Extremely Concerned

vangoes

Well-known member
I am supposed to take delivery on my 2007 3055 on Tuesday, 10/31. After reading some of these forums about water problems from the wheel wheels I am wondering if I should pull the plug on this deal. I have had several RV's/motorhomes and there is nothing more frustrating than a water problem. On the other hand, are the forums posted talking about water issues a small sample of Big Horn owners and the majority of the units were/are sound and waterproof. Any suggestions.............deal or no deal?
 
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jbeletti

Well-known member
vangoes,

"If" your unit comes in requiring a redo on the seal, this is a solvable matter. It should have to happen but alas, it may. In that it should be solvable, I would let it break the deal. Perhaps you can work it out with your dealer that the trailer is taken "on approval". Drive it in the rain to see for yourself that it will hold up - then pay them the balance. I suppose I am just dreaming on this though as no dealer would likely go for the "on approval" aspect of a deal.

Best of luck. Keep tabs on this thread as you should get plenty of input from the deal and no deal camps.

Jim
 

trdeal

Past North Carolina Chapter Leader
I do not have a Big Horn. But I do have a 2005 Mt. Rushmore. We have had some problems. None of which I consider major. Some I have fixed myself and some my dealer has fixed. We have never had a water problem. Would we buy Heartland again, based upon my experience,YES.Anytime you buy anything, a new car, a new house, or a new camper, based upon how much they, cost we expect them to be perfect. But we all know that that is not the case. Talk to your dealer. Talk to the service manager. Talk to others that have dealt with the service department and then if you still feel good about your purchase, go for it.
 

ChopperBill

Well-known member
The way mine is designed there is no way water isn't going to get to the inside. Mine was built just before the "07's" were released. If all are that way I don't know. Mine will be fixed under warranty, hopefully. Supposedly there is a fix. If its not I am own my own because I cant afford to trade for something different. But if you are buying an earlier one if you drive it in the rain its going to get wet. I guarantee it. Its a great coach with a lot of pluses but the wet carpet on the inside is something that you will have to deal with.
 

ct0218

Well-known member
I have not had any leaks, and would buy again. It appears that the the additional "D" gasket that is being installed on current production models will stop the water.
 

phranc

Well-known member
Vangoes .. I can appreciate your concern and angst.. Mine was over the height of the trailer as my Dodge 4x4 seemed high. My concern turned out to be a 'no issue' . perhaps yours will too.. At anty rate to address the subject,bearing in mind that I do have a different model and the slides are positioned somewhat different , therefor the road spray is different ,I do not have water entering the unit. I may at some time in the future add a spray shield over the tires as some others have done, to make doubly sure to lock out any water/road spray. the double 'D' seal on the newer coaches looks to be a good idea and a nice running change by the Heartland engineering staff..
 

DougLynne

retired Alberta Chapter Leaders
We picked up our 2007 3055 Oct.10 and as far as I can tell it didn't have the seal, have to look again. I talked with our dealership today on a couple of other issues and also mentioned the seal. He is going to order the seal and if indeed it is req'd will put it on. Doug
 

sailorand

Past British Columbia Chapter Leader
Vangoes
We have a 3055rl. Yes we have had QC problems and a couple of minor stucture problems. These are not a large issue to get fixed IF your dealer really cares. Ours does. They are very busy for a good reason. Good people.
I do have to check things that are done, because I do not jsut take their word, some things have to be done again. QC at the dealer....
We love the layout and amenities of our unit. Yes we would buy another, as we have got great help from the factory.
Do you know of any other forum that the factory takes an active interest in?? Yes there seems to be a lot of flak flung at the favtory. Way too much of it is totally unneeded. ALL units from All builders have problems.
Just my thoughts
Rand
 

HappyKayakers

Well-known member
I finally got to tow my BH in the rain earlier this month and got the water seepage from the dinette slide. I emailed the factory and they put me in touch with the rep for my part of the country. He gave me a choice of getting the work done where I'm at, with any dealer. I chose to tow the rig 120 miles to an authorized Heartland dealer. Response has been excellent.
 

shaneandtammymoore

Shane & Tammy
I bought my 06 BH3055 in June and believe it or not I have not travelled in the rain yet. Leaving out tomorrow and it is supposed to rain. Cant wait. Mine does not have the "D" seal.

Just for the record, had I found this forum prior to buying mine, I would not have bought. Would I buy again, absolutely not. I have the ability to fix most anything but I didnt expect to have to spend all my camping trips repairing stuff.
 

Wild Wind

Active Member
Should have known about & read the forum

Well said, and I was also dumb enough to semi believe the "Heartbreak" advertishing; the Hartbreak, dealer's construction manual, that I down loaded from the company web site:mad: .
We have a 3055, like yours, which would have be gone long time ago, but we really like the layout. The only other good thing that I can say after a year of ownership, Hay, Scott are you listening:D, is that we have not had any leaks and we have drove for a day & a half in really bad rain.
We also have not yet had axle troubles (becasue I check things, and adjusted & loosed the brake shoes that came out of the factory to tight:mad: ), Wheel rim troubles (keeping our fingers crossed), slide out troubles (except for the breaking flex support belt):eek: . We where just thrilled to spend another $1,000.00 to put safe tires on our unit this summer.:mad:
Out unit too has about equal time camping, as it has been being rebuilt properly:mad: .
We can think of alot better places to camp, then in Elkhart, Ind.:confused: ; we have just plan seen too much of the area in the last 13 Months, and are sick of it.:mad:
 

shaneandtammymoore

Shane & Tammy
I also love the layout of the 3055 and some of the creature comforts that come with it. I would still trade tomorrow if I could afford to do that.

