As A Winnebago New Owner - Page 2

fun time · 04-24-2007, 04:41 PM

2006 Meridian 36GSE- Owned for almost 6 months and has never been back. I fixed the little things myself right after we purchased and left on a trip. It is going in sometime next month for a two minor things that was observed during the PDI. So far, been pretty good.
As far as other Winny Dealers and service, I agree with some other posters that service or even warranty service by some dealers leaves a lot to be desired. This is our second Winny and from first hand experience Winny needs to tighten this gap across their network.

jimandsue60 · 04-24-2007, 05:18 PM

All dealers have issues not just winnebago dealers. It should be noted that just because you have a winnebago doesn't mean it has to go to a winny dealer for certain repairs, even under warranty.

Items such as heaters, basement air conditioners, water heaters, roof air conditioners, refidgerators, etc can all be serviced by any dealer who is willing to do warranty work. Our basement air conditioner (on our journey) had a bad compressor, Emerald Coast RV in Gulfbreeze, Fl. trouble shot the problem (as per coleman/rvp) and had a new airconditioner delivered and installed. Total time in the shop was 6 hours. They removed the bad airconditioner, we went on our way and came back in a week when the a/c was delivered.

Now our new Vectra is here at Forest City getting some things repaired. Things are going well. I will make a seperate post on it when all is completed.

Jim

limandlin · 04-24-2007, 06:24 PM

We purchased a new 2001 Journey 34T from Altmans Winnebago in California. It was a lemon in that just about everything that could go wrong did. After spending months in their shop, we decided to ask for a replacement coach. They agreed and we traded up to a Journey DL 36GD with the agreement that we would pay cost for all options. We lost the sales tax paid, but have had almost zero problems with this coach...well, other than the heater core failing, bad HWH hydraulic lines and faulty overhead lights. We have been very happy with this coach. We found that you have to document the problems in writing in an un-emotional manner. If you're persistent and factual, you'll probably get results.

ejlcom · 04-24-2007, 09:25 PM

I am among the many forum members offering you condolences on this miserable experience you've had with your new coach. To tell you that you are not "the Lone Ranger" per getting a Lemon, along with an uncooperative dealership/manufacturer, is surely not enough, I know.

"Been there, done that" with two previous motorhomes, if this helps. In fact, we bought a 2006 Doubletree Mobile Suites fifth wheel (these babies are over $80 grand) and thought we had really bought the "best"! Ha! It had 35 problems, at least 24 of them were major (like yours), and that blasted RV sat in the dealership's service lot over half the time we owned it throughout 2006. We dumped the $%#@ thing this spring, bought a Winnebago Sightseer and think we've "arrived"! Guess we lucked out this time...only a couple things need attention on our new Sightseer. At least, so far, we are thrilled over this new Winnebago.

But, there are always Lemons (like I stated earlier, we've gotten two of them in the last 7 years). Here's how we FINALLY got cooperation from the dealership/manufacturer: after it sat (the last time) for three months at the dealership, I wrote a letter of complaint (but couched in nice terms, which was difficult to do at that point!) directly to the president of the manufacturing company (in my case, it was Doubletree RV). I got immediate results from that four-page letter (included was the list of 35 problems), prompting the manufacturer to place phone calls to my dealership, telling them to "fix it." You might try this with your Winnebago Lemon, too, HOPEFULLY with success.

I did mention in my letter to the president of the manufacturing company that, on the bright side, there was only one thing wrong with my new RV...the color. It should have been yellow since it was such a lemon! I am certain he/they "appreciated" that remark.

Unfortunately, the Lemon Laws out there do not apply to RV's.

Good luck to you...and my sincere condolences and full understanding of the pure **** you must be going through with this ordeal of the new Winnebago.

SCREEN7 · 04-25-2007, 12:13 AM

Mine has been in the shop for almost a month with a simple door problem. The metal part of the door hits the door frame and my dealer-Altmans Rv tells me this is normal and refuses to fix it. They say it's just a 'tight' fitting door. It's going to have to go in again so by the time it's done it will be in for over a month.

I've got to say if I had read things like what I'm seeing here now before I had bought I'm sure I would have thought twice about it....to say the very least.

Does anyone know how I can get Winnebago to help me on this? I'm going to call them tomorrow but this whole ordeal is such a drain for such a simple problem.

I will be going out of my way to always direct people away from Altmans RV in California and if Winnebago doesn't help me with this I'll be selling my coach and will do my best to keep people away from Winnebago as well.

jtharley · 04-25-2007, 04:15 AM

It seems that some of us are talking about 2 totally different companies!!! Winnebago is the worst.....Winnebago is the best.....

I am on my 4th RV, 3 different manufacturers and my experience with Winnebago has been marvelous. The unfortunate thing is in this industry "quality" has not caught up with that of other manufacturers. The simple fact is it doesn't matter what manufacturer you deal with they all will have some problems that need to be fixed. Go directly to the source, no dealers and tell them your issues and have them contact the dealers providing the service. Start a record with Winnie customer service.

