Major Manufacturing Defects on New 2013 Big Horn - PLEASE HELP!!!

[dpetri]

Hello All,

I am coming here as a last resort after contacting my dealer, and the Heartland corporate offices without any success. This story is pretty long and I would appreciate anybody who takes the time to hear it out and give me some good advice.

I purchased a 2013 Big Horn 3875FB 8 months ago for around $75k. As many of you know, this is one of the highest end units Heartland makes, and it was decked out to the max. I was extremely excited about receiving this RV as many of you know the feeling. Over the past 8 months since purchasing, I have had 4 incidents concerning this RV that have been nothing short of heart breaking and have left me trying to sell the unit for a fraction of what I paid a few months ago.

First: The dealership I ordered the RV from, La Mesa in West Palm Beach, FL, completely butchered my order for a custom spec'd out RV. Some of you may know, when ordering a Big Horn, there are 2 full pages that complete a custom order. The first page is mostly the standard inclusions, and the second page is all options to add on. When submitting my order for build to Heartland, La Mesa only included page 1 of 2, essentially having them build the RV without any of the options I had selected. Many of these options such as flooring (wood vs tile) could not be fixed once the rig was delivered. In retrospect I should have told these folks to "eat" the RV and left it on the lot, but my wife and I had already taken our two weeks off work starting the day the RV arrived and could not be cancelled. We were very excited to take an extended road trip, so I made the commitment to purchase the "wrong" RV that I had not ordered.

La Mesa did everything in their power to rectify this problem by adding most of the options I selected after the fact, but this meant having to drive my RV to their shop 1.5 hours each direction, and have it in repair for about 2 weeks while they waited for things to be shipped. Needless to say, this should have been an indication of things to come...

Second: On my very first trip with this RV, the very first time opening cabinets and doors, they would literally fall off the hinges. I have never in my life seen such poor craftsmanship on the cabinetry inside this coach. I had to bring my coach into repair 3 TIMES to fix the same door that kept falling off the hinges because it was built with staples. I really think Heartland should be ashamed for advertising "Amish Cabinetry" in their coaches because this stuff is really junk.

Third: This is where it starts getting good. After owning the RV for about 3 months and using it for all of 15 days, I had my first major malfunction requiring repairs. A part of the electrical system that converts shore/generator power to a usable 12v circuit inside the coach fried. This made the coach completely unusable and I couldn't even operate the front landing gears to hitch up and bring into repair. Eventually we got it into the shop, required about 2 weeks of repair and several thousand dollars if it were not covered.

Fourth: WHILE AT THE SHOP PULLING OUT OF THE PARKING LOT FROM THE PREVIOUS MENTIONED REPAIR, I found that my bedroom slide out made a loud grinding noise and could not retract anymore. I left the rig at the dealership YET AGAIN because the motor that pulls the slide out in/out had ground its gears and needed to be replaced, which had a 14 day lead time for delivery.

Conclusion: After dealing with these problems, I am terrified for what the future holds for this unit. Why am I having components of this RV that should have a lifetime of 15+ years dying within the first 8 months? If this unit were not covered, I would have probably spent over $6K in repairs for manufacturing defects in the coach (The dealership refused to give me solid figures for what repairs would have cost because I told them I was going to corporate. Classy guys!!) . I find it completely unacceptable that my RV is having major malfunctions not related to my use just a few months out of the factory. The warranty runs out in 4 months and I am terrified for the problems lurking in the future. This rig was built over a period of the year where the factory shuts down for 2 weeks and resumes building after. I truly believe this rig was built poorly because the workers were excited for vacation, just like you never buy a car built on Friday.

So, what I'm really asking:

Is there any possibility Heartland will intervene and rectify this issue? By rectify, I mean take this lemon of an RV back, and ship me a new one.


As mentioned before, I paid $75K for this RV brand new. I am contacting Camping World right now because I want to sell it before the warranty runs out and I'm responsible for repairs out of pocket. I will likely take a massive hit on the selling price probably losing $30K because of this. I am completely heartbroken over this series of events and I had the giddy excitement all new RV owners get, and it has been destroyed by these problems. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

D.Petri

 

[JohnDar]

If you subscribe to Trailer Life magazine and are a member of Good Sam, try contacting their Ombudsman (or whatever they call it). They may be able to help rattle some heads to get your problem more interest at "corporate."

I can understand your excitement to get your new rig, but it should have gotten jammed up the dealer's *** for not ordering it to your specs. Be diligent but courteous when dealing with Heartland and you might get to the right person to make things happen. Good Luck!

