I am not happy at all with my Palazzo 33.3

[Special Ed]

I have avoided making this post, trying to be patient and hoping that things would get better, but the problems continue to crop up, so I am taking to the airwaves to share my concerns and get others' opinions.

Bought our very first RV in 2/13. On drive home from dealer (about 400 miles), a major suspension arm broke/came loose and a wheel bearing was squealing like crazy. Then we arrived at our daughter's house and the next morning, coud not get into the RV. The bolts in the deadbolt mechanism had vibrated loose and unscrewed themselves into the door frame, effectively creating another deadbolt (locksmith had to come out). Since then, on every major trip we have taken, we have had either serious mechanical issues or smaller issues that I attrbiute to simply poor qualifty craftmanship or construction. Things like the hydraulic system breaking and leaking out on a trip from TN to CA and then back, the main water line to kitchen sink coming loose and flooding lower storage compartments (ruining some stored items), the majority of back bedroom underside not being sealed with foam (allowing engine noise, heat, grime, and road dust to get into back bedroom), bunk bed door hinges sinking into linoleum (causing tear), TV in hallway not staying in place (kept falling out), main TV power cord in line fuse in power line completely burning up (causing TV to be inoperable), and other electrical issues (going down highway with only 1 ac unit on, we turned on the microwave, and it tripped the breaker on the generator unit, requiring us to stop the RV and go out and reset breaker on generator ), stair treads going into RV already seperating at edges, small access door in bathroom continuing to fall out, literally cannot hear the TV in main living area when AC unit is on (even worse when driving down the road), support arm on outside main awning bent in two from just a small gust of wind) and many other small problems.
All items were fixed at Thor's expense, but new ones still remain and some took numerous attempts to correct. I worry about all the electrical failure issues and wonder if the wiring is not right in some way, etc. Should this be the normal experience with a new RV or did I get a lemon? I am to the point of being nervous every time we take the RV out as I expect yet another problem.
My main contact at Thor was originally quick to call me back, but now I have left at least 5 messages for her and she has not returned them. Feeling pretty disappointed with my first experience in the RV world.
Advice and counsel please.... Thanks

[deSanford]

Unfortunately this is typical as it usually takes a couple of years to get lots of the issues resolved. That said I'm very HAPPY with Monaco RV Service in Coburg, Ore. I'm out of "coach" warranty after 3 years. Still have a couple of things to fix..........1 is an installation of a CareFree awning motor. CareFree sent me one I just have to have it installed on my dime or do it myself. It is unusual to have an uneventful trip. This has been my experience with 4 new RVs. Others may have other experiences with new units. My free advice would be to use your RV as much as possible before the warranty expires. When you purchased it you must have liked something about it. You just were not told that you are the final inspector. deSanford

[pmcsurf1]

Originally Posted by egarris

I have avoided making this post, trying to be patient and hoping that things would get better, but the problems continue to crop up, so I am taking to the airwaves to share my concerns and get others' opinions. Bought our very first RV in 2/13. On drive home from dealer (about 400 miles), a major suspension arm broke/came loose and a wheel bearing was squealing like crazy. Then we arrived at our daughter's house and the next morning, coud not get into the RV. The bolts in the deadbolt mechanism had vibrated loose and unscrewed themselves into the door frame, effectively creating another deadbolt (locksmith had to come out). Since then, on every major trip we have taken, we have had either serious mechanical issues or smaller issues that I attrbiute to simply poor qualifty craftmanship or construction. Things like the hydraulic system breaking and leaking out on a trip from TN to CA and then back, the main water line to kitchen sink coming loose and flooding lower storage compartments (ruining some stored items), the majority of back bedroom underside not being sealed with foam (allowing engine noise, heat, grime, and road dust to get into back bedroom), bunk bed door hinges sinking into linoleum (causing tear), TV in hallway not staying in place (kept falling out), main TV power cord in line fuse in power line completely burning up (causing TV to be inoperable), and other electrical issues (going down highway with only 1 ac unit on, we turned on the microwave, and it tripped the breaker on the generator unit, requiring us to stop the RV and go out and reset breaker on generator ), stair treads going into RV already seperating at edges, small access door in bathroom continuing to fall out, literally cannot hear the TV in main living area when AC unit is on (even worse when driving down the road), support arm on outside main awning bent in two from just a small gust of wind) and many other small problems. All items were fixed at Thor's expense, but new ones still remain and some took numerous attempts to correct. I worry about all the electrical failure issues and wonder if the wiring is not right in some way, etc. Should this be the normal experience with a new RV or did I get a lemon? I am to the point of being nervous every time we take the RV out as I expect yet another problem. My main contact at Thor was originally quick to call me back, but now I have left at least 5 messages for her and she has not returned them. Feeling pretty disappointed with my first experience in the RV world. Advice and counsel please.... Thanks

Lemon Law? I've heard when those two words are mentioned to dealers/manufacturers things get done. Try it.
I too have had a bad first day. Drove 2014 36.1 home. Parked in drive way. Camper with kids. Next day bunk over front seats won't go up.
Broken gear tooth on passenger side schwintech. POS. Could not drive. Could not see when bunk Is down. Called Thor.




