Negative Publicity for GD

[SGT ROC]

I don't want to, but I feel like I have to weigh in again. I do not have an older GD 5th wheel. Mine was built in March of 2019 and purchased by me April 9th. We went camping 6 times - longest distance was about 3+ hours away. During this time we had two very minor issues that were taken care of quickly by both GD and the dealer. GD HAS lived up to their marketing in my case, and most others, and this is AFTER being bought out by Winnebago. EVERY manufacturer has defects in workmanship just as bad as "Brewhedd" and "Wicked Ace" have experienced. Sadly some of those situations never get taken care of properly. My brother-in law purchased a pretty expensive 5th wheel from someone else about 3 years ago. He had an issue with the bathroom drains. Upon investigation the manufacturer had cut through some of the aluminum framing to hook everything up. It went back and got fixed. Should it have happened? Heck no, it should never even have gotten beyond the frame up stage, but it did. If a man can make it, he can mess it up - Just ask my wife....

[bertschb]

...There are many here yet from the "good old days". I understand you make a choice and don't want to feel it was wrong. I don't understand accepting poor quality, workmanship, planning, engineering, QC and support as a matter of course of ownership...

We accept poor quality and workmanship because there is literally no alternative- at any price.

My wife and I looked at probably twenty different brands of RV's when we started shopping for our first 5th wheel in 2014. Our price cap back then was $100k so we didn't look at New Horizons, DRV, etc. Everything we looked at was poorly built with cheap components. In addition, the floor plans just had goofy designs. When we stepped into our first Grand Design, it was different. Grand Design placed the chairs so they were facing the TV. Simple concept but just about every other brand had the TV off to the side somewhere as an afterthought. Grand Design had colors and finishes that looked better to us. Still cheaply made but they looked better. The reason we picked Grand Design was because the floor plans fit our needs better, the finish work looked better to us and customer service was second to none. We knew the build quality was typical for the industry and we knew the materials were mostly Lippert junk. But, we also knew we would get good factory support.

We owned our first 5th wheel for almost two years and spent two full winters in it. The only issue we had with it was leaking grease seals on the axles and both Lippert and Grand Design really stepped up to the plate to repair the seals. That was not Grand Design's fault but they stepped up big time to fix it. When we decided to get something bigger and a little fancier, we started shopping again. This time we included brands and models that were around $100k. We also had a lot more experience and had met many people in the large RV park we spend our winters in that had nice RV's. What we learned is even the expensive RV's had problems. In fact, some of them had major problems. We have good friends that bought a Luxe for $180,000. It used some really nice high quality components but they learned the ducting for their dual furnace setup was all messed up. Some vents had no pipes connected. Some were routed incorrectly. They had to get a mobile tech to come and rip the entire underbelly out and re-route all the heating ducts. They also had major problems with their full body paint and had to have that repaired and repainted. They had electrical and plumbing problems (a short in the fuse box and leaking pipe in the wall). These weren't component failures. It was poor workmanship. We had some other friends that had major problems with their brand new DRV that cost $175,000. It required a trip back to the factory to rebuild delaminating walls among several other things. I could add several more examples of poor workmanship in the very most expensive RV's made. Yes, the cabinets were very nicely made, the furniture is way better, plumbing and electrical work was finished MUCH nicer and materials overall were much better. But, they still had major problems that I've yet to experience in my cheap Grand Design RV's.

Sooooo, we accept poor workmanship and quality because there are no better alternatives - at any price. Our choice to go with Grand Design for our third 5th wheel wasn't wrong. It was the right choice for us in a very crowded field. I had a question about the new disc brake option being offered soon on our Solitude and was actually contacted by a Vice President at Grand Design. We exchanged several emails and he was very responsