Warranty Issues

[rdlouks]

Not sure where to post this, but my Wife & I just took delivery of our 2018 Jayco Pinnacle 36KTS last Week. Everything worked fine at the dealer, but when we got it home and tried to run the large left side slide out (Stove, Reefer, Entertainment Center) it would move about an inch or two then quit. Release the button try again same thing. Finally got it all the way out, then tried to run it back in and it acted the same way.
I called the dealer and their answer was "Hmm, never heard of or saw that before" Since we purchased from a dealer 4+ hours from home I was not looking forward to hauling it all the way back. I called a couple local dealers and was met with the following:

Dealer number one: If you didn't purchase it from us you will have to pay for the diagnosis and repair then submit the bill to Jayco for reimbursement.

Dealer number two: If you didn't purchase it from us then the soonest we could fit you in would be mid September.

Dealer number three: Never returned my calls.

Long story short I diagnosed the problem, found a broken wire in the harness connector on the rear slide motor for the internal hall effect switch inside the motor that the controller uses to determine the position of the slide. Repaired the wire and now it works perfectly.
What I would like to know is there any recourse with Jayco for this, or am I just going to have the longest two years of my life waiting for the warranty to expire and PRAY nothing else breaks!

[Grumpy]

That's why JAYCO says buy "local"....dealers are all independent not franchised.

However, give them a call or "e" mail and see if there is an independent repair shop near you that they work with.

[rodro123]

You will have to deal with that since you didn't buy from the close dealers. Remember that they made no money on your sale. Why would they repair your unit before a customers that bought from them. If I found out that they repaired a RV before me and I bought from them I would be very upset. So drive the 4 hours and get the repair done at the place you bought it from before summer is over.

[jasum]

All Jayco dealers are independently owned......................Jayco has no control over what they do.

If you call Jayco, they are very good at helping you get your problems solved and helping find a repair shop.........I bought my Jayco from a dealer 2 1/2 hours away and they have a horrible service department that I will not go back to.

[Atlee]

There is one problem with that. What if the local dealer doesn't have the model you want, with the correct options. I know one can be specially ordered,
however what if you can't want who knows how long for it to be built? Also, what if we're at the end of the model year run, and you have to get a 2018 instead of a 2017m with the attendant price increases, or if the model you want isn't being made in 2018.

IMO, that can be a bunch of hooey.

I had to go away from my local dealer because he didn't have my model with the enclosed underbelly option that I wanted. Also, Jayco had already started making 2018 models even if I could wait, plus I don't believe Jayco is making 2018 23RB's now. From what I can tell, in 2018 Jayco has dropped the 23RB down to SLX level.

Originally Posted by Grumpy

That's why JAYCO says buy "local"....dealers are all independent not franchised.

However, give them a call or "e" mail and see if there is an independent repair shop near you that they work with.

[Marcm157]

I have made about $100 in very minor warranty repairs myself just to avoid the hassle of putting myself back in front of a dealer. I am very mechanical as it sounds like you are as well so to me it was well worth it to fix my issues myself. I void dealers / service locations at all costs...

[rkresge]

Originally Posted by Atlee

I had to go away from my local dealer because he didn't have my model with the enclosed underbelly option that I wanted. Also, Jayco had already started making 2018 models even if I could wait, plus I don't believe Jayco is making 2018 23RB's now. From what I can tell, in 2018 Jayco has dropped the 23RB down to SLX level.

Dealers make very little money on warranty repairs - they may even lose money. I'll be blunt: Why should a dealer you didn't buy from give you any preference when you didn't choose to purchase from them? They do give preference to the customers who buy from them, in most cases. I value that relationship. If I have a repair need (warranty issue or not) with my trailer, I can call my dealer and get it taken care of next week.

Roger

[vcbice]

If I can fix it, I fix it. If the parts come to a decent amount of money then I'd call Jayco and get a repair authorization, then call a mobile repair service (we full time).

As some have found out, the dealers are usually full in the service dept. Wait times can be long.

