Does Heartland stand behind it's products??

[Bob&Patty]

Sorry that you had this issue with your awning. But you must remember that the warrenty for the awning goes back on Dometic. Just like the tires that come on a new car or truck. They are warrentied buy the tire manufacturer... not GM, Ford, or Chyrsler. HL is just the go between.

It will be the same with your fridge, oven, microwave. HL buys the stuff from outside vendors and installs them in the fiberglass box they built. Say for example, your fridge takes a dive while under warrenty. If its a Dometic, then they pick up the repair cost ...not HL. Now if the cabinet that holds the fridge falls off the wall in the 1 year HL warrenty...then HL pay's the bill.

 

[Jellystone]

maliskasmith, your awning must have been the "not so" Carefree of Colorado brand. The electric awning that does not tilt and does not have the rain dump feature. Basically,a very expensive awning with no rain safety features. The same awning put on the Road Warrior and Cyclone models. I have one also, but I check the weather forecast each day and roll it up accordingly. I feel your pain, but I'll bet it won't happen to you again

 

[RollingHome]

We had a problem, and they (HL) stepped up to the plate and fixed it. They also held our hand thru the process. Answer, yeap, they stand behind thier product = luv em . However, remember, HL employs humans like you an me so give em a chance, they sometimes mess up

 

[kakampers]

How new is new?

We had a new A&E 9000 Electric awning installed in August...it has the knobs pictured above on both arms...this is what allows you to "dip" either side, or both, which changes the pitch of the awning.

 

[JohnDar]

Ours is a Dometic A&E Power Awning, Model 915EA18.0018, and it does not have adjustable arms. After the motor died last year (under warranty),I asked about having the free adjustable arm retrofit added to the motor replacement and was told my particular model could not be retrofitted. The skimpy manual does not say anything about auto-dump, but the warning about wind and rain damage not being covered under warranty is on the first page. With the trailer level, the awning naturally drains along the roller tube towards the motor end. I cringe every time I have to retract or extend it.

Getting the motor replaced by Dometic was an exercise in itself. I would say that Heartland does stand behind it's products because it took a rant on this forum and Jim B. kicking it up a notch to get Dometic on the ball.

 

[maliskasmith]

Thanks for all your input everyone, definately some thinks to think about.

 

[gpshemi]

maliskasmith, your awning must have been the "not so" Carefree of Colorado brand. The electric awning that does not tilt and does not have the rain dump feature. Basically,a very expensive awning with no rain safety features. The same awning put on the Road Warrior and Cyclone models. I have one also, but I check the weather forecast each day and roll it up accordingly. I feel your pain, but I'll bet it won't happen to you again

Not the same they put on mine...

http://www.carefreeofcolorado.com/carefree/cf/images/travelr5.gif

 

[Jellystone]

Not the same they put on mine...

http://www.carefreeofcolorado.com/carefree/cf/images/travelr5.gif

Oh yeah, that link you added has a picture of my "no so" Carefree of Colorado electric awning. Good awning overall, but not one single rain safety feature. At least on manual awnings you can tilt a side lower for rain events. This is not a knock on Heartland at all, but the designer of the awning should have thought about rain a little bit more in the testing process. As I said before, I just "roll 'em up" if rain is near to solve the problem.

 

[kerinator]

What's the point of having an awning if you can't use it in the rain!!!

 

[jayc]

We use our A & E electric awning without the rain safety feature but never leave it up overnight or if rain threatens when we're going to be away. We just keep an eye on it when its raining so we don't have that problem.

 

[vangoes]

What's the point of having an awning if you can't use it in the rain!!!

Exactly!!!

 

[jmgratz]

My mother taught me to come inside out of the rain LOL (Just joking).

 

[maliskasmith]

That is exactly our awning! I wish I had heard all this stuff before our first trip out! And why do they state right on front page of the manual "auto dump feature automatically dumps accumulated water"? I miss my old simple manual awning. The Cyclone is going in today to be repaired, on my own dollar. I guees I'll just roll it up in the rain from now on.

 

[Moose]

That is exactly our awning! I wish I had heard all this stuff before our first trip out! And why do they state right on front page of the manual "auto dump feature automatically dumps accumulated water"? I miss my old simple manual awning. The Cyclone is going in today to be repaired, on my own dollar. I guees I'll just roll it up in the rain from now on.

If it says that in the manual then you should have warranty coverage from the manufacturer. If it wasn't installed correctly then it should be the installers warranty.

 

[cookie]

If it says that in the manual then you should have warranty coverage from the manufacturer. .

That's what I suggested in my post on the first page of this thread.
Maliskasmith, have you contacted the awning manufacturer?

Peace
Dave

 

[gpshemi]

Good awning overall, but not one single rain safety feature. At least on manual awnings you can tilt a side lower for rain events.

Not sure about yours, but it has gas struts that give way under the load of the water (shown in the picture). Works great. I've watched it dump in person.

Now with that said we don't PLAN on it auto dumping. We roll it up. If you miss it sometime though...it auto dumps the water fine.
Not sure what's different about yours.

We rachet strap it down to the anchors like I said. It'll still autodump, but the wind can't pick it up that way either. Little easier on the arms that way.

 

[JohnDar]

Going back to the "auto-dump" feature, which brand/model of awning being installed by HL comes with this? It's certainly not the Dometic AE 9100 Power Awning (which I have). From their catalog, the only thing it does is flex in moderate wind to protect the arms.

And the Knee Action Design​

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™ letsthe awning flex in moderate wind, avoiding damage.​

 

[Jellystone]

Going back to the "auto-dump" feature, which brand/model of awning being installed by HL comes with this? It's certainly not the Dometic AE 9100 Power Awning (which I have). From their catalog, the only thing it does is flex in moderate wind to protect the arms.

And the Knee Action Design​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

™ letsthe awning flex in moderate wind, avoiding damage.​

The brand in question is made by Carefree of Colorado. Heartland puts them on the toyhaulers. I have seen personally on SOB camper with the "auto-dump" feature and it was not pretty. The neighboring family was trapped inside because the sagging awning was preventing the door from opening. When the awning finally collapsed/fell apart it was quite the water display. I was lucky enough to catch the last 2 minutes of the show and then spoke to the family immedietly afterwards. Needless to say, the water didn't dump like advertised. It dumped like a waterfall of broken aluminum,fabric, and plastic.

 

[JohnDar]

The brand in question is made by Carefree of Colorado. Heartland puts them on the toyhaulers. I have seen personally on SOB camper with the "auto-dump" feature and it was not pretty. The neighboring family was trapped inside because the sagging awning was preventing the door from opening. When the awning finally collapsed/fell apart it was quite the water display. I was lucky enough to catch the last 2 minutes of the show and then spoke to the family immedietly afterwards. Needless to say, the water didn't dump like advertised. It dumped like a waterfall of broken aluminum,fabric, and plastic.

Hmmm. Maybe I should be happy with mine then. I've watched it during some pretty good cloudbursts and although it tends to drain over the motor end, it's never puddled. I did experience a similar "waterfall" with the standard manual awning on our previous TT, though. I was under it, just getting ready to try and ease the bulge to drain when it collapsed. I had to burn the underwear I had on. Fortunately, my insurance had a $100 deductible on it.

 

[maliskasmith]

Today I will contact Carefree of Colorado awning manufacturer. There is no phone number on the manual, just a web sight. I have been working long hours this week but have today off(yay!) So I will track down a phone number and talk to a real person. I will let you all know what I come up with. Thanks, Darlene