scott,
Thank you for your reply. I know you are extremely busy. I can tell you try to help all of your customers and you really care. What I am seeing is the difficulty in finding a dealer that will take care of the issues that will arise. I hate to spend a large amount of money and have to spend my own time to fix warranty and other issues. As I get closer to making a decision on what coach I am going to purchase, I may have more questions. Thank you again for your time.

Thanks,
Wes
 
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fireflipper

EX-Travel Bug
Fireflipper

William family
As I stated in a post previosly, think about the dealer. I had problems with mine while full timing, and Heartland authorized a RV repair center to fix the problems. I did have to pay for the repairs but was reimbursed in a very timely manner. So this may be an option for you. By the way, there will be a Sundance at RV's for Less by this weekend if you feel like taking a drive.
 
Fireflipper,
I remember reading a thread where someone let their son use their new Sundance and they had problems with their slide. He ended up getting it fixed on the road and heartland reimbursed them. I have seen the two versions: 2900RK and the 2800RLS at the local dealers. They seem to be very nice coaches, do worry about many of the issues I have read on the forum such as leaking shower, toilet not holding water, microwave issues, wiring and plumbing issues. Of course poor RickNB and the experience he had last weekend. I do know that there will be minor issues with any coach purchased and Heartland is going thru growing pains. As long as they are trying to fix these issues during assembly and taking care of the customer after the sale, which is what I see them trying to do. Thanks fireflipper for the help, I am glad you are close enough to a good dealer to take care of you.

Thanks,
Wes
:)
 

fireflipper

EX-Travel Bug
fireflipper

Williams Family
the Sundance that will be at RV's For Less is a 3200 ES. I have not seen a Sundance yet, but will tomorrow when I get to the factory. Good Luck on your hunt and remember that every manufacturer has problems. They don't have forums like this one to help you out, and if there was they probably would not give their support to it like Heartland has to this one. My first fiver was a Carriage, had it for allmost a year and no problems. My camping buddies said I just got lucky. Well one of them bought a CArriage and had problems so you just never know what will be.
 
Thanks fireflipper, this forum and the great job Jim has done with it is why I will probably purchase a Heartland product. Have a good trip to the factory and send me a private message about your thoughts on the factory tour. Thank you again and have a safe trip!

Wes
 
From what I have read and learned when I was looking for a mid-profile trailer (copper canyon, jayco eagle, cougar) is that the sundance has a better build in these areas:
-aluminum roof walls and floor
-central docking with hose for both sides
-side windows that open in slide (note cougar does this too)
-The eagle didn't have a bedroom slide. (however maybe able to get as option)
-The r-value was better than the eagle
-The sundance tends to use more wood trim between walls and ceiling
-protective sheath around the wireing
-fiberglass has gel coat (cougar did to) however sundance is suppose to have a double layer of board to hide seams. However I still see the seams, I wonder if other sundance owers see the seams or if its just me.

Another trailer that I liked and seemed to have the same build specs. Was the durango however could not convince the dealer to sell for the price that I wanted.

My suggestion would be to go to a dealer that has mutiple units of the sundance model that you want and do your own inspection. Here are some issues that I found with mine that you should check.

-look under wheel wells where the slide is see if you can see carpet sticking out. If so stay away this will draw water into the trailer. I think that this was not intended however I ordered two trailers from the factory and that is how they came. Sent an email to Scott and I'am waiting for his reply. I will be fixing this by ordering slide rubber from the factory and using it to cover the exposed carpet.

-take your shoes off and rub your feet along the vinyl floor to feel for lumps. These are most likely screws that werent placed properly. I found four spots. I don't know how to fix and pray that they won't wear through.

-go on the roof check all the seams and look for bumps. I found one which is due to a screw sticking up. I figure that this will wear through and eventually I will have to tighten and patch.

-inside feel around each window. I had two of mine where the inside frame was sticking out about 1/4 inch from the wall. This was due to the window opening not being the right size and the installer trying to force the window in as best as he could. One of the windows has hammer marks from his efforts.

-If I can I will go to the dealership when it is raining and check all the doors and compartments for leaks and water stains. To me this is the most important test the sundance seems to have a good seal.

