Keystone Carbon water tank leak - OMG poor quality!!!

[CObroker]

Have to vent.

Bought a new Keystone Carbon 364 Toyhauler last August, used a couple times last year. Used a couple times this year so far.

When we picked it up we noticed a sharp looking bulge underneath in the coroplast underlayer. But since you can't just access that, we let it go and drove home. After traveling about 2500 miles on the few trips (Moab, CO mtns, etc) we noticed the bulge getting lower and it looked like something was about to pierce the underbelly since the bolts holding it were tearing thru the coroplast.

I cut the coroplast, insulation, and unbolted the sides. That literally SAVED MY FAMIMLIES LIFE!!!

Two of the water tank support bars (the frame supports) were never attached on one end from the factory so they were just being supported by the coroplast. It was the forward end not attached so that if they would have fallen, they would have spiked into the road when traveling, which would have levered the water tank, dropped the electrical wires, propane lines, and other loose hoses being only held up by the underbelly onto the highway. Probably would have been a spectacular wreck attributed to driver error, of course.

Also, the tank is apparently missing one entire support bar nearest the tank drain, intake, sensors. This has distorted the entire tank, and towing with only two bars on bent the bars that were installed about 4 inches! So the tank distortion has now caused a water leak at the main drain.

I took pics that clearly showed the bars never being attached on one side and sent them to Keystone. The response I got was 'bring it to a dealer, that's what you agreed to'.

Sadly, in the Denver area, the Keystone RV dealers have a two month wait now along with a you didn't buy it here, so we will not service your unit policy.

So supposed to have a big trip to Moab with 6 other families and units over Memorial day, and my new Keystone Carbon Toyhauler leaks and can't be fixed!
Keystone and your lack of quality control and warranty service! It's like they built this on a Friday and everyone decided to quit early to go drinking.

I'm going to try to contact the factory tomorrow and see if I can tow it back to IN from CO and see if maybe they aren't too busy pushing new units to fix this one. I'm not optimistic.

Any suggestion on fixing this are welcome.

thanks for reading the rant. $60k for nothing.

Raptor, Carbon, Fusion, Impact, Outback all built by Keystone

[Dirtclods]

So sorry to hear your having issues. I hope you get them all resolved if not the internet is an awesome tool to bury companies that don't do good work. Please keep us posted

B.S. They should of said we apologize how can we HELP you! The response I got was 'bring it to a dealer, that's what you agreed to'.


Totally disgree- I think if you act professional and drop the dramatics when dealing with the dealers, you'll get better responses.

Get F'n pissed you'll get some ones attention .(This is the response from Keystone)

Or as David said:

Time to roll up your sleeves and fix it yourself. That's what I would do, and it would be done properly. It is clear Keystone is not going to do anything for you. They may fight the claim since you opened it up. Best bet is fix it yourself or find a mobile tech that will.

[Wild_Card]

Get documentation of 2 month backlog and other dealers denying to work on it.

Find mobil rv repair or some fab shop/welding shop etc or fix it yourself.

{snip}

Sit back and have a beverage


Mod Edit: Let's not go down the legal aisle as it's in violation of the forum rules and will cause this thread to be removed. "Posts are not allowed in which a local, state, or federal consumer action board and/or legal counsel is/have been involved. This includes posts related to future, ongoing or past lawsuits."

[JAC1982]

Have you tried Windish up in Longmont (not Lakewood)? Now, we bought our trailer there, but they have a pretty decent service department. The longest part of the wait is them getting authorization from Keystone to do anything.... 16 business days (so not counting weekends) for them to authorize a replacement of our front AC unit that crapped out 3 months after we bought the trailer last year.

Also, our previous Keystone trailer was purchased at a dealer that went out of business, and Lazy Days in Johnstown serviced it (again, wait was always long but that's par for the course anywhere in Colorado it seems, no matter where you buy it).

But yeah unfortunately I think you're out of luck for Memorial Day weekend.

I would also advise against dramatics when trying to get something done... a leaky/faulty water tank is bad news for sure, but I'm pretty sure your family's life was not at risk because of it. I think if you act professional and drop the dramatics when dealing with the dealers, you'll get better responses.

[Y-Guy]

CObroker you are in a no win situation. Sadly, the local dealers are taking care of their own customers first, not good for you but they are forced into this since to compete with the large dealerships that sell and don't support after the sale. I can't say I totally blame them. Since we're in to prime time for RVing many are bringing them in to get ready for summer, you're in that line.

So you have a few choices;
1) Keep trying to fight Keystone, which will really get you nowhere.
2) Get in line with one of the local dealers, and probably end up with a cheap fix and not have it for Memorial Weekend (at least with water)
3) Find a mobile RV tech to fix it; either on your own dime or see if Keystone will reimburse you for the costs (doubtful)
4) Expand your dealer search and drive a bit further.
5) Call the dealer you bought it from, can you even get an appointment there?
6) Fix it yourself, assuming you know what and how to do it.*

*With some photos of what you are dealing with you might be surprised how many here can give you some advice. This isn't the first water tank issue that's been discussed over the years.

[DavidP]

Time to roll up your sleeves and fix it yourself. That's what I would do, and it would be done properly. It is clear Keystone is not going to do anything for you. They may fight the claim since you opened it up. Best bet is fix it yourself or find a mobile tech that will.

[CObroker]

This is the response from Keystone:

Good Morning Mr. ------,

Thank you for contacting Keystone RV. I’m sorry to hear of the issue you have encountered with your Carbon. I’m not sure which local dealer you had a bad experience with, but I have listed the 3 closest dealers to you below. Our warranty agreement we have with you states that all warranty concerns need to be addressed at an authorized dealer. They have the ability to inspect, diagnose and submit the concerns to Keystone electronically. Our Service Department will respond within 2 days with approvals/denials. Then they can order any needed parts after approvals are given. Let me know if I can be of additional assistance. Have a great day!

'This is great, except that the dealers she referenced all said they only service what they sell, and they are all at least 2 mos out from even being able to look at it'

[Mike_Stanbro]

Wow, your story tops mine. See my Keystone story here: Very Dissappointed with New Keystone Alpine

There is no point going to the factory, they will not repair it there. I speak from experience. Calling is no help either, they will tell you to open a warranty claim through a dealer. They will listen to your problems and take notes but will only review your claims via a dealer.

It is my impression that Keystone is too big to care these days. Since the latest RV boom, they are focused on throughput and quality is far down on their priority list.

[Y-Guy]

Call Keystone see if they can put pressure on a dealer to get you in quicker, or see if they can authorize a mobile RV tech to come look at it.