Lost outside fridge access door and frame

[Majku]

I just lost the outside access/sevice door to my fridge. The framing for it went with it. I was driving N on I 89 in the down pour. Everything was OK before I left. By the time I stopped at McDonalds for a break on Rt 11 shortly after crossing I 87 the innards of my fridge were exposed to the elements. Both the access door and the framing around it was gone. There was almost no caulking visible on the top side, a few blobs on either side and again almost nothing on the bottom. No sign of screw holes any where, so the door frame was just attached with a bit of caulking, and the access door was attached to that. I guess the water got in under the top of the door framing and just gradually loosened it completely. My TC is a 2015 Northstar Liberty, so I would say it's a manufacturing problem that hopefully should be covered under warranty

[DWeikert]

Majku wrote:
Update: It's covered under warranty. Northstar will ship me the parts and I will have it installed locally. I'm happy with that. Northstar has a good reputation for looking after their customers and their TCs, and it seems to be true.

Thanks for posting the followup. Based on my experience with Northstar I would have been surprised if the result had been different. In my case the converter failed over a year after I bought my camper but still several months left on the converter warranty. Rex shipped me a replacement after I told him I was able and willing to install it myself, which I did.

Any camper manufacturer can have problems. It's how the manufacturer deals with those problems that matters.

[CptnBG]

Majku wrote:
Update: It's covered under warranty. Northstar will ship me the parts and I will have it installed locally. I'm happy with that. Northstar has a good reputation for looking after their customers and their TCs, and it seems to be true.

I had a similar experience with Rex. I had a pinhole leak in the grey tank, tank manufacturers fault, not Northstar. Rex shipped me a new tank and authorized a local shop to replace it.

BTW Majku, you explained very well why you would recommend Northstar. Most of us got it.

[Majku]

Update: It's covered under warranty. Northstar will ship me the parts and I will have it installed locally. I'm happy with that. Northstar has a good reputation for looking after their customers and their TCs, and it seems to be true.

[Mattyd]

OD-
I was reading where you were going to stop in Iowa at a dealer to look at some NS campers.
Last year we were passing thru Iowa on our way to SD and we stopped at the actual headquarters of NS. Got tour, spoke to Rex. Well worth going to the factory over a dealer if you can is my advise. Just call the company a few days before showing up and all should be good.

[Majku]

To 805gregg: The Northstar has a good reputation, and if you have a look at the workmanskip, I would say it's above average. Just take a peak at the finishing of details behind cabinets, behind drawers, under seats, etc...

[covered_wagon]

805gregg wrote:
Why would you recommend a camper that the parts fall off as you go down the road?

Depends all on the employees working for whatever brand.

[Old_Days]

Thank You for the reply,we are headed to Colorado at the end of Sept and on the way home we are going to stop in Iowa at a dealer and check them out. And to the negative comment, Nortstar builds a nice camper.

[805gregg]

Why would you recommend a camper that the parts fall off as you go down the road?

[Majku]

Reply to Old Days: Other than that problem, I do like my Liberty and would recommend it. It's no Bigfoot or Northern Lite, mind you, but for the price difference, it's a very nice and mostly well built camper. The company has a good reputation with a very high customer satisfaction rating. I'm very happy with my NH dealer. I've done a few changes to it and a few more are still planned. I would not recommend the big Heikki sky light/escape hatch though. I didn't want one but it was part of the package on the dealer's lot. I didn't want to custom order a TC and have to wait for it all summer or longer. The big Heikki lets in way too much heat in summer time and you are not supposed to keep the blinds closed on it for any length of time. Too much heat build-up between the blind and the dome will damage both pretty quickly, acc. to instructions. The strong sunlight will probably also bleach the exposed part of your bed cover before the season is over. I hear they have reduced the size of the Heikki on the new models.

[Old_Days]

Other than that problem,how do you like your Northstar Liberty TC. My wife and I are thinking of buying one in the spring.

[deltabravo]

I lost mine too, but it was due to operator error. Just the door fell out. I circled back 10 miles round trip on I-90 and retrieved it.

Since the frame flew out of yours too, obviously the guy installing it did a horrible job of installing it.

[kerry4951]

Obviously that item was never installed properly. I would expect that to certainly be covered under the warranty. If I was you I would check your other outside fixtures.