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Old 03-17-2018, 08:48 AM   #1
rslopez65
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The saga of a faulty faucet

So, we were heading to Florida for a couple of months and stopped for breakfast. I found the spray pull-out faucet laying in the sink. The part that screws onto the pull out tube had broken inside the spray head. Simple fix right? There is a Camping World right down the road and we have plenty of time to stop by and pick up a new spray handle. Took the spray handle with me and asked them if they had a new one. Nope, they had to order it and it would take two weeks and cost about $80.00. Well, we didn't have two weeks (two hours maybe but not two weeks) so we said no thanks, we will pick up the part when we get settled in Florida. Since it was under warranty, we decided to call Keystone and see if they could send us the part. I know, but we are new Montana owners and our last SOB would have sent us the part with no problem. Montana said we had to take the rig into a certified repair place and have the damage evaluated and have the repair place order the part. What the heck, I needed a new spray handle for the kitchen faucet so I could do dishes. Anyhoo, they did give us the names of 3 repair places near Titusville (where we were headed) so we began calling them. Had to leave messages at all three and two did actually call back. The quote we received from the first guy was $172.00 for replacement. Sticker shock. The other guy called back and said it would be a month before he had an opening to repair the faucet. We told him it didn't have to be repaired, we could screw the new faucet handle on ourselves. He just needed to order the part. Well he didn't get it. OK, why not just go to Home Depot or Lowes and replace the whole darn thing. Found a plumbing supply place and he advised against it as the parts may or may not fit depending on how the faucet was made. Well, we aren't too handy so we figured we would call Montana again and they told us we could contact Tiara for the part but would have to pay for it ourselves. We called them; they were very nice and would be happy to send us the part for $217.00. They could no longer look up the part via VIN number so we gave them the part number and, of course, what they wanted to send us was not the same part. Remember the plumbing supply guy? He gave us the name of a dealer who might be able to help. He sold Airstreams. Well, this guy was an angel. Late Thursday afternoon we walked in with our poor broken faucet handle, he spent quite a bit of time looking up the part number, said he would order it for us and if it didn't come in before we left the area he would just send it back. He didn't ask for money up front either. The next morning, yes the NEXT morning, he called and said the part was in. He had it added to his other order. We picked it up, paid $27.00 for it, went home and screwed it in place. Viola!!!!!!!!! I find it funny that Keystone would have paid an exorbitant fee to replace that part under warranty.
 
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Old 03-17-2018, 09:20 AM   #2
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THAT end result is the difference between someone working at their CAREER instead of just drawing a paycheck and looking for quitting time. Glad you got it fixed.

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Old 03-17-2018, 10:34 AM   #3
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On smaller warrenty items I frequently fix it myself it's easier, cheaper on my time and stress and I end up with a part that wasn't supplied by the low bidder. I've also found that a dealer will charge far less if you are paying the bill right now and they don't have to hassel with all the warranty paperwork and crap. Recently Keystone was trying to say that the staples coming out of the J pannel along the edge of the roof and pushing the roof fabric up and out a couple of inches wasn't a manufacturer defect. Rather than fight it and eventually win I got the dealer to fix it the right way for $75. Not worth the time and stress, although I do plan to bring it up at a meeting with Keystone reps at the national Rally. That way I'll at least get some entertainment value.
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Old 03-17-2018, 07:45 PM   #4
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My dealer, CW in Myrtle Beach, has been great (we will see how the current projects go) for years on many TTs and 5ers. Warranty or not. Still, the small stuff I do and often use a mobile tech or another service center. I have a plumber that is great too. All appliances go to an authorized repair facility or mobile tech and away from the dealer as they are usually able to fix the problem sooner and often have more parts in stock.
I know people hate to pay a service call to fix an appliance under warranty but ~~ it is rare my dealer can do a repair while I wait. A 43 mile trip each way to deliver and pick up comes to 92 miles or about 8 gallon of diesel and my time. Well worth the $50 service charge.
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Old 03-18-2018, 05:32 AM   #5
jeffba
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Camper Clinic II in Buda does service differently based on who is paying. When I took our SOB in for a number of repairs , I scheduled an appointment, they started it right away and fixed it in a timely matter. Broke out CC and paid them. Then ended up here on the MOC. That is a whole nother story.

