New owners concerned about quality

[Maryfran160]

Hi, We are seasoned campers, and we are fairly new owners of a new 2019 Landmark Newport. We purchased it late June 2019 and we absolutely love the layout, color schemes and the overall look of the unit. We live in our unit full time.

as we settled in we noticed several quality issues, but many were cosmetic and we made minor repairs here and there. We did have to have the front door replaced as it would not close properly. We had an electrical issue that a service rep fixed.

we have had a musty smell in the bedroom since we got it and we can’t find anything that would cause it.

Now fast forward to this week when we hooked on for our first real trip to NY to see family. When we pulled out of our RV site approx 20 to 30 gallons of sewer water poured out from the front, underneath of the unit. We made a call to Heartland in Elkhart but unfortunately they couldn’t fit us in. They did get us hooked up with a service location, also in Elkhart, for Friday. So we proceeded here and are in a campground til then.

Much to our dismay, when we parked the camper and came inside it was upsetting. The pencil drawer under the TV had fallen out and broken, the center island shifted and was leaning so far to the right we had to put something under it to hold it up, the accent piece on the molding above the microwave had fallen off and the nails were sticking out which scratched my counter top. When I went up into the bedroom, the closet bar that holds clothes had snapped off and broken the wood shelf above it.

I know all of these things are fixable, and as I said, we love the unit. However I need some honest feedback from owners. Is this a general quality issue with the Landmarks that others are experiencing, or did I just get one that came off the line on the wrong day? We plan on traveling throughout the US but I want to be sure I have the right camper to handle going down the road.

 

[danemayer]

Hi Maryfran,

All the things you've described could be manufacturing defects, but it's also possible that the rig took a severe road shock.

For example, I know from hitting a bad bridge joint on an interstate highway at 70 MPH that you can damage an axle as well as stuff inside. Force = Mass * Acceleration. You've got a heavy trailer and at high speed, the vertical lift provided by a road hazard can create serious acceleration.

On the other hand, if you cruise at 55 MPH on secondary highways, it's probably all due to manufacturing defects.

 

[NYSUPstater]

Sorry to hear of the issues you are experiencing. Couple things you could do per dans suggestion above is to add MorRyde IS in the rear and a air ride hitch up front. Our '18 Big Country came thru w/ MorRyde CRE 3000 susp in the rear and we added a 5th Airborne air ride hitch to the front. Wife has a multi piece kitchen gadget set that has rubber feet and spins around sitting next to the stove on counter. Hasn't moved once in the 3 years we've had the coach which incl a trip to ME and FL.

 

[Maryfran160]

Thanks for the reply. We do have the MorRyde system and we did install air bags. I will share with my husband as I don’t know that we have MorRyde IS in the rear.

Sorry to hear of the issues you are experiencing. Couple things you could do per dans suggestion above is to add MorRyde IS in the rear and a air ride hitch up front. Our '18 Big Country came thru w/ MorRyde CRE 3000 susp in the rear and we added a 5th Airborne air ride hitch to the front. Wife has a multi piece kitchen gadget set that has rubber feet and spins around sitting next to the stove on counter. Hasn't moved once in the 3 years we've had the coach which incl a trip to ME and FL.

 

[Maryfran160]

Thanks so much for the reply. There was some rough road, and apparently rougher than we realized. We will make some modifications and then see how we fair on the next trip.

Hi Maryfran,

All the things you've described could be manufacturing defects, but it's also possible that the rig took a severe road shock.

For example, I know from hitting a bad bridge joint on an interstate highway at 70 MPH that you can damage an axle as well as stuff inside. Force = Mass * Acceleration. You've got a heavy trailer and at high speed, the vertical lift provided by a road hazard can create serious acceleration.

On the other hand, if you cruise at 55 MPH on secondary highways, it's probably all due to manufacturing defects.

