Bought our 2021 Big Country in April 2021. It's been in the dealer repair shop 8 times for a total of 238 days or over half of its available life. The quality of nearly every facet of the trailer is horrible. We have had severe water leaks, walls coming completely apart, both the bedroom and living room flooring having to be replaced because the slides smash the subflooring, television cables not working, hydraulic leaking and a whole lot more. We have a list of about 10 more items that will need to be addressed when we return to California. Our service advisor says everybody is having these issues because these units "are not built to take the wear and tear of going down the road". What part of Travel Trailer says it is not meant for traveling?
Quality of workmanship by Heartland
- Thread starter Tolley
- Start date
NYSUPstater
Well-known member
Sadly, it's across the entire RV spectrum of mfr's. When Alliance was announced, it was thought with high hopes that this mfr (not owned by Thor or FR), was going to have very high quality standards and emphasis on customer service. Well after being in business just a couple years, they too are building some less than reliable units with quality control issues. From what I see tho, they do seem to have a very good customer service area, but it's like down the middle (those with problems, those w/o problems). Shoot, even several hundred thousand dollar MH's have issues. You'll read many articles on the QC of RV's and how a lot are not 100% yet WE the consumer continue to buy them. Until we stop buying them, then the quality will change. You could probly buy the same 2 units at 2 different times of the year and 1 will have no probs and the other nothing but probs.
We experienced a prob 2 months into ownership of our '18 BC, but HL did take care of it and ok ever since. Yes we ordered/purchased it in early/mid spring of '17. Another owner w/ same exact RV has had several issues. Go figure.
Sorta along the same lines, but with snowmobile trailers. There is a decently well know mfr approx 60 miles from my house, but I chose to go w/ a mfr over 6 hours away. Small company with attention to detail and the BEST customer service. They have customers from all over the US and Canada and because they have no dealers and won't, one has to drive to NH to get it. You can buy a big name trailer but quality and workmanship is another thing. That's why I didn't go w/ mfr by my house. Trailers look nice, but suffer from quality, workmanship and poor customer support. Sled trailer is 8 years old and still in tip top shape.
Another way to look at it is, well your driveway. A company digs things up, puts down stone (perhaps a weed blocker fabric), base and top coat. The top coat is like icing on a cake. Looks good, but what about the quality under it? If the digging, stone and base coat are not done correctly, then regardless of how the top coat looks, it WILL fail. So RV's are no different. Massed produced and if attention to detail isn't adhered to, the whole coach will suffer.
We experienced a prob 2 months into ownership of our '18 BC, but HL did take care of it and ok ever since. Yes we ordered/purchased it in early/mid spring of '17. Another owner w/ same exact RV has had several issues. Go figure.
Sorta along the same lines, but with snowmobile trailers. There is a decently well know mfr approx 60 miles from my house, but I chose to go w/ a mfr over 6 hours away. Small company with attention to detail and the BEST customer service. They have customers from all over the US and Canada and because they have no dealers and won't, one has to drive to NH to get it. You can buy a big name trailer but quality and workmanship is another thing. That's why I didn't go w/ mfr by my house. Trailers look nice, but suffer from quality, workmanship and poor customer support. Sled trailer is 8 years old and still in tip top shape.
Another way to look at it is, well your driveway. A company digs things up, puts down stone (perhaps a weed blocker fabric), base and top coat. The top coat is like icing on a cake. Looks good, but what about the quality under it? If the digging, stone and base coat are not done correctly, then regardless of how the top coat looks, it WILL fail. So RV's are no different. Massed produced and if attention to detail isn't adhered to, the whole coach will suffer.
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these units "are not built to take the wear and tear of going down the road", Really
I guess HL expects us to buy the product but never use it, so maybe we should just stop buying the product. Problem is, as I see it, a lot of buyers don't do the research for quality of build and just what it looks like.
Camping is an expensive endeavor in time, aggravation and money just to keep the unit functional.
I have a 2021 North Trail 25lrss and have been lucky as far as quality of build. The only problem was a leaky shower door the I repaired myself and the shower drain came disconnect from the main line and again I repaired it myself, both were manufacturing screw ups but all in all a pretty good trailer so far.
these units "are not built to take the wear and tear of going down the road", Really
I guess HL expects us to buy the product but never use it, so maybe we should just stop buying the product. Problem is, as I see it, a lot of buyers don't do the research for quality of build and just what it looks like.
Camping is an expensive endeavor in time, aggravation and money just to keep the unit functional.
I have a 2021 North Trail 25lrss and have been lucky as far as quality of build. The only problem was a leaky shower door the I repaired myself and the shower drain came disconnect from the main line and again I repaired it myself, both were manufacturing screw ups but all in all a pretty good trailer so far.
taskswap
Well-known member
Wait until you see my rebuild video on the sliding door in the bunk room on our 386BH. The way it's constructed I expect they'll have a nearly 100% warranty repair rate on it - there is literally no way it could possibly hold together for long. I'm reinstalling it today and then I'll share a link.
Unfortunately I agree with the comments above that this is a cross-industry problem. I feel like unless you're very careful, very lucky, or both, chances are you're going to run into this with any vendor. My hope is that over time you'll see more standardization and modularization in systems that help address this through sheer economies of scale.
Unfortunately I agree with the comments above that this is a cross-industry problem. I feel like unless you're very careful, very lucky, or both, chances are you're going to run into this with any vendor. My hope is that over time you'll see more standardization and modularization in systems that help address this through sheer economies of scale.
mlpeloquin
Well-known member
Heartland was purchased by THOR in 2010.
CoveredWagon
Well-known member
Quality is mostly determined by those who assemble any product.
Shortest Straw
Caught In A Mosh
We have a 2017 and have had our share of issues. We count our blessings though compared to the problems many are having with new ones these days. Those same issues make us dread needing to replace our current rig. We have put about 8k a year on it for the last 6. Not sure how much longer it will last. Most recently over the winter I had to redo all of the plumbing underneath. It is part of rving that you will fix something just about every trip. I do have a long list of preventative measure I take before we will even plug a new rig in, but I shouldn't need one.
