2015 Grand Tour with lots of issues

[Bobschle]

My wife and I took possession of our new 2015 Grand Tour in early November and have had a ton of problems ever since. Not the least of which was being broken down on the side of the road in Big Bend NP because of a faulty fuel filter that had been recalled in July!

The rig is now in for warranty work to repair the 45+ items on our list of issues.

I wrote a letter to Winnebago and La Mesa RV. I have not received a reply yet.

Anyone else having problems with the recent crop of big rigs out of Winnebago? Our previous coach was a 2012 Ellipse 42QD, which we loved. I wish life had a rewind button.

Bob Schlesinger

[two-niner]

Hey Bob, know what you mean. After reading about the slide situation, etc., on the later years Tour, our 2012 QD (dark ruby) looks better all the time.

Not being a wiseguy, but sometimes the grass that looks greener turns out to be astroturf. Sorry about your situation. Maybe a trip to Forest City will make everything better. Heck, people who buy Tiffin plan their vacation around Red Bay, others go to Indiana. Such is the life we lead.

Kerry

[LTL]

Bob,

We have a 2015 Ellipse Ultra that we took delivery Oct 24th and already have 4800 miles on it. We did take it to Freightliner in Gaffney, SC to have some chassis adjustments because it did not drive as well as the 2014 Tour we traded in. We have had to have two pumps replaced in our Auquahot system because Auquahot had some defective pumps. Other than that most everything else has been minor.

Larry

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by Bobschle

My wife and I took possession of our new 2015 Grand Tour in early November and have had a ton of problems ever since. Not the least of which was being broken down on the side of the road in Big Bend NP because of a faulty fuel filter that had been recalled in July!

The rig is now in for warranty work to repair the 45+ items on our list of issues.

I wrote a letter to Winnebago and La Mesa RV. I have not received a reply yet.

Anyone else having problems with the recent crop of big rigs out of Winnebago? Our previous coach was a 2012 Ellipse 42QD, which we loved. I wish life had a rewind button.

Bob Schlesinger

Man, that sucks. Hope you get everything fixed soon, and get reimbursed for the tow.

[XBoater]

Fuel filter should be a Freightliner issue and the tow would be covered by them if you have no supplemental towing.

Our 2014 has been OK, the dealer is making it worse by not just fixing the issues I have, though mostly nuisance stuff, nothing that has limited our use or enjoyment.

[Mrfoto]

Hey Bob, my traveling buddy, sorry to hear about your problems with your new dream coach. I wish life had a rewind button also, in more ways than one. But then again, Carol may not have married me to start with. Lol Hope everything gets resolved soon and you and Gilda are back on the road again!
Your Key West Buddy

[jerichorick]

Originally Posted by Bobschle

My wife and I took possession of our new 2015 Grand Tour in early November and have had a ton of problems ever since. Not the least of which was being broken down on the side of the road in Big Bend NP because of a faulty fuel filter that had been recalled in July!

The rig is now in for warranty work to repair the 45+ items on our list of issues.

I wrote a letter to Winnebago and La Mesa RV. I have not received a reply yet.

Anyone else having problems with the recent crop of big rigs out of Winnebago? Our previous coach was a 2012 Ellipse 42QD, which we loved. I wish life had a rewind button.

Bob Schlesinger

Hey Bob, this is not "happy camping" time for you. Once you get the travel stoppers fixed plan a trip to Forest City in late spring. Have your punch list resolved by the factory repair guys. If I can't fix it the last place I will go is a RV service center unless some of the folks on irv2 can vouch for the folks. Most of the RV troubles are dealer problems. They tend to take a problem and make it a bad one . Because so many of the dealers are so very bad they are all surviving. Sounds illogical but it works in their case.

I hope you get things better soon for you. If you are just wintering in your rig you are defiantly being cheated.

Keep us posted.

Rick Y

[Mrfoto]

Hey Bob is anything happening to get your issues resolved? Keep us updated. Hoping the best for yoy!

[Bobschle]

Here's an update ...

