The Back of The New Motor Coach

The Back of The New Motor Coach

(The below was written by Brenda on July 22 and I did not want her to post it was I did not want to make issues for Winnebago as we were trying to work with them.  After what has now taken place, it feels so right to allow this post to be made.  After all, they made her cry enough.)

Well…Yesterday would have been the day that we would have rolled into Forest City, Iowa to the WIT rally.  That’s the Winnebago-Itasca Traveler’s Club to you who do not know.

Yup…we were supposed to be parked right up front so everyone could see our wonderful coach.  Winnebago wanted us there to showcase our coach.  David was going to shoot the rally with the quadcopter.  Showcase our enthusiasm with living full-time in said coach at such a younger age than normal.  Showcase the awesome custom paint job.

But alas, we had to leave the coach behind.

Refuse delivery of it because of all the Winnebago quality control issues.

That’s what it all boils down to anyway.  Quality control.

You’re only as good as your employees.  I don’t care if you make lollypops or million dollar coaches.  Your employees are the people that make or break you.  But we feel this has more to say about the corporation, than the employees themselves.  For after all, they are trying to make a living. But they also should be concerned with what they are producing.

In this case, the employees and the lack of pride they took to put together the coach is what really got us.  The carelessness.  The lack of attention to detail.  Now don’t get us wrong.  I’m sure their are some good hard working employees at Winnebago.  It also falls upon the shoulders of corporate.  Wanting the employees to push push push.  Get it done quickly so the next one can be started. Get them out as we have more to make.

You know you have a problem when our new motor coach was supposed to be delivered the first week in June, as it was ordered in March.  Then the delivery date got pushed back to the 24th.  Then it was pushed yet again.  And then to receive the coach in the shape that it was in was just baffling.  So…was this rushed to get out the door?  I’m not so sure “rushed” is the correct word.  I think the employees are overwhelmed by the increased productivity and the QC is showing it.

Increase productivity to the detriment of QC and the consumer.  The “we’ll fix it later” corporate attitude.  And I think you all can agree, a fixed coach is not the same as a well built right off the line coach.

In our humble opinion.

Yes, Winnebago has been getting lots of press as of late.  They are growing exponentially.  Their profit’s are way up. Their production has increased due to increased demand.

But at what cost?  Well, the consumer cost and this can then end up hurting the company as the web is FAST and now the first place people go to research before spending.

The consumer suffers with a “less than” product.  Just to increase production and profit.  To push a product out the door.  To make the numbers look good.

This is wrong.  So wrong.

In our humble opinion.

We were not going to put our lives on hold any longer.  Waiting for these items to be fixed.  Items that should have been done correctly in the first place.  Winnebago says the repairs could take weeks.  So we did what anyone in our situation should do.  We refused delivery of an inferior product.

We as consumers should not accept inferior products of any kind.  Just to turn around and say, “Oh well, that’s the way it is”.  This should never be “the way it is”.  Manufacturers should step up and increase their QC and pride.  Take more pride in “Made in America”.

But this will never happen.  Manufacturers are more interested in profit over product it seems.  (Some, not all mind you. Some actually do care.)

In our humble opinion.

Winnebago will have to take this coach back and fix what needs to be fixed.  What should have never been let out the door in the first place.  (How many inspectors let this out the door?)

However…this raises the question…

If we saw all this just on a quick walk through and not yet living in it, then what else has been missed and improperly installed that we have not found?  What are we going to find while living in it?  How can we be sure that what’s behind the walls, under the floor and in the ceiling are done correctly?  We’ve only seen what’s been on the surface.  And we are not impressed.  Actually a little scared.

We have knots in our stomach.  We’ve been excited for so long and now feel the rug has been yanked out from under us.

Everyone that has owned a coach knows, their is always a “shake down” period.  Let’s face it, you are driving a house on wheels down the not so smooth US highway.  Things will come loose.  Things will happen.  However, the things that were wrong on this coach, straight from the factory, go way beyond the typical “shake down” issues.

Don’t get me wrong.  This is not our first class A, diesel pusher new coach purchase.  We knew their were going to be issues.  We went into this with our eyes wide open.  We’ve gone through issues with our current coach.  What we found however totally disappointed and shocked us and went way beyond.

What has happened here, we feel, is totally unacceptable and should never have happened.

We as consumers should demand better QC.  Whether it be on a new motor coach or something else.

We certainly would have paid enough for the product.  But in this case, I don’t care if you have a pop-up camper or a million dollar coach.  You should expect things to work and be installed properly.

Right now, it seems Winnebago will be stepping up to the plate and fixing what needs to be fixed.  As I would hope they would.  We shall see as time goes on what that will en-tale.  Will they be fixing things properly or slapping a band aid on the situation to get it out of the service area as quickly as possible, only for it to break further on down the road.  Maybe we’re just weary at this point.  Slighted even.  But can you blame us?

We’re trying to keep a positive attitude.  We’re trying not to complain too much.  Things could be worse.  We are healthy and trying to live life to the fullest.  Just not in our new Tour….right now.

We should be singing the praises of our new coach, of Winnebago and their employees.

We should be at the Winnebago rally enjoying ourselves.

Oh, and no, we have not yet published the list of items that we would not accept.  You did not miss anything.  We are just trying to see where this goes first.  It is bad enough for Winnebago that we are already talking about it like this.  We already have emails about them loosing some sales over us just mentioning not taking delivery.  If we were to publish the current list, we feel is would be very embarrassing to say the least and surly would not be good.  So, we are trying to work though it with them.  I do think their are some in the company that are very upset about this and do care.  As such, we are trying to do the right thing.