Two months too long for awning LED light replacement warranty?

stevenssr

Well-known member
On December 30, I took my BC in for a few warranty item repairs (bedroom door latch doesn't align, awning LED light replacement, and key fob replacement). I've called every week since I dropped it off. Two weeks into it I was told the parts were on order. 6 weeks into it, the said they didn't get all the parts to replace the awning LED's and had to order them. Now I'm at 8 weeks, and probably to no one's surprise, the parts are still on order. Am I being unrealistic by thinking this is unacceptable? The workers at ExploreUSA in Dallas have been very polite, but 2 months seems excessive to me (and still not done). I'm just guessing that I'm taking a back seat to other work going on. At least I feel that way. Interested in your thoughts.

Thanks,
Scott
 

TXTiger

Well-known member
That does seem a bit too long to wait. ExploreUSA in Dallas is where I purchased my Cyclone and I was very impressed with them so maybe its a kink in the network getting the parts. I would call Heartland Customer Service and follow up on the parts order myself, or if they are coming from an outside vender I would call the vender.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Scott,

Call Heartland Customer Service at 877-262-8032 / 574-262-8030. Have your VIN # ready. They should be able to tell you what parts are on order, when there were ordered, and when they're expected to arrive.
 

jimtoo

Moderator
This is what I consider unusual for ExploreUSA. Call and talk to Mike Frericks, General Manager, 214-420-2600. Explain your problem and see if he can help. Let me know how it goes.

Jim M
 

jassson007

Founding Louisiana Chapter Leaders-Retired
I ordered same lights for my BC and it took about 3 weeks as they come from dometic so yes that us way to long and my bet is your dealer is treating you like a mushroom, keeping you in the dark and feeding you a bunch of bull.


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danemayer

Well-known member
Btw, on the bedroom door latch, what you probably need is an elongated striker plate that is available at Home Depot. 2 minutes to install and you'll never have a problem again.
 

stevenssr

Well-known member
Well, I asked them to button it up and I'm going to pick it up tomorrow. I'll bring it back when the parts come in. At least they are going to charge the battery for me (I'm sure it is dead after two month's). While I'm there I'll see if Mike is there and talk to him about it (thanks Jim). I may even followup with Heartland and see what was ordered when. If they haven't addressed the door striker plate, I'll look at Home Depot and do that myself.

I really want this to be a supplier issue. They are very nice down there and I know ExploreUSA sponsors a lot of Heartland events, like rally's. However, I don't want to be treated like a "mushroom" either. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for the advice!
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
Well, I asked them to button it up and I'm going to pick it up tomorrow. I'll bring it back when the parts come in. At least they are going to charge the battery for me (I'm sure it is dead after two month's). While I'm there I'll see if Mike is there and talk to him about it (thanks Jim). I may even followup with Heartland and see what was ordered when. If they haven't addressed the door striker plate, I'll look at Home Depot and do that myself.

I really want this to be a supplier issue. They are very nice down there and I know ExploreUSA sponsors a lot of Heartland events, like rally's. However, I don't want to be treated like a "mushroom" either. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for the advice!


No excuse for them, but I know this week they've been getting ready for the Dallas RV show, going on this weekend at Market Hall. I would call Heartland and get the real story.

Erika
 

Greengas

Well-known member
Scott,

Call Heartland Customer Service at 877-262-8032 / 574-262-8030. Have your VIN # ready. They should be able to tell you what parts are on order, when there were ordered, and when they're expected to arrive.

i agree. When I've run into this type situation I get the details such as order date etc from the dealer and then I call the supplier and confirm. I've actually found in most cases it is the dealer that is at fault. But once they know you are going to check what the are saying against the supplier things tend to go much faster. Remember what president Reagan once said, trust but verify.
 

ptysonjr

Active Member
This cyclone is the 4th unit I have bought from Explore USA in Mesquite and Mike the GM is as useless as ********* when it comes to the service department. BJ the new service manager is top notch. If he personally can't get this rolling for you then call and ask for the new regional manager that just came over from Redwood/Thor. I have heard that he is Mr. Customer Service and really gets it done. Mark Stewart is the Sales Manager there and he can definitely get you the gentleman's number. Good luck.

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jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
I had a similar thing happen at another dealer. Parts were not in after 6 weeks. I called Heartland Parts with my vin and found they were never ordered. The dealer faxed in an order but the fax was never received by Heartland. The dealer failed to follow up the fax with a phone call to see if the fax was received. If I were in your shoes I would find out from the dealer who they ordered the parts from and then follow up with a phone call to check on the order with the supplier. Good luck.
 

kowAlski631

Well-known member
We had some warranty work to be done a month or so after we got our BH. The service guy said 2 weeks - no prob. At the end of the 1st week, we called the dealer to insure we were on schedule, & were told that it would be another 2 weeks as HL had not sent the parts. Told the dealer we'd expedite by calling HL ourselves & see what the hold up was. "No need to go to that trouble. That's what we're here for." We let the next week go by & instead of calling the dealer, we called HL. Parts had not been ordered as we were told.