I havent had the axle or tire problems yet. Minor adjustments on the slides. Shower leak, etc. etc. etc. I could go on and on. Did run across the fresh water tank problem this week. I will let you know about the rain after tomorrow.

shane
 

billd

Well-known member
Ok I know this will get me in trouble saying this, but YOUR DEALER IS SCREWING YOU.... Yes Heartland builds the units, and sometimes designs dont work and need to be modified.

But if the dealer has a service department that has agreed by contract to service the trailers. It is their job to fix it right the first time when you found the deficencies. But it seems a lot of dealers look at the service department as a profit loss and do not staff it properly with trained technicians so it causes us to take the trailers back over and over to get it done right.

It amazes me that Heartland participates here and that shows they care. Can they take care of everyones problems completely, no, no manufacture can. I work in the computer industry and there are times a unit will not work no matter how much effort is put into it to fix it.

So go beat up your dealers, as much as you are beating on Heartland. Post their names here so we know what dealers to avoid buying from or trying to get good service from. Continue to inform Heartland that the dealer is not doing their part to resovle your issues, and contact Heartland to assist you in motivating the dealer to do it right or find you a service provider to do it right.

Bill
 

jimtoo

Moderator
For Billd, Since you work in an industry that builds things and services them, what happens when the unit cannot be fixed to perform reliably or as advertised or equiped as advertised?
 

billd

Well-known member
My company that I work for has given the customer their money back, exchanged current product with a newer product, we have also stood behind the product when it has been shown the product was as advertized and the customer uses it out of the scope of what it was bought for.

Each case is addressed individually. We use a partner network to sell and service our products also, and we hold the partner to the contract that they sold to the customer. If the partner fails to hold their part we have taken the customer into our service group and fix the issue, but we will also deauthorize the partner that has failed on their part.

This is what frustrates me about the recreation industry, it is very hard to find a good dealer for both sales and service.

I wish I had the funds and resources to open a factory service center for multiple brands of RV's and provide top notch service like a customer deserves.

Bill
 

Trap

Well-known member
Billd I'm sitting here on the fence about buying a bighorn fortunately for me were not buying until spring of 07. But after hanging around since Febuary, it seems that a lot of people are having problems with dealers servicing Heartland products in a timely manner. There are way to many posts on here of people's units spending a lot of time in the shop some like 7-10 weeks in the first year. My experience so far with any dealer I've been involved with has never been more than a few days with any trailer we had or the people with trailers we know. I find it hard to beleive there's that high of a percentage of bad dealers. From what I've seen and read so far on this forum unless things change big time by spring we'll be looking elsewhere. Up here we have a 5 month camping season max. I can't afford to loose 1/2 a summer with our NEW unit sitting in a shop. There shouldn't be that many problems with a new unit.

Trap
 

billd

Well-known member
Trap,

In most cases you will hear far more complaints than compliments. I have read here, rv.net, irv2.com, woodalls forum, etc.. I have not found a brand that does not have issue, some more than others. Since this is a Heartland site I expected to see complaints about issues with 5th wheels here. Am I wishing I did not choose a Big Horn, not at all. I dont have mine yet, but compairing a Big Horn to a lot of other compareable 5th wheels I strongly feel the Heartland product is the best buy for the dollar.

The dealer servicing issue is not just a Heartland issue. I have talked to people that have other models and they are livid with their dealer on the way their product is being serviced. I have a personal water craft that last year lost the top end in the motor. It took them over 5 weeks to diagnose it, get approval to fix it and get it back to me. I talked to the technician that worked on it and his total hands on time was 2.5 days. I spent a lot of time calling and going over to the dealer to push them to get it done.

If you have a dealer you have bought a trailer from before and had good service from them and you are buying a Heartland from them, then the service should be as good as your other experiences from before. It is all how important the service group wants to support the customer. The dealer I bought from has a good service group and reputation in the So Cal area. I asked for references about them before buying.

So only time will tell if I made a good or bad choice based on the service group.

Bill
 
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jimtoo

Moderator
My company that I work for has given the customer their money back, exchanged current product with a newer product, we have also stood behind the product when it has been shown the product was as advertized and the customer uses it out of the scope of what it was bought for.

Each case is addressed individually. We use a partner network to sell and service our products also, and we hold the partner to the contract that they sold to the customer. If the partner fails to hold their part we have taken the customer into our service group and fix the issue, but we will also deauthorize the partner that has failed on their part.

It's a shame that the RV industry is not held to those standards. Enough said.
 

randes

Active Member
I have been reading this forum since April 10, 2006 when I became a member. I have read about a lot of problems, but I have also read how the factory continues to come through time after time. Since I started looking for a 5W last October, a year ago, I too have read a lot on other forums. I have never seen any other forum that even begins to approach the level of involvement between forum members and the factory.

Two days ago I got to see a new 2007 - RL3055. There have been a lot of changes since the first 3055 I saw back in March of this year. I can't think of any changes made that I did not think were better. Any new company is going to have growing pains. But from what I've seen so far, Heartland cares about it's products and does the "right thing" to make lemonade out of lemons.

For me, I plan to buy a 3055 next Spring and live in it for the next 7-8 years FT. As someone said earlier, I too believe you get more bang for your buck with Heartland. Whatever problems I encounter, I'm sure the factory will stand behind them and make them right.

My 2 cents!!! :)
 
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