Good luck to those with issues, I know it must be very frustrating when you spend that kind of $$$$ and things go wrong.

robbstein · 04-25-2007, 06:03 AM

I'm curious which of Altman's shops you are having a problem with. We are on our third winnie and Altman's has been the servicing dealer all along (not necessarily the selling dealer). We have dealt with the Colton shop and not the other two. We've never had a major problem with them - although sometimes had to set some time limits on how long we would let them have the coach before we were going to need it. We've had our current coach 3+ years now and it has been to Forest City for some work, HWH, and the dealer. Total time over the 3 years for shop time is probably less than 2 weeks, including parts delivery time.

Robb & Sue Steinheider
03 Ultimate Advantage
02 Saturn L100 Toad

SCREEN7 · 04-25-2007, 08:32 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by robbstein:
I'm curious which of Altman's shops you are having a problem with. We are on our third winnie and Altman's has been the servicing dealer all along (not necessarily the selling dealer). We have dealt with the Colton shop and not the other two. We've never had a major problem with them - although sometimes had to set some time limits on how long we would let them have the coach before we were going to need it. We've had our current coach 3+ years now and it has been to Forest City for some work, HWH, and the dealer. Total time over the 3 years for shop time is probably less than 2 weeks, including parts delivery time.

Robb & Sue Steinheider
03 Ultimate Advantage
02 Saturn L100 Toad </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm referring to the one in Altmans in Carson.

I'm starting to see a trend that the Altmans in Carson just has terrible service. I haven't heard about bad service at the other two locations.

I just got off the phone with Winnebago and they've told me to to go the McMahon's RV Irvine. This is a long way out of my way but what am I going to do? Altmans REFUSES to fix this simple problem.

I bought my RV from them but I can tell you that the View that I plan to buy in the next year will NOT be from them for causing me such frustration with this simple problem.

I'm also going to set up a simple web page to let other people vent and It will be right on the first page of the Google result when Altmans Rv is searched. They really don't even realize what they've done to themselves....or maybe they just don't care.

Adventurer · 04-25-2007, 09:01 AM

Unfortunately manufacturers have very little power over dealerships. In my sales experience mfg's expect high volume dealers to receive complaints about service and tend to overlook them. Contacting Winnie direct, by email or letter is always the best bet. Clearly list the problems and wait times you've experienced. Leave out the insults and accusations if you want a timely response.

Please remember the customer service reps. didn't build or repair your coach. Calm courtesy works much more often on CSR's then hostility and threats. The only tool at a CSR's and service managers disposal to "get even" with rude and aggresive customers is the "they can wait" stack. Id suggest if you've been waiting months with no results you might want to "make nice" with the next CSR you talk to and see if they will bump up your WO from the bottom of the pile.

When I ran a large army personnel center we had an unofficial T.S.U. box for hot headed and rude officers personnel files to be "misplaced" in. What it took for their personnel file to get in the "Thoroughly Screwed Up" box was demands, insults and accusations. All it took get it back out was common courtesy and a calm professional demeanor. Word got around that we didn't respond to demanding stuffed shirts and soon the T.F.O. box was collecting nothing but dust. I've found that most people instinctively respond to kindness, even if they don't really want to.

tbrannon · 04-26-2007, 03:59 PM

I am truly sorry to hear of the troubles that some are having. We have had our Sightseer for 2+ yrs. and the only trouble we have had was a faulty battery. The unit hasn't been to the dealer or anywhere else for any problem even when my unfamiliarity has shown up. In so far as the purchase of another Winne in the future, I wouldn't hesitate one bit. Quality on ours has been every thing we thought it would. Good luck in resolving all your troubles.

Terry

limandlin · 04-26-2007, 06:56 PM

I'm referring to the Altman's location in Colton California and my observations are from 2002. It appeared to me at that time they were having great difficulty finding qualified techicians. Example, the tech used methyl ethyl ketone to try and remove left over glue on the wallpaper above the kitchen sink area. Of course, that resulted in the total melt down of the wall fabric. At that point I demanded a backsplash be installed to hide the destruction. After some discussion, that was done.

inphx · 06-25-2007, 08:40 AM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TXDrifter165:
I am currently located in CA. Since I have bought a brand new right off the assembly line 2007 Winnebago Adventurer 38J motor home

I bought a new 05 Suncruiser. I have found as well as many in our WIT group that although Winnebago makes nice RV's there quality control is bad. Many many little problems which however add up. Sort like buying a new home - takes a year or so to find all the problems. My problems were all different than yours but nevertheless. My friend all had problems - again mostly different. The company basically said that the customer is our quality control agent. Sort like US made autos of the 1960's.