Old Coach And New Coach Side By Side
OK…in hopes to stop all the emails. Here’s an update.
We arrived at Camping World on Monday (July 8th) in Greenwood, IN (near Indianapolis) to pick up our new coach. Within half an hour from us pulling in, our new coach pulled in. Right next to us. That was exciting!
Note: The new coach is not smaller than our current one. It’s just the angle that I took the picture at makes it look that way.
We met the transporters who were very nice. Once the transporters signed the coach off to Camping World, we were anxious to get in it and look around. Of course. What we learned was that CW has a certain procedure that they have to follow.
They have to go through the coach, fully, to make sure that everything matches and works the way it’s intended to. By that I mean serial numbers on their invoices, product names, colors, etc. Everything from the engine, generator, inverter system and plumbing, right down to the drawers and blinds to the fit and finish. Everything that we had ordered needs to be accounted for. This whole process takes 1-2 days.
Bummer…now we’re sitting in the parking lot waiting. On a positive note, CW does have 50 amp hook-ups so we were able to run our air conditioners in this 90 degree heat and humidity.
So us, being us, could not sit still and wait. Not with it so close and us having waited so long. So we went through the coach while the CW guy, Tony, was going through it doing his thing. This is where we started to get a knot in our stomach.
We knew going into this, there are always issues that need to be worked out. It’s essentially a house on wheels that travels down the US highway, which let’s face it, isn’t always the smoothest. Not to mention with how many people that have a hand in putting together such a beast, things are going to get missed and not come out perfect. Their’s a saying in the business…The dealership is the last 10% of the assembly line. It’s true with any coach. I don’t care how much you spend, things happen and need to be fixed.
When we went through the coach for the first time, we found several things, let’s just say, not up to par. Things that need to be fixed. I’m not going to go into much detail here as they are being fixed. We chose Winnebago, not having ever had a Winnebago product before, based on their reputation for quality and workmanship. We were surprised, as was our Winnebago rep, at how the coach left their factory and arrived to us. They were embarrassed to say the least. However Winnebago is, of course, stepping right up to the plate and making things right.
So, at this point, we are on a deadline to get down to Florida to finish becoming residents. We completed our domicile paperwork and mailed it in when we were back in Rochester, NY. So now the time was ticking away. We needed to get to Florida to get our driver’s licenses, register the vehicles, etc. There’s only a certain window of opportunity before you have to start all over. And if that happened, that would mess up our NY taxes and such. Don’t want that to happen. So, it didn’t look like CW was going to be done with what they needed to do for a little while. So we made a decision. Instead of sitting in the parking lot (which we already spent 3 nights there), we decided to take our current, older coach to Florida, do what we need to do there, then come back to CW and take delivery. We’re also trying to make the WIT (Winnebago) rally in Iowa that starts on July 21st. So we had to come back up north anyway for that. After mapping it out from Florida, going back to CW was only going to add less than 200 miles onto the trip. Not terrible.
Plus we saved putting on 1600 miles (round trip from CW to Florida) with the new coach. We’re trying to stay positive with this because their’s not much else we can do.
So…yes the new coach is in.
No, we do not have it yet.
Yes, we are making our way to Florida right now, in the old coach.
No, we’re not particularly happy about that.
Then we head back to CW to take possession. Then it’s off to the WIT rally… if all goes well.
Whisper Sound Asleep
BK Sleeping On The Dash In The Sun
Don’t worry though…the stress of all this has not upset the cats at all. They’re taking it all in stride.
Cats do that. They are simply above it all, as royaly is.
Your new home will be worth the wait! Be safe!
Love yas!
Oh, so sorry you’re dealing with all of that – what a bummer. When we were looking for our RV, someone told us it was actually better to buy a slightly used one, because then someone else had worked out all of the kinks that come with a new one. But, then you don’t get to pick out exactly what you want. There’s advantages/disadvantages to both I guess. Once you’ve taken possession and everything’s all fixed, you’ll forget all about this little set back.
It is amazing at the lack of quality control with RV manufacturers. You would think that they would do a thorough inspection and test all aspects of the RV? I know the Tour is a complicated machine, but it is their top of the line unit and you are paying top dollar. I hope Camping World takes care of the issues ASAP, so you can get on the road in your new rig. Best of luck.
Having owned two Winnebagos, I was always impressed with the quality of workmanship and their willingness to correct items in and out of warranty. They (this was in 2002-2006) stood behind their product. While there will be items that need fixing upon delivery, I haven;t heard of any that reach the length of Davids list. When the time comes to move on to another coach, Winnebago will not be in my thoughts.
I feel bad for both David and Brenda. Not the way one wants to start a new life on the road!