Fed up with heartland, by mistake.

UPDATE:

Before you read this thread, I want to let everyone know that it was NOT Heartland that dropped the ball but my local dealer. Heartland was quick to contact me and after a minute on the phone had the issue resolved. I am emailing them a copy of the invoice the dealer said Heartland refused to pay. Heartland NEVER even knew about the invoice so how could they pay it.

Origional post:


I am beyond frusterated with Heartland and my Sundance!!
Since day one of buying our 2011 Sundance 3300CK, the tank drain levers were never working properly, binding, etc.. I was always faced with a pipe full of gray water when I release the cap to drain. I contacted heartland about this about 2-3 times, had it at the local dealer who "sprayed wd40" on the cables and told me to give it time to soak in.... Well, I contacted ERIC at heartland and was given the OK to take it back to the dealer to get it repaired.. Well, after towing it 30 miles and taking the day off work to do this, I came home with the tanks working ok for a few days then they started binding again worse. I gave up and thought I would get an aftermarket pull handle for keeping the gray water in when I hook up my hoses. I got a call from the RV dealer a few days ago wanting my address. They sent me a BILL FOR THE REPAIRS THAT ERIC APPROVED since Heartland denied the repair????????
AND.....
I went to drain my black water today.. only about a cupfull came out..Put the handle in on the valve, poured a bit of water down the toilet, CAME RIGHT OUT!!!! So NOW my black water is leaking out due to the faulty valve and my tank is almost full of CEMENT!!!!
I need to get this resolved asap as I will be putting the RV in storage in about a week and DONT want to leave my waste tank full of cement all winter to freeze.
I have always recommended heartland in person to people and on other forums, I hope this is resolved quickly by heartland customer service so I dont regret recommending Heartland.

Re: Fed up with heartland

So what was the outcome after receiving the bill? Did you speak with Eric again and did Heartland cover it or not.
Sounds more like your beef should be with the dealer that can't fix it correctly, not Heartland.
Just thinking out loud.

Peace
Dave

Re: Fed up with heartland

Never got ahold of Eric yet. Just got the bill yesterday in the mail. They said the bill was rejected when it was submitted to them and all further "warranty" repairs are to be prepaid due to how hard it is to get payment from Heartland.

cookie said:

So what was the outcome after receiving the bill? Did you speak with Eric again and did Heartland cover it or not.
Sounds more like your beef should be with the dealer that can't fix it correctly, not Heartland.
Just thinking out loud.

Peace
Dave

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Re: Fed up with heartland

I think they all leak and I plan to add a valve to the pipe end to prevent the full cap ordeal.

They do make a tank additive intended to lubricate the gate. I notice that sometimes it's worse than others, my only thought is that occasionally something gets caught in the valve causing the leak.

From the sound of it seams to me miss communication between the dealer and heartland or yourself and a dealer that wants to be paid for shoddy work. Either way I think your first course is to get heartland on the phone and based on that conversation find a new dealer.

Re: Fed up with heartland

will make time tomorrow at work to call and see what can be resolved

Re: Fed up with heartland

We had a very similar issue with our drain valves. One of our valves was so hard I was afraid the cable would pull apart. I finally got the dealer to open the bottom of the trailer and check the cabling. He found that some idiot at the factory had actually wrapped the cable around a support member in the frame. Was absolutely no way it was ever going to get free without removing the cable and rerouting. As for a leak, one of my valves seems to leak a little also. I'm not sure which one it is just yet. Does not seem to be to the extreme as your. For the money each of us spend on purchasing these trailers one would certainly expect a higher standard maintained at the factory. I'd kill if I only had a thirty mile trip. Ours is at a dealer for broken slide rollers and seals right now. It is a four hour trip (250 miles to the nearest dealer that can handle the repairs).

What I really love the most is when you ask Heartland for schematics on anything, the answer is always the same. "We don't have any." How the heck can any company build a darn thing without some sort of prints and maintain quality. If they (Heartland) do not want to relase them, fine. But don't lie to me.

We love the colors, design, and everything about our 2011 Sundance. I wish I could say the same about dealing with some of the folks at customer service.

Re: Fed up with heartland

ncc1701e said:

We had a very similar issue with our drain valves. One of our valves was so hard I was afraid the cable would pull apart. I finally got the dealer to open the bottom of the trailer and check the cabling. He found that some idiot at the factory had actually wrapped the cable around a support member in the frame. Was absolutely no way it was ever going to get free without removing the cable and rerouting. As for a leak, one of my valves seems to leak a little also. I'm not sure which one it is just yet. Does not seem to be to the extreme as your. For the money each of us spend on purchasing these trailers one would certainly expect a higher standard maintained at the factory. I'd kill if I only had a thirty mile trip. Ours is at a dealer for broken slide rollers and seals right now. It is a four hour trip (250 miles to the nearest dealer that can handle the repairs).

What I really love the most is when you ask Heartland for schematics on anything, the answer is always the same. "We don't have any." How the heck can any company build a darn thing without some sort of prints and maintain quality. If they (Heartland) do not want to relase them, fine. But don't lie to me.

We love the colors, design, and everything about our 2011 Sundance. I wish I could say the same about dealing with some of the folks at customer service.

Click to expand...

Here's your schematics.

