Trailer Life Article

In the September issue of Trailer Life, a Heartland owner found a fracture in the bulkhead of his Big Horn, and Heartland would not cover it because it was out of warranty. Owner felt it was a defect in workmanship. A leak was found during repair, which Heartland said caused the integrity of the bulkhead underneath the fiberglass to fail.

Thoughts on this anyone?

By bulkhead..are we talking about the frame or body of the BH. If its the frame then he needs to talking to Lippert. Water leaking.....from where onto what?? We don't get that mag...so I cant help him without more info.

Is there any way to get this article posted here for us to read?

mrcomer said:

Is there any way to get this article posted here for us to read?

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be careful...copyright issues

goldenbetty said:

In the September issue of Trailer Life, a Heartland owner found a fracture in the bulkhead of his Big Horn, and Heartland would not cover it because it was out of warranty. Owner felt it was a defect in workmanship. A leak was found during repair, which Heartland said caused the integrity of the bulkhead underneath the fiberglass to fail.

Thoughts on this anyone?

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I looked up the T L site,,, looked,,, looked... searched....could not find anything,,,, How about a link???
Jim M

Don't know about the bulkhead, but I did find this on the TL site:

Heartland RV is recalling certain model year 2011 North Country 30BHS and 32BHDD travel trailers. The cord for hooking into an external electrical power supply has the potential to drape directly in front of the furnace exhaust. This contact could cause damage to the power cord which could result in a fire.

I just got my TL magazine and will double check about the article.

goldenbetty said:

In the September issue of Trailer Life, a Heartland owner found a fracture in the bulkhead of his Big Horn, and Heartland would not cover it because it was out of warranty. Owner felt it was a defect in workmanship. A leak was found during repair, which Heartland said caused the integrity of the bulkhead underneath the fiberglass to fail.

Thoughts on this anyone?

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I haven't seen the article, but I have seen this sort of statement before and I do have one comment. This argument implies that somehow a manufacturing or workmanship defect should be covered beyond what is stated in the warranty. Why would anyone think this? The warranty cover defects in materials and workmanship for a specified period. That's what it's for. That's what you agree to when you buy the product. Now, we are all happy, and we think its good business, when the manufacturer steps up and fixes something out-of-warranty, but you don't have any right to expect that it will happen automatically.

Frankly, a one year warranty on a frame is nothing less than bogus.

branson4020;192810The warranty cover[B said:

defects in materials and workmanship [/B]for a specified period. That's what it's for. That's what you agree to when you buy the product.

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This may be what we agree to, but I'm not sure how you are supposed to just live with it... When a flaw in engineering/design doesn't rear it's head until you are out of warranty... And then you read on the forum that it keeps showing up in model after model, year after year?!?

For example, axle and spring issues. I watched mine like a hawk, because MANY folks on THIS FORUM reported the issue. Well, right after the one year warranty was up in March, we started having tire issues... just like this post. I'm still trying to get a satisfactory resolution.

jimtoo said:

I looked up the T L site,,, looked,,, looked... searched....could not find anything,,,, How about a link???
Jim M

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September issue page #12 -RV Action Line- Titled "Bulkhead-Ache"..not a very favorable write up

I agree with BRANSON4020.
This was dicussed in another thread about the merits of extended warranties. Many don't like them. This is why I prefer to have one. You agree to the mfgrs terms of warranty going in. After that, it is up to the individual to make arrangements in the event of a failure.
There have been individuals on this forum who bought used rigs,out of warranty and expected the mfgr to step up and fix their problem(s). This is just unrealistic. IMHO

Granted, we don't EXPECT anything to be covered when it is out of the manufacturer's warranty period, hence, we get the extended warranty with every camper we have ever owned. My firm belief is that if you don't make Heartland aware of an issue you are having, they will never know of the issue, and if there are enough issues of the same being made known to Heartland, and it is happening to MANY owners, then that is a different story, and I truly believe Heartland would step up and pay attention, and deal with each issue accordingly. As we all know, you can't find ANY RV that is perfect, and untouched by some sort of manufacturer's defect. It happens all too often now in the auto industry. QA is my business, and I feel it has fallen off the cliff in our great USA as of late. Very sad indeed.