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Old 10-03-2008, 01:43 PM   #21
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Having bought a new coach (my first ever RV) last year I can sympathize with your feelings. I'd just make two points:

1) after pulling my rig into CG for my first ever night in it, I was approached by a seasoned coach owner with two martinis in his hand... fortunately, one was for me. His main piece of advice was to expect spending a year getting the bugs out and don't get frustrated with them... it happens to all makes of coaches.

2) We spent last winter at Outdoor Resorts in Indio, Ca... a very high end resort. We were surrounded by the very high end coaches and I got to know many of the owners. I learned that, even spending >$1M on a coach doesn't make one immune to new coach bugs. The difference was that Prevost would send a tech out to the site to fix problems.

There have been many threads on this forum about quality control at major coach manufacturers and IMHO, the conclusion is that none have found the secret to doing things right the first time and delivering a problem free coach to the customer. The real issue is how they work with you to resolve problems after the sale and Winnie has really proven to be solid in my experience.

However, I do NOT agree with those who separate problems with items manufacturered by Winnie from those "supplied" to them. I bought the coach from Winnie and hold them responsible for selecting quality suppliers.
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Old 10-03-2008, 02:55 PM   #22
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RickO, I fully agree with you Winnebego is responsible for the entire coach, from the chassis up. Many of the components are made to Winnebego specs. Why should the consumer have to deal with 10 different suppliers to resolve
defects.
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Old 10-03-2008, 05:07 PM   #23
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i have not vanished. spend a lot of time on phone with winnie techs and dealer techs(?).don't always get the same responce from both parties. waiting on parts from winnie, so much for their 24 hr shipping. rv is starting third (3)week in dealer shop. after repairs are finished must take to a freightliner dealer for other problems, then on to cummins (have to add collant every 400 mi--also bad oil leak on a rv with 5500 miles. o well what can you expect. if this kind of quality would not be surprised to see japan building rv. not a happy camper--when you wife is not happy you won't be either rtree
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Old 10-04-2008, 05:32 AM   #24
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Porscheracer,
The Ford chassis issues were (1) noisey power steering/brake pump and (2)vibrations, both quickly and easily identified if anyone at Winnie test drove it, and of course by the delivery person and the RV dealer who received it. All stayed mum and left the defects to the customer to get repaired. The RV dealer (Harberson Swanston) even lied to me and told me the power steering noise was 'normal.'
The Ford dealer (Gator Ford, I-4, Seffner FL)was far better than I expected but they are limited by what Ford and Goodyear allow them to do. The runouts on all 6 wheels and tires were within specs and the road-force values (yes they use the GSP 9700 on 19.5's) were also within specs. But it took many EVA measurments, switching tires, match-mounting tires,and finally replacing 4 tires to lower (not eliminate) the vibrations.

Our previous new RV, 1999 Fleetwood Flair, had a Workhorse chassis and had even more defects, all obvious (such as the steering wheel off-center by almost 60 degrees). Workhorse, Fleetwood, the driver and Lazy Days all turned a blind eye to these problems, again leaving them to the customer to 'discover' and get repaired -- or finally give-up.

My limited experience, and talking to others, also points to this being an industry-wide problem, although some manufacturers may be better than others. I think forums like this are a good way for individual customers to learn of other people's experiences and pool their knowledge. Perhaps someday some manufacturer's will bother to monitor these sites, take follow-up action and eventually take quality control seriously.

Pollyanna, er John
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Old 10-04-2008, 05:43 AM   #25
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John - don't mistake my discourse for disagreement. The end responsibility lies with the dealer, IMHO. I even go so far as to believe the it should be the selling dealer's responsibility (and expense) to shuttle the RVto all the places it needs to go to get issues fixed.

It irritates me to no end to have to take my coach to Winnebago, Freightliner, Allison, Onan, Michelin, and Caterpillar - at my time ean expense - to get issues fixed that should have been taken care of by the dealer.

Part of the onus has to be borne by the consumer, however. For a dealer to offer these services (and pay for them) would put them at a price a=disadvantage, and then the frugal shoppers would beat them up so badly they couldn't stay in business. Then the wholesale, no service, dealers would get all the sales, adn we'd be right baek where we are.

You want cheap, or do you want quality service?? Pick one!!
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Old 10-04-2008, 08:28 AM   #26
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When you look at a list of repair items for a new coach I ask, what can I fix,adjust, or tighten myself so the tech only has to deal with the major items on the list?

A friend bought a new Vectra, his MAJOR complaint was that he had a terrible draft and noise coming from the front of his coach. Well I found the steering column boot on the floorboard was loose and pulled out of position. I asked him for a screwdriver to fix his problem he said, No, I'm taking it back to the dealer, they should fix it.

He also said the jacks would not level his coach properly and it was obviously high sided and way off level. The jacks had not been working for months he said. When I asked if he dumped the air bags prior to using the jacks to level the coach he said he NEVER does, and asked why?

After showing him a few things about the operation of his new RV (he owned 2 prior) he said his frustration for his Fix-it List was down to a loose wood panel.

In several cases with new RVs I say; fix what you can, share some experience and knowledge with others, and give the techs a short list.
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Old 10-05-2008, 02:07 PM   #27
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Well said Gary CA.....
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Old 11-18-2008, 06:29 PM   #28
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gary ca
hope u get this note. I appreciate all your help and freindship.

andy glen ivy
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