Trick me once, shame on you.... - Montana Owners Club

Montana_265 · 03-13-2005, 02:16 AM

We had many problems with our 2000 Montana (mostly early on). Because of them, I never really felt confident when traveling with it. I was really interested in the 2005, 2955, but due to past experience we decided on a Sunnybrook. The 2955 was prettier, had more counter space in the kitchen, had other standards that were options in our other choice, but I was not confident to do it again("trick me twice, shame on me"). Over the four year period we traveled with it, we met "many" dissatisified Montana owners. We have owned other brands and never had problems (other than a converter dying in the Terry)until the Montana. We may have just had a lemon. Hopefully we will have good luck with the Sunnybrook. Keystone, you lost a sale due to our past experience with your product. Think quality vs quantity - it is not a numbers contest. I am not impressed with how much product you crank out in a week. Hard working people are paying good money for this product

Montana_657 · 03-13-2005, 03:08 AM

Amen....

lightningjack11 · 03-13-2005, 03:15 AM

Sissyph,

Sunnybrook appears to be a good unit. My Montana dealer has switched to Sunnybrook so I have looked at them.

But I Luv my Montana even more than the day I bought it. It is safe, dependable, and I have had very few problems with it. The only major problem was with the Service Advisory 00-8 that corrected a possible frame problem. I had to find this out on my own since the dealer overlooked this advisory. So my initial experience was not good. I think you had that done on yours. But with the frame upgrade I would put the frame strength as greater than the new ones. Keeping my 2000 for a while and will be putting another 7-8000 miles on it this year.

Hope you have good luck with the Sunnybrook.

Parrothead · 03-13-2005, 03:41 AM

Isn't it amazing how different we look at things. We first saw Montana in 98 or 99 - what was the first year? It was a 3295 and we fell in love. However at the time it seemed like a lot of money so we started asking everyone we saw. At that time we were doing a lot of traveling around California working. We went to every RV show we could find, we talked to every Montana owner we saw, in parks, in rest stops, at Wal Mart, anywhere. We never heard a negative word in all that research. Oh some told us of some problems they had but got fixed and what we got from most was PRIDE. Always inviting us in to show off their Monty. We almost bought twice but couldn't get the deal we wanted. When we finally got our Monty it was between the 3295 and the 3400 and the final decision was made due to color as we wanted an in stock one instead of ordering. We also looked at every other brand made. We almost bought an Alphanite but liked the 3400 and 3295 floor plans better.

Montana_265 · 03-13-2005, 03:42 AM

Thanks to you informing us of the frame problem, we also had it fixed (even though they melted our brake wires together while doing it and we only found out our next time out). We were never notified of the problem by Keystone or our dealer. We have not had recent problems (a year or so), but like I say, I have lost my confidence and to me that is important... especially when going 65-70 down an interstate. I haven't seen many responses from Keystone on this site addressing their customers concerns.... this is one way I can protest. We came close to getting the 2955, but past experience was what was the deciding factor. I will still be visiting this forum for all the great travel advise from a bunch of great folks! I can change my user name to SOB - hee hee, no problem!

toolmanroy · 03-13-2005, 04:00 AM

Hope you are happy with your Sunnybrook. Our 2005 2955RL is a great trailer and we are very happy with it. We have not had to take it back for anything and have had it for almost a year.

Montana_265 · 03-13-2005, 06:00 AM

My post was a message that hopefully Keystone will read and not to be taken as being critical of other Monty owners. Just that my experiences ruined it for me.

BillyRay · 03-14-2005, 04:24 AM

we have owned several different types of campers and motorhomes...and differant manufactures as well. I do have to say I have had many more problems with BOTH the montanas that we've owned than all other units combined! many things have been warrentied...some after long drawn out fights, but just the fact that you have to continually go back for sevice is a pain in the butt!

yes, I agree you will have problems with any unit. and I do have to give my currant dealer some credit and praise for doing alot of the work for me at my campsite instead of driving it to the dealer.

when it does come time to replace my montana (hopefully a long time from now!) there will be alot of thought into it. some of the poor workmanship will be a consideration, but we do love the montana.