Phone calls to CW waste of time. Called thor and the approved for me to call mobile rv repair. Got schwintech motors out and manually lifted and locked bunk. Thing weighs a ton. UNDER ENGINEERED. Now I'm waiting for Thor to deliver new parts to CW.

[Pullin' Chocks]

Hi Egarris,
Your post lets us know that we are not alone. We picked up our new 5er in 3/13. It took a week to get it off the lot (finishing build, orientation - 6 hours, and lastly mostly fixing lingering manufacturing issues). We were living in our coach the day we picked it up. We also had several issues from the first day into our 1500 mile trip back to work destination (home for now). First night after 500 mile day was classic. Stopped in a Lowes, shopped for a ladder, came back to coach to prepare and eat TV dinners. Tried inverter, it shut down after just 15 seconds. OK, started generator, electrical system went bonkers. Put still frozen dinners back in freezer, ate cheese & crackers, went to bed totally exhausted and bewildered. A fine welcome to full-time RV living! Next morning discovered a hub cap had flown off. The list goes on just like yours. Even though we checked the hub caps at each stop thereafter, we arrived at our destination with only 3 of 6 left on. It was a misfit/misapplication between lug nut and hub cap. We eliminated the remaining caps, problem solved.
We believe deSanford knows what he is talking about, it takes time to find the bugs, defects etc. We also think it takes a little time to figure out owner operator procedures. There are a lot of systems on an RV that we don't normally see in our houses. We have to learn the theory of operation of each of these new to us systems, and the proper operating procedures. Not only should we consult the operator manuals, sometimes we need to learn what works for us in our own coach. For example, we shut off shore water at the supply each time we leave the coach or more than an hour. Things will and do fail, become misadjusted or just break, and one at a time they can be fixed. We have fixed a long list of items in our first 7 months and still have a list pending. But we are living in our RV and thrilled with our decision, loving the many, many nice things about our coach, and dealing with and trying to keep a healthy perspective on issues and failures. We have decided that things failing and their repair or our adjustment to a new solution is all part of the RV adventure.
On the up side of having problems; we get to learn a lot, we get satisfaction from accomplishing a repair, we have renewed appreciation when things are back in working order, and last but not least, we get to ride around our great America and RV baby! We hope our experience and thoughts encourage you to continue to enjoy RVing.

[lakings10]

I have a brand new 36.1 that we just bought and had a major electrical problem. Took me 2 days to figure out what the heck was going on, but i found the problem.

Thor's quality managment sucks big time. There are things that just make you say "really". We bought ours at the pomona rv show and i talked to the brand manager for about 30 mins. He assured me they worked out all the issues on the 14's. I think ill be giving him a ring soon.

Also is anybody's paint full of orange peel everywhere? Mine is very noticeable in the sunlight.

[okgc]

We have owned RVs made by Jayco, Winnabago, Fleetwood & now Tiffin. I do not believe your problems are typical of all new RVs.
From the sounds of it you have had more problems in the last 6 months than we had in 12 years of owning our Fleetwood Bounder.

[bronk]

I, for one, do not think Thor's quality control "sucks", as you put it. I believe that you can find owners of any other brand who have had similar experiences as you have encountered. And, of course, you will find owners who have had very few issues with Thor products , as well as other manufacturers. We have a 2011 Challenger and have had only one issue related to the construction, ie; factory quality control.

Bronk

[TheArnolds]

Egarris,

First off I am sorry that you are experiencing so many difficulties with your Palazzo. The verity of problems appear to span across a number of areas that have not been reported on this WEB site. We have owned our coach for 16 months and traveled almost 15000 miles with very few issues and the ones I did have were somewhat simple to correct. This is my second class A and I do agree that there will be problems that pop up but not to the extent that you report and not typical of other Palazzo owners.

My DW and I have been on the road for the past 6 weeks living full time for the Winter. We truly enjoy our Palazzo and I know that when the time comes to crank her up and head back home we will get there without too much difficulty.

Good luck with getting everything sorted out!

