New Fuzion Owner=Nightmare

[LTZ470]

Most RV's are thrown together...America has few dedicated craftsmen left, and RV manufacturers have even fewer...RV Dealerships...lol...don't waste your time or money with their repair service, they know less about your RV than you do...

Don't believe me, call one of the Salesmen at any RV Dealership and ask them a few questions about a unit...they will say hold on while I find the spec's or "I think" or I don't know but they have sold many of them

Took mine in for a Shower Repair (Walls were turning loose and buckling in)...they drill a hole through the shower wall into the bedroom, then put a plastic rivet in leaving a hole in my wall on the bedroom side?...They then proceeded to jack knife it with a Forklift and put a hole in the outer wall near the front door...had a leaking water vent on my water tank, they "CUT" the plastic board holding my floor insulation in and duct taped it back up and STILL did not repair the leak...RV Dealers are THE worse place to get anything repaired there is...

Signed,
No Faith in RV Stealerships

[jesilvas]

Originally Posted by LTZ470

Most RV's are thrown together...America has few dedicated craftsmen left, and RV manufacturers have even fewer...RV Dealerships...lol...don't waste your time or money with their repair service, they know less about your RV than you do...

Don't believe me, call one of the Salesmen at any RV Dealership and ask them a few questions about a unit...they will say hold on while I find the spec's or "I think" or I don't know but they have sold many of them

Took mine in for a Shower Repair (Walls were turning loose and buckling in)...they drill a hole through the shower wall into the bedroom, then put a plastic rivet in leaving a hole in my wall on the bedroom side?...They then proceeded to jack knife it with a Forklift and put a hole in the outer wall near the front door...had a leaking water vent on my water tank, they "CUT" the plastic board holding my floor insulation in and duct taped it back up and STILL did not repair the leak...RV Dealers are THE worse place to get anything repaired there is...

Signed,
No Faith in RV Stealerships

Pretty bold statement with no knowledge of all "stealerships."
Kinda like saying I hate Kroger's, or all _______ people, they don't know anything about this subject.
Pretty ignorant if you ask me, but that's just me.

[LTZ470]

Originally Posted by jesilvas

Pretty bold statement with no knowledge of all "stealerships."
Kinda like saying I hate Kroger's, or all _______ people, they don't know anything about this subject.
Pretty ignorant if you ask me, but that's just me.

Yes, quite a few bad experiences with several dealerships and RV Repair "specialist"...lol...Car dealers, truck dealers, RV dealers...don't trust ANY of them, do all my own work anymore unless it's body work...

Rather be ignorant and do all my own work where I know whats done when I get out on the road, than be foolish and use less than qualified shabby workmanship and then get out on the road...just to find out...

Ignorant or Foolish, we all have a choice...

Had my Sportchassis hail damage repair a while back ($12,000)...they repainted it with the wrong paint and then attempted to make me accept it (ruined two batteries, didn't reconnect Temp Sensor, left screws out of overhead panel, and I could go on)...lol...NO I do not trust ANY dealers, RV Dealers, Repair shops...NONE....not even one...MY families life depends on the work performed on my rigs

The ONLY place I have ever seen where they did half decent work on RV's is North Texas RV Repair in Krum, Texas, and then, they are extremely expensive as well...

[jesilvas]

Saying that you personally don't trust any of them is much smarter than your previous blanket statement that they all are the worst places.

[LTZ470]

Originally Posted by jesilvas

Saying that you personally don't trust any of them is much smarter than your previous blanket statement that they all are the worst places.

Now it's politically correct?...lol...

[fly723]

Just a quick update. We are 4 weeks into a 8 week, 4k mile summer vacation. We basically fired our dealer (post sale, I'm sure they are all broken up about it.....), are dealing directly with Keystone and LCI with any issues, and guess what......knock on wood we are having zero issues.

Love the RV and taking the kids on the road.

Thanks to all for your opinions and support.