Took our MHC in for warranty work, Scheduled an appointment, took camper in, a week later called in, no one has looked at it. Called back a few days later and still nothing. Called our salesperson. She got it moving. All told 6 weeks to get it done. Had it not for the worse of the repairs being tank sensors and a bad valve I would have done the rest myself. At least when they say they fixed it they have actually fixed it.
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Old 03-18-2018, 08:06 AM   #6
rslopez65
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Guess we can't really complain about poor warranty service when we prefer to take care of problems ourselves and not hold the manufacturer responsible. This issue was so minor that I was surprised at how difficult it was to just get a simple part and how much it would have cost Keystone to have had a dealer take care of it.
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Old 03-18-2018, 08:21 AM   #7
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Your issues with this small stuff makes me wonder why we're buying Keystone stuff. I hear the same kind of stories on the SOB forums so I see it as industry wide "give a **** is broken". On appliances and some of the other big stuff, it turns out better to contact directly the maker of such. So far our dealer has been great to work with but I've taken care of tiny issues myself. I'm actually going to be glad when the one year warranty expires and I get possibly a Coach Net ESC.
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Old 03-18-2018, 09:12 AM   #8
Dave W
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We have had several TTs and 5ers. Things like cheap faucets are a replacement given. What I have found is that these original parts are plastic, there may be a 'standard' part that will fix it but that still wont correct the underlying problem of poor parts. Keystone as well as about every other brand I've looked at have about the same component parts tho arranged a bit differently. My usual fix for low buck items like a faucet is a trip to HD/Lowe's since my dealer is 3+ hours away and the unit is well out of warranty. As far as customer service - I found with ours that if a dealer does his job, and ours did on the very few warranty items the problems are minimized

Now, that faucet - any swiveling American Standard (my usual choice) Delta, Moen, etc will fit and the prics are what your billfold will bear. Ours ended up being a 'last year's American Standard model, reduced from , IIRC,~$150 to, ~$100 at Lowe's. A fantastic faucet in comparuson

A faucet is a bolt on part. You will need a pair of feed line adapter fittings, also available at HD/Lowe's. You also need to consider height as well as spigot reach plus whether it will fit a single hole counter.
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Old 03-18-2018, 01:09 PM   #9
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I’m like Dave. I took the cheap POJ tossed and put in a good one before I had trouble.
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Old 03-19-2018, 02:10 PM   #10
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I think the kitchen & bath faucets were the first thing to go
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Old 03-19-2018, 05:41 PM   #11
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I had Moen faucets when I built our house 42 years ago and I still have one left in our tub. We have never had one leak and never replaced a cartridge. Excellent service. As we have remolded the kitchen and bathrooms we replaced them with the new ones with flat plates instead of cartridges on the advice of our plumber friend. I will haft to admit they are nicer, much smoother. Will they last 40 years?
We have had one for 10 years. I will only be a 102 when they are 40. I just planted a redwood tree and can’t wait till it’s 300 feet tall. HaHa.
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Old 03-19-2018, 05:54 PM   #12
mtlakejim
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Ditto to Dave and mlh! Forget about replacing that easy to break Chinese junk parts with another Chinese junk part!! Instead buy quality parts from Lowes or Home Depot and you won't have to worry about it again for the life of the camper!! Less hassle the one time you replace it and never have to worry about it again!
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Old 03-19-2018, 06:04 PM   #13
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One thing I am having a hard time with is the Keystone warranty process, and most of the dealers to fix them are CW, so doesn’t leave me with a warm and fuzzy, also their QC video they originally sent me is a joke, nothing leaves there u til it is perfect, yeah ok.

That being said I am about to contact them and drive it to Indiana and have them fix everything, as the CW dealer we bought it from had 5 weeks to get parts and they waited 3 weeks before ordering them so I have about had it, where is the quality and customer loyalties when I am pushed aside, love the rig but quality product they are not and dealer network leaves a lot to be smdesired.
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Old 08-07-2018, 09:38 PM   #14
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Replaced the plastic bathroom faucet today. An easy job with the adapter for the connections. The faucet came with a replacement sink stopper and I changed that out as the cheap original is annoying as well. We are very happy with many aspects of our Monty but some cheap things just need to go.
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Old 08-08-2018, 09:20 AM   #15
rslopez65
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Well, that cheap plastic faucet has now lasted over a year and for $27.00 I'll not be complaining.
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Old 08-08-2018, 09:26 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TBW Ventures View Post
......... but some cheap things just need to go.



Just think of all the fun you have to look foreard too while doing those improvements
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