Old Coach And New Coach Side By Side
As are readers and friends know, we were to take delivery of a new 2014 TOUR 42GD special edition Solar Winds painted coach that we special ordered. We are sad to report today that we could not work out the issues with the build quality and Winnebago said they did not think they could fix it or build one that we would accept.We have chosen to send out this story based on a number of factors. One of which is the amount of time and money that was laid out trying to make this work.
We tried to do the right thing for a long time. We also had a great deal made for the trade in of our current coach and already had removed items from it in preparation for the trade it. In other words, we were all set to take delivery.
Why you might be asking? After all, it is such a great coach from a very well respected company. Well, it all came down to quality control and the lack their of. It is in our humble opinion that Winnebago has grown to fast as of late and thus is under pressure to produce, and more or less, get product “out the door” and clean it up after. That is OUR OPINION.
Let me start by saying this is not our first NEW Class A coach. We do fully understand that all coaches for the most part will have some issues that show up. (Sad, but true as we all know…but it surely does not mean we should accept it.) We went through that with our current coach, and were ready to go though that again with this new one. However, we did not expect what showed up from the factory “as fully inspected and ready to go” to show up.
We also are fully aware that Winnebago stands behind what they make and can fix any of the issues that will be listed below. That is not in question. Upper levels of Winnebago told us that all would be handled. However, we were not going to take possession of a new coach and then sit and have it worked on right from the start knowing full well it is time out of our lives and money out of our pocket.
We also had hoped this will all sort out and we will be the proud owner of such a coach. However, after what we have been put through, we felt we needed to say something.
You see, we received a call on Friday (7/27/13) from Winnebago that they did not think they would be able to repair the coach, new off the line, to our satisfaction. That more or less told us something was clearly not right. When I then inquired about just building a new one seeing that this one was so poorly made, the reply came back that they did not think they could build a coach that we would accept. WOW. Really? Is Winnebago no longer able to produce a quality product based on their recent sales volume increase and needing to get product out the door?
To this end the coach that was made for us had issues from as large as a bent independent front suspension, to as small as wood used not being properly finished yet still installed. Or how about a wall panel not even secured and more or less being held up by seam tape and the top and bottom molding.
Before I present our list of findings when the coach showed up, for it is after all, just a long list and we all have had them. I wanted to be sure to make mention of a possible safety issue with the 42GD. (Not sure on the 42QD)
PSA…PLEASE, PLEASE…Have your coach weighed!
The coach arrived from the factory with a front axle weight of 13,880 lbs! This is with only the driver and 1/4 tank of fuel. (150 gallon tank) The axle is only rated for a max weight of 14,600 lbs. This means just adding a full tank of fuel and a passenger will more than likely already put you over the limit of the front axle!
Now, please note, this is not something that was NOT KNOWN as it has been mentioned on community forum sites before. As such, we knew to check. However, we were told, “it was corrected long ago and seeing ours was just built, it would not have such an issue.” So when we test drove the coach we thought we were going to soon own, we stopped at the CAT Scales and had it weighed. Thus our findings mentioned above.
Now the good news is this can be corrected within reason. It is an issue with the TAG air pressure where there is too much air in the tag and it needs to be adjusted. However, you need to find a Freightliner service center to do it and they must have scales. (Not all do.) If any luck, you will be able to drop enough pressure to offset the weight on the front axle.
Not sure, like I mentioned, if this is an issue with the 42QD or not. But the 42GD has the kitchen upfront and thus the weight is much different. Also the tank placement is different for the holding tanks etc.
This is one reason we would not accept the coach at the time, as we were not going to take on the legal burden if something was to take place. As such, we would want this corrected to begin with. (And yes, we know it also comes down to how you load the coach.) However, as mentioned, it will already be over weight just by adding fuel and a passenger. As such the tag pressure is already to high. And yes, it will need to surely be weighed again after it is loaded.
End of PSA.
As for other reasons…(Photos below)
We do not consider this a small list and we do consider this very poor workmanship and quality control from Winnebago. While the dealer did say “you should see some of the other issues we see with other manufacturers.” we did not find that at all comforting as we are not currently looking at another manufacturer. To think that this coach had special attention given to it, one of 4 built with this paint design reserved for show coaches, and it still came in like this, made us even more concerned.
NOTE…The below list is from just our walk though and test drive and not even living in it. My guess, the list would have grown. Some items may seem trivial to some people, but all in all, it adds up to frustration and lack of care. Again, some of this may seem silly, but even the dealer said it needed to go back to the factory. Most items photo documented below.
OUTSIDE…
- Various Paint issues from a thumb mark to white specs under the clear coat paint.
- End caps on awnings not painted long with a few other missed items. (Part of the special paint package.)
- Outside TV is not Samsung. (It was replaced with a lesser brand because “they ran out”.)
- 3M Shield – Scratches, white specs under it and/or under clear coat, Haziness on top drive side corner of 3G Shield.
- Under body carriage – all welded areas are rusting and were not protected.
- Window Seals – The black seal under the window is very poor on a number of windows to the point of being on the window frame itself.
- Radiator – Compressed cooling fins from something that got in the way when something was installed. (it has in a pattern on it.)
- Moisture inside back driver side taillight. (Bad seal?)
- Door Awning over door does not close all the way on the forward side.
- Backup camera has “noise” in the video feed. (bad video line or camera.)
- 4 wires for the front LED’s not heat sealed and exposed to elements. (How many other wires were missed and not protected?)
- Independent Front Suspension bent on the passenger side. Will need to be replaced and the front end realigned. Based on how long this part takes to come in, we will need new front tires based on wear.
INSIDE…
- Screen Door is not flush and as such has sprung and bent. Even to the point of scraping paint off the doorframe.
- Dashboard is discolored and marred in several places. Will not clean off.
- Step cover when in the UP position does not lock in and moves when you step on it. (Unsafe for the passenger standing up.)
- All the under the cabinet lights are not flush.
- Most drawers have unfinished or poorly made wood on the sides. (Kitchen, bedroom, bath, etc.)
- Wood on the left side of the fridge was not finished.
- Cabinet over the couch – Bottom wood is not flush where it is seemed together.
- Couch arm on the extension part that you pull out is broken as if it was crushed. (Lean on it and it collapses)
- Slide out drawer above kitchen counter did not even reach the other side. Only one one side was connected as it was not wide enough.
- Couch rounded back does not line up with the seat backs.
- Ceiling wood treatment stain is poorly matched between the two sections that make up the entire top piece.
- Ceiling vinyl near TV looks like it was ripped and then poorly repaired with a vinyl repair kit.
- Main 55″ TV is not level.
- Main TV does not cover the wood and lights under it. You look right at it.
- Fireplace tile not aligned.
- Around the fireplace itself is not cleanly installed. Gaps.
- Computer Table Top not nicely finished. Rough.
- Bedroom dresser top is not nicely finished, Rough.
- Bathroom shower doors do not line up. Bottom stoppers were not centered, off over 1 1/2 inches! They also were not long enough to stop the doors.
- Bathroom counter top backsplash on the left side has a 2/8″ gap and not sealed.
- Washer/Dryer cabinet is not aligned. Correct at the bottom, off more than an inch at the top.
- Bathroom wall is not attached and is pulling apart at the tape seam as the tape and molding is the only thing holding it in place.
- Jack leveling controller display seems to have had moisture in it.
- Jack levels would not retract without the controller being reset. Put the jacks down, would not come back up even though it said they were UP.
- Counter next to dining room table is coming away from the wall.
AFTER DRIVE TEST…
- Large noise coming from kitchen slide when driving. It is VERY loud creaking sound like two metal items are rubbing together.
- Kitchen counter area is not firmly attached and can be lifted by the counter top. This was noticed when we were driving as it was bouncing up and down.
- Dishwasher will not stay locked and opens when you turn.
- Washer/Dryer Door would not stay closed while driving.
SO…
Again, these were all found without us even living in the coach. Not testing any of the living items such as heat, water, air, etc. All if these issues should be able to be corrected but it seems that Winnebago would rather move the coach on to somewhere else vs fixing it for us. Most of these items we feel are small for the most part. Some however are not, ie, the fireplace wall we were told would need to be torn out and redone.
We tried to reach out to the CEO one time about this when we found all these issues, that got us a call back from the same person I was dealing with already. Granted, I was not happy when I called. Would you be? After all, we spent a great deal of time not only selecting a coach, but ordering it, waiting for it, prepping out current coach for trade in, and even buying some items needed to go on the new coach when we took delivery. (Like the AirForceOne Coach side parts for the tow car breaking.) Had our internet sat dish removed with the roof then sealed and now we don’t even have that. We more or less have been harmed in this regard not to mention all the fuel and time spent going to get the coach and then heading to Iowa where we were to meet it after repaired. All the time adding more milage and ware to a coach that we need to trade in.
We even contacted their PR department in hopes that they may care to look into this to make it a happy ending story of Winnebago making it right. I even explained I had been talking about it on-line for months, as we were so excited to be doing this and had people asking about where the new coach was and why we did not have delivery. Even some people questioning Winnebago already just by us not accepting it from the dealer at the time. I figured they at least would know the reach and the impact such a story could have and that we would not wait forever to get this resolved as it had already been long enough. But that turned into that they did not think we would be happy with a product they could produce. So here we are telling the negative part of the story, vs the happy ending part which would have been much nicer.
So I guess ask yourself, if they do not take care in their flagship product at $400K, what care do they give at all. “Just makes them and get them out as we have sales.” is what we think we would hear if we were a fly on the wall.
It is not like we did not try to work with them on this. After all, we had the right deal, we spent the time and the research, we find the floor plan we liked. We waited to have one made and specially painted.
I know their are a lot of owners who have had great luck with their product, that is one reason we also thought we made the right choice. In our humble opinion the Winnebago company of today, as of late 2012 when sales picked up, is not the company it once was based on demand to get the product out the door.
This is not a reflection of all the employees of Winnebago. We feel this starts at the top. Their are some people their that really did care. Not only about making sure we were happy, but about the impression of the company. We feel bad that the company has also let them down. We even had support from some of the Winnebago vendors who found out. (Some knew who we were, thus the concern.)
Camping World – Thank You…
The dealer, Camping World, totally stood behind us with this. Right down to saying they would refund the $10,000 for the special order! Even more…Based on the issues and for the fact it had to go back to the factory, so not to disrupt our lives even more, they would send someone to the Winnebago factory once it was repaired to our satisfaction to finish the deal. They would then drive our trade in back. They understood of us to take the coach would then mean an unknown amount of time waiting on repair thus further impacting our new life on the road. (They knew we sold everything to do this.) For them to do such a thing, surely says something to us (aka…we were not being to picky) and we are glad they stood behind the buyer vs the manufacturer or the sales contract. Thank you Camping World. (And more so, to one individual who will remain nameless.)
In Closing…
For those that wish you voice your dissatisfaction about our issues and encourage Winnebago to step up and do the right thing, as well as getting back to building a quality Made in the USA product, please feel free to send emails to – info@winnebagoind.com . This is not meant to be an attack against them, however a call to get back building a quality product they were known for and one reason we choose them. We would much rather have this end on a positive note as we surely did like the coach, just not the lack of care given to building a “quality product”. As of this post, we were still willing to accept the coach as long as it was corrected.
Side Note…It is not like we made this post just to make it…we were so excited to be buying the TOUR that we have be taking about it here and other places online for months. We even did a complete photo essay on the painting process of a Class A motor coach thanks to the fine people at CDI Painting. We were so proud to be doing this and already showing it off. Here are the other posts about it…
Coming Soon…The New TOUR – Plans Are A Happenin’ – Coming Soon…First Look – The Amazing Process of Painting a Class A Motor Coach – And We’re Off… – Well..Our House Closed So We’re Officially Full-Timers Now – Another Good-Bye, To Our Motor Coach – New Coach…Not Quite Yet – Still Sitting…Waiting… – The WIT Rally And What Wasn’t
UPDATE THOUGHTS…
After thinking about this even more for a few days, trying to wrap our heads around what happened. The only thought we could come up with was that once they received the coach back to them on or about the previous Wednesday, they realized it may take longer to repair than they thought. Seeing they already were running high in production and also that the WIT Rally was ending and a lot of owners were their for updates and repairs, they just did not have the time to do it. Seeing we had not taken ownership of the coach as of yet, they had no obligation to us to do the repair at that time. After all, it is a 2014 coach and thus could sit for some time waiting to be worked on and then invoiced to another dealer later.
At least that is our thought it. Right or wrong in that thought, it is what seemed logical to us at this time. The only thing….we were left sitting 20 miles from the factory expecting to take delivery at some point in the near future. We were told to come as the coach was sent their to be repaired. We had planned for months to be in that coach and had not only spent a good deal of money already in travel to take possession more than once, but also in preparing this coach for trade in. We ordered and have matching license plates to the design of the coach. Yes, we were that excited and ready. So, to us, in our opinion, it seemed to be a business choice based on timing and for the fact we did not actually take delivery of the coach based on the issues.
UPDATE…WE HAVE ORDERED A NEW COACH… CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT WHO!
AND NOW THE PHOTOS…
Video of Bad Creaking From Slide When Driving…Brenda actually jumped up off the coach as it scared her thinking the slide was coming out!
