First 24 hrs of ownership, NIGHTMARE! Getting run around between heartland warranty and dealer

[1_oldgoat]

Nicole,
So sorry to hear you are having problems with your new rv, i like Dan am a bit confused on how the black tank filled or started leaking without water hooked up to the flush valve?? Is this your first RV?? if so i can understand being confused with everything new to you.
Again sorry you are having trouble, it has been my experience, Heartland has and will bend over backwards to help a customer out, at least with us so far. We bought our 2014 Gateway last November, took a short trip over turkey day to shake things out, found a few small problems and its been clear sailing since.
The heater did set the smoke alarm off when i did my walk through, we just let it run with the door open, pretty common with new rv. I would guess Heartland will do what it takes to get your fw correct and to your satisfaction, however it almost sounds like you do not want anything to do with it now.......so sorry for your trouble.

 

[Bob&Patty]

Nicole, what are you doing to prevent all the water lines from freezing. What are you using for a water pressure regulator? What broke on the toilet to flood the BH? Tank heaters are an option...not standard equipment. Are you sure you have them?

 

[donr827]

From reading Most of the replies on this thread I have come to the conclusion that a lot of the problems could have been taken care of by a COMPLETE PDI by the dealer before delivery. The dealer that I bought my trailer from did one. He told me that her had to de-winterize the trailer, checked every water connection, filled all the holding tanks for leaks and proper operation, checked all of the appliances for proper operation, and much more. He had a long check sheet that he showed me. I watched him do a lot of the work myself. We pay a lot of money for these trailers and expect this from our dealer but some dealers skimp on the PDI. JMO.
Don

 

[Westwind]

It's really up to the buyer to hold the dealer's feet to the fire on the PDI, If I knew then what I know now I would have made the PDI list and presented it up front to see the dealer's reaction while conducting the purchase and negotiating the price. There is so much going on at the time of purchase It can be overwhelming. I've purchased two Trailers and made mistakes on both of them.

 

[1_oldgoat]

When i picked up our new Gateway, it was the first the dealership had sold, the PDI took a few hours and a couple of small things we found needed repaired were taken care of on the spot. Some things during the PDI that the service manager was not aware of because it was the first of this make model to be delivered, we sat down and looked up answers to questions that couldn't be answered, the ones that couldn't be answered the service manage made contact with their Heartland rep and got answers for us both.
Heat pads were one of the things we were unsure of, i had a switch for them but fuses were not installed, later we found out that was the case for several owners. The tank pads are 12 volt and are part of one of several of the Gateway packages, can't remember which right off the top of my head. I think most models have them. The only options we don't have are dual pane windows and a 6 point level system. If the tank heaters are left on and no liquid is in a tank they can damage the tank, possibly what caused your tank leaks???? Just guessing since i only know what has been posted, and i still don't know much about the bunkhouse models, or why the black holding tanks would both be full or if the flush line was connected to fresh water lines by mistake......not enough info to help and again so sorry to hear of your problems, hopefully everything will be taken care of for you and to your satisfaction. I just can't fathom so many problems on a Heartland product after owning other manufactures before our Gateway and seeing such a huge difference in quality between our past RV's and this one. We had several issues with our previous rv every time we took it on a trip, the Gateway has been amazing as i am sure most other Gateway owners will also say, so hang in there, i'm positive once all your problems are handled you will love yours as well. Wishing you all the best, let Heartland do their job and you will not be sorry for your purchase in the long run.

 

[caissiel]

We were in 2f degree last night and everything was fine here. I feel this has gone a long way and at this point I feel that owners have equal responsibility. My unit is 0f certified and the furnace kept us warm all night at 70f inside. But I know water runs downhill and needs to be drained if exposed to the cold. So all my drain valves located in the heated space are closed and the one exposed at the end of the 3in drain connection that I added myself is open. I did find a method of adding or rerouting the mid duct to the back of living room to the basement to prevent the water line to the pump from freezing when temperatures in the teens.
Our unit has been used for many cold subfreezing days with great success and no way I need the dealer to support my action. If something fails I am responsible and it's the way I feel for every move we do while camping and traveling.
And we have no yetti package. We just make do with what we got. But we do have double glazed windows.