[azdryheat]

This is an example why I'll keep my 5 year old Everest and not buy new. We just finished 7000 miles in 5 weeks with zero problems with the rig - such a good feeling.

[gggplaya]

Doesn't make sense for it to be a hydraulic problem, most likely an electrical problem. Sure a hydraulic valve could be bad and have a little leakage, but the slides and jacks would only open up so far before the pressure begins to even out, really doubt the slides would go 2 feet without the pump running.. So most likely the pump is turning on and the valve is opening at the same time which means it thinks its being commanded to do so. I would look behind the control panel first.

[Bigg-limo]

Originally Posted by azdryheat

This is an example why I'll keep my 5 year old Everest and not buy new. We just finished 7000 miles in 5 weeks with zero problems with the rig - such a good feeling.

I get so jealous every time I hear someone say that. It makes me wish that I still had my Skyline Rampage 387 toy hauler. I only had to get it repaired one time in 6 or 7 years that i owned it. And that was all my fault, letting it sit in storage too long and not starting the generator. Everything else was all upgrades,...tires, directv, solar panels, a 3rd a/c unit, just to name a few.

[csdavis62]

We had a similar situation with a 2014 Heartland 4100 King Toy Hauler. We spent a night at the dealers camp ground for a shake down night and the auto leveling system seemed to have a mind of it's own at times. It did not level the unit correctly and several times when I went inside an tried to put the slides in the front jacks actually started to retract. The service department looked at it several times and finally told us that they calibrated the unit and it was fixed.

We went camping at a near by camp ground and when we hit the auto level button the thing lost it's mind and lowered the rear 4 jacks and then tried to extend the right front jack all the way and it bent way out to the side. I yelled at the kids and told them to get back I was afraid it would snap off and under all that pressure God knows where it would have flown.

SO I had a brand new 44' toy hauler with a BENT FRAME.... Needless to say I was not happy. Dealer was great and called Heartland they engaged Lippert and they sent (2 weeks later) a repair man down. He was very competent and did straighten the jack and frame and let me know that a weld was missed during mfg which allowed the I Beam to twist when the jack extended. He also welded some additional bracing in on both sides so it looked the same and apparently did a professional job.

Everything is working fine now and I contacted Heartland and spoke with the manage of warranty service for the entire company. The TN rep was a jerk and wanted to know "why I was calling Heartland and was not calling Lippert". I told him in my view my warranty was with Heartland and he told me it was not. I ask to speak to his manager and initially he declined si I insisted and he finally agreed. SO they transferred me to Jim and he basically ask me why I was calling and I told him I wanted a written lifetime warranty from Heartland on the specific repair that Lippert executed on my frame so when I went to sell the unit I would have it to ensure that the defect was permanently repaired.

Long story short Heartland (Jim) refused and told me I had a 11 month warranty left on the frame with Lippert and he would put nothing in writing to the contrary. So I called Lippert......

My experience with Lippert was 180 degrees from Heartland. They totally understood my resale value concern and happily agreed to send me a lifetime warranty on the repair they installed on my unit. Have used it several times and so far everything is fine.

I feel that Heartland has very POOR customer service and frankly I found them to be rude. I bought a over $90K 5th wheel and the first time I used it I had a 12" I beam on the frame that was bent. They did engage Lippert but would not stand behind their product. They claim that there are many systems on the unit and they have no responsibility for anything other than the fact that they bolt the pieces together. I will never buy another Heartland product they do not take ownership of issues with their product. If I buy a Ford or GM product and a Bendix Brake or Allison Transmission fails the manufacturer will not tell me to call the supplier of the sub component. Heartland expects the customer to do what I consider to be their job and demand quality and inspect what they receive from the suppliers for quality.

Bottom line is Lippert made a mistake during the build and owned up to it, fixed it, and gave me a lifetime warranty on the repair to give me peace of mind. Heartland was only interested in deflecting responsibility, all the had to do was call Lippert and get a warranty on the repair, put that in the file for the unit and turn around and give me a back to back warranty on the repair. It would have cost them a phone call. Instead they chose to treat me poorly and explain that they had little concern over the fact that I had one of their flag ship units with a bent frame.

