We fully understand the value of winterizing as our original home state was Washington. Unfortunately, the frame failure of our unit took place on our trip from Washington to Florida back in October of 2014. We had to leave the broken unit that was unfit to be towed anywhere, a full days travel from out final destination in SE Florida. It was very frustrating to have to deal with a service center that was so far away and thought many time of paying the charges needed to relocate it to a service center more local to our new home. Hind sight, we should have done this. Being this far away, we were at the mercy of the dealer that held the RV in Alabama. Being that far away, we were disconnected from the conditions that were taking place there and what the current state of the unit was being kept in. Come to find out, it was simply towed to and placed in the back yard at the dealer and left as-is. The failure had actually caused the unit to be open to the outside environment as the battery box was stuffed through the outer shell of the unit directly behind it. This allowed rain water, insects and high humidity levels to infiltrate the inside of the unit. At the time, it was thought that the unit was going to be replaced and obviously not enough attention was paid to the departure condition it was in. No one at the dealer paid any attention to it for the duration it was at their facility. Had we known this we would have been a little more diligent about relocating it to a place where we could more easily watch over it ourselves. Very expensive lesson learned for us. Unfortunately, the damage done to our confidence of the unit, manufacturer and service dealer have taken their toll on us. We have no intention of returning to any Jayco dealer for service, even if covered under warranty, and for sure never to make another purchase. As soon as we can come up with the funds needed to pay off the quite large resulting negative equity of this unit, we will dispose of it.
I have spent many years working with design, manufacturing and servicing of pleasure and commercial marine vessels and will never again assume that the RV industry follows or is subject to the same levels of independent oversight with regards to quality, safety and service standards, similar to what is in place for the marine industries. The level of quality and fit/finish at delivery and the durability are on a totally different plane. The best option out there, from our experience, is if you want to RV, go rent. When you are done, you give them the keys back and walk away. From what we have invested in the purchase of this "new" RV, we could have stayed at top level vacation rentals, hotels, etc. and saved ourselves significant anguish. Yes, expensive lesson learned...
