Had to say no to new Montana legacy 3121rl FBP

[jeririgged223]

While you're at it I'd be looking for a new dealer. If that dealer thought that the trailer was in satisfactory condition to hand it over to you, imagine what kind of service you can expect from them. They never should have called you and I'd have been in the middle of their sh*t over that fact.

[Ttman]

We looked for two years before buying our Montana in 2019. We settled on a 2002 3280 RL because I could not in good conscience pay what they were asking for a new one at the time to make sure my wife was going to get into camping and planning a snowbird life when we retire. After many discussions we have decided our older, but very good test camper is going to be a long haul camper because after we fix it up exactly how we want, why get new one. New campers are almost as much as our house. They depreciate rather than hold their value, and not one single manufacturer has a camper that is exactly what we were looking for. You have to just live with their design choices. They are either longer than I want, heavier than I want, wrong colors and textures inside (the wife draws the line on the inside stuff! Lol), etc. we chose an older one for its great shape and solid bones. For what we paid, we can upgrade things we want, as we want and still not be close to what a new one is costing and our taxes are way less than a new one would be. The manufacturers have no pride in their products and are just throwing units out the door and leaving consumers to network on forums like this to help each other discuss and fix their inferior products/designs. I would never buy a unit from 2019 until who knows when because their supply chains are so messed up they are piece-milling completed units together. I hope you can find something you can be happy with.

[StageCoachDriver]

I'm surprised Vanleigh and DRV were just as bad, but I've heard even Air Stream quality has slipped a bit. I have an early edition 2019 (built in 2018) which I plan to hold on to until I'm no longer able to RV.

[Pathfinder75]

Originally Posted by Pat & Tammy

As I stated in my introduction, I used to haul these things from the manufacturers to the dealers. After that experience it is a pure miracle that I ever bought one. I would get so frustrated with the dealers that would take hours to do a delivery inspection. But what surprised me more was the dealers that would not do an inspection at all! I never delivered a single camper that defects were not found. With the exception of the dealers that didn’t do an inspection at all!

While all of the manufacturers can do a better jjob............ and still own a lemon.

I wish you luck with your search for a new rv and I hope you find a better dealership to work with!

My inquiry on statement all your deliveries had a defect.
The delivery inspection I would have thought would be for transportation issues that they would want to blame transporter for. Or so I would have thought.
Did they want you to witness the manufaturing defects for their protection?
I Figured the non inspection locations TRUSTED YOU and had to deal with factory defects on their own anyway.

I dont know just asking.

[Mikendebbie]

We bought our unit at the Fort Worth RV show early Jan 2018. The day we picked it up we started the PDI with the shop foreman. I think he was demonstrating the Level-up system and something did not work. He crawled in the storage bay to tinker with something and there was a big blue flash and spark. No idea what happened but he called a guy to check it out, and suggested we go inside. Once inside DW said “Wait a minute - this is not the interior colors i picked out on the unit at the RV show”. She was right. They had written up the wrong unit. Well - they had the correct unit ready to go the next day.

Thank goodness we did not take the unit they first showed us because my unit has been nearly trouble free. I have fixed the small issues that have showed up. I feel bad for you guys that have trouble but that week of mid-November 2017 was a good week for building a Montana 3921FB.

[Greg n Tracy]

Have you thought about a used unit? Shameless plug as I have a 2019 3130RE Legacy FBP for sale. We have had pretty good luck with ours. If interested, search this forum for 3130RE, and it should still come up.

[Gary F.]

It's not limited to just this industry. Seven months to find two employees who I can count on. (show up, do the job right, willing to jump in and get dirty). It seems as though there is a failure of teaching our youth pride in workmanship, honest days pay for a honest days work... Hopefully those who do it right get strong and speak out, not allow their coworker to just put in time and push out crap. It's a different mind set.. You were right to reject the lack of quality control.

[LERD]

Cherokee,

I realize that the dealer did not cause the initial poor quality of your RV. But who was that dealer? They didn't seem to be much of a help in the long run. The reason I'm asking is because my DW and I are more interested in making sure we find the right dealer first, if possible. After our experience with General here in Ohio, you can say I'm gun shy. Plus, the 3120RL is our favorite floorplan so far as well.

[Cherokee]

The dealer is 20 miles away from factory. I’m not going to say the name but they sell a lot of Montanas. Keep in mind that the new Montanas legacy are not coming with day/night shades, disc brakes, door assist bar, slow close drawers, among other things. So you look at the brochure thinking that you are getting all of this but when you receive your unit, Montana says, that’s just how it’s being built. Why would you pay for the Legacy upgrade when you are not getting the options that make up a Legacy Package. Day/ night shades alone are are over $2,500. Look at the fine print of the brochure, they can change options at anytime and have the right to change specification’s without notice.
Look at the KZ Durango Gold, very well built!

[LERD]

Got it. That tells me all I needed to know. I know who, and I completely understand your discretion. I have seen that very same thing on some trucks for sale. $50 credit because this isn't installed, $200 credit because these seats aren't heated, etc. Your right, if all your getting is the rear cap and power wind-up, thats not worth it. Although that rear cap really does set it off! Good luck on your search finding your future rig.

