New Trail Runner 25SLE - already back in the shop

Silverstone

Member
Hello together.
After picking up our trailer last Wednesday, I had to drop it at a closer Heartland dealer for warranty repairs.
I do have one question to the community out there.
Why are you excepting that poor craftsmanship on this trailers? Why I am asking? Close to everyone in the dealership said that this Heartland products coming like our trailer from the factory! In our case: complete lose bathtub surrounding, gaps with no seals or silicone in the water areas, broken / cracks in the decals, and lose inside walls in the outside compartments! If this is Heartland quality, the owners should take the leading employees to a trip to Europe. Heartland would have no chance to exist in Europe. Heartland trailers have twice the weight and compare to a 2017 trailer, have the inside design of a middle age British stone castle to a 21st century trailer made in Europe for less money.
 
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JSchneib

Member
After 2 years of ownership I agree with you on the poor craftsmanship. We had a list of items like this on ours and had to make multiple trips thomas the dealer for repairs. I guess we accepted it because we (felt like) we got a pretty good deal and we were new to this whole thing. Ours is a 27RKS and since has served us well since then but I continue to find poor (lazy) craftsmanship throughout. I also get tired of excuses like 'you can't get good help these days ' or 'they put them together quick to keep the price down '. I wish I had a better answer for you.

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Silverstone

Member
After 2 years of ownership I agree with you on the poor craftsmanship. We had a list of items like this on ours and had to make multiple trips thomas the dealer for repairs. I guess we accepted it because we (felt like) we got a pretty good deal and we were new to this whole thing. Ours is a 27RKS and since has served us well since then but I continue to find poor (lazy) craftsmanship throughout. I also get tired of excuses like 'you can't get good help these days ' or 'they put them together quick to keep the price down '. I wish I had a better answer for you.

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But asking $139 per hour labour for service.
 

JSchneib

Member
Repairs all done under warranty. But I don't mind the $139/hr at the dealership if their work is good. They are not the ones who built it.

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Silverstone

Member
Repairs all done under warranty. But I don't mind the $139/hr at the dealership if their work is good. They are not the ones who built it.

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I'm only saying that dealers charge $139 the customers, but pay minimum wages and saying they can't find qualified workers. I will not start a discussion on how North America should train workers. But there is a point other countries teach young people in trades and not 38 year old guys start their 1st apprentice year. You can't always complain about unqualified workers but ask American people to buy American when American items are still 20 years behind in quality. Nevertheless. I was only surprised that even the dealerships are accepting what they get delivered.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Close to everyone in the dealership said that this Heartland products coming like our trailer from the factory!

Sometimes you have to take what dealership people say with a grain of salt.

From everything we see on this forum, problems on new builds are unevenly distributed. Many trailers seem to have 1 or 2 minor problems, or no problems at all. A few others have a long list.

Obviously the factory made some mistakes on yours. And it shouldn't have gotten out the door that way. But I don't think you can generalize from your single data point and make broad statements about every trailer.

Keep in mind as you read forums that people who have the trailers that came out of the factory without any problems don't have any reason to post. So what you read online is always going to be skewed toward the problem reports.
 

Silverstone

Member
Hello together.
After picking up our trailer last Wednesday, I had to drop it at a closer Heartland dealer for warranty repairs.
I do have one question to the community out there.
Why are you excepting that poor craftsmanship on this trailers? Why I am asking? Close to everyone in the dealership said that this Heartland products coming like our trailer from the factory! In our case: complete lose bathtub surrounding, gaps with no seals or silicone in the water areas, broken / cracks in the decals, and lose inside walls in the outside compartments! If this is Heartland quality, the owners should take the leading employees to a trip to Europe. Heartland would have no chance to exist in Europe. Heartland trailers have twice the weight and compare to a 2017 trailer, have the inside design of a middle age British stone castle to a 21st century trailer made in Europe for less money.

Short update:
We used the trailer one time last year because I had to attend a couple doctors appointments. Anyway. My wife found out that the inside walls are also lose. I winterized the trailer to find out that someone at the Heartland factory thought he must drill the screws into the support frame at the fridge cabinet in to split the wood. Quality control didn’t happend on our trailer. And I am absolutely sure that the dealership (who winterized the trailer before us last year) gave a shxx on how they look after their units before they sell it.

Anyway. Back in the shop again. Will see if Heartland has some excuses not to cover it under warranty. Warranty runs out today.... What a nightmare in buying American Pride! Hope nobody takes it for granted that we would buy this cheaply made product again. Looking already to get rid of it! :mad:
 
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