My experience with Winnebago customer service.

[Downytide]

In a very short sentence.

Winnbago has proven to be the worst purchase experience I've ever had in my life.


So to give an overview what happened so far:
- Bought brand new 2108TB FLX last August, I paid pretty penny up here in Canada, it was costs of a brand new BMW 330i.
- Worked fine throughout the year.
- Follow storage guideline on the battery, stored indoor that never went below freezing, was stored for 5 months.
- Took it out in April, turned everything on and the inverter went up in smoke.
- Reached out to Winnebago and Dealer, Winnebago NEVER replied, dealer told me Winnebago has informed them that I need to reached out to Xantrex to get a replacement, so I did all that and replace it on my own dime and time.
- Shortly after in May, trailer began to give all sort of errors, the control panel didn't work, stereo didn't work, slide out and stablizers also didn't work, reached out to Winnebago, no response, reached out to Lithionics, told me to disconnect everything and bring it to repair shop, as the battery would read constantly 14.4v on the app.
- It has been sitting at repair shop since May 27th, where Lithionics asked them not to do any diagnostic since they think battery is faulty, but when we asked how do we stored this faulty battery? no answer, Winnebago was also of no help, they said wait for Lithionics response, and Lithionics said they are waiting for Winnebago's response
- It took them 1 month before they send another battery, we received one in late June
- We are still waiting for other components to fix the trailer, that Winnebago keep delaying on shipping them out.
- Average response time from a question is about 14 days, sometimes they never answer.


So here's something that really makes me worry, it seems the faulty battery blew up bunch of things in the circuit, such as slide out controller:



So far, I've gone on 0 trips this year, spent at least 40 hours on the phone just to get a simply yes or no.

This is by far the worst purchasing experience I've ever had, if you are thinking of one, do NOT GET ONE, buy one that's cheaper without the battery system, buy a portable battery system.

I'm near the end of the rope of dealing with this, I've began to think about reaching out to a lawyer and make them buy this thing back.

[Morich]

I feel your pain and admit that things are certainly not right in the world. It may be a VERY long time, if ever for us to get back to a stable situation as we have lost so much in the way of good, well trained people!

But I also might throw in some thoughts on what is going on with the electronics as you seem to be missing some points.
One big one that sticks out is the idea that the battery caused the other problems. The battery is simply a place to store the energy so that it can be used later. It has no ability to make or output more energy than it has been given!

Yes, too much voltage from other parts of the system can certainlyt make things fail, but that doesn't include the battery. It sound like the charging system was not right, possibly from the start as as it set with possibly the worng settings, things gradually reached the point of failing.

In defense of Winnebago, I would expect the warrenty on the electrical system is the part of the people who provide those items. Did you recieve a packet of info on the different parts which make up the RV? Much as an auto, the initial parts warrenty are from the folks who provide tires, etc on an auto and that is where you should have gone when they appear to have failed!

When you mention the inverter, do you mean the inverter as it takes 12VDC to make AC power. Perhaps you mean the converter as it is a converter which charges batteries and that part may be suspect. The names of various parts do often get confused as there are many different items which are sometimes built as stand alone or combined at other times. Sometimes we find the terms are used somewhat recklessly without actually meaning what we say?

Does the info package give a certain specific amount of time that items were under warranty?

Again, I do see reason for the frustration but if you are to get any satisfaction, you will need to get the facts well inline. Waiting too long and after the warranty period will certainly not help.

[Downytide]

Hi Richard, I work in the supply chain for automotive and even RV, so I understand how things work in terms of the chain of command.

- The Inverter was set correctly, I followed Xantrex's guideline after talking to them, Winnebago provided no information and simply do not reply to questions.
- The trailer has plugged in twice, both time are 30amp.
- Winnebago did provide packet, and I read through those.

When your brand new car's alternator fail, imagine you take it to Toyota and they tell you to contact Denso, and then deal with it at your own time, that'll be pretty ridiculous, wouldn't it?

The FLX package has Xantrex inverter/charger, it can charge the lithium battery when connected to a power source, and it also get charged via solar.

