Mountain Aire furniture

[Steve Kieffer]

I guess it's my day to rant.


I had made a warranty claim about the furniture provided in our 2019 Mountain Aire, and as I mentioned in the post on the Domi sofa the Newmar factory rep's verbal response to me was: 'All you do is complain about our product. You bought it. It is your. This is not a warranty claim'.


Please note that my wife and I are fairly average size. I'm 6' , 185 pounds; my wife is 5'6" 125 pounds.


Here were my complaints:


1. Driver's seat: the adjustable lumbar mechanism is located too high. It provides no lumbar support. It pushes on the middle of the back around L12. The seat is too soft. Their response was to push a little more filler into the lumbar region.
2. Passenger seat: the seat is too firm. My wife bounces around like she was on a big exercise ball. Their response ......none
3. The recliners are extremely short. Their is no lumbar support and the head rest pushes against our shoulder blades. These might work for someone who is 5'2" high. The factory rep's response (he's fairly short) .... "they work for me"
4. Dormi sofa: an unusable sleeper product. Their response .. you saw it, you bought it, its yours. I didn't see it. We placed a custom order in the summer of 2018 and took delivery in February 2019.


Newmar is using the low cost UF2 fabric on all of these. Unfortunately for me, the color they selected is not available in Ultraleather. And, they used the same fabric on the dash and in other areas.


To make the coach usable for use we will be purchasing 2 - high-end Flexsteel seats for driver and passenger. 2- Lambright recliners, assuming they'll agree to make these using the uf2 fabric, and a Flexsteel air-coil sleeper sofa (their is one model that should just barely fit in the available space.


$8,000 - $10,000 and a year after delivery we should finally have a motor home we can use.


IMO Newmar's claims of product excellence and customer service excellence are not much more than marketing phrases. Yes, I guess I do complain too much. I must be wrong in assuming that spending more than 1/2 million dollar would get me a good product.

[okcnewbie]

Originally Posted by Steve Kieffer

Here were my complaints:


1. Driver's seat: the adjustable lumbar mechanism is located too high. It provides no lumbar support. It pushes on the middle of the back around L12. The seat is too soft. Their response was to push a little more filler into the lumbar region.
2. Passenger seat: the seat is too firm. My wife bounces around like she was on a big exercise ball. Their response ......none
3. The recliners are extremely short. Their is no lumbar support and the head rest pushes against our shoulder blades. These might work for someone who is 5'2" high. The factory rep's response (he's fairly short) .... "they work for me"
4. Dormi sofa: an unusable sleeper product. Their response .. you saw it, you bought it, its yours. I didn't see it. We placed a custom order in the summer of 2018 and took delivery in February 2019..

I'm afraid that none of these are warranty items IMO. All of the items are working exactly like they were when you bought it.
Having said that; In a perfect world Newmar would help you update the MH to your liking by waving labor fees, etc.
If you're keeping the MH for a while than I think you should pay for the updates and you'll be happy.

My prediction is that you won't be getting much of a sympathetic ear.

[Steve Kieffer]

Yah, I know.


I was obviously deceived by Tiffin, Monaco, American Coach and Entegra into believe that I would received usable furniture from Newmar.


The condescending verbal abuse by the factory rep just pissed me off.


I owned a manufacturing company that was know through my industry for excellent product quality and customer service, at a extremely competitive price, and our profit margins were the highest in the industry. I do know the difference.

[okcnewbie]

Originally Posted by Steve Kieffer

.....The condescending verbal abuse by the factory rep just pissed me off.....

That would set me off as well. I would want something like this; " Let's make this right for you. We may have to meet in the middle but we'll do everything we can to make you happy."

Unfortunately, the more I learn about the MH industry the more nervous I get about buying a DP when I retire next year.

Some day soon this will almost be forgotten and you'll be driving down the road with a big smile on your face...….. hopefully!

[rg neumann]

I believe that your complaints are genuine but they don't measure up to be a warranty complaint. We all hope that the new furniture will alleviate your situation. However I think that your dissatisfaction with Newmar will extend to other more functional area of the coach.
I assume that you are a former owner of an Enterga product since your profile indicates so. They also make a premium product. Why did you then purchase a Newmar? Did you have the same complaints about their coach?

[Steve Kieffer]

We purchase the Newmar to get a 40 ft. K3 Spartan chassis based coach. Newmar was the sole option. I'm tolerating and not complaining about the ISX12 engine.



Entegra's delivered quality, customer service and warranty was much better.


Entegra's dealer service at Lazy Days, was much worse than Newmar's dealer service at North Trail RV.