 

[donr827]

What was not covered by the warranty on the several thousand dollar repair that you mentioned? The trailer is covered basically for everything either by Heartland or the manufacturer of each individual item like a fridge or converter for one year. Can understand your frustration but it sounds like you might have a dealer problem.
Don

 

[dpetri]

Thanks for your reply. I have not had to pay anything out of pocket yet, it all was covered. At this point, the dealer has repaired all problems that have already presented themselves. My concern is for problems that inevitably lurk in the future because this rig was built poorly and prone to malfunctions. The dealer will not do anything else for me, already tried.

 

[dave10a]

It is too bad you accepted something you did not order in the first place. Also the lemon laws are fairly clear and most likely you got a copy when you took delivery. If not, ask and the dealer is obligated to provide it. Saying all that, my experience with Heartland warranty has been good, while the dealer has been poor. Also Heartland does not seem to have much sway over their dealers to get good service. You can try also use independent folks after obtaining approval from Heartland.

 

[TXTiger]

Sorry you are having so many problems with your Heartland 5th Wheel RV. All RV manufacturers have some problems. Heartland builds a good product and has excellent customer service. Dealers are either good or bad. I used La Mesa RV in San Diego for a few of my warranty repairs even thou I did not make my purchase from them, and received great service. It may just be your FL location? Heartland customer service is of great help in these type of situations.

Regarding the Lemon Law. I am not an attorney in FL but every state must follow Federal consumer protection laws. Generally the Lemon Law applies to new car purchases. However, used car, RV, television and other products are also covered by some statute in every state. Most laws requires the manufacturer to refund the purchase price if after a reasonable number of attempts a defect is unable to be corrected. From your post it appears that repairs have been made to each of your problems on an ongoing basis. Unless you have a defect that remains unrepaired after a reasonable number of attempts your vehicle would not fall under the nature of a lemon.

 

[cookie]

Sorry to hear of your problems, but most RV's will have some.
It's the nature of the beast.
I don't know what your experience has been with RVing, but FYI the inverter that fried is about a 30 minute replacement part.
It certainly would not cost several thousand dollars for replacement.
You could have used a battery charger and continued to use the rig while the dealer waited for the part. I am surprised that the dealer did not mention that.
And since you had the same cabinet door repaired 3 times, again, I would be questioning the ability of the repair center.
I don't understand how pulling out of the lot would have anything to do with the slide motor. Was the slide out when you were towing?
I am not making light of your situation and I understand the frustration.
But now that everything is fixed under warranty, hitch up and enjoy your new Bighorn.

Peace
Dave

 

[TedS]

What a shame. Continue to press Heartland to reconsider replacing the unit because of the quality issues. At the Gillette rally I understood that Heartland was to institute a new quality check methodology of taking units off line and doing a complete product inspection. A continuous improvement program. The system is either not in place or it is not working.
Heartland can only respond to the original quality issues, the dealer dropped the ball on the page 2 options.
You spent a lot of money and should not be expected to lose a lot through no fault of yours.
Get Thor involved, it is their company, now.

 

[danemayer]

Hi dpetri,

I think maybe you're being mislead.

Nothing you mentioned would cost more than a few hundred dollars to repair. The Power Converter is around $200 and less than 1 hour of labor to take down the basement wall, unplug it from its outlet and remove a couple of mounting screws. Cabinet doors hinges should be easily repaired for less than an hour's labor. A bedroom slide motor is probably also no more than a few hundred dollars and an hour, maybe two of labor. All together these items might have cost around $1000 if not covered by warranty. If your dealer is telling you $6,000, you should find another dealer.

If you're worried, look into a service contract. Good Sam will probably cover you for the next 2 years for around $600. It doesn't cover anything and everything, but protects against appliance failures and failures on most subsystems.

 

[kkamshop]

I don't want to add insult to injury, but if you ordered a new Bighorn and took delivery in August, it should have been a 2014 model I think. On another thread, someone said anything ordered after April was usually the next model year. I wonder if CW La Mesa shopped your unit from another lot and didn't order new at all? If that happened and you could prove it, you might have a case with the dealer for a new unit.

Good luck, Heartland takes good care of its customers, can't say the same about CW.

 

[Rickhansen]

Dpetri,
I am a fan of Heartland products, but I'm not a Heartland "Fanboy" who thinks that the factory does no wrong. They all do.

Your dealer should have reviewed your factory order sheet with you when it was entered. When it was mis-ordered, it should have been put into their stock and the correct rig delivered. They would have sold it off their lot and not lost a nickel.

I certainly don't mean to minimize the problems you report but I hear only one manufacturing defect, and it's certainly not a MAJOR manufacturing defect. Cabinet doors falling off is clearly either a design or workmanship problem. It has happened before. You never mentioned what the resolution to the cabinet door problem was. A handful of longer screws, I'll bet. You also did say much about what your contact yielded to the factory.

