new motorhome problems

Tntman wrote:
Mr. Mark
Tiffin has been very good to me and my 2003 Phaeton. The thing about Tiffin is that he will fix it if it was not supposed to happen. I talked to a guy who had side wall delam on his 1989 Allegro, he was at Red Bay, from Phoenix AZ, in 2002 to get the sidewall replaced. Bob was doing the repair free plus gave the guy a check to cover his gas mileage to and from Red Bay.
I talked to a guy who purchased a Monaco from Lazy Days in Florida. Seems the drivers side front air bag was rubbing the frame and blowing out. He had an engineer testify that the bag was positioned wrong, Monaco sent a "factory" rep to testify that there was nothing wrong with the design and the guy now owns yard art because Monaco refused to step up and repair their mistake.
There are millions of horror stories about RV's, but when Tiffin steps up to the plate and resolves issues, that is the important part I feel sets him apart from ALL the others.

I totally agree, I think I said that the saving grace of Tiffin is that they will fix out of warranty units. If I owned the Tiffin manufacturing company, I would try my best to stop the defects before they were built into the units. That alone will save the factory tons of money and time.

Monaco is no saint. I've never heard of an air bag issue like you described but I'm sure it happened. The airbag problem is not a known problem like the three major issues with Tiffin. Tiffin will win customers as they will know if something goes wrong it will be covered even after the warranty has expired.

Tiffin builds average quality motorhomes. Gorgeous, yes, problem free, no.

I'm looking to moving up the food chain to a custom coach. I've read many stories about those too and hopefully will get a problem free coach when the time comes up.

MM.

Mr. Mark
Tiffin has been very good to me and my 2003 Phaeton. The thing about Tiffin is that he will fix it if it was not supposed to happen. I talked to a guy who had side wall delam on his 1989 Allegro, he was at Red Bay, from Phoenix AZ, in 2002 to get the sidewall replaced. Bob was doing the repair free plus gave the guy a check to cover his gas mileage to and from Red Bay.
I talked to a guy who purchased a Monaco from Lazy Days in Florida. Seems the drivers side front air bag was rubbing the frame and blowing out. He had an engineer testify that the bag was positioned wrong, Monaco sent a "factory" rep to testify that there was nothing wrong with the design and the guy now owns yard art because Monaco refused to step up and repair their mistake.
There are millions of horror stories about RV's, but when Tiffin steps up to the plate and resolves issues, that is the important part I feel sets him apart from ALL the others.

Yes it is the new buyers that provide the nice used MH's.

zb39 wrote:

tony lee wrote:
All good reasons why astute buyers don't buy brand new, but instead look for low-mileage units a couple of years old that have had all of the problems sorted out by the previous owner - who has also taken the huge hit due to depreciation.

ding ding ding we have a winner…Ihave owned 4 coaches in the past 21 years. Have only had 1 to a repair shop once. Replace cracked exhaust manifold on my ISC. Current coach and the first 2 never went either. 200k plus miles total Bought all 4 used, takes knowledge, period.

This is perfect, are you looking for a well maintained '08 coach? I'm ready for a brand spanking new one and have been looking. It looks like the market works for us both, I buy a new coach and you guys are lined up waiting for my perfect trouble free, bug free, lightly driven used coach (65,000 miles).

Win win situation. Fast sale for the both of us!

MM.

tony lee wrote:
All good reasons why astute buyers don't buy brand new, but instead look for low-mileage units a couple of years old that have had all of the problems sorted out by the previous owner - who has also taken the huge hit due to depreciation.

ding ding ding we have a winner…Ihave owned 4 coaches in the past 21 years. Have only had 1 to a repair shop once. Replace cracked exhaust manifold on my ISC. Current coach and the first 2 never went either. 200k plus miles total Bought all 4 used, takes knowledge, period.

wny_pat wrote:
You think you have problems, take a look at this guy's: http://winnebagoera.com/. Talk about a witches dream!!! I would not wish it on anyone!!!

Well that does not surprise me at all. You will get a lemon on a coach every so often. Winnebago usually manufactures pretty good coaches.
I am sure this owner got his money back or another coach. That was bad!

wny_pat wrote:
You think you have problems, take a look at this guy's: http://winnebagoera.com/. Talk about a witches dream!!! I would not wish it on anyone!!!

OMG, I read the whole thing and it stops at the end of Dec. 2010.... wonder what happened since? What a total nightmare. I don't think I could have handled that.

MM.

You think you have problems, take a look at this guy's: http://winnebagoera.com/. Talk about a witches dream!!! I would not wish it on anyone!!!

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Why are so many RV repair shops full?
Why does it take so long to get an appointment?
Why does it take so long to get repairs accomplished?

It ain't just Tiffins.

That one I can answer.. Many people have discovered what many of us already know.. An RV can be rather inexpensive, when you factor in everything...

Example: I once paid over 3,000 a year in property tax on a house, Now I pay less than 400 (382 to be specific) on my RV.

I once paid over 250 a month for gas, electric, and water/sewer

If Im at an EXPENSIVE cg it's 350/month, but if Im using my memberships less than 100, I should average way under 200/month this year, That includes electric, water and sewer (I still pay for gas, likely about 180 this year).

So a lot of folks are now legally hOmeless, living in a motor home or trailer of one kind or another.

This means the repair shops are overloaded so it's a long time to appointment.

And new devices, Well it can take a while before parts are shipped out to repair shops, and then once the RV is a bit older, parts can become hard to find.

Tntman wrote:
I can not believe that Tiffin is being belittled here. Red Bay is full because people go there on their way to southern areas for winter. I also use Red Bay and have NEVER had a problem with wait time. Tiffin has owners who go to Red Bay for repairs and stay for the winter, causes a full campground. Yes, I could go to a dealer to get my coach worked on, but Tiffin does not charge over one hundred dollars per hour for service. The repairman at Red Bay only work on Tiffin RV's so that means more knowledge than CW or dealers who work on everything.
My last point here, while in Red Bay, wife and I sit and talk to Bob Tiffin in his office. Bob started and owns the company, try that with the owner, president or CEO of your so called better built coaches. Tiffin has the number one selling motorhome in the US, maybe that says something.

Tntman, I don't think Tiffin is being belittled here. They have had three serious problems with their coaches. I, too, hope that Tiffin can get the problems worked out as they do make a nice looking coach and I would be livid if I spent $100,000+ for a coach that needs to be rebuilt in some way.

There was a story running here where a guy bought a new Zephyr that had cracked side walls near where the tag axle is located. The fix was that Tiffin painted a piece of fiberglass to match the swirls and ran it down the side of the coach for the repair. That is something that would not fly well with me (pictures of the repair were shown).

I think it's nice to sit with Bob for a chat. Our local Tiffin dealer in Cathedral City, CA, will put up a sign "Come meet Bob Tiffin".

I've never had anything structural happen to our coach with no need to ever go back to the factory for anything. Certainly a few adjustments at the dealer while it was new but nothing like what Tiffin has gone through with these three major defects.

Tiffin will get through this and I certainly hope that they do as my brother has been looking at a new Phaeton. But, meeting the owner of any company is not really a perk to me, I want to be out there traveling.

The fact that Tiffin fixes out of warranty units is absolutely the icing-on-the-cake for them to keep selling coaches.

MM.