Community Forums

timhall7615 · 03-10-2019, 03:24 PM

Hello there. So we just hit our first week with our 2019 Phaeton 40IH. Needless to say, we have not left the driveway yet and the list of items wrong is quickly growing. Today while trying to reload all of our gear from our old motorhome we discovered the electric baggage door will not open. We tried unlocking with the power locks and all the keys.. The chrome handle just flaps up and down. Clearly it's something not connected internally.

After sitting for just one week, the right side air bags completely deflated. The sleep number bed will not hold air. Numerous lights not working on the inside of the coach. Grease on the rear bath tile floor from the slide along with a chip in the grout. Drivers side tail light filled with water. Bolts missing from the mud guard. Central Vacuum parts not on the coach. I mean the list just keeps growing.

The call I will have with our salesman tomorrow will surely be uncomfortable for someone and it won't be me.

I've been camping since i was in diapers and this is our 3rd rig in 7 years. We took a huge leap of faith stepping up to a DP at our age. Camping is what we love but i have to admit, all of these issues before i've even camped in this rig has surely put a very bad taste in my mouth as far as Tiffin goes.

Jupiter2 · 03-10-2019, 10:46 PM

Tim, I’m curious how much time your dealer put into predelivery work on your new rig, if you know. I just closed a deal on a 2019 40 IH and paid a bit more than I’d planned because my dealer made such a case about the amount of work they put into the coach before delivery. I know they have put several days work in on mine already. The real test for me is when I hit the road for a 3 week trip right after I get it. I’m hoping all that money spent and all the time the dealer has put into it result in a better experience than it appears you’ve had.

I hope things work out for you!

**NLOVNIT** · 03-10-2019, 10:56 PM

Hello & welcome to the forum. Sorry you've had a rough start. New coaches seem to leave the factory with a lot of issues that dealers don't catch. Unfortunately, it's left to the buyer to be the QC person. Sometimes the list is long & it can be frustrating.

Did you have a PDI checklist when you took delivery? How much time did the tech spend with you going over your checklist with you before you drove off with it? Did they give you time to spend in it at their location so you could put as much stuff through the paces before you left? Did they provide an inspection list of what they went over before they turned it over to you?

At this point, I'd spend a big bunch of time going over everything, every nook & cranny, making note of anything you find that's amiss. Then provide that list to your dealer & ask them what they plan to do about said list & give them a timeframe for fixing all that's wrong.

Good luck.

Lori-

BobGed · 03-10-2019, 11:27 PM

Can you tell us in what part of the country you live?

I know most will think I'm going to recommend taking your coach to Red Bay, but that's not necessarily the case.

While some of the items you have listed will have to be taken care of by your dealer, i.e. missing parts, Tiffin has some excellent independent service centers located around the country that are authorized to do warranty repairs. The benefits are they are usually better qualified to do the repairs, and can get you in and out much quicker than a dealer.

timhall7615 · 03-11-2019, 02:03 AM

Thanks for the replies.. So the dealer spent almost 5 hours with us the day we took delivery. I thought literally we were pretty good at picking items out that we noticed. Truthfully,, the PDI was really overwhelming and I'm sure our excitement got the best of us. The missing vacuum parts and bolts on rock guard, i blame myself for not noticing.

I get items are going to break. Sadly all of us as campers i believe have just grown to "expect" things to break. The taillight for example... The outer housing has come apart from the tail light assembly, leaving all the water from the end cap to run down the back right into the light. At some point, someone noticed this, and drilled a small hole in the bottom of the light to drain the water.

This coach was actually ordered for another family. When it arrived, "lucky them" the dealer had a brand new Bus 45' on the lot and they decided they wanted that rig. To me this should of been PDI number 2.. One at the factory, and one at the dealer as it arrived. When we originally went to look at this coach there was actually another deposit and sold sticker on it.. In my opinion, since this coach was sold, there might or should of at least been another PDI or once over if it was sold. The dealer called and explained the customer with the deposit wanted a king bed and decided to order. Thus,, here were are now..

Don't get me wrong, I think once we get the bugs worked out, we're going to love this rig, however, my frustration level hit the roof yesterday when we were not able to get into the elec compartment to plug it in. I mean, of all the compartments to have the latch break.

As for our location. We live in Maryland and bought the coach up in West Chester PA. I really hope this does not turn into something that the factory needs to be involved with. Retirement for us is several years out, so taking time off of work to possibly drive to Red Bay, is really less than an option.

timhall7615 · 03-11-2019, 02:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jupiter2

Tim, I’m curious how much time your dealer put into predelivery work on your new rig, if you know. I just closed a deal on a 2019 40 IH and paid a bit more than I’d planned because my dealer made such a case about the amount of work they put into the coach before delivery. I know they have put several days work in on mine already. The real test for me is when I hit the road for a 3 week trip right after I get it. I’m hoping all that money spent and all the time the dealer has put into it result in a better experience than it appears you’ve had.

