Is my Tiffin a Lemon?

[Betr2Trvl]

Originally Posted by gosman

If your car has problems, the car manufacturer fixes the problem-- not their suppliers.

I get your point, but.........

If you buy a new home, and the HVAC fails 2 weeks after you move in, you call the HVAC company, not the builder.

This is a never ending conversation on RVs in general. Tiffin will take care of the OP's problem, although it is going to be a hassle to do so.

Let's break down the issues here.

Stairs and AC, are both "easy" fixes, and really not uncommon on new or used RVs in general.

Chassis seal leak - I think most people agree these Ford chassiss are pretty solid trouble free, but I've seen a couple people post about a seal problem on some recent units. This one is an outlier to me, and just bad luck.

Last ones:

Bedroom slide is a Swintek, and I have never heard of a motor burning out on a new coach. Living room slide and leverers are both hydraulic and probably inter-related.

These 2 fall back to Tiffin, but I find it interesting the OP has problems with both slides, and they ar completely separate issues. Since none of us know the details of exactly what is wrong with the slides / hydraulics, not sure who to "blame", but I don't think either one will be that hard to get fixed. A pita, but it will get fixed.

But, I do have to ask, are you leveling the coach before you put the slides out?

I have learned over the last 18 months of RV ownership is that a lot of "new coach" problems are actually owner related (use, and completely unrealistic expectations). And believe me, the techs know what slips by at the factory, what tends to shake loose, vs. things that get broken by the owner (or they just don't know how to use it).

And they fall into 3 categories.

The owner simply does not know how to use something. The best example I read on this one was an owner who said thier induction cooktop didn't work, but the fact was (which they later admitted, but of course after posting complaints on forums) was they were not using the proper cookware for an induction stove. And really, don't you shake your head at some questions that come up on forums; do people not read thier owner's manual; do they not spend any time doing a walk through of thier new coach with the dealer?

Owner knowingly broke something (probably because they really didn't know how to use it) and blames workmanship, and expects to slip it by as a warranty claim which usually get fixed for free because it's easier than fighting with the owner.

Owner unknowingly breaks something because they don't know how to use it. This is a hard one, but I believe is the root cause of people that claim they have had to get something fixed more than once.

Our coach wasn't perfect, but everything has been fixed in a very reasonable manner. We now have 15,000 miles and over 7 months of travel on it, and I can happily say, after our recent 3 month, 6,300 mile summer trip the biggest issue that needs attention is the pilot on one burner on our stove needs to be fixed which is getting done while our coach is in for regular chassis service at our dealer (nice to have a dealer that does some basic Ford chassis work).


Regards

[Johnny Mac10]

When I bought this coach I made sure to follow the owners manual directions. It says to level first then bring the slides out. So I did this every time before the bedroom slide blew up 8 months later. What gets me is the dealer puts slides out all the time w/o leveling. Even when I got my coach back after the bedroom slide was fixed the dealer put the slide out w/o leveling. They were demonstrating that it worked and I told them they should've leveled first, but all I got was a blank stare. Its in Red Bay now so hopefully these issues get taken care of. Cant wait to get it back!

[flywithcoop]

All new MH have problems. When shopping for my latest MH I looked at a Fleetwood $299K DP MH. Guess what? On the bedroom wall baseboard there was peeling wood colored contact paper!! There was some kind of particle board behind the contact paper. If they can't use real wood where else did they cut cost?
TIFFIN makes a good product. I bought mine used (1 yr old) have had no problems other than minor shakes and rattles caused by our lousy highways. TIFFIN transferred the warranty sends me updates, newsletters, etc. I AM A HAPPY CAMPER WITH A TIFFIN ALLEGRO LA36 OPEN ROAD.
OP let Tiffin fix all the defects. They will stand behind their product. Then enjoy your new MH. IMO You did not get a lemon.

BTY you better buy a nice tool kit cause you are gonna need it to fix all the stuff that vibrates loose. Not Tiffins fault our roads are lousy.

[HGC]

Bought our 36LA on order,new, in 2014. Still fixing bad construction and assembly and gave up on the dealer. As far as using using contact paper on wood, we have that on the walls and underneath of the cabinets as does other models on our Tiffin. Not to mention the wall with that contact paper between the 1/2 bath and BR is loose and must be reinforced on the floor which I will do.So I don't think Fleetwood is an inferior product because of the laminate walls. Electrically the Fleetwoods seem superior in design and assembly. Acquainted with a few units.
Still with all of the problems with our 36LA I wouldn't call it a lemon just call it a Tiffin "seconds" unit. We are insulted that they would consider delivering a substandard unit. But I will continue to redo all of the shortcomings on this coach. Next season we may have it up to standard. Glad it is not a Bus.

[BobMontgomer]

We own a 2016 Thor Ace and were considering moving up to a Tiffin Allegro but after reading all these posts I am not sure it would be worth it. I was under the impression the Tiffin would be more trouble free but now I am thinking not.

