Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum - View Single Post - How Our Montana Spoiled Our Trip to Newfoundland

Dean A Van Peursem · 07-04-2008, 08:22 AM

I do want to thank all of the MOC'ers here on the board. Many of the minor problems we have had with our unit I have been able to fix myself quite easily and quickly due to the tremendous knowledge and support from all of you. I'll never forget our first real outing after we had gone though a couple camping test stints right next to the original dealer. We dry camped for three days and "full service" camped for three days within 5 miles of the dealer immediately upon purchase. That was a tip from a MOC'er and was a tremendously helpful one. We had the 3400RL in for major repairs 3 of the 6 days. That in itself was disgusting and a very good indication of what we were going to face in the future. However, back to our first real camping trip. Upon setting up, the front jacks quit working entirely. Fortunately we were in a campground that had WiFi, that was part of our campground selection criteria. After checking every manual I could find that came with our unit, some were missing, and checking every possible fuse that might have something to do with this problem, without success, I immediately fired up the Lap Top and got connected to this board. Within 15 minutes I had an answer. Check the in-line 30 Amp fuse behind the battery in the front garage. I didn't know one even existed there and no Montana manual refers to it. It took awhile to find it but when I did and pried it open, sure enough that fuse had blown. Fortunately, I had purchased spare fuses and had them with us and even had the right one of the right rating, which is a bit of a miracle. That immediately fixed that problem and haven't had that problem occur again.

There have been repeated instances of this over and over where I have received similar kinds of advice, suggestions and help on this board. I don't know what we would have done without it. For this help I am, eternally grateful to all of you. Thanks again.

But.... all these problems we have gone through, and we have been through many, should not have happened to begin with and the documentation and owners manuals provided with our 3400RL can best be described as a "JOKE". A disgusting insult. This was a near $50,000 purchase. I've received better, more complete, better organized manuals on a $200 piece of Electronics gear. The only reason this ugly situation exists is because we Montana Owners accept it. We get what we permit.

And I would like to point out that we Montana owners are paying for this poor quality twice. Keystone has to price these units to make a profit or they won't stay in business. So they have to increase the price to cover the extensive warranty costs they experience. Then we pay for all the costs associated with getting the unit back to the dealer so they fix them under warranty. I've fixed many of the problems myself because it was less expensive to do so rather than hauling the unit to a dealer. But even in those cases expenses were involved. So we have paid twice for poor quality that supposedly is to be fixed for free under warranty.

I sent a career in industry where it was very obvious that building a quality product up front, and in some cases at a higher cost, was less expensive than having to fix it later. Not including the reputation deterioration cost that goes along with producing and selling a poor quality product which is the ultimate reason which will destroy a company and their products. Building a product right the first time is the lowest possible cost product.

Maybe the current economic downturn will wake up the RV consumers a bit and they will demand more from the manufacturers. Unfortunately, I don't hold out much hope for that. We now live in a throw away society and accept shoddy products because we don't demand quality any more. OH well, $hit happens. Right? Maybe we need to just buy a few more Carbon Credits and the whole thing will go away.

Rant OFF!

07-04-2008, 08:22 AM	#47
Dean A Van Peursem Montana Master Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Snohomish Posts: 579 M.O.C. #5583	I do want to thank all of the MOC'ers here on the board. Many of the minor problems we have had with our unit I have been able to fix myself quite easily and quickly due to the tremendous knowledge and support from all of you. I'll never forget our first real outing after we had gone though a couple camping test stints right next to the original dealer. We dry camped for three days and "full service" camped for three days within 5 miles of the dealer immediately upon purchase. That was a tip from a MOC'er and was a tremendously helpful one. We had the 3400RL in for major repairs 3 of the 6 days. That in itself was disgusting and a very good indication of what we were going to face in the future. However, back to our first real camping trip. Upon setting up, the front jacks quit working entirely. Fortunately we were in a campground that had WiFi, that was part of our campground selection criteria. After checking every manual I could find that came with our unit, some were missing, and checking every possible fuse that might have something to do with this problem, without success, I immediately fired up the Lap Top and got connected to this board. Within 15 minutes I had an answer. Check the in-line 30 Amp fuse behind the battery in the front garage. I didn't know one even existed there and no Montana manual refers to it. It took awhile to find it but when I did and pried it open, sure enough that fuse had blown. Fortunately, I had purchased spare fuses and had them with us and even had the right one of the right rating, which is a bit of a miracle. That immediately fixed that problem and haven't had that problem occur again. There have been repeated instances of this over and over where I have received similar kinds of advice, suggestions and help on this board. I don't know what we would have done without it. For this help I am, eternally grateful to all of you. Thanks again. But.... all these problems we have gone through, and we have been through many, should not have happened to begin with and the documentation and owners manuals provided with our 3400RL can best be described as a "JOKE". A disgusting insult. This was a near $50,000 purchase. I've received better, more complete, better organized manuals on a $200 piece of Electronics gear. The only reason this ugly situation exists is because we Montana Owners accept it. We get what we permit. And I would like to point out that we Montana owners are paying for this poor quality twice. Keystone has to price these units to make a profit or they won't stay in business. So they have to increase the price to cover the extensive warranty costs they experience. Then we pay for all the costs associated with getting the unit back to the dealer so they fix them under warranty. I've fixed many of the problems myself because it was less expensive to do so rather than hauling the unit to a dealer. But even in those cases expenses were involved. So we have paid twice for poor quality that supposedly is to be fixed for free under warranty. I sent a career in industry where it was very obvious that building a quality product up front, and in some cases at a higher cost, was less expensive than having to fix it later. Not including the reputation deterioration cost that goes along with producing and selling a poor quality product which is the ultimate reason which will destroy a company and their products. Building a product right the first time is the lowest possible cost product. Maybe the current economic downturn will wake up the RV consumers a bit and they will demand more from the manufacturers. Unfortunately, I don't hold out much hope for that. We now live in a throw away society and accept shoddy products because we don't demand quality any more. OH well, $hit happens. Right? Maybe we need to just buy a few more Carbon Credits and the whole thing will go away. Rant OFF!