Video of bathroom wall panel not attached and being held on by seem tape! In order to fix this, the washer and dryer needs to come out and the cabinet removed.
We never have asked before, see any of our other posts, but…
PLEASE BE SO KIND TO SHARE THIS STORY Using The Below Social Links…
Oh. My. Gosh. I am SO sorry. What a nightmare. You absolutely did the right thing by not taking delivery. I don’t even know you and I am just heartbroken for you! You seem to be handling it well but I can’t even imagine the disappointment you must feel right now. Thank goodness you were savvy enough RVers to recognize all of those problems right off the bat and stand up for yourself. That’s the silver lining, I guess. So, so sorry you had such a bad experience.
Never mind Outside the Bubble, time to think outside the Box, Renegade or Showhauler……..that workmanship is inexcusable….sorry you had to deal with that ….
I am surprised and saddened by your experience with Winnebago. I would have thought that the lean years of the RV industry would have taught them, that Americans still appreciate quality in the things that we buy and are willing to pay a fair price to get it. I guess I need to look elsewhere for my Class A. When you can find as much as you found by what you could see, just imagine what was wrong that you could not see. I shutter at the thought.
Thank you so much for your posts. Now I know to get the RV weighed before purchase. You need to post this on the Winnebago facebook page.
Howard…
No need to get it weighed before purchase. This surely is not the normal way things are done. I only did so based on other posts I had read about the issue. I wanted to check to see if it was in fact addressed, clearly it was not like I was told it was.
But yes, after you load your coach for travel for the first time…GET IT WEIGHED! A 4 point weigh is the best as then you can also see the side to side weight that can also affect the ride. Try to balance from side to side and of course make sure you are no over weight anywhere. Also be sure to set your tire pressure per the manufacturer chat. This is to be done COLD as all the numbers are based on a cool tire. As the heat increases, so does the pressure.
Take care.
I understanding your feeling on Quality control. We own a 2013 Holiday Rambler Endeavor. This is our second endeavor. I have always felt the Winnebago quality control was weak. We have had some problems with HR, but nothing like you are finding. I would recommend you look into the HR Endeavor. We really like what we have. We are members of HRRVC, Chapter 419 Ramblin Pushers. We are an organization that looks out for the members during the year and have one meeting a year, currently in Goshen, IN. Our chapter consists of approximately 750 members who have an interest in maintaining our own coach, but also we work very closely with the HR management to improve the quality of the coach. I would be happy to discuss our organization with you and what we are doing to see the parent company improves the quality control on the manufacturing floor. I am personally pleased with what our organization is doing for the members. http://www.ramblinpushers.org. We also have a form that anyone can join. It is mostly designed for HR diesel pusher owners, but anyone is welcome to join.
ramblin_pushers@yahoogroups.com
Check us out. This is not an advertisement, just a member who is interested in working with other members to get the best RV product we can for the money.
surprising. My 2011 Winnebago Journey has been flawless. no problems whatsoever, love my Winnebago!
Have you ever considered writing an e-book or guest
authoring on other websites? I have a blog centered on
the same topics you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information.
I know my viewers would value your work. If
you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me
an email.
I think before you do consider authoring a book or writing another blog, you should take a grammar/spelling course. Or, you could just cut and paste your writings into a Microsoft “Word” program and click on the grammar/spell check icon prior to publishing. (their: to posses) (there: a place) (to: going somewhere) (too: also) to name a few…
However, all things considered.. I do appreciate the information as I too am in the process of upgrading my current RV, and was looking at the Winnebego. (emphasis on “was”)
THANKS for saying what we were all thinking! DANG thatwas a hard read. :-)
Well the post is old but the point is…Check out a coach that you ordered before you accept delivery. In this case, the company just totally did not care about the quality, that the time, that went out the door and would not fix it unless we bought it. Hummm……
I’m really sorry to hear of all the trouble, but in the long run, subpar quality would be more of a headache. I’m sure frustrations are high, as I know you both were excited for a new RV & new adventures. Now head west and somehow manage to be in the same area we are! ;)
We are so sorry to hear what happened, and are very disappointed in Wnnebago. Thank you for sharing your story. The above was heartbreaking & painful just to read. We do believe that you made the right decision not to go ahead with the sale.
Hi James…
We did not want to go with the sale the way the coach was, we were willing to do so when Winnebago fixed the issues. In fact, we had moved ourselves to 20 miles from the factory so as soon as it was fixed, we can finis the deal and get on with out new adventure. Even the dealer, Campingworld, was going to send someone to us at the factory to finish the deal so we did not need to come back. How great was that! But Winnebago received the coach back and I got the call last Friday that they did not think they could fix it to our satisfaction. Thus the above blog post.
Thank you kindly for your thoughts and feeling about this.
OMG…. Thank you so much for your post. I am so sorry that you have had so many issues and couldn’t take the coach. It must be very disappointing.
I would NOT taken possession either. You did the right thing.
Can Winnebago actually believe that they sent out a quality product??? Since that is obviously what they believe as they let it go out the factory like that and then wouldn’t stand behind it. You could say, “ok maybe that quality control person should be fired.” However, when the top people knew this and was reluctant to fix it then I believe lack of caring is pervasive throughout the company.
Again, I am sorry for you but I am so thankful for your post. We had been considering a Winnebago however we will look elsewhere. I am not touching a company that doesn’t care about their product OR their customer!
Carol,
we are very happy with their customer service and our fifth wheel from them:) custom ordered too!
Oh my gosh – so sorry to hear about all the issues and workmanship problems you’ve experienced. What a major disappointment! And you’re so right – if you can see & find all this right off the bat, who knows how long the list would be if you actually lived in it for a month! Or how bad the “lesser” quality units are.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your experience and the results of your quest for remediation. I can only imagine how you felt when you got that kind of response; you can bet we’d be walking away as well.
We’ve had several trailers (never a coach), from lots of different makers. Our most satisfactory quality products have been from Arctic Fox and Newmar. Good luck in getting the rig of your dreams – it’s out there somewhere!
I totally understand your frustration. I just took ownership of a NEW Colman travel trailer and wish I never did. I haev a laundry list of issues and the dealer is >200 miles away. They are non responsive to phone messages and e-mails. I will be contacting Coleman this week. Good Luck in your pursuit of a Quality Motor-home.
I’m so sorry to hear about your bad experience. That’s great that Camping World stood behind you and refunded your deposit. We own a Tiffin product and will never own anything from another manufacturer. Tiffin is family owned and operated and takes pride in what they do. They would have never given you those kind of problems. I wish you luck with your future purchase.
I can truly appreciate your problems with management. I had the roof blow off from the front of the coach and they would not stand behind it. We taped it down with “duct tape”. And continued on our way. We now drive a Newell and are completely happy. In between we had a Holiday Rambler that was ok too. Also, check into the Allegro Bus. They are very well built.
Sorry you have issues but all have issues, you will find that out, we custom ordered our fifth wheel at the time Sunny brook merged with Winnebago and those were very uncertain times to say how the end result would be, but i must say barring a few minor details, which all have we couldn’t be happier, they have stood behind every thing we requested and fixing all details we were not happy with from the steps. the seal under the slideout, to even sending extras molding where i thought there should be above a cabinet,, love my Winnebago Sunny brook Bristol bay , very few of those out there!!! happy :)
Thank you for being so forthcoming, you have in all likelihood saved a lot of people a lot of misery. I’ve ironed the kinks out of my old rig but, as everyone else, I often lust after the newer models. I’ll be happy with what I have for now and in the future I will be cautious.
Shame on Winnebago, I hope they pull themselves together. Hurray for Camping World, that was good to read that they stood by you. Dually noted.
You have covered things I never would have thought of on an inspection. I would love for some group to go around and inspect new motorhomes and write a review on the quality they find on new units.
Give RV Consumer Group a look, as they are like Consumer Reports for RV’s and are very knowlegable…
1st and foremost->THANK YOU for taking the time to document all of your findings and dealings with Winnebago! You have made better RV shoppers out of all of us.
Secondly I can not believe that Winnebago would not immediately correct all of the issues ASAP or replace it with a similar coach with no issues.
Best of luck to you.
The most important issue here isn’t really some counters that aren’t finished properly. What concerns me is that with this laundry list of things that you can SEE, what the heck is going on in the mechanical side of the coach where you CAN’T see?
If the level of attention that they pay to the surface stuff is so low, their attitude to hidden items is surely dirt poor.
Very sad story. And at that price point too. Wow! My wife and I were getting very interested in the Winnebago Via (small Sprinter Class A). Went to see one at LazyDays in Tampa. A cabinet door in front had already fallen off and the emergency brake plastic cover was broken. Could have been over-aggressive shoppers I suppose, but it sure didn’t give us a warm feeling. Your write-up, while painful to read, is a real wake-up call for us. If Winnebago is supposed to be one of the best RV makers out there, at least for those in a moderate price range, then how bad are the rest of them? I know there are many thousands of happy Winnie owners out there. Maybe they just bought before quality control left the Winnebago tent.
That is an unbelievable story. Thanks so much for sharing it. I received a link to your blog post from a facebook friend and I and many others will pass along this story of horrendous workmanship and customer care by a major manufacturer. As you say, not as an attack but rather to alert other buyers of what to look for when buying and NOT to trust a manufacturer just because they are well known.
I must say you were much more diplomatic than I would have been after the run around they put you through. So sorry for all the losses you experienced.
Your reporting of the issues and concerns was very detailed and informative and I learned much just reading your post. Thank you, again.
Unfortunately this has become the normal way to do business. Consider yourself lucky you don’t own this thing. Our 5ver was delivered with numerous problems that weren’t discovered until a few days after receiving the unit. I’ve become extremely sick due to the black mold in our bedroom of our brand new unit. Keystone says they will fix it. But we haven’t been able to find a Keystone dealer willing to do the work. Our autoleveling system doesn’t work, and our air conditioner doesn’t work. I wish I were in your shoes, talking about a problem you apparently averted.
@Brigitte, bring to us, we can fix it, the question always is…..
will Keystone ever pay for the work…..
this is why most dealers wont take you in. Factory warranty some times takes up to a year to pay the dealer for their work. Of course their workers don’t want to wait that long, and the materials are paid up front, leaving a dealer holding “the bag”
That is one surprising and sad story. Do not second guess yourself. If you easily picked out those deficiencies, the build quality was bad. Consider yourself lucky.
Now, have you looked at the Newmar Class A products? They are in the $400k+ range and the build quality is really good. We had looked at Country Coach, Newmars, Foretravels, Winnebagos, Tiffins, etc. We toured all the Class A factory tours many times. We read the consumer reports on all of them by an independent person who had tested them all including drivability.
We decided at that time, that we got the best bang for the buck with the Newmars. We have not been disappointed. I have done all of our couch maintenance after attending the Newmar chassis school. Well worth the time and money.
We wish you luck in finding another brand that will be right for you and your wife.
Stay safe and drive carefully.
Byron & Linda Landry
FORETRAVEL….. Proudly made in the great Republic of Texas!!!
Hello,
You wrote. We read the consumer reports on all of them by an independent person who had tested them all including drivability. Where did find this information?
Mike
Wouldn’t buy a Winnebago. They’ve been riding on their past reputation for quite a while.. Their product is cheaply made now with just enough glitz to hide the poor quality & more importantly, pride of selling a quality product.
Think I’ll just keep my Born Free…Now there’s a company that builds a quality RV & gives terrific customer service….
Think you made the right decision one way or another…..
If you’re still interested in a well built coach you may want to check out Tiffin. Their Allegro Bus is very nice and if you stop by Red Bay, Al., Bob Tiffins door is always open. Unfortunately we don’t own a Tiffin but our next coach will definately be a Tiffin.
We bought a Winnebago View in 2009 with about the same laundry list of issues. All the time spent, money spent getting all those issues fixed was a complete surprise to us as we held Winnebago in high regard. We certainly are not at your price point, but the issues are nearly the same. It seemed as if all our complaints were workmanship, not the products inside. The air worked fine, the refrigerator was fine, etc. The bathroom sink came off the wall, kitchen cabinet doors not level, toilet leaked, slide wouldn’t come in, etc. just so many small issues like that that we weren’t expecting. Finally we just sold it taking a huge loss of $$$$$. I hope you find another coach with much better quality. I would certainly never guy another Winnebago anything.
I would not have accepted this either. I would put this on a news station, I bet that would wake up Winnie.
So sorry to hear but very happy that you didn’t get stuck. Thank Goodness you knew what you were doing. I feel for the people who did not. Heck I bought a 1993 HR imperial pusher last fall and it has a few minor problems I am slowly addressing myself. Can’t even imagine how frustrated you must be.
My wife and I had purchased a class C that for all practical purposes was very similar to what you have described, it was junk from the get go. Our issues were trivial or so we were told, but for us, it was not acceptable. So we wound up with a Sunny Brook Trailer and I must say, the quality was impeccable and we just love it.
We sometimes hear these horror stories of the one that got through the fence and to me as a retired blue collar worker, this story will forever be burned in my memory. Surely there’s a bright side and we hope the industry no matter what brand keeps improving.
