Brand new Dutch Star (2022), still can't use?

[chrisan]

I just purchased a new Dutch Star off the lot from a dealer in washington state.

During their PDI they discovered the toilet was broken from the manufacture.

We are now 1 month later, and I still don't have a working toilet.

The local dealer says that since Newmar has changed the part for 2023 they can't get a new part, and for some reason the new toilet won't work in my coach.

They have no ETA on when Dometic could deliver a replacement part.

My last coach sat in a repair show for 12 months waiting on HWH to manufacture new jacks because of supply chain, blah blah blah...

I'm super frustrated that a new coach (very expensive) isn't operational after 4w of waiting.

I'm contemplating returning the rig and getting my money back if they can't get it working... but I do love the coach.

Suggestions on what I could ask from the local dealer or Newmar to rectify the situation? The local dealer is refusing to take a toilet from another 2022 sitting on their lot...

[USMCRET]

Contact Newmar directly and verify what your dealer is telling you. Dutchstarservice@newmarcorp.com

[OkieSVT]

Originally Posted by chrisan

I just purchased a new Dutch Star off the lot from a dealer in washington state.

During their PDI they discovered the toilet was broken from the manufacture.

We are now 1 month later, and I still don't have a working toilet.

The local dealer says that since Newmar has changed the part for 2023 they can't get a new part, and for some reason the new toilet won't work in my coach.

They have no ETA on when Dometic could deliver a replacement part.

My last coach sat in a repair show for 12 months waiting on HWH to manufacture new jacks because of supply chain, blah blah blah...

I'm super frustrated that a new coach (very expensive) isn't operational after 4w of waiting.

I'm contemplating returning the rig and getting my money back if they can't get it working... but I do love the coach.

Suggestions on what I could ask from the local dealer or Newmar to rectify the situation? The local dealer is refusing to take a toilet from another 2022 sitting on their lot...

Well, I can tell you what I would do but I'm just a cranky old man. I would be at that dealer today and give them a choice. Either take one out of a new one and fix yours, or return the coach. I can guarantee you will fix it. Don't talk to some salesman, talk to the owner or general manager.

[Solo_RV_Guy]

Originally Posted by OkieSVT

Well, I can tell you what I would do but I'm just a cranky old man. I would be at that dealer today and give them a choice. Either take one out of a new one and fix yours, or return the coach. I can guarantee you will fix it. Don't talk to some salesman, talk to the owner or general manager.

Many years ago I have a negative experience with a car dealer. I interrupted a sales meeting to address the owner of the dealership: they could *correctly* service my new car or I'd be returning it via driving it through their showroom windows and out the other side. "I'm not joking". It got really quiet and they tried to hustle me out of the meeting room. I refused to leave and told the sales staff that as an Ex customer, I'd be going to the local TV stations and Ford with my complaints, and that I'd already scoped out where the public easement was in front of their business so I could stand and picket.

Eventually they convinced me to leave the meeting room with a threat of police intervention.

I never bought another vehicle from them and I never bought another new Ford. In fact, the only Ford since then is the chassis under my Majestic.

The dealer sold his business a few years later. While traveling for work I saw that he'd purchased a dealership in FL, where a giant sink hole opened under his new car lot. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving (cant use the words here) "jerk".

[RVStitchy]

In addition to contacting the Newmar Dutch Star specialist I would contact Dometic directly the cross check the story. I have found Dometic to be very responsive when I called looking for help on small items such as reprogramming the flush mode.

Do you have a 2 bath model that you can use and enjoy while waiting?

[Dutch Star Don]

I completely understand your frustration, but you still have a working toilet. If it were something like the refer or heating system, that would be a different story. Just use the coach and wait for the replacement item.

My coach came with a non-working rear A/C unit. Between the mixed signals given to the dealer regarding fixing it or replacing it, they eventually decided on a new unit that arrived three months after delivery. During those three months we used the coach and enjoyed yet.

Soooo.....don't aggravate yourself to death on this. Enjoy the coach and one morning you'll get a call that the toilet is in.

[ddowntown]

Try calling Ardemco in Costa Mesa Ca, the are a supplier for all the marine uses, same toilet. If the have it, get the dealer to source one from them

949 722-7672

They are very helpful and have a huge supply

[RVStitchy]

Originally Posted by ddowntown

Try calling Ardemco in Costa Mesa Ca, the are a supplier for all the marine uses, same toilet. If the have it, get the dealer to source one from them

949 722-7672

They are very helpful and have a huge supply

If they have it and you can find someone else to install it contact Newmar, get a quote and ask for reimbursement (before you commit) and that might get things moving. They probably would not want to pay some other contractor full retail $$ to take care of their warranty.

[Bobby Dowdle]

When you say the toilet is broke, what do you mean? The bowl is broken and you can't use it all or you have something wrong with the mechanical side of it. I would definitely contact newmar. But like it has been stated above, that's not a down coach issue as you have 2 toilets. It's more of a convenience issue. Also, I can not speak for whatever dealer you bought that from, but we would have found a resolution from another coach or leaned on newmar production to get us one. Feel free to contact any NIRVC for assitancec with trying to get your coach repaired.