Just to clarify, we did not get towed. we had two employees of the TX dept. of transportation stop and help us ID the problem. Cummins then FedEx'd a replacement filter and then the same two employees came buy and installed the replacement and we were good to go. My wife thinks they were guardian angels. Coach net wanted to tow us to the nearest facility which was 300 miles. It's hard to say we were lucky, but I think a 300 mile tow could have been disastrous.

So where are we on getting resolution to our problems ... The letter I sent was to the President of Winnebago and the President of LaMesa RV. The only response I received was to get a phone call from a customer service rep in Winnebago saying they were sorry I had so many problems and that they would work with the dealer on getting them resolved. Actually, I was underwhelmed by the response.

At this point LaMesa (Sanford, FL) has had the rig for one month and there are still 15 issues to be addressed. But they are the 15 most difficult of the issues. We have agreed that we would shoot for a January 23rd finish date, but I'm skeptical.

Stay tuned ... film at 11.

[poppopc]

X2!!
Have a 13 Journey 40U. Been to Forest City twice.
They have fixed every thing on my lis plus some. On this last visit in Sept.
the fixed some things on there"Good Will" policy. Warranty was up I June.
Usually about 6 weeks out. Had a two day apointment was there five.
They have plugins in the pArking lot to stay in for the evening. Full hookups.

[JSE80]

This is becoming a regular theme at Winnie. I just read about a cancelled order because of all the problems. I was going to trade my 11' Journey 40
for a 36' Phaeton and went to Red Bay and watched them iild it and was very unhappy comparing what I had compared to what I was getting. When the messed up the paint job I cancelled the order. Within 24 hours Bob Tiffen was on the phone and said he would do whatever needed to be done to fix it. I passed and lost 1000.00 deposit. But that was ok because I saw how those things were built and I believed I still had a better coach. Since then I have had awning issues that weren't handled right. My roof cracked in 2 spots and was told I wasn't the original owner, too bad. The coach had 3600 miles when I bought it. What difference does that make. I was at a regional rally and the Winnie rep told us the average MH owner is trading on average every 6 years. They warrant the roof for ten to the original owner only knowing they will never have to pay to fix them. It is smoke and mirrors.
My recommendation is to buy 10 shares of Winnie stock WGO and go to a shareholders meeting and raise hell.
There needs to be a owners/shareholder group to demand real quality control.
They are turning into Tiffen without the never ending warranty Bob Tiffen gives you.
Try to get Randy Potts on the phone. Good luck. I love my Winnie but if I called Bob Tiffen today he would either answer the phone or call me back.
Randy needs to get down on the shop floor and get their quality under control or resign.
I own 500 shares of Winnie and I am scared to death to buy a new Journey.
Jim Edgar

Originally Posted by Bobschle

My wife and I took possession of our new 2015 Grand Tour in early November and have had a ton of problems ever since. Not the least of which was being broken down on the side of the road in Big Bend NP because of a faulty fuel filter that had been recalled in July!

The rig is now in for warranty work to repair the 45+ items on our list of issues.

I wrote a letter to Winnebago and La Mesa RV. I have not received a reply yet.

Anyone else having problems with the recent crop of big rigs out of Winnebago? Our previous coach was a 2012 Ellipse 42QD, which we loved. I wish life had a rewind button.

Bob Schlesinger

[RTegarini]

Originally Posted by Bobschle

The letter I sent was to the President of Winnebago and the President of LaMesa RV.

Good luck with that... my father-in-law had issues with La Mesa in Davis, CA. He finally got an agreeable settlement, but only because he was tired of the protracted back and forth fight and my father-in-law compromised at a greatly reduced amount. In fact, it took all the way to going to small claims court before they decided to 'do him a favor...' and finally resolve the problems. Return phone calls from the higher-ups at La Mesa? That could be a Seinfeld episode.

I guess you could say that even more frustrating is that Winnebago actually puts owners in these positions, as the dealer didn't actually build your motorhome, the 'team professionals' at Winnebago did. -RT

[CBTraveler]

I suggest that everyone of us who are posting quality issues with our Winnebago units should write the WBGO president. In each letter we should ask why WBGO has no Quality VP, but they have a lot of other VP's. Also, suggest to him that he read the IRV2 forum and then disguise himself as a disgruntled owner and sit in the WBGO service lobby and talk to some real world customers. We've been there twice and heard of a lot of nasty quality issues.

