Not happy.

[peanut0426]

We purchased our 2012 big country not quite a year and a half ago. I would suggest if you are looking for a fifth wheel, stay away from big country. AND, especially do not buy from lakeshore rv of muskegon. Horrible, horrible costumer service. So far, the problems we have with our rv are: one of the hydraulic jacks leaks. You can't use the remote to do anything but turn on the security lights. The fan that is in the kitchen does not work using the thermostat. That left the factory that way. I wondered when we got the rig why it was set at 90 and not in the off position. Well, that's because you can't turn it off unless you do it manually. It got over 90 degrees in here once and it automatically went on. I couldn't turn it off. My husband had to manually. The water pump leaked, the kitchen sink leaked, the shower and bathroom sink leaked. Do you know why, because they didn't bother to tighten anything!! One of the kitchen drawers won't stay open. I have slammed my fingers in it several times before I finally learned to move my hand quick when I take something out! The electricity is out in the storage compartment and also some of the electrical plug ins in the rv. The bathroom door doesn't always want to stay closed. When you put the sliders out, which you can't do with the remote anymore, it sounds terrible. And any lights that are on, blink on and off. I'm worried some day they will not close. The hot water tank stinks horrible. We will have to flush it I know, but I have never had that problem with my other two trailers. One of which we still own. When you turn on the heater, the air conditioning comes on. When you use the air conditioning, it never goes off. It makes the sounds like its going to, but it doesn't. The heat when it it did work, never heated right. It never got warm in here before it shut off. When we first got the rig, my husband had to mess with the wires so we could use the genesis DVD,cd,radio and MP3 player. When we closed up for winter, when we opened again in spring, he had to mess with it again to make it work. AND WHY would they be so stupid as to put in a stove that has 2 burners that you can only cook on high with???? That just totally blows my mind. You can not use them. It's one of the stupidest things I have ever seen. If you buy one of these trailers, make sure to get the extended warranty. You will need it. Luckily we did. Now if we can get our dealer to get out here and try and fix this stuff, we'll be lucky. For such a pricey rig, it sure has a lot of problems. I wish we would have went with something else.

 

[danemayer]

Hi peanut0426,

Let me first say that I'm sorry to hear you have all these problems. Even worse, it sounds like many of them have not been fixed.

I'm also sorry that this seems to be the first time you've posted on the forum. Other owners might have been able to help you with some of these issues. For example, I can tell you that the reason the Air Conditioning seems to come on with the furnace, AND the reason that the Air Conditioning never seems to shut off when cooling, is that the FAN on the thermostat is set to HIGH or LOW instead of AUTO. Here's a link to our Heating and Cooling Guide that details what's going on and how to resolve the problem.

We do have some other resources that you might find helpful. We've got a detailed usage guide for the Water Heater. This was written by other owners, and includes lots of things that we collectively have learned. Here's a link. We also have troubleshooting guides written by owners, some of which might help you. Here's a link.

If your local dealer isn't providing the quality of service you need, you might want to call Heartland Customer Service at 877-262-8032 / 574-262-8030. Have your VIN # ready. They should be able to help you identify other servicers in your area.

And of course, there are a bunch of friendly and helpful people on the forum who are pretty quick to answer questions. Maybe there's something we can help you with.

 

[JanAndBill]

It does sound like you've had more than your share of problems. As Dan pointed out earlier, there are a lot folks on here that will walk you through operating and trouble shooting just about everything. Already mentioned was the operation of the a/c which I didn't fully understand until some kind folks showed me. The hot water tank smell sounds like a "fungus amongus". You indicated you might be leaving the trailer closed up over the winter. Unless you drain the tank and flush RV antifreeze through the system you run the risk of this. We had this problem once in a previous unit. It was so bad it ran us out of the coach. It took several flushes with bleach and water, to clean out the pipes. As to dealers, it is unfortunate that there are both good and bad in the industry. Several have commented before about the need for all RV manufacturers to better regulate their dealers.

 

[Invizatu]

WOW! Sorry to hear of all your problems. We purchased a new Bighorn thru Lakeshore RV and we think we received a very fair deal and the rig was inspected and "ready" to hit the road when we picked it up (3 small issues to correct before leaving their lot). Knock on wood, we have had no issues with it. Is it possible your remote needs a new battery or charging? Learning all the procedures for operating some of the features and proper maintenance can be very challenging. Lots of information on this forum can help smooth out some of your issues. Maybe when you get some resolution, you can really enjoy your rig. Good Luck.