I was at an RV rally one time where there were Prevost motorhomes in attendance. The manufacturers were there doing service. Even the Prevosts had quality problems that needed to be addressed after the sale. I know it is a sad commentary on quality but that is the way it is. Winnebago offered to fix the issues but you were unwilling to give them the opportunity. You therefore share in the burden of blame. It is unfair to blame them when they are willing to fix the issues. I know that you want it to be nearly perfect at the time of delivery but that just doesn’t happen. You shouldn’t be putting out this type of possibly slanderous report.
Doug…You are mistaken. Even at the end of the blog post it say we are willing to accept it if fixed as we liked the coach. It was Winnebago who said they were not going to fix it. In fact, we are 20 miles from the factory as we expected it to be fixed and we would take delivery. Camping world was going to send someone up to finish the deal even.
They got the coach back on Wednesday and on Friday we got the call that they did not think they could fix it to “our standards”. You must have totally missed that part for we are still 20 miles from the factory expecting to take delivery.
We think that seeing the WIT Rally just ended, they have to much work and would rather just shelf it for now not know how long it would take to repair. It is a 2014 coach, so they could sit on it. That is just a guess.
But you are surly mistaken.
Doug,
You obviously wrote before reading the entire post. You should also be careful of making accusations. “slander n. oral defamation, in which someone tells one or more persons an untruth about another which untruth will harm the reputation of the person defamed.” David has just laid out the facts – in impressive detail I might add. Just because it’s disturbing and embarrassing to Winnebago does not make it slanderous. Even Winnebago lawyers would know that.
Doug – If pre-inspection by a customer fails – why accept a defective product? Are you a Winnebago shill????
DOUG, the way I read the post, it was Winnebego who said they couldn’t build a coach that they would satisfy them. (para phrase).
I could careless about Winnebego, I had a friend with SOB that had quite a few problems. The MFG did fix his coach. He then turned around and traded it. for some other brand.
I didn’t think the post was slanderous at all.
If you read the piece you will see that they DID give Winnebago every opportunity to fix the problems.
It was Winnebago that walked away, saying that they could never build a coach well enough to satisfy the buyers.”
The message here is, “Take the Winnebago the way it’s delivered or go somewhere else.”
That’s just reprehensible! To spend that kind of money, and end up with a piece of junk is totally inexcusable. Very sad to hear that your life has been disrupted, and that Winnebago has become just a mass producer of RV’s who obviously no longer values quality and workmanship. You were right in not taking delivery. Quite honestly, I don’t know if Id have any faith in taking delivery of it after the repairs are done, or taking another Winnebago at all.
I wish you luck with the battle. Please keep us posted on your progress. Hang in there..
Evidently the quality control department needs your expertise. Someone is letting things slide. I own a Winnebago Brave and love it. I have had some repairs as it is a 2000. But I KNOW if I had put the money you are talking about in an RV that I too would be concerned regarding the issues it has. Even my little baby Brave(26 footer)if it had those issues I would be raising sand too!!Maybe they need to start over gain and do it right this time for you!!Ya think?
For a company not to be concerned about the results of “Bad Press” is unthinkable…We also have been looking into several RV models-to do far more traveling. However Winnebago will be one that we will NOT spend anymore time researching. So sorry to hear about your experience. No one likes this kind of business dealings, for sure. But you will find one that you will like even better.
Safe Travels…Tb
Such a sad story for what should have been a happy and exciting time. I hope it all works out for you in the end. We have a 2013 Entegra Aspire (You have seen it as we played tag beating the weather up North in March or April) and really like it. Their build quality has been great and even to us as new to the RV life-style we have been very satisfied. Very few issues and good support from Orlando RV and Entegra. The Entegra line just seems head and shoulders above other manufacturers at the same price point. They too are expanding production and hope they keep their quality focus.
So sorry to hear the sad ending. We came very close to buying a Tour last year but decided on the Entegra like John and Flora. We have had the usual laundry list of items that, sadly, come with a new coach – but the response from Entegra has been amazing. We wouldn’t hesitate to buy another Entegra, and they are bringing out some new floor plans this year. You might want to consider taking a look. Best of luck whatever you decide.
Reading all the issues and seeing the pictures makes me feel you dodged bullet. What mechanical issues couldn’t you see? Shame on Winnebago. You gave them a list of things to fix and they refuse. What helpless person are they going go sell the coach to now? Buyer beware. So sorry it didn’t’t work out after you were so looking forward to it.
So glad we backed out of buying a new Adventurer 35P.
If I was you, I would NOT accept that coach. Like you said, what else is wrong that you can’t see or won’t know about until the warranty is out?
What about testing your propane powered equipment, etc. I would not trust the unit just from a safety standpoint. How many people are buying their first coach and don’t know as much as you do about them? I would consider myself lucky to get out of that deal if I could. Sounds like you are going full-time and sold all your belongings. Who, at this stage in their life, needs this frustration! Thanks for the posting. We wish you all the luck and God bless you!
I would file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and even the Federal Trade Commissioner in the state of build/sale.
The more important thing here is getting the issue logged. The BBB is essentially a mediation process but failing that they can and will drop Winnebago’s rating and revoke their accreditation. This is the best way to alert the public at large about the lack of build quality.
The FTC functions in a very similar fashion, but has the weight of a governmental agency backing them as well. Like I said, it’s all about reporting bad business practices. It’s not about punishment but hopefully a dialogue to evoke change. Failing that, they will warn the public so that this doesn’t happen to other people.
You know what I find most interesting in reading this? It’s not that Winnebago didn’t know the problems existed, you gave them a list, but that they refused to fix them after they knew what was wrong. In my opinion they knew these things were wrong before shipment but hoped you wouldn’t notice. The fact that you did notice and they don’t want to make things right is despicable. I agree, you should send a copy of this, with the photographic evidence, to the FTC. Also, wished you had gone to that Winnebago show with this set up as a power point there!
What a bummer. We know a couple with a 2013 Tour that has spent MONTHS and many visits back to Winnebago to have MANY problems (some major) fixed on their rig. Winnebago needs to get their sh*t together! Thank you for sharing, this is important information for all potential RV buyers to be aware of!
Metamorphosis Lisa
We have a 2008 Tour. We too had some issues. Not nearly what you had. But when we took the coach to Iowa to have them repair our issues, the employee who wrote up our list of complaints, told us that they expect problems and rely on the buyer to QC the coach for them. I was shocked. There were a few items that we decided we did not want them to fix because we were scared it would just cause more problems. So we live with them. Just from that experience and because we live in our motor home fulltime, we have made it home and have fixed everything else ourselves. I don’t trust them.
I do need to add that from other conversations with many other fulltimers that own all other brands this has become norm in the industry and is very sad. The money that is spent on these coaches is incredible to the actual quality that is presented.
Good luck to all with future purchases and buyer beware.
I feel so sorry for you . Thank you so much for your page. I will be going to Alabama instead of Iowa for my class A!
Dennis,
I have seen what comes out of Red Bay – Not sure you would get a much better story with Red bay – But —- they would stand behind it
Keith, I, also has seen what comes out of Red Bay, and I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Our experience with them was fantastic. They were eager to fix anything that we had issues with and did it with a smile. We have a Allegro Phaeton. Have had a few miinor issues, but they fixed them, no questions asked. We live the pheaton and love the Red Bay family. It’s all good!
We are very happy with out 2011 Phaeton, the few problems we had were not MFG by Tiffin.
Alternator, Cummins, Generator Cummins, washer Splendide. All little things were coverers by Tiffin. If you own a Tiffin still under warranty , have a problem, call them they will note it. You than can have it fixed , submit bill and get a check within weeks.
With Monoco once out of factory , you better have an extended warranty .
We now have ordered a Tiffin Bus, looking for Jan delivery.
I think all major MH MFG’s have had their problems. Tiffin had problems from 06-09.
They will fix those coaches today at no charge .
My husband and I was about to purchase a Winnebago, think we changed our minds.
Thanks
Just an addition to my comment above…I have seen already that several have added this post as a link to facebook and Twitter and have received much activity on their posts. If each of us on social media adds it to our pages it could go viral and Winnebago would have to answer to their customers. Just a thought if you haven’t already shared this post on facebook, etc.
I bet Jonh K. Is spinning in his grave. He never would tolerate poor workmanship
I’m glad I read this post. We were seriously thinking of purchasing a new Winnebago View 24V. We really liked the floor plan. Now, we will look elsewhere.
For all the potential sales Winnebago will lose from this one problem coach they could have built you a brand new one, given it to you for free and still come out ahead…and with good PR to boot!
Rande,
We have a 2014 View 24V and love it! This is our 6th MH and 5th Winnebago. Don’t let this one nut job distract you from a great motor home and a great company. Funny how one lone crack pot can get all these “bloggers” going. Winnebago is by far the best RV manufacturer in the industry – bar none! They sell several thousand motor homes every year and are the ONLY RV manufacturer to win the industry’s CSI award every year since it inception. Be your own judge and talk to the thousands of happy Winnebago owners. They must have seen something in this deal that made them think twice.
Mike
In REGARDS TO MIKE NORLAN Above….Please be aware that that post seems to have come from the Winnebago network.
Tracking Results…Author : Mike Norlan (IP: 69.66.77.196 , winnebagovpn.winnebagoind.com)
Good job David, not letting them get anything past you!
Winnebago employee SHILL! I wrote the CEO DEMANDING you be fired!!!
Bite me you bottom dwelling shill freak!
Come on MIKE he has shown us the proof.
Just admit this coach was a lemon.
Mike,
I could not agree more. Why do some of these folks want to go “viral” with a complaint about a MH that they have nothing to do with – the term “get a life” comes to mind.
This guy wanted to buy a Winnebago, he did not like the quality, did not buy it, end of story. Everything else is just hype from his one point of view. Waht is he trying to do at this point? I think that Mr. Bott here was probably dumped a few too many times in high school and is taking it out on Winneabago. Or more likely never got the first date to begin with. Get a life Mr. Bott, go buy another MH and move on…both you and Winnebago will be better off.
Jen
PLEASE ALSO NOTE…The above post, made minutes later, also seemed to have come from the same Winnebago network…
Author : Jenny Morris (IP: 69.66.77.196 , winnebagovpn.winnebagoind.com)
In response to Jenny Morris and Mike Norlan:
All you have accomplished trashing Mr. Bott is prove that Winnebago does indeed hire some irresponsible employees.
Mr. Bott stated only facts backed up with photos. Yet, as an employee and therefore a representative of the Winnebago brand you attack him with insults in such a childish manner. So Jen, YOU have done more to hurt the reputation of your company than anything Mr. Bott has stated.
It is also obvious that you and Mike have no idea who Mr. Bott is. Nor do you have any idea how far his reach extends nationally as well as internationally and that it has absolutely nothing to do with this personal blog of his. Simply put, a great many VERY influential people have sought his advice and taken it.
Mike and Jen, I sincerely wish you much luck in your future employment. I can not imagine that you will continue with your present employer when Winnebago’s CEO sees how irresponsible your attack was. Just chalk this up to a learning experience for you.
As for me, I will chalk up David and Brenda’s experience with Winnebago as a learning experience for myself.
“Jen” We know who you are and where you work. I will NEVER buy another Winnebago product after you did this! I am writing the CEO demanding you be FIRED.
I hope that Mike and Jenny are just two lonesome people trying to get some attention. Or they work for Winnebago. David has handled this affair with alot of class. Many people would have gone ballistic over the way they were treated. It is good that this problem gets out. Im am close to purchasing our first class A. I have spent a great deal of time at Lazy Days and other Florida dealers and have seen alot of cosmetic problems on new Winnebago. The salesman told me that they are rare and will be fixed before the coach is sold. After reading about Davids problem Winnebago is no longer a choice. To David, thank you for getting this out and I hope Winnebago can learn from this.
David,
Based on that IP address from Jenny and Mike, it looks like some Winnebago telecommuters are chiming in via their VPN connections to the home office. The VPN host is in Grinnell, just a couple hours south of Forest City. Guess they have too much time on their hands.
reverse lookup results:
ISP: “Windstream Communications”
Organization: “Windstream Communications”
Host Name: winnebagovpn.winnebagoind.com
The number of this IP address is 69.66.77.196. The country of this IP address activation is United States, and it refers to Grinnell, Iowa.
Glad i bought a Beaver Coach used for 1/5th of a Tour price and no issues with it. I never understood why RV manufacturers make so much profit, guess the scrimping of workmanship helps.
Seems like Winnebago would rather spend money on shills than on building a quality coach. Shame.
This should really go on the winnebago facebook page.
The Video and photos speak for themselves, the Posistion Camping World took also confirms David’s experience. The negative comments from the two Winnebago Nuthuggers also confirms that Winabagel is a poorly run company when it comes to quality control and public relations…..
OMG!!!! What a laugh on Mike and Jenny! I would laugh longer but it’s just too darn sad what those two posted!
Note to self: Have no fear dealing with Camping World, but stay away from Winnebago just on principle. Oh yeah…safety reasons too. I hate bent axels, creaky, weird slides, things popping open, etc. don’t you? Remember too: it’s what’s inside that counts! That could apply not only to the infrastructure of the coach, but the infrastructure of the company as well…they are definitely related!