 

[NicoleJ]

We're all confused! Lol! This is still a nightmare!! The black tanks were NOT full, as obviously there's no way for them to have been full with the water and such only being hooked up a couple of hours. The rear black tank, happens to be the only tank we can see (not enclosed). You can see it leaking. I have pics to eexplain all this, just can't get my phone to upload them here. I've tried. There is NOT tank heater there. Our light to the switch to turn them on lights up. the 12 volt tank heat pads are standard as part of the enter the gateway package. I have screen shot of our units listing from dealer website, and screen shot from Heartlands website stating this. Scott with Midwest has also conconfirmed they are standard. So how was this missed?!?! The front black tank was the one to leak within hours. You could see the drip coming thru the bolts holding up underbelly and where the pipes come thru underbelly. My list continues to grow!! You can see daylight from outside right thru the main door entrance sitting inside the unit. The trim at the floor in bathroom to bunkhouse is coming off. The paint in bh bathroom is bubbling. The rear wall of the unit in th bh is not even, bulging, buckling. The trim in living room is coming off the walls. The standing water we randomly find in the bh carpet, not a clue where it's from. The toilet in the bh is the one working, has NOT flooded. We do have regulator (3rd rv, but first brand new) wr always use regulator. When we told the mobile tech about the toilet, he said these Thetford (think that's the brand) are known for breaking, toilet not cutting off filling bowl, etc. We are using 6-7 heatlamps under the RV to keep evert hung flowing! We have foil wrapped hose then heat tape, then pipe insulation.
I just want a replacement or my money back!!!! Now the mobile tech has stopped responding, so we're out another service call to call someone else. I asked to return the unit when the first black tank started leaking within hours. Sent my email (because it wad after close of business) and was told to give them a chance!! We're working in ND and hotels here run $969 PER WEEK!!!! We can NO way afford to pay that to put this pos in the shop for who knows how long!?!?! It BLOWS my mind there's NO consumer protection for this mess!

Did I mention someone somewhere never connected the duct work for the heater in the bh?!?! Sound like my unit got skipped in alot of the quality control departments!

 

[NicoleJ]

Tank heaters are standard as part of the enter the gateway package. Confirmed with dealer and Scott at midwest. We are also using 6-7 heat lamps with skirting to keep it all flowing, whatever reaches the ground does freeze. We have always used a watwr pressure regulator.

 

[NicoleJ]

The only options we didn't get was dual paned windows and 6 ppint auto leveling.

 

[NicoleJ]

I don't want anything to do with this unit. It's obvious it's a lemon, and junk. Luck of the draw apparently. II've heard equal stories, good and bad on what HL wiwill and won't do. Same with dealership.

 

[TravelTiger]

NicoleJ, sorry you are having a bad first experience with your Heartland. I know you must be very upset. However, ranting about a lemon won't get anyone to help you faster or give you a new unit. If people are not returning calls, it's probably because they cannot help you in the emotional state you are in. If you are not able to deal with the issues in a reasonable and calm state of mind, you will never find any solution to give you peace.

All of your complaints are legitimate, units should not have those issues. It is an industry-wide issue that some errors in production do make it to the dealer lot. The dealers are supposed to do a PDI and fix those things, before it gets to the consumer. Sounds like the dealer has failed miserably and continues to do so in the repair process. Have you spoken in a calm and rational tone with Heartland about the issues you are having? They may be able to help you far better than the dealership.


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[danemayer]

Nicole,

The longer you wait to get this stuff fixed, the more extensive the repairs are likely to be. You're obviously in a difficult situation, but it's been 3 weeks and as more time goes by, the consequential damages will make things much, much worse.

I hope you'll reconsider and take the trailer to a dealer or independent servicer who can fix both the manufacturing defects and repair the damage that's occurred over the past 3 weeks.

 

[NicoleJ]

Yes, the emotions came after being nice and sweet got me no where!!! I ranted on another page and Jim can't remember last name emailed me. He was director of owners inretest and something else. I've emailed him back info he wanted and also sent other emails for someone to contact higher up, etc.....no response!

 

[jbeletti]

Yes, the emotions came after being nice and sweet got me no where!!! I ranted on another page and Jim can't remember last name emailed me. He was director of owners inretest and something else. I've emailed him back info he wanted and also sent other emails for someone to contact higher up, etc.....no response!

