2018 Rigs and warranties

patoc · 11-21-2018, 06:07 PM

We accepted delivery of our Vista in January 2018 from Camping World, Syracuse, NY. We have been on the road for 6 months since then, and are planning on heading back out in January, 2019. We are based in Maryland.

We did stop by the Syracuse, NY CW, in October, and had several items addressed and fixed, but there are others that remain unaddressed. We stopped by a Virginia CW and are unable to schedule an appointment until February, 2019.

We bought the rig to be used, not to sit and wait for servicing. Nothing is serious enough to prevent us from traveling, but how do we maintain our warranty rights if we can't even get a service rep/tech to look at the problems?

I'm not whining. I'm trying to be practical and understanding, but... CW and Winnebago need to step up and respond to those of us who are on the road all or most of the time. We don't have the luxury of dropping off a rig and waiting indefinitely for service...

Not a sermon, just a thought... but any suggestions would be welcome, too.

Best

Pat and Cindi

KTM251ss · 11-30-2018, 05:34 AM

your best bet is to drive it directly to Winnebago in Forest City Iowa. You can approach this 2 ways.
1. You can call them and make an appointment with your list of issues. This can take a while to get you scheduled there. But you can have them repair as many items as you need, no limitations. They are usually booked out a few months in advance.
2. You can just drive to Forest city with no appointment and get on the wait list. Show up at the service center at 7 Am and they will place in line and will call you when your turn comes up. This may take a day or two so they give you a parking pass at the WIT grounds with 50 amp service and pretty good wifi. You can have up to 7 items on your ticket. YOu must wait in the lounge all day until you are called, it's comfy in there and they provide wifi.

The tech there are great, and there is a vast amount of resources to get the repairs don right as they have specialty technicians for all the systems on your RV.

This time of year may be bad as it's winter there now so ti can be harsh.

**creativepart** · 11-30-2018, 06:49 AM

Your problem is CW. Just because they sold you the coach doesn’t mean you should go there for service. And for the record most of us don’t trust CW to do good work. They would be the last place we’d call.

The sad truth, and this is not unique to Winnebago, is it’s tough to get warranty work done. You have to fight to get in to a dealer and then fight to get the work completed in a timely manner. The best bet for all new RV warranty work, of all brands, is the factory as KTM225ss has just posted. Again, not unique to you or your coach. But it’s the only sure way of getting your rig fixed right and quickly so that you can get out and use it as intended.

One plus about going to Forest City, you’ll be assigned a Rep and he’ll log all of your problems while still under warranty and anything outstanding will be noted in your file and covered. Just keep copies of your correspondence with your rep and if things slide past the warranty expiration date you’ll have proof.

I went to the factory last May to get my coach fixed under warranty. It was 1500+ miles from home, I did make an appointment first, but I got just about everything on my list fixed.

Another sad truth is, we’ve all had to get really good at fixing our coaches ourselves. So the little things we either fix our selves or find a solution locally that we can live with.

Hope you get your coach fixed soon and can get on the road. Remember, Winnebago is your coach’s friend not Campiing World.

patoc · 12-01-2018, 09:51 AM

Thanks for responding to my toned down rant!! Looks like a trip to Iowa is now on the agenda. We'll make the stop as part of our trip west in Apr/May, on our way to Alaska. Winter is not a time to visit Iowa... agreed!
Thanks again for your insights and ideas. Maybe when we finally get off the road, we - those of us who care - could put heads together and set up a "repair/warranty" division for CW and/or other dealers who just want to sell and trade. Leave the repairs to someone else. Who knows... it might work..??!!

Anyway - safe travels, and thanks again for your words of wisdom.

Pat & Cindi

jeepster05 · 12-01-2018, 10:51 AM

I have found the warranty issue isn't with Winnebago, it is with the dealer. Winnebago hasn't turned down any request we have made. I have had it in for warranty issues 3 times since I bought new in August. Each time it took about 2 weeks to get an appointment to take it in, then they had others still ahead of me to be worked on. It's been in the shop more than I have used it. Too bad there are so many issues that were not noticed by quality control inspectors but that is what we have to live with if we want to be a RV'r and we do. lol

MAC · 12-01-2018, 12:42 PM

I wanted to chime in on this, We had to buy our 38 Q at CW in IL (there is only one CW dealership in IL) because WB stopped making that model and we wanted the newest 38 Q available and they were very hard to find.
To my surprise CW in IL. as been very good on the quality of the warranty work and pretty short repair times, usually about two weeks. I've read about a lot of issues with CW on this forum, and I was reluctant to buy from them, but my experience has been very good with them at the IL. location.

patoc · 12-01-2018, 01:06 PM

Good to hear MAC. There are probably many good CW dealers around the country... but, there are significant issues with the vast majority. The common thread appears to be a business model focused on sales, with repairs as a necessary evil. The complaints and discussions about CW issues, delays, responsiveness and treatment of customers is primarily based on the service aspect of the business -- not all, but most.

So, we'll just keep finding solutions and work arounds.

Stay safe... and warm!

Deny · 12-05-2018, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patoc

We accepted delivery of our Vista in January 2018 from Camping World, Syracuse, NY. We have been on the road for 6 months since then, and are planning on heading back out in January, 2019. We are based in Maryland.

We did stop by the Syracuse, NY CW, in October, and had several items addressed and fixed, but there are others that remain unaddressed. We stopped by a Virginia CW and are unable to schedule an appointment until February, 2019.

We bought the rig to be used, not to sit and wait for servicing. Nothing is serious enough to prevent us from traveling, but how do we maintain our warranty rights if we can't even get a service rep/tech to look at the problems?

I'm not whining. I'm trying to be practical and understanding, but... CW and Winnebago need to step up and respond to those of us who are on the road all or most of the time. We don't have the luxury of dropping off a rig and waiting indefinitely for service...

Not a sermon, just a thought... but any suggestions would be welcome, too.

Best

Pat and Cindi

We had the same issues with our 2014 View, we picked it up in Forest City Iowa.

We had issues that were there when we picked it up with 25 miles on it.

I never took it in...I fixed things myself, or lived with it.

The MB warranty repairs were done at MB dealers in Palm Beach & Oregon

We kept the rig 23 months & 37K mi...loved it, but, RV's are problematic

We have had 3 TT's since then....they are junk...but, we love the RV travel experience....never took any of them to a dealer either...Just fix it & go on...

T00lman · 01-26-2019, 06:14 PM

It has been said “The only thing that works on an RV is the owner!”

BirchyBoy · 01-26-2019, 06:29 PM

I was approaching the end of my warranty last year and documented all of the issues with Winnebago via email. The rep replied that they would be covered even if the dealer could not address them prior to the expiration. If you’re concerned, you may want to give this a try.

BTW: I dropped mine off this week, just over a year from the the date the original warranty repair work. Long story, but they’re timeframe was 1-2 weeks to diagnose and 3-4 to begin repair. If you go the dealer route, be ready to give it up for a bit.