One More Reason To Never Buy Jayco

I think this is the first post (I've seen) where someone is disappointed with Jayco.

FYI, before you took delivery of the camper, did you not ask where the water heater was, how to by-pass it, and access it.

I've owned 3 TT's now, and each one, I've had the dealer show me these things before I even considered buy it. I also had them put the slide IN, physically remove the propane tanks, and explain how the refrigerator works .... before saying "yes" I'll take this camper. This drove my wife nuts. She thought I was on over-kill, but it also caused us to reject a few models too! (which I am grateful for now, and SHE is too because she doesn't have to hear me rise a fuss out of frustration for selecting a model that's just not .... "right").

May well be that RV's are getting "cheaper" certainly not in price but seemingly so in construction. A friend has a 1999 Designer fiver and it's one tough and pretty rig. I consider our 2003 Class C marginal at best. Jayco was big on this forum in the early 2000's and it seems to me the luster has faded on the brand.
Like several others above, I've contacted Jayco several times and they've responded to my questions promptly. Ving Tranh or name sounding like that.
Saw a video where Jayco built a TT in one day's work. I don't think they build one at a time start to finish, but video showed it can be done. I doubt other builders are much, if any, different.
My understanding (subject to change based on others' understanding) is the workers are paid a "day's wage" and can go home once they reach a certain point in the construction of a certain group of RV's. If it's true, I don't think it's a work ethic that promotes care and quality.

az99 wrote:
I got a 2012 Jayco Embark new. Their workmanship was horrendous. Requiring many weeks at the dealer, countless hours of my work and even a trip back to Jayco.

Recently the electric portion of my water heater quit. When I went to check it I found that the water heater was installed in a totally sealed cargo bay. Brilliant engineering!

I sent Jayco CS 2 emails politely asking the dimensions to cut a hole to access the element so nothing else would be damaged. No response.

Never again.

Where are your bypass valves located,what make and model of water heater is it?Do you access the element from the rear or the front?

OK, I'm thinking somethings not right. No access to the WH? Really?

WyoTraveler wrote:
I think all RVs have gone down in quality. I dumped my previous Jayco TT. Poor wiring in the walls. No wire nuts, crimps or insulation on connections. wires just twisted together within walls. My TT almost burned to the ground. Scarey. No cooperation from Jayco. I ended up paying to have it repaired. Good thing. In addition furnace and thermostat wired wrong.Tech said worst wiring job he had ever seen in a TT. Then water in the walls that Jayco couldn't fix. Life is too short. I dumped it back on the market within a year. I figured that much water in the wall is bound to have mold plus other problems showing up later.

I bought a new construction track home and was shocked at poor work on electrical at several places in the walls - and those are the ones I discovered. I found one error when I installed a GFI on that circuit and it would automatically trip. Had to hire an electrician who found the problem.

I think it's just pride in work in general and can happen to any business with a bad employee. I'm strongly considering buying a new Jayco next year. The owner's forum has strong favorable opinions on owners who bought new and have now owned their Jayco for two years.

Sounds like a dealer issue, if that wasn't covered / discovered in the PDI. How long did the PDI take, and how much was on the punch list?

You never should have taken delivery with that many issues.

I've never had an issue that Jayco didn't bend over backwards to take care of.

Some time ago I had to replace the 110v heating element in our 2007 Phoenix Cruiser. At a glance, there was no access to the element. But it turned out I could get to the back side. What took me by surprise was that when I removed the 110V heating element, a flood of water came into the motor home. I did have the tank completely drained before removing the element. I later learned that even though you drain the tank, there is still a half gallon of water inside by design to protect the 110V heating element, just in case you are plugged into 110V, the tank has been emptied, and the switch is turned on to electric. I asked the tank manufacture about freezing. They told me the tank is designed for the half gallon to freeze inside it. I personally don't like that at all. I would think that could damage the heating element submerged in the half gallon of water.

To clarify some of the skeptics of my post. I did supply the VIN# with my requests. I did allow 1 week between attempts. In past attempts the email route had worked better for info than phone calls.

I suspect the reason for no response was that they did not know what to say and no one there would admit to such a blunder for the savings of installing an access door to service the element and relay.

I then called Atwood the water heater mfg. who was very helpful in giving me dimensions of the heater and suggested area to cut even though it was not their problem. The tech also could not believe Jayco put the unit in a sealed box with no access panel.

And anyone who has never heard or read of Jayco's poor quality and "cheap is best" engineering, must have just joined this forum. :)

It turns out the relay went bad.

The Logans wrote:
Sounds like a dealer issue,

The dealer or I should have thought to look for an access door to the water heater?
And what does a PDI have to do with with them not responding to an issue found after the sale.
Maybe I missed your point.

I think a key element in the transaction is the dealer. While I think the manufacturer should but a lot of emphasis on QC the dealer is the last link in the QC chain. A good dealer will go through a trailer to eliminate issues before the customer ever sees them. An RV is a complex item, part vehicle, part house so the fact that a few minor things slip through shouldn't be surprising. But the dealer should have inspected all the major and minor systems, cosmetics, etc. as the last representative of XYZ manufacturer. I place a lot of blame on the dealer when an RV is driven/towed off the lot with numerous issues. And yes, the customer has a responsibility also.

I've heard mostly good things about Jayco so I hope somehow the issues get resolved to your satisfaction.