Eagle Cap quality control continues to disappoint

[moonlitsouls]

So I was wondering why my back bedroom area over the cab has been ice cold in comparison to the front area near the kitchen / bath. There is one line of ducting that flows back from the furnace near the front /kitchen area back to the bed. Well, I noticed there was no air flow and I been putting off the diagnosis but I decided to rip into this today. I figured I would just have to reattach the ducting to the furnace but this is what I found. Truly unacceptable

[jimh406]

You might as well have them ship you parts assuming you haven't found them.

I'm glad they are trying to help.

[moonlitsouls]

woodworker414 wrote:
Yup. The Monday work crew. I bought a new class C, No heat to the bedroom. No Duct opening. But the drawers in that area were really nice and warm,. Back to the dealer and they cut the hole for the duct outlet and ran the duct to the bedroom. GGGEEEZZZZZ

problem i have is that there is no RV dealerships near NYC , theyre either in NJ or CT and it takes at least 1-2 hours to get to any of them. In the interest of saving time im going to have to figure this out on my own

well , not entirely on my own bc i have you guys lol

[woodworker414]

Yup. The Monday work crew. I bought a new class C, No heat to the bedroom. No Duct opening. But the drawers in that area were really nice and warm,. Back to the dealer and they cut the hole for the duct outlet and ran the duct to the bedroom. GGGEEEZZZZZ

[moonlitsouls]

Not sure if it’s worth the time and effort to go to any repair shops because they’re all far away and probably booked solid anyway

[specta]

Lancey wrote:
Is it possible that that hose is actually meant as a return air duct? And not supposed to be connected at all? If it draws air from the bunk area it will create a circulation effect from the lower half of the camper.

Looks like we have a winner. :B

It really looks like an air duct is missing off the side of the plenum.

[Geo_Boy]

Bert the Welder wrote:

MrPhelps wrote:
.. an apology ?

I suspect there will be more issues found over time as the issues reveal themselves..Hope you shake it down to find the more serious potential ones while it's still in warranty.

There are plenty of things that can go wrong with complexity. All of us have stories of quality issues revealing themselves. In my HOST Cascade, after the warranty was up, we discovered a metallic flex water line that was routed through the slide and then under the floor. It rubbed on an aluminum framing edge within the slide with each slide cycle. This SLOWLY abraded the line and eventually caused a significant water leak. It was extremely difficult to get into for replacement...

When replacing we found a roller bearing/ flange assembly that was supposed to be bolted (2 bolts according to HOST) into the floor to help keep the slide level ( no up and down movement) and take the vertical load into the floor as it moved in and out. It was actually attached with two about 1 inch long drywall like screws.. no bolts! The screws had simply pulled out and the roller assembly was laying on the floor flat under the slide, probably like that for a very long time. I called Host for some guidance. They didn't apologize or give any guidance, they simply did not acknowledge .. said that it was bolted (obviously).. a solution that now, out of warranty, would require the entire slide to be removed in order to fix to "factory installation" standards. Never would have seen this one without the other one.. but we found a creative solution to fix this problem too.

Yes, an apology for not providing the standard of build one should reasonably expect. Would that be asking too much?

And it is unfortunate to find things that were done wrong from the start, after the warranty expired. But this is a flaw of the warranty enforcement laws. IMO, if something is proven to have been flawed right from the factory, then it was indeed broken during the warranty period and should be covered.
Fantasy of a perfect world? Yep. No disagreement there. But allowing companies to get away with this sort of thing is why these things continue. Host not responding to you is exactly the result of this.
Our only recourse at this point is to post on forums and social media to make others aware so they might avoid the same issues. This hopefully puts pressure on the companies to do better.

Bert, I worked for a John Deere lawn and garden dealer in the late 70’s as a mechanic and a JD self propelled lawnmower came in that wouldn’t drive, I found that a gear on the driveshaft came unglued causing the problem. The mower was long past any warranty but JD knowing about the problem provided a new improved driveshaft and covered everything, no questions asked.

[Lancey]

Is it possible that that hose is actually meant as a return air duct? And not supposed to be connected at all? If it draws air from the bunk area it will create a circulation effect from the lower half of the camper.

[moonlitsouls]

let me know when i can meet you all i want to witness these debates in person. i will let you know what EC says about the photos

[Bert_the_Welder]

MrPhelps wrote:
.. an apology ?

I suspect there will be more issues found over time as the issues reveal themselves..Hope you shake it down to find the more serious potential ones while it's still in warranty.

