Also want to know how the warranty work is handled, since we live very far from ANY dealers in the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri.
Hi fulltime5er,
This is a very important consideration. Hopefully there's at least an RV Service location somewhere near you. No one wants to drive long distances for service, whether in warranty or out.
Heartland has been pretty flexible about authorizing service at places that don't sell Heartland products. Of course the authorization has to be done in advance so they can make sure the service tech is qualified. Almost all of the warranty work on our Landmark was done at a nearby dealer that doesn't sell Heartland products.
We take extended ski trips in the Colorado mountains. As you might imagine, it's not very convenient to interrupt a ski trip and drive 100 miles to the nearest dealer, going through difficult mountain passes. Waiting for a weather travel window adds to the difficulty. To help us, Heartland has drop-shipped parts to us up in the mountains. One time during very severe weather, we needed a part that had to come from Dometic. Dometic insisted we take the trailer to a dealer. Because of the weather issues and the urgency to fix the problem, Heartland Customer Service interceded for us and Dometic shipped the part to us.
These examples are why so many people on this forum will tell you that Heartland provides excellent customer service and warranty fulfillment.
As to problems, of course we've had our share. Some from Dometic appliances, some from Lippert stuff, some from Dexter, a partial failure from a Shurflo pump. These subsystems are widely used throughout the RV industry and buyers are just as likely to experience the failures on one brand as another.
We had a few minor issues where Heartland manufacturing made a mistake: a baggage door latch that wasn't adjusted quite right, and one or two other things that took the dealer a minute or two to correct when we took delivery. Rather than try to find a manufacturer that never makes a mistake, I'd suggest you do a very thorough walk through when you take delivery. Also, stay at the dealer or close by for a few days so any issues can be quickly corrected before you get home and are in the long distance scenario.