Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandltaylor
When we took out our Montana the third time and were planning on traveling this year, we noticed the black poly material had worn down to the plywood. We contacted Montana and they told us to take it to a dealer to get it repaired, which we did, and two weeks later, picked up the 5th wheel and continued with our traveling. After opening the slide approximately 3 times, we noticed that the same thing was happening again. We contacted Montana and they suggested we take it back to the repair facility, but unfortunately we were back on the road. Montana was okay with that and said to take it to another repair facility at our convenience. We did this and they told us that Montana was not going to warranty the problem with the slide. Has anyone else had this problem and if so, how was it remedied?
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I hate to hear your situation - I've lived it multiple times. This may get a bit long but I hope those living with the darco problem will pay attention.
Keystone does not believe they have a problem with darco - it's a good solution for what they use it for (slide bottoms). They think so because it does not show up on their "top 5" of warranty issues they discuss monthly. Obviously that would be correct because as I told them, generally it manifests at about 18 months. This new trailer started on the first trip but I knew what to look for after those "previous years" spending thousands out of pocket to remedy the situations. IMO every single person with a darco problem within about a 3 year timeline should be hammering on Keystone's door complaining.
For your situation it sounds like you reported it within the warranty period. I figure the 2nd refusal is because Keystone will not warrant the problem again once fixed - it is on the repairing facility to rectify their improper repair. You need to push that on them. The issue will be, I'm sure, that the "repair" agreed to by the dealer and Keystone was inadequate. Keystone will go for the cheap (read wrong) repair first time every time. If your dealer doesn't rebut their proposed repair you are stuck....but so is the dealer. They should take ownership of the repairs they made - but many don't. One thing I cannot emphasize enough - the owner HAS to be involved in any repair, warranty or not. I know, and approve, everything used down to the size of a screw. They contact me before they do anything - but I am "persistent and insistent" by everyone's account.
You need to push the dealer for a proper repair - scrim tape, or tape of any kind, isn't the answer. Darco repair patches aren't either - neither can stand up to the friction of the wear bar. They will tell you Keystone "authorized" x hours and x for materials. Yes they did. The dealer should have pushed for additional hours and correct materials - just went through this.
Go straight to the dealer management; start at service manager and involve the GM or owner whichever is appropriate. Once they took on the repair job they should own it so push it hard at them.