I love the irony that this banner ad pops up on the blog page:
Winnebago Motorhomes
http://www.rvoutlet.com
Save up to 60% Winnebago Motorhomes
UNBELIEVABLE! Winnebago manufactures a defective (at best!) top-end coach and then has the audacity to criticize the customer for becoming frustrated that the problems don’t stand a chance of resolution! I will certainly recommend that my daughter forego her purchase of a new Vista and start looking elsewhere.
David,
I’ve been listening to Tricia and agonizing over this thinking about the position you were in. It’s ridiculous to have this kind of delivery and heartbreaking to be so excited about something only to have it not work out. I hope the silver lining in this is that you guys stumble into a better coach and are happily back on the road soon.
For MIKE NORLAN and anyone from Winnebago that is reading this and worrying, my wife and I are considering an upgrade and we’ve looked at a lot of coaches. The real people that we’ve talked to have had one thing to say about your product – it’s always being worked on. Some stories are different, some commend you on standing behind the product but they all have problems with their coaches. I understand the world of custom boats and RV’s and every manufacturer makes mistakes, but not on 100% of the products we’ve talked to people about.
Keith
Like others have stated, Thanks for passing on your detailed account with Winnebago. We were soley considering a Winnebago-Sprinter based model but- will start looking elswhere. I hope your account gains traction to the point it’s discussed in their board room, but sadly, it’s all about where the dollar falls.
Am I right Mike and Jenny?
thank you so much for the info. We were really close to purchasing a Itasca 35P this week but after test drive and several unacceptable findings we stepped back. If this is how winnabago handles problems we will be looking elsewhere. Kris
It sounds you need to go to a quality motor home like a Newell or one of the Prevost finishers like Marathon
I saw a segment on the news last night on RV’s. When it came to motor coach they talked/showed Tippen(sp) brand.
This link was making its way around our American Coach Yahoo group. So glad to hear you stood up to these people. Unbelievable that some of there employees had the guts to get on here and act as posers!!! Wow, we’ve been very happy with our American- but needless to say I’ll never look at a Winnie the same way!
Carlos-
So sorry that you had such a horrible experience. This is not, I repeat not, the norm from Winnebago. Sure all new rigs have some issues but not to the extent that you encountered. We are on our 4th Winnebago and 3rd diesel pusher. Our Journey 40U was driven by Paul and Barb Smith who actually test drive rigs for Winnebago. He turned it in July 2nd, with 8000 ish miles, with a list of things to fix. Winnebago closes for the 4th holiday and then the GNR happenings start. Short story, most of the things on the list did not get fixed before they turned it over to Litchsinn Motors, our dealer in Forest City. We took delivery on the 26th and today had the last item on the list completed. We feel that Winnebago does produce quality products and nothing goes down the assembly line that has not been pre-ordered. We hope that you will get a coach that will meet/exceed your expectations but please don’t judge all of the Winnebago products by one lemon that escaped quality control. Happy trails.
You should add the Serial / Vin # so some other potential buyers can check the axle weight and bent suspension issues.
Sad ordeal, scary to say the least for an uniformed buyer. I am ready to buy a new to me coach but will lean towards a one year – 2 year old, hopefully it will have a track record to follow up on as well as having the big depreciation chunk off the price as well as having the previous owner deal with the repairs and details,, JMHO..
Good Luck to all..
How sad it is that manufactures will cut corners on QC. But its true they do it as they know its cheaper in the short time, and they hope it won’t bit them in the long term of sales. Yes its a gamble they are willing to take. Hell they have bean counters that tell them what the cost to build a “perfect” coach is, compared to only having to fix what buyers find!!
Are you ready for this….we had a management individual tell us “off the record” that most new owners don’t find the faults that their QC inspectors let slide so the bottom line is better for the company.
It takes people like yourselves to “blow the whistle”. Thank you.
Maybe we need an Angie’s List on RV companies??
Hopefully potential Winnebago customers read this and send Winnebago a message by voting with their $ being spent with a more reputable manufacturer.
It would seem that current Windbag owners are a little concerned about there RV investment heading south!
Not to worry, I wouldn’t put my $$ into one …new or used!!
Sorry to hear about all the problems, my first Class A was a Winnebago, and that one was built with little concern on Quality, So when I got my next one I checked out other RVs as I could at campground and decided on a quality NEWMAR Dutch Star, what a difference. I like it so much I will never have to buy another RV again.
We traded in a 2004 Alfa Gold for a 2012 Tour 42QD in April 2012 from McMahons in Palm Desert, CA. Condition at delivery was good but we need to have the tag axle adjusted to give us some more front end capacity. Have had alignment and electrical issues but they have been solved by Freightliner and Camping World – Troutdale, OR (McMahans service is non existent). After 10,000 miles most seems well and we are happy campers. You did the right thing by refusing delivery. Winnebago refusal to fix the unit seems to me admitting to a gross engineering and design error with front end weights on your model of coach. We would consider buying another Winnebago because in the past seem to be able to always get spare parts, but would look at it just as close as you did. We stayed away from Tiffen and Entegra as we believe current managers are fine but want to monitor how future managers and family members handle their product.
Thank you David and Brenda for taking the time to publish this chronicle. You have done RV industry a good service by showing that past reputations are fleeting, and buyer beware and do due diligence.
Good for you for posting! More people should stand up, and take the time to share. My one “share” is that when you said you couldn’t even get to the CEO, I immediately thought about how lucky we were with our Tiffin product, and a comment a salesman made once that “no other company has a Bob Tiffin that comes to the phone.” It’s true. I’ve spoken to him more than once (luckily, not to complain). One thing about buying from a family-owned company like Tiffin, they DO care, because it’s a direct reflection on THEM. It’s not just a company, it’s their family. We went to their factory in Red Bay AL, and Red Bay IS Tiffin. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think the town would be there – so, they make sure the products are quality, or they don’t have a job. You might check them out. Just a thought…
Wow. Found your site from a search. Thanks for sharing your story. We are future buyers and also new the RV industry. Winnebago is a brand that obviously many people know and are probably inclined to trust, but this would certainly not be the first time a great brand has forgotten what made them great. That kind of corporate apathy probably means Winnebago’s best days are behind them, at least for the next few years. At minimum, you have raised appropriate awareness, and probably saved people pain and money.
Also amazing that the Winnebago employees above tried to paint you as a crack pot. Shocking behavior and response from them really, and since you documented your story so well, which such balance (I would have been far more critical of them if I were in your shoes) it just emphasizes how silly and disconnected (frankly kind of desperate) their response is. It’s not connected at all with the substance of your story. Intent comes before content – it’s plain their intent was simply to smear.
Thanks again. Your level-headed, balanced response to the whole thing is commendable.
Don N
When I started reading I thought I was going to see a story of obsessive compulsive disorder and a company eager to help. What I read was exactly the opposite. This story makes me doubt RV build quality even more. I would never think to have to weigh a rig after buying it. Certainly the manufacturer wouldn’t deliver a vehicle with that kind of defect. What a crazy story. Thank you for sharing.
Happy to know that Camping World helped you so much and backed you up. Very shocked that Winnebago even let this leave their shop! And for the two employees and their reaction, well you can bet that I will NEVER EVER own a Winnebago. I too heard about this from the American Coach group. We own a ’98 Eagle and love it to death even with the few problems that a 15 year old coach would have. I use to follow a blog of a lady named Susan who had a View, and she had nothing but problems with it for the 20 months or so that she owned it, and ended up selling it and going off the road. Follow another blog where they just got a used 2011 Winnebago 26′ Access and they love it…I’ll bet the previous owner got everything fixed for them before they sold it.
The quality control issues mentioned in the article are negatively affecting the RV industry as a whole. The reason for this is that during the economic turndown starting in 2009 many experienced and quality conscience employees had to be laid-off and many RV manufacturers went out of business. A lot of the laid-off employees found other work and are now reluctant to return to the RV industry whose success is so closely tied to the country’s economic health. Thus, the industry as a whole had to hire inexperienced workers to put their units together. With increasing demand for all types of RV units it was inevitable that quality control would suffer.
Don’t waste anymore of your precious time with these idiots. They don’t deserve your money and the fact that you can’t get a response from their upper management says it all. I would fire everyone of their employees that had anything to do with this coach, along with the two knuckleheads that wrote the negative comments inside the company. I think I’ll print your story out and take it with me for the Hershey show coming up next month and ask the talking heads about it. Solution: Buy a Newmar!
What is with this Newmar and Tiffin stuff….are you all getting a commission. Let people fight their own battles and get the rv they want.
About this time I would be looking at Tiffin (my preference) or Newmar. This is totally unacceptable. I just took Winnebago off my shopping list!
Hey guys, Quality Control is a serious issue and all of these coach manufacturers need to improve on this instead of just concentrating on getting these coaches OTD. More money in their pockets if the customer doesn’t bitch. I have a 2012 Tiffin Phaeton 40QBH and we’ve had quiet a few issues for the 18 months we’ve owned the coach. I don’t blame you guys at all for not taking delivery on the coach, that is just poor workmanship and is inexcusable. I would be ashamed if I were a CEO and I was producing a coach ($400,000) of that poor a quality. You guys should start a website so people with issues with their coaches could share their ideas and maybe we can get these manufactures to improve their product or suffer the consequences. Customer satisfaction should be #1 priority, no questions ask.
I got to know you when we bought our Tourmaster. You have been an amazing help to all Tourmaster owners posting responses to anyone’s questions or problems on the Gulf Stream owners site. Your experience, detailed and well documented is a sad comment on the ethics of a company. I know we are a society that is a bit too litigious, but I would recommend you send a certified, return receipt letter to the legal department of Winnebago and outline the costs you have incurred due to their unfair business practices. You have a signed contract and their unwillingness to deliver what you contracted to buy is a breach of contract. Good luck and I will miss your input on the Gulf Stream site!
Kate
We bought a 2012 Adventurer 33H. Workmanship inside and out left a lot to me desired. Some was fixable and some was not. Like you, we were very disappointed. Tom Johnson did the best they could, but this unit should have never made it out of QA. This was our fist class A – we took delivery, but in hind sight should not have. We traded a 2005 MINNIE WINNIE which was a great little unit with no problems
So bottom line here is I do not think yours is an isolated case and all RV owners every where should thank you for standing up for all of us. Winnebago HAS changed and not for the good.
We have a Tiffin (our second). Tiffin has found a few systemic issues such as cracking cap rails and a wet floor bay getting rotted. They stand by their products – and are fixing these issues even for coaches well out of warranty. Every coach off the line has some quality issues, but Tiffin seems to go out of their way to address these.
Thank you for this posting, you most certainly did the right thing by refusing this horrible coach. I currently own a Monaco Diplomat tha I purchased new in 2003. I had quite a list after initial shake down cruise. Big and small problems all repaired or replaced in a timely fashion by my dealer.
We are now in th early stages of buying a new coach to replace the Diplomat which we have been extremely happy with after initial repairs. We were contemplating the Winnebago as a possible replacement, but no longer!
Customer satisfaction is not lip service it’s standing behind the product you build!
After reading this informative posting I would never buy a Winnebago!
We are currently looking at RVs for a future purchase. Winnebago has been marked off the list. Many of the issues you listed are obvious and show lack of quality. With as many obvious issues you found it alarms me. How many issues, some safety related, did you not see? Also, Winnebago’s response to you is not acceptable either. No, not even going to bother looking at a Winnebago. Camping World’s response to you, however, is something I was glad to hear and will remember.
Back in 2005 we had about the same type of problem with Winnebago. I had purchased and paid cash for a 36′ Winnebago, Itasca, Horizon 36 CDL diesel pusher. We had numerous problems that Carpenters Campers took care of. One of the main ones were total squeaking of the front door. Our unit was in for at least twelve visits to get this corrected, never did. On a trip up the east coast the squeaking got so bad I stoped at another dealership to see what they could do to correct this problem. I happened to get a young man that told me that he was a past employee of Winnebago and knew first hand that my problem could only be fixed one way, that was to replace the door. I was told that Winnebago made this model door too heavy, so their framing would not support it and it sagged. The sagging made it rub and squeak. I wrote to Winnebago about the problem and a top PR man for Winnebago with a name like “Sch winglman” (sic.) called me up. In the conversation he stated that I should not have mentioned a lemon law in my letter. I replied that I had for over seven months tried to get this fixed and felt that pressure needed to be applied somewhere. His response was, “I could fix this problem for you at no cost to you, however since you mentioned the lemon law, I will not! In fact we won’t fix it under no circumstnces.
I wrote to Winnebago many many times about this treatment and they never did anything to help correct it. For a while I would post this to forums and tell people about my problems just to let the public know what was taking place. You have gone even further and I hope your letters get some changes made. It is evident none have been made since 2005.
Simple – “We The People” must boycott this company and drive them in bankruptcy.
Well, I have lost all my respect for Winnebago after hearing about your issue. I think that they thought they would be able to dump their lemmon on some idiot. They sure picked the wrong guy! Good for you!
I have to agree with others who feel you should look to another brand and not go with these crooks again. They obviously do not have any business integrity and have very short sighted business savy. They have lost what makes a business prosper, the customer is always right and you have to make them happy.
