General lack of quality

[kschultz]

Never again Two blown hydraulic hoses under bed, fridge can't keep anything frozen much less cold, delamination in several places, constant water lines leaking, two windows have leaked, cheapest carpet made, poor quality workmanship, needs a new ladder, manufacture can not guarantee what ladder was put on it, propane hose rupture, hot water element went out, air mattress leaked first use (at seams). Manual is useless, you would think they could make it model specific. Toilet valve failed, drawers will not stay in during travel, finish coming off cabinets. Wiring behind main panel looks as if it's cheap Chinese extension cord ( looks like a rats nest). In general you can tell they don't care how it's put together as long as it stays together long enough to unload it on the consumer. Hoping to find a low bridge somewhere.
2012 3510RL

 

[alexb2000]

Never again Two blown hydraulic hoses under bed, fridge can't keep anything frozen much less cold, delamination in several places, constant water lines leaking, two windows have leaked, cheapest carpet made, poor quality workmanship, needs a new ladder, manufacture can not guarantee what ladder was put on it, propane hose rupture, hot water element went out, air mattress leaked first use (at seams). Manual is useless, you would think they could make it model specific. Toilet valve failed, drawers will not stay in during travel, finish coming off cabinets. Wiring behind main panel looks as if it's cheap Chinese extension cord ( looks like a rats nest). In general you can tell they don't care how it's put together as long as it stays together long enough to unload it on the consumer. Hoping to find a low bridge somewhere.
2012 3510RL

Other than that, how did you like the play Ms. Lincoln?

 

[danemayer]

Never again Two blown hydraulic hoses under bed, fridge can't keep anything frozen much less cold, delamination in several places, constant water lines leaking, two windows have leaked, cheapest carpet made, poor quality workmanship, needs a new ladder, manufacture can not guarantee what ladder was put on it, propane hose rupture, hot water element went out, air mattress leaked first use (at seams). Manual is useless, you would think they could make it model specific. Toilet valve failed, drawers will not stay in during travel, finish coming off cabinets. Wiring behind main panel looks as if it's cheap Chinese extension cord ( looks like a rats nest). In general you can tell they don't care how it's put together as long as it stays together long enough to unload it on the consumer. Hoping to find a low bridge somewhere.
2012 3510RL

I'm confused. You're writing this as though you have this list of problems on a brand new trailer. But your signature shows a 6 year old 2012 Trailer. So is this the list of stuff that's happened over 6 years?

 

[Lynn1130]

I would guess that we will now listen to crickets.

 

[LBR]

Gosh, been a member for 5 1/2 years and is first post, so all must have happened just recently? Any maintenance been performed during ownership? Just asking...

 

[kowAlski631]

WOW - did all of the issues occur overnight or did you save all the issues up for 6 years for one big rant?

 

['Lil Guy']

Welcome to the forum and sorry for your problems. Make sure to check out the HOC and attend some rallies. Real knowledgeable people there who can advise on preventative maintenance for your rig. I'm glad I haven't had all of those issues. Just some minor things to be expected but we try to stay tuned in on doing the preventative stuff like cleaning, oiling the woodwork, etc.
Again, welcome to the forum and hope to meet you down the road..

 

[CDN]

Lets answer one thing at a time..
-Two blown hydraulic hoses under bed, I know they had issues with hoses in 2012 with many brands, all were replaced by Lippert


-fridge can't keep anything frozen much less cold, Are you fans working in the back of the fridge? Is this on Electric and Propane? Propane always works better


delamination in several places, Caulking sealants checked annually?

constant water lines leaking, >> joints leaking or connections or t tape missing on plastic to brass connections<<<

two windows have leaked>> thermopain or water leaks<<

cheapest carpet made I agree but all trailers are the same

poor quality workmanship, >>Define issues<<

needs a new ladder, ​>> Measure it and check places like PPL Motohomes or RV Surplus in Goshen<<

manufacture can not guarantee what ladder was put on it,

propane hose rupture, >> Happens<<

hot water element went out, ​>> Ever run the tank dry with element turned on? $10 bucks at Lowes or Him,e Depot<<

air mattress leaked first use (at seams). OK, did you get it replaced under warranty

Manual is useless, you would think they could make it model specific. ​>> No brand I know provided this, usually a collection of manuals and data sheets from items installed<<

Toilet valve failed>> Ok, replace toilet $120 -$140 bucks<<

drawers will not stay in during travel, finish coming off cabinets. ​>> Fix them, not really that hard, screwdriver and maybe some needle nose pliers<<

Wiring behind main panel looks as if it's cheap Chinese extension cord ( looks like a rats nest). In general you can tell they don't care how it's put together as long as it stays together long enough to unload it on the consumer. Hoping to find a low bridge somewhere. ​>> No Comment<<


2012 3510RL ​>> This trailer is 5 or 6 years old, dome of your complaints are general maintenance<<

 

[JohnDar]

These problems all look like neglected routine owner inspection and maintenance issues.


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[hoefler]

Most likely just purchased it used, and expects it to be as new off the show room floor.

 

[meagle]

The problem list does not surprise me at all. I have found the general lack of quality to be abysmal. I believe that you will find many Heartland owners who have had many of the same problems. Just read through the forums. Until we can get a "consumer Reports" for RV's where we can compare the quality of the different manufacturers and then make purchases based on their record we will continue to see shoddy workmanship and poor quality control.

