Jayco quality issues —Thor?

[Atlee]

It's not like any RV manufacturer has much choice of parts to install. As far as I know, it's either Dometic or Norcold. All my previous refrigerators had been Dometic, including our last trailer.

MY current trailer, a 23RB, has a Norcold. So far at least, I like the Norcold better because it has a five position switch on the outside door to control temperature. The old Dometic I had used a sliding device on one of the cooling fins to control the temperature.

But I've only had the Norcold for 5 months, so the jury is a long way from deciding if it's better than the Dometic.

Originally Posted by LAKnox

Your fridge problem =is= partly Jayco's "fault" as they chose to use it, instead of a different, possibly more reliable, model. This is, again, another problem in the industry as a whole. They buy junk components, then foist problems off on the buyer to deal with the component mfr in most cases.

Lyle

[Atlee]

This is one area I totally agree. All manufacturers should own the parts they put in their RV's for the period of their warranty, be it 1 year or 2 years.

During the manufacturers' warranty period, I should not have to deal with any third party for any equipment failure.

Originally Posted by LAKnox

So, it's not GM's fault if your Delco alternator goes belly up during warranty? If the auto industry was like the RV industry, you'd then have to find a Delco store to have your alternator fixed? Don't know about you, but I've never seen a Delco store/shop. This is just one of the major problems with the RV industry as a whole. The mfr =should= warrant everything they put in an RV. If they did, they might be forced to start using better components that don't fail.

Lyle

[norty1]

My Norcold fridge has never missed a beat in 6+ years and I get a small check from them each year from the class action suit. I think unlike many items, the fridge does better the more it is used.

Ours is never turned off over 30 days.

[KillerIsMe]

Our 2018 Feather was built in May. We brought it home at the beginning of July and used it quite a few times over the Summer and Fall. We've had no major issues (//knocks furiously on particle board//) but there are some head scratchers. One of our kitchen drawer fronts doesn't close flush on one side. It operates fine but if you look down on it you see it sticks out a bit. The big blind over the dinette window is weirdly crooked - the pull-down bar is nicely horizontal and the sides are straight but it's like the blind fabric itself is cut crooked. Again, works fine so no blood no foul. One outlet plate is off by 10 degrees or so. The only really annoying thing is cabinet door hinges working loose. The hinge screws are about a quarter of a millimeter long and they work loose in their holes so I have to put in bigger screws. It's a recurrent thing and I'm replacing the screws one hinge at a time as needed. But we've had no plumbing, electrical, or structural problems, and the refrigerator, microwave, TV, etc., all work as they should. The DVD unit was wonky but Jayco sent a replacement right away, and the furnace thermostat is hit-or-miss - sometimes the furnace turns on and sometimes it doesn't - but I'm going to replace it with a digital unit anyway. Honestly I'm pretty satisfied with the trailer. I haven't had to drag it to the dealer and the niggling little things that are wrong I can fix myself. Of course we'll see how it looks in the Spring when I dig it out of the snow.

[RichP]

Another thing to consider is people that don't have issues are much less likely to run to the forums and similar places and tout how great the product is. Someone with a bad experience will much more likely be telling everyone that will listen how much of a piece of junk it is

[Woodworker]

Originally Posted by RichP

Another thing to consider is people that don't have issues are much less likely to run to the forums and similar places and tout how great the product is. Someone with a bad experience will much more likely be telling everyone that will listen how much of a piece of junk it is

Then there are those that where put on this earth just to complain and find fault. If everything was free and 100% trouble free they'd find a negative

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[bankr63]

Originally Posted by Atlee

This is one area I totally agree. All manufacturers should own the parts they put in their RV's for the period of their warranty, be it 1 year or 2 years.

During the manufacturers' warranty period, I should not have to deal with any third party for any equipment failure.

OTOH, is this more like a house?

Auto manufacturers have companies like Magna International (better example than Delco because it is owned by GM) build parts to very exact specifications that they provide the manufacturer. So yes, the auto company manages the components under warranty because they are their own specific components. If your mass produced tires go on your new car, they generally take it up with Goodyear et al. The dealer will help, but the warranty is with the rubber company, not GM.

Generally it seems that Jayco handles a lot of the warranty work on 3rd party components as well (as many have noted here), but I think things like my fridge could be treated just like the fridge in a new home. If it conks out, I'm unlikely to go back to my home builder for repair, more likely to go to Maytag or Westinghouse directly. Sometimes having a third party in the middle just slows things down.