I never will look at another Winnebago, just like I would never look at a Coachman. I am sorry for the people that do and get robbed of their money, and in some cases, their happiness.
Here is another such story: http://rvdrivingschool.blogspot.ca/2013/08/lazydays-failed-just-like-most-dealers.html
I am very disappointed to hear about your experience with Winnebago. I had always assumed they were the best of all brands. Has anyone there heard about quality control? Considering the huge profit margin on a $400,000 motorhome, it shouldn’t be too much bother to have someone spend a few hours checking the entire vehicle for defects. How did you know the front independent suspension was bad? Its not the type of thing one normally checks. At least you got your $10,000 deposit back. Some people have had real horror stories with a motorhome they cant use (from various companies) and no hope of being rufunded. I only hope that Winnebago will investigate this matter and consider whether it would be appropriate to start drug testing a few of their employees.
Hi Mark.
David looked under the coach because he was curious about Winnebago’s “multi‑stage full immersion electrocoating” that is supposed to “protect their vehicles from corrosion”. That’s when he saw all the weld spots were rusted. It was while he was looking under the coach that he noticed the IFS was bent on the passenger side. I agree, not something the typical rver would notice. The CW service manager and the Freightliner service center agreed upon their own inspections that it was indeed bent from the factory.
Thank You so much for detailing your experiences in such an honest and factual way. It is hard to get real facts in the blogosphere. It is really interesting that Winne employees blame the customer for the errors instead of appolizing and working to do better. This indicates a bad corporate culture to me and one that I will not buy from. We really like the Via. However we have changed our plans based on your experience. Thank you for helping us avoid this Winnebago headache. Life is too short and $$ to scarce to deal with companies like this.
I own a 2013 Tiffin Phaeton (7 months) my list has gone well over 100 items and I have been back to the Tiffin Service Center twice (seven weeks total) with a third visit upcoming.
Being new to this lifestyle, is this a common problem when buying new? I see on your map you are near Newman RV, are you planing a purchase with them. I toured their plant as well as Tiffin and because of those tours, I ended up with Tiffin, and was turned off by Newmar.
Customer service at Tiffin and Bob Tiffin’s reputation of standing behind everything he builds, seems to be something that happened way before me.
Sorry to hear, what a sad story. You would have thought at $400,000 they would have repaired these problems. We just purchased a HRVacationer, four water leaks. The three in side were lose fittings, I fixed, the outside some screws were to far apart causing a gap. I repaired that. Inside 14-2 wiring for a fifty amp service. At least the micro is wired with 12-2. One run to the water heater was short, they used a electric plug to make a junction box. I started checking my electric plug, had a couple with NO ground. The cheep plug used are no good. Wires are just pushed into a V to make connection, the second wire does not fit tightly. I change EVERY ELECTRIC PLUG, no more lose connections. No more open grounds. I am a fussy person so I fix my own. I know it’s not good because there are no records but I would need to make to many trips to be fix and I know it’s was done right. Enough of me bitchen, good luck to u. Bill
Unconscionable!!!! You shouldn’t feel any responsibility for this poor construction; you have no reason to apologize; if more people voiced their dissatisfaction with shoddy construction before accepting the product, perhaps RV manufacturers would take care to produce quality products; and you were smart to inspect so thoroughly and have the foresight to refuse to take possession.
But I have one question: Why would you ever again consider dealing with Winnebago?
Hello…
Good question…
One reason we chose them was based on their long history. We have to hope that this was some sort of fluke. After all, if not, how could a company stay in business so long? We really believe they they are so flushed with orders, that, well, they are letting this out that they would have never let out before. I would hate to be their warranty people in the coming months. The costs of paying all the dealers to fix issues I can only guess is going to hurt down the road vs taking the time to keep the quality they had been known for.
Special Regards…
twelve years ago i worked at a retail dealership, we experienced fewer warranty issues with Winnie products than any other manufacturer. i did lots of PDI;s [Pre-Delivery Inspections] It was evident then, as now that these builders leave the “last 100 feet” [the QC dept.] of the plant to the retail dealers.
Seems that Winnie Industries hired in some of these corporate idiot “folks” into what was a great organization… I have seen it in places i worked within the industry… we used to joke about “I.I.C. SYNDROME” Idiot In Charge — the guy at the top was clueless what he was doing!!! It seems this prevails, and we wonder why America has lost it;s market share in the worldwide economy????
Sadly, all RV’s are made to less than exacting standards. I think these companies don’t realize that one disgruntled customer generates more bad press than all the good reports combined! AND ALL RV ENGINEERS SHOULD BE FORCED TO LIVE IN THE RV’S THEY DESIGN WITH A WIFE, 2 KIDS AND A DOG OR TWO FOR 2 MONTHS IN THE SUMMER and we would see improvements right away!!! Our 1st RV was a 2005 Fleetwood Pace Arrow sold to us by a dealer in Fort Myers, FL..talk about a baptism by fire! Everything that could go wrong with that coach,DID plus a whole lot more right up till we traded it in 2007 for a 2008 Tourmaster T40C. It, too, had problems, more than it should, in my opinion, and these manufacturers wonder why sales dropped off? Maybe if they built a quality product to begin with, they’d have more satisfied customers and sales would go up. Bet they never thought that quality should be their first priority. Can’t wait until HONDA starts making a QUALITY RV and puts them all out of business! But I’m branded a disgruntled owner…looking forward to getting out of this tub and into a house!!!! I’m so over full timing!
The poor quality you found in your Winnebago is certainly widespread throughout the RV industry. The same was true in the auto industry several years ago and quality did not improve until there was competition from foreign manufacturers, such as Toyota and Honda. I am not a proponent of buying non-American products, but perhaps this is what it is going to take for the U.S. RV industry to build a better product.
Did you know this was a used unit when purchased? Dealer mislabeled the unit and you thought it was brand new.. Well, it might as well be a used unit. I would hope Winnebago would step up and make good on a new unit for you. Keep up the fight get this road worthy or cancel the sale entirely and go elsewhere for your own sanity. There has to be quality shops out there somewhere. I know- they are hard to find.
I am so saddened to hear of these major concerns not being addressed. We are entering a search for a new RV, our fourth. Have had two Winnebagos with very good luck and have loved them. Intended to look at them again. I am now not certain I can even go look seriously at a Winnebago product. I will be watching threads like this for QC issue (they all have some but this seems unbelievable!) and will likely be looking for a new brand. Hopefully you find the right RV for you.
A design that is overweight almost empty is unbelievable and those obvious flaws should have never left the factory! Makes me shudder about what is unseen in their coaches now…………. Two sides to every story but this one has me shaking my head. Best of luck in your search.
Congratulations on having the smarts and fortitude to intensively examine your potential new unit. Too many buyers are easily distracted by “splash and glitz” and don’t notice details or poor build quality until after the ink is long dry on the sale. I’m truly sorry you’re dream turned into a nightmare. I’ve never considered Winnebago to be a high quality product, but they were at least acceptable if not slightly above average. With the news of your experience, I would move Winnebago to my “won’t consider” list. It amazes me that a company the size and tenure of Winnebago would behave so recklessly and irresponsibly. They have clearly shot themselves in the foot and dealt a blow to their reputation that will cost them 10-fold or more compared with what it might have cost them to make you a happy customer. Good for you for bringing your experience to light so that we can all learn what we might encounter if we deal with Winnebago. I’m a Tiffin fan and recommend you give them a good hard look.
I can only say I am so sorry for you guys, and also, have you checked into Tiffin, we have one and with any motor home of course you will have issues, we have, even the weight that you mentioned, but I can tell you one thing for sure, Bob Tiffin is a gem to deal with he has personally called us to make sure we are happy and that all repairs have been made to our liking!!! How’s that for backing up your company service!!!! We are very happy with ours and the service we have received from our dealer and from the factory, one other nice thing is your are not forced to go to a factory dealership, you can take it to your local camping repair and they will authorize the work and pay for it!!! Love our Tiffin Allegro Open Road.
I couldn’t agree with you more! Tiffin, in my opinion is one of the best makers out there, mostly because of the fact that it is “family owned and run” – so service is their number one asset!
Glad you had a good experience with them..we did not. It would be interesting to somehow trace who makes these comments. Just like people using Yelp to express dismay with their competitors. I do not believe everything people blog about, but do find it interesting and enjoy the chat. An RV purchase is a matter of preference and if you find one you like…it should not matter what others may say. It is helpful to have feedback from others…but go into your purchase with an open mind.
Very true. Your the first person I’ve heard of that had a bad experience with Tiffin, but like anything, no one is perfect every time.
We are on our third Tiffin motor home and if the Lord’s willing and I live long enough…I’ll buy a fourth! All new MHs will have some defects that’s a fact but only a few take care of them like Tiffin. Over 100k miles on my Tiffins and still going…
Since Winnebago took over Sunnybrook; I shrudder to think what they will do to the Sunnybrook name and craftmenship.
Winnebago’s quality control problem may be a longstanding one. My first RV was a 1990 Itasca Spirit, the small one with the Toyota chassis. Although I loved it dearly and still miss it, there were an inordinate number of problems from the start. I took it in constantly for warranty work and even had to bring it to the factory to have parts of the floor replaced and caulking done that had apparently not been done originally, resulting in huge amounts of dust coming in. Repair people (not at Winnebago) told me it must have been built on a Friday. Since then, as with most RVers, I continually look at RVs, and have yet to walk into a Winnebago in which I do not immediately notice a great deal of shoddy interior work, even though I’m just casually looking around and am not a very observant person.
We looked at the Tour and it is on our list of the three manufactures we are considering for purchase this fall. After reading this and other customer service related issues about Winnebago we have crossed it off. I get that all coaches have some bugs that need to get worked out but this goes way beyond. Good call on your part to walk away until it was right. Bad call for the builder to
Turn their back. I wish you the best in your search for a new MH and a company that cares about its clients.
We have a Winnebago that we absolutely love. We have nothing to complain about Winnebago. Our RV was built perfect. We decided on Winnebago after researching hundreds of manufacturers/floor plans etc. We also reviewed their customer service ratings and spoke to many Winnebago owners-past and present before we made our decision. I find it hard to believe that this Tour would have been allowed to leave their factory…their quality control mechanisms should not have allowed it. Are you sure the one you went to pick up was “brand new” and especially for you? How did the rv get delivered? It just seems like it may have been used and repaired in some areas….every manufacturer of rvs, cars, boats, etc has some time in their history manufactured a “lemon or two.” Maybe that is the case here. I would not give up on Winnebago…compared to other manufacturers out there they are still one at the top of the list. One last note…we were in the process of helping our daughter find a travel trailer…after several negative experiences with Camping World sales people….no way. Maybe you should go to an actual RV dealer that focuses specifically on RV sales and service. The prices are better at other dealers as well.
As far as the Tiffin-we also test drove several before we chose our Winnebago. We did not like the location of the outside mirrors and every time we hit a bump on the freeway the dash board banged around like it was going to fly off!! Everyone has their “favorite” brand…but they can all sometimes have flaws! Stick with what you like and make sure you get what you want.
What a mess!! I would not accept that, either. I am appalled at the workmanship. You are right to complain. I have heard of seconds and this is just not acceptable at all. For what they charge, I would expect perfection, and nothing less. I will never be able to purchase anything even close to this. If I could, I sure would not buy this. I am sorry for your trouble. The company should kiss your butt to correct this. What a shame to make such a mess of such a potential dream.
Inexcusable. Paying $400,000 for a depreciating asset, it had better come to me whole and complete so that it lasts me a lifetime. As previously stated, what is the quality of less expensive units that hard-working families buy in good faith based on the Winnebago name? I am happy Camping World was willing to work with you. As I have stated before on Rv.Net and my blog, the rv industry is highly unregulated. Buyer beware.
Well, it sucks to be you. But, you have fault here too. If you knew that this model had issues with front axle weight, and you still order it, you are not justified in refusing delivery based on your unit being so close to the weight limit. Regardless of what any sales person may have said about the issue. You knew that models weight issues.
As to the other issues, you state you do not care about how other manufacturers units come, as you were only looking at this one. That’s not reasonable either. And what your unit costs isn’t relevant. Regardless of what quality of any delivered product should be, you have to consider what the reality is. Unless you can show that this unit was delivered with statistically more issues than the marketplace as a whole, you have no room to refuse delivery. Complain, sure. Ask for them to be corrected, sure. But if you do not like what the market is for these units, don’t order one. And you have no reasonable expectation for a difference in quality based on price alone. The price difference isn’t related to quality, but to features and materials.
Next is your drive for publicity in this issue. Why? I was obviously suckered in to reading this. But you claim to be done with the issue, and then above you plead with people to share this story far and wide. Are you after advertising revenue? You can’t want people to rally to your side, and march on the manufacturer. Why would you be any more deserving of that than any one of us, who have our own stories of issues with various manufacturers? You can’t be after ‘justice’, as you have received a refund of your down payment. As to the ancillary costs, that life.
And finally, and not to be petty, but you seriously need to proof read your posts.
Treaves—really? Blame the customer? Are you connected to the RV industry also?
