Broken Welds Repaired

[Art]

Scotts RV dealership in Lakewood, NJ has always done well by me! My 2004 3670RL had 7 broken welds in the upper part near the hitch. The dealership contacted the factory and they did an excellent repair job.I got it back today and I'm ready for some late Spring camping. Thank you, Scotts RV!

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Thank You Art for that testimony of how Keystone stands behind their products.

[bsmeaton]

Thats Fantastic Art!

We got the same response from Keystone on our 2003, which is why we went back with confidence for our 2007. Happy camping!

[mobrownies]

Glad they took good care of you and that Keystone covered the cost to fix the weld cracks. I am amazed that they have been having this problem for years and have not figured out how to correct the problem before the welds crack.

Ours flexes enough that I can't keep the trim caulked and sealed under the bedroom slid. The dealer inspected and indicated that there were no signs of cracks in the welds yet, but that the moisture was starting to rust the steel frame. Keystone has refused to do anything about it as there are no cracks yet and the amount of flex is within their "tolerance". I have not given up on this yet, but so far I have asked Keystone to stand behind their product on three different problems and they have offered no assistance on any of them.

[richfaa]

Actually Keystone did not have the problem.Lippert makes the frames and they had the problem and there was a fix. The problem was across the board on many different brands of RV's.Keep in mind that Keystone as well as most all RV manufacturers only assemble a Rv with parts supplied by a multitude of vendors.The Manufacturer is only responsible for the quality of workmanship involved in assembling the vendor supplied items.We did take photo's of the fix while on a factory tour and posted them on this forum...that was awhile back.I may not be exactly correct but units manufactured in 05 , perhaps mid or late 04 do not have that issue. I , otherwise known as Mr Picky have had a couple of serious issues with Keystone and they have, in my case, stood behind the product and offered all the assistance I requested. If you feel you have a valid "frame Flex" issue do not give up as Lippert/Keystone has corrected these problems....

[Fordzilla]

While I was at the Rally I showed the service center my stress cracks and where the seams were pulling apart and they set up an appointment for me to return in the spring to have it fixed. Mine too was pulling the moldings apart every time you hooked up and/or unhooked and I wanted something done before it got bad enough to cause any wood rot.

[kmh3212]

GM, Ford, Dodge etc..... buy parts from multitudes of vendors but they warranty the entire vehicle bumper to bumper most for at least 3 years 36,000 miles. The RV industry expects you to go to their subcontractors for their separate warranties after one year.
This can be said for most everything you buy other than RVs. What's up here. High price, very high profit margin, lack of taking full responsibility for total product quality. With this much money spent on this rig I bought a real warranty from a third party that covers most everything for 7 years. I am now waiting on new axles and tires.

[richfaa]

kmh3212..you just had a BGO (blinding glimpse of the obvious) and have figured out the RV industry and the value of a good extended warranty. However it is not all the manufacturers fault as we the consumer accept it as "that's the way it is" We would be up in arms if the Auto industery was the same. I think it is KIA that offers 10 years 100K warranty..how's that for confidence in the product///

[bsmeaton]

KIA isn't confident in thier product, the are selling you confidence in thier product. Yugo offered a similar warranty and we all know how that turned out. It's just a marketing strategy to get a new average quality car into the market against Honda or Toyota.

I guess the difference between the RV industry and the auto industry is the auto manufactures actually manufacture a good percentage of the parts, or at least own a good share of the companies that make parts for them. The RV companies do not really seem to manufacture anything. They just provide labor to assemble someone elses parts. If they haven't had to provide any kind of warranty to remain competitive so far, they won't. Could be changing though as a few companies have alread jumped to a 2-year.

JMHO

[kmh3212]

There are about 140 RV manufacturers selling 380,000 new units for a total of about 14 billion dollars a year. Websites like this one hopefully have some affect on customer service and quality control by the manufacturers. It is still up to us as the consumer to do our research before we spend our hard earned dollars. We then must hope the manufacturers will stand behind what they produce...Then we must buy an additional warranty so we can afford to go have fun and not fret over the cost of the next microwave, refrigerator, frame, axle, air conditioner, furnace, hot water heater etc.. problem. With my past RV experience and this being my fourth RV I learned that a good RV extended warranty is a must! I do mean a good warranty!
BTW If KIA made RVs I'd buy one!

[richfaa]

kmh3212..."BTW If KIA made RVs I'd buy one!"....another blinding glimpse of the obvious.. so would I...

[Illini Trekker]

This forum doe's have it's power and other forums (RVNet). That is one more reason I subscribe to Trailer Life and there Rv action line articles. Some times alittle arm twisting is needed.