How many do their own warranty work?

I did my own day/night shade adjustments, fixed a short in the TV cable connection, re-did a bedroom door striker, re-wired a bassackwards switch, the TimK tent in the vent mod, and various other do-dads. Closet door latch broke and water heater thermostat went bad. Just going to order the parts and fix them myself. Parts wont be over $30 and some of my time to replace them. To me the hassle of going to a dealer and messing with delays and hauling it to them just isn't worth it. At the PDI I found a TV cable connection bad and told the dealer. They said they had to take pictures of the cable connection and email them to Heartland and get permission to fix it. That meant I had to leave the trailer there or take it back at a later date. What a crock! I am sure Heartland wouldn't mind them fixing a cable connection without all the red tape. Told them I would fix it myself. One two bit connector and five minutes time and I had it fixed. None of the repairs surprised or upset me. Its just part of the RV experience plus they were just simple little things. Anyone else do their own warranty project or am I just and easy target?

Heck No...you're not an easy target. We too did virtually all of our warranty work, except of course, the one major issue we had with a sidewall. Other than that, why bother? Especially since we live in it...there's no way we could take it back to fix or adjust every little thing that need it.

Anyone who wants to own an RV, or for that matter a boat, better be handy and ready to tackle what needs to be done.

I have performed all my warranty work and miscellaneous repairs on our 2008 Sundance travel trailer. I agree the hassle of taking it back to a dealer was just not worth it to me. Everything I have done has cost me very little since it was mostly adjustments and mislabeling isues. The biggest issue I have experienced is oven pilot that just occurred this year which cost me $60 for a local appliance repairman to come to my house and perform the fix.

Me too. I why spend $60 worth of diesel to have some 19 year old kid who could care less about my rig, fix something that I can fix myself and usually make it better than it was to start with. Amen Bill!

Depends on what it is that needs fixing. If it's simple and doesn't require a major investment in tools or doesn't involve an appliance, I'll do it. Some things are better left to the dealer so you have documentation should it go belly up during its warranty period.

Had to replace the plywood bottom on the dining room, original was warped so bad it was 2" lower on the curb side. Re-did cable/satellite connections, wired wrong at factory. Re-hung light behind chair on DS, was not even close to being same height as other, could have changed either one. I, too, had to fix most of the day/night shades, strung to tight. The toilet was loose from day 1, had to tighten it so it wasn't wobbling whenever it was used. Both closet door latches were badly misaligned, had to remount them to keep doors shut. Found the hot water heater siting on a piece of plywood was sagging to badly, had to replace and insert another board in the middle to prevent future problems. Closed up many holes leading into storage area after DW noticed a draft whenever the wind blew. Also did the air-conditioner fix thanks to this forum. Repaired outside outlet, was not mounted to anything on one side, now water is not coming in there. Tightened loose nuts holding the outside steps in place. Covered hole left in aluminum siding that was the area for the sewer hose - would have allowed sewer hose stored there to fly out on the highway - why this was left this way still a mystery. Re-caulked bathroom shower, no more leaks. Repaired an air-gap in bedroom where slide meets wall on the front end, daylight coming through and of course, wind, dust, bugs, etc. - factory didn't finish this at all. Re-routed wiring under bed so as not to snag when slide going in/out - later saw this on the forum. No you are NOT the only one! Repaired slide flaking with kit sent by Heartland. I replaced 1/2 time oven sent from Midwest Sales under warranty after 2 attempts by Service man sent out by them couldn't fix it with many parts they sent, so they sent new oven instead, had watched service man do it, only problem was lifting into place. And the list goes on... Would not have wanted to go to a dealer every time. As has been said you live in it you'd better be prepared to fix a lot of things. This is NOT unique to Heartland, have not heard of a perfect unit, yet, including those in the million dollar range. Have fun, enjoy the day, do what you can, save the rest for an expert...

I feel better doing my own work whenever I can. Just recently took our BC into the Dealer to take care of installation of trim on slides ( Exposed plywood edges ) and the Park Land kit. While they were working on it, moving the slide in and out, they managed to catch the dining room slide on one of the recliners, which ended up in the molding on the slide being broken. They ordered the replacement.....but rest assured I will install it myself! It was just an accident, but one that should have been avoided.

Part of the enjoyment I get out of our RV and my TV is the maintenance and up-keep. I find it to be satisfying to keep my "toys" in their very best shape and of course making my own modifications.

Travel Safe!