Quality is meeting or exceeding customer expectations. The customer provides business the cash to exist and thrive. The US electronics industry and the US auto industry learned that quality is important as Japan took market share in the 80’s/90’s. Companies that lose sight of this parish over time. I think it is important for Winnebago to determine why they did not meet their customers expectations and change the appropriate business processes. Poor quality perceptions are hard to turn around and takes years. Maybe it is an isolated case, but this discussion thread has many more examples of winnebago poor quality. No customer should accept a product that does not meet their expectations. Life is too short.
Anyway it has changed my buying decision.
Another Winnabagel sympathizer…..Nice, what dept you work in, Slideouts Installation?
Proofread is one word.
Your thought process is the reason the manufacturers can continue to sell poor quality units. To settle for the norm is compete BS. These people had the guts to take a stand and if more would take a similar stance, the industry might start getting their QA/QC in order.
Hi! We are so sorry that you had such an awful experience. Perhaps you should considering looking at other manufacturers. Our 1st class C was a new Holiday Rambler Imperial which we loved and had absolutely no issues with. Our next motor home, a Class A, is a Newmar Dutch Star, which we purchased new-to-us and again, no issues. We did not pay $400,00 as we did not intend to live in the coach full time which, I’m confident, would have perhaps broaden our search.
After our research, talking with other RVers and learning of your experience, we would not purchase a Winnebago. I hope that you find a coach that meets your needs. Many best wishes.
We are shopping for a new coach to replace our current diesel pusher. After reading this Winnebago is now no longer being considered. Point one — horrendous quality control and Winnebago’s horrible response. Point 2 – Winnebago employees attacking the customer
for exposing the shortfalls.
If they want my business 2 things have to happen.
One: FIRE the two employees who attacked the customers expose.
Two: Fix your pre-delivery inspections, provide the coach the customer ordered, and APPOLOGIZE for this travesty.
Thank you for documenting the problems found in your dream coach so well, with pictures and videos. They show that you were right on with what you found in your inspection. It’s so very sad that Winnebago let you down on such a large scale! It’s hard to believe they would send out such shoddy workmanship from the factory, as confirmed not only by you, but also Camping World and Freightliner. I am glad that word is getting out about your problems, as folks then know what they should inspect for before putting their hard earned dollars into a product! Winnebago is a well known name for camping and RVing and its sad they letting quality go below grade in the interest of pushing vehicles out the door faster.
After reading your other posts, I know how excited you were in anticipation of getting your new Tour and going full time living in it. I am sorry that Winnebago let you down. I agree with others…they should have bent over backwards to make it right! Too many American companies are letting pride in workmanship go out the window and that is just plain sad. I can remember when “Made in USA” stood for quality. Winnebago is just one of many, apparently, who have forgotten that. I wish you good fortune in finding your dream again and thank you once more for taking the time to bring these problems to light!
Customer Service should not be just Lip Service!
Sounds like this is a war of words…. Winnebago vs Tiffin….everyone has different experiences..time to stop blasting the two manufacturers and spend your time finding the coach you like. If you are so unhappy with Winnebago and their inability to deliver what you want…look for something else. You have made your point!
Thanks for posting this story. I emailed Winnebago twice with questions about a RV design and I received arrogant responses both times. Makes me think twice about considering a Winnebago. On the other hand, I emailed Tiffin and had a much better reply.
What are you smoking? David has said nothing since the original post, these are comments generated by other people unhappy and fed up with shoddy workmanship…..
That is where it all starts and that was his purpose…to get it all going to get Winnebago to take notice. That is what blogging etc…does…very sad. No more.
Hi drom Australia
It appears that Winnebago name is extremely bad in both countries -I have owned 2 new ausiie built Winnies in the past 10 years .The first one was extremely unsafe on the road and Winnie dealers would do nothing to correct the problem –only kept this vehicle for 6 months and sold it at a loss of $41000 –bought a new diesel pusher $390000 and it started with major problems from day one -none of the dealers here were at all cooperative ,but I persevered with it for 9 years /always believing that it would be fixed by warranty ,but the warranty is valueless as neither the company nor the dealers are at all interested or unable to repair it –once the warranty expired ,I rebuilt most things myself -there was only one item that did not give big problems over 9 years ,that was the diff. every other item ,incl the suspension was rebuilt myself –all white goods inside were either repaired or replaced —total repair costs over 9 years ,exceeded $100000 .I have now sold this vehicle and purchased a Jayco —-extremely pleased to date (just 4 weeks old )dealer is excellent .
As to your sad case David ,I too am saddened by what has happened –most of us are at retiring age when we decide to go on the road and we dont need this sort of hassle ( my wife has had 3 strokes over this eposode ) I sincerely wish you both all the best and suggest you look to purchasing a reliable unit ,built by one of the suggested makers as above .I hope that Winnebago DO loose sales over what they have done ,both to you and me -and I,m fuuly aware that the US company has no affiliation with the company here
Good Luck from Aussie
My wife and I went to Winnebago last Spring for repairs. We were not satisfied with service. I filled out the customer comment form with great detail about our concern. No response. I am disappointed and have lost my enthusiasm for Winnebago. We talk less favorably about Winnebago with friends.
Sounds like you made a wise choice to not take delivery. May I suggest you stick to that choice and move on to another manufacturer. Once you take delivery of that rv you will find more deficiencies and much worse ones, I believe. Take a drive to Tiffin and forget Winnebago. They do not deserve your loyalty or your cash.
I have done a lot of searching, looking etc over past year and while I once had Winnebago near the top of my list simply because of the large number of rigs on the highways, it moved down the list and eventually completely off it entirely. Thanks for the confirmation.
Am very sorry to hear about your troubles, just like nearly everyone else above. I’m curious if you received any additional support from Winnie since this was published?
Thank you to RVTravel.com for sharing your story in their weekly newsletter.
+1 for Tiffin. I’m a very pleased Tiffin owner – not an employee or dealer.
Good luck in your search.
Hello…
I am sorry to say we have heard nothing from Winnebago at all. :(
It’s unfortunate that this has caused you so much trouble. I toured the Forest City factory earlier this year and was in awe. Admittedly, I didn’t get to see REALLY close to the lines, but most of the guys seemed knowledgeable about what they were doing.
The only reason I can divine that this might happen is that they were hiring on a lot of new build staff to meet the demand. It’s not an excuse, but I believe it to be a possible explanation. Obviously if this is the cause, they need SIGNIFICANTLY more training. I’m still stunned this quality SNAFU was permitted and they way they’ve handled your case has me cringing about my thoughts of ever purchasing their rigs.
This is terrible, but thank goodness you were smart enough to not take ownership or you would have had worse problems.
We have friends who bought a high end Holiday Rambler and DID take ownership. For the next 5 years there were so many problems that they never even got to take a trip in it.
After the warranty expired, the floor joists gave way, and HR refused to do anything to help pay for the fix and told them to trade the unit in.
They did, but it was too late. They were older, and the husband died before they could travel in the new unit.
As a long time Winnebago owner I can only say I am sorry. On behalf of us that had satisfactory dealings with them I can only apologize for the way the whole situation was handled by Winnebago and they should be ashamed of themselves. I certainly hope there are no other custom build horror stories like yours in the future. Maybe they will find the problems that ruined your build.
I have always thought of Winnebago as an American icon along the lines of GM and Ford. When you thought of RV’s and MH’s the 1st one to come to mind was Winnebago. Now that I’m a little older and have some disposable income the wife and I are in the market for a medium tier higher end coach. The Tour was on our list along with the Entegra’s, Tiffin’s and Newmar’s. We’ve looked at coaches in the $250K to $400K range and decided on the Entegra line, just not the coach. That was just our preference, not the QC/QA issues. After hearing this about Winnebago, I am kind of saddened that what I thought was a great American company would slide to this. To the OP, I honestly feel bad for you as this was a dream coach and they didn’t deliver on your dream. That would be like me ordering a custom Ferrari only to find it wasn’t built to what I thought should be acceptable standards. Good on you for not taking delivery. Heck even CW and Freightliner stood behind you. That says something is wrong if two companies that sell and service your products tells you something is wrong. And to the 2 Winnie employees, you should be ashamed bashing your own customers or future customers. I didn’t do any math but I’m willing to bet there is over a Million $ in lost sales just in this blog alone. I could imagine what it looks like across the internet. To the OP again good luck in your search for a new dream. Me personally, take a shot at the Entegra’s. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
As you know we have a Entegra Aspire and have had virtually zero issues. I can recommend them highly. We almost bought a Winnebago at lasr years Hershey show. Once we saw Entegra there was nothing at the price point that was even close. Call Robin ar Orlando RV if you want to talk to a very knowlegable sales person. He previously sold Prevost models.
We also purchased our Aspire from Robin – not real thrilled with the location at RVOne but Robin is a great guy and did a good job for us. We don’t live in Orlando anyway so all we had to do was pick it up. And we have less problems and better customer service (from Entegra) than our friends do with their Prevost.
I own a 2014 Winnebego TOUR 42GD. I have similar problems with mine and alot of different issues. Its in the shop all the time Im not using it. A couple days ago the windshield cracked. Im told its a stress crack. I dont know who is paying for this yet. Im not happy with Winnebago. So far they attempt to fix this unit at the dealer but problems occur faster than they can fix them. They must have laid off quality control.
People at Winnebago wake up you are losing sales. A great company is suffering from a lack of customer care. What is the matter with this picture?
Well, The list of rattles and repairs for my TOUR were just too many. More things coming apart each day. This is a 2014 TOUR. No quality in this unit. Today I traded for a Class C Coachmen Leprechaun. A big down size but I couldnt take the TOUR any longer. Winnegago needs quality control.
A couldn’t agree more with this statement. In an economy where there isn’t much disposable income and you cater to people who have some, you better pull out all the stops to get the business. It sounds like Winnebago needs to revamp their QA/QC dept.’s. I really like Winnebago but after hearing stories like this is just reassures me that the Entegra is the better choice.
do not buy a Winnebago.it a night mare.2013 its been in and out of shop first time 8 days and the last time for 18 days.camping world said winn o wont pay for the repairs.called winn o they said they wood take care of the slide out and things what a joke and junk.dont buy
WoW. You guys are scaring me off from Adventurer 35P…
What is a comparable coach, WITH Washer/Dryer??
Winnebago/Lichtsinn Motors won’t even give me their “Hassle-free/Haggle-free” PRICE on-line, yet i see 20% – 35% ++ MarkDowns all over the web…
Help me out here! Thank You!!
I do not know the 35P really, however that size coach has a number of manufacturers that could fit your needs and with a washer and dryer. Look to Tiffin for example for a few choices. Wish you luck in your search as we are STILL looking for a new coach. :)
Two words jumped out at me in Winnebago’s response to you.
They can’t fix the coach to “YOUR STANDARDS”.
Placing the blame for their ineptitude on you as their words imply is despicable. As if you had anything to do with their quality issues. Those two words ensure I won’t buy a Winnebago.
I am about to make a first time purchase and head out on the road full-timing, but not with a Winnebago. A shame too, because their Adventurer made it to the buying short list.
As I said earlier, I traded my Winnebago 2014 TOUR in for a Coachmen. Right off the lot, trim over the bed came off and fell onto the bed. A 7″ X 20″ trim board above the dishwasher fell onto the floor. 3 cracked floor tiles. Window shade behind sofa came apart. Floor trim in bathroom was unattached. Two slides had bad motors and had to be replaced. Dishwasher leaked into drawer below. Outside shower faucet leaked at connection. Battery compartment had bad seal and leaked water in when washed or rained. Shower doors needed more spacers added to stay in tracks. Some screws on the dash had not been screwed down. The rubber seal on the outside coach door completely came off around the glass while we were driving. And many more issues. I only had this unit about 4 weeks. Most things were fixed at the dealer but dealer said Winnebago quality had been getting worse the last year or so. An Itasca 2014 Ellipse unsold on the lot had many of the same issues and it hadn’t been sold yet. The Ellipse is Itasca’s version of the TOUR and of course made by Winnebago. To me this indicates no quality control. This experience is not a positive one so I am not able to praise Winnebago.
As the owner of a 2005 Voyage, I am sad to see what is happening. I have been very satisfied with my Winnebago and told people about it often. Now with great regret, I do not talk much about my satisfaction with Winnebago. I hope the company can get things under control before it is too late.
Every time I get your update, I keep forgetting to ask if you ever found an acceptable rig? There is a contemporary business model afloat that calls for cutting everything to rock bottom and then coasting on reputation as long as possible. So sad that Harvard MBA types would even consider such underhanded business practices.
Happy to say we are very close. Stay tuned as we hope to be able to post good news on a new coach we will be ordering in the next week.
Thank you for checking back in on us.
Great news. We look forward to hearing about it. Thank you.
Very excited to learn which direction you guys decided to go! Hope your health issues are all behind you now.
i bought a winnebago one tt30re towable a year and a half ago and am still trying to get winnebago to deal with the laundry list of defective issues in my trailer that started from the very first day i took possession of my trailer. multiple leaks, unusable radio/dvd/cd, multiple electrical problems, very poor furniture quality, trim issues, and most alarmingly now two spots in the floor that sag noticably when stepped on. i have towed my unit back to the authorized winnebago service center at least six times at considerable cost to myself. winnebago has even suggested that maybe i’m expecting too much for what i’ve spent. $32k is a lot to me, and evidently their lack of quality control extends up to the $400k range.
shame on winnebago.
kudos to you for being observant, careful, and staying your ground.