I think the key point here is, Winnebago's response is slow, almost non-existent, and this system is not thoroughly tested, what if something was to caught on fire when we were sleeping?

[creativepart]

Winnebago Towables division is solely dependent on Authorized Dealer for warranty service. So, yeah, they're probably going to just tell you to contact your dealer if you email them.

Regardless, emailing them is likely the very worst way to communicate with them. Have you ever telephoned Towables Customer Care? (574) 825-8052

I will agree that when it comes to the FLX that Winnebago has done a very poor job of getting dealers trained in setup and operation of this complex electrical system.

I think you'll find that the vast majority of repair delays come from the dealer's service dept. They are over loaded and understaffed and the easy thing to do is blame Winnebago. When it's been shown over and over again it's the dealer that's holding things up.

Unlike automobiles, RV Dealers exercise a great deal of autonomy and bear little responsibility to the customer or the manufacturer. This is not just with Winnebago, as it's a complaint about dealers for all manufacturers.

Here's a suggestion to get to going again. We have a Lithionics engineer here that has offered to respond to questions about setup and operation. Here's a link to one of his threads - you could post details and questions there and see if you can learn more about what's happened to your system.

https://www.winnieowners.com/forums/...es-366502.html

[Downytide]

Oh I've been calling them, it takes average at least 1-2hrs of waiting before someone answers, my longest wait has been 3hours, with a simple answer of "I need to look into it"

The dealer network model works when average trailer was selling for $20k.

It's an issue when now we are talking about $50k+ units, the dealer was instructed that I contact Winnebago, because the dealer was never trained on how to diagnosed lithium battery, and the repair shop where the trailer is at right now, thankfully knows, even they brought up the question of how to safely store a faulty lithium battery goes un-answered.

This specific system put battery under most beds, which sits on top simple thin plywood, after seeing how big of smoke the inverter malfunction was, brings up a question, what happens when the battery catches on fire? specially when someone is sleeping? shouldn't there be an enclosure that's fire proof? a firewall of sort?

Why did Winnebago introduce a system to the market when many questions go un-answered? it seems the proper battery storage method is vastly different what Winnebago states, could this had cause issue in the battery? does that mean the tens of thousands FLX units out there which has been stored under freezing condition is potentially facing this problem? which more or less is a fire hazzard? and how come the slideout controller burnout like this without affecting the junction box?

[mfouts]

I feel like this is inexcusable. I am beginning to regret my decision to buy a Winnebago. I do know that I am partly to blame as I did not do the proper research prior to purchase. I should have backed out on delivery when the dealership knew absolutely nothing about the FLX. I purchased based on the Winnebago reputation and am so dissapointed in the quality. Knowing what I know now I would not recommend the Winnebago and will probably look at the first opportunity to get rid of it as I can.

I am sorry you are having the trouble you are. We buy these things for rest and relaxation not to add stress to our lives.

[Downytide]

May be let's get enough of us and file a class action lawsuit? so they'll buy these units back.

I regret my decision not going with an Intech unit, at that time the FLX system sold me, but now I wished I had gone with Intech and just deal with the power supply via other means.

[Morich]

I deal with electrical problems and have much experience and one thing that jumps out on this issue seems to be a big one. It will seem harsh to point it out but we often do get lots of confusion on electrical issues. Much of it is that folks are close to right but not really familiar with the things they are working on, so miss some tiny little point that makes it a real problem.

Batteries seem so simple but here on the forum, they are also the most common cause of questions!
So simple yet so complex that they can easily confuse us. Throw in the new type of batteries which require far different settings and use much more confusing systems of control and monitoring and it creates a lot of confusion!

From what I read and see in the pictures, there appears to have been a higher voltage than design calls for. Much too high would be expected to blow fuses before overheating the components in the slide control but voltage that overheats but doesn't reach the limits of fuse or breakers is something that does cause early failures.

I think the main point is going to get back around to who set up the equipment and were they fully trained!
Most warrenty is gone when untrained/unauthorized folks have done any of the work, so a big question is WHO did the setup?


