Winnebago QA

[mackspot1]

Why do you folks give Winnebago a free pass. (i.e.: as an example- it's Ok, they are trying, they fired their CEO to make improvements, engineering is difficult, and so many more excuses).

We pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for these rigs. Get it right and quit using sub-standard products that have been proven to fail over and over!! Norcold is a classic example. What a piece of junk over and over, year after year. And if they really believe in their products why is Winnebago and other RV manufacturers still just offer us a one year warranty? What a joke!! Most of us put on a few thousand miles a year on these products, use the systems with care and they break down. Mostly because they are substandard. And yes, we have a choice to not do business with them but honestly if they cared more about their customers and the products they use, we would not be on websites like this and others complaining about issues that should not be happening. If they used proven products and their quality control was top notch and their customer care was authentic if would be evident rather than the high number of complaints. And please, do not tell me there are not a lot of complaints. Just check this IRV2 and many other RV blogs and sites.

[Gordon Dewald]

Not sure that I agree or disagree with you.

I understand that everyone wants a really good product for their money. Not sure how realistic it is to expect everything to be perfect. I have met a fellow with a million dollar plus Marathon on his way back to the factory for warranty work.

Looking at the forum and doing an unscientific (SWAG) estimate I think WGO is about average for complaints. They produce 200 MH per week. Guesstimating the complaints on the thread I think they are doing the high side of average.

We have taken our coach back to the dealer three times for work. Work was done promptly and properly. Couple items with the body but major items were with third party items.

Could they do better? Of course. Would have to do with QC rather than QA. We found most of the problems identified after 3000 miles of travel. Be tough to find during QC and I certainly would not want someone driving the coach for 3 or 4 thousand miles to identify issues.

[kayserc]

Originally Posted by danhannah

Hi Finally Time,

Nice to hear from you again. We are the couple that checked out your rig in Tumwater, then bought the same thing you bought.

Here is a thought I am having: My slides have never failed, but I am always freaked out while setting up or taking down camp that they will. My glue has not failed, but I tend to worry about it while driving.

I wonder if I would be so much happy never having read this forum? That's why they say, "Ignorance is bliss" I guess...

My biggest problem so far is all the rattles and shakes we get while driving. I would never buy a car that had that much loose construction banging around inside. The front slider windows are especially bad.

Turn up the music!

RE: Front slider windows ....


We owned a 2014 27N that we have since sold. We also had problems with driver and passenger windows not staying closed while driving. While under warranty, factory recommended dealer replace both windows. That solved the problem. Nice to hear that we were not the only folks having this problem!


cheers

[rream]

Originally Posted by mackspot1

Why do you folks give Winnebago a free pass. (i.e.: as an example- it's Ok, they are trying, they fired their CEO to make improvements, engineering is difficult, and so many more excuses).

We pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for these rigs. Get it right and quit using sub-standard products that have been proven to fail over and over!! Norcold is a classic example. What a piece of junk over and over, year after year. And if they really believe in their products why is Winnebago and other RV manufacturers still just offer us a one year warranty? What a joke!! Most of us put on a few thousand miles a year on these products, use the systems with care and they break down. Mostly because they are substandard. And yes, we have a choice to not do business with them but honestly if they cared more about their customers and the products they use, we would not be on websites like this and others complaining about issues that should not be happening. If they used proven products and their quality control was top notch and their customer care was authentic if would be evident rather than the high number of complaints. And please, do not tell me there are not a lot of complaints. Just check this IRV2 and many other RV blogs and sites.

And mackspot would be one of the leaders

[peterson]

Originally Posted by mackspot1

Why do you folks give Winnebago a free pass. (i.e.: as an example- it's Ok, they are trying, they fired their CEO to make improvements, engineering is difficult, and so many more excuses).

We pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for these rigs. Get it right and quit using sub-standard products that have been proven to fail over and over!! Norcold is a classic example. What a piece of junk over and over, year after year. And if they really believe in their products why is Winnebago and other RV manufacturers still just offer us a one year warranty? What a joke!! Most of us put on a few thousand miles a year on these products, use the systems with care and they break down. Mostly because they are substandard. And yes, we have a choice to not do business with them but honestly if they cared more about their customers and the products they use, we would not be on websites like this and others complaining about issues that should not be happening. If they used proven products and their quality control was top notch and their customer care was authentic if would be evident rather than the high number of complaints. And please, do not tell me there are not a lot of complaints. Just check this IRV2 and many other RV blogs and sites.

Cheers to you!

[Hikerdogs]

Originally Posted by mackspot1

Why do you folks give Winnebago a free pass. (i.e.: as an example- it's Ok, they are trying, they fired their CEO to make improvements, engineering is difficult, and so many more excuses).

We pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for these rigs. Get it right and quit using sub-standard products that have been proven to fail over and over!! Norcold is a classic example. What a piece of junk over and over, year after year. And if they really believe in their products why is Winnebago and other RV manufacturers still just offer us a one year warranty? What a joke!! Most of us put on a few thousand miles a year on these products, use the systems with care and they break down. Mostly because they are substandard. And yes, we have a choice to not do business with them but honestly if they cared more about their customers and the products they use, we would not be on websites like this and others complaining about issues that should not be happening. If they used proven products and their quality control was top notch and their customer care was authentic if would be evident rather than the high number of complaints. And please, do not tell me there are not a lot of complaints. Just check this IRV2 and many other RV blogs and sites.

