My love - hate relationship with my popup

[bigdav160]

I bought a Jayco 12F3 Designer Founders Edition, new, in 2004.

I had a couple warranty items the first year like "why I could see an imprint of the bracing through the headliner" and when I picked up the camper the roof had been replaced. The service manager and tech both admitted that the replacement roof didn't fit my box very well. But me, eager to camp, I accepted it anyway.

The next year a lift spring collapsed. That dealer repair took a couple months.

And over the next 15 years the lift system continued to fail. Not wanting to have the camper out of commission for months and months I decided to repair it myself. During those years, I've replaced floor tracks and pulleys, lift post and at least 12 lift springs. Every corner has failed at one time or another.

Memorial Day 2019 the lift had a spectacular failure on the way up. Not the usual way - won't go down. The lift spring exited the lift post when the sections separated. I am lucky I wasn't hurt as I was inside the camper just moments before.

Now all four corners are damaged and with a high level of frustration I made an appointment with the dealer. Six weeks later I drop the camper off. The next two months I could not get a return phone call or reply to my email. I finally resorted to taking time off work and traveling the 50 miles to get a status update.

There it was - untouched - over by the dumpster - roof getting chalky from sun and no waxing. I finally found the service manager (not the service writer) and explained the long history of this popup. She agreed that if they replaced the roof and it didn't fit correctly, even 15 years ago, that Jayco should stand behind it.

Two days later she calls and tells me that it looks like there was some rotted wood in the roof near the lift post attachment and obviously that caused the failure. No warranty. Ugh - No. It took three guys to manually lift the roof only to discover that the post were so bent we couldn't get the sections back together again. That's when this picture was taken. I ripped the lift post from it's anchorage to get the camper into a tow-able condition.

I also wrote Jayco customer service about the current condition. Hopefully they keep records of all the phone calls I've made to them over the years.

Sorry to say I don't feel like I have an advocate for this latest problem. It might be time for gasoline and a match

[jclashelley]

That is an unfortunate story. Sorry man.

[bigdav160]

Jayco customer service finally got back to me a couple days ago. Their usual song and dance - "the dealer is our eyes and ears" - translation - we don't trust our customer's statements.

Of course the dealer wasn't there when the lift spring shot out into the grass.

Jayco also said they've had no contact with the dealer about my unit. That tells me the dealer doesn't care either. It might be time to get a legal counselor involved.

Buyer beware is all I can say. Customer service isn't what it use to be.

[someguy11]

Originally Posted by bigdav160

Jayco customer service finally got back to me a couple days ago. Their usual song and dance - "the dealer is our eyes and ears" - translation - we don't trust our customer's statements.

Of course the dealer wasn't there when the lift spring shot out into the grass.

Jayco also said they've had no contact with the dealer about my unit. That tells me the dealer doesn't care either. It might be time to get a legal counselor involved.

Buyer beware is all I can say. Customer service isn't what it use to be.

Thanks for sharing your story. Sorry to hear about your lousy PUP ownership experience.

We bought a brand new 2016 Jayco 1207UD from our dealer. That was the first year Jayco went to the Goshen lift. Never had a single problem. Loved the thing, expect for all the work it was to go camping, set up, break down, etc. I'm afraid your dealer was ultimately responsible for all your problem by replacing the roof.

I can sympathize with your story thanks to one of our cars. It was an Acura, but that's neither here nor there. The dealer was more than happy to sell it and promise it would deliver the moon and the stars. Once it started having issues, the dealer, then the manufacturer, both became hard to reach and barely helpful. It was almost as if I was victim blamed as the problem for my car having all sorts of issues. I ended up trading it the POS for a perpetual vibration they cannot or will not fix.

I'm afraid this is the M.O. of corporations these days. Once a product is sold, out of sight out of mind. "We don't want the headache of any complaints and we're willing to blow them off to lose a single customer for life, because one customer doesn't matter." That was my experience with Acura, which sounds about the same as yours with Jayco.

So sorry.

[bigdav160]

I guess I never told the end of the story. If you want the 'moral of the story' without reading to the end it's Jayco's warranty isn't worth the paper it's written on.

Jayco customer service and the dealer both played me. Every week or so I would contact Jayco CS and they would tell me they are waiting for information from the dealer. So I would call the dealer and they would say they are waiting on Jayco to move forward.

Eventually Jayco CS said the warranty was void because the wood in the roof was rotten. Rotten? The water logged roof gained so much weight it exceeded the ability of the lift system.

The primary reason we purchased this popup over others was because the 'rot proof' one piece fiberglass roof.

So I show up at the dealer to pickup the trailer and the dealer gives me a song and dance how they fully expected Jayco to cover the lift system under warranty. They don't understand. Can I have a copy of the repair order? "No, sorry, there isn't one".

I guess this tactic prevent people from taking them to court.

Jayco are you listening? You and your product have ruined a family full of camping people. How many people do you think I'll tell my story to?

I own a small farm located on the road between a Corps park and State park. I am seriously considering parking it up by the road with a big lemon painted on the side.

I forgot to add. the rotten wood in the roof? A 3/4" x 12" piece of plywood where water had gotten in pass the latch clamp.

[norty1]

Thanks for bringing this thread to a close.