New 3610re ain't gonna happen

My wife and I WERE seriously looking to swap our 2008 BH 3370RL for a 2011 BH 3610RE. It isn't gonna happen. I couldn't believe how poorly the coach we looked at was built. Granted, the features of the coach are exactly what Marcia is wishing for, but, and it is a very big but, how in the world did this coach make it out of the factory! The first thing we noticed was serious water damage in the bedroom. Don't know if a window, vent or slide leaked but the dresser is water damaged and needs to be replaced. The floor in the bedroom squeaks badly and feels as if it has delaminated. The bedroom door latch doesn't come close to be able to close. It appears that door was hung incorrectly by at least a half inch. Either the striker plate will have to be moved, requiring another hole to be drilled in the frame or the door rehung leaving 6 holes to be patched. The barrel cabinet in the kitchen is screwed up also. The trim pieces on the cabinet are warped and pulling away from the cabinet. The wire brads were exposed and extended at least a 1/4" from the trim piece. An unsuspecting person brushing up against that cabinet could suffer a serious cut from the exposed wire brads. The finish on the dining table and chairs were also damaged. There were a few other glaring issues which escape my feeble memory at the moment. Don't get me wrong. There are some really appealing aspects to that coach but I am truly surprised the glass in that bedroom door didn't shatter getting from Indiana to Illinois. Bad trim is bad trim and if it comes loose once it will come loose again. Poor construction is more than skin deep. Where is Heartland's quality control in a coach with a $73,000+ list price? Is this what we can expect with the Thor takeover?

Joe

This sounds like a unit that has been sitting around for quite a while. Probably a floor model. Maybe got a little beat up by "walk throughs".
My 3670 that I got in Jan. 2011 does not have the barrel cabinet, It was eliminated for this year. TTBOMK.
My suggestion; check another dealer.

One of the things I didn't mention that was clearly due to a customer with a heavy hand during a walk through. That was an overhead cabinet hanging by one hinge which clearly was from abuse. I'll even grant that the dings/finish issues in the dining area my have been from walk throughs. But no customer could have warped the trim on the barrel cabinet, pulled the brads out or mis-hung a door so badly it couldn't close. That leaves the water damage in the bedroom.... who knows what it would take to fix the floor damage much less the dresser which needs to be replaced. We've purchased 4 units from this dealer and they have always done right by us. There is a new dealer which opened early this month but we were not impressed with the knowledge of the sales staff. They didn't even know Thor had purchased Heartland! Whatever. My point is that this particular 3610 was built so poorly that it is in an unsellable condition.

Joe

Shame on that dealer for displaying a unit in that condition! Heartland reps should go through and require them to either clean up their act or take the brand away. Any respectable dealer wouldn't try to sell anything like that. Most of those issues, while not representative of a quality unit, can easily be corrected either on the factory or dealer level. Putting a unit like that on display gives the entire brand a bad name...JMHO...Don

I agree with GOTTOYS. I had a couple of the issues you mention on my coach when it rolled out of the factory. That is what the PDI is for. You have to demand that they be fixed before you hand them the check. Unfortunately, broken as it may be, this is the business model by which new RV's are sold. I'm quite confident that none of the other brands in this price range are any better.