I take my rig in for warranty work when it involves a part that they have to order, but do much work myself, especially if I am going to do something unconventional. For example, a new fender for my 3670 on the living room slide side. The fender cracked where it screws on. If I would have let them install it, they would have done exactly what the factory did and in another year I would have another cracked fender. What I did instead was took the new fender home with me and took the old one off, trimmed it a little and used a good automotive glue and glued the old fender under the new one, making it a double thickness. I also took the bracket off which was too thin and allowed the fender to bounce all over creation and made a new bracket matching the old one and bolted the two brackets together making it much more stiff. This gave me double thickness where the screws attach the fender to the slide and where the fender attaches to the bracket. Been good for almost two years now.

Often, when something breaks, especially something mechanical, I try to make it better when I fix it. I also do a lot of preventative things like using zip ties on the pex plumbing where possible to steady it during travel, changing plastic valves to brass, etc.

Sometimes I fear the fix more than the ill, if you know what I mean.

You guys are a breath of fresh air to me I thought I was a loaner whacko because I too do what I have to, to make it whole and right (i.e. fixed) The warranty is for serious BIG problems ... Thanks guys, so I see I'm not a whacko and pretty normal... You all just pretty much said what I think and do... Whew ! Tom

RollingHome said:

You guys are a breath of fresh air to me I thought I was a loaner whacko because I too do what I have to, to make it whole and right (i.e. fixed) The warranty is for serious BIG problems ... Thanks guys, so I see I'm not a whacko and pretty normal... You all just pretty much said what I think and do... Whew ! Tom

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Or maybe there is just a bunch of us whacko's out there.... If so...... count me in....... I think we are all pretty normal whacko's.

Jim M

It depended on what it was. If it was a minor thing I would tackle it but some things I had a repair shop do as I wanted documentation in case of a reoccurance. Major items I had done by a repair shop.

Same here, our dealer is about 110 miles from our house, so all the minor things we've done ourselves. Our sidewall seperation went back to HL, and we had a small list of very minor stuff which they took care of at the same time otherwise, we do it ourselves.

I'll do whatever I can myself for 4 main reasons:

1. Closest dealer is 105 miles, closest Cyclone dealer is 250 miles.
2. I did warranty work as an auto tech for 18 years and have seen first hand how other people's property is cared for.
3. Because I have the ability to most any mechanical work.
4. Because I can.

Our old 3055 went in 4 times for warranty. I think I re-did everything they did. Told them the black tank was draining slow. NO PROBLEM FOUND. Took it home and kept running the tank flush until a rag came out of the tank. Problem found and fixed. I said I wasn't getting all the water out of the fresh tank. Said they were going to shim it up on one side. Picked it up and asked how much they shimmed it. 1/4 inch they said. Wow! That much? Didnt amount to a hill of beans. Took the bottom off. They had done NOTHING, not even their 1/4 inch! I shimmed it up almost 2 inches and it worked like a charm. They did replace a bad Euro Chair. Took them at least 2 minutes to take the new one out of the box and put it in the living room. Thing of it was is that they were really nice folks. Oh, they went out of business.

retired4fun said:

Our old 3055 went in 4 times for warranty. I think I re-did everything they did. Told them the black tank was draining slow. NO PROBLEM FOUND. Took it home and kept running the tank flush until a rag came out of the tank. Problem found and fixed. I said I wasn't getting all the water out of the fresh tank. Said they were going to shim it up on one side. Picked it up and asked how much they shimmed it. 1/4 inch they said. Wow! That much? Didnt amount to a hill of beans. Took the bottom off. They had done NOTHING, not even their 1/4 inch! I shimmed it up almost 2 inches and it worked like a charm. They did replace a bad Euro Chair. Took them at least 2 minutes to take the new one out of the box and put it in the living room. Thing of it was is that they were really nice folks. Oh, they went out of business.

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The worst thing about it is I will bet they billed Heartland for their materials and labor they told you they did but didn't do. Sounds like Heartland got ripped off.

I am presently 3000km from home. We have had several things go wrong with our trailer and stop working etc. I only worry about the things that stop me from moving safely. I have put several posts about our propane gen not running, I also had a hot rear wheel on the door side of the trailer. My e-mail to CS resulted in being told to take it to my dealer and have him look at it I was also told to call Lieppert. This would require me to pull trough several mountain passess. Who in their right mind would do that. this all happened prior to the independence day holiday. I called liepert and was put on hold for 20 minutes. when I called back I got voice mail, I subsequently called again only to findout they were closed until Monday July 5. heartland was closed Friday and Monday FOR INVENTORY.

I called Cumminins in Eugene Or to have them work on the gen set (as per Heartland CS), booked in for tuesday July 6 10:30 am.

when I arrived was very amazed to findout that this location only deals with RV's doing everything RV.

I explained the thoughts and ideas about why the gen didn't work. The service writer (Vince) was pretty much condecending (I was just a dumb old RV operator) who told me they have the best people here.

