Not a Happy Camper - RW400 Toy Hauler

rlaubert

Member
First, let me say that Heartland is working with us to correct the problems that are listed below, but in my opinion they should not have existed if there was a better QA program.
We purchased a new 2012 Heartland 400RW Toy Hauler Fifth-wheel at the Hershey RV show this year. It arrived in November as we had some special request. Being experienced fifth-wheel owners we had a standard list of questions we needed answers for. These were answered by the sales folks and AJ from Heartland. We did our homework as best as we could at the time.

The Goal here is to educate those that may be looking at purchasing a Heartland RV. We love our floor plan and if we can get these items taken care of, we feel we will have gotten a good unit for our purposes (well other then the first issue below, that is disturbing to be lied to). Everything listed below is as factual as I can make them.

Starting from latest issues to original issues:
We have lost water so far three times this winter while camping. First time we thought it was our new Pirit water hose. Called the factory and was told to reverse the hose or extended the end that was inside the trailer so that the thermistor was outside. Did that and the water froze again the next night. So Pirit sent us another hose. I finally got around to replacing it and the water froze again. Some simple troubleshooting showed that it was not the hose but the rig itself. A call to Heartland reveled that the 400RW does not have the water lines running in a heated area as we were told at the show by numerous people. In fact the water lines run just under the belly in a non-heated nor insulated area. This Spring we will drop the underbelly and perform some modifications to make the unit more year-round suitable.

The island sink is leaking water from the hot water line or faucet. We had water all over the floor and inside the island.
We had some more work done in the kitchen to make things a little more useful. There are a very limited number of electrical outlets in the kitchen (1 set of 1 receptacle by the couch and 1 set of 2 recepicles on the island). So we had our RV repairman add one by the stove, another set put in the island and exchanged the single outlet by the couch for a double). During this process he found the following (this is a followup email to Heartland):

"As I write this (removed repair company) is here doing some work on the RV. He has shown me that the Convection Microwave was not bolted into the cabinet correctly. The plastic mounting piece was broken and only held in with one screw. The one side was broken and had no place for the screws to hold it in. The 'good' side only had one screw. In addition the plastic brace was broken along the front. It appears that the convection oven could have easily fallen out while on the road.

Next we have had a major leak behind the refrigerator. Seems that the water line to the ice maker is the problem. We have not yet gotten authorization from Heartland to do the repairs. (Repairman) is going to fax the detailed work order this afternoon and will be back once he has authorization to begin the extensive list of repairs."

Finally here is part of the orginal email to Heartland for items we found that need more attention to details:
"Per our previous conversation, here are some issues we have found with our new 400RW.

1. Cable TV wiring was not installed properly. After several hours tracking down the cable run and testing by the cable company and ourselves, we finally found the source of bad cabling in our rig. Seems the cables were incorrectly connected to the antenna amplifier in the master bedroom. The Antenna was on the cable connector and the cable was on the antenna. A simple test of the system would have shown this to be a problem. From my research, cable tv issues are a common problem at Heartland. Which makes this even more disturbing in that Heartland is not following up with production issues once they are identified.

2. The back door/ramp is out of alignment. We have a very hard time opening the back ramp as it sticks in the upper right hand corner (from outside). It takes someone pushing from the inside to open the ramp. This is hazardous as the ramp could open suddenly and possibly cause injury. This has not yet been fixed as the weather is such we won't be using it till Spring. We will have the RV Repairman take a look at this and contact Heartland.

3. The floor in the kitchen is weak. The area in front of the island near the garage is weak and walking by it, causes the island to dip almost an inch. The floor itself feels weak in that area.

4. The main door is extremely hard to close, often requiring us to slam the door to get it to latch. I have looked at the door and it does not appear that we can adjust the strike plate to fix this. I will have RV Repairman take a look when he has time and contact Heartland for authorization to correct the problem.

5. Leak in bathroom. There was a leak in the bathroom under the sink. I tighten the connectors and applied some silicone to the area where the leak was.

6. Leak under bedroom slide. This has not yet been addressed, but it appears that the seal at the bottom front of the slide has a gap that allows the rain water coming off the roof to flow into the main unit, soaking the floor when it rains. I will have the RV Repairman take a look at this as well.

7. The sofa bed fell apart. We went to use the sofa bed for the first time and it fell apart. It appears that the bolts that hold the frame work together were not connected properly. On the right hand side of the frame (front wall side), there is a bolt that holds part of the frame together. The bolt was into the front part of the frame but the back part of the frame was not secured to it.

8. The sliding door between the living area and the garage was not aligned properly. This one was easy to fix. But it should have been caught during someone inspection.