[blujay40]

Originally Posted by bankr63

Sometimes having a third party in the middle just slows things down.

I couldn't agree more with this statement. Two of my more major issues were with our Girard Tankless WH and our Furrion LR TV and a lesser cosmetic one with our Attwood stove.

A call to the manufacturer, not only cut out the middle men, but I had resolutions to all issues in a matter of days from first contact, not weeks.

Girard shipped a new unit directly to us on our site, and authorized us to use a local remote repair service to do the swap. We then used the same packaging and the provided return shipping label to ship the old one back.

As for Furrion, they quickly agreed there was an issue and authorized a replacement but had to notify Jayco due to their contract. Jayco quickly authorized a 400.00 reimbursement for me to go down the road and buy any new one I wanted and just return the old set to the dealer when we got home months later.

Attwood shipped a replacement stove top drip tray within 3 days for us to swap out and never asked for the old one back.

So as far as I am concerned, should I have an issue in the future with any of our "3rd party" components, I will be continuing to contact the component manufacturer first vs. Jayco or our dealer.

[bdreinv]

Our 16 Eagle RSTS was made in August 2015,we took delivery Sept 2015.We are now 26 months into ownership.Still trying to finish warranty!Last new camper 2006 HR took 3 years to get everything fixed.Then they went broke LOL. Guess I should be thank full?

[Dropyerjaws]

First, Jayco is a family thing for us. My aunt is Bertha Bontrager, if anyone is familiar with Jayco you know what this means, and it's hard to turn away from Jayco now.

2015 Jayflight 26bhs:
Rebuilt ALL interior structures except the cabinets.
Dinette
Seats
Bunks
TV center
Bed frame
Kitchen sink
All fascia

Major work on the slide out, from what I remember some of the structure mounts were not installed and caused some major movement resulting in visible and functional damage.

Counters delaminated within first year, (warranty of course)
The dealer was a tool and stained my carpet twice and I had 3 new sets of cushions because he couldn't order the right color to replace the original ones that fell apart.
Replaced 2 windows
Electric winch went out
None of the outside doors ever shut or sealed right. Had to replace one.

Ok, that was sold last year... My thought was, get a better unit, a more expensive unit, surely it will be better.

2018 Eagle 5th wheel 30.5 MBOK, beautiful unit, love the layout and options
1st, RV Camping world in Indianapolis screwed me by draining all of the winterizer (antifreeze) and then telling me it was winterized. Spent the first month in the shop this year. And we never even used it yet. NOT WARRANTY, had to go to court to get this resolved. No more camping world, but the repair work was comped.

1) Fascia on two slideouts seperated
2) 3 Curtains off
3) Propane tank housing off, damaged door
4) Service door broken

Was the first warranty trip. Next (and still not complete)

1) 14 sheared screws (multiple locations, mainly seals around slide outs)
2) 20 incorrectly installed screws (same as above, except 3 on the awning were all but barely in and not sealed)
3) Roof sealant not applied correctly, in excess of 30 sections not sealed correctly, voids in vent tube seals, the nose cone and awning mounts.
4) Seals around slide outs falling off, 2 slide outs completely separated, all slide outs needed some attention to repair seals (4)
5) Propane tank door was not repaired correctly from Camping world, another door and more work on the wall to accomodate adequate space for the tanks.
6) Remote control for electric stabilizer quit, lippert replaced a module
7) Front skids quit working, replaced a module as well
8) 2 cabinet doors fell off
9) Replace fascia on one slideout
10) Curtains again
11) Large slide out still making grinding noise when bringing in, need to request service again.
12) And the big one, the one that really sent me over the edge... the outside grill, apparently a fitting wasn't tightened from the factory and managed to loosen itself. When I was making a hot dog for my 20 month old, I turned around to see the whole side of my camper engulfed in flames! Lucky for me, and my other two kids and wife that were inside at the time, I was able to reach the shut off valve (minor arm hair loss) in time before any real damage occured.

I hear you all saying this is normal, this industry really does kinda suck. I enjoy camping with my family for a multitude of reasons, but none have to do with Jayco. I am going to cycle this unit out and will continue until I find that one perfect set up that fits my Quality Expectations. I hear Grand Design is making some headway. That's my next stop.

BTW - I am a quality manager in aerospace. We are AS9100 certified, equivalent to automotive TS, and I have to expect perfection, or at least something better than what I have gone through over the last few years.

