We can cross our fingers all we want, but we know, sadly, that many of you have had to leave your RV in a repair shop for at least a month, maybe longer. Leaving RVs in repair shops for long periods of time seems to be the new norm. Will it ever go back to the way it was?
Has your RV ever been in a repair shop for a month or longer? If longer, how long (tell us in the comments)? And if so, how many occasions has this happened? Just once, or a few times? Yikes…we’re not sure we want to know. Sigh.
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Winnie Travato, 2+ months, ceiling fan housing cracked during original installation. We found small water drips while sitting in driveway, first trip, heavy rain water everywhere. Winnie would not replace soaked insulation. It stayed in shop being ripped apart then dried out with heaters. They found the rather large crack and replaced the fan housing. Same time thermocouples bad, NO replacement in this country so shipped on slow boat from Germany.
We bought our 2021 Entegra Accolade 37K brand new in Jan ’21. Of the 15mos we’ve owned it, it has been in the shop for 8 of those months! Ridiculous!
They’ve had my RV for 10 months! It’s basically stolen at this point and no clue how to get help getting it back. We already paid $6k for the engine work and I’m worried it’s sitting in sun being destroyed.
Not with our current Vanleigh Vilano, but the unit before, 2013 Denali, spent most of the first 18-months in the dealer’s shop for repairs. We selected the Vanleigh in a large part because of having a service center in MS that we can be to in a two day drive. Plus, they have full hookup so we can stay with our RV.
Our new Jayco North Point has been at the shop for 9 months now for a slide out leak and a window leak, while it has been there they wrecks our unit and it has spent 2 months in the body shop, I have contacted Jayco several time because the dealership never calls us back or answers when we call. We are at our wits end and don’t even know what to do anymore
yes, only because of COVID had closed the factory service center down in March
We are now entering the 11th month in the shop. They have not been able to figure out why our Dometic fridge cuts off intermittently. The shop has kept it for so long that our warranty will no longer be honored by Dometic, even though it was brought in during the warranty period.
We had a big problem with our travel trailer awhile back. The repair shop got it in the spring and told us, sure we can fix it. A couple of months later they finally admitted (because I twisted their arm) that they had no idea how to fix it. Eventually they did find someone who could solve the problem but then they did a lousy rush job on the spring check up that we requested.
Needless to say we found a much better tech after that.
Our current rig is at the dealer for warranty work. Waiting on parts. They were up front with us before we even bought our RV that parts were often taking awhile to get in so we were ready for it. Thankfully we have no winter travel plans.
My truck got T-boned in MS last Feb, luckily while not towing the trailer (my fault … STUPID! No injuries.). We ‘were’ fulltiming for 2 yrs. Been 9 months and an ongoing suit with body shop. Paid by insurance and $1100 more by me. The truck appears to have been parted out! but no proof, no truck. Local sheriff and police refuse to help in any way. Then our lawyer got burned out! After 6 months at an RV park, I had to have my 5er towed to SC (to family) from MS, cost $1200 + some other expenses, but less than back to CA. Now renting a house storing trailer in back (I have no idea what we would have done back in Bay Area, CA!) At least I stayed healthy while in MS by walking 2 mi to Walmart with my backpack and 30 to 60 lbs. of groceries, etc. On top of CoViD, it’s been an ‘interesting’ year, and still ongoing.
So far I’ve been able to fix what’s needed to be done. Being 43 years old, there are no high tech electrical issues to deal with.
We were victims of the derecho in Iowa and our entire roof needed replaced because a tree fell on it.So from August 12th to October 22 it was in the repair shop. Due to the extensive repair we were not surprised about it. It was in a building. We were kept updated on the progress. We had insurance so it was all covered except our deductible. GoodLife RV Service Center in Webster City Iowa were super!
This is a usual occurance for us to have our unit tied up in the shop for simple repairs. Recently our motorhome has been kept in the shop since early June trying to get the basement air conditioner replaced. The Coleman- Mach unit arrived with shipping damaged from a dealer. After repairs and installation it was found to be defective and was returned. Still awaiting a new unit ordered from the factory. Not looking good for me to get it in before having to put the motorhome back in winter storage. Neither I or my installing dealer can’t seem to get any information from the factory because they don’t answer the phone or email.
Yes twice, but both times were in the winter and we were not using the camper for the winter and did not rush the repairs. First time I dropped off the TT on the way back from a trip in October. Told them to repair waste water tank straps and we would pick it up when the weather was clear. Second time was a discovered leak in late September. Insurance replaced the roof on a slide out. Neither time kept us from camping trips.
The only times that our RV has been in the shop for repairs is at Camping World of Chattanooga. Despite all the CW horror stories we’d heard, we naively thought that CW of Chattanooga’s service department was an exception. Sadly, it was not. Since then we have primarily used the manufacturer’s service center. Additionally we have used Artic RV in Fairbanks, Alaska; Northgate Parts/Choo Choo RV in Chattanooga; Fireweed RV in White Horse, Yukon Territory, Canada; and Bucars RV in Balzac, Alberta (near Calgary). All these made repairs in a timely (1 day, or less) manner. We now habitually avoid all CW service departments and have not had a 4-week, or more, stay at any service department since. 🙂
Yes, when we first purchased(used) we were given Campers Inn as a place Fleetwood said was on their list of repair shops. They had it 4 months telling me that they will look at it “soon”, then they were “short handed”, finally I went in to see what was going on and only then was I told that they had no technician who knew how to fix the levelers. Why I wasn’t told that in the first month is beyond me. I found a shop (who has since closed down due to health issues) who diagnosed the problem 2 days after I took it in, had the parts in 3 weeks and repaired 3 days later. Now I’m on the hunt for another shop. Not many in the Phila. PA area.
This July I sideswiped an obstacle and damaged the driver side siding, water connection and grey tank. It went in July 22, 2020. I talked to the service manager today 10/28 for an update. We’ve been waiting for a side panel from Keystone. Supposedly the panel was on back order and is due at Keystone this week. Maybe I’ll get it back just in time to winterize it (I live in MI).
My RV has been in the shop since July.
Yes, once for us. It was planned, though. We knew it would take a while when we had the cabover of our class C rebuilt. We didn’t mind, we saw it as a “gift with purchase” of free indoor winter storage!
My 2018 Coachman FR3 was in the shop for over a month because this past summer it was very difficult to get parts. Between the mice and the squirrels, they had chewed the gas line and a complete electrical harness. The electrical harness was not available at the time and we had to wait until the shop could get one.
When our 2017 Winnebago Navion was manufactured, someone accidentally punctured the fresh water fill tube. It dripped water into the storage compartment and we finally recognized the problem when mold appeared. Winnebago fought us for months, but finally agreed to repair when they realized we could have health issues they might have to pay for. Winnebago Junction City Oregon tore out the rear 1/4 of the rig to clear all the mold. Three weeks in the shop seemed to solve the problem for three years, but we have recently seen suspicious brown stuff coming from under the wall between the bathroom and bed. We hope it’s not a recurrence.