Not the quality and service we were expecting

So we custom ordered our Big Country at the end of 2014. They gave us a date for pick up but of course when we get a week out they push it back....3 times. Finally we pick it up, on our way to sign final paperwork we notice all our hydraulic lines are about to explode...another delay. We finally get to our first destination and the hydraulics ruptured again, pocket door to bathroom broke, sink leaks, hoses need to be redone under the RV and the arm that holds the under storage bed is broken. You would think heartland would be in a hurry to help us out but they keep giving us the run around with part delivery time and NEVER CALL US BACK when they say they will. I'm 1 month in on my brand new Big Country but I know my next RV will be a DRV.

Hi hpripstein,

Sorry you're having these problems.

Are you getting part delivery times from your dealer or directly from Heartland? As many people have learned, dealers often blame Heartland for parts delays when they haven't even placed the order.

I would call Heartland Customer Service at 877-262-8032 / 574-262-8030. Have your VIN # ready. Stay on hold until the Customer Service Rep picks up. He should be able to look up the parts order date and shipping information while you're on the phone.

So sorry, that sounds like a dealer that is not staying on top of things! BTW, I've never heard of exploding hydraulics, are you speaking of leaks? Also what floorplan did you purchase? I understand there was a re-engineering of certain Big Country plans recently, that may have disrupted production.

Hard to comment on your issues without any details but by the sounds of it most of this could have been taken care of with a proper PDI. I've used email for my dealings with Heartland customer service and have not had any problems with them getting back to me. It also leaves a "paper" trail so it eliminates and chance of "I said they said"

BTW without a thorough PDI you are likely to have the same issues with DVR or any other RV manufacturer out there.

Good luck.

We had a PDI which is when we noticed the problems the first time. We have the 3450ts and I gave up on my dealer so I have been using a local RV repair person that does warranty work. He is great and we both call heartland often for status updates. They keep changing shipping date and saying it shipped then next time they're waiting for parts. In fact I just got off the phone with heartland and they just seemed confused. My repair person got so fed up he told them to authorize buying a local hose for our most serious problem with the leveling hydraulics. Our dealer was not the most helpful and gave us a moron for the pdi so we asked for a second walkthrough that was a little better, but they wouldn't let us hookup water to check for leaks and the other problems happened after our first drive. I don't know how many random screws we find with no idea where they came from. My brother just bought a Big Horn at the same time and he's having just as many problems. They bought from a different dealer.

No matter what the brand, or who the dealer is........ Even the best PDI will not make up for poor factory quality control. The manufacturers need to step up to the plate.

SilverRhino said:

No matter what the brand, or who the dealer is........ Even the best PDI will not make up for poor factory quality control. The manufacturers need to step up to the plate.

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They give me the feeling that they don't care much about the end user. They really don't appear to have much in the way of quality control. I definitely won't do this again, and I haven't really had that many issues . . just simple stuff and poor mattresses and the fear of my Tomax tires. I feel sorry for some who have posted their misery on here like this thread. Reading the sugarcoated replies on here gets old after a while. If it weren't for the few who have helped me privately, my frustration would have been worse.

hpripstein said:

...we notice all our hydraulic lines are about to explode...

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For what it's worth - I notified the plant about this and heard back that there was a problem with the dies in the crimp machine not crimping the hose ends tight enough. This was caught during an audit. Now, more periodic audits are done on die tolerances to ensure good crimps. Sorry yours was one that slipped by.

I hate to see even one story like yours. I feel for you going through these problems. What I do not understand is why there is not one single RV company in this country that will stand behind its product 100% when it is a manufacturing issue. Those big 5vers being towed around are billboards on wheels. If just one person walks up to a disgruntled Heartland owner, that is one potential sales loss. We parked next to such a couple last year on a trip. We got to talking and they had nothing but regrets buying their Cyclone.

I hope Heartland gets it in their head to set you up right and hold your dealer accountable as well. Maybe then you will be able to enjoy that new rig of yours enough that the hard feelings subside.