[curtsr]

We had a 2015 Tiffin 36la, kept it 14 months put 13000 virtually trouble free miles on it. Went to dealer twice, once for a bad propane regulator and once for yearly maintenance. We bought a 2016 Phaeton last December (we wanted a bigger coach) it has had very few problems and been to the dealer one time for minor repairs. I'll stay with Tiffin especially for their warranty. They stand behind their motorhomes.

[dezolen]

You only hear the worst of the owners. Most that have one are relatively trouble free. I have yet to take mine back to the dealer. Any problems were looked after by sending me required parts. One certainly needs to be a jack of all trades to own any motorhome IMHO

[flywithcoop]

All Motor homes have some problems. If you are going to own one you better be a pretty good jack of all trades. I've owned two and luckily have been able to repair everything that has given me trouble. Nothing major just small stuff that is a pain in the you know what. If you aren't then IMO you need to stay away from motor homes no matter what class they are A,B, or C.
Every trip is a shake down cause our roads suck. Stuff just vibrates loose. You got to remember it is a home on wheels and all that stuff just won't take the shaking and vibrating.
Nice thing is it gives up something to do at the campground instead of sitting around telling lies and drinking beer!! Just kidding about the beer. LOL

[rgwarren718]

I don't want Bobmontgomer to get the wrong idea. We bought our 2012 40 ft. Phaeton used and have put approx. 20,000 miles on it since then. Small issues nothing costing more than $150.00 to fix which I could do myself. Worst issue was the rear driver side slide out would not come in. After pulling hair out looked under bed and found out that when my 3 year old grand daughter was back in the bedroom playing and being very quiet, should have known, she got underneath the bed and disconnected the sensor wires for the slide. Pretty sure cannot blame that one on Tiffin.

[gosman]

At first I thought you were going to say that your grand daughter got caught up under your slide! Ouch!

[grizz427]

After reading this site I just had to chime in to it. 2014 36LA purchased March 27th we left to go to Red bay to start get things fixed on our new unit. So far we have been there three times for over a total of 2 months on three trips. Over 6,000 miles and all that gas to get there. I can say now my dear wife has said if it caught fire she would roast marsh mellows on it before calling the fire dept. But after 1&1/2 years every thing is working now. Our last trip out west we ran in to a problem with the brakes in Oregon front left rotor cracked and the front ABS cable melted. It took them three days to ship us the cable. Four days in Grants Pass on the repair shops parking lot.

[billdreamlv]

To use the word "lemon" when Tiffin has not had the chance to fix the broken parts is somewhat disingenuous. The fact that Bob Tiffin personally talked to you, says something about the customer support and care. When owners complain and label Tiffin, the manufacture of a possible lemon, they devalue the entire fleet. Bob Tiffin has gone to great lengths to keep the brand synonymous with quality and value. The "value" part is the part we own. If you think you are going to get better treatment from Bob for your MH, at the expense of all the rest of us, by posting "lemon language" before Bob has a chance to make it right, just hurts us all. There is a post in this thread, stating that a prospective buyer of a Tiffin MH, may not purchase a Tiffin because of the "lemon language" used in this post. This does not increase the value of our MHs. Let Bob Tiffin be Bob Tiffin and he will stand by his products regardless of your "lemon" references.

[dezolen]

Originally Posted by grizz427

After reading this site I just had to chime in to it. 2014 36LA purchased March 27th we left to go to Red bay to start get things fixed on our new unit. So far we have been there three times for over a total of 2 months on three trips. Over 6,000 miles and all that gas to get there. I can say now my dear wife has said if it caught fire she would roast marsh mellows on it before calling the fire dept. But after 1&1/2 years every thing is working now. Our last trip out west we ran in to a problem with the brakes in Oregon front left rotor cracked and the front ABS cable melted. It took them three days to ship us the cable. Four days in Grants Pass on the repair shops parking lot.

Why would you travel all the way back to factory 3 x ? Surely a dealer closer by could fix most minor items .

Any problems I had I repaired myself with dealer supplied parts. For me a 6 hr round trip to dealer convinced me I'd rather do my own repairs. Besides doing it myself I knew it would be done right. Got to be handy to own any brand or type of rv as these are not meant for the mechanically disadvantaged. Perhaps once the Chinese or Japanese start manuf. quality will start to improve .

[PBR1798]

My wife and me are planing to buy our first ever motorhome. USED 2015 Tiffin Phaeton 36GH. Been looking and reading all we can ( 6 0r more months )We live in Apollo Beach, Fl. working with Lazy days RV center. Just joined your great system.Seems the deeper we look the worse these motorhomes get. I'm getting the feeling RV builders and dealers care less about quality workmen ship, just pust the S--T out and let the buyer worry. Is there any good reports on Tiffin as i thought they were one of the best. seem I was wrong. Wife and me are 73 years old and just want to spend some of our last free days enjoying life if there is any after 73 +years, we here so many cons and very little pros. Been to Red Bay and the Tiffin paint shop. Everything looks goo except I did see some sabby electrical work in making their harnes. maybe that why they have so many prolems. Would love to hear that someone has a positive feeling about thesze Diesel motorhomes. Hate to invest $200,ooo grand and bs sorry iat our age.