Winnebago provides 1 year warranty for everything including the body, systems, appliances and everything else included with the coach. Anything that fails in the first year of ownership will be either repaired or replaced by Winnebago. Beyond that they offer a 3 year warranty on the structure, and a 10 year warranty on the roof. The chassis has a 3 year 36,000 mile warranty, with a 5 year 60,000 mile warranty on the drive train.

In addition each component manufacturer offers a warranty on their products. Some are only one year (the same as offered when installing the appliance or system in a sticks and bricks house) while others offer warranties up to 5 years.

We're on our second Winnebago Adventurer. Our 2001 went well over 100,000 miles and 12 years without a single component failure. Our current 2013 Adventurer has about 25,000 miles on the odometer with very few problems. The full wall slide needed to be repaired, and was done at almost the 3 year mark by Winnebago at no charge. We also had to replace a microwave fuse and fuse holder which was a $62.00 out of pocket expense.

It seems to me Winnebago is doing a pretty good job building motorhomes. We've spent more for oil changes than repairs.

[Forza Tom]

Originally Posted by Finally Time

One thing I don’t understand about Winnebago is how they continue producing coaches with known problems, even the small things that could be corrected in the manufacture for practically no cost. For example there have been many posts about the fresh water tank siphoning in many models and over many years. In my case the dealer corrected it. Others have reported Winnebago Customer Service told them to fix it themselves and gave them some suggestions. How much would it cost them to change the plumbing so it didn’t happen in the first place? Another constant is the failure of the adhesive holding the hood latches and stops. Why does Winnebago continue using something with this high of a failure rate? And let’s not even mention the Lippert/Schwintek slide-outs. How many years did that go on? I feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop every time I use my slides.

If I were in charge of their QA I would monitor forums like this one and go to upper management and say "we have a problem, let's fix it before the coaches get to the customers." That's how to make good customer relations, not we'll fix it if you find it before the warranty runs out.

There, that's my rant for the day. I feel better.

I have asked that same question on many occasions and the answer I always get is that the dealer and the customer are part or the QC process. The manufacturers assemble and ship the units with just basic test. Your dealer usually catches and repairs a few of the issues but for the most part it is up to the buyer to discover and fix the problems in the first year of ownership.

I really am unclear as to why this has come to be in the RV industry. Maybe due to space limitations at the factories. Maybe because we as buyers don't demand more.

If I was the CEO of any of the manufacturers I would be embarrassed to have units leave my facility unless the were perfect.

[Ohio Snake]

We have the '15 Vista 35F since March 2015 and have had quite a bit of warranty work done on the rig. Those items included: faulty leveling hydraulic jack replacement, wall near dinette replacement due to scratch from factory, fiberglass defect on outside of coach, tv replacement due to defective speaker, hinge replacement to all bin doors due to rust from inner rod and molding upgrade on front of rig due to fading. I found it interesting that Winnebago actually worked with us in the bins and molding as our suggestion may serve other owners better. We suggested that the molding be painted and glossed properly to match the paint on the rig. We also suggested they remove all hinges as they are scuff prepped and painted to match the rig paint be left black powder coated. Every other rig we saw with the painted hinges were rusted between the overlap fingers, however no rust appears on the powder coated ones....plus it looks better.

Bottom line: our dealer had the rig for about 60 days due to repairs, communication with Winnebago and third party suppliers to get the job done. We viewed this as the same as a "punch out" or warranty repairs on our home when built as expected as much on a large mobile home. Be sure to inspect every part of your new rig inside outside, roof and underside. The outside items were caught while doing the first hand wash.
I found that Winnebago worked with us on every aspect of our concerns and followed our suggestions to keep us satisfied. Are there better manufactures than Winnebago... Most likely yes depending on your level of luxury. Our next MH purchase may be an upgrade in 3-5 years and we will look hard at Winnebago again and keep open minded on other manufacturers as well.

[ladagobago]

My "nice" winne MH is 15 years old and in the past 5 years I can't count how many "adhesive issues" I have encountered. MY solution was my own re-adhesive efforts which at least are holding till now. Double face tape is not what I call a road worthy adhesive.

I think all these manufacturers hired a bunch of hill-billy engineers. The steps (junk), the relay (junk) the stereo (original "junk") the cabinet joinery (junk- glued not joined or even use of power brads), plastic (junk not UV protected) Paint (junk- different pigment cause some white to be white while other whites turn yellow), slides ( junk- one end to low ) sealants (junk- roof gutter connection leaks) window frame (junk- rust and bends) Storage lock latch keepers (junk Plastic that breaks under normal use), Fiberglass panels that have minimum finish and delaminate too. there is lot more but every one know that. OH Man I have to take a breath.

[TomandGloria]

Passed by Marathon Coach last week and there were several coaches around the service bays. I'm not sure the amount you spend on a coach is relative to its reliability. My 9 year old Suncruiser is a great coach and we have enjoyed it with a few problems and lots of preventive maintenance.