One reason I bought mine at Camping World was having access to service around the country if I really need it. I did have one thing done under warranty at CW and they handled it well (it was a wiring harness issue).

[01tundra]

Originally Posted by Marcm157

I have made about $100 in very minor warranty repairs myself just to avoid the hassle of putting myself back in front of a dealer. I am very mechanical as it sounds like you are as well so to me it was well worth it to fix my issues myself. I void dealers / service locations at all costs...

Amen - same here. Every time I have decided to take ours to an "RV technician" for repair I ended up having to refix the issue once at home.......

[RAurand]

Originally Posted by vcbice

If I can fix it, I fix it. If the parts come to a decent amount of money then I'd call Jayco and get a repair authorization, then call a mobile repair service (we full time).

As some have found out, the dealers are usually full in the service dept. Wait times can be long.

One reason I bought mine at Camping World was having access to service around the country if I really need it. I did have one thing done under warranty at CW and they handled it well (it was a wiring harness issue).

I brought my Trailer elsewhere (another dealer about 45 minute drive from my house) Camping World is 6 minutes away. They (CW) have been very good with taking care of my warranty issues.

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by RAurand

They (CW) have been very good with taking care of my warranty issues.

They are a "National" chain. Most RV dealerships are local mom/pop type operations.

[Atlee]

I explained why I went else where. Local dealer didn't have what I wanted. I didn't have time to order exactly what I wanted. And even if I did, Jayco is not making the model I wanted in 2018.


Am I supposed to buy local even if the local dealer doesn't have what I want?

Originally Posted by rkresge

Dealers make very little money on warranty repairs - they may even lose money. I'll be blunt: Why should a dealer you didn't buy from give you any preference when you didn't choose to purchase from them? They do give preference to the customers who buy from them, in most cases. I value that relationship. If I have a repair need (warranty issue or not) with my trailer, I can call my dealer and get it taken care of next week.

Roger

[rkresge]

Originally Posted by Atlee

I explained why I went else where. Local dealer didn't have what I wanted. I didn't have time to order exactly what I wanted. And even if I did, Jayco is not making the model I wanted in 2018.

Am I supposed to buy local even if the local dealer doesn't have what I want?

I get all that. Your problem is that the bridge is burned. Unfortunately this is the risk you took when buying where you did, even though it was for good reasons. What to do now? A couple others here have suggested contacting Jayco directly to ask for help. Maybe they can help guide you to a local dealer who would be willing to take care of you; Jayco has been known to cover warranty repairs done by service centers not authorized by Jayco. You might also try visiting the service managers of nearby dealers to explain your situation and see if they would be more helpful. One of the big chains might be a good idea, too - like the dreaded Camping World.

Maybe someone else has a better idea.

I've only been at this 3 years now, working with my second Jayco, but it's fairly obvious that buying as local as you can is often worth paying a higher price - especially when it comes to service and repair. I do wish you luck!

Roger

[Atlee]

I'm crossing my fingers that my Jayco is as good as their reputation that precedes it. And it could be worse. The Closest of two facilities is only 166 miles away. Not good, but not like it's 3 or 4 states away. If it's really major stuff, I'll go back. If it's relatively minor stuff, I'll take care of it locally, or myself.

Originally Posted by rkresge

I get all that. Your problem is that the bridge is burned. Unfortunately this is the risk you took when buying where you did, even though it was for good reasons. What to do now? A couple others here have suggested contacting Jayco directly to ask for help. Maybe they can help guide you to a local dealer who would be willing to take care of you; Jayco has been known to cover warranty repairs done by service centers not authorized by Jayco. You might also try visiting the service managers of nearby dealers to explain your situation and see if they would be more helpful. One of the big chains might be a good idea, too - like the dreaded Camping World.

Maybe someone else has a better idea.

I've only been at this 3 years now, working with my second Jayco, but it's fairly obvious that buying as local as you can is often worth paying a higher price - especially when it comes to service and repair. I do wish you luck!

