Issues with our Baystar Sport resolved at last!

[lsellmer]

New to this forum, but we've owned two C Class and two A Class motorhomes over the years. We love RVing! I wanted to leave our recent experiences here regarding issues with our Baystar Sport (now resolved) in case this is useful to other members.
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May 2022

I am writing this in part as a way to let people we have met on our travels know how our issues with our very disappointing new Newmar Baystar Sport 2812 were resolved.

When you spend your valuable dollars in retirement on a product with a good reputation the last thing you expect is a long litany of problems.

We bought our motorhome in 2018 new and love almost everything about it, layout, storage, 3 slides. It is short and manoeuvrable for an A class and easy to drive.

The problems started shortly after we got it. I won’t go into these. However, last summer we reached a point where items became more than what we felt we should have to handle ourselves.

By the time we got into the shop the stairs weren’t working, the levelling jacks weren’t working and the side of the motorhome was falling apart at the trim above the sewer compartment. This was later discovered to have been caused by rusty screws having broken off! The captains chairs and armrest upholstery was falling apart again, already having being replaced. The issue that was the most distressing is described below.

We had noticed a soft spot developing on the roof from very early on. Our first mistake was not having it acknowledged in writing. As this problem progressed it had to be addressed. First shock for us was that it was not a warranty item as the one year part of the warranty was over! With 13,000 miles on the unit this seemed unbelievable. We wrote Newmar (new head man there Brian Hazelton) and explained the situation and sent photos. Disappointingly we never heard back from Brian Hazelton we did however get a call that Newmar would give our dealer 3 hours to find the problem. At this point, and before diagnosis, Newmar offered to pay half the cost of the new roof! We said absolutely not they should cover the whole cost. During the 3 hours of diagnosis it was discovered that the air conditioner was not installed properly and hadn’t been sealed causing water to leak into the plywood. It had even made it into the inside of the coach where the ceiling was coming unglued. Newmar agreed to pay for the new roof.

After a lot of time and energy spent on these and other issues we have now got the unit back. It has new upholstery (3rd set for captains chairs), baggage compartment is repaired and as stated new roof installed. We were on the hook for a new solenoid for the stairs and the levellers are now working (touch wood).

I have no way of knowing if this is it for our problems but it seems that there is such a rush to get products out that
quality of workmanship is gone, even with Newmar. The more units that go out the more people building them get paid leaving the dealers the job of dealing with the disgruntled consumers.

The consumer ends up with loss of use and enjoyment of the costly unit they purchased. I see only one solution for this. RV’ers need to be prepared to put in the time and energy to insist their legitimate concerns are properly met. If we all insist the products are built to the standard Newmar (and others) have built their reputations on we may eventually see quality return. This does however take a big toll on the enjoyment you will get from your purchase.

Happy Travels!

[momdoc]

Welcome to the forum. Fingers crossed that the worst is behind you and you can now start enjoying your rig.

You are joining a good group of friend here with good information to share. Read the various thread here and ask questions as they come up or add information if you can.

Good luck and enjoy the adventure!

[MSHappyCampers]

Hi ! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined us!

Have fun and keep her between the ditches!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

[Rev. Roy]

You said, "The more units that go out the more people building them get paid leaving the dealers the job of dealing with the disgruntled consumers." Do you know this as a fact or is this pure conjecture? Are the employees paid an incentive? If so, how do you know this? I have not heard that they are piece work paid.

[NCC-1701A]

Originally Posted by Rev. Roy

You said, "The more units that go out the more people building them get paid leaving the dealers the job of dealing with the disgruntled consumers." Do you know this as a fact or is this pure conjecture? Are the employees paid an incentive? If so, how do you know this? I have not heard that they are piece work paid.

Rev Roy: What I heard on the Newmar tour was that when they had their 11 coaches done, they could leave for the day.

My first reaction was that this was an anti-incentive to quality by causing those that want to get home to rush the process vs putting a maniacal focus on quality work.

My second was more a question in my mind of why anyone on hourly wage would want to cut their day short....unless they weren't paid hourly. Hmmmmmm. It made sense to me that a per unit pay system would be more likely to support a "leave when your quota is done" model, but that's just me speculating.

To the OP: I hope your Baystar issues are behind you and it's pleasant experiences going forward. I had a 2010 32' Baystar I bought new in 2009 and enjoyed for 8 years. Other than a bad fuel pump on the Onan covered under warranty and upholstery failures fixed by Flexsteel at no cost to me, the unit was trouble free. Best wishes for safe travels.