I hate to say it but DRV also has their problems as well. Thank goodness the President of the Owners club saw your post and did some investigating to say there was a issue that was found during audit. All manufacturer have problems.

I like that the forum is monitored in this way. Not sure what your issues are, but if you are having trouble with quality calling the Factory directly would get results.

DocFather said:

So, now we censor our posts. I have posted 2 in the last 20 minutes on this thread, both have been deleted. Nice!!

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Hey Doc - I looked at your posts after they were moderated. Your comments are rather uncalled for. Post those type of comments on some other platform. We're all here helping each other and Heartland is working hard to make a decent rigs. Not perfect but improving.

jbeletti said:

Hey Doc - I looked at your posts after they were moderated. Your comments are rather uncalled for. Post those type of comments on some other platform. We're all here helping each other and Heartland is working hard to make a decent rigs. Not perfect but improving.

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Asking if Heartland tested the systems before signing off on them was uncalled for? Really? My comment was in response to what you found out about the faulty crimping machine. That was a good find. It they tested the units before letting them leave the factory, possibly, and I know this is possibly, they could have taken care of it then. Sorry you thought my comment was uncalled for. So much for censorship. It won't happen again.

Doc - there was more to your post than that. You asked a rhetorical question knowing no one here would have the answer - then you answer it yourself in a semi-sarcastic way. I say let's raise the bar on this forum a little bit. Let's keep our responses to this thread constructive - not semi-sarcastic rhetoric.

jbeletti said:

Doc - there was more to your post than that. You asked a rhetorical question knowing no one here would have the answer - then you answer it yourself in a semi-sarcastic way. I say let's raise the bar on this forum a little bit. Let's keep our responses to this thread constructive - not semi-sarcastic rhetoric.

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That is correct. I answered the question myself. The Words were "I think I know the answer to that." The folks on this Forum are quite intelligent for the most part. I wasn't being sarcastic, I was being truthful, which sometimes hurts to read. But, I get it.

[h=1]hpripstein, we can certainly feel your pain. We have found that trying to stay positive although very hard at times will help get you through your issues. We have owned our Landmark for 8 months and had the roof replaced, bedroom slide seal replaced twice, bed had to come out and the bedroom floor screwed down again because it was coming up, front jacks replaced, slides re-adjusted, inverter replaced, etc. and all this work cost us $1500 out of our pockets due to having to live in a hotel while the major work was done. Has Heartland worked with us, yes they have but this is way more warranty work than we should have had to deal with on a unit with an MSRP of over $100k. I know you are disheartened but try and hang in there and see if you get things worked out. I know our unit has cost Heartland several thousand dollars in warranty work and you would hope they would re-evaluate their Q/C procedures in the future but usually the all might dollar wins out. So far I have refrained from bashing Heartland on other forums because of our many major issues which is usually not like me. I will say when we are asked about our unit when we travel we do not lie to people.[/h]

I don't understand why on every rv forum people say - they all have problems and we just accept that. I personally think that is crazy. We have pretty much decided to just keep our current rig and do a bunch of upgrading and customizing. At least we know what we have instead of buying the unknown (they all have problems right) and then having to deal with the issues "They all have". We can spend 25k - 30k, save about 70k and then have a rig that is exactly what we want and don't have to deal with dealers or mfgs.

Because they "all" don't have problems. We have had our BH for 4 years and it has been virtually trouble free. If Heartland came up with a floor plan we like as well or more than our current 3670 we wouldn't hesitate trading out of ours. We also have no reservations recommending Heartland. In fact our good friends and neighbors were in the market and ended up with a 15 Big Horn based largely on our experience and recommendation. At my suggestion they printed out a PDI check list easily found on this forum, went through it at delivery, found some issues, had them taken care of prior to paying for it..... they have been on an extended trip this winter and are loving it. They will be home in the next week or two. We are looking forward to visiting and seeing their new rig.

Wow hunter11 that's a huge list of serious problems, especially for a landmark. I am surprised you are still able to stay so positive, good for you.