Those videos happened to us on our 2015, I just fixed everything and made it bullet proof and didn't make a huge deal about it.

On our 2018 unit we have camped 5 times since April and have put more miles driving to the dealership for repairs than to the camp grounds.

[DocBrown]

Originally Posted by Dropyerjaws

First, Jayco is a family thing for us. My aunt is Bertha Bontrager, if anyone is familiar with Jayco you know what this means, and it's hard to turn away from Jayco now.

So what does your aunt have to say about all this? What a powerful statement to made if you as being related to the founding family went to a competitor and made public that you did so.

Why did you have to rebuild the all interior structures on your 2015?

[norty1]

It's easy to compare rv's to car companies but it's apples and oranges as already stated. The car companies have a dog in just about every accessory item on a vehicle except the tires.

Maybe Lippert will buy Thor and then what?

[Dropyerjaws]

The stories of past are exactly that. 2 years ago things were just bad luck, maybe this year it will be the same. We will see as the holidays cycle through.

Everything was built with staples or inadequate screws with little reinforcements. Things just fell apart and it had to all be rebuilt. After year 2 I was confident that my rebuilt interior would would outlast the shell. And it held up with no more issues until it was sold last year.

[LAKnox]

Originally Posted by norty1

It's easy to compare rv's to car companies but it's apples and oranges as already stated. The car companies have a dog in just about every accessory item on a vehicle except the tires.

Maybe Lippert will buy Thor and then what?

It =should= be t'other way 'round; Thor buy Lippert. That way, the manufacturer would own the component companies and could institute changes so the RV side would have fewer problems.

Lyle

[norty1]

Maybe Camping World will buy them both? Then I'll be back to tents.

[MNWild]

We have a 2018 Jayco 25BH that list is almost like ours. The dealer is taking it over the winter to repair what we have found so far, every time we take it out we find something new.

[2edgesword]

We purchased our Jayco 28RLS in May and have enjoyed 25 nights in the trailer. So far there have been no major issues or even significant minor issues (one section of detached interior window frame, more the product of the HORRIBLE condition of a section of road on I-78 in PA, and easily fixed) which are cosmetic and not unexpected given this is our second trailer (first from a different manufacturer) and we knew finish wouldn't be world class.

I don't know if there has been a major change in quality control at Jayco but I think it is impossible to make a definitive judgment based on forum comments for the reasons stated. Many of the people that seek out the forum are looking for answers to questions and solutions to problems so the perception regarding the number of problems gets warped.

[Merrick]

I purchased my Jayco 2017 19XUD one year ago and have enjoyed 32 nights in the trailer. So far there have been no major issues or even significant minor issues. Just for the record.

[Dropyerjaws]

From what I understand there has been. Bontrager RV is my go to now, since the dealerships seem to all only care about the sale, and I am speaking on a 500 mile radius from Middleburry. His involvement was: an employee at Jayco for about 10 years until he saw an opportunity to make money on Warranty Repairs vs working for the companies.

The questions I asked were:
Who do you do the most warranty work with? Jayco
Who do you do the least? Grand D.

Of course I had to ask... why? The answer was interesting and in my world a big no no. Keep in mind Lippert is in the same complex his shop is in, which puts us right dab in the middle of the RV Capital of the world, was hearing a low pitched high energy voice that obviously didn't type.. lol.. But seriously we are within 20 miles of Jayco, Grand Design, Forest River, Coachmen etc.


Jayco:
To increase throughput the supervisors were trained to, and given, quality authority instead of having dedicated quality inspectors with that authority. DOH!

GD:
Through the process there are quality inspectors for the QA checks which sign off along the way. At the end, each unit is placed into a room with only QA inspectors with release authority, in which each unit is in their control until the 280 point inspection is complete.

And I know there is good, I see it everywhere. There are die hard Jayco's that have never had a problem. 10 years ago, when I was a wee lad and listening to stories from the family, all I heard was how Jayco was the greatest... but...

Anyhow, I am just a new guy here... for what it's worth...

[Dropyerjaws]

Originally Posted by MNWild

We have a 2018 Jayco 25BH that list is almost like ours. The dealer is taking it over the winter to repair what we have found so far, every time we take it out we find something new.

#57 our flight did eventually stop breaking. It was like a Brick oven. Once you heat cycled it enough it would stop cracking and then you were good to go.