Not a good Newmar story....

[Roadweary]

http://www.news-press.com/article/20...nclick_check=1

[steveclv]

I suspect that it's no different from any other manufacturer.

We only know half the story and probably never will know Newmar's thoughts and position.

In our litigation happy society, everyone plays CMA.

[BFlinn181]

I had trouble getting past the 'mobile home' label the article kept repeating. It's an RV, motor home, Class A, coach, or something OTHER than a mobile home. Sounds like it was left hooked up to city water or the pump left on to allow that much leakage.

[Oldme]

That must have been on big leak IN the wall.

She is in Fl., I bet if the Insurance Commissioner becomes involved and the Attorney Generals Office Division of Consumer Protection, she will get results.

It worked getting an insurance payment for my Mother-in-Law after the death of the Father-in-Law on an insured Class A. The insurance company at first refused to pay. Then they saw their "mistake".

[Skip426]

Originally Posted by steveclv

I suspect that it's no different from any other manufacturer.

We only know half the story and probably never will know Newmar's thoughts and position.

In our litigation happy society, everyone plays CMA.

X2, and the " lease a car " who full times , and doesn't have transportation ? Where would you park, a M/H that you didn't already need a car, for work or to get to the store.

[DandS]

I too suspect more to the story and Carl did say in the email quoted that Newmar would work with her to make things right. IMO, it doesn't help to have that particular dealer involved as they are poor on warranty work in my experience. Can't believe Newmar won't step up if the facts are as stated. They have covered things on my coach long out of warranty.

[MJFZ]

I too found it difficult to get past the mobile home label, but that could also have been an error by the stations editor/writer. In my 25 years of owning an RV, I have never met another owner that called their RV a mobile home. In any case, sounds like a small leak that went unnoticed until it was a bad situation. The repair could be a major challenge for a local dealer but not a major issue for the folks in Nappanee. Lets hope the dealer and or Newmar gets this squared away for Ms. Wilson. Lesson learned over and over, is turn off the water at the water connection when leaving the motor home for the day or an extended period of time, just to be sure.

Mike

[Stan.Birch]

Originally Posted by BFlinn181

I had trouble getting past the 'mobile home' label the article kept repeating. It's an RV, motor home, Class A, coach, or something OTHER than a mobile home.

I've grown to love the term: 'mobile home'!!!

Forty years ago when our municipality crafted their by-laws, they didn't know the difference between a motorhome and a mobile home. They provided a prohibition against storing a boat trailer, camping trailer or 'mobile home' in our laneway; but never a motorhome!

According to most dictionary definitions, as well as manufacturers, a mobile home is a temporary portable dwelling that can be towed from place to place as a temporary dwelling. Remember the first Winnebagos of the 70's: a travel trailer with two sets of wheels?? I think we commonly called them 'mobiles homes' waaaay back then.

Over the past seven years, we have gotten to know our by-law enforcement officer on a rather friendly first-name basis. Every time a crabby neighbour complains, he is compelled to pay a visit and tell me that I can't park my 'mobile home' there! We go through the same routine every time. He then apologizes and says he's sorry, but he has to issue a summons for me to appear in court; but he never does! <grin>

[F117plt]

Originally Posted by steveclv

I suspect that it's no different from any other manufacturer.

We only know half the story and probably never will know Newmar's thoughts and position.

In our litigation happy society, everyone plays CMA.

"Litigation happy"? I'm sure if this happened to you, you might feel a bit different. I sympathize with this poor woman.

[jimaxp]

We live in Ft. Myers. I posted that article in the General here. We're about to buy our first RV and had come down to Newmar after much research, including here. But now I'm not so sure. Thel nsurance company is awful, North Trail having had it for 2 months so far is awful, but blalming it on the little old lady for leaving it hooked up is not fair. Aparrently she drove the thing to work which is odd enough, but it shoud not have leaked and North Trail should have caught it the first time she brought it in. And Newmar shouldn't make statements to the press but see that a $300,000 customer is made whole right away and deal with the politics later. The author of the article is just a local consumer advocate and knows nothing about RV's, so whether she calls it a motor home or a lage box on wheels matters not. This is just our take on it as a prospective customer as well as a business owner who deals with large accounts every day. I know this story has probably been repeated many times with every manuacturer, but it's still sad customers are treated like this - with a coach that is IN warranty no less.