One of the first big notes on the Winnebago info is this warning!
Click this snip to be able to read the "fine print" but they do warn us! If calling to ask advise, I would think that implys a lack of training on this new equipment.

[Downytide]

Hi Richard, are you a current or previous employee of Winnebago and its subsidiary? as I'm a bit confused with your posts, part of them seem information sharing and part of it seems you believe the issue lie with end users instead of Winnebago, I believe Winnebago rushed to introduced a product (FLX System) that may be potentially lethal due to poor planning and education to the retailers and end-users.

The issue with FLX units having incorrect settings from factory is well documented on this forum, and I'm pretty certain I won't be the only one with issues with the FLX system in these units nor the last one.

[RocknRoll]

Originally Posted by Downytide

- Bought brand new 2108TB FLX last August, I paid pretty penny up here in Canada, it was costs of a brand new BMW 330i.
- Worked fine throughout the year.
- Follow storage guideline on the battery, stored indoor that never went below freezing, was stored for 5 months.
- Took it out in April, turned everything on and the inverter went up in smoke.
- Reached out to Winnebago and Dealer, Winnebago NEVER replied, dealer told me Winnebago has informed them that I need to reached out to Xantrex to get a replacement, so I did all that and replace it on my own dime and time.
- Shortly after in May, trailer began to give all sort of errors, the control panel didn't work, stereo didn't work, slide out and stablizers also didn't work,

Sorry this has happened to you and you're not getting any answers to your conundrum. That it was working fine up until you stored it leads me to believe that the initial settings were indeed set correctly. In one of your posts on another thread, you said everything was fine for 20 minutes and then went bad.

When you turned everything "on" in April, was it connected to shore power, or did you only reconnect the battery(s)? This was not disclosed.

If it was connected to shore power, did you have a surge protector/EPO protecting the line? A surge protector/EPO will protect the delicate circuitry in an RV by sacrificing the unit itself.

https://videos.etrailer.com/static/i...rs-hu67fr.webm

Unless I'm mistaken, 12V components (slide controller) should not "blow up".

Note that I am not a current or former Winnebago employee.

[Marine359]

Originally Posted by Downytide

Hi Richard, are you a current or previous employee of Winnebago and its subsidiary? as I'm a bit confused with your posts, part of them seem information sharing and part of it seems you believe the issue lie with end users instead of Winnebago, I believe Winnebago rushed to introduced a product (FLX System) that may be potentially lethal due to poor planning and education to the retailers and end-users.

The issue with FLX units having incorrect settings from factory is well documented on this forum, and I'm pretty certain I won't be the only one with issues with the FLX system in these units nor the last one.

No person on this forum fully understands your FLX fails. The members who have responded to you have many years of experience with RV electrical systems, both individually and collectively. And, because they are good natured folks, they just want to offer whatever help they can. Just because somebody points out that some failures are user induced doesn’t mean they are being accusatory of you, nor do they have nefarious motives, like defense of Winnebago. It just might be that nobody here can give you any better answers than your dealer, and of course we have not had the benefit of actually looking at your trailer. If you aren’t seeking advice from RV owners, you should not post here. Not all the responses you receive will be to your liking. One other thing, please do not Attempt to use this forum to coordinate a legal action. It’s definitely against forum rules. You may have legal options, but they are not material for forum discussion. Good luck. I hope you find a solution that works for you.

[mfouts]

The forums can be a great place to vent when having difficulty getting any satisfaction from a manufacturer or dealer. For the most part i like seeing some of the issues that others are having with their RVs or whatever. I do base some of my purchase decisions on those experiences even though the forums are a lot of times a small representation of the buyers.
I don't think this is only about the FLX issues but also about Winnebago's inability to deal with those issues and others.
I am of an age where I remember when customer service was king. Businesses fought for customers by offering great customer service and many places went under not doing so.
I don't see that as much any more.