[BBelanger]

Originally Posted by Bobby Dowdle

When you say the toilet is broke, what do you mean? The bowl is broken and you can't use it all or you have something wrong with the mechanical side of it. I would definitely contact newmar. But like it has been stated above, that's not a down coach issue as you have 2 toilets. It's more of a convenience issue. Also, I can not speak for whatever dealer you bought that from, but we would have found a resolution from another coach or leaned on newmar production to get us one. Feel free to contact any NIRVC for assitancec with trying to get your coach repaired.

Bobby,
I'm an NIRVC customer and I've received no help with my HWH steps, only a story that someone else waited 3 months. I thought with 5 dealerships they might have a little pull with HWH... I'm 7 weeks without steps, and no idea of delivery date from HWH. If the coach were in storage, I wouldn't be that concerned, but I'm 6,000 miles into a 12,000 mile trip. Throwing those little steps out at each stop has me wondering how much more Rving is in my future.

Just Sayin
Bill

[Dutch Star Don]

Originally Posted by BBelanger

Bobby,
I'm an NIRVC customer and I've received no help with my HWH steps, only a story that someone else waited 3 months. I thought with 5 dealerships they might have a little pull with HWH... I'm 7 weeks without steps, and no idea of delivery date from HWH. If the coach were in storage, I wouldn't be that concerned, but I'm 6,000 miles into a 12,000 mile trip. Throwing those little steps out at each stop has me wondering how much more Rving is in my future.

Just Sayin
Bill

I think those self-adjusting/leveling steps are slick, but it sure seems like they've been problematic on many coaches. I wish Newmar would just go to the cassette type that Tiffin uses. Tiffen does certain things better than Newmar and Newmar does certain things better than Tiffen. Maybe they should just use what works best and not worry about stealing ideas from each other! I know everything keeps getting blamed on the pandemic (I wonder for how many more years) but HWH has NEVER been responsive to customers. It's sad that the only person that will return a call from HWH is Paul Maddox, and he's a field rep.

[Clemson]

Originally Posted by chrisan

I just purchased a new Dutch Star off the lot from a dealer in washington state.

During their PDI they discovered the toilet was broken from the manufacture.

We are now 1 month later, and I still don't have a working toilet.

The local dealer says that since Newmar has changed the part for 2023 they can't get a new part, and for some reason the new toilet won't work in my coach.

They have no ETA on when Dometic could deliver a replacement part.

My last coach sat in a repair show for 12 months waiting on HWH to manufacture new jacks because of supply chain, blah blah blah...

I'm super frustrated that a new coach (very expensive) isn't operational after 4w of waiting.

I'm contemplating returning the rig and getting my money back if they can't get it working... but I do love the coach.

Suggestions on what I could ask from the local dealer or Newmar to rectify the situation? The local dealer is refusing to take a toilet from another 2022 sitting on their lot...

I’ll throw the BS flag on this one. CALL NEWMAR and find out the real truth and ask then then to reimburse YOU and then go purchase the 8100 series toilet from https://ardemco.com/masterflush-toil...RoCB-EQAvD_BwE or from West Marine


Deliver it to your dealer and tell them to do their job….

[Bobby Dowdle]

Originally Posted by BBelanger

Bobby,
I'm an NIRVC customer and I've received no help with my HWH steps, only a story that someone else waited 3 months. I thought with 5 dealerships they might have a little pull with HWH... I'm 7 weeks without steps, and no idea of delivery date from HWH. If the coach were in storage, I wouldn't be that concerned, but I'm 6,000 miles into a 12,000 mile trip. Throwing those little steps out at each stop has me wondering how much more Rving is in my future.

Just Sayin
Bill

Unfortunately, we are not an HWH dealer. Only the Newamr dealer. That puts everyone at the mercy of the manufacturer of the steps. HWH always makes in warranty coaches a priority and then out of warranty coaches. We have also been waiting months for HWH to build us 2 steps. We have given out step stools to allow for the customers to go trips.

[chrisan]

I followed a bunch of advice here...

1/ I got in touch with the owner of the dealership
2/ I called Newmar directly, parts and warranty to get the scoop

A couple things I quickly got...

First, Newmar prioritizes owner complaints over dealers. They were willing to consider some out of the box ideas when the new owner is on the phone. The service I got from Newmar directly was great. The parts person gave me all the information and options, and the warranty person went the extra mile...

Second, the other suggestion people made was to talk with Dometic... well, the Newmar warranty person did a conference call with Dometic support. The paper trail at Newmar on my issue was murky, so they wanted to diagnose things.

The kicker - Dometic asked me to test the toilet. Since the dealer said it was broken and may overflow, I haven't touched it. Uhm... yeah, it worked fine. I'm not sure if something was reset with my various flipping of switches as I tested the coach, or what, but it was totally functional. Dometic had me switch from dry to normal flush mode, still working fine.

I'm going to keep an eye on it, but i have a much more functional coach.

Thanks for all the advice and commiseration on other stories... great community here!




PS. As a side, someone asked about the 2nd bath (I have a 4326, bath-and-a-half)... the problem I had was that the mid-ship bath was the broken one, which meant that on any significant drive, I can't use the bathroom (since you can't access the rear bath without opening the slides)... I have 2 kids + wife on drives, so we always end up using the toilet on the road for longer drives...