New Heartland product and quality problems any?

What does everyone think about there new campers? Me and my wife just bought a new 2015 camper and there are some major things wrong with it like soft spots in the floor, hole in the carpet , hot water heater doesnt work, dvd player doesnt work,the slide out goes out but wont come back in until you mess with it a bunch it just keeps stalling out, dent in one of the windows that when installed is pushing and dents the fiberglass witch in time will crack, the day we pulled it home trim started coming off and screws come out of the outside, stain in the carpet, holes in the walls were screws should have been?, trim falling off on the inside, none of the doors line up or shut right like the frame is twisted and me and my wife are so frustrated with this product after only sleeping in it 2 nights we are thinking of trading it in on a different brand after we ordered it and waited 3 months. The dealer wants us to bring it to them to get fixed but its brand new it shouldnt have this many problems. we dont trust this camper to last till the end of summer.

Hi Coryrehder,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

Are you looking for information and a specific model? If so please give us a little more information.

No company makes a perfect unit, but with the factory backup, the Heartland Owners Forum and members, we have very little problems considering the amount of units sold and on the road.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M

Hi coryrehder,

It does sound like you'll have to take it back to the dealer to get everything corrected.

i think the only way they could make this right is get me a new camper because its just way to many things to be wrong dont you think? our dealer told us that its like our home being in a earthquake every time we pull it and to expect things to fall off that just dont sound right to me.

I suggest you contact your dealer and make arrangements with him to get your unit in for the necessary repairs. It appears to me that you did not do, or get to do, a very good PDI. If so you should have found a lot of these problems before you even took it off the dealers lot.

Contact your dealer, be nice,,, I know it is hard sometimes, but it will usually get you much better results.

What kind of unit and model do you have?

Jim M

i bought the 2015 28BHS

That would be a Prowler?
As stated before, you need to take your rig back to the dealer for the repairs.

Peace
Dave

so none of you guys see any problems with this at all? It would take a year to fix this stuff then the warranty is over and its no longer heartlands problem i just cant believe that you guys think this is ok.

Coryrehder said:

so none of you guys see any problems with this at all? It would take a year to fix this stuff then the warranty is over and its no longer heartlands problem i just cant believe that you guys think this is ok.

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Coryrehder,

Most of us on the forum are oriented toward helping other owners get things fixed so they can enjoy their trailers. Agreeing or disagreeing with you won't get anything fixed. Let me suggest you discuss the problem with your dealer and ask them to prioritize the work since they apparently did a very poor job prepping the trailer for delivery. It shouldn't take very long to correct everything if the dealer puts a high priority on doing the work.

Btw, carpet stains and some of the other things you mentioned suggest the trailer was used in some way before you took it home - perhaps at RV shows. Usually the dealer will clean things up and fix any damage from the hordes of people walking through a unit. Sounds like maybe that didn't happen on yours.

You haven't told us the model - Prowler ? No I don't think any of us feel a large number of problems are the norm. But you should allow your dealer to try correcting the problems within a reasonable timeframe. If he isn't able to do this then Heartland should be contacted and the unit should be returned to them. All of this will take negotiation on your part, I know this sounds strange but you want your dealer to want to help you out. It's a busy time for them and they are not looking for work. RV's can have a number of problems to correct when new, it's the nature of the beast, that's why the PDI
inspection done by the purchaser is so important. Good Luck, stay in touch and let us help you out with our experiences.

We bought a 2014 Cyclone 4100 King and have had some issues. And, the dealer was a disaster. The challenge we had is that we are full timing. I went directly to Heartland and they have been very responsive and supportive. We got a mobile service come, take pictures, interface with Heartland, and get the authorization to do the work. I only had to pay for the initial service call ($75) but everything else was covered under the warranty. We are very please with Heartland and will buy another when the time comes.


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Please don't take these issues as quality problems throughout Heartland brands, a lot can influence the root cause of your problems that can range from a lot of things that happened after leaving the factory until you took delivery. Everything from rough handling during transport to dealership demos, or RV shows. I know in just the 3 days from the time we looked at ours at the dealership till we said "OK, we'll buy it" (Sunday morning until Tuesday afternoon) enough people looked at it to cause damage that wasn't there 3 days earlier, such as some idiot that didn't realize how to open the the cabinet by the cabinet pull and tried to open it from the wrong side and cracked the cabinet door (covered under warranty).

