Never again

About a month ago we bought our first RV, a new North Country. It has been plagued with water leaks, soaked carpets, soaked insulation and a slew of other issues. Too many to list, but here are some, Air conditioner not working properly, cracked fiberglass shell, crooked blinds and vents. Some of which I repaired myself. We have been out with it 3 times and every time we use it it needs to go back to the dealership for water leak issues. Unfortunately I can not easily hook it up to water to it at home. The dealer, Wilkins RV of Bath NY. have been uncooperative, doing shoddy repairs, and even yelled at my wife for telling them what the serviceman told me. He actually told me " you know, you didn't buy a top of the line model". Really!!! This is the attitude you get for buying a $30,000 unit. I have talked with customer service twice. although the are polite on the phone, they offer no real help to speak of. I am going to try another dealer to see if they are willing to help me even though we did not buy it there. Our last resort is to go the the BBB, or anyone else that may be able to help. We will see, but I can say that I will never go to Wilkins again, and I will not buy another product from Thor Industries.

N2JZB, welcome to the forum. However it should have been under a better circumstance.
Do you know what is leaking? Plumbing or rain intrusion? Plumbing should be a pretty easy fix and I am surprised that the dealer could not fix that.
As far as the AC goes, how is it not working properly? Not cooling? At what outside temps? I have heard that the 13.5K units are minimal at extreme outside temps. 15K would do a much better job.
If you are not happy with your dealer doing repairs, give Heartland Customer Service a call and they may authorize another dealer to do your repair work.
Come back and let us know the end result of getting your unit repaired.

Peace
Dave

Thor has a financial stake in the company but to my knowledge they are not involved in the Operations of the Heartland company.

Your issues are unfortunate, but not specific to any one brand of RV trailers, nor related to the original cost of the trailer. The same issues creep up in the 100K trailers as well.

Your dealer service department sounds like a bunch of jerks.

Thank You Cookie for the response. First off the air conditioner was not flowing air to the bedroom area. I pulled the cover and found that the duct was being blocked by some foam insulation that was improperly installed. I made the repairs myself and it is working fine now. As for the water leaks, there are many. Under the kitchen sink leaked for the whole weekend. I think it got onto the insulation, but the dealer tells me that if they pull it apart to inspect it, they will not be able to put the insulation back. It leaked so bad that it made it out from under the cabinet and the base and a shelf was waterlogged. They have refused to replace the shelf but they did replace the base.
I took it back last week to fix the shower because it would not shut off and to reseal the glass enclosure that was leaking onto the carpet and soaking it. When we took it out this weekend we found that the shower still would not shut off and they ran a bead of caulk in the shower instead of taking it apart and doing it right and it still leaks.
On a good note, I stopped in at the local Camping World Dealer this morning and explained the situation to them. They are more than willing to help us out. We made an appointment for them to fix the issues next week. We probably should have gone there first, but at the time I thought going to a local dealer would get better service. Boy was I wrong. I should have listened to my friends that told me not to go to Wilkins RV. Stay tuned.

Glad to hear that CW is going to help you out.
As far as the leaks under the kitchen sink, that one area you will have to keep an eye on. Fittings, especially the sink drain tend to loosen as we bounce our rigs down the highway. I check mine regularly and do occasionally find one that need a bit of tightening. Be sure to check the large nut that attaches the drain to the sink.

Peace
Dave

I think it got onto the insulation, but the dealer tells me that if they pull it apart to inspect it, they will not be able to put the insulation back. It leaked so bad that it made it out from under the cabinet and the base and a shelf was waterlogged. They have refused to replace the shelf but they did replace the base.

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Hi N2JZB,

If the insulation got wet, the hard part is taking down the coroplast to get to it. Once the coroplast is down, replacing insulation takes almost no effort. It's very inexpensive and can be obtained anywhere. Mine got wet in the front section of the underbelly. I took the coroplast down and put in new, insulation, and added some at the same time.

If the leak caused damage to the shelf, if you haven't already done so, you should discuss that directly with Heartland Customer Service. I don't know why they wouldn't be willing to replace a shelf. You should know that woodwork is not stocked; it's made to order. So it could take 4-6 weeks to get a shelf. If it's something you can replace on your own, I'd just ask Heartland to ship a shelf to your home.

I am sorry about your situation. I have had many great experiences with Wilkins RV! I would contact your sales person very nicely, I would ask for their assistance with the service department and remain calm, I have been very upset with major purchases that have had problems and never once did yelling, screaming or threatening help those situations.

I am very confident that if you approach Heartland customer service and your sales associate your RV will be taken care of, remember it is a very busy time to get repairs done, also you can attract more bees with honey!

N2JZB said:

About a month ago we bought our first RV, a new North Country. It has been plagued with water leaks, soaked carpets, soaked insulation and a slew of other issues. Too many to list, but here are some, Air conditioner not working properly, cracked fiberglass shell, crooked blinds and vents. Some of which I repaired myself. We have been out with it 3 times and every time we use it it needs to go back to the dealership for water leak issues. Unfortunately I can not easily hook it up to water to it at home. The dealer, Wilkins RV of Bath NY. have been uncooperative, doing shoddy repairs, and even yelled at my wife for telling them what the serviceman told me. He actually told me " you know, you didn't buy a top of the line model". Really!!! This is the attitude you get for buying a $30,000 unit. I have talked with customer service twice. although the are polite on the phone, they offer no real help to speak of. I am going to try another dealer to see if they are willing to help me even though we did not buy it there. Our last resort is to go the the BBB, or anyone else that may be able to help. We will see, but I can say that I will never go to Wilkins again, and I will not buy another product from Thor Industries.

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We feel your pain my friend. I have a few posts on our recent purchase from them. Never again!

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk 4

Had ours taken to a dealership/repair shop for damage by a tow company, they did more damage on the lot than the driver missing the receiver hitching up! I was pretty torqued about it then contacted our insurance company about having it taken to a stellar repair shop 200 miles away. Even though Ron at Canopy Country was slammed he got the unit fixed and checked everything HL said should be checked in 10 days and for $1400 less than what the first shop quoted, they got the entire front cap off too for a full inspection which isn't easy when everyone is working 14-16 hour days 6 days a week in two bays. When it came to the damaged ceiling fan I contacted HL then Ron, he told me to get the one from HL on my own since he couldn't get one for less (insurance still paid for it) which is on its way. Ron has a guy who will install it at the CG where its parked now, he already paid the labor so that is 'free' as well. The checklist I got back from Canopy Country was long. They didn't need to blow the lines, check the tires, axles, all slide outs, gear boxes, water lines, awning, basements, leg stablizers and appliances but they did anyway...Ron won't let a unit leave the lot until all that is done and checks out.

That is the difference between a shop and a stellar shop, you have to find the right ones who have seen it all on every unit ever made from 12' TT's to 45' half million dollar MH's and can fix it right the first time as well as checking everything else making sure when it leaves the lot, the only phone call he gets back is one to thank him.

Its tough to blame the build though sometimes it isn't the best of the lot but every manufacture has those, even Prevost ... recently came across a couple in a new top of the line 2013 that was beautiful but they had some real horror stories on theirs ours could never top, it certainly put things into perspective!

That all being said it does come down to two things: was the build within specs and did the repair shop get it fixed or check to see if it needed to be fixed. For Heart Land it would seem the majority are within build spec and if something does go wrong, you aren't out 10 or 20 thousand and 4-6 months in the shop. This isn't a "you get what you pay for" thing, its across the board to remember most are not complicated repairs with our units compared to others. Find a good repair shop and keep the lines open with Heart Land, things will smooth out with little down time.