Warranty Headaches

[Fire5er]

I know that most have been minir issue but some have had some minor problems. Rich, Mike, us, and many more have had problems that if it was not for the good Lord above watching out for us that it could have ended in injury or death. The electrical system melting down, a major component of the suspension system failing, I just can't see that ignoring these issues as being good business practice.

[8.1al]

I don't think Montana can be accused of ignoring some of the issues we are having or had. As exnavydiver indicated the dvd is an LG not the Quest so many of us had problems with and the Apollo has been replaced with a Dometic. As far as the spring hangers go you must first determine the cause of the problem before it can be fixed. Don't get me wrong here, if my unit had a meltdown like Rich's or had a spring hanger fail I would be upset too, we just can't expect changes overnight.

[JimF]

Wasn't going to comment but can't help it. A mass number of electronic failures like those reported put me in mind of checking an external source, such as the power input at the park when these errors occurred. A high or low voltage situation could be a cause... As for the floor, it's a design issue and the lights are truly junk. I see the same junk in trailers that are in a higher cost point that this unit so that is a result of the industry. My opinion only.

[Exnavydiver]

I doubt that the electronic problems are from park power problems. When I outfitted this rig one of the first things I ordered for it was a 900 watt APC unit that sits in the entertainment bay with the DVD, DVR, Hughes Modem, and wireless router and also powers the HDTV. Any power surge or lag is taken up by the APC and even when the power has failed all of those goodies ran for almost an hour before the APC unit started sounding the low battery alarm. As for the Micro/ convection We never used the convection feature till we got to Fla. The microwave still works as advertised and has never failed... Dave and Betsy

[mail2us]

Brad, your "Board Room" conversation was great. An alternative to offer the "Boss" should have been a new Keystone model called, say the "Rhode Island" and put the risk inventory into the new model but give the customer a 3 year warranty that includes bringing the unit to the nearest repair center for repair!

[Jerzy54]

Did everybody forgot about frame flex issues?
I think it's all Keystone fault. Every car manufacturer is authorizing every vendor they are dealing with and stand behind installed products. We are not using our Monty to same extend like many of you and I deal with minor problems myself without dealing with a dealer, only because it is pain of the neck to try to get something fixed thru them. I also had a problem with switching my brend new items for old once while at the dealer. I also have to mention here that I have an extended warranty which I will use in the case of major problems.

[ols1932]

quote:Originally posted by hazmic

Why should any dealer have to contact the "factory" for repair/replace any thing that is defective. If it is broken or not proper then fix or replace it. Keystone dose get beat up on things that they do not make but is supplied by a the lowest bidder. Our car/truck dealer dose not have to contact the factory for every little repair. If Keystone has set this policy,then maybe they need to take another look at this. All it dose is make people mad or unhappy at their product. We pay a lot of money and should not have to put up with the hassle.

Hazmic, you're right on! Dealers who are reputable do not call, nor do they have to call, Keystone for every problem. Good dealers have good training programs where their technicians can work out most, if not all, problems on all models.

Orv

[richfaa]

My "meltdown" was not caused by any kind of campground electrical problem. It was caused by a improperly placed wire that wore through, shorted to frame and burned through a Hydraulic line. Hydraulic fluid has a very low flash point..and it flashed. The problem was caused by questionable workmanship and questionable quality control. We had the 06 3400 7 months at that point and had pulled into Quartzsite, Az after about 2200 hard bumpy miles.. This was the worst problem we had with the 3400 and the same conditions may well exist in your underbelly. Note that we use our 3400 hard, like many on this forum,We drive many miles on roads of all kinds and we use all the 3400's systems on a near continual bassis..doing that increases the chances of failure.(at least I think it does) The problems fall into two categories.. (1)Failure of vendor provided items..Not keystones fault you say....Wrong... Keystone is responsible for the quality of each and every vendor provided item in their products.(2) Quality/ Workmanship and quality control. Totally Keystones responsibility although a industry wide problem and one the consumer accepts as....part of Rv'ing.. Oh ... Rats..I should keep quiet but quality and workmanship are subjects that just get me going.

[2golfers]

I may be a minority but we have not had the problems with our Montana, that some of you have had(knock wood), I love my apollo oven, and our dealer replaced our DVD before pick up because others have had problems. We read about the problems w/the remote heating unit and showed the specs from this forum to our dealer and he changed this out for us also. I guess having a good dealer goes a long way.

[MacDR50]

Every manufacturer is attempting to reduce costs by making you their quality control system. When I bought my MH it had both a factory inspection sheet and one from the dealer. Today it is more profitable to push out a higher percentage of defective units and replace them when they fail than to ensure they are built right in the first place. This goes hand in hand with sourcing units and components from low cost makers overseas. Buying quality at a reasonable price is a disappearing option. In all product lines this is the new reality. A year ago last November we purchased a full suite of new appliances from Sears. The clothes washer clutch lasted about a year (Whirlpool), the refrigerator less than a year (Frigidaire) and the clock on the stove is now giving us problems (Moffat). In every case the defective component was made outside NA. The repair guy told us he has been in the business 25 odd years and the stuff he is seeing now just never happened when he first started. So what are we to do about it? Could it be that the free market system isn't perfect? More government regulation? More product liability litigation? Tariffs on low cost countries? Does anyone sell anything better? I am buying a Montana and fully expect to be back to the dealer more than once. I have a good dealer but he doesn't make the trailer and there are only so many brands out there. As Richfaa says, all are made with the same component suppliers and all reflect the new business model: "Sell it once and move on to the next smuck" There is no name you can trust anymore.

[richfaa]

"Every manufacturer is attempting to reduce costs by making you their quality control system" Good Post Roger

Since we spent 4 days at the service center in April of 07 for many accumulated repairs, with the exception of a minor leak in the fitting of one hydraulic line we have not had a single problem large or small.Every problem we had to that time was a result of "cost effective" vendor provided items and /or less that adequate workmanship /quality control. Looks like we did our job as the quality control department.

Going along with Roger's thought.. If we are placed in the roll of Quality control for the manufacturers, against our will I might add, then why not perform the job .Let the manufacturer know of the quality issue or failure and let them make it right.. That's the job. Why they might even determine that it is more "cost effective" for them to do it rather than us???? Roger has the proper mind set to purchase a Montana. He understands the product and the system that manufacturers it..He is way ahead of most folks who purchase a RV.

[TLightning]

The key to all these issues is Keystone and the dealer's bottom line which is money. They want the most product for the least amount of money...sound familiar, it shoud, because that's what we do as buyers of these rigs.

As one of my favorite talk show hosts likes to say..."Follow the money!!"