Bad experience so far

[BigGuy82]

I keep reading and hearing about new coach issues and it always amazes me that they always end up being the dealers fault. Granted there are problems at the dealership level, but if HL and other manufacturers would start doing a decent job of quality control many of these problems would be solved. It is not the dealerships responsibility to have to correct sloppy manufacturing.

I agree and I don't agree.

The dealer didn't do a poor job of manufacturing - BUT - they also choose what brands to sell. If a product is routinely shoddy, then it is also the dealer's fault because they keep selling those known defective products to us.

The dealer didn't do a poor job of manufacturing - BUT - it is clearly thier job (we paid them to do it when we bought the coach) to do a proper PDI and to correct everything that they find to be wrong. Some of the stories you read here clearly indicate the dealer washed the unit, registered it and hooked it up to the buyer's truck. Hardly what you'd expect from a proper PDI.

The dealer didn't do a poor job of manufacturing - BUT - they do get paid by the manufacturer to do the warranty work correctly.

Here's the bottom line of this thread - the manufacturer doesn't do a good job of delivering a quality product and then the problem is compounded by a dealer who doesn't do their job. At the end of the day, the dealer has their $$$, the manufacturer has their $$$ and we have that tunnel that goes into the mine - the shaft.

Nobody is there to help - RV'ers don't hold enough votes to motivate any politician and don't hold your breath waiting for a longer warranty ... why would a manufacturer extend a warranty when they are already selling all of their production? What's the motivation for that?

Overall, my dealer and Heartland have very good performance records. Of course there are problems, but when compared with some others that are out there, the Bighorn is a Cadillac (or Mercedes or BMW or whatever top end you choose to compare to). I'm happy with my choice and hope that I can say the same a year or ten from now.

 

[budmanrebel]

here is their get out of jail free card:

Due to Heartland's commitment to continuous improvement, we reserve the right to make changes to models, including standards
​

 

[budmanrebel]

So here is where we are at with our Lemon: warranty is telling us "the dealer that did the initial work, needs to stand by their work". well that ain't good enough for us. At a campground this summer we met two Vo Tech body shop teachers that said that is a glue problem, not a water issue. I told warranty that and the desk driver wouldn't believe it and said get it into the body shop asap, so we did. I took it to a autobody shop that specializes in fibreglass. GUESS WHAT "that is off gassing from a previous repair". Their camper specialist got on the roof and said "this is the best roof I have been on that has delamination problems, I don't see anywhere water can get in to cause the delamination". But yet they want me to take it back to the shop to "stand by their work", why to do a crappy job twice?

Since we've put on over 1000 miles on this camper this year I found broken screw heads in the forward storage compartment, upon further inspection I can see the front wall is pulled away from the brackets. I took a straight edge and found the bracket is 1/2" back from the wall, faulty engineering?

One more "it's the dealerships fault" after having 30+ work order items, REALLY!

Lets call it what it is, poor engineering, poor workmanship, poor quality control, poor customer service, total lack of commitment to a high quality product, Luxury level.....pppfffttt

I am ready to claim LEMON and wash my hands, tired of the easter egg hunt (looking for the newest problem) after one year and the camper at the dealer for 5 months, I want those months back.

I think Heartland should extend your warranty as long as the camper is at the dealer for repairs because they have it and you can't use it, someway to get the whole 365 day warranty.

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

I've been told that your warranty has to be extended out for every day it's at the dealer.
Not sure if that's just a California thing or not.


Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[JohnD]

Hope this all gets straightened out for you.

I have our dealership's mobile repair unit coming out tomorrow (this will be their third visit) to finish warranty repairs that were never finished before the Heartland warranty ran out last May.

While he is here he will be looking at our furnace, which is still under warranty, that died on us while camping last month.

There are several small things that just never got fixed right while it was in for 10 weeks last winter getting warranty items resolved that I just decided to do myself.

And I finally gave up trying to get a window shade for that big back window of the Prowler that works . . . the warranty replacement is worse than the shade that came in it from the factory!

Original shade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Warranty replacement shade



I will probably go to Home Depot or Lowe's with the measurements and get a better option for that.

Our issues were (and some still are) fairly minor compared to what many others have had, but they are still annoying.

 

[budmanrebel]

Camper is back at the dealer to fix the front storage compartment wall so it's not falling off any more. Fixing the new delamination on the door sidewall. Investigating why the middle of the slideout doesn't touch the seal but both ends do. Lights on the bed slide are not working. Tire failure's. Toilet seal failed so ater didn't seal out the black tank smell. Front landing gear hydraulic problems, and electrical problems with the hydraulics.

So after 25 work items last year, and all of these this year, why is Heartland and the dealership fighting us so hard and not calling a lemon a LEMON?

BTW the lemonade was always sour, finding a new issue every time you went camping is not our idea of fun or luxury.

I thought we were towing this camper a lot, but after asking how many miles others tow a year on another thread, we are light weights. So the towing miles ain't the cause.

 

[BigGuy82]

Camper is back at the dealer to fix the front storage compartment wall so it's not falling off any more. Fixing the new delamination on the door sidewall. Investigating why the middle of the slideout doesn't touch the seal but both ends do. Lights on the bed slide are not working. Tire failure's. Toilet seal failed so ater didn't seal out the black tank smell. Front landing gear hydraulic problems, and electrical problems with the hydraulics.

So after 25 work items last year, and all of these this year, why is Heartland and the dealership fighting us so hard and not calling a lemon a LEMON? The

BTW the lemonade was always sour, finding a new issue every time you went camping is not our idea of fun or luxury.

I thought we were towing this camper a lot, but after asking how many miles others tow a year on another thread, we are light weights. So the towing miles ain't the cause.

I've been following your situation and the only advice I can render is to cut your losses and sell the rig. Yes, you will take a loss but unless you want to continue experiencing aggravation, I'd say you are pretty much up the creek without a paddle. You have obviously experienced problems and will now never be happy with the unit, regardless of the final outcome.

I can't relate to your problems because I just returned from a 6,000+ maiden voyag with my BigHorn and the biggest problem I had was dealing with the cheaply made dinette chairs. The other stuff was minor and repaired by me. In fact, I feel this coach is well built when compared to others. Of course, this opinion may change over time. We'll see.