American Coach: Late model coach issues ??

[Tony Lee]

However you have a great coach an AC/Fleetwood will stand with you.

the staff at American Coach has been absolutely wonderful in bending over backwards to get everything fixed with the coach.

Now that is "peace of mind" in knowing that the manufacturer will stand behind their product. I'm not sure there are any other manufacturers out there who would go out on a limb with an extension to my warranty like American Coach has done.

Oh for heavens sake. The builder did a thoroughly crappy job in the first place, caused you all sorts of inconveniences and expense and now you are all singing their praises to the heavens.

[Jafundy]

Originally Posted by Nubulin

Powerdriver,

I am glad you got your issues fixed!

Thanks for updating us. I pickup my 14 Rev in 3 weeks and your experiences had me stressing about my coach. Hearing that yours is fixed and you are happy gives me some faith!

Thanks.

Where you picking up your coach? We pick ours up in 2 weeks at Lazy Days. Thought we might see ya.

[Nubulin]

Originally Posted by Jafundy

Where you picking up your coach? We pick ours up in 2 weeks at Lazy Days. Thought we might see ya.

I did the factory VIP delivery. I can't wait!

[Clayobx]

Originally Posted by Nubulin

I did the factory VIP delivery. I can't wait!

Happy for both of you. Problems exist with new coaches regardless of who the manufacturer is. Of course unless you rebuild an old bus. This is an exciting time. Enjoy.

[Powerdriver]

Originally Posted by Tony Lee

Oh for heavens sake. The builder did a thoroughly crappy job in the first place, caused you all sorts of inconveniences and expense and now you are all singing their praises to the heavens.

Tony,

My intention when I started this thread was to reach out to owners of late model coaches to find out if my issues are typical of American Coach products. Somehow, I do not believe that you "fit that billing". My intention with my last post, after dealing with the issues surrounding my coach and dealing with American Coach, is to let the general public know that AC is standing behind their product. I feel this is very important for others to know that you can count on them to stand by you in the event of problems. You can look at various on-line RV forums on the internet and find that there are many manufacturers out there that will not necessarily "go the extra mile" to stand behind their product. And for your information, I have not really incurred any "expense" as AC has covered all expenses with getting my coach back to the factory (on both trips)...they send the 3rd party drive away company to pick it up at my house , they send the coach back to me with a Tech to go over all repairs, they sent 2 Techs to the dealership that I purchased the coach from when I refused to send it back up to the factory to have the refrigerator changed out. The coach arrives back to me filled with diesel (despite leaving my home for the first trip with only 1/4 tank of diesel and the 2cd trip it left my house with 1/2 tank of diesel) and they have serviced my engine & generator for my "troubles". While this information may not be of use to you, it could be of use to any other new customers or customers who have recently purchased a new coach from Fleetwood/American Coach.

[Clayobx]

Hear, hear, we'll said !

[CLIFFTALL]

Originally Posted by Clayobx

Hear, hear, we'll said !

I'll drink to that as well.

[The General]

Originally Posted by Clifftall

I'll drink to that as well.

I agree! If you're buying I'm drinking.

[PDR John]

This is the reason for sharing your story, so everybody knows.

Glad you're getting things corrected.

[Tony Lee]

Hmmmm! I could have sworn that the reason you made the post was to complain what a raw deal you got in return for spending a great deal of money on a product that should never have got out of the factory with a 20 page list of defects. For those with short memories, here is your post again -

I purchased my first AC product, a 2013 AC Tradition about 6 months ago. During this time, the coach has been sent back to the factory twice (currently sitting at the factory again) and back to the dealer once for repairs. Also, Freightliner had to made a house call after the engine shut down (on the highway) while on our way home from the very first camping trip (high coolant temp issue). The first trip back to the factory (after 1 month of ownership) had not a "punch list" but it was a "laundry list". The final factory service order sheet spanned 20 pages in length. The trip back to the dealer (after 3 months of ownership) was to replace the residential refrigerator and repair more roof leaks. The current trip to the factory has another list of repairs, including the inability to get both of the passenger side slides in/out. I had to hard-wire 12 volts last weekend from the chassis batteries to the slide motors to get the bedroom & living room slides in. The wife & I were so humiliated as campers where leaving on Sunday & we were stringing out wires from the chassis batteries to the slide motors on our new coach. The other major issue last weekend was with the rear macerator toilet. Everytime the toilet was flushed, the lights would go out in the bathroom & the air conditioners would shut down exactly when the macerator motor would start. The lights & the AC's would start right back up after the maerator turned off. Before anyone asks, there was nothing put into the toilet that would be considered out of the ordinary. Sorry for being so long winded but we paid an awfull lot of money for this new coach and we are so frustrated that we have not had a "trouble free" camping trip yet in the first 6 months of ownership. Is anyone else out there, with a relatively new coach, having all sorts of problems with their new coach ?? Thanks.

at this stage of your experiences there is not the slightest hint of anything other than you being more than a little annoyed with your deal.