The factory service group does a very good job and has been very helpful to us, although it took two trips to get our Schwintek slide problem fixed.Hopefully.

I've posted the next comment before on this forum and as much as I hate to say this again: I wish the Japanese would start building Motorhomes. AAAAARGH, I said it again.

I agree that other manufacturers also have quality problems- perhaps more than WBGO, but this whole industry reminds me of the 60's automotive quality issues.

[Bobschle]

OK, so here's where I'm at with the Grand Tour issues ...

I took possession of the rig on Nov 4th. I took it to the dealership on Dec12th. They still have it, after 5 1/2 weeks.

We had been shooting for me to pick it up on this Friday (the 23rd), but I got a call this morning that the Schwintek slide mechanism had broken. They aren't sure but believe it had been installed incorrectly?? Then they tell me it will be 1.5 to 2 weeks to get replacement parts. The slide is stuck in the out position! suppose it had happened to me in a remote campsite somewhere.

I would be interested in knowing what your Schwintek problem was, CBTraveler.

Does anyone know what the lemon law might be and is it relative to RV'S?
Has anyone ever heard of Winnebago taking and RV back for a replacement?

Is my frustration starting to show.

By the way, communicating to the CEO of Winnebago is worthless, don't waste your time.

[jerichorick]

Originally Posted by CBTraveler

I suggest that everyone of us who are posting quality issues with our Winnebago units should write the WBGO president. In each letter we should ask why WBGO has no Quality VP, but they have a lot of other VP's. Also, suggest to him that he read the IRV2 forum and then disguise himself as a disgruntled owner and sit in the WBGO service lobby and talk to some real world customers. We've been there twice and heard of a lot of nasty quality issues.

The factory service group does a very good job and has been very helpful to us, although it took two trips to get our Schwintek slide problem fixed.Hopefully.

I've posted the next comment before on this forum and as much as I hate to say this again: I wish the Japanese would start building Motorhomes. AAAAARGH, I said it again.

I agree that other manufacturers also have quality problems- perhaps more than WBGO, but this whole industry reminds me of the 60's automotive quality issues.

Good point about a QC VP.

It might be better for each of us who have had to go to the factory for QC issues that the dealer would not fix to sit in the headquarters building instead of the service lounge as we wait for our rigs to be fixed. With that many people hanging around the HQ lobby someone might finally take notice.

At one time I was communication with customer service support over an issue I don't recall now. I brought up irv2. I was told that they do monitor this forum. Oh yea? Why are old exposed problems also new ones in discussion once again?

I see a "lemon law" post. Good question. Depends upon the state where the rig was purchased. A call to the DMV or attorney general's consumer complaint office might help.

I wish the previous owner of my rig had taken the QC issues here more to heart. If I were to correct the cosmetic damage by replacing the split crown molding it would be well over $300 with my labor. And, how about the cabinets that keep coming apart? QC, poor design or both?

I love my coach layout and many of the working features. But the way certain areas were assembled... This is what we are all griping about.

What is sobering to me is that other folks with other brands are complaining MORE than we are. I hope Winnebago is not using this as an excuse not to improve QC. "We are better than other brands. What is your complaint?" would be a sorry statement and attitude.

Hope all the posters here, and others with similar problems, come to happy trails soon. Nothing made by man is perfect. But how far off the mark is acceptable?

[Panthar]

Hi,

I really hate that my first post is going to be negative. But I feel I need to vent. We picked up our new 2015 Itasca Suncruiser 38Q December 19, 2014. On the way home the valances fell off, there was a leak in the bathroom sink, the microwave started to fall off the wall and we noticed that the refrigerator had two different color doors. I noticed that at the dealer, but everyone said it was the lighting. Not. But, no, the problems didn't stop they got worse.