Needless to say my strong recommendation is DO NOT BUY FROM HEARTLAND THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THE SALE AND NOT THE CUSTOMER.

Maybe all of the mfg's are the same I cannot speak to that, I certainly hope not.....

[Paulou3]

The service man who repaired our Lippert auto-level system recommended to NOT use the auto level procedure. As slick and easy as it is ... it is not fool-proof and he said most failures occur during that process. So we have manually leveled the coach since then. It is still an easy process and it works every time!

[csdavis62]

Originally Posted by Paulou3

The service man who repaired our Lippert auto-level system recommended to NOT use the auto level procedure. As slick and easy as it is ... it is not fool-proof and he said most failures occur during that process. So we have manually leveled the coach since then. It is still an easy process and it works every time!

That is probably not a bad piece of advise.... If I am on a concrete or well manicured location I will probably continue to use auto level however, if I am in a more primitive (read less level) location I will most likely use the manual controls.

The system is very basic in it's intelligence and in my case it lowered the rear and middle jacks to the ground then tried to drive the front corner way up. If you think of an I-Beam supported in the middle (axles) and you brace one side up from the ground and then try to lift the other end???? Nothing good can happen you are basically lifting & twisting the entire unit from one corner....

That being said on my unit a weld was missed during manufacture on a cross brace which allowed the primary frame rail to twist and it bent. Would it have happened if the weld was not missed? Not sure but it is still not good to subject anything to that kind of force. Only bad things can happen...

So your advise of doing it manually is sounding better and better as I talk myself out of trusting basically a programmable calculator instead of my pea brain and senses....

[jtall2671]

Here's what I ran across. Thanksgiving week we were camping with friends. My friend parked his Raptor normal and I parked ours backwards in the slot so we could have our doors and awnings together. The site was unlevel enough that my front jacks were fully extended and the middle and back jacks out about a foot. When it came time to leave I put the system in manual and raised the back and middle jacks. When I started raising the front jacks, they never left the ground and then I got a warning that I was too out of level and the system would not jack. I tried a couple times and nothing. So I re-leveled the camper and then put it in auto retract and all raised fine. Talked to the dealer and he does not know how to override the system to get the jacks up when it is out of level to a certain point. Anyone have any ideas on this?

[BigBill3111]

I am thinking that the problems "start" at and with the dealers. It is just the typical car salesman philosophy. Mislead, misrepresent, stall, flat out lie, etc. Like one poster said, the consumer many times knows more than the salesperson. Same to be said about many of the service people and managers. Unfortunately, it happens in all types of businesses. I have been in sales all of my working life, and am happy to say that I was very successful from being honest. At the same time though, from cars, to large tractor trailers, to hot tubs, I have seen and heard it all from sales people and managers that I have worked with and around. One good way to hit them where it hurts, is to not just complain and whine , but take the time and energy to NAME NAMES. Businesses come and go based on customer satisfaction, and with the age of social media, including this type of forum, enough bad stuff has to get their attention or they will have to close the doors for lack of business. Also never hesitate to report them to the Better Business Bureau, and my favorite is to write to the Attorney General of the state that you had a problem in. I know there are some good companies out there, but when the meter is leaning toward the negative, such as the feelings toward Keystone, it causes justifiable concern for future purchasers. I have been looking at a Keystone Big Sky Montana 5th wheel and now I am going to rethink it, because this isn't the first and only time I have read bad things about them. Sadly though, I don't know where to look for a GOOD product. From the few dealings I have had with them, Johnny Walker RV in Las Vegas will probably earn my business due to the fact that they are a family business and have been around for 50 years. I am sure they are not perfect, but they seem to care and to try. Good luck to ALL of you that are dealing with these issues, because whether it is a RV, boat, car, or whatever, it sure takes the joy out of the purchase to have the headaches.