 

[danemayer]

Until we can get a "consumer Reports" for RV's where we can compare the quality of the different manufacturers and then make purchases based on their record we will continue to see shoddy workmanship and poor quality control.

Consumer Reports is subscriber supported - they don't have any advertising revenue. So to have an RV version of Consumer Reports there would have to be enough RV owners or prospective buyers subscribing to such a magazine that all editorial and publication costs would be covered, along with all costs of the type of expensive product surveys and evaluations done by Consumer Reports.

And of course if you take advertising, it's hard to criticize your sponsors.

Consumer Reports probably has millions of subscribers. I wonder how many RV owners would subscribe to an RV version of Consumer Reports.

The next idea would be to ask Consumer Reports to cover RVs. But that's really the same business issue. They would need enough new subscribers to pay for the incremental expenses.

I don't see it ever happening.

 

[Rooster58]

The problem list does not surprise me at all. I have found the general lack of quality to be abysmal. I believe that you will find many Heartland owners who have had many of the same problems. Just read through the forums. Until we can get a "consumer Reports" for RV's where we can compare the quality of the different manufacturers and then make purchases based on their record we will continue to see shoddy workmanship and poor quality control.

++++++1.


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[Rooster58]

Never again Two blown hydraulic hoses under bed, fridge can't keep anything frozen much less cold, delamination in several places, constant water lines leaking, two windows have leaked, cheapest carpet made, poor quality workmanship, needs a new ladder, manufacture can not guarantee what ladder was put on it, propane hose rupture, hot water element went out, air mattress leaked first use (at seams). Manual is useless, you would think they could make it model specific. Toilet valve failed, drawers will not stay in during travel, finish coming off cabinets. Wiring behind main panel looks as if it's cheap Chinese extension cord ( looks like a rats nest). In general you can tell they don't care how it's put together as long as it stays together long enough to unload it on the consumer. Hoping to find a low bridge somewhere.
2012 3510RL

I've owned 4 different campers over the years. One as old as a 1973 Shasta and I e never had that many problems out of any of them in 5 years. (Stated 5 years because the OP has a 2012 and it is now 2017). I'd be upset as well. I ordered a trail runner back in June and am still waiting on delivery with no estimate on a delivery date. I was told to expect delivery the first week of August. I will admit my patience is wearing thin. I pray that when I finally take delivery it won't be a problem child.


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[CDN]

I would agree there are quality issues all over the Industry. We spent 2 years looking for our new Fifth Wheel. We narrowed to Forest River Columbus, Cedar Creek divisions, Grand Design and finally Heartland. The list of no's was much larger. We sw the Forest River go down in quality which factored into looking elsewhere.

We had our list of wants and needs. The only coach that checked the most boxes was Heartland. Also the dealer played and factored into the purchase. Our new Bighorn was born a year ago and we picked it off the lot in March. I have fixed lots of small things, added things that make me shake my head why wasn't it done " my way " in the first place. I can honestly say this the 4 RV my DW and I have purchased together, I owned 2 others and the DW 1 other prior till we got together."
This Bighorn is best we have owned, hands down best trim, fit and finish all round quality suppliers used for furniture, fittings and appliances. Now we are only 6 month owners but we have spent 40 days camping and another 8 booked in 2 weeks. Nothing insurmountable has cropped up yet. Just the Ugly bedspread in the bedroom !

 

[CoveredWagon]

OMG 😱 You must have gotten the same bedspread we did. I'm now using it under the Rv when I crawl down there.

 

[GregP]

Although I have some sympathy for the problems encountered by the original poster, I have to say that I would disagree with the heading "General Lack of Quality". We have owned our Bighorn since new in 2014 and have not encountered any issues that we would blame on general poor quality or sloppy manufacturing processes. We are not full-timers, but do spend a good portion of each year on the road and have accumulated about 50000 Km (30000 miles to our Southern friends) travelling throughout Canada and the US. We do regular maintenance on the RV, same as what we have to do on our sticks and bricks. We have had NO serious issues with the trailer, and anything that has come up we have been able to fix ourselves. We did switch out our original equipment Powermax tires to Sailuns last year, but, unlike many on this forum we never had any problems with the tires prior to changing them out. Not an endorsement for Powermax...just lucky?.

Anyway, we have been happy with our unit and I would buy another one again in a heartbeat...but I like what we've got now, so am not in the market. With luck, we will continue down the road with our present unit for many more years to come.

 

[BouseBill]

Been full-timing in ours since new, changed out a lot of "stuff" I'd call cheap, (OK inexpensive) which Heartland could have upgraded, but why?? We bought it anyway LOLOLOLOL

I think the OP is a troll, sorry my opinion

 

[NTXNEWBIES]

Sounds like a very uninformed troll at best! IMHO

 

[OSIN]

Ha, Well we could tell you a long story about the problems we had in "The Best Built Trailer" = Airstream. Without going into details, how about 43 Warranty items on a 2017 Classic. Top of the line unit!. And that was only one of the visits. Had to go to the Factory and leave it for 10 Days. Not what you would expect, right?

In our new Landmark with 1500 miles we've only had a few minor items that we taken care of at the dealer. The Landmark has proven itself as a quality built trailer. It's an RV and things are going to go wrong, we should understand that going in, right.

I believe that most things that fail are supplier issues, not as a result of poor manufacturing. (but some that are really really bad)

If you really want big problems buy a Big Saltwater Boat! Been there, enjoyed it, sold it!

Enjoy It and Smile, Life is Short, No Promise for Tomorrow.

Paul and Nancy