If Entegra produces a 40 ft Cornerstone, K3 chassis, ISX15 engine, I'll be in line as the first buyer.

[FatChance]

Did you sit on the furniture at any time before paying them and taking possession?

[Tigerfan1]

Originally Posted by Steve Kieffer

Yah, I know.


I was obviously deceived by Tiffin, Monaco, American Coach and Entegra into believe that I would received usable furniture from Newmar.


The condescending verbal abuse by the factory rep just pissed me off.


I owned a manufacturing company that was know through my industry for excellent product quality and customer service, at a extremely competitive price, and our profit margins were the highest in the industry. I do know the difference.

That was an inappropriate response from the factory rep and would have pissed me off too. If you bought a Cadillac or a Lincoln and took it back to the service department I think you would get the same response. I understand your point about paying ten times more than what cars cost but I would have expected the response you got in terms of not much they can do as that is what the coach came with when you bought it. However, I would have expected a much more professional response that wouldn’t have satisfied you but not pissed you off so much. Did you try the recliners or drivers/passenger seats prior to your purchase?

[Canuck53]

I agree the furniture does not reflect the quality of the overall MH.

We have a problem on 2019 DS integrated lap belt fitting properly on my 5’2” from a safety standpoint. So for $6800 we can get a 2020 DS passenger seat!

I did not see an option for upgraded furniture...so it may not be warranty but it is for sure a design/engineering issue.

[NCC-1701A]

I would have to agree with the rest that if that is the rude response you got from a customer service rep at Newmar, it was inappropriate. While I don't think the things you mention are a warranty issue, no one should treat a client in that manner.

Even if you had pretested the seating, you might not have immediately noticed some of those things. Sitting on something for a few minutes is different, in my experience, than sitting on it for hours on end while traveling. But, I don't put that in the warranty column.

That said, years ago we had a "lowly" Baystar and granted, this is not the higher-end model you purchased. The foam in the two sofas went from only moderately comfortable to horrible during the first year. I'm about your size and the foam would literally just flatten when I sat down. And we weren't full timers...this was occasional vacation/weekend use. Newmar was not of assistance, so I went directly to Flexsteel who, while stating that the foam was to Newmar's specifications, told me to come to the factory in Iowa (I'm only a few hours away) and they would pull out the sofas and replace the foam with a high density/high quality foam. The work was done in a day. Since there were also some seams coming apart already on the sofas and the driver and passenger seats, they also reupholstered all of them. No charge to me for anything. Net, Flexsteel did right by me.

The RV world is this way, as I'm sure you know. The end manufacturers don't take a lot of ownership for "components" in some cases. They leave it to the customer to chase those component manufacturers down to try to resolve the problem if it's truly something "defective." I don't like it and I don't think that's the way it should be, but that seems to be the nature of the beast.

We kept that Baystar for eight years and everything worked out fine. I hope the same happens for you.

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by Steve Kieffer

I was obviously deceived by Tiffin, Monaco, American Coach and Entegra into believe that I would received usable furniture from Newmar.

How were you deceived by other companies?

It would be interesting if other owners of your Newmar model have the same complaints.

We're all built differently and furniture fits all of us differently. Why would it be Newmar's fault that it doesn't fit you? Each piece isn't made specifically for each person.

I agree, if Newmar used those exact words I wouldn't be happy either. Good luck!

[okcnewbie]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

How were you deceived by other companies?...

I think maybe this was said a bit tongue in cheek to mean that the furniture in the other MH's was adequate and led the OP to believe that the Newmar furniture would be adequate. That's how I read it anyway.

[Larry67427]

This is all a good point. I am in the market for a new probably London Aire but it brings up a
question if like this person I do not like the seats what do you do ..Can I buy new regular furniture from the regular furniture store like a different sleep sofa or different recliners and
if so how do you get them in .. it looks to me the doors are kind of narrow?

[R.Wold]

Im planning to order a New Aire 3541 in the spring. I read these forums every day, and every day I add something(s) to my list of things to check, confirm, special order, review etc.

As an example the washer/dryer is $2300. The machines can be purchased anywhere for $1300. Then theres the universal toll modules is $273 from Newmar, From RV Toll pass the same product is $94.95. And the $1400 wifi ranger that apparently doesn't work well when many simple inexpensive cellular wifi devices work just fine

Then there is the intake drain, roof gelcoat cracks, now a more thorough exam of the furniture, The self-deploying over-priced Girrard awnings, not to mention all the special order items Ive learned about.

Im not turned off the product or idea of buying new yet, but these forums are sure making me an informed buyer.