With that info, we drove to the dealer, asked when & by what method parts were ordered & requested a copy of the order sheet. Hmmmm. They couldn't produce it. We stood there as the order sheet was compiled & sent to HL. We also kept a copy for our files. Trailer was finished in 2 weeks - 4 weeks in total.

Long story, but we've learned to trust but verify always. People get busy, believe they've done something, & miss deadlines all the time.

Martha


Paul & Martha

Life's too short. Live so you can say "Remember when" not "I wish I had".
 

EandJ

Well-known member
Our impression of Explore USA is much the same as the original poster. We bought our North Trail from the Canton location. Extremely nice people, good deal on the trailer. But when we took it back after three days for repairs, they had it over a month. And only partially fixed the major leak we had. But they were very friendly every time we called - as they had some excuse or another.

We eventually got it repaired in Houston at Ron Hoover under warranty. Saved the 500 mile round trip back to Canton plus Ron Hoover completely fixed the leak and only had the trailer 4 days.
 

chiefneon

Well-known member
I had a similar thing happen at another dealer. Parts were not in after 6 weeks. I called Heartland Parts with my vin and found they were never ordered. The dealer faxed in an order but the fax was never received by Heartland. The dealer failed to follow up the fax with a phone call to see if the fax was received. If I were in your shoes I would find out from the dealer who they ordered the parts from and then follow up with a phone call to check on the order with the supplier. Good luck.

Howdy!

Who in the world these days rely on FAX. Technologie has moved on erveryone uses e-mail now and its easy to verify if it has been received and opened (date, time etc...).

"Happy Trails"
Chiefneon
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
Howdy!

Who in the world these days rely on FAX. Technologie has moved on erveryone uses e-mail now and its easy to verify if it has been received and opened (date, time etc...).

"Happy Trails"
Chiefneon

There are still many dealers out there that rely on faxing. You don't have to do anything when you fax except push 1 button where as email you have to take the time to type in the info. Called laziness.
 

stevenssr

Well-known member
Here's a quick update on what happened. I picked up my unit while the 2nd parts order was being processed. They called me up about a week and a half later and said the parts were in. I brought it in and they fixed it in about a week. I initially dropped it off at the end of December. It was complete last week, so we were around 10 weeks. The work appears to be good from what I can tell so far.

I never did call Heartland and check on them but I'm going to choose to believe the dealer. Apparently, some units have this extra piece on the LED light strip and some don't (mine did). I still believe 10 weeks is excessive, but when the normal repair time is 6 weeks (as specified on their sign) and then they run into a situation where they have to reorder parts, 10 weeks doesn't sound unreasonable. Plus, I probably added a week onto the time by picking it up in the middle like I did. They are very nice down there and I could tell they were stacked up with work. I'm just crossing my fingers that I don't need any more warranty work. If I do, I'm going to try and do it myself (with a call to Heartland).
 

pegmikef

Well-known member
I have never understood why a lot of these places think they need to keep your trailer while they wait for parts instead of just ordering the parts and then making an appointment to have it fixed when all of the required parts have arrived.
 

azbigfoot

Well-known member
My experience says the problem lies with the dealer or the manufacturer of the item (Awning LED). The dealers want to sell. They spend their time doing PDIs with the new customers. The manufacturer of the item seems to want to delay paying for the repairs. Heartland is the middleman in many cases.

I would rather call Heartland directly, send pictures, have them submit work order to manufacturer. Then I work with the manufacturer for the repair. Cut out two middle men (dealer and Heartland) and work right with the manufacturer.

BTW I am waiting for the same awning LED repair. It has been in the works since November. My dealer is sending out a mobile tech next week after I called Heartland at the beginning of March and they said there wasn't even an open ticket for the problem. Ended up calling the dealer's General Manager, explained the situation, and he helped me out with his service department. Right now I've switch service managers and so far so good.
 

Heathcote4

Active Member
Hey everybody,

Two questions/thoughts on the thread.

1) I am wanting to upgrade my awnings with the LED's after seeing them at the RV show in Dallas. The ones that are mentioned in the thread, are they the LED's in the roller or the ones agains the wall. We bought a 2013 RW390, they have Carefree awnings. Are these LED strips compatible to my awnings?

2) We bought our RW from a dealer in Denton. Some of the stories mentioned here are very familiar. I bought the the camper long before deer season, but missed bow season if that tells you anything. The service department got me involved and I had to speak to Heartland and the fault came down on the dealer's side. They have had 2 out of 3 service advisers quit/get fired. After LOTS of warranty items and service failures we find out last visit they dropped the Road Warrior line for a manufacturer other than Heartland. If it wasn't for the service manager there I would have been gone already.

Does anybody else know where I can get warranty work done other than the dealer I bought it from?

Thanks to all for the input.

Josh
 

scottyb

Well-known member
I never did call Heartland and check on them but I'm going to choose to believe the dealer.

Scott, I had a similar thing happen to me concerning support legs for the Happyjack bunks. I insisted on picking up my Cyclone due to impending trips. My dealer insisted the part had not shipped. I finally called HL CS and they said the parts had shipped within a week after I 1st dropped off my rig for warranty repairs, and while they still had my rig. HL sent me a PDF copy of the tracking and delivery confirmation with the name of the signee. BTW, it was the same dealership, different location.
 
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