Jayco warranty is BAD

[manvel]

Bought a new Jayco 27u in November 2024, took our first trip about two weeks ago. Bought from camping world, never again. Have in Blue compass RV now for warranty repairs. The main door wont close like it's supposed to, the dead bolt wont line up with the slot, and you have to slam to close. Jayco don't want to repair under warranty because they said the pictures sent from dealer looks like the door was close with something in it and warp the door. Talk with Mike at Jayco service and he said I could not talk to their warranty dept. I bought Jayco after owning two Forrest River RV's. Jayco was supposed to be a better RV but they don't to spend the money to repair, I have to tie the door close from the inside to keep it from coming open when driving. Spent all that money on a new Jayco RV and they don't care Never buy from Jayco again.

 

[Grumpy]

Bought a new Jayco 27u in November 2024, took our first trip about two weeks ago. Bought from camping world, never again. Have in Blue compass RV now for warranty repairs. The main door wont close like it's supposed to, the dead bolt wont line up with the slot, and you have to slam to close. Jayco don't want to repair under warranty because they said the pictures sent from dealer looks like the door was close with something in it and warp the door. Talk with Mike at Jayco service and he said I could not talk to their warranty dept. I bought Jayco after owning two Forrest River RV's. Jayco was supposed to be a better RV but they don't to spend the money to repair, I have to tie the door close from the inside to keep it from coming open when driving. Spent all that money on a new Jayco RV and they don't care Never buy from Jayco again.

It is all dependent on what the dealer says and the pictures they sent. The dealer needs to verify the issues.

 

[Fireater99]

Been there and currently dealing with similar situations. Approval is dependent on the repairing dealer submitting pictures to fully document what the current situation is. It is also dependent on how the repairing dealership "writes up" or explains the situation. Jayco seems to take what the dealership says and shows on their first submission, even if the dealership made a mistake or didn't "fully" explain the situation. It is extremely frustrating. Best of luck with your situation. I have spoken with several people at the Jayco warranty department about our situation and they have all said the same thing. "There is nothing you can say or do to change our ruling; the pictures and explanation must come from the repairing dealership." So, you then call the dealership and get the run around there as well.

 

[Redhawk 26M]

In my warranty experiences I put most of the blame on the dealerships with Camping World being the worst. As stated above, if the service writer does not properly write up the problem with detailed information Jayco is going to deny the claim right off the bat. They, in my case, did nothing to advocate for me after purchasing there. I was told before I bought there that they're all warm and fuzzy during the sales process but after that they don't give a damn for you. I found that to be 100% true. I had words with the service writer at Camping World in Kingston NY where I purchased. He was an arrogant prick who didn't want to listen and it was due to his inept writing up of some issues that I was denied warranty claims. I escalated this guy to upper levels at that location and was told i wasn't the first to complain about him. He's no longer there, but I still took my business to a local Alpin Haus location.

 

[jyh818]

I have the same issue with the door during the PDI and the tech there took a grinder and taper the deadbolt tongue so that it has more give. While it helped when I was there, once the temperature outside changes, the problem is back. The striker pin can only move up and down, not in and out of the coach. This is similar to a car door when you don't close it hard enough and remains ajar. I haven't looked into the seal around the door. It may be too thick?

I am looking at that electronic lock, but am a little hesitant to pull the trigger because of this. I am not sure if changing to this lock will fix it.

 

[Stavman]

So did u not notice the door when you bought it and got the Tour of the rig ?

Seems like something is notice right away, especially if it doesn't close easily or normally, especially since you wonder an RV before

Either way. Good luck

 

[FCB1313]

I've got a 2023 27NF and had the same door issue. The latch works well now after using some lube on it several times. The dead bolt I did the same as mentioned above and took a grinder and removed a little width. I took a paint pin and put some black paint on the frame where it was hitting, then tried to close deadbolt. The paint marked the deadbolt and I took that much off. Door works great now.

 

[jimmoore13]

I didn't read all the comments. At the risk of repeating someone, your door latch issue may be easy to fix.
The door strike plate on the door frame is typically held in place with two screws. These are usually not sheet metal screws. They are machine screws into threaded "nuts" built into the door frame.

If the screws aren't REALLY tight, the door strike can move....relentlessly moving farther and farther into the door frame and making it harder and harder for the door latch to slide into the door strike.

Solution: Get yourself a REALLY GOOD #2 Phillips Head screwdriver...say a Milwaukee or similar. (Maybe you already have one.) Something with a perfect, super-hard tip. Use it only for this and similar jobs so you don't strip out the phillips head screws. Press in hard with your body weight on the handle and loosen the two screws. Slide the door strike plate toward the outside of the door frame, then tighten the screws using the same method in reverse. My guess is the screws aren't going to be all that tight when you loosen them, but when you tighten them, you want to apply considerable pressure to the screwdriver.

This is NOT a job for an impact driver. Use hand tools only. If you strip out the "nut" on the door frame, you'll really regret it.

DO NOT use Loctite on the screw threads. The strike is held in place by friction between the door strike and the door frame. This is less a matter of the screws coming loose than it is the strike sliding over the door frame due to relentless pounding by the latch mechanism. Loctite will make next year's adjustment...inevitable...just that much harder.

Using this method, I still need to adjust my door strike about once a year. When I notice that I have to start slamming the door, I make the adjustment, and the door works perfectly for another year.