[Morich]

Originally Posted by Downytide

Hi Richard, are you a current or previous employee of Winnebago and its subsidiary? as I'm a bit confused with your posts, part of them seem information sharing and part of it seems you believe the issue lie with end users instead of Winnebago, I believe Winnebago rushed to introduced a product (FLX System) that may be potentially lethal due to poor planning and education to the retailers and end-users.

The issue with FLX units having incorrect settings from factory is well documented on this forum, and I'm pretty certain I won't be the only one with issues with the FLX system in these units nor the last one.

No, I have no contact with Winnebago other than years of using a lot of different RV. One major thing I've learned is that Winnebago may not be perfect but they do a lot more to help the owners than other RV!

The thing that seems to stick out in your postings is that you are unhappy! Yes, many folks are unhappy but then without going into a lot of detail, you mention it worked until stored, you feel you stored it right, but then it failed. You make several statements that indicate you have little understanding of the system and did some work on it yourself.

One of the big things when I try to repair things is that I first want to know if others have already worked on the RV. Once others have done any mods or repairs, I have to be much more careful as the RV is no longer assumed to be standard nor correct!

Basic point in most any product warranty is that they void the warranty after unautorized work is done! We all know that once we have worked on something, we can't blame the builder if it is not right!

There is no way that any group can find what the true problem is after this amount of time and going simply by what you say happened.
Venting may feel good but it normally gets very little done on an actual fix. It appears that the RV worked right, then worked wrong after storage, and you worked on it and it got worse to the point that the controller was damaged.

My best advise is that you recognize that solid state electronics are difficult. We will rarely get the full and complete info on many of the parts used to build an RV as those are often closely protected designs and they will not pass that info out to the competition.

At some point, most of us will admit that we have gotten ourselves in a jam, wasted some time, money, and effort and don't know the way out, so we have to have things repaired.

Part of the DIY experience is knowing when to quit!

[Downytide]

Originally Posted by Marine359

No person on this forum fully understands your FLX fails. The members who have responded to you have many years of experience with RV electrical systems, both individually and collectively. And, because they are good natured folks, they just want to offer whatever help they can. Just because somebody points out that some failures are user induced doesn’t mean they are being accusatory of you, nor do they have nefarious motives, like defense of Winnebago. It just might be that nobody here can give you any better answers than your dealer, and of course we have not had the benefit of actually looking at your trailer. If you aren’t seeking advice from RV owners, you should not post here. Not all the responses you receive will be to your liking. One other thing, please do not Attempt to use this forum to coordinate a legal action. It’s definitely against forum rules. You may have legal options, but they are not material for forum discussion. Good luck. I hope you find a solution that works for you.

I do not expect people to agree with me, specially an online forum, but I think its important for us to know where their opinion is coming from specially in today's world, if Rich worked for Winnebago, then it would be useful for us to know, my response also indicate my confusion regarding his post, as I do not understand the meaning of the message, as you indicated, I do not know him and he hasn't seen the trailer, it would be an unconscious bias to state the issues I'm having may be user error.

After dealing with Winnebago, I have concerns about the safety of the FLX system, and since Winnebago has obviously ignore this potential issue and treat their customers like commodity, I feel like people should be aware of the potential issues this system have, and yes, some owners may feel this will never happen to them, and statistically speaking, that may be true, but if it's a safety issue, I feel like I should bring this up and raise awareness.

A brand new $60k+ trailer shouldn't require owners to spend their own time and dime to fix.

Originally Posted by RocknRoll

Sorry this has happened to you and you're not getting any answers to your conundrum. That it was working fine up until you stored it leads me to believe that the initial settings were indeed set correctly. In one of your posts on another thread, you said everything was fine for 20 minutes and then went bad.

When you turned everything "on" in April, was it connected to shore power, or did you only reconnect the battery(s)? This was not disclosed.

If it was connected to shore power, did you have a surge protector/EPO protecting the line? A surge protector/EPO will protect the delicate circuitry in an RV by sacrificing the unit itself.

https://videos.etrailer.com/static/i...rs-hu67fr.webm

Unless I'm mistaken, 12V components (slide controller) should not "blow up".

