Watch Out For Dealers Not Doing Safety Recall Work!

[klspahr]

Before you take delivery of any RV, I suggest that you check your VIN to see if there are outstanding recalls:

On June 27, 2017 we took delivery of a new (leftover) 2016 Jayco Alante 26AY from Campers Inn of Fredericksburg, VA. This motorhome was built in December of 2015.

Then in April 2018, I received two SECOND Notices of Safety Recalls from Jayco.

The one recall is 16V-561, which requires the installation of a jam nut on top of the seat base because the driver’s seat could come loose. The original recall date was August 2016.

The other recall notice is 16V-905 which deals with the routing of a wire for the entrance steps. Evidently the stairs could extend while you’re driving. This recall had the first notice date of January 2017.

Both original recall notices occurred during the time that Campers Inn of Fredericksburg, VA had the vehicle on their lot and I guess they couldn’t be bothered to make the required repairs.

One could even say that they sold a vehicle with KNOWN safety defects to an unsuspecting customer, who then proceeded to put 15,000 miles on that vehicle before receiving a notice from the factory concerning these defects.

Then the dealers talk about how they care about their customers - yeah right!

[Cryn]

Have you contacted the dealer and asked about this?

[2edgesword]

You would hope an authorized Jayco dealer would not knowingly allow an RV to leave their facility without the recall issues having been taken care of, especially if any of them are safety related.

[klspahr]

I’m four hours away from the dealer, so they want me to drop it off and they’ll get around to it. The estimated time to do the work for both recalls is one hour and twenty four minutes. So that means sixteen hours of travel time because they don’t know how to schedule an appointment - for work THEY FAILED to do! We use the motorhome for my wife’s business which means we can’t be without it for undetermined time periods especially for such minor repairs.

I have not asked for a single warranty repair from them. I fixed and replaced many things and this is how I’m treated. I’ll just have my local mechanic do the work and people I talk to about RVs will get a bad review of Campers Inn.

BTW I did contact management about this issue and they don’t seem to care either.

I thought it might help future buyers if they check for recalls before buying, because you can’t be sure the dealers will to go out of their way to protect the safety of their customers.

[Grumpy]

I would definitely contact JAYCO direct.

[Graunke]

You should be able to get Jayco to approve work at a local dealer instead of the turds you bought from. They are pretty cool about that.

I have received a '2nd' notice on that Jam Nut as well, but for me, I don't think there was a first notice. I owned this rig for well almost 2 years, leading up to receiving the 2nd notice.

[johnharrison]

I also received a "second" notice and never received the first. I've had my Alante in for warranty work several times since the recall came out but they never mentioned doing any recall work.

Rosalind and Jack

[klspahr]

For those who also only received second notices, check the date of the first recall notice (at the top of the notice) and see if that first recall notice was issued before you bought your RV. If it was, you were sold an RV with a known safety defect too!

Maybe you’re not upset by that and that’s ok too.

Once again, thought future buyers might want to know, I wish I had thought to check for outstanding recalls.

[JesseS]

I got those notices also, and rather than loose my coach to the dealer 'Black hole' I repaired them myself and signed them off. The seat fix cost me $1.15 for two nuts and cotter pins, as well as 30 minutes of my time, the step wiring was even easier to fix and took 15 minutes, half of which was me looking for my box of shrink wrap. So I spent less than an hour fixing these, had I taken it to the crappy dealer I have it would have taken them a week to get it done, most of which it would have spent just sitting in the lot, plus the hassle of getting it to/from.

[klspahr]

Thanks JesseS!

I took a look at the front seat recall issue. I wish I had a business where I could charge $150 for each set of seats I fixed!

For anyone else with this issue: Slide the seat all the way forward and you can easily reach the pivot nut and check it. Mine just needed tightened and the cotter pins installed.

Dealers must think everybody is stupid: “You need to leave it because we might need to order parts.”

That says a lot about their mechanical knowledge, customer care, and business savvy!

[wags999]

Originally Posted by klspahr

Thanks JesseS!

I took a look at the front seat recall issue. I wish I had a business where I could charge $150 for each set of seats I fixed!

For anyone else with this issue: Slide the seat all the way forward and you can easily reach the pivot nut and check it. Mine just needed tightened and the cotter pins installed.

Dealers must think everybody is stupid: “You need to leave it because we might need to order parts.”

That says a lot about their mechanical knowledge, customer care, and business savvy!

No it says a lot about the demand for RV Techs and the inability to find competent help. If you come in and wait, the tech will need twice as much time to do the job and talk with you, rather than if you leave it, he can go from job to job without wasting time speaking to customers. It's all about lack of labor.. Pay is good but people aren't interested in getting their hands dirty, sadly it's not going to get better any time soon.

[klspahr]

That makes no sense at all. So I should spend another eight hours of drive time (plus eight hours of drive time for the person taking me there) because they may have to talk to me while I wait? Wouldn’t they also have to talk to me when I drop it off and then pick it up some days/weeks later?

During my 30 years of being in business, and even though we maintained a crew of 10 guys, if a customer called and needed something I would respond myself - sometimes at 2 in the morning. I guess it all depends how much you care about your customers.

I don’t think it was unreasonable to ask for an appointment for an hour and half job (which would take a semi qualified mechanic 15 minutes to do). And remember THIS IS WORK THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE BEFORE SELLING A VEHICLE WITH A POSSIBLE DEFECT!

The plain fact is they don’t care about their customers!