 

[Hockster]

Mary Frances160, I agree with you.
I have a 2019 3760EL that had a lot of issues that first year.
They were all taken care of by Heartland, but they should not have been there in the first place.
I had a 2011 Big Country 3450TS and the quality of the build, in my opinion, was much better.
I know that they have an inspection center they run the coaches through before shipping, but if it’s built right in the first place you don’t need that.
I remember the saying from the old Zenith television advertisements “The quality goes in, before the name goes on”.
I owned a few Zenith TV’s and had good service from them, but to me that was always a great saying.
This is a hurry up world we live in today & I understand that, “time is money” that is the controlling factor in everything.
“We never have time to do it right the first time, but always have time to do it over”, was always our saying when I was working as a heavy industrial maintenance electrician for 35 years.
I hear issues from other RV owners, not just Heartland, and I believe they are trying to correct the problems.
This is a great forum, with great people, and Heartland is a great company, so lay out your problems here, and you will get great advice and help from the forum.

Hockster

 

[CDN]

Hello,

We have a 2018 Landmark Louisville. Lots of little things need attention, more so I am picky on the way things were done.Lots of mods to make it better.

Show stopper issues for me- Washer and Dryer outlets, insulation displacement was not done right, replaced and fixed. Main Convertor outlet someone stepped on and broke it out, plug was arcing.

Slide in slide bedroom, the inner slide developed delimitation where it rode on the rollers on the road, I fixed thes slide bottom with stainless steel panels. All sealed up this will never fail here.

Shower drain was plumbed into the black tank, this was a mistake and I fixed this in the forest as we were good docking using up Black tank very quickly.


Sounds like the island was not fastened correctly, this should run down the road without coming loose, I have heard of this in other high end brands as well.

Trim should not come off, it does, I do spend time refastening pieces, think they are done now.

With any trailer going over connections in power panels, transfer switches and power reels is important to make sure things are tight.


Warranty Items- Dometic thermostat covers, all bad replaced. One window had a bad seal in the thermopane when new, replaced. Water Pump, Invertor kept blowing the GFCI replaced with new and all is well.


Best of luck on the rest of your trip getting things corrected as well.

Brian

 

[bigdob24]

I hope this isn’t consistent with the Newport, I’m picking up a new one next week. They have been addressing things for awhile and have been waiting on parts .
This dealership seems to be on top of the small things. Maybe we’ll get lucky
BD

 

[Kathi-27]

I hope this isn’t consistent with the Newport, I’m picking up a new one next week. They have been addressing things for awhile and have been waiting on parts .
This dealership seems to be on top of the small things. Maybe we’ll get lucky
BD

glad to hear your finally getting it. hope all goes well. make sure to do a good pdi.

 

[carl.swoyer]

Hi, We are seasoned campers, and we are fairly new owners of a new 2019 Landmark Newport. We purchased it late June 2019 and we absolutely love the layout, color schemes and the overall look of the unit. We live in our unit full time.

as we settled in we noticed several quality issues, but many were cosmetic and we made minor repairs here and there. We did have to have the front door replaced as it would not close properly. We had an electrical issue that a service rep fixed.

we have had a musty smell in the bedroom since we got it and we can’t find anything that would cause it.

Now fast forward to this week when we hooked on for our first real trip to NY to see family. When we pulled out of our RV site approx 20 to 30 gallons of sewer water poured out from the front, underneath of the unit. We made a call to Heartland in Elkhart but unfortunately they couldn’t fit us in. They did get us hooked up with a service location, also in Elkhart, for Friday. So we proceeded here and are in a campground til then.

Much to our dismay, when we parked the camper and came inside it was upsetting. The pencil drawer under the TV had fallen out and broken, the center island shifted and was leaning so far to the right we had to put something under it to hold it up, the accent piece on the molding above the microwave had fallen off and the nails were sticking out which scratched my counter top. When I went up into the bedroom, the closet bar that holds clothes had snapped off and broken the wood shelf above it.

I know all of these things are fixable, and as I said, we love the unit. However I need some honest feedback from owners. Is this a general quality issue with the Landmarks that others are experiencing, or did I just get one that came off the line on the wrong day? We plan on traveling throughout the US but I want to be sure I have the right camper to handle going down the road.

Maryfran160,
Very sorry for your frustrations.... I've been there.
That being said Heartland will fix everything. They aren't perfect yet but that's why there's the warranty process.
After the bug are worked out it's maintenance and upkeep.
My Landmark Rushmore is a 2012 and I've been problem free seems like forever.

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