Note that I am not a current or former Winnebago employee.

It was not connected to shore power when turned on, it has only been connected to shore power twice during its lifetime.

It always has a surge protector, I bought one before picking up the trailer, and yes, a 12v component shouldn't fail like that.

There's NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), it has a standard on fire safety for RV, https://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-stand...tail?code=1192

Since a lithium battery can be considered the same as a generator since it has similar function in an RV, and lithium battery fire is more intense than a generator fire, then Winnebago should really consider adding additional safety guard to the system, as the way they treat generator system in their line up?

https://rvbusiness.com/report-nhtsa-...-rv-recalls-2/

[Downytide]

Originally Posted by Morich

No, I have no contact with Winnebago other than years of using a lot of different RV. One major thing I've learned is that Winnebago may not be perfect but they do a lot more to help the owners than other RV!

The thing that seems to stick out in your postings is that you are unhappy! Yes, many folks are unhappy but then without going into a lot of detail, you mention it worked until stored, you feel you stored it right, but then it failed. You make several statements that indicate you have little understanding of the system and did some work on it yourself.

One of the big things when I try to repair things is that I first want to know if others have already worked on the RV. Once others have done any mods or repairs, I have to be much more careful as the RV is no longer assumed to be standard nor correct!

Basic point in most any product warranty is that they void the warranty after unautorized work is done! We all know that once we have worked on something, we can't blame the builder if it is not right!

There is no way that any group can find what the true problem is after this amount of time and going simply by what you say happened.
Venting may feel good but it normally gets very little done on an actual fix. It appears that the RV worked right, then worked wrong after storage, and you worked on it and it got worse to the point that the controller was damaged.

My best advise is that you recognize that solid state electronics are difficult. We will rarely get the full and complete info on many of the parts used to build an RV as those are often closely protected designs and they will not pass that info out to the competition.

At some point, most of us will admit that we have gotten ourselves in a jam, wasted some time, money, and effort and don't know the way out, so we have to have things repaired.

Part of the DIY experience is knowing when to quit!

Hi Rich, I think online communication via text is not the ideal form, and I just want to keep it short.

- I appreciate your input, but some part of the messages are confusing to me.
- This post is to raise awareness of my experience with the product and the company, which is being sub-par for something this expensive.
- And no, I did NOT work on the trailer myself, it's under warranty, and it took me almost 2 weeks to get Winnebago to understand the purchase dealer won't be able to see my trailer until August, this was back in April, so they authorized this being inspected and repair at a accredited repair shop near me.
- There's no modification on this trailer.
- My understanding of electrical system is ok, above general public, but I'm not a electrical engineer by trade.
- I stored the trailer exactly as the booklet suggested, which to be honest doesn't say a whole lot, I even make sure the indoor storage is heated and never dipped below freezing.
- This post is not regarding HOW to solve my problem, as it's still currently being solved, just very very slowly and Winnebago doesn't seem to care , at all, they also seem to have little to no understanding how the system is put together, as we slowly discovered most of the wiring set up is identical to non FLX model.

[Morich]

The more I read of you rcomments, the more I understand why Winnebago has turned off trying to resolve the question!
When you state that a battery has a function similiar to a generator in an RV, there is little doubt that any discussion with Winnebago is not going to go well!


I wish you well but I'm out of this , very much like Winnebago!

[creativepart]

Let me step in here and apply some caution.

We get it, the OP is disgruntled. It happens. He's voiced his concerns and his opinion.

He has said he's not looking for a solution. So, we won't suggest any.

However, if he thinks he'll find support for his opinions or his attempting to band other members here together to join him, this will not be permitted in this forum. The OP must find other methods of lodging his complaints.

The OP needs to understand that this forum is in no way connected to Winnebago and is for mutual owners to support each other with information and repair advice. If he wants to create lawsuits his attempts cannot be supported here.

I'm going to close this thread - as the OP wants no solutions it can do no good for us to keep trying to help him.