As you can see in my signature, I own a 2015 that still hasn't made it home, but mainly because the PDI my dealership did wasn't up to "my standards". When I did my walk through I threw them for a loop when I showed up in my wife's car and not my truck, and pulled out a creeper and a bunch of tools to check over everything. Granted, I did my research and knew pretty much no Brand or RV maker will deliver something cross country and have it get there in great/new shape, most RV's are built in Indiana and to get it to Oregon for me, or Wyoming for you, it was hooked to the back of the lowest bidder and delivered to your dealer.

For mine, it has a leak in the fresh water system where the entire underbelly was full of water like a water balloon when all we had tested at that point was filling the fresh water tank. I can only assume that the transport operator just doesn't take as good of a care of avoiding bumps, or road issues as an owner would and something just loosened some of the fittings on the fresh water system, but haven't really heard from the dealership as to the root cause of the issue yet so I cannot blame Heartland quality.

Like I said though, I showed up for my PDI fully expecting issues, and since I never took delivery the dealership is setting everything as a higher priority just to get it delivered. Sorry to hear about your issues, but you should take it to your dealership to get resolved, and if your not making headway with the dealership Heartland will direct you to an independent local RV service person that could take on your repairs as others have pointed out.

Sadly, even Heartland admits that they do warranty work on pretty much every trailer they make. Our Bighorn has its share of issues, but none of them are deal-breakers. We can go through the summer without getting them fixed. We have some issues that indicate no real inspection was made before shipping (screws - sharp sheetrock screws - penetrate into the Utility compartment enough (over 1/2") to cut me more than once. Two doors wouldn't close (fixed before we took delivery). Living room slide ripped the carpet (will fix this fall), weatherstripping is falling off. None of these issues are attributable to transport from Indiana to Washington. Our trailer is made in a separate plant that makes Landmark, Bighorn, and Big Country. It is a low volume facility that claims they only make 10 trailers a week. I am not worried about my investment. All are or will be corrected. Heartland customer service is excellent. Too bad their quality control isn't.

My prior trailer was a Kodiak. Its belly pan filled with water due to bad PEX connections. It had endless leaks and very cheap components. Heartland uses component quality that matches the price point of the trailers they sell. We are delighted with the Heartland choice of stuff built into ours. I learned after owning the Kodiak, an ultralight mid range trailer, that like everything else, you get what you pay for. That's why we selected a top of the line Heartland. We love it.

I am utterly amazed by this thread

Our 2014 Bighorn was poorly put together and a real disappointment. Here is our story:

//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/42969-We-re-new-3260-Owners

You won't get a lot of sympathy here. There have been more issues since I posted last. We still regret buying the Bighorn. In our case, we didn't get what we paid for.

Coryrehder said:

i think the only way they could make this right is get me a new camper because its just way to many things to be wrong dont you think? our dealer told us that its like our home being in a earthquake every time we pull it and to expect things to fall off that just dont sound right to me.

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That must be the corporate pitch to get folks to buy the extended warranty. One minute the finance guys is telling us what a great unit we bought and in the next breath he tells us it's about ready to fall apart! He gave us the "earthquake" speech, too.

I also recently purchased my first Heartland product, a 2015 Landmark Savannah. My wife Julie and I had done extensive research on the Internet, visiting dealers, and attending multiple shows over a 3-year period. We'd down selected to three different manufacturers before finally deciding to buy Heartland. We anxiously awaited delivery of our new coach and drove from Dayton, OH to DeFuniak Springs, FL to pick up the unit. We took over 6-hrs conducting our PDI. There were about 18 different items of concern that needed to be resolved before we'd accept delivery. We stayed in the trailer Sat and Sun night and the dealer resumed working fixes on Mon. We departed FL with three major items that needed to be worked, but we had to get back to OH. The delivering dealer submitted the claims to HL for warranty and we found a local dealership in OH who was part of the Priority RV Network to perform service. My OH dealership picked up the ball and started working the remaining three items. HL regional and warranty representatives were exceptional. They worked to get approvals in place quickly and my dealership is now waiting parts. So the forums were true, HL is stepping up to resolve the problem.