We had the slide break, huge leak in the plumbing, water gushing out of the slide, and the furnace broke all in the first night of camping. When we got to our destination we went to Camping World to get the major problems fixed so we could drive home. My husband had a three page document of all of the problems that needed attention. It is currently in for service for the repair of all of the issues. They said three weeks maybe longer. Eight weeks to order doors that match, which by the way, Winnebago said I needed to call Whirlpool and order the doors.

So, we are a little disappointed, we were told that kinks needed to be worked out, but after you spend that much money it doesn't seem right. Sorry for the negative post.

[JSE80]

There is no lemon law for RV's that is the problem. There are no real associations that can lobby the State governments to demand lemon laws for RV's
If there were lemon laws we wouldn't be buying the pieces of junk we are.

Originally Posted by Bobschle

OK, so here's where I'm at with the Grand Tour issues ...

I took possession of the rig on Nov 4th. I took it to the dealership on Dec12th. They still have it, after 5 1/2 weeks.

We had been shooting for me to pick it up on this Friday (the 23rd), but I got a call this morning that the Schwintek slide mechanism had broken. They aren't sure but believe it had been installed incorrectly?? Then they tell me it will be 1.5 to 2 weeks to get replacement parts. The slide is stuck in the out position! suppose it had happened to me in a remote campsite somewhere.

I would be interested in knowing what your Schwintek problem was, CBTraveler.

Does anyone know what the lemon law might be and is it relative to RV'S?
Has anyone ever heard of Winnebago taking and RV back for a replacement?

Is my frustration starting to show.

By the way, communicating to the CEO of Winnebago is worthless, don't waste your time.

[ditto]

I am not sure about other states, but MASSACHUSETTS LAW CHAPTER 93A is used for consumer fraud, and as I understand , has been used for defective products when no lemon law applies. I certainly plan , when in the market for another new coach, to think about buying in MA.

[CBTraveler]

The first problem we had was that the rear end of the long (drivers slide) slide was not closing properly. The front side was all the way in, but the bottom of the rear was about an inch or so out. Camping World, Madison, WI worked on it and got it fixed(???). All was well for a month or two, but the problem came back. They worked on it again but I was told by the Tech that he was out of ideas and we would take it to WBGO factory. I have confidence in the Tech, and now that I see so many problems I know why he said to go to WBGO. The first trip to WBGO supposedly fixed the problem. For awhile everything was smooth. My files are at home so I can't remember all the things they did, but I'm pretty sure they replaced part of the Schintek liner gear and one or two modules. After a long trip the slide began it's snap crackle pop sounds that kept getting progressively worse. Back to WBGO and they replaced some modules and I believe an additional change to the linear gear. They did something to the side wall cutout that the slide is installed in. Whatever they did required repainting of part of the wall at the rear of the slide. We've put a lot of miles on it since then and so far it seems ok, but there are some loud sounds coming from the top of the long slide at the drivers end. I remember seeing a WIT bulletin that calls for lubricating the Schwintek gibs which I am going to do before we continue on our trip.I think that will reduce the noises a bit. I called WBGO on a different problem yesterday and while discussing the issue I asked about the new noises. He recommended using slide locks on the long slide. I am going to do that when we arrive at our next campground, just for extra comfort. I wish I had my records with me so I could be more exact, but I'm pretty sure I'm close. We have 25,000 miles on our 34B since May 7, 2013 so the unit does see lot of roads. The true test of slide stability comes in March when we cross Louisiana on I-10. I love Louisiana, but not their chunk of I-10.

[JimGeorgia]

Since this is my first Winnebago purchase (my parents owned a used 1976) I have no comparison to previous models owned. We bought the 2015 Brave (26A) and compared to many above, I guess we are lucky. We really won't know if there are more serious problems out there because it has either been at the dealership getting fixed or at home awaiting going in.

1. Wiring harness damaged during installation of body.
2. Loose shock bolts (reported in a number of 26a's)
3. Missing round table, plus bracket and table retention cord
4. Mis-aligned back up camera bracket
5. Stove vent missing piece

These were all addressed eventually by CW during several repair trips, but during the last repair CW improperly lifted the unit, causing damage.

Unit is back at CW getting damages repaired.

Good news is its cold here and we have no plans until April. Hopeful that we will be on the road then and no new "discoveries" once we start using things.