Take just one item - water leaks - not just one leak once, but multiple water leaks on at least two occasions. Just how does a manufacturer with proper systems in place put out a product with water leaks. An RV roof, or walls with windows is hardly a recent invention is it. Have you considered the distinct possibility that there could be delamination problems in the future. Will they warranty the roof for ten years??

Do the sums - Prorata depreciation for time spent in workshop. Prorata interest on any loans. Value of your time for returning it and picking it up. Compensation for loss of enjoyment. Compensation for embarrassment suffered. Compesation for carrying out their QC function, etc etc.
What did you get in return? A bit of fuel and a fairly meaningless (in the sense that once something finally works as it should, it generally keeps working for several years) warranty extension.

The pity is that the sort of rose-tinted-glasses acceptance of poor workmanship demonstrated by members here is just about universal and I'm not sure I understand why. If this story was unusual then that might be different, but it seems a pretty common theme.

Let's hope the last trip to the factory is really the last and that you can finally get on with your RV life.

[docj]

Originally Posted by Tony Lee

Hmmmm! I could have sworn that the reason you made the post was to complain what a raw deal you got in return for spending a great deal of money on a product that should never have got out of the factory with a 20 page list of defects. For those with short memories, here is your post again -

at this stage of your experiences there is not the slightest hint of anything other than you being more than a little annoyed with your deal.

Take just one item - water leaks - not just one leak once, but multiple water leaks on at least two occasions. Just how does a manufacturer with proper systems in place put out a product with water leaks. An RV roof, or walls with windows is hardly a recent invention is it. Have you considered the distinct possibility that there could be delamination problems in the future. Will they warranty the roof for ten years??

Do the sums - Prorata depreciation for time spent in workshop. Prorata interest on any loans. Value of your time for returning it and picking it up. Compensation for loss of enjoyment. Compensation for embarrassment suffered. Compesation for carrying out their QC function, etc etc.
What did you get in return? A bit of fuel and a fairly meaningless (in the sense that once something finally works as it should, it generally keeps working for several years) warranty extension.

The pity is that the sort of rose-tinted-glasses acceptance of poor workmanship demonstrated by members here is just about universal and I'm not sure I understand why. If this story was unusual then that might be different, but it seems a pretty common theme.

Let's hope the last trip to the factory is really the last and that you can finally get on with your RV life.

There's virtually no other product I can think of that people would continue to buy knowing that such headaches as the OP has endured are pretty commonplace. Yet we've convinced ourselves that this is the way things have to be in the RV industry. Lemon laws were passed to protect people from poorly built automobiles; maybe more RV owners should investigate the applicability of those laws to RVs.

[Mr_Mechanica]

Originally Posted by docj

There's virtually no other product I can think of that people would continue to buy knowing that such headaches as the OP has endured are pretty commonplace. Yet we've convinced ourselves that this is the way things have to be in the RV industry. Lemon laws were passed to protect people from poorly built automobiles; maybe more RV owners should investigate the applicability of those laws to RVs.

I agree with Tony and docj -- I could see a handful of problems but not twenty pages worth slipping through quality checks. There is another guy who had bad ride issues with his brand new AC Revo because the factory failed to set up his coach chassis to specs and he ended up having to go to Freightliner to sort things out. In the end he too was thrilled once the problems resolved.

I imagine anyone would be happy and relieved knowing that their mega-purchase is not a write-off.

These kind of problems are failures by Fleetwood to monitor and catch initial quality problems. After sales service is very important and Fleetwood does a good job (just like Entegra, Newmar and Tiffin), but leaving it to the service guys to fix the production guys' problems is not good business and very costly to gross margins and PR.

We were so close to pulling the trigger on a new Rev 42G until we read about these two incidents. Now we're leaning Newmar and Entegra which seem to have few initial quality issues.

Funny, our money that we hand over never has any warranty problems!

[Clayobx]

None of the three above post adhere to IRV2 mission. Your opinion's are just that opinion's and you three know what everyone has! Your statements are not helpful but extremely malicious and hurtful. The OP has made a statement that he feels will be helpful to others in a similar situation. I for one have traveled a similar path and lived with the frustrations to have them completed and moved on. Perhaps you three should "bash" your product on your own forum.. Wait you don't have an owners forum!! This thread is dead!

[Mr_Mechanica]

Originally Posted by Clayobx

None of the three above post adhere to IRV2 mission. Your opinion's are just that opinion's and you three know what everyone has! Your statements are not helpful but extremely malicious and hurtful. The OP has made a statement that he feels will be helpful to others in a similar situation. I for one have traveled a similar path and lived with the frustrations to have them completed and moved on. Perhaps you three should "bash" your product on your own forum.. Wait you don't have an owners forum!! This thread is dead!

Ouch!

I don't have a product to bash -- I am a buyer looking for the best coach.

A forum is for the free exchange of ideas and in my case the forum allowed me to assess various coach builders' performance. I simply pointed out concerns and why we looking at the competition more intently.

I'm glad the OP shared his experience as well as the naysayers too for their perspective.