I hope things work out for you!

Best advice at this point i can give, take several people with you and have them just go thru the coach front to back. If you see something, say something. There was 3 of us on the day of delivery. Us jumping up from at 2008 Class A gas into our Phaeton was overwhelming... Aside from the differences in the coach itself, just the technology aspect made our heads spin.

timhall7615 · 03-11-2019, 02:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobGed

Can you tell us in what part of the country you live?

I know most will think I'm going to recommend taking your coach to Red Bay, but that's not necessarily the case.

While some of the items you have listed will have to be taken care of by your dealer, i.e. missing parts, Tiffin has some excellent independent service centers located around the country that are authorized to do warranty repairs. The benefits are they are usually better qualified to do the repairs, and can get you in and out much quicker than a dealer.

We're in the Maryland area just outside of Baltimore.

**Lt Dan** · 03-11-2019, 08:33 AM

I'm really sorry you are having issues right off the bat. Some of that definitely should have been caught by the factory or your dealer. Just be assured that Tiffin will take care of all of the issues for you. As for the air bags, that is not uncommon for air bags to slowly deflate and if they stay up for several days they are doing well. Any time ours is going to sit in storage for more than a day or two, I'll manually dump the air suspension.

**NLOVNIT** · 03-11-2019, 10:17 AM

Since you got it in West Chester, I'm guessing the dealer is Stoltzfus. I've read posts saying they're good & they are an authorized service center for Tiffin. I hope you get all resolved soon & can enjoy your lovely Phaeton. You finding that tail light with a hole drilled in it was unacceptable (on the dealer's part). Instead of doing the right thing & properly re-attaching the assembly, they put a hole in it to drain. That didn't address the issue. Hopefully they (& Tiffin) will take care of you. I heard they do.

If (and that's a big IF) it works out for us, we'll be stepping up from our gas Bounder to a Phaeton as well, soon. I've got an NRVIA certified inspector in my back pocket ready to give it a once over should it be "the one" for us. You're right about being overwhelmed. Going from a gas to a DP & all the technological advances in the past 13 years is intimidating for me. So much more for comfort & entertainment but SO much more to go wrong.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

Lori-

timhall7615 · 03-11-2019, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lt Dan

I'm really sorry you are having issues right off the bat. Some of that definitely should have been caught by the factory or your dealer. Just be assured that Tiffin will take care of all of the issues for you. As for the air bags, that is not uncommon for air bags to slowly deflate and if they stay up for several days they are doing well. Any time ours is going to sit in storage for more than a day or two, I'll manually dump the air suspension.

That's good to know.. I appreciate the information.

timhall7615 · 03-11-2019, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NLOVNIT

Since you got it in West Chester, I'm guessing the dealer is Stoltzfus. I've read posts saying they're good & they are an authorized service center for Tiffin. I hope you get all resolved soon & can enjoy your lovely Phaeton. You finding that tail light with a hole drilled in it was unacceptable (on the dealer's part). Instead of doing the right thing & properly re-attaching the assembly, they put a hole in it to drain. That didn't address the issue. Hopefully they (& Tiffin) will take care of you. I heard they do.

If (and that's a big IF) it works out for us, we'll be stepping up from our gas Bounder to a Phaeton as well, soon. I've got an NRVIA certified inspector in my back pocket ready to give it a once over should it be "the one" for us. You're right about being overwhelmed. Going from a gas to a DP & all the technological advances in the past 13 years is intimidating for me. So much more for comfort & entertainment but SO much more to go wrong.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

Lori-

So far Stoltzfus has been great. Sadly their answer is, "bring it back and we'll take care of it" I just spoke to trimark. the only way to get the broken elec compartment door open will be to drill out the lock and replace the entire latch. It is what it is at this point.

Our first trip is a week from Thursday. ELEC would be nice but boon docking it will be. LOl

I wish you the best of luck on your Phaeton. I'm sure we'll both love it once we get the bugs worked out.

Timmy

**Lt Dan** · 03-11-2019, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by timhall7615

So far Stoltzfus has been great. Sadly their answer is, "bring it back and we'll take care of it" I just spoke to trimark. the only way to get the broken elec compartment door open will be to drill out the lock and replace the entire latch. It is what it is at this point.
Our first trip is a week from Thursday. ELEC would be nice but boon docking it will be. LOl
I wish you the best of luck on your Phaeton. I'm sure we'll both love it once we get the bugs worked out.
Timmy

I would call Tiffin and have them rush a new lock assembly to you or Stoltzfus, then carefully drill or break out that latch. Once you get the latch out where you can reach in and unlock the compartment, replacement should be easy.