Please bear with me this is a long story with a moral to it.

While I was waiting I called Lieppert 25 times (about the hot rear wheel), could not get though. I then thought what the ****, call HL CS the worst that can happen is I will get voice mail, which I did, the difference is I did get an almost imediate return call (I did ask that they not again refer me to my dealer 3000km away.) I had explained that the wheel was 30 degrees hotter on the hub than my other wheels.

As I said I got a call back from a gentleman who then called lieppert and found out they had phone issues. The HL CS rep conferenced the lieppert guy (Dave) in and I was authorized to get Cumminins to remove and repack the wheel, I got a refence number and called cumminins to get them busy on that.

When the dust settled they changed the regulator but did not fix the problem with the gen set, the wheel bearing was loose causing the over heating. After I paid $630.00 I got the trailer back. I asked for a break down of the bill so lieppert could pay me back and Heartland could pay their share. It turns out they charged me 2.5 hours for the bearing. about $300.00 a little steep I thought. The gen was running when I went for the trailer so I thought it was fixed.

Next day the power went out at our camp ground, tried the gen (thats when I found out that the gen did not work yet).

I called customer service at HL and got the same guy, I told him what I had learned about propane hoses on this web site and said I had a bar b hose and could get the conections to test the system. He said go ahead and call him back when I know whats going on.

I did the first start up, when the gen stoppped I looked at the regulator and it showed red not green as before. I should mention that all propane stuff in the trialer work perfectly. I made the new conection before the regulator (between the tank and regulator) . I turned the tank on, got green and fired the gen, it ran for 15 minutes, then I turned on the door side tank, after which I turned off the main tank. The gen continued to run. I then shut down the gen and tried to start using the door side tank, no good. I switched to the main tank (the one with the bar b que hose) The gen fired up and ran for 15 minutes. I did the same as before and when I tried to restart The gen would start and run 10-15 seconds, and quite, when i check the indicator it red. Assumption, when the gen starts it demands so much fuel that the hoses think it is a leak and shut down.

I should mention that I race a ragster that has a 500 horse NOS fogger system on it, I know very well how to work safely with high presure fuel systems and did so.

I did call back to HL CS and got vioce mail but recieved a call back from someone else who realy chewed me out for doing my own warranty work ( I had mentioned other warranty stuff I had done ).

Moral of the story, all CS reps are not created equal so do not judge the company for an isolated issue. I always use the 3 strike rule. I give everyone 2 shots at what ever they are to do, I NEVER ask the third time. You know fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I will always give CS anywhere 2 shots at looking after my needs. We all get irritated from and by small things, sometimes they really accumulate and then its the old last straw thing. We should always make sure that when we get really iritated with CS that is is over something that is really important.

In the business that I own we deal with amny manufacturing companies and the one thing I have learned is, that all CS department have managers, and the copnaies have presidents and or general managers. I am sure that you have all heard what runs down hill. So, if you need to vent and or get someones attention, this forum is not the palce, go to the source and deal with it in a none whining way, state the facts without creative licence .

Anyone who thinks that that the above diatribe suggests that I suffer fools without regard would be wrong, I have just found that giving some the opportunity to help first is better than eating crow latter on.

thus ends the sermin, excuse the typos, I cannot find a spell check here.

I do everything I'm capable of as long as I have the tools and or equipment available to me. I'm not too knowledgeable on the electronic boards and the like.

I have two tool boxes that are always in the trailer. One has tools and the other a variety of parts I need or may need, including everything from Gorilla tape and zip ties to patching kits for fluid tanks.

I don't believe in warranties. I have never had work done by Dealers, and been satisfied with everything I bought because I do my own preventive maintenance. And I buy by price. Owned lemons and great vehicles.

I have friends that run to the dealer with the smallest things and are always in trouble getting service.
I repair the problems as soon as I notice them and everything is fine.

I check my trailer from top to bottom on the first months of ownership, It was the same with all the other units previous.

When I do repair, I modify the parts to eliminate the problem in the future. My motto is if it fails it needs to be done better.

It has been successfull in my carreer in maintenance

caissiel said:

I don't believe in warranties. I have never had work done by Dealers, and been satisfied with everything I bought because I do my own preventive maintenance. And I buy by price. Owned lemons and great vehicles.

I have friends that run to the dealer with the smallest things and are always in trouble getting service.
I repair the problems as soon as I notice them and everything is fine.

I check my trailer from top to bottom on the first months of ownership, It was the same with all the other units previous.

When I do repair, I modify the parts to eliminate the problem in the future. My motto is if it fails it needs to be done better.

It has been successfull in my carreer in maintenance

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I could not agree more!