[dfb]

Originally Posted by StageCoachDriver

I'm surprised Vanleigh and DRV were just as bad, but I've heard even Air Stream quality has slipped a bit. I have an early edition 2019 (built in 2018) which I plan to hold on to until I'm no longer able to RV.

Airstream has been bought out by THOR... I think this is the biggest problem. 2 large companies basically own the industry. With lack of Competition there is no need for Thor or Forest River to compete in the quality and QC arena. I remember Holiday Rambler putting their RVs thru a "Rain Booth" to make sure there were no leaks.They would test Rvs for Cold and heat resistance etc.. I wish we would have know in 15 the problems that we encountered. My brother just bought a 2012 Jayco Pinacle before it was bought out by Thor.... Very nice for 10 years old.. We have ours up for sale and looking to buy a high quality unit.. Don't care about the cost as long as it is well made..

[snowmanfx4]

Originally Posted by Cherokee

Good evening,
My wife and I started our search for the a quality fifthwheel to travel and see the country. This would have been our fifth RV, so we have owned good units and some lower price range units.
We had our new Montana arrive at dealership and was told it was going to be cleaned up and all checked out, so come down and see it, 3.0 hours away.
When we arrived we found table slide mat was sewn incorrectly, island overhead light frame coming apart in two corners, overspray paint all over the inside of almost all the windows, only night shades,(solar shades were not installed), drawers all over the unit that were crooked and not closing flush. The ceiling had bubbles in some spots and shower bottom track cut 1” too short on both ends and not caulked
We told dealership that we didn’t want to take delivery until everything was fixed. They said no problem and that we will start working on it right away.
Fast forward to February 21st, was told everything was fixed and come down and get it.
We arrived to find table side slide mat had been replaced with a mat just as bad as the other one. Island light frame worse with smudge marks where they tried to fix, drawers not repaired for alignment, overspray on inside of windows not repaired. Ceiling bubbles were not repaired either. They did install solar shades. We were very disappointed, buying an RV should not be this hard. My wife and I thought we better check this unit out a little better. I crawled underneath and found skirting was trimmed by a beaver leaving all sorts of jagged sharp edges plus skirting with screws fastening to nothing. But the brakes and springs looked great.
Inside we found on the stove side window that the installer rolled the seal and squeezed it into place. Needless to say, we left the unit there to be repaired before we took it home.
After much discussion during our ride home, a higher Power spoke to us not to except this unit. What else is going to happen since it only had a short 20 mile drive from Factory to dealership. Take heed to the red flags. We lost over 5 months of our lives that we will never get back.
Sorry so negative but you have to take the good with the bad. I would wait to get a new unit until new workers are trained and manufacturers care about products they are producing.
We did stop at another dealership on the way home that sells Higher end fifthwheels such as Vanleigh, Tiffin Beacon and Mobile Suites. Their craftsmanship looked just as bad. I think it’s the whole RV industry and there is truth to the rumor these are poorly built for the last year at least.

Where were you going to buy you rv in Indiana? We got our 2021 3931fb from a dealership close to the factory. Its going back to factory the first of April. Might be the same dealership.

[Flashracer]

I worry about my shower on the wall side. There is a gap not covered or sealed at the top the the shower on wall side. I worry about water or condensation forming or splashing there. Anybody have issue with this? By the way, I bought a 2022 junk Montana.I bought it 4 months ago. I found 2 pages of issues. Dealership had it for over 2 months. I call them and Keystone daily. I hope squeaky wheel gets the grease. I truly regret my purchase.

[wed]

Sorry the issue is not enough good workers , parts and trying to meet the number of units ordered. Doesn’t make it right but it is the issue.

[phillyg]

Originally Posted by wed

Sorry the issue is not enough good workers , parts and trying to meet the number of units ordered. Doesn’t make it right but it is the issue.

I dunno, these issues are well-documented in pre-covid builds.

[tcmontana62]

I hate to say it but this is what Keystone is putting out...Junk. Ours has been in and out of the dealer for multiple issues multiple times to the point I tried of taking it back and with little to no help from Keystone. Just came to the conclusion I bought a piece of junk. Montana's are not what they used to be.

[Ozarkwoods]

Originally Posted by StageCoachDriver

I'm surprised Vanleigh and DRV were just as bad, but I've heard even Air Stream quality has slipped a bit. I have an early edition 2019 (built in 2018) which I plan to hold on to until I'm no longer able to RV.

Didn’t Thor buy Tiffin and VanLeigh? If so that says it all in my books.

[Cherokee]

We have friends that ordered a new Montana fifthwheel legacy with FBP. Unit was suppose to be in March 31st and they haven’t even received a phone call from dealer about it’s status. Will let you all know what the quality is when they get the new unit. Hope it’s better than ours was.

[dfb]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

The issues you are seeing is across the board currently in the RV industry.. I have window shopped the last two years at the new stuff everytime the wife and I drive to the big city of Boise...

The craftsmanship just isn't there right now.. I hope that in the future it will be.. My 2014 will do...

The reason it's across yhe board is Thor bought just about every rv manufacturer. We were looking at a drv mobile suites .. Come to find out, it's a THOR AND WE RAN AWAY..

[mhs4771]

Between THOR and Forest River they own the bulk of the RV Industry. And THOR is still buying up others, got to keep their Share Holders happy.