Roger

[bap]

Originally Posted by Atlee

I explained why I went else where. Local dealer didn't have what I wanted. I didn't have time to order exactly what I wanted. And even if I did, Jayco is not making the model I wanted in 2018.


Am I supposed to buy local even if the local dealer doesn't have what I want?

Did you ask your local dealer if they would find the camper you wanted? Just because they didn't have one doesn't mean that they couldn't see if they could get one from another dealer.

[Atlee]

No I didn't. But as has been made abundantly clear, every RV dealer is a total free agent. They aren't at all like car dealers.

Car dealers can and do make deals with each other to move inventory around,
but compared to RV dealers, car dealers are blood brothers. That's how I got my truck. It was originally up in PA. My local car dealer searched out to 400 miles searching for a HDPP equipped F150. Any Ford dealer can search the Ford data base and see what other dealers have.

I'm quite certain Jayco, the company, doesn't maintain a data base open to all Jayco dealers to see what inventory is available where.

And if my local dealer were to find a dealer some 3 states away who would part with his trailer, someone (me) would have to pay out the wazoo just to get it to the local dealer.

Originally Posted by bap

Did you ask your local dealer if they would find the camper you wanted? Just because they didn't have one doesn't mean that they couldn't see if they could get one from another dealer.

[vcbice]

There are pros and cons to buying at a local dealer, especially a smaller one. Yes, you might get good service but my experience with one is that they cared little about after sales service. Their 'service' dept was really only capable of doing initial setups, not major repairs.

Telling someone to buy local can be very bad advice unless you know the dealer is a good one.

And for some of us there is no such thing as 'buy local'. We are full time and don't have a 'local' dealer. And there is the problem of what happens when you are 1000mi from 'home' and your trailer needs attention. I would hope that 'local' dealer would help that person instead of working on a rig that has been sitting in a storage lot for a few weeks, even if that rig was purchased at that dealer.

Bottom line is, contact Jayco first. Get their approval to do a warranty repair. Get a list of authorized repair facilities/businesses and then see about getting it fixed.

Yes, many RV repair shops are full and you might have to wait. In that case then paying a little extra for a mobile service might be worth it.

[rkresge]

Originally Posted by bap

Did you ask your local dealer if they would find the camper you wanted? Just because they didn't have one doesn't mean that they couldn't see if they could get one from another dealer.

Recognizing that not everyone can "buy local". I didn't bring this one up earlier, but IIRC, when I was shopping last time, my dealer told me that if there was a particular model I wanted and they didn't have it, they would try to find it from another dealer in the region - kind of a stock swap deal.

And obviously not much of this applies to fulltimers.

Roger

[troutslayer]

Advice to OP, as others have mentioned, would be to contact Jayco. They have been very responsive to me in the past. While I'm here, I might as well give my .02 worth about dealer service. The local Jayco dealer here 3 years ago charged $95/hour for warranty repairs and $129/hour for "retail" customer repairs (in other words, out of warranty repairs) and I believe it's up to $136/hour now. It's difficult for me to believe that they are not making money at these rates because its for any repair, wether it's taking apart a class A engine or re-caulking seams on the roof. I do as much repair as possible but when I need other work done, I have a local shop, not associated with a selling dealer that I can go to and he charges me $95/hour (and seems to be making money ). I like dealing with the small local non-selling repair shop cuz I get better service. Just my opinion.

[rdlouks]

Thanks everyone.
I knew going in that purchasing from a Non-Local Dealer could cause some issues with getting warranty work, but after trying to deal with 3 different dealers locally/somewhat locally none of them had what we were looking for, nor did any of them seem the least bit interested in locating or ordering one that we were interested in. Basically this is what we have take it or leave it....NEXT!
So I have resigned myself with the fact that if it is a minor repair I will just do it myself, if it involves replacement parts I will work with my selling dealer and have them send me the parts and I will return the defective parts back to them with documentation of the failure, pictures, error codes, symptoms, etc.
If it involves a major component or repair, then I will work with Jayco or take it back to the selling dealer.