RV quality issues
Since I'm in the market for a new FW in the next few months, this has been on my mind and has got me thinking. Some of the things that I've think are common are:
1. We only hear the gripes and horror stories and rarely hear the good stories. Personally, I'd still like to see a 3rd party CarFax type service that could gather information from RV repair shops (dealers and independents, both) to compile some repair stats. Warranty and paid-by-owner.
2. Most often, it's the components that go bad, not the RV structure, itself. Since most of these are smaller (relatively) issues, the annoyance factor can be out of proportion to the actual problem. Not saying that frames don't break, mfrs don't put the wrong axles under trailers and general build quality issues aren't an issue, but big stuff simply tends to be a bit less annoying because it's ONE issue, not an accumulation of smaller issues.
3. The biggest single frustration with any RV repair, I feel, can be attributed to dealer and/or manufacturer response to =any= issue, no matter how small. An excellent dealer can be hamstrung by a recalcitrant mfr who won't respond to customer issues, or SCREWS UP. I find that it seems to be fairly common that mfrs send wrong parts or have significant delays in sending =any= parts. OTOH, a lousy dealer can be changed (in most cases) like a pair of dirty underwear. Yes, another repair facility might not be as convenient, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Worst case is a lousy dealer =and= a lousy mfr; then you're just hosed and might end up having to go the legal route.
Since Jayco and KZ are on my short list of choices for my next FW, I'm paying close attention to issues with both brands as well as factory/dealer responses to issues. Jayco, frankly, is scaring me off a bit, with problems reported with the exact model I'm looking at and their seeming lack of resolution to some of these problems at the factory level. With KZ, I simply can't get anyone to contact me to answer a few questions I have, and this bothers me. If I do buy a KZ and have a major issue, are they likely to put me off? With only 1 KZ dealer in AZ, I'm very likely going out of state to buy, simply because they have zero stock.
Anyway... Just some musings that have been flitting 'round my head over the past few weeks. Feel free to comment; I'll start some popcorn. :-)
Lyle
1. We only hear the gripes and horror stories and rarely hear the good stories. Personally, I'd still like to see a 3rd party CarFax type service that could gather information from RV repair shops (dealers and independents, both) to compile some repair stats. Warranty and paid-by-owner.
2. Most often, it's the components that go bad, not the RV structure, itself. Since most of these are smaller (relatively) issues, the annoyance factor can be out of proportion to the actual problem. Not saying that frames don't break, mfrs don't put the wrong axles under trailers and general build quality issues aren't an issue, but big stuff simply tends to be a bit less annoying because it's ONE issue, not an accumulation of smaller issues.
3. The biggest single frustration with any RV repair, I feel, can be attributed to dealer and/or manufacturer response to =any= issue, no matter how small. An excellent dealer can be hamstrung by a recalcitrant mfr who won't respond to customer issues, or SCREWS UP. I find that it seems to be fairly common that mfrs send wrong parts or have significant delays in sending =any= parts. OTOH, a lousy dealer can be changed (in most cases) like a pair of dirty underwear. Yes, another repair facility might not be as convenient, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Worst case is a lousy dealer =and= a lousy mfr; then you're just hosed and might end up having to go the legal route.
Since Jayco and KZ are on my short list of choices for my next FW, I'm paying close attention to issues with both brands as well as factory/dealer responses to issues. Jayco, frankly, is scaring me off a bit, with problems reported with the exact model I'm looking at and their seeming lack of resolution to some of these problems at the factory level. With KZ, I simply can't get anyone to contact me to answer a few questions I have, and this bothers me. If I do buy a KZ and have a major issue, are they likely to put me off? With only 1 KZ dealer in AZ, I'm very likely going out of state to buy, simply because they have zero stock.
Anyway... Just some musings that have been flitting 'round my head over the past few weeks. Feel free to comment; I'll start some popcorn. :-)
Lyle