Hi Nicole,

It was me that was asked by my boss to get your info to him so we could begin working with you.

What was not known by my boss at that time, was that you were already working with our Customer Service team and that they were working to find a mobile service provider to see if they could fix any manufacturing defects.

This is my only involvment in your case.

 

[JohnD]

Hi Nicole,

It was me that was asked by my boss to get your info to him so we could begin working with you.

What was not known by my boss at that time, was that you were already working with our Customer Service team and that they were working to find a mobile service provider to see if they could fix any manufacturing defects.

This is my only involvement in your case.

I would think that it would be appropriate to get someone out there to take a look at everything that is wrong to get a handle on what it will take to fix the isues that have been brought up!

If I had all of the problems that have been brought up in this topic thread, my trailer would have been delivered BACK to my dealership and dropped off to them!

End of story!

Nicole . . . I'm very sorry you've had all of the issues that you've posted about here . . . but if you deal with Heartland directly, you might find that you'll get your issues fixed without issue!

Forget about your dealership (ours was a pain in the rear to deal with - IE - we will never buy from them again . . . let Heartland know of your issues and let them deal with the problems you've had with them!

I guess I'm lucky that my warranty issues were very minor compared to yours . . . but if you contact Heartland directly . . . chances are you'll get them fixed post hast!

 

[jbeletti]

John, my understanding is that we have worked with Nicole to get a mobile servicer out to them in North Dakota. I'm not involved in that part of our operation so I am not kept in the loop on any customer's case.

 

[JohnD]

John, my understanding is that we have worked with Nicole to get a mobile servicer out to them in North Dakota. I'm not involved in that part of our operation so I am not kept in the loop on any customer's case.

Cool!

I hope that Heartland steps up to the plate and fixes all of the problems that Nicole has!

I just like to bring up to the table that many dealerships (including mine) will wash their hands of warranty issues if they can get out of it easily!

My dealership will do whatever it takes to get out of any warranty issue . . .

 

[JanAndBill]

One thing that Dan touched on earlier, is that as the owner you have a responsibility to "mitigate" the damage once you are aware of a problem. IE: you notify the manufacturer your toilet is leaking and continue using it which causes floor damage. *** the manufacturer is not responsible for your floor. Now if your toilet leaked and a reasonable person would not have been aware of the leak, then the floor would be covered. Such is the case with your trailer, of those things you have noted, you need to do all you can to prevent any further damage, even if it means hiring a repair service or doing the work yourself to prevent further damage. I know that stinks when you have a brand new unit, but I found out the hard way *** on a warranty claim for a leaking roof **** in my favor on replacing the roof, but not on the interior damage caused by the leaking roof, because I was aware of the leak and didn't take sufficient steps to "mitigate" the damage.

 

[Realist]

I would think that it would be appropriate to get someone out there to take a look at everything that is wrong to get a handle on what it will take to fix the isues that have been brought up!

If I had all of the problems that have been brought up in this topic thread, my trailer would have been delivered BACK to my dealership and dropped off to them!

End of story!

Nicole . . . I'm very sorry you've had all of the issues that you've posted about here . . . but if you deal with Heartland directly, you might find that you'll get your issues fixed without issue!

Forget about your dealership (ours was a pain in the @$$ to deal with - IE - we will never buy from them again . . . EVER - Discount RV in Longmont, Colorado!) . . . let Heartland know of your issues and let them deal with the problems you've had with them!

We will NEVER, EVER buy from them again . . . EVER!
I guess I'm lucky that my warranty issues were very minor compared to yours . . . but if you contact Heartland directly . . . chances are you'll get them fixed post hast!

Do you realize that using caps, bold letters or increased font size may be considered shouting or yelling?
Not good.

realist

 

[Randy]

Nicole, Am I understanding this correctly? You are living in the Dakotas and you bought a Gateway from a dealer in Ohio because of a lower price.
You then assumed because of the internet that you would not need a Person to do a PDI. The PDI is for your protection. Your dealer that you
bought from would have to charge you to send a technician to do a PDI. If you had gone to Jeff Couch and picked up the your Gateway The PDI
would have been done.
One thing that I have noticed is that all of the blame is with Heartland or somebody else and never on the choices that you have made. You
made the choice to buy the Gateway in the manner that you did. I guess that I am stupid and need to be corrected. Randy