Broome101 · 03-14-2005, 11:26 AM

This is our 3rd Keystone product starting with a Springdale, Cougar and now a Montana. Other than the remote thermostat not working took about 3 months to get it corrected which I did myself with help from, Gary Atwater from Dometic we have only had minor issues that we fixed ourselves with just a little effort. no major issues as of yet. Now camping season is fast approaching and we have yet to fully break in our Montana we cannot wait to hit the road in it and see how things go. For the money we feel good about the Keystone brand of products.

Montana_265 · 03-14-2005, 12:10 PM

Have a wonderful summer with your new unit. From reading the posts seems slide leaks and the remote thermostat have been the main problems. Ours is a 2000 and we finally got all the bugs out of it. Time to move to a newer model and we decided on another route. We had many a good time in Monty, aside from the frustrations and we look forward to many more good times, no matter what brand we are in. Have a safe and happy summer!

stiles watson · 03-15-2005, 09:31 AM

I am a believer in direct communication. Therefore, I am curious as to why you "hope Keystone reads this." Why not address a cryptic letter to them directly, unless there is a secondary motive for posting here.

tbhd · 03-15-2005, 10:39 AM

Sissyph

Good luck to you with whatever you purchased. So far we have had good luck with our Monty and had some problems with a higher end 5th wheel we use to have. Seems like cars they all seems to have some problems--some minor and some BIG ones. Hopefully your dealer can take care of any problems with whatever you purchase.

richfaa · 03-15-2005, 12:00 PM

This is the forum for commmunicating with keystone...Note that Keystone has not replied....

Glenn and Lorraine · 03-15-2005, 12:13 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

This is the forum for commmunicating with keystone...Note that Keystone has not replied....

Rich, Don't be looking for any replies from Keystone or Montana on the forum. It was stated at the rally that although they do read the forum they will not respond via the forum. If there is going to be any contact from either it will be through a Private Message or Email.

richfaa · 03-15-2005, 02:02 PM

I did send E-Mail to keystone..When I asked for a brochure or asked a positive question I got near instant reply..When I asked them about quality control.....Nothing... Like my one time boss used to say....don't tell me nothing I don't want to hear... You know I like the Montana unit..we toured the factory last summer and was very impressed. We still do not see anything out there better in the price range( execpt for maybe Cardinal) I worked with quality control for years I know the causes of poor quality in a organization..there is no excuse for the shabby workmanship we are seeing. If Montana does not shape up they will lose market share.

Montana_657 · 03-15-2005, 02:14 PM

Amen again... I did quality assurance until it wen't out of style....(Canadian ATC.. a tip... don't fly north) and know how things are let slide to make quotas.... what I don't understand is why burnt consumers seem to want to make excuses for a factorey that builds a shoddy product. Guess there are no Japenese RV's out there.

richfaa · 03-16-2005, 03:31 AM

Gruffy..I did quality Assurance in the USA, FAA. So you and I understand quality control and how easy it CAN be to correct, the reasons why organizations will not correct it and what happens to organizations that do nothing. This is a old story to me..

RVBUDDY · 03-16-2005, 03:37 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

This is the forum for commmunicating with keystone...Note that Keystone has not replied....

Glenn is right.

sreigle · 04-09-2005, 07:40 AM

I have no facts but it seems we're hearing delivery times are a bit longer than they used to be. Does this mean sales are up or are they possibly slowing things down a bit to reduce the sloppy hurry-up type mistakes? Anybody hearing anything on this?

richfaa · 04-09-2005, 01:59 PM

My views on quality control in the RV industry are well known on this forum..because I understand quality control.Montana makes a good unit that is why we choose to buy one.I think that Montana's quality will improve..they got to where they are because of their excellent quality and I don't think they want to do anything (more) to lose their market share. As a matter of fact I note on this very forum the the reports on new deliveries show fewer problems.. Montana grew to fast and got sloppy.My guess is that their market share started to slip a bit..the bean counters took note and asked "why" I think the longer delivery time MAY be a clue. Quality instead of quanity... I hope so..we want that 3295RK...

You may also like: