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Okay, Artemus, here goes:
Purchased a New Line Big Sky on July 30th. During the walk thru, it was discovered that the remote worked everything but the awnings. Figures. That's the only thing I would use it for. The techs at the dealer spent all day trying to fix it. On the phone with Keystone and Lippert. Changed out the board, fixed loose connections, reprogramming, I don't know what all they tried. We were on our way to the MOC rally in Sevierville, TN, so we told them we would just take it and come back on our way back home. Stopped on the way home and they had a list of other things to try when we got there. After another full day of working on it, (they found a short list of minor things that they were able to fix,) we opted to just take it home. The awnings worked with the wall switch, so it was useable and we were going to the National Rally in a couple of months. Maybe we could get it fixed at the factory in Goshen.
Scheduled the "15 minutes with a tech" in Goshen and he made notes of, not only the remote issue, but a list of other issues, including the delamination of the bottom of the bedroom slide and cable strength so weak it wouldn't support a picture on the television. Told us they wanted our dealer at home to fix it. They could have scheduled us in at the factory service center, but it would require us staying another week and I still had three weeks to work before retiring. Mark Kroll at Keystone told me to let him know if we had any problems getting the repairs.
We had already rented our lot in FL for the winter, so we got an appointment at home and dropped it off as soon as we got back. After two weeks in the shop and talking to Keystone and Lippert CONSTANTLY, they were able to find several more loose connections that they were able to repair, and two fried relays. Ordered the parts. wrong parts sent. Correct parts overnighted. New relays and board installed. Three weeks after we dropped it off - Happy, happy, joy, joy!!! Called us at 3:30 on the day we were supposed to leave for FL, to let us know the remote issue was fixed, but they couldn't fix the cable. Had tightened all the connections they could get to, but the signal was still weak. We arrived 30 minutes later to pick it up and were told "Well, it worked for a few minutes." Right back where we started. Only now, we also had a door-side scare light that is so dim it wouldn't scare a gnat. Service Manager told us it is a wiring issue and they had done everything they could do. This dealer came highly recommended and we know for a fact they worked on it every day, because we went by to check and get updates.
What worries us most is that it is obviously a wiring problem. Every time we leave the RV we wonder if we will return to smoldering mess. This is our home as we are full-timers. Is another trip to the dealer going to mean another three weeks of crashing at our son's house while they research the problems and order more parts? Put our travel plans on hold?
We contacted Mark and told him what all had transpired. Asked him to get us in the Service Center in Goshen. He had Candy call us and she told us all our problems could be handled at a dealer. GRRRR! Both of the places who already tried to fix it called her to tell her otherwise. We didn't hear back from her. Talked to Brian at the Tampa RV Show and he said he could get us in the Goshen Service Center. After a week of hearing nothing, I called him. He passed us on to someone, who passed us on to someone else. She called this morning to tell us we needed to take it to a dealer. GRRRR! Went thru the whole story AGAIN. Called the dealer we purchased it from. They contacted Mark Kroll AGAIN. He told them he would get back with us tomorrow with a date to bring it to Goshen. Need I say, we aren't holding our breath. Have heard that too many times.
In addition to these issues, there have been numerous small issues remedied. I'm shocked by the shoddy workmanship on this unit. Doors coming apart, missing latches, headboard coming off wall, bed has already had to be reattached (keep it clean!), shorts in lights, cheap light switches have broken, lag screws holding a/c to top of trailer were stripped, wires spliced where they didn't need to be, connectors not crimped tightly, connectors just sitting on terminals with no nuts holding them on . . . the list just keeps growing.
The really sad thing? We love our RV and just want it right. I know the remote thing isn't that big a deal and most people don't even use them, but we paid for it and it should work. What's scary is that something is wrong with the wiring and Keystone acts like it's something minor.
I'm sure I've probably forgotten some of it, but this is MOST of the story. You asked.
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