Factory trip for service worth it?

[MattyA]

I have a still-in-warranty Forza 38W. I’ve been on several trips with it now and have a nice long punch-list of items for warranty service. Most are in the small-but-annoying category (trim pieces falling off, sink plumbing that isn’t secured other than with the tape I had to use, etc.). However, some are more significant: an exterior trim piece that went fling off on the highway, a small leak during heavy rain, one compartment with dampness every time driving on wet roads, constant error codes required frequent resets of the Truma water heater).

I have heard that many people make an appointment at the factory to address these sorts of punch-lists. That is a ~450 mile trip for me but might be a fun fall trip to take in any case. The alternative is to go to the dealer General RV in Wayland MI which is less than an hour and a half driving. I have heard pretty terrible things about General RV, plus that’s not where I bought the coach so I suspect I’d be very low on their priority list. I’m pretty far from the dealer where I bought the coach and in any case their service department didn’t inspire a lot of confidence when I was there for the purchase visit and pickup visit.

What do you all think? Do people have positive experiences with these factory trips? How do they work logistically? Ie where do you stay when the coach is in the shop? Are the repairs generally very quick?

Many thanks in advance for the insight.

Matt

[SteveD49]

After fooling around with Camping World over warranty issues for months without resolution, I decided to drive from North Carolina to Forest City. The trip was well worth it. Though they have a limit of 5 "fixes" per appointment, they ended up fixing 8 in two days there. Camping World would have taken months. Everyone at Winnebago were most courteous and most of all: qualified. Not sure how things are during the pandemic, but - even though my warranty has now expired - I would go there again if I had major repairs needed that could not be taken care of locally. Fortunately, I have since found a former mobile RV repairman who is good.

[creativepart]

It was a 1700 mile trip for us and I'd do it again without any second thought.

I bought my RV in July 2017 and just to be safe I made my appointment the month after I purchased for end of April, 2018. I wanted to get there, still in warranty, after winter, before summer rush and before I had a real list of problems. By the time April rolled around I had my list ready to go.

The sooner you call to make the appointment the sooner you can get scheduled. However, even without an appointment you can still just go and wait for an opening. About half of the folks there when I was there did not have appointments.

They schedule something like 3-days per person unless they know you're going to need more time and they finished mine in a day and a half. So, someone without an appointment got the other day and a half of my time.

[MattyA]

Super. Thanks for the quick input. Logistically, do you stay in a hotel there? How does it work?

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by MattyA

Super. Thanks for the quick input. Logistically, do you stay in a hotel there? How does it work?

There is camping on premises with 50-amp. People with reservations get first come. You camp there and at 6:30 am you line up at the Service Center and at 7 they take you one at a time. You give them your list of repairs. They assign a tech that meets you at your RV and go over each item.

They take the coach and you vacate for the waiting room, or go sightseeing.

They bring the RV back to the parking lot at 2:30 or so and give you an update. If there is a second day you park in the campground and then hand over the RV at 7am the next day when your tech shows up at your door and repeat. You do this every day until it’s done.

Some repairs make the RV unlivable between days and then you go to a hotel.

If you don’t have a reservation and there is no room to camp you either dry camp at the rally ground or go to a local RV parking. There used to be camping at the WIT Club across the street but I heard they closed that.

They are usually really booked all summer but maybe this year will be better due to the virus.

I’d call ASAP.

[MattyA]

Super helpful info...thanks!!

[TJFogelberg]

I have also had good experience in Forest City. There were quite a few bugs to work out of our new Minnie Winnie 31D. Mason City is a short drive away and would make for a nice day trip. The Twin Cities are 2 hours North. Pre-covid there would be a long list of things to do here. Note, the service center closes for a week at the end of the year around Christmas. Had hoped to stop there on my way back from Arizona a few years ago and they were closed. Set up an appointment for the following Spring.

[Truckman]

Definitely I would plan on Forest City service. They will have most everything needed there and take care of it for you. Call and schedule and they will probably tell you to email the list to them and then schedule an appropriate number of days to complete it.