View attachment 16208

Re: Fed up with heartland

I can relate with you. Almost since our Elk Ridge was parked in our driveway, we've gotten "water" when I'd take the cap off to drain the tanks. Went round & round with our dealer, & they finally "fixed" the problem when they fixed the leak, & it was still leaking. I took it back the next day & very loud, and in my best sailor lingo let them know it wasn't fixed, I then proceeded to show them, I took the cap off, & 2 gal.+ of an unknown liquid spewed into their lot. The owner then went into his best sailor lingo, and told the tech to stop what he was doing & fix our rig! Bottom line, it was still slightly leaking when they were done, I basically gave up after that. I've since bought a gate valve & put it on the end of the drain pipe...problem solved. I'm still an RV rookie, but from what I've read on this & other forums, this is a common problem, no matter who made your RV. Good luck & I hope you get this resolved to your satifaction.

Re: Fed up with heartland

olcoon said:

I can relate with you. Almost since our Elk Ridge was parked in our driveway, we've gotten "water" when I'd take the cap off to drain the tanks. Went round & round with our dealer, & they finally "fixed" the problem when they fixed the leak, & it was still leaking. I took it back the next day & very loud, and in my best sailor lingo let them know it wasn't fixed, I then proceeded to show them, I took the cap off, & 2 gal.+ of an unknown liquid spewed into their lot. The owner then went into his best sailor lingo, and told the tech to stop what he was doing & fix our rig! Bottom line, it was still slightly leaking when they were done, I basically gave up after that. I've since bought a gate valve & put it on the end of the drain pipe...problem solved. I'm still an RV rookie, but from what I've read on this & other forums, this is a common problem, no matter who made your RV. Good luck & I hope you get this resolved to your satifaction.

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For what it is worth and my three cents: The very first thing I did was to buy a gate valve with a clear plastic elbow and installed it before I even left the RV dealer. Never had a leak from day one with that extra valve on there. Good Day.

Re: Fed up with heartland

That can't be right, there are supposed to be a few screws loose in there...

Re: Fed up with heartland

If you will think about it the valve that closes is close to the tank. Then there is the length of pipe from the valve to the end of the pipe where the cap is. So when you open the valve the 'stuff' flows through the open valve down the pipe to the sewer pipe. When you close the valve there is still some liquid in the pipe between the valve and the end cap. It is difficult if not impossible to get it completely dry unless you wait a considerable time. So by adding the gate valve at the end you will solve your problem. After owning several different brands of RVs and having the leaking problems on all the gate valve is the sure quick inexpensive fix. And it serves a secondary problem as it allows you to close the gate valve and then open both gray tanks valves and equalize the gray tanks if one is fuller than the other and you cannot drain them.

Re: Fed up with heartland

I've had the same problem with my valves. I had my friend who's a plumber bring his bore scope and check the valve closing & opening. We found one had a piece of rubber that was in the way of full closure. The other one just wasn't closing right. He snapped photos of the interior & extrior of the valves with these problems. I took it back to the dealer & told them about the valves. Didn't tell them about the photos, looking for honesty. Well 2 weeks later they call me & said it's fixed. I loaded the pipe with water on their lot and water came out from the cap.They looked perplexed, so after I stood there for 10 min looking at them scratch their heads, I showed the delear manager the photos. He was not happy, needless to say they replaced both valves. I should have charged them for the time & effort it took my friend & I to conduct this excersize. The moral of the story is do your own checking before you take your rig back to the dealer. I don't have a lot of time, but, just like the folks on this forum, time is money & my truck doesn't run on water.

Ivan

Re: Fed up with heartland

Well, called Erik today, seems the local dealer NEVER sent in any papers to them. Besides dropping the ball on the repairs, they dropped the ball on the billing. I am scanning the invoice for Heartland.

Thanks Erik!

Jason

Re: Fed up with heartland

PEIFAMILY said:

Well, called Erik today, seems the local dealer NEVER sent in any papers to them. Besides dropping the ball on the repairs, they dropped the ball on the billing. I am scanning the invoice for Heartland.

Thanks Erik!

Jason

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Maybe they were hoping you'd pay up front without a whimper and then they'd submit a claim to Heartland. Double dipping, so to speak. Contrary to popular belief, all of the crooks aren't in the U.S.A.

Re: Fed up with heartland

Never know lol

Re: Fed up with heartland

PEIFAMILY said:

Well, called Erik today, seems the local dealer NEVER sent in any papers to them. Besides dropping the ball on the repairs, they dropped the ball on the billing. I am scanning the invoice for Heartland.

Thanks Erik!

Jason

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The dealer told you that the claim was rejected. Thats not 'dropping the ball'. Thats lying.

Re: Fed up with heartland

Very true Bob.

I called the guy back at the dealer and he said they did submit the claim and that they talked to someone, but couldnt remember the name, when, etc.. I make a mental note of names of anyone I deal with, in their business they should be writing the info in the customers files any contact on behalf of the customer regarding the warranty, etc..

I apologize to Heartland for my initial post.

Re: Fed up with heartland

Well no one does it better then "Yourself", I've grown to never trust anyone and to check on everything because when it is my property and business I care more than anyone to see it done right.

Re: Fed up with heartland

For what it's worth (I don't know if all dealers are in this system), my service rep at the dealer told me all warranty repairs and claims now HAVE to be input and sent to Heartland through an online computerized program. Everything gets approved or declined the same way, no longer talking to a live person unless there's a major issue. Doesn't seem to me this would be a major issue.

Re: Fed up with heartland

IMHO, Maybe you should petition to change the title of the OP. As you found out early on, HL had nothing to do with it. Trace