Community Forums

wagonmaster2 · 09-18-2019, 09:51 PM

Newmar replaced all the furniture in my 2015 Dutch Star while still in warranty. The color certainly matched but now I'm wondering if they just replaced the bad furniture with more bad furniture and how long out of warranty before the defects start to show up again. Mine is Villa furniture, and the new covering of the couch was pretty sloppyly installed. Almost refused it but this was our 3rd trip to Nappanee and just couldn't endure any more trips.

Somehow most of us seem to have gotten brainwashed (certainly I was) to the fact Newmar puts out quality coaches. Maybe some of this isn't Newmar's fault but as stated above, Newmar specs all their suppliers.
My previous coach was 11 years old when I traded it off and the furniture still looked great.

FLJOE · 09-21-2019, 08:04 AM

I certainly hope your material holds up for as long as you own the coach and more wagonmaster2.

I can deal with small items going bad or needing replaced here and there. To me it is just a part of owning and maintaining one of these RVs. However, if in another 2 years all my furniture starts flaking and I have to pay to have it replaced I will be done with Newmar.

FLJOE · 10-10-2019, 10:10 AM

The tech came and got our coach right at 6am. By 11am he had it parked back in our spot, plugged in slides out, and leveled.

The two new front seats they replaced are the same design, color, and size except for the contrasting piping color that is no longer available. Both seats are firmer and the material feels much heavier than what was on the original front seats.

23 months after purchase and the replacement of these seats cost us zero.

rodekyll · 10-10-2019, 11:48 AM

After reading many topics about this upholstery issue, I decided to have the flexsteel chairs in my 2001 MA redone by an automotive restoration company. The owner of the shop just pulled out this AM with the chairs in his truck. We agreed to have them returned by dec 31 (I'm in restore mode for the winter, so I'm not driving it anywhere).

Street price per chair for the rebuild is about $2k. We're working a trade, so it's costing me less. The shop will be making the patterns from the old coverings and stripping the chairs to the frames. Given the quality issues I've been reading about, it makes more sense to me to recover the lifetime-frames of the old seats (structure is still solid) than to spend the same money on new furniture.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

$0.02

BTW -- Flexsteel returned my email regarding seat motors and switches 10 days after I wrote them. Very sad lag time. I provided all the info from the paper stuffed under the seat. They could not tell me anything definite about them, except that they were "pretty sure" the motors and switches were unobtanium. They had an extremely spendy conversion that included a new motor, switch, and wiring harness. During the too-lengthy wait for their response, I went trolling for parts on the principle that nobody has this stuff made exclusively for them. I found that a large number of GM cars -- buicks and caddys, mostly, and mostly through the 90's -- use the same motors and switches. I had to Dremel out .5mm on the edges of my switch bezel to install the new one (tongue was too wide), but otherwise the GM parts were a drop-in, Ebay'd for under $50, NIB. No, I didn't get back to Flexsteel.

Pine Stump · 10-12-2019, 06:54 AM

My 09 FS stuff is still perfect just another good reason to keep the ole girl..

FLJOE · 10-12-2019, 08:02 AM

Based on my walk through of the new service center, I am guessing the Flexsteel material issue has been a problem for several years.

I probably observed 5 or 6 other coaches inside that were having furniture switched out. Didn't get to talk with owners so I don't know any of the details. The oldest one I observed was probably a 2010-2014 DS that looked as if all the furniture was out. Much of it had major flaking.

A medium sized Flexsteel box truck drove inside the new service center two times the day I was there, that I actually observed. Heck, their trucks could have been in and out several times for all I know.

Peggyayer · 10-14-2019, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart W

Although Newmar has had this problem, they have stepped up like no other brand and replaced entire furnishings on way out of warranty units. Not many can say that about their manufacturers.

We own a 2013 Baystar and visited Newmar in 2016 about our peeling sofa and captain chairs. They we NOT willing to help us at all. They gave us the number for Flexsteel and told us to deal with them directly. Needless to say, we are not impressed with Newmar as they left us to fend for ourselves. We paid over $1500 to have all pieces recovered, no help from Newmar or Flexsteel.

FLJOE · 10-16-2019, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peggyayer

We own a 2013 Baystar and visited Newmar in 2016 about our peeling sofa and captain chairs. They we NOT willing to help us at all. They gave us the number for Flexsteel and told us to deal with them directly. Needless to say, we are not impressed with Newmar as they left us to fend for ourselves. We paid over $1500 to have all pieces recovered, no help from Newmar or Flexsteel.

This would be one of the rare cases I have heard of where Newmar didn't step up, even at the 3 year mark. Were you the original owners? I know you stated a 2013 model but had the coach actually been "in service" closer to 4 years when you asked them to address the issue?

And finally, $1,500 for re-covering a sofa and two captain chairs sounds pretty reasonable, was that a discounted price?