9. No mattress for the loft. This was caught during our acceptance inspection and the mattress is on order.

10. Finally the rats nest behind the radio. Well not literately a rat, but such poor workmanship that a rat could have done better. During our troubleshooting of the Cable TV problem we had to get behind the radio. Wires without terminators, disconnected plugs, electrical shorts, left over debris from construction. I was shocked when the cable guy got shocked because the 12 volts to the cigarette lighter was disconnected and laying in the open. Then we found the power connections to the radio also without wire caps or tape. This was not only dangerous to us, but could have easily caused a fire if the lines had shorted to the debris left from construction."
 

Sandpirate69

Well-known member
WOW, it's hard to get a good product built in the USA. I've had problems with the floor in the bedroom of our RW305. Furthermore, I think the flooring in the kitchen area is flimsy.
 

Vtxkid

Well-known member
Their are sooo many good people out there that are looking for good jobs and would be proud to do the best they could for a company like this and then we have people that apparently have very little to no pride and are probably still working there. Because I love my Cyclone, I for one get very disappointed to read write-ups like this! Sorry to hear about your problems with your RW!
 

rdorsey

Member
Ray, I just bought a new 2011 RW395 and am experiencing simular issues. The dealership is doing what they can and have been great to deal with, but I have not been impressed with the workmanship on a $75,000 camper. Camped 6 times back 6 times. Water leaks, main toilet will not flush properly,black tank was pluggged from the factory most likely with the cut out, drain valve bad, axel alignment issues, caulking on the seams is cracking all the compartment doors have had to be resealed and most of the front end cap. You will want to caulk the inside of the water connection area or it will leak into the front compartment. After 6 times camping I had a list of 14 items that still need repaired. Heartland has not been disrespectful when I have called, but I am ready for them to bring me a new camper.
 

jimtoo

Moderator
Hi rdorsey,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of people here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge if needed.

Sorry to hear your having some problems, but continue to work with your dealer any way you can. Hopefully the dealer will get all your problems taken care of and you can enjoy your toy hauler.

Enjoy the forum and if the Heartland family can help, we are here for suggestions and ideas.

Jim M
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Next we have had a major leak behind the refrigerator. Seems that the water line to the ice maker is the problem.
Ray, if you had water in the icemaker water line while you were in freezing weather, the line probably froze resulting in the leak you're experiencing. If you open the lower outside vent on the refrigerator, you'll see the line is exposed to outside air. If in a slide, there are also sections of the line coming into the slide that are exposed to outside air.

For future reference, the refrigerator manual includes the procedure to evacuate water from the line for the winter.
 

Mark726

Member
I have 2019 road warrior 4275 rw have hydraulic leak think from big slide hydraulic fluid all underneath the black Bottom Insulation
 

david-steph2018

Well-known member
You will need to look and see if you have blown a hydraulic hose to either the center jack or the slide. If it is a blown hose, you may be able to find a place to make a hose for you instead of ordering one from Lippert.
 

arisce

Well-known member
Useless to post your problems on this forum. The powers that be will eventually shut you down if you complain too much. The forum leaders will protect Dealers and Heartland before the client. Even certain members will defend Heartland befote their fellow RVers. Go figure. Jimtoo gave you the best advice you are going to get from moderators. Sorry for your problems continue working with your dealer. Heartland is in no way responsible for your problems. We wish you good luck.
 

LBR

Well-known member
I have 2019 road warrior 4275 rw have hydraulic leak think from big slide hydraulic fluid all underneath the black Bottom Insulation
You should start your own thread instead of waking up an almost 10 year-old one.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Useless to post your problems on this forum. The powers that be will eventually shut you down if you complain too much. The forum leaders will protect Dealers and Heartland before the client. Even certain members will defend Heartland befote their fellow RVers. Go figure. Jimtoo gave you the best advice you are going to get from moderators. Sorry for your problems continue working with your dealer. Heartland is in no way responsible for your problems. We wish you good luck.
Some people post to the forum when they need help, and many of our forum members jump in to do just that. We have a large number of very experienced and knowledgeable owners who are quick to share what they've learned, along with a lot of written resources.

But sometimes people just want to vent because they had a bad experience. You've done that. Heartland allows that.

Sometimes people want to bash Heartland or a supplier, and yes, that's contrary to forum rules. Moderators will step in and curtail activity that violates forum rules. That may include giving direction to the poster.

And yes, occasionally someone decides they don't want to follow forum rules or take direction and we do have tools to deal with that.
 

jerryjay11

Well-known member
First, let me say that Heartland is working with us to correct the problems that are listed below, but in my opinion they should not have existed if there was a better QA program.
We purchased a new 2012 Heartland 400RW Toy Hauler Fifth-wheel at the Hershey RV show this year. It arrived in November as we had some special request. Being experienced fifth-wheel owners we had a standard list of questions we needed answers for. These were answered by the sales folks and AJ from Heartland. We did our homework as best as we could at the time.

The Goal here is to educate those that may be looking at purchasing a Heartland RV. We love our floor plan and if we can get these items taken care of, we feel we will have gotten a good unit for our purposes (well other then the first issue below, that is disturbing to be lied to). Everything listed below is as factual as I can make them.