Jack

[pmcsurf1]

Originally Posted by lakings10

I have a brand new 36.1 that we just bought and had a major electrical problem. Took me 2 days to figure out what the heck was going on, but i found the problem. Thor's quality managment sucks big time. There are things that just make you say "really". We bought ours at the pomona rv show and i talked to the brand manager for about 30 mins. He assured me they worked out all the issues on the 14's. I think ill be giving him a ring soon. Also is anybody's paint full of orange peel everywhere? Mine is very noticeable in the sunlight.

Talked to Elkhart IN myself. I was told the schwintech issues were ALL fixed in 2013 and the 2014 were good to go. Riiiiiight. Overhead bunk gears stripped the second day we drove the coach off the lot from camping world. So far I'm happy with the chassis. Motor has had check engine light on when we test drove at camping world. It was off until lee left the parking lot and then came back on. Same issue cw fixed. Aghhhh!

[HeavyH2O]

Sometimes things do not work out, with any brand of RV. I am sorry to hear of all your problems. Our 33.3 has been relatively pain free to own with no visits back to the dealer for anything (we fixed them ourselves). We ran into the standard things:

• fresh water tank shifted
• door seals were loose on a couple of lower storage bins letting water in
• rear window delaminated
• shower door leaked
• heater fan was making a racket - took that apart and found a wire interfering
• front driver's seat was not mounted straight
• overhead bunk was misaligned a bit - pins would fall out while driving
• replaced the hallway TV mount with something permanent (so it did not fall off)
• back sliding door would not close (track was mounted crooked)
• screws in ladder were broken (2)
• front trim for front end cap was coming up
• rattle under left wheel - found that wheel well was not properly screwed in with a couple less than other well
• amber side marker lights were both cracked
• front driver's window leaked
• entry door stuck a bit when opening
• back engine grille had two stripped screws so it was loose and crooked

Those are the items off the top of my head with nothing major, like yours, with the hydraulic system failing. I had the same kind of things to fix with our Itasca unit, prior. it seems every unit is unique and takes some time to figure out. I still remember climbing under the RV to jump start the generator since we did not set the AGS correctly. The first few weeks/months are always the most painful.

[RKNOLA]

We should NOT have to take the attitude "These things happen". We have owned RV's before and NEVER had these kinds of problems!! We bought our 2013 33.2 in July of this year and it has been in the shop twice now for slide issues!! It is STILL in the shop, has been there since 9/24/13!!
We took 1 trip in it, and it has been non-useable since!! That is just poor workmanship!!
If YOUR Palazzo works, great!! Happy for you, but for those of us that are stuck with a lemon, it is very upsetting!!!
I am going to "try" to talk to Thor about a buy back of our unit (IF I could EVER GET THEM ON THE PHONE!!!)
I didn't really want to go the "legal" route, but not left with a lot of options!!!

[pmcsurf1]

Originally Posted by RKNOLA

We should NOT have to take the attitude "These things happen". We have owned RV's before and NEVER had these kinds of problems!! We bought our 2013 33.2 in July of this year and it has been in the shop twice now for slide issues!! It is STILL in the shop, has been there since 9/24/13!! We took 1 trip in it, and it has been non-useable since!! That is just poor workmanship!! If YOUR Palazzo works, great!! Happy for you, but for those of us that are stuck with a lemon, it is very upsetting!!! I am going to "try" to talk to Thor about a buy back of our unit (IF I could EVER GET THEM ON THE PHONE!!!) I didn't really want to go the "legal" route, but not left with a lot of options!!!

Any legal eagles out there? How many do we need for a class action law suit?

[Batten54]

Originally Posted by TheArnolds

Egarris, First off I am sorry that you are experiencing so many difficulties with your Palazzo. The verity of problems appear to span across a number of areas that have not been reported on this WEB site. We have owned our coach for 16 months and traveled almost 15000 miles with very few issues and the ones I did have were somewhat simple to correct. This is my second class A and I do agree that there will be problems that pop up but not to the extent that you report and not typical of other Palazzo owners. My DW and I have been on the road for the past 6 weeks living full time for the Winter. We truly enjoy our Palazzo and I know that when the time comes to crank her up and head back home we will get there without too much difficulty. Good luck with getting everything sorted out! Jack

Hey Jack, you guys still in the Hill Country?
After they got our slide fixed we went to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque ...good trip...nothing broke! So we'll try again later this week, to NASCAR race in TX. If that goes OK we'll be down your way right after "Turkey Day" .

Even with the problems we love our 36.1 ! So much nicer than our past R Vs.

[jimbo2013]

Originally Posted by pmcsurf1

Any legal eagles out there? How many do we need for a class action law suit?

I believe it's 3 plaintiffs, that's easy now when when you tell the lawyer who the defendant is you better be sitting down when he tells you what he wants $$$$$$ for a retainer.

Drive the rig to the factory, it will be much cheaper and it will not take 3-4 years like a lawsuit.................