Carefree Electric Awning Failure

[william_davey]

I have a 14 month old 5th wheel trailer with a Carefree Travel'r power awning installed. Below is my correspondence with Carefree and their response. Judge for yourself.

CUSTOMER INQUIRY:
52 days after the 1 year warranty expired, my awning arms became bent severely because the gas strut froze in the fully extended position. The awning arms stuck about 4 feet out so I could not travel to a servicing center. I had a mobile RV tech replace the awning arms with adjustable pitch arms (both ends) because the tech was informed that the fixed pitch arms were no longer available. I am requesting some good faith reimbursement for the cost of the new arms ($948.00) since the awning was less than 2 months beyond the warranty and because it's failure left me stranded for a week in a RV park until the arms could be replaced. receipts and photos available.

CAREFREE RESPONSE:
Dear Mr. Davey,
Good afternoon and thank you for your email. It is unfortunately this has occurred, but you are outside your Carefree warranty period. I have attached a copy of the Retail Warranty Procedure/Policy for you to review. I did notice that the part number listed below, OV2553-MP is the Fixed Steep Pitch Travel'R arms which are still available It is the Fixed Flat Pitch version that was discontinued. We are unable to offer any reimbursement.
Kim McEachern
Customer Care Representative
Carefree of Colorado
2145 W 6th Ave
Broomfield, CO 80020

MY RESPONSE TO CAREFREE
Kimberly,
I knew I was outside the warranty period, as stated in my email. FYI,
my 5th wheel trailer has 3 Carefree Slide toppers - 2 of which began to fail after only 8-9 months of ownership. Then my Carefree power awning failed exactly 52 days beyond the first year of ownership. By the way, the LED light strip installed in this awning began to fail almost immediately upon purchase of the trailer and now only about one-quarter of the LED's work. To say I'm disappointed with the durability and quality of Carefree products is putting it mildly. I did NOT ask for my entire out of pocket expenses ($1,250 ); and I did NOT ask for reimbursement for the added expense for the delay in my trip. As far as the availability of the correct replacement arms, please consider that this occurred when I was on a trip 1500 miles from home. The repair tech dealt with Arrow RV in Clearwater Florida and ordered parts based on their recommendation and a conversation with "Tony" who answered the Carefree tech support phone.
Your company obviously has no regard for customer satisfaction or repeat business. I will never own or recommend a Carefree product again, and I will tell my story on as many RV owners forums as possible (iRV2; RV.net; KZ Family forum; KZ Owners Group and Escapees.net). I will also contact the KZ factory and explain the poor performance of your products and recommend that they change suppliers.
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Central New York; 2013 KZ Stoneridge Sportster (TH)
2012 Ram 3500 Big Horn, Dually, Max-tow; 2002 Harley Heritage Classic

[fj12ryder]

People don't just "accept this crap", but look how long it took the auto industry to turn itself around when the Japanese put the hurts to them. Who wants to wait 5-7 years to buy an RV, and even then you can't be sure that it will be all that different.

I retired and I don't want to wait until I'm 70 to buy an RV!! I want it now and if that means I have to put up with some imperfections, then so be it. I don't have to happy about it, but I'm at least realistic about it.

And you could point to Harley-Davidson as a perfect example of a company that will continue to produce the same old "stuff" because people buy it. They almost went out of business and they still produce the same old crap.

[Lynnmor]

daamac wrote:


But there is more to the story. The strut rusts. The strut is exposed to weather conditions all the time. Shouldn't the manufacturer use a strut that is more resistant to rust? Shouldn't the RV assembly company demand products suitable to their intended use? As a general question, why is it that many parts of RV's are crap?

If you read some of the posts above, you will find that many (most?) folks accept this crap. They just don't know any better. The RV industry will never advance unless we stop making excuses for the crap.

[Veebyes]

Dunno, there is something to be said for the old fashioned manual awnings. I have an electric one too. Don't use it very often & don't trust it even though it has never failed other than mysteriously retracting a couple of times in only a little wind.

[horizon36]

I have also had problems with Carefree and won't ever buy another one of their products.

[CopanoCruisin]

Sad but true, you were out of warranty!
But, real true, the 16' flat Carefree awning on our 2011 Open Range JT337RLS will be the last Carefree that I own. As mentioned previously, rinkydink pos. I feel for,the owners that are not mechanically inclined and able to think out of the box......cC

[RVhiker]

I'm going to make some assumptions here. I've read of issues with the struts on Carefree awnings rusting. Then the strut sticks in the extended position and the rest of the awning self destructs as the owner attempts to retract it.

The one year warranty is up. The company is not required to pay anything.

But there is more to the story. The strut rusts. The strut is exposed to weather conditions all the time. Shouldn't the manufacturer use a strut that is more resistant to rust? Shouldn't the RV assembly company demand products suitable to their intended use? As a general question, why is it that many parts of RV's are crap? On any new car would tires or hatchback struts that fail be common? How about frames on cars fracturing? Or roofs and windows leaking and destroying the structure? Would plastic parts that are weakened by the sun in a couple of years be used on cars?

My main question (to repeat): why is it that many parts of RV's are crap?

[IDman]

For how much longer AFTER the warranty EXPIRED do you think THEY should be liable??

[8iron]

outdoorlovers wrote:
I buy Jayco because of their two year warranty. Just sayin'

You may want to read your warranty fine print.
C&P from Jayco website..."Jayco’s limited warranty only covers substantial defects in materials, components, or parts of the RV attributable to Jayco. It does not replace, modify, or apply to the warranties provided by the manufacturers that supply the products used by Jayco to assemble the RV, like the frame. You may contact an independent, authorized dealer for details."

Even Jayco won't stand behind the******that OEM supply them.

[path1]

Just wanted to chime in on Carefree. First Carefree we ever owned is on the latest RV we got. I'll never own another Carefree. Even though ours is manual unlike OP's, the overall quality is cheap IMO. Popcycle sticks do come in handy at awning end to keep clips in place :B
(pretty cool; a new awning with popcycle sticks used like little chock blocks for their cheap metal clips.)

[outdoorlovers]

I buy Jayco because of their two year warranty. Just sayin'

[B_s_Bunch]

I feel your pain I had a uniroayal tire go flat after only 4000 miles. They refused to replace it. Iwill never own another one:S sorry for your problem. Larry

[william_davey]

My intent for posting was to suggest that Carefree products are not very reliable/durable and the customer service could be better. I asked for partial (good faith) reimbursement, not the entire cost. I did not see the damage as it was happening because the switch for the awning is inside a cabinet so the front arms are not visible when retracting the awning. I was watching the rear arms which were not damaged. Both sets of arms were replaced because we were told by a Carefree dealer and a Carefree tech rep (by phone) that my style of awning arms were no longer available.

I did not intend to get into a p***ing contest about this, but I will share my experience.

[sonora]

It was out of warranty and they don't feel the need to cover it. Pay your bill and move on.

[Rollnhome]

If the gas struts froze wouldn't the motor trip off because of the overload. Also was OP not watching this happen and let it continue to close or continued to close the awning. Maybe I am missing something but for the arms to bend and stick our 4ft would take more torque than I would expect the awning motor would allow to be exerted. I can see if maybe the wind caught it while it was open. None the less it is out of warranty.