-Check each compartment door and make sure each latch will hold the door closed. When the second trailer arrived one of the door was held closed with a bungy cord. ( the dealer has fixed this by bending the trim around the door however the problem is from the frame around the compartment area not being the right size or them failing to use shims)


Even with all this the styleing, build specs, price, types and sizes of windows, features were unmatched from what I had too choose from in my area. The problem was I could not choose a good one from a fleet I had to keep ordering and was under pressure because I was nice enough to let the dealer sell my old trailer. So I decided that I didn't want to wait anymore and accepted the trailer with its issues. I have complete faith that the dealer will do what they can to fix these problems. And that heartlandrv will also respond to my issues with solution ideas of there own.
The fact that they have this form is good I just hope they act upon what is said, I will let you know.
 
nucheophile j,

The info you gave was great! As a knew buyer, this will help me immensely. I copied your post to a word document where I have notes for doing a PDI when it is time. PM me and let me know how everything turns out for you. I have been thru almost all the floor plans except 2800 and 3300 bunk houses and the 2500RS. We weren’t looking at them anyway. When I went thru the 2700RL I happened to see nails sticking through woodwork and the shower sweep fell off when the salesman opened the shower door. The dealer had been taking parts from this trailer to fix others and I didn’t have a good feeling about it. The bad part was that this was my first Sundance to go thru. Then we walked over to a 2900RK, 2900MK and a 3200ES. They all looked fine, I was impressed. Then I went to the other dealer and he had a 2800RLS and I really liked it. We have some time before we buy anything, I would like to make a trip to the factory for a tour soon. Thanks for all you help and let me know how things turn out for you.

Thanks,
Wes
:)
 

RickNB

Well-known member
Hi Wes
Just thought I would give you a note on the 2800RLS . We like our 2800 floorplan except for when we have the hide a bed unfolded for sleeping use there is no room to get from the living room to the door without going over the top of the bed because when it is down the end of the bed is almost touching the L portion of the sink cabinet. This is not a great inconvenience for ua as ther is normaly only the 2 of us onboard but sometimes we do have company and it makes it a little crowded. Something we should do when looking at units is make sure we see them in all configurations, Slides in beds down etc.

Have Fun

Rick
 
Rick,
I was wondering about that when I saw it at the dealer. It is funny how you forget to do basic things while looking at a coach. It really doesn’t help when it is over 100 degrees outside. It’s pretty warm in the coach and the heat is irritating your wife. :rolleyes: How does that 2800 pull behind that HD 1500?

Thanks,
Wes​
 

RickNB

Well-known member
:) Wes the 1500HD 6.1 pulls the 2800 quite well to be honest with you It handles it great as far as steering and stopping ( the Prodigy is the only way to go) for sure the hills causes the Tow/Haul mode to downshift but we havnt found a hill yet that we didnt handle with out any problem. We spent a week in the White Mountains of New Hampshire this July and I thought was a pretty good test for it. We also have some pretty good hills here in New Brunswick as a matter of fact we are either going up hill or down in this country not much level country. As for gas mileage I dont know its alot but when i got into RVing I told myself that that was something I wasnt going to be worrying about when it needs gas I fill it up till the next time. When I cant afford to buy the gas I sell the rig:)

Have Fun

Rick
 
Rick,
I have a Prodigy that I use with my existing TT and love it. After what you just wrote my ¾ ton Diesel should have no problems, I know the 31’ TT we have the truck seems to toy with. Take care and good luck, let me know what you do with your dump valve issue!

Thanks,
Wes
 

fireflipper

EX-Travel Bug
fireflipper

TO Ricknb
Just a thought on your sofa situation. Most of, if not all, Heartland products are made so that the chairs and sofa are interchangable. So try moving the sofa over to the raer window when you need to use it. That way you will not have to crawl over it.
 

RickNB

Well-known member
Wes & fireflipper thanks for the replys.

Wes an update on the black valve . The service guy came over Friday but due to some mixup at the office he brought a new valve instead of a cable so I am sitting home this weekend kind of inop on the black tank I could lay on my back and open and cloase the valve manualy by reaching up inside with a pair of vice grips but after lastweeks episode I just thought it would be easier to stay home:( . They are supposed to be back on tuesday to change the cable . I suggest to maybe look at a redesign but that didnt seem to think that would be any better. Of course he would have to do a lot more work to do that so........

Fireflipper thanks for the suggestion on the sofa but I had already measured that and it wont work by the back window the L shape of the cabinets just makes it too narrow to go that way too. We have though that we may change the table and chairs with the sofa position that way the sofa flods out on the narrow part of the cabinets.

Wes when you are looking at units take a close look at the quality and feel of the chairs in the Sundance actualy try sitting in one for a few minutes . We have had ours replaced by our dealer after 2 weeks use the fabric had stretched and become very saggy and they are not at all comfortable to sit in for a long time . The new ones which are identical to the first set turned out to be the same. I know that the chairs are not top of the line quality but we were hoping they would serve uu for at least a year or two and then we would replace them with something better. If we were doing it again we would try to bargain a better set at purchase time and pay a premium if necessary. There is no way that these chairs are going to be usable after a year.:(

Have Fun
Rick
 
Rick,
I had heard about the chairs not lasting long. I figured I would use them until they wore out and then purchase a good set of recliners from a furnature store, It would be alot cheaper I would think.

Thanks,
Wes
:)
 
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