There are plenty of things that can go wrong with complexity. All of us have stories of quality issues revealing themselves. In my HOST Cascade, after the warranty was up, we discovered a metallic flex water line that was routed through the slide and then under the floor. It rubbed on an aluminum framing edge within the slide with each slide cycle. This SLOWLY abraded the line and eventually caused a significant water leak. It was extremely difficult to get into for replacement...

When replacing we found a roller bearing/ flange assembly that was supposed to be bolted (2 bolts according to HOST) into the floor to help keep the slide level ( no up and down movement) and take the vertical load into the floor as it moved in and out. It was actually attached with two about 1 inch long drywall like screws.. no bolts! The screws had simply pulled out and the roller assembly was laying on the floor flat under the slide, probably like that for a very long time. I called Host for some guidance. They didn't apologize or give any guidance, they simply did not acknowledge .. said that it was bolted (obviously).. a solution that now, out of warranty, would require the entire slide to be removed in order to fix to "factory installation" standards. Never would have seen this one without the other one.. but we found a creative solution to fix this problem too.

Yes, an apology for not providing the standard of build one should reasonably expect. Would that be asking too much?

And it is unfortunate to find things that were done wrong from the start, after the warranty expired. But this is a flaw of the warranty enforcement laws. IMO, if something is proven to have been flawed right from the factory, then it was indeed broken during the warranty period and should be covered.
Fantasy of a perfect world? Yep. No disagreement there. But allowing companies to get away with this sort of thing is why these things continue. Host not responding to you is exactly the result of this.
Our only recourse at this point is to post on forums and social media to make others aware so they might avoid the same issues. This hopefully puts pressure on the companies to do better.

[bighatnohorse]

moonlitsouls wrote:
this is why i love this forum , plenty of good feedback and lots of people willing to help out. Thanks a lot. I am going to email the photos to the warranty rep at eagle cap , if for nothing else , to bring this to their attention. Im going to go to home depot and try to find the right flange and maybe a 4 inch to 2 inch reducer of some kind to fit the duct somehow into the furnace

Calling the customer service line would be your first best choice.
They will want photos. And they would love for you to fix it yourself - because the dealership would charge them an arm and a leg to fix it.

[MrPhelps]

.. an apology ?

I suspect there will be more issues found over time as the issues reveal themselves..Hope you shake it down to find the more serious potential ones while it's still in warranty.

There are plenty of things that can go wrong with complexity. All of us have stories of quality issues revealing themselves. In my HOST Cascade, after the warranty was up, we discovered a metallic flex water line that was routed through the slide and then under the floor. It rubbed on an aluminum framing edge within the slide with each slide cycle. This SLOWLY abraded the line and eventually caused a significant water leak. It was extremely difficult to get into for replacement...

When replacing we found a roller bearing/ flange assembly that was supposed to be bolted (2 bolts according to HOST) into the floor to help keep the slide level ( no up and down movement) and take the vertical load into the floor as it moved in and out. It was actually attached with two about 1 inch long drywall like screws.. no bolts! The screws had simply pulled out and the roller assembly was laying on the floor flat under the slide, probably like that for a very long time. I called Host for some guidance. They didn't apologize or give any guidance, they simply did not acknowledge .. said that it was bolted (obviously).. a solution that now, out of warranty, would require the entire slide to be removed in order to fix to "factory installation" standards. Never would have seen this one without the other one.. but we found a creative solution to fix this problem too.

[Bert_the_Welder]

I'd expect EC to provide the OP with an apology and direct him to go to the nearest dealer to have the repair done immediately, or should the fix be within the OP's abilities and more satisfactory and/or convenient, expedite the needed parts to them. Whichever is preferable to the OP.
Realistic would be the expectation that when you pay ten's of thousands of dollars for a product it should be expected to be in good working order. And not standing up for that basic ideal is why we end up with laziness, lack of workmanship, and consistent decline in quality of both product and the people that make it.
If you're too lazy to stand on principal, then sit down.

[jimh406]

Bert the Welder wrote:
See what EC says before monkeying with anything. Don't want to give them an excuse to blame you for the issue.

I’m not understanding why someone would do without their TC for an extended period of time just to determine blame and let the manufacturer fix a minor issue. If this was an extremely hard fix, I could see waiting. Otherwise, I’d fix it and move on enjoying camping.

It’s not that it’s a problem letting Eagle Cap know, but what do you expect them to for the OP other than offer to fix it for him? I guess it’s possible they could send him a connector and hose, but what else?

[Reader1]

We visited the RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum several years ago. They have a scaled display of a travel trailer being built. A guide talked us through the building and the "inspection" of each part of the build. She ended by stating that the last thing done was a complete inspection of every part of each trailer or motorhome built. The group we were in all burst out laughing. We said we were sorry, but that no longer happens in any brand.