Not a happy camper with his ACE motorhome
NOTE FROM EDITOR:
Some readers of RVtravel.com wonder why we complain so often about the poor quality of RVs being manufactured today. They say their RV works fine, so no problem. But not everyone’s RV works fine. Here’s just one example as posted on our RV Horror Stories group at Facebook.
This was posted by Mark D.
Slightly edited for clarity
My story begins with our latest purchase. My wife and I purchased a 2018, 32′ ACE made by Thor. We live in Florida and make a trip to Texas every 30 days or so, and after Hurricane Harvey hit I wanted an RV for the bathroom accessibility.
We bought the RV in Conroe, Texas, where their motto is “Home of the FOREVER Warranty”. So our first ride home in our new RV was quite an experience. I white-knuckled it over 1,000 miles. I thought it was just the crappy roads in Louisiana but when we got to Florida I was still fighting to keep the motorhome on the road. I knew it had to be something.
When we arrived back home I had it looked at by a dealer near me that actually sold the same RV, that I like to call a POS. They told me I had to have an upgrade to the front suspension and steering to stabilize the ride, so after spending $87,000, I now have to spend another $3,500 just to make it a safe ride.
Oh, and as far as that bull about the Forever Warranty goes, that doesn’t include the Ford chassis.
So now I’m excited to try out the new ride. Ya, that feeling quickly turned to disappointment, so let me just speed this up. It’s been a year and a few months since our purchase. We have had all windows changed due to leaking, still can’t find the leak on the front window, Electrical issues, receptacles not working, cab batteries don’t charge when the RV is plugged in (still fighting that), and most recently, a broken water line between the wall and bedroom. That was a surprise since I always plug in and connect the water line when home. So in a nutshell, $90K out of pocket. I told my wife I want to trade this in for a Tiffin. Any horror stories about the Tiffin products out there I should know about?
About RV Horror Stories
RV Horror Stories, with more than 17,000 members, is a Facebook Group from the editors of RVtravel.com for RVers to discuss serious defects with their RVs they are unable to get resolved.
We recognize that there are two sides to every story, and that some RVers who post may not be revealing all the circumstances that led to their issues. We recognize that most RVs are built appropriately for their price range, and it’s only a small percentage that are true lemons or have serious defects.
The reviews on the RV Horror Stories group are solely those of each individual poster and not necessarily those of RVtravel.com.
We strongly recommend that would-be buyers have an RV inspected that they plan to buy, and have it done by a certified RV technician or an experienced local mobile RV technician. You cannot access the true condition of an RV solely by its appearance. Lastly, we have compiled a long list of resources that should help you if you have a defective RV.
##RVT938
We have the same problem with our 2018 Thor ACE. Every ride is an upsetting and exhausting experience.
If you do some research, you will find that the ACE is known for this. We had new tie rods, tie rod ends, etc put on the front end(we paid for it) and if it made any difference at all, it’s very minimal.
This past weekend, we also noticed that our windshield is leaking. We also have so much trouble with our toilet. It’s plugged up more often than not.
I hope you’re able to get yours fixed soon so that you’re able to relax and enjoy. For now, I’m terrified to take my grandchildren camping. I wonder who would be responsible if someone gets hurt or killed in these RVs, the dealer, manufacturers or both.
Had you done some research prior to purchasing your unit you would have known that anything built by or owned by Thor is going to be a POS. Sorry.
Great RV information. Keep up the great reporting.
No one can promise that you will not have another horror story. Having said that Tiffin is known for taking care of most problems that are not chassis related, unless that chassis is a PowerGlide which is their own custom chassis. I have had some minor problems which Tiffin Parts and Service dealt with easily. A cabinet door split! within 6 weeks I had a new one that exactly matched my coach – they had to have a special order since the coach was 3 years old and there were no spares in stock. Had an incident that required replacing the front cap, took some time to get into the mfg process and have it shipped about 1000 miles. That was 4 years ago and I challenge anyone to notice that it is a replacement. Having said all this if your read FaceBook Tiffin groups there are people with many gripes. They are the ones who post the most. Or go to http://tiffinrvnetwork.com/ and find the community of users who support each other and give straight answers. This forum is NOT Affiliated with Tiffin Motor Home Company. Suffice it to say I believe you are less likely to have a major horror story with Tiffin than any other mfg and if things go wrong Bob will stand behind his product and make it right.
Don’t buy new — buy 2yr old .
you mean have a brand new RV inspected to make sure it was manufactured properly?? {bleeped}?? when does a governing body get real with this for consumer protection???
There isn’t a governing body for RVs except the RVIA which is made up of RV executives.
Agree the Thor ACE is a piece of crap. We kept ours about a year. Seven of those months it was in the shop for service, all warranty. Also, spent out of pocket for alignment etc to correct poor driving. Not much help.
We have friends who bought the same ACE at the same time and didn’t have all the issues we did, just to be fair.
Got rid of it and bought Renegade Verona. Absolutely perfect choice.