We do love everyone here at IRV2 and their wisdom and knowlege. I hope we don't have an experience like that. It IS very scary.

[F117plt]

Originally Posted by jimaxp

We live in Ft. Myers. I posted that article in the General here. We're about to buy our first RV and had come down to Newmar after much research, including here. But now I'm not so sure. Thel nsurance company is awful, North Trail having had it for 2 months so far is awful, but blalming it on the little old lady for leaving it hooked up is not fair. Aparrently she drove the thing to work which is odd enough, but it shoud not have leaked and North Trail should have caught it the first time she brought it in. And Newmar shouldn't make statements to the press but see that a $300,000 customer is made whole right away and deal with the politics later. The author of the article is just a local consumer advocate and knows nothing about RV's, so whether she calls it a motor home or a lage box on wheels matters not. This is just our take on it as a prospective customer as well as a business owner who deals with large accounts every day. I know this story has probably been repeated many times with every manuacturer, but it's still sad customers are treated like this - with a coach that is IN warranty no less.

We do love everyone here at IRV2 and their wisdom and knowlege. I hope we don't have an experience like that. It IS very scary.

You are absolutely right. The attitudes of other RV owners on this forum towards this poor woman are shameful. Anyone of them in her situation would be devastated.

[steveclv]

Originally Posted by F117plt

"Litigation happy"? I'm sure if this happened to you, you might feel a bit different. I sympathize with this poor woman.

I meant that due to our "litigation happy" society we would not get to hear from Newmar about what they think or do about the situation - nothing to do with the women who has the issue.

[saydiver]

We picked up our King Aire in June, 2008. Sometime in late 2008 or early 2009 we noticed a water spot on the carpet in the bedroom. We took the coach to North Trail where it was discovered we had a leak in the shower pipe behind the wall. Whoever installed the shower head had to have know he didn't screw it down tight enough. We allowed North Trail to do a temporary fix to stop the leak, but would not allow them to do a permanent fix which required ripping out the wall behind the shower. We took the coach back to the factory for the repair and of course they did an outstanding job repairing/replacing everything we asked them to do on their nickel and gave us a five year guarantee on the repair.

We discovered another water leak last year from a kitchen water line connector probably not being tightened properly when the coach was built so that from the four years of shaking going down the road, it had worked itself loose/looser and started leaking slowly at first. We were parked for the winter and by the time we noticed the leak, the basement floor and ceiling were quite damaged. There was water under the coach. but we assumed it was our continual issue with the fresh water tank overflow value not working correctly, which has been repaired before. Luckily we had no interior damage to the coach. Newmar puts vinyl down on top of the subfloor, which protected it from the water leak. Personally I think Newmar should have picked up the tab for this repair since it was a loose connector on the water line for the sink and was not reachable by us since it was behind the refrigerator, but they didn't and the repair from the water damage came close to $5K.

Everyone has water leaks eventually. It's just a matter of time when it will happen. It's unfortunate that this women for whatever reason didn't notice the leak before it did major damage.

Only in an emergency would I ever allow a dealer to do a major repair. Just like the PDI, it's well worth it to us to go back to the factory for major issues. The factory has stepped up to the plate even after we were out of warranty on all but this one leak. So yes when we buy another coach in the future, it will be a Newmar unless we decide to buy a Prevost.

Sue

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by F117plt

"Litigation happy"? I'm sure if this happened to you, you might feel a bit different. I sympathize with this poor woman.

Well, first off the Ventana isn't a "top of the line" model.

Another problem is we only have one side of at least the three way story.
One side is hers.
Second is the dealers
Third is Newmars.

We have no way of knowing when the leak started or why it wasn't noticed nor how long it lasted or even where it was from. In fact they don't even give the model year of the Ventana in the story. Can't even tell if there was any warranty left when the damage was discovered.

A "dozen people" filing suit against a business like Newmar isn't a big deal. Our 2002 DSDP unit number is in the 61,000 range and that's 12 years ago.

Newmar is a reputable business as we know from experience, but if someone knows of damage happening they are required to take remedial action and keep the damage minimized. How could she live in the unit and not know there was water leaking?