ATF: North Trail - Lots of Issues with 3 month old 2011 27 RBS

Would like to get little input from the manufacturer.

We bought our 2011 North Trail 27 RBS on 7-30-11. Brought it home and put in storage until mid September, then took it on our maiden voyage on a 2 week, roughly 1000 mile trip. On the trip we noticed that the front cap had started getting several bubbles (delaminating). We also found that our gray and black tank labels were reversed ( that was special), our kitchen sink drain had a major leak underneath, our toilet water supply leaked badly and somewhat flooded the rear bathroom, heater vent in the rear bath didn't return heat (ducting was not connected) and the wall behind dinette was bowed and popped loose from the wall.
Upon returning from our trip we contacted the dealer\warranty center where we bought the trailer (Giant RV). We took it to them on 10-11-11. The service advisor told me that it would most likely be a couple week turnaround. Two weeks into it I had called to see what the status was and was informed that they "just got approval" and the projected finish date was now Nov. 30. I explained that I needed the trailer before that ( I told them this when I dropped it off also), and would have to come pick it up ( I guide hunters in the fall and use the trailer as lodging) and explained that I would have to bring it back after my hunts were done in January. Only the leaks were fixed. Nothing else was done in a month. Pretty frustrating.
On the way home I take it by another RV repair facility (Hemet RV) where I have hired him to put on a "spring over axle" kit to get me some more ground clearance. He took a quick look underneath and asked how many miles I have on the coach (1000), and pointed out that one of the tires was wearing pretty badly. It appears that one of the axles is also possibly bent!

So here I am with a 3 month old trailer ($xxxx) that needs to be torn apart to have the entire front cap replaced, a possible bent axle and all of the other items that are listed.

How happy should I be right now? I'm very frustrated. Im sure that at some point these items will be repaired, but how happy would you be with this brand new trailer?

What would you do if this was your coach??

BTW, I would appreciate anyone else's experience with these types of warranty issues as well. Thank you!

First, Welcome to the forum. The first few items you mention look like things that should have been pick up when your trailer was prepped for delivery or the caught during your PDI. They should be easy fixes and soon forgotten. On your warranty items, I would contact Heartland customer service and check on your warranty claim (have the last 6 of your vin ready). Many times the dealers blame Heartland for dragging their feet when a claim hasn't even been made yet. Heartland may also authorize warranty work through an independent dealer if that works better for you. Good Luck!!

Thanks for the input! At this point I'm just feeling like I'm going to have a brand new trailer thats been hacked up and might never be "right".

PS, thanks for the welcome!

Do I have this in the appropriate section of the forum? Since it's named "ask the factory", I assumed that a factory rep would see this and respond. I'm new to this forum, so if its in the wrong place, let me know.

Thanks!

When we had our issues with our 32BUDS, we went directly to Heartland customer service. I let the dealer know I had called and we had both talking to each other and updates came quickly to us. It never hurts to call customer service and let the know of your problem. We have called them on almost every problem, I think it helps to get things done.

I sorry to hear about your coach. I just took delivery of a Prowler 27 PS RBS. I bought a Hearthland product because of the build quality. I heard it was good. I just had a 4 year old KZ Spree totaled due to a twisted and bent frame. KZ has a two year warranty on their frame. This coach came from the factory with problems. We volunteered in Big Bend National Park and it is quite remote. Not easy to get things fixed there. The shackle bolt holding the spring came undone. I was lucky find it hanging by a thread. I replaced the bolt. The waste tanks leaked, the slide froze several times, the heat failed twice, the AC had issues, the floor was scraped and need to be replace before delivery....I should have known. So the fact that my insurance company would not repair it made sense to me. KZ only paid for few repairs. I hope that you make out better than I did. You are still in the factory warranty period.

Thanks a bunch for the input guys. I think I might go ahead and make a call to Heartland CS tomorrow just to touch base, and see if the info my warranty center was telling me is the truth. I may learn that I have other options. I wont know until I ask, right? We'll see. I'm pretty frustrated that my mid/high grade coach is having these issues after only 3 months of ownership. It doesn't breed a lot of confidence in the build quality at this point!

BigWave,

So sorry you are having issues. All of your items are repairable, and I would not be thrilled to have my brand new unit in the shop. However, the building of trailers these days are just not up to the expectation level of most buyers. When an RV dealer agrees to carry a product line, they have agreed to take care of any issues before delivery to a customer. Unfortunately, we hear of many dealers that do not attempt to catch the issues, and the coaches get to the customers this way. After the sale, the burden switches to the customer to get items fixed. Sad, I know, but that seems to be how the industry works...not just Heartland! The good news is that Heartland seems to be better than most at taking care of warranty issues. NOTE: Not the dealers, Heartland! Deal with them directly and ask them to push on your behalf.