Starting from latest issues to original issues:
We have lost water so far three times this winter while camping. First time we thought it was our new Pirit water hose. Called the factory and was told to reverse the hose or extended the end that was inside the trailer so that the thermistor was outside. Did that and the water froze again the next night. So Pirit sent us another hose. I finally got around to replacing it and the water froze again. Some simple troubleshooting showed that it was not the hose but the rig itself. A call to Heartland reveled that the 400RW does not have the water lines running in a heated area as we were told at the show by numerous people. In fact the water lines run just under the belly in a non-heated nor insulated area. This Spring we will drop the underbelly and perform some modifications to make the unit more year-round suitable.

The island sink is leaking water from the hot water line or faucet. We had water all over the floor and inside the island.
We had some more work done in the kitchen to make things a little more useful. There are a very limited number of electrical outlets in the kitchen (1 set of 1 receptacle by the couch and 1 set of 2 recepicles on the island). So we had our RV repairman add one by the stove, another set put in the island and exchanged the single outlet by the couch for a double). During this process he found the following (this is a followup email to Heartland):

"As I write this (removed repair company) is here doing some work on the RV. He has shown me that the Convection Microwave was not bolted into the cabinet correctly. The plastic mounting piece was broken and only held in with one screw. The one side was broken and had no place for the screws to hold it in. The 'good' side only had one screw. In addition the plastic brace was broken along the front. It appears that the convection oven could have easily fallen out while on the road.

Next we have had a major leak behind the refrigerator. Seems that the water line to the ice maker is the problem. We have not yet gotten authorization from Heartland to do the repairs. (Repairman) is going to fax the detailed work order this afternoon and will be back once he has authorization to begin the extensive list of repairs."

Finally here is part of the orginal email to Heartland for items we found that need more attention to details:
"Per our previous conversation, here are some issues we have found with our new 400RW.

1. Cable TV wiring was not installed properly. After several hours tracking down the cable run and testing by the cable company and ourselves, we finally found the source of bad cabling in our rig. Seems the cables were incorrectly connected to the antenna amplifier in the master bedroom. The Antenna was on the cable connector and the cable was on the antenna. A simple test of the system would have shown this to be a problem. From my research, cable tv issues are a common problem at Heartland. Which makes this even more disturbing in that Heartland is not following up with production issues once they are identified.

2. The back door/ramp is out of alignment. We have a very hard time opening the back ramp as it sticks in the upper right hand corner (from outside). It takes someone pushing from the inside to open the ramp. This is hazardous as the ramp could open suddenly and possibly cause injury. This has not yet been fixed as the weather is such we won't be using it till Spring. We will have the RV Repairman take a look at this and contact Heartland.

3. The floor in the kitchen is weak. The area in front of the island near the garage is weak and walking by it, causes the island to dip almost an inch. The floor itself feels weak in that area.

4. The main door is extremely hard to close, often requiring us to slam the door to get it to latch. I have looked at the door and it does not appear that we can adjust the strike plate to fix this. I will have RV Repairman take a look when he has time and contact Heartland for authorization to correct the problem.

5. Leak in bathroom. There was a leak in the bathroom under the sink. I tighten the connectors and applied some silicone to the area where the leak was.

6. Leak under bedroom slide. This has not yet been addressed, but it appears that the seal at the bottom front of the slide has a gap that allows the rain water coming off the roof to flow into the main unit, soaking the floor when it rains. I will have the RV Repairman take a look at this as well.

7. The sofa bed fell apart. We went to use the sofa bed for the first time and it fell apart. It appears that the bolts that hold the frame work together were not connected properly. On the right hand side of the frame (front wall side), there is a bolt that holds part of the frame together. The bolt was into the front part of the frame but the back part of the frame was not secured to it.

8. The sliding door between the living area and the garage was not aligned properly. This one was easy to fix. But it should have been caught during someone inspection.

9. No mattress for the loft. This was caught during our acceptance inspection and the mattress is on order.

10. Finally the rats nest behind the radio. Well not literately a rat, but such poor workmanship that a rat could have done better. During our troubleshooting of the Cable TV problem we had to get behind the radio. Wires without terminators, disconnected plugs, electrical shorts, left over debris from construction. I was shocked when the cable guy got shocked because the 12 volts to the cigarette lighter was disconnected and laying in the open. Then we found the power connections to the radio also without wire caps or tape. This was not only dangerous to us, but could have easily caused a fire if the lines had shorted to the debris left from construction."
Just to clarify. Is it a new 2012 Heartland 400RW Toy Hauler Fifth-wheel or is that a typo?
 

wdk450

Well-known member
You will need to look and see if you have blown a hydraulic hose to either the center jack or the slide. If it is a blown hose, you may be able to find a place to make a hose for you instead of ordering one from Lippert.
Or you might be able to use the hose splice fitting referenced in this thread:
 
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