Warranty Repair Timeline

[dwardin]

Greetings all.

It took me 18 months to actually find the Travel Trailer I wanted due to part shortages etc… It finally showed up when I was least expecting it. Went to pick it up in mid-March. It was earlier than I was ready to pick up a trailer but the dealership insisted that 3 days after purchase the unit had to be picked up. At the time I picked it up it was about 2 weeks.

Anyhow had a fairly un-eventful, but long, pickup. Dealership had two different people walk me thru things. They had also hooked up my truck and moved it to the parking lot and gave me my keys and said its ready to go as they were closing and I started heading home for the 2 hour drive. Was a very unpleasant drive home. Wasn’t really swaying but felt very light in rear end of truck (2015 Colorado). Spoke with the dealer the following Monday and they said to check things out and also see if it did it when loaded as the truck was empty of everything when I brought it home. I also mentioned that the table was up (partially) when I got home. It had, what I would call, an obvious defect because the bottom of the surface it was mounted to was not fastened to anything. In short the table is un-useable. I had asked during the walkthrough whether the table should be up or down during travel and they said most people leave it up.

Last thing was the most important. There was a wire hanging down from slide side of the unit near the axle. After crawling under the unit it looks like during the manufacturing process they found out the trailer brakes didn’t work and retrofitted a new power source with some looped wire and a couple of zip ties. Which are bundled into loops. I am not an off-roader but this unit is advertised with brush guards. One trip sown any trail or campground road with a branch laying on it and it could possibly rip off wiring.

So after this long long post, I was naïve in a dealerships warranty repair work schedules. I was unable to go back to dealership until office workload subsided a bit. I called the dealership and they said the earliest they are scheduling repair work was in September. They asked if I was taking a vacation this year and I said yes on July 16th. They then said if push came to shove they could possibly do something on July 28th. I was shocked to say the least. Brand new unit and have to wait 4-5 months for warranty work. I asked about remote repair and they quickly sent me phone numbers to remote repair people.

Anyone have any additional advice? The table issue I could make do with. The handing down wires is a deal breaker for a long trip. FYI I was also told if I tried to make any repairs it would void my warranty by the dealer after I volunteered to do so.

[Jopopsy]

Zip tie the wires closer to the frame until you can get it in for a repair. Before you bring it in, cut the zip ties so it hangs as it was.

[Jim Davis]

I would communicate with Jayco customer service by email copying the dealer and keep a file. Be firm and polite. Also ask for authorization to use an independent repair company.

[CAG]

I think if you do some reading here you will find your timeline for repairs is actually pretty good. Consider that even before the RV sale boom it was very difficult to get in to a dealer repair for warranty work. If you think you will get the same quick service with a RV that you get if you take your new car to the dealer you are going to be very disappointed.

So the previous suggestion is good. If there is nothing other than the hanging wire, try the unit again once you are loaded and if comfortable, make your rip. I promise you you will have more warranty repairs on the list when you get back.

[bdreinv]

Zip tied almost every wire I could find early on after the purchase of my camper!

[Joey55]

Amazingly if you're at the dealer looking to purchase a particular unit and you find something wrong they will drop everything on the spot to get it fixed. But once you're out the door it's another story. I don't believe the RV industry has enough people hired and trained to do warranty work.

[bucko]

At the very least, contact Jayco's customer service and let them know how your first time buying experience was.

[us71na]

Document every contact with Jayco and your dealer with dates, details of what was discussed, whom you spoke with, what they said and what actually got done.