That said, I'd much prefer they get to the root of the problem and address their quality issues at the plant so they didn't have to perform triage after delivery. I'm paying for a new trailer to sit in a storage lot until it can be used; lost over 40-camping days so far this summer because I can't keep food cold because the inverter will not carry the refrigerator power during transit, and that's the only reason the inverter was put into the unit to begin with...to support the residential refrigerator during transit. We visited the factory for a tour, viewed the QC sheets used on the product line, and asked a ton of questions before the purchase. I find it difficult to believe the QA manager didn't catch some of the less than outstanding issues we identified during PDI. Some were minor (ding near basement door, light bulbs missing, missing hardware, etc.), but there were some major items like the brake actuator and inverter being INOP. Really made me cringe not knowing if the 14,000lb. unit travelled from IN to FL with no brakes. Also makes me wonder what underlying issues haven't made an appearance when something as visible as decorative wood above the bed was missing half of the hardware and sagging over 6" from the ceiling. Guess only time will tell what other gremlins are lurking in hidden spaces. I'm very disappointed in the craftsmanship and quality assurance exhibited by HL.

Eric,

Welcome to the club. We picked up our trailer 5/5 and everything appeared to work fine (except the fridge inverter) at delivery. Since we have brought it home it is one thing after another. Yes so far Heartland has taken care of the issues but we still have two outstanding and one with the roof I have not even reported yet. I was told our POC would be moving to a new dept. and someone else would be contacting me about our outstanding issues but that was over a week ago and I am still waiting. We have our first trip planned with this trailer since we bought it and only wonder what is going to happen on the road. I realize Heartland is trying to take care of us but after three months the hits just keep coming. We keep hoping for what we paid for this thing at some point we will be able to enjoy it but so far no joy.

We picked up our Bighorn 3160 in March. We have found a significant number of defects. Fortunately, all are fit and finish. We have a Sept appointment to get them corrected. I think that Heartland's quality control is deplorable. Every single problem we have was easy to discover. A reasonable inspection would have revealed them.

Having said that, I am incredibly impressed with the overall quality of the coach. The materials used, equipment selected, and appliances are all first rate. I think that the engineering is excellent. So, the first season has us living with some annoying issues, but happy with the investment we have made. I am convinced that Heartland, like all other trailer makers, has a giant labor problem. The people who built my coach did not take any pride in their work. The most glaring examples of this are the protruding screws in our UDC (?sp) that have cut both of us several times, the shades hung crooked, the wrong screws used to mount the bathroom vanity lights, the torn binding on our living room slide, bad weatherstripping on the slides, etc.

Since every Thor product is equally bad in terms of QC, and Thor seems to own the world, We just suck it up and expect a lot of warranty work. But these problems are just inconveniences. The long term prospects for our trailer are very good. Even though we need to get a lot of things fixed, we are still happy customers.

We picked up our Sundance and next day left on a week long trip. We kept a list going of things, about 25, of things that needed attention, none major just cosmetic. Returned to dealer when we got home and they were all taken care of quickly.
I think the dearler was very correct in saying it's like the last 100 feet of the assembly line is at the dealership.
Since then we have had no problems.

Sound like it need to winter at a competent dealership, I would hammer on this, get these fixed and have them document every problem and what they did to fix it. My experience with my Big Country is just the opposite. a few minor problems that I fixed myself as it takes to much fuel to enforce a warranty. I'm saying a few minor things I can fix with tool out of my tool box and 30 minutes. However, I was disappointed with the OEM TowMax tires. You will probably get consensus on that statement.

Coryrehder said:

What does everyone think about there new campers? Me and my wife just bought a new 2015 camper and there are some major things wrong with it like soft spots in the floor, hole in the carpet , hot water heater doesnt work, dvd player doesnt work,the slide out goes out but wont come back in until you mess with it a bunch it just keeps stalling out, dent in one of the windows that when installed is pushing and dents the fiberglass witch in time will crack, the day we pulled it home trim started coming off and screws come out of the outside, stain in the carpet, holes in the walls were screws should have been?, trim falling off on the inside, none of the doors line up or shut right like the frame is twisted and me and my wife are so frustrated with this product after only sleeping in it 2 nights we are thinking of trading it in on a different brand after we ordered it and waited 3 months. The dealer wants us to bring it to them to get fixed but its brand new it shouldnt have this many problems. we dont trust this camper to last till the end of summer.

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