At RVtravel.com, we celebrate each new development in the RV industry that aims to help improve the quality of new RVs that are sold to RVers, much too often with serious defects.
It’s routine among RV manufacturers to ship RVs off to dealers without doing a final quality inspection as the unit leaves the assembly line. Many RV dealers don’t even inspect the RVs themselves, simply telling new buyers, “If you find something wrong, bring the RV back and we’ll fix it.”
Too often that does not happen, or the dealer says, “Sure, we’ll fix it but we can’t get you in for another six weeks.” So there goes the camping trip planned in two weeks. At RVtravel.com we routinely hear from RVers whose new RVs were in the shop for months on end during their first year.
So, it’s good news that Heartland RV has announced a plan to introduce a new pre-delivery inspection (PDI) program.
At RVtravel.com, we take some credit for this positive change in behavior by a major RV manufacturer. Our fast-growing Facebook Group RV Horror Stories, alone, has put public pressure on manufacturers to do something about the often poor quality of the RVs they ship out to be sold by dealers to consumers.
“We’ve taken a very proactive approach to PDI, minimizing the impact on dealers by shipping units that have been thoroughly tested after coming off the production line,” said Ryan Juday, president of Heartland. “We’re running 100 percent of our production line through this facility, which is virtually unprecedented. Our entire team is committed to taking the audit process to the next level.”
Heartland had implemented several additional processes along with ramping up its seal tech and rain bay efforts. The required system checks include inspections on critical areas for potential failure, including roof inspections, HVAC systems, holding tanks, plumbing and electrical systems and rain leaks.
“Each service liaison is tracking overall performance,” Juday said. “They are running reports based on warranty claims and working with production team to resolve and prevent any return service trips for the consumer. It brings the process full circle by enlisting the entire company to ensure higher quality and overall attention to detail.”
Bully for Heartland. Yet they are denying fixing our friend’s roof that has over 30 bubbles. They notified the warranty that there was an issue. Took it in for repair before warranty was up. It sat……then after warranty expired Heartland denied repairs. Friends have letter from roofing company that says Heartland put it on wrong AND has an attorney. I’d trust them more if they took care of issues instead of what this article says
WHAT is really needed is for the factories to PRACTICE GOOD QUALITY CONTROL…Until they do PDI’s are nothing more than POST DELIVERY INSULTS…I applaud you Chuck for what you do, to bring about change for the good in the RV industry, and to all of the other folks trying to do SOMETHING for the betterment of RVing…
We shopped for many brand new RV’s and each time we looked at a purchasing agreement or price sheet there was always a line item for PDI. I’ve always question for a copy of the report however I could only see if if I purchased. Ive wondered how many RV’s really received a PDI and why it’s a standard charge for most me RV purchases.
Will you PLEASE stop promoting ways to avoid the detectors operating properly.
Promote’ turn on the fan’ instead
What is the number one killer of rvs? Water. All units should be leak-tested before leaving the factory. Other things can be fixed but water leaks don’t appear until, in some cases, it’s too late. I found a persistent leak, thank goodness minor, that had gone on for two years. After removing the roof refrigerator vent, I discovered a one-inch piece along the edge that had never had been caulked from the factory. There was no way that it could have been called owner neglect. Fortunately, I fixed it with very little long term damage.
Heartland is to be applauded if their factory PDI is successful, and RVTravel also should be applauded for its part in causing this change. How about recognition for manufacturers already doing this. We presently have our third Northwood product (second Arctic Fox). We have toured the factory in La Grande, OR, and have seen Norhtwood doing PDI on every unit before shipping. Our present 5th wheel had a few very small problems, all of which were fixed while I waited at the dealer, Nelsons RV in Boise, ID.
I hope that Heartland address the fact that the employees are mainly responsible for the quality of it’s product. I have seen and had the experience of bad assembly. I have spent thousands of dollars of my own money and time to rectify those issues. Hopefully they fix the problem before it get to the PDI process. Then and only then will they have a product they can be proud of and state they have the best RV in the industry. Until then, they only have a product that is just ok. And just ok is by far what people are looking for. I could tell them and show them where they lack what it takes to get a product they can be proud of and claim the best quality on the market today.
My first 5th wheel was a heartland (small letters) and it was nothing but a piece of JUNK. The vice president at the time, told me, if you don’t like it, you can get something else. Well, after spending that much money on buying a new RV, you are not able to just go get a new one.
Now the company is owned by THOR and I would never consider buying another heartland product.
Short history, things falling off the walls. Our light over the kitchen table was not attached properly and nearly fell over the table. Plumbing issues too. Every issue we had, I fixed personally and fixed it correctly.
5 out of 6 trips, we had to make sure we stayed close to a Walmart, so we could get parts to fix the thing.
We eventually traded it in and purchased a Mobile Suites, back when it was Mobile Suites and not DRV (as it is today)
Found out that about a year after our heartland was traded in, it burned to the ground in an RV Park. It was parked and fortunately no one was home at the time. I tried to get information as to what happened, but because it was totally destroyed, it was only speculation as to what happened!
Needless to say, we were really glad we got rid of the piece of Junk!
heartland can advertise this NON-SENSE PDI Crap all they want. But, since they hire workers who don’t know which end of a screwdriver to use. Quality will never change.
heartland, NEVER AGAIN!
I have a Thor Ace 30.1 2017
I have bad water pressure in the shower and kitchen when hooked up to city water .the bathroom is fine.When i am on my pump all the system is great .??? Any ideas?
Margy