 

[For20hunter]

Your elecrical outlets not working are probably nothing more than a tripped GFI plug. Its usually located in the bathroom and is an elecrical 110v plug with a ready button on it. The GFI plug itself could also be bad if it is not tripped but you still don't have power to your 110v outlets. They are very inexpensive and easy to replace (after you unplug the coach first). Hope that helps.

Sent from my GT-P5113 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Mizmary]

That sounds awful. Nothing is more disappointing than having troubles with something like you are.

The kitchen fan-- does it have a remote? We had issues with ours in the garage and it was a fantastic fan with a remote. It is still a bit touchy but better now that we've figured out the remote. It also sounds like your rain sensor might be dirty. We have had that happen- then the fan will only work on manual. A little windex on a paper towel should clean the sensor.

I hope that everyone here has helped out at least a little. And that you get to liking your rig!!

 

[papajoel55]

hi peanut you are close enough to heartlands factory I think I would take it to them and let them fix it sounds like they forgot to do a lot of things at the factory I really believe they will be more than willing to work with you to get this stuff taken care of part of it sounds like you got a bad converter. Don't give up it will get taken care of and then you will have many years of enjoyment with it. Good luck

 

[porthole]

Come to a rally and 90% of your issues could probably be explained or corrected.

 

[Nabo]

My question is did the dealership give you a walk-thru, explaining the trailer to you? It also sounds like there wasn't a thorough PDI done. We have had 3 HL products with the last two being Big Countrys and haven't run into the problems you have. Each of the coaches have been different in their personalities and learning their tweets had been interesting but by asking questions, we figure them out. Hope all is resolved soon.

 

[Theresau]

We purchased from Lakeshore and were very happy with the sales transaction itself. Very dilligent and responsive salesman. There was never a lull or lack of follow through and this was true right up until we pulled out of the lot.

We were discouraged from doing a full PDI as we were told that they did an 85 point PDI. We insisted on doing a pre-check and were allowed such. We had our list and went through all the mechanicals, etc.; this was done while we were alone in the RV. We then gave them a list of our findings. They also offered our staying on after the sale to fully kick the tires for a couple of days with the intent of doing any warranty work then.

Having said this, we were disappointed in the demo - they did address our list but we found add'l items that needed to be corrected and this brought the demo short as they repaired them instead. And the individual who did the demo had not familiarized himself with our unit - for example, we mentioned the wireless remote and his response was that he didn't realize the BC had this but since it did he would walk it through. The trailer was not washed - we had to ask for this to be done... The demo at General RV when we purchased the 2010 BH (and our 2006 TT) was much more expansive. The demo'er had greatly familiarized himself with the new coach and had done a great deal of work already on the coach including patching staples, etc. and we were given a great demo - we learned a lot not just about our new coach but about RV's in general. I asked Lakeshore about patching staples as they did not do this and they responded that they never do. Not sure why as it is warranty work.

In regard to service, we lost confidence in Lakeshore's service capabilities when we found when we got home that when they replaced the toilet (porcelain was greatly broken up) they didn't put in a seal...this was one of the repairs they made during our demo time -prior to the demo they missed that the porcelain was all broken when they tightened the toilet per our list.

We feel certain they did not do an 85 point PDI - we've found way too many things wrong since that should have been caught during that time such as the rear AC not cooling. One of the obvious things that the factory, dealer and we missed is that the screen door was missing the plexi-glass slider. We noted that as soon as we stopped at the rest stop on our way home. (On the other hand we feel pretty sure General RV did do a good inspection as we found very little wrong afterward with our 2010 BH)

Lakeshore gave us an incredible price. They did not charge for prep or delivery (General RV did). Our take is that they are a good dealer at the price (and sales) level; however, you need to be prepared to do a thorough PDI and to also be handy to make some fixes yourself. They are a national internet company and have very little walk in business - they are not a strong service shop. In fact, they are not listed in Dometic's list of servicers.

Peanut0426, not sure where you live in MI but we've found a good mobile tech in the Lansing area - PM and we'll give you his #'s if you are interested - I think he'll travel as far as the east side - we're in Brighton. Also, I believe that General RV does good service as well - we've never used them but have heard that from others. And as has been suggested, we strongly suggest you get in touch with Heartland customer service - they are just wonderful. When we called about the missing slider, they sent it right out - got it the next day. There have been a # of other small items and they have always been responsive and immediately addressed the issue. They even recently sent us a new build sticker as it did not reflect our upgraded axles and tires. And as has been stated, this forum has all kinds of information and talented/experienced RV owners who can help you out.

You mentioned the back 2 burners of the range. They are variable (I assume this is the same range we had in the BH), but the dial must be moved VERY slowly - not the available variance as the front burner. (Our new BC has an Atwood range - nice variance on all three burners - like much better).