Someone mentioned lubing the door latch mechanism. Yes, do that. But if you don't want your clothes to get greasy, don't overdo it. Use something like aerosol silicone grease deep inside the latch mechanism...and MAYBE a tiny dab of vaseline or similar on the rounded surface of the latch and the door strike. But the narrow doors on RVs mean your clothes will come into contact with the lubricant. I don't lube surfaces that my clothes can touch.

My hunch is that, assuming you haven't abused the door, there's nothing wrong with anything...no warping and so on. It's just the door strike out of adjustment. And, unlike exterior doors on your home, the weatherstripping on an RV door must be able to stand up to rain and road spray coming at it at 60 MPH or more, so the weatherstripping is pretty robust. Compressing that weatherstripping very much with a misadjusted door strike is very difficult.

That's my 2 cents...might be right...might be wrong. Check your door strike adjustment before you chase a warranty repair. This would not be a warranty item. And if this is the problem, Jayco sure isn't going to pay a shop for a 1 hour minimum to perform this adjustment.

 

[jimmoore13]

I didn't read all the comments. At the risk of repeating someone, your door latch issue may be easy to fix.
The door strike plate on the door frame is typically held in place with two screws. These are usually not sheet metal screws. They are machine screws into threaded "nuts" built into the door frame.

If the screws aren't REALLY tight, the door strike can move....relentlessly moving farther and farther into the door frame and making it harder and harder for the door latch to slide into the door strike.

Solution: Get yourself a REALLY GOOD #2 Phillips Head screwdriver...say a Milwaukee or similar. (Maybe you already have one.) Something with a perfect, super-hard tip. Use it only for this and similar jobs so you don't strip out the phillips head screws. Press in hard with your body weight on the handle and loosen the two screws. Slide the door strike plate toward the outside of the door frame, then tighten the screws using the same method in reverse. My guess is the screws aren't going to be all that tight when you loosen them, but when you tighten them, you want to apply considerable pressure to the screwdriver.

This is NOT a job for an impact driver. Use hand tools only. If you strip out the "nut" on the door frame, you'll really regret it.

DO NOT use Loctite on the screw threads. The strike is held in place by friction between the door strike and the door frame. This is less a matter of the screws coming loose than it is the strike sliding over the door frame due to relentless pounding by the latch mechanism. Loctite will make next year's adjustment...inevitable...just that much harder.

Using this method, I still need to adjust my door strike about once a year. When I notice that I have to start slamming the door, I make the adjustment, and the door works perfectly for another year.

Someone mentioned lubing the door latch mechanism. Yes, do that. But if you don't want your clothes to get greasy, don't overdo it. Use something like aerosol silicone grease deep inside the latch mechanism...and MAYBE a tiny dab of vaseline or similar on the rounded surface of the latch and the door strike. But the narrow doors on RVs mean your clothes will come into contact with the lubricant. I don't lube surfaces that my clothes can touch.

My hunch is that, assuming you haven't abused the door, there's nothing wrong with anything...no warping and so on. It's just the door strike out of adjustment. And, unlike exterior doors on your home, the weatherstripping on an RV door must be able to stand up to rain and road spray coming at it at 60 MPH or more, so the weatherstripping is pretty robust. Compressing that weatherstripping very much with a misadjusted door strike is very difficult.

That's my 2 cents...might be right...might be wrong. Check your door strike adjustment before you chase a warranty repair. This would not be a warranty item. And if this is the problem, Jayco sure isn't going to pay a shop for a 1 hour minimum to perform this adjustment.

PS. When I close the door from the outside, I close it gently then lean on it to compress the weatherstripping without slamming the door latch mechanism up against the door strike. This reduces the "slams" by roughly half...and extends the time between adjustments.

 

[jimmoore13]

PPS. These doors are mass produced by the zillions. The likelihood that they vary significantly from one to the next is pretty slim. It wouldn't surprise me if Jayco, Forest River and several other manufacturers source their doors from the same supplier. Look at campers in the campground, and many of the doors are identical other than paint and/or decals. These would be more like mass produced Anderson windows and doors than the kind of one-off work you might get in home construction...where the builder first has to drill the holes to add the lockset and strikes for the latch and deadbolt.

I won't rule out the need to take a dremel or mini-grinder to a dead bolt, but I'd only consider that as a last resort after discovering whether the door strike is properly adjusted.

 

[manvel]

Bought a new Jayco 27u in November 2024, took our first trip about two weeks ago. Bought from camping world, never again. Have in Blue compass RV now for warranty repairs. The main door wont close like it's supposed to, the dead bolt wont line up with the slot, and you have to slam to close. Jayco don't want to repair under warranty because they said the pictures sent from dealer looks like the door was close with something in it and warp the door. Talk with Mike at Jayco service and he said I could not talk to their warranty dept. I bought Jayco after owning two Forrest River RV's. Jayco was supposed to be a better RV but they don't to spend the money to repair, I have to tie the door close from the inside to keep it from coming open when driving. Spent all that money on a new Jayco RV and they don't care Never buy from Jayco again.

 

[manvel]

I got Jayco to approve md door repair, after many phone calls to Jayco. They kept telling me the door was bent, and they could see a crease in the door from the pictures. I went by dealer where it's in for service today and took pictures of the door fame, which is bent, held a long level against door fame to prove that the fame is bent, not the door. I am going to grind the dead bolt a little so I can latch until the new door fame comes in to dealer. THANKS FOR ALL THE INPUT.

 

[Grumpy]

I went by dealer where it's in for service today and took pictures of the door fame, which is bent, held a long level against door fame to prove that the fame is bent, not the door.

And that is what the dealer SHOULD have done. Glad you got it resolved.