The other two component failures, while certainly inconvenient, again are not major defects. Those were two warranty failures. A convertor is a $300 off the shelf part requiring about 2 hours to replace. You could have gotten the landing gear up by plugging into your tow vehicle or putting a battery charger on for a couple hours. The Slide motor I'm not sure, but I'll bet it's not much more and there was probably one in a rig parked on your dealers lot. A good dealer or mobile service tech would have had it handled that for you in a couple days. I have a tough time believing that you have more than $1000 in warranty costs in all of the repairs you list.

I have no doubt that you will lose $30k on a sell or trade at this point, just as you would on any depreciable item you would purchase and short sell. At this point, I know that for the time and grief spent at the dealer, I would put my boy scout hat on and live with the decisions I have made.

I would do this because I couldn't take the hit and lose $30k, because I am handy with things and enjoy the adventure. I'd also keep my eyes open for a new dealer.

 

[dbbls59]

"Amish Cabinetry" is not an indication of good quality. The finish started coming off my "Amish Cabinetry" in the second year of ownership. My wife was putting furniture polish on the doors and the finish came off on the rag she was using. Heartland contacted the cabinet manufacture and they did replace the defective doors and drawers. I am in the process of putting another coat of varnish on all of the cabinets..

 

[danemayer]

I don't want to add insult to injury, but if you ordered a new Bighorn and took delivery in August, it should have been a 2014 model I think. On another thread, someone said anything ordered after April was usually the next model year. I wonder if CW La Mesa shopped your unit from another lot and didn't order new at all? If that happened and you could prove it, you might have a case with the dealer for a new unit.

Ken has a good point. You might check to see when your trailer was actually built and whether that was before or after you placed the order.

The build date should be on a large sticker attached to the frame, toward the front of the trailer, on the doorside.

 

[JohnD]

Make your dealership accountable...ours let us down big time!

Sorry to hear of your problems . . .

All I can say is that you just need to be a pest to your dealer to get this stuff fixed!

And document EVERYTHING!

While my problems are minor compared to what you have described . . . my dealership did a bunch of band-aid fixes to my trailer under warranty.

And now that the warranty is up, they are refusing to fix it right and trying to make me pay to get it fixed right!

Let me just say this . . .

Next time we buy a brand new RV . . . they won't get our business!

That being said . . . we don't regret one bit buying our Heartland Trail Runner!

We are just sad that we had to buy it from the dealership we did . . .

It was all a great experience up until just after we signed on the dotted line . . . and it all went down hill from there.

 

[StarryNight]

It sounds like you have been making a more than reasonable attempt to get things taken care of by your dealer. At this point you may want to consider contacting Heartland Customer Service directly.
Have your VIN ready. They should be able to tell you exactly the information you need about when it was ordered, by whom, what options were ordered for that VIN...etc...

 

[sandman]

This is were the problem lies. its all about money. heartland and most manufactures wont pay the dealers enough money to hire quality repairmen to do the warranty work right and the dealers dont care because they already have your money.

 

[Bob&Patty]

Here's my 5cts (inflation) on this issue. Sorry you had some issues...but welcome to the world of RV's. The 1st thing I would do is...contact HL service. Give them your VIN# and ask these questions.

When was this coach built? I know for a fact that any HL coach built during and after April 2013 was a 2014 model year.

What dealer ordered it and where was it shipped?

Ask the person that you talk to, to send you an email with all the infomation you requested. Now you have ammunition to work with.

Please let us all know what you find out. I also know that HL has removed their product lines from dealers that do shady things.

 

[Sajo]

Buy the extended warranty NOW! We have had major problems also but all has been covered under factory warranty or the extended warranty. Some of the items you speak of have also happened to our unit. Our unit is 2013 Big Country 3650 "Gold Edition" and we are finally getting to enjoy our coach. Yes, quality control inspectors should be fired.....along with a few others. Now, we're dealing with tire issues and only have maybe 2000 miles on them. Not fun being on side of interstate with blowouts!

Sajo

 

[Bob&Patty]

Sajo has some good points. But remember, the parts that failed on your coach HL did not manufacture. They came to the plant in a box like you buying something at a big box store. HL stepped up and had the dealer repair your coach. Things are going to happen in a "rolling earthquake".

As to Sajo's point about tires. There has been thread after thread about tires. If your coach has towmax tires, get rid of them ASAP. HL does offer the Goodyear G614's as an option. Thats what I have on my BH....good tire.

 

[kakampers]

The build date will be right on the VIN ID plate, which is on the off door side of the coach toward the front....