UPDATE…We just ordered a Tiffin 45LP. See details as to our choice here…
https://www.outsideourbubble.com/2014-tiffin-allegro-bus-45lp-now-ordered
We’ve got a Tiffin Allegro Bus. Had it a couple years now.
Very happy with the build quality.
Hands down FAR better than our Fleetwood Revolution that we had before. The Revolution was beautiful, but the build quality just wasn’t there. And Fleetwood wouldn’t stand behind their product.
Took the Tiffin to their Red Bay Alabama repair facility with a small list of fixes. On any new RV there will be a hit list, no matter how good the RV manufacturer is.
They did a great job.
There are quite a few ‘after market’ shops in Red Bay as well, offering all sorts of customization options. If you have a Tiffin consider investigating these after market shops before you go, as they often book solid in advance.
And bring plenty of food. There’s not much to choose from restaurant-wise in Red Bay.
And definitely take the Tiffin factory tour. You can learn a lot. For instance I didn’t realize how much real wood was in the cabinets until I saw them being assembled.
If you are considering a new RV and haven’t decided on a manufacturer I’d suggest heading to Red Bay and taking the tour in advance. It’ll give you a good idea of the quality and the process before you decide what you want.
Hoi
Bizar story , im from europe , looking always nice usa ultra big motor homes and how match you get for the price
thats why a european motorhome cost twice or triple a american , because of qaulity!!
Here’s what I don’t get. It seems you have a vendetta against Winnebago. You appear to be happy with your new MH, so why do you keep the article up about Winnebago and it’s quality issues? Why not move on? It seems to me that you took the “we can’t build one to your satisfaction” as a personal attack and this is your way of getting back at them. How long have you been sitting at Tiffin now? Yes QC is a major issue in the RV world. My last MH was a complete nightmare, but I don’t announce to the world how bad that manufacturer is. Why? Because I know a ton of people that enjoy the same make and model as the bad one I had. I now own a Fleetwood and while I have had some minor issues, I am completely happy with their product so far, as well as their support. Never owned a Winnebago, but know a lot of people who do and they enjoy them.
I really enjoyed your articles about the build of your new MH and wish you well on your journeys.
Hi…No reason to take it down as this is true information about what happened to us. You may have missed we gave then the chance to fix the coach and they would not unless we bought it. You also must remember that they costed us a lot of money by not producing or fixing a sub par product. So yes, it surely does become personal when they affected our lives in a number of ways like they did. And yes, as clearly stated, we expect some issues. And that surely holds true for Tiffin as well as just about any manufacturer. The difference is how it is being handled. Tiffin stood up and accepted responsibility and are making it right in more ways then one even before we took delivery. Everything we came here for that we missed before we took delivery has been handled. However we are waiting on a newly designed fan and fan clutch that has not yet arrived. As such, we wait. But at least they offered us the option.
And yes, a lot of people own and like their Winnebago, that is one reason we looked to them. We also hopped to be a happy customer.
Glad you liked the build information. Took a lot of time to produce it, but it was a great thing to be able to do. Thanks for mentioning it.
Take care, keep safe.
David & Brenda
Congratulations on your purchase!!
Do you remember any of the numbers in VIN number of the 2014 Winnebago 42GD you refused to buy? What Camping World did you go to for the Winnebago?
Sorry, do not know the vin. I do not think Camping World took the coach for sale but I would have to think some dealer got it to just sell off later on. (Sigh) It was Camping World in Indy.
Thank you for your immediate reply
I didn’t read your blog before & I have bought a 2013 Winnebago 42GD from La Mesa RV in Phoenix, AZ & cannot get out of the contract.
I am trying to ascertain if the front axle weight has been modified on this one built in 8/2012 as others were after 8/28/13 (from 14600 to 15660). I noticed a right pull when driving it, which they said they could not find & just increased air in one rear tire (doesn’t affect pull).
I am concerned
Thanks for the reply, I certainly understand your frustration. Just hope you don’t linger on it. You have a beautiful coach and I hope you enjoy it for years to come. Look forward to reading more of your entries.
Nope…Not linger on it at all happy to say. It is part of history for us. Just another chapter in the book of life. After all, without chapters, you only have a pamphlet. :)
Quite the philosopher you are!
David, I am a 2014 Allegro Bus (Jan 16) owner, our coach came to us with a few minor issues that were taken care of by the Tiffin tech at the Sarasota Rally. We now have 2600 of trouble free miles on it. Just as when I traded our 2011 Phaeton 12600 miles on it with very little issues.
I have been following your “free speech ” post since day one. When I saw that you had some issues with your new coach, I felt bad for both of you. Since I went to RB to watch our build , I knew Tiffin would make it right.
Good luck and keep the post coming.
P.S. before my Tiffins I had 2 Monaco’s. On there forum, if you posted any negatives about the Monaco brand the Admin. deleted your post. No free speech there.
You were smart not to accept your 2014 special order Winnebago…I ordered one, took delivery the day before Thanksgiving…drove one mile and took it back for service. Picked it after Christmas, drove a mile took it back…drove from Iowa to Kansas where we were dead in a Walmart parking lot on a Sunday. Problems too numerous to mention…problems EVERY time we tried to drive this unit. No help from the factory reps who knew very little. Wrote a director, got no response, wrote the CEO got no response. Love my 2008 should have kept it. My wife will not let me live it down…Never expected this from Winnebago.
Can’t say I blame you as we just lost our brakes in my 2005 Winni and almost died. Seems the brakes going out was a problem and although they knew and the system was recalled , no one told us including Camping World and Rt 66 RV.. When I called Winni , I was told it’s not their problem but Workhorse, who made the chassie. Never will I buy something from them again.
David and Brenda,
Thank you so much for sharing this experience, albeit a horrible one which would have drained most of all of their emotional energy. While I’m still a couple of years away from purchasing my first RV, I am busy doing my research as I save my pennies. Before reading your story various models from Tiffin, Entegra, and Itasca were at the top of my list (in that order). I thank you so much for having the courage to document and post your issues given how afraid our society is of lawyers. The photos you included were priceless and told me everything I needed to know. These pictures truly spoke for themselves. I also love the IP address traces where you called some commenters out. My list of potential manufacturers is now shorter as a result of what you have shared…
I just finished a business book called “Outside In”; Sounds like Winnebago is in serious need of a Chief Customer Officer who reports directly to the CEO and drives a transformation to try to truly delight customers.
Best,
-Mark
I am so sorry to hear about your issue. We about a 2012 Tour and have had absolutely nothing wrong with it. It was in dealer stock and fully loaded with all the options. We love the coach. Maybe between 2012 and 2014 they tried to build too fast. Clearly no one should take possession of a coach with quality problems.
Well, I sold RV’s for a while before buying our 5ver. Coming from the marine yachting industry I was used to a generally high quality of product. As a certified marine surveyor I was appalled at the complete crap that is being passed off to customers in the RV market.
Now, admittedly, in RV’s there are a number of considerations that don’t generally appear in yachts, weight considerations being one, but that is not an excuse for selling junk.
We finally purchased a lightly used Jayco Designer 5ver and, I while the overall quality was pretty good, I am continually amazed at the absolutely stupid design decisions made in construction as well as the poor quality of many of the manufactured components that are in the coach.
I can understand building to a price point, but, when a buyer is prepared to layout $400k plus, they deserve a quality built product. The items David pointed out in this article are inexcusable in a coach of this category.
I’m particularly concerned about the weight issues David pointed out on the front axle. For example, on my 14,500 GVW 5ver, the 2 axles are rated at 6,000 lbs each. That’s 12,000 of the 14,500lb capacity. With a tongue weight of about 3,500 lbs that’s not much reserve capacity. And we won’t even discuss the tires. This type of marginal safety would not be tolerated in a quality built yacht.
I would recommend that every RV buyer have a qualified expert complete a pre-purchase survey on any motor coach or 5ver they contemplate purchasing BEFORE taking delivery. This is standard practice in the boating community. Doing so, as David did himself, and as disappointing as his findings were, he no doubt saved himself untold frustrating hours and thousands of dollars by making the decision not to take delivery of a product not up to par and possibly becoming a large bunch of lemons around his neck.
Sorry RV industry, as much as we enjoy the lifestyle, the product quality part of the equation leaves a lot to be desired.
We are just starting to look around and figure out which MH’s are quality built and have good if not great customer service. Every one has head of a Winnebago MH. They are OFF our list thanks to your insight. Also never thought about having the coach weighed. Who would think that would actually be needed! So far we really like the Tifftin coaches for quality. We are not going to be full-timers so price is a consideration as well as quality. Thanks for your input.
We have a 2013 Itasca Ellipse GD with all the same problems and more. We have a lemon law suit against Winnebago now. These are not isolated problems and hopefully Winnebago will be held responsible.
I would like to chat with you.
Please feel free to email us using the contact us page. Thanks
How is your Lemon law suit going against Winnebago related to your Itasca? Has your Itasca been corrected?
I might be in the same boat because I just contracted to buy a 2013 Tour 42GD & cannot get out of the contract. Winnebago increased the front GVWR by 1060lbs. effective 6/28/2013 & the RV I contracted was built in 8/2012 & I can’t find out if it was updated or if there were any problems.
Winnebago has a long history of sub par quality and so do a lot of other MH manufacturer’s !
We have a Jayco Designer 5’ver which was supposed to be their “top of the line”. All I can say is I resigned myself the to the fact that virtually ALL fifth wheels and MOST motorhomes are built with the cheapest materials and crappiest workmanship bar none. We come from the yachting world where folks actually take pride in the precision and beauty of their craftsmanship and it’s disappointing to see the lack of same in the RV industry.
Now I can’t comment on a Newell or Prevost, but most of the MH’s and 5’vers I have seen exhibit piss-poor workmanship and lousy materials.
I realize that weight and cost are always considerations but to have them override customer satisfaction and safety is a fool’s errand in the long run.
I have to admit, I’ve heard so many complaints about the Winnebago MH’s poor build quality that there must be something to it. May wife and I were just driving our Forest River MH back from a camping trip last Friday and we saw a Winnie Tour – my wife commented on how nice it looked, but I mentioned that I’ve heard really bad reviews of their quality. I know this post is 2 years old, but a company cannot continue with this kind of reputation – I don’t care how good RV sales are marketwide. I know MH’s continue to be built – and sadly sold – with the “fix it later” ideology – but there are some good ones out there.
Thank you very much for your detailed information. I also would have been very concerned and not taken the RV. We are looking for an RV but after having looked on the internet a well made one, and one backed up by a company that cares, is top of our list. I had heard Winnebago was a good company but had heard of problems with slides so I did a search and yup, there were lots of stories like yours of poor workmanship of the Winnebago product. Too bad. We will cross them off our list of brands.
I can’t thank you enough for posting your experience, painful as it was. I’ve found that when problems are illuminated they tend to get fixed over the long run. I’m curious if you caught all of these problems yourself or if you had a professional inspector. I’m just beginning the process of looking at Class As and your blogs have been very educational.
Just looked at Class C MH’s at Poulsbo RV in Kent,WA. They’re big on Winnebagos. My wife and I are fist-time ever buyers and we were looking at the View. After reading this we are most assuredly looking elsewhere. Thank you for the ‘awakening’.
QC at Winnebago is going to ultimately hurt business. That includes relationship with Camping World.
Quality control on a new coach with a window sticker in the hundreds of thousand’s had better be good.
Simply put, it isn’t.
My personal experience at several Camping World locations and backed up by substantial negative comment on the Internet shows that both Winnebago and Camping World are in bad shape when it comes to customer relations and vehicle service.
Winnebago isn’t the only company with a bad rep.
Part of the problem is that there is no serious critical comment in the nation’s press about our RV world.
The nation’s leading industry group, Family Motor Coach Association does not take critical views of the world of recreational vehicles. They do manage to publish recall notices in the magazine.
None of the RV publications have a vision or an advocacy role in our vehicles, the sale of them and their repair.
It may be time to get the federal government involved.
Their mistake with you and their general business practices are still costing them money today. Your experience was a very big reason why we bought a new Tiffin Bus two weeks ago rather than a Grand Tour. It was really between the two and we were honestly leaning towards the Grand Tour until we came across your experience while doing more research.
I have a business and I can’t imagine letting my product go out the door unless it was as good as it could possibly be. I just took another look at the pics you provided and it’s just shocking. That’s the only way I can describe it. Something was/is rotten at Winnebago and, in my experience, this level of poor quality results from not just a few bad apples, but from a bad “culture”. I sincerely hope they have resolved their issues and are once again shipping a great product. It’s too big a chance for us for something that costs this much money.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
any issues with Coleman1805rb bubbles on fiberglass side panel?