Once your coach is repaired, I'm sure you will truly enjoy it!

Erika

Thanks for all of the input! I was contacted by a Heartland rep yesterday and was assured that all would be taken care of when I take my coach back in in February. I'm still a bit bummed that i have these issues but it sounds like all will be made good. Thanks!

I had a eerie similar experience. Ours is still not fixed. I am not happy at all. I wrote a letter to the Attorney General of New York, I haven't mailed it yet, but if my issues are not resolved I will be mailing it. We thought we we buying a top of the line camper. Very disappointing. Camping is suppose to be stress free this experience is very stressful I will never buy another NorthTrail Lou Ann & Dennis Higgins

Loothig, so whats the problem? Your dealer wont fix your problems? Have you been in contact with HL yourself? BTW, any legal action posted on the forum in a thread or post will be removed. Just a heads up.

loothig said:

I had a eerie similar experience. Ours is still not fixed. I am not happy at all. I wrote a letter to the Attorney General of New York, I haven't mailed it yet, but if my issues are not resolved I will be mailing it. We thought we we buying a top of the line camper. Very disappointing. Camping is suppose to be stress free this experience is very stressful I will never buy another NorthTrail Lou Ann & Dennis Higgins

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Whats going on with your coach? Have you contacted Heartland and your dealer?

I just dropped off our unit again yesterday. Our dealer and warranty repair center (Giant RV) had ours for almost a month when I dropped it off initially in October of last year. They were supposedly waiting for Heartlands approval to do the work. In the mean time, I needed to pick it up to start our fall hunts and the majority of the repairs had not been done. I guide hunters in the fall in Arizona, and needed to use it. In the mean time, a few new issues showed up. All 5 of our up swinging cabinet doors with the spring loaded device that holds them open were popping off of the hinges. There is a definite issue with the street side wall. The window is getting increasingly harder to slide, the screen is bowing, and one of the original problems......a wallboard panel on this same wall had popped loose and bowed quite a bit.

It feels like a kick in the gut that my basically brand new coach has to have the whole front cap taken off and put back on. Who knows how much more my new coach will have to be ripped apart to be made right. I do know what my next step will be should these issues not get taken care of correctly.
I've owned 4 new trailers and 1 new motorhome and have never had anything like this happen. Quite ridiculous. Going to give the repair facility and Heartland the benefit of the doubt....for the time being.

I wouldn't give your repair facility the benefit of the doubt. It takes about 5 minutes to get HL approval for repairs. Maybe 24 hours if you have to email extra pictures. You might have to wait a week or so for parts, but not for approval of repairs. In fact, I can't think of a single RV manufacturer that has taken more than a few days to approve repairs. Someone is not doing their job at your dealer.

slmayor said:

I wouldn't give your repair facility the benefit of the doubt. It takes about 5 minutes to get HL approval for repairs. Maybe 24 hours if you have to email extra pictures. You might have to wait a week or so for parts, but not for approval of repairs. In fact, I can't think of a single RV manufacturer that has taken more than a few days to approve repairs. Someone is not doing their job at your dealer.

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I'm all ears. What would you suggest? To say that I'm frustrated with the situation is an understatement.

BigWave said:

I'm all ears. What would you suggest? To say that I'm frustrated with the situation is an understatement.

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I was just on this forum under another sting. Call Heartland customer service and see if they can help. The number and information is in the string below.

//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/29416-Dealer-too-busy-to-service-rv-he-sold?p=231805#post231805

First, call Heartland with your vin #. They can tell you when and if claims were made for your unit under warranty. They should be able to direct you to another repair facility if you can't get satisfaction from yours.
I swear, I just want to smack some of these dealers. We were very lucky to have a great selling dealer so I never experienced the "service run-around". At the time, with it being our first brand new rig, I didn't realize how rare that was.
Now that I handle the warranty coordination for both factory and extended warranty service, I am appalled at how some dealers / service centers treat their customers. I know where my parts are and when they're going to be here. I know how long it will take the shop to complete the job and most times it's not necessary that your trailer stay with us after we document the repair, unless it's not useable. I have to have an estimate for parts and labor for the repair to approve the claim, BEFORE I ORDER PARTS. It just burns me that trailers sit at the repair facility until someone gets around to looking at them and then starting the ordering process. Your service dept. may not know where in process your unit is off the top of their head, but they should be able to find out in a matter of minutes. If they can't tell you the date your parts were ordered or the claim approved, find another place to take your repairs.

Sorry if this seems harsh, but I deal with the aftermath of failed service every day. It ruins what should be a great time with a new RV, and there is seldom an excuse for it.

Talk to Heartland directly. Send pics. I think you'll find, they want you to be happy with your coach and will help you make that so! We had a bubble appear on our NT front cap, while under warranty. HL authorized the entire front cap to be replaced.

Erika