Peggyayer · 10-17-2019, 11:12 AM

We stopped at Newmar in August 2016 about our furniture peeling issue and one other issue with our stabilizers. Since we are the second owners, we were told our issues were not warranted, especially the furniture. We would have to contact Flexsteel on our own. As for the stabilizers, we had visited an authorized NEWMAR dealer in July of the same year and had our Equalizer stabilizer pump completely replaced as it had failed. It was partially covered by our insurance, but still cost over $1000 out of pocket. We experienced a fluid leak again after the repair and was asking Newmar to take a look. They called the repairing dealer and we were told to return there for a fix. ( By the way, the initial stabilizer problem occurred right after our purchase and was only partially repaired by the Newmar dealer we purchased from). I am being sarcastic here when I say, Thanks Newmar for nothing. We were forced to return to repairing dealer, 500 miles away and while on vacation, as the repair warranty of 90 days could only be taken care of by this dealer, per Newmar in Napanee.

Yes, I know this response goes beyond my initial furniture issue, but I'm trying to explain why I have very little regard for Newmar customer service or their product..

Peggyayer · 10-17-2019, 11:16 AM

But the way, we asked Newmar to supply us with any repair records they had on our Baystar. Since we were buying it second hand, we were concerned if it was well maintained. The Newmar dealer was also asked to give us maintenance records. Both Newmar corporate and the dealer said they could not supply us with these records. Has anyone else had this problem?

hohenwald48 · 10-17-2019, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peggyayer

But the way, we asked Newmar to supply us with any repair records they had on our Baystar. Since we were buying it second hand, we were concerned if it was well maintained. The Newmar dealer was also asked to give us maintenance records. Both Newmar corporate and the dealer said they could not supply us with these records. Has anyone else had this problem?

Not sure why Newmar or the selling dealer would even have any service records. The original owner may have gotten all his service done at Joe's Garage or done it himself. But I can see why they would not share even if they do have the records. They likely don't have authorization to disclose information they may have regarding the previous owner. Privacy is a pretty touchy subject these days.

FLJOE · 10-18-2019, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peggyayer

But the way, we asked Newmar to supply us with any repair records they had on our Baystar. Since we were buying it second hand, we were concerned if it was well maintained. The Newmar dealer was also asked to give us maintenance records. Both Newmar corporate and the dealer said they could not supply us with these records. Has anyone else had this problem?

Okay, if you purchased the coach used then there would be a chance that Newmar probably would not cover some different things after the 1 year warranty ran out.

Also, it isn't like buying a 1 or 2 year old Ford where you can have dealers pull up maintenance records. In all likelihood the original owner never had the coach serviced at Newmar and possibly never had it serviced at a Newmar dealership. Heck, I've heard of situations where someone will buy a coach and use it for 2 or 3 years and never change the oil or do anything to it.

Filthy-Beast · 10-19-2019, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peggyayer

We stopped at Newmar in August 2016 about our furniture peeling issue and one other issue with our stabilizers. Since we are the second owners, we were told our issues were not warranted, especially the furniture. We would have to contact Flexsteel on our own. As for the stabilizers, we had visited an authorized NEWMAR dealer in July of the same year and had our Equalizer stabilizer pump completely replaced as it had failed. It was partially covered by our insurance, but still cost over $1000 out of pocket. We experienced a fluid leak again after the repair and was asking Newmar to take a look. They called the repairing dealer and we were told to return there for a fix. ( By the way, the initial stabilizer problem occurred right after our purchase and was only partially repaired by the Newmar dealer we purchased from). I am being sarcastic here when I say, Thanks Newmar for nothing. We were forced to return to repairing dealer, 500 miles away and while on vacation, as the repair warranty of 90 days could only be taken care of by this dealer, per Newmar in Napanee.

Yes, I know this response goes beyond my initial furniture issue, but I'm trying to explain why I have very little regard for Newmar customer service or their product..

So you paid someone to fix something, it failed again, you expect somebody else to repair it for free?

If I take my out of warranty jeep to dealer A to fix a leaking pump and it fails again a week later I cannot take it to dealer B and expect them to fix it for no charge.

Tegu · 10-19-2019, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Filthy-Beast

So you paid someone to fix something, it failed again, you expect somebody else to repair it for free?

If I take my out of warranty jeep to dealer A to fix a leaking pump and it fails again a week later I cannot take it to dealer B and expect them to fix it for no charge.

I couldn't find anything on Jeep, but I did find a few vehicle manufacture's parts warranties that state parts are covered at any authorized service location.

Back to topic. My coach was about five years old before I started having major issues with the seats. Now the sofa is coming apart. Actually, some areas of the seats, where there is nothing left of the flaking stuff, look better than the areas that still have the fake leather left. I'm thinking about getting a stiff brush and take the rest of it off. Sad thing is, I was proud to show people my Newmar, now, not so much.