Sorry, no idea why you would be asking that here. This has nothing to do with Coleman etc. :)
Hi David-I’ve been following you and Brenda for a number of years now and thought I would simply add that your experience was not completely an isolated case for Winnebago during that time period . The Tour/Ellipse had some supplier issues that did not help and they had to work through that as well as known quality control issues. With that said, we are now on our second Winnebago product (current coach, 2011 Itasca Ellipse 42QD) and have had a great experience with both motorhomes and with multiple dealers and the Company as they worked through a few minor issues.
In the end, we have a coach that has worked very well for us. When looking for any RV, do your research and ask a bunch of owners what experiences they have had. Websites/Blogs such as yours is an excellent way to educate yourself. Ignorance is no excuse as there is so much information out there. The task is sifting through what is important to know and what is not symbolic of your particular situation. I have had numerous fellow RVers comment to me as I pull into a park how gorgeous our Itasca Ellipse is as they then go on empathically explaining that they would “never own a Winnebago product!” not even knowing that our Ellipse is a clone of the Tour and having never owned a Winnebago product themselves. Oh well, opinions. Everyone has one!
Thanks David, for your articles. Keep them coming!
Hey Bruce, I wanted to echo your comment. After reading David’s post on this subject. I thought I’d never own a Winnebago product. Then I did some checking and found that WBGO improved their processes, got rid of poor performing suppliers and deserved consideration. We bought a 2017 Adventurer this year and have found it to be very well made and the service after the sale top notch.
David was correct in posting his issues and I’d like to think it’s because of his efforts that WBGO saw the light and took action to fix some obvious issues that the products had at that time.
Thanks David for your exposure of Winnabago’s decline in quality, workmanship and disregard of customer relations and documented concern in safety of their units now being “pushed” out the door. Since I live in the neighboring state of MN, (Winnabago is in Forest City, IA), I was strongly leaning towards the purchase of a new class A Winnabago. After reading of all the problems and shoddy workmanship in your post and many other similar replys, I have crossed Winnabago off the list. I will spend my money elsewhere.
This was 4-years ago. Winnebago has turned around past quality issues and is making great motorhomes. Has for a number of years now. New people in charge and a focus on building them right. This post lives on and on even when things change.
Yes, it was long ago as you mention Paul. But things have not changed all that much as many Winne owners will tell you. All manufacturers have issues…but it seems that Winne still has not learned how to build, but worse how to treat customers. I am an un-proud owner of a 2017 Grand Tour and I wish I found this post before I purchased or I would have looked harder at the company. The worst part is that even though the coach has major issues off the line, Winne has been nothing but a nightmare to work with. Sure things change, what are they on their 2nd CEO from this post? (Never a good sign). But that does not mean it has changed for the good. We surely would have hoped they would have done things to improve as this still is a PR issue for them…But alas…they are trying to build faster, not better, just to get them out the door in this booming market. (Stock holders demand it.) Sadly, they are not alone in this…but it truly makes a difference how they treat the customer after the sale especially when they know the product is not going out the door as it should. But sadly, they continue to fail in after sales service and customer treatment. This post surely needs to live on if you ask me.
I am sorry that you are having issues. I too am an owner of a 2017 winniebago and have a totally different experience. As you say some RVs – of every brand, including Tiffin – have problems. I personally know of many of 2016+ owners that are very happy with their WBGO RVs. As you have seen problems I have seen quality. In the end what you and I see doesn’t mean anything for everyone else what I am saying is that can’t apply one persons problems to everyone else.
Sure…As mentioned, other manufacturers have issues also. Agree. In regards to… “what I am saying is that can’t apply one persons problems to everyone else.”…You are right again. But in the case of this post and it’s story it screamed volumes when a manufacturer would not even fix what was wrong unless it was purchased first. Now that does not say much for a manufacturer. The Bott’s even gave them time to correct it before posting anything. That was up until they were told it would not be fixed unless it was purchased. Even at the end of the post, they still gave Winnie a chance to make it right, to more or less make this go away. They did not take them up on it and they just wanted it corrected. They were right to walk away from such a poor product and I am sure they lost tens of thousands personally to do it.(Even in trade in value seeing they then spent 6 months on the road visiting all the manufacturers) I am happy they were not going to just accept it and get it fixed. Good for them. For ours has been I’m the shop more then we have owned it. And again, we are not lone based on this thread alone and other posts other places. Sure others also have issues, but it says a lot about a company in how they handle such issues. Months in the shop, not so wonderful. Even worse when you get it back and that work was even done poorly and it goes back. Again, this is a 2017 Grand Tour, there TOP model, you would think more care would be taken. (Not that even the smaller units are not costly based on one persons worth. But just making a point.) All in all, glad you have seen improvement. We and others sadly have not. For in the end, to this day, it is NOT just one persons post/problems. They were just smart enough to not take delivery as they actually “looked over” the coach and had seen all the issues. Be safe.
No doubt what happened to David and Brenda was wrong. And, handled poorly by the WBGO people involved. This post is a reflection of that sad transaction. However, it was years ago and not indicative of every thing else the company builds or has built. Certainly in the RV industry there are companies with good and not so good reputations. Winnebago may not be at the top of that list, but it certainly is not at the bottom either.
Naturally, if you’ve had issues you see things in a negative light. Spend time in the respective forums for each manufacturer and you see the good, the bad and the ugly. One can see owners with similar complaints to yours from every manufacturer – regardless of unit cost. Those owners with major problems are surely the loudest voices. Naturally the happy majority are not out there posting about the non-problems they are having. As they are not seeking solutions to problems they are not experiencing.
As with the Botts Tiffin for many owners, especially those with major problems the solution is a trip to the manufacturer, because the quality of dealer service is so hit and miss. If your Tour is in a service shop for months that sounds like it’s at a dealership not Forest City. And many a Tiffin owner, or Newmar owner have shared this same “months of poor dealer attention” and found it necessary to take their coach to Alabama Or Illinois to find relief to the problems.
All I’m saying is, there are a majority of Winnebago owners that do not share yours or David’s experience – either before the sale, nor after the sale. And while this is a valuable post about what happened on this one coach back then it should not be used to condemn Winnebago in the present.
“that sounds like it’s at a dealership not Forest City.” Ah…But it is! As they are the ones that have it and can’t seem to get it right. Even the same slide out issue from years past it seems. Seeing that this post still gets people posting to it with new winne issues, I guess it is still reflective of the state of the industry and Winnebago. Sure some people have few issues, and thats great, but to say that it is not reflective of today even seeing it was posted 4 years ago, I can see what you mean, however, sadly, it seems it is still relative to this day.
Hey Guys…Thanks for the comments on this. Yes, this post is old. Yes, surly wish we did not need to write it. Sad news is John you are not alone as you know. In fact we just had our OOBerfest gathering in Quartzsite an had a 2017 Grand Tour owner come. Beautiful coach. But he did tell me he wish he did not buy it as it also have been back to the factory many times right down to the floor itself bucking up and even batteries wired incorrectly. (He had a much longer list.) So you are not alone with that purchase.
This post is still here has we were greatly hurt by them in may ways. From them trying to deface us in this comment area by making false posts that I then tracked back to coming from the corporate IP, to about the $60K we lost in trade value!!! (You were right that we lost a lot of money.) They never once said they were sorry. The best part, when we were having the Tiffin built, the rep we were dealing with with winnebago all throughout the purchase, contacted Tiffin. He wanted to make sure we were being treated OK because we were treated so unfairly, poorly, by his company. That screams volumes that there are some great employees there I just wish that the time upper management would learn from them.
We are far down the road at this point and very happy. Thank you again for the posts, I think going back-and-forth serves no purpose. Take care keep safe.
Having come from the yacht world and transferred to RV’s, I can honestly say I have yet to see a real quality built RV. First I am a certified yacht surveyor so I have a pretty good idea how to evaluate a product. I would say that in general it seems that in anything but the highest end coaches, the workmanship falls far short of what one should expect, and the component quality is, by and large, “how cheap can we make it?”.
This is in stark contrast to the yacht world where the emphasis is on quality and durability, two factors basically unknown in the RV world.
At the moment I own a Jayco Designer 5th Wheel, their “top of the line”. It looks great, but compared to a yacht, when you pull back the curtain, the build is crappy and attention to detail is non-existent.
All you have to do is watch the “Jayco in a day” video on You Tube and you can easily see why these rigs suffer from quality problems. While the video focuses on Jayco, I’m sure similar circumstances exist at most of the “production” manufacturer’s.
Of course, for the price most of these units sell for what can one expect.
Looks like the Winnie marketing team is doing a full court press. ;) That said, it just draws more attention to this original post, which is probably a good thing…
Whoa there Mark – I’m not in any way shape or form connected to Winniebago. Not now and not never. I’m just like the other folks here that have posted their experience with the product. To be accused of being a shill is both unfair of you and inappropriate.
When this post first came out in 2014 I read it and thought I’d never consider a Winnie product. We were trailer owners and looking at motorhomes. We bought a Forest River product and had our share of issues and lack of concern by the dealer and the manufacturer. By the time we were looking for a new Class A in 2017 I had forgotten all about this post – even though I’ve been a constant follower of David and Brenda and have met them as well.
I did 6-months or research on Newmar, Tiffin, Winnebago, Fleetwood and Thor. I discovered that there were a handful of very unsatisfied owners with each brand. But some (Fleetwood and Thor) seemed to have more than others. We narrowed our search to Newmar and Tiffin but found a Winnie we liked more and since I’d not found a lot of complaints about WBGO Motorhomes we bought a 2017 37F Adventurer in July last year.
Our dealer was great, the MH has had very few issues, the build quality is certainly on par with the Newmars and Tiffins we looked at and the one time I needed any help from the factory they were super responsive and helpful.
If reporting my positive experience makes me the shill you accuse me of then you’d have to paint David and Brenda with the same brush for the Tiffin brand. Of course they’re not! And neither am I.
Yes, we surely are NOT. :) Took us 6 months to make a choice and we paid for one just like anyone else. Even documents that adventure. :-) We bought a Tiffin, so yeah, when we post stuff it is what we have used in our Tiffin or what we have done to it. If it was a Winne or Newmar, then the same would have held true. Tiffin surely has benefited from it however even though we did not set out to do that. (Where is our commission? LOL) But we are beholden to no one. But Winnebago surely ended any chance at having us with them again based on how we were treated. Too bad also, as they are building a contemporary style coach which we have been pushing for for years. For what it’s worth Paul, I did not take you as a shill or anything. As you can see above, I rarely comment on a post in this thread. But based on the back-and-forth I thought I would say something. Take care.
Hi Paul,
I’m one of the posters who responded a year or two ago about this post pushing us away from Winnebago. We were looking for a class A and had next to no experience so we did a ton of research. Our main objectives were to find an attractive coach with very, very good reliability and service. Like so many others who go down that path and really put the time in to research, we ended up with two choices in our price range: Newmar and Tiffin. Newmar didn’t offer any coaches that we found attractive so Tiffin, for that reason and a bunch of other reasons, got our business.
Yes this post influenced us, but really it only reinforced what we had already determined and that is Winnebago is more of a mass market, profit driven, corporate feel type of company vs a more quailty oriented, family owned business. That isn’t to say Tiffin and Newmar aren’t out to make a bunch of money but they aren’t willing in my opinion to cut the same corners to achieve that bottom line. It also doesn’t mean that Winnebago can’t or doesn’t make a great coach, but over a long time period I think Tiffin has proven and will continue to prove they are more consistent. And that is the bottom line here….consistency through the years. There is a core team at Tiffin that happens to be family and that will always prove to provide a stable base of reliability so buying a Tiffin will probably never be as a big a risk as some of the other brands. I know this because I am also part of a multi-generation family run business. It puts us at a distinct advantage over some of our competitors who are corporate owned and the number one advantage is quality.
We can all find posts regarding sub optimal quality and horrible experiences with every manufacturer, including Newmar and Tiffin. But if you really look and research over a long period of time you will see the same names pop up relating to quality over and over through the course of many years.
In our case all of our research has been reinforced by the fact we have 12 trips under out belt, some of them half way across the country and back, and have experienced NO issues at all. Some user error here and there, but we are astounded with the quality of our coach and could not be happier with Tiffin.
It sounds like you have had a great experience with Winnebago and that is awesome. In all of our research, they were next in line after Newmar and Tiffin and could very well be making the best, highest quality coach on the market at this point in time.
Regardless of what they are doing now, there are still a lot of people who got screwed by buying a poor quality unit 3 or 4 years ago.
David and Brenda,
Thanks again for this post and all the YouTube videos. After living vicariously through you and others, I finally ordered my first RV, a Tiffin Wayfarer 24BW!!! Your story is what forced me to do my homework for several years before finally selecting an RV. I learned that floorplan doesn’t overrule quality and you truly do get what you pay for.
I took a very recent in depth tour of the Tiffin Wayfarer plant as my unit was being built. It was very enlightening to watch them build their Class C as though it was their top of the line Class A. The construction techniques and build quality was the same and it was simply amazing to take in and compare to the competition. I cannot fathom how one of these units would ever allow for water penetration if left unaltered from the factory. Watching and learning all of this has made me that more confident in my choice to purchase the Wayfarer over other Sprinter and truck/van chassis based alternatives.
My dealer parked his Tiffin right between the competition and my wife quickly started pointing out all of the build and quality differences while standing between units.
Best,
-Mark