Best of luck.

Regards,
Theresa

We purchased our 2012 big country not quite a year and a half ago. I would suggest if you are looking for a fifth wheel, stay away from big country. AND, especially do not buy from lakeshore rv of muskegon. Horrible, horrible costumer service. So far, the problems we have with our rv are: one of the hydraulic jacks leaks. You can't use the remote to do anything but turn on the security lights. The fan that is in the kitchen does not work using the thermostat. That left the factory that way. I wondered when we got the rig why it was set at 90 and not in the off position. Well, that's because you can't turn it off unless you do it manually. It got over 90 degrees in here once and it automatically went on. I couldn't turn it off. My husband had to manually. The water pump leaked, the kitchen sink leaked, the shower and bathroom sink leaked. Do you know why, because they didn't bother to tighten anything!! One of the kitchen drawers won't stay open. I have slammed my fingers in it several times before I finally learned to move my hand quick when I take something out! The electricity is out in the storage compartment and also some of the electrical plug ins in the rv. The bathroom door doesn't always want to stay closed. When you put the sliders out, which you can't do with the remote anymore, it sounds terrible. And any lights that are on, blink on and off. I'm worried some day they will not close. The hot water tank stinks horrible. We will have to flush it I know, but I have never had that problem with my other two trailers. One of which we still own. When you turn on the heater, the air conditioning comes on. When you use the air conditioning, it never goes off. It makes the sounds like its going to, but it doesn't. The heat when it it did work, never heated right. It never got warm in here before it shut off. When we first got the rig, my husband had to mess with the wires so we could use the genesis DVD,cd,radio and MP3 player. When we closed up for winter, when we opened again in spring, he had to mess with it again to make it work. AND WHY would they be so stupid as to put in a stove that has 2 burners that you can only cook on high with???? That just totally blows my mind. You can not use them. It's one of the stupidest things I have ever seen. If you buy one of these trailers, make sure to get the extended warranty. You will need it. Luckily we did. Now if we can get our dealer to get out here and try and fix this stuff, we'll be lucky. For such a pricey rig, it sure has a lot of problems. I wish we would have went with something else.

 

[JanAndBill]

Your elecrical outlets not working are probably nothing more than a tripped GFI plug. Its usually located in the bathroom and is an elecrical 110v plug with a ready button on it. The GFI plug itself could also be bad if it is not tripped but you still don't have power to your 110v outlets. They are very inexpensive and easy to replace (after you unplug the coach first). Hope that helps.

Sent from my GT-P5113 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

It's funny you should mention this. I had a problem a few weeks ago, I plugged something in and it killed the power. I pulled every fuse, tried every breaker, scratched my head and said some not so nice things. "Luckily" my son said "did you check the GFI outlet in the bathroom"? Being the no it all that I am, I told him there was no way that one GFI plug would kill the power to the other outlets. Unfortunately I had to eat some tough crow, when he reset the outlet and the others worked.

 

[TheLindsays]

We bought our unit from General RV in Jacksonville.. same experience as they had in MI.. very professional..knew about the unit.. PDI/Demo was very thorough.. even answered my stupid questions.. like how do I use a gas stove... lol.. then after he finished he recapped everything... we actually didn't find a thing wrong with our unit.. they had truly gone over it with a fine tooth comb before.. we had bought a unit that was actually located at the MI location and they shipped it down to FL for us.. no charge... its worth the 3 hour drive for us to buy from them and would do it again.. price/people.. service all spot on. ..

 

[JohnDar]

We bought our rig from General RV in Birch Run, MI (30 miles from home). Although I had the printed PDI checklist, it really wasn't needed. The service tech had the rig in the bay, hooked to water and power. They had run everything and when we showed up, he led me around and operated everything and then had me do it. It helped that we were trading in a 27ft. TT and had some familiarity with most systems. At the end of it, I asked to remove the basement walls to take a look back there. No problem and we found the sediment filter on the water pump was loose and had leaked a small amount of water. While we did the paperwork, they took care of some minor glitches and noted other that needed parts (like replacing the scratched dining table). When parts came in, they called and we took the rig in. Fixed it while we waited and we were off. Subsequent warranty and maintenance service visits have been done professionally and in a timely manner. I would have no qualms about buying from them again and I'll be using their service department again at the end of this season.

 

[Sean]

When you use the air conditioning, it never goes off.

If you leave the fan on and let the compressor cycle, the system will hold a more consistant temp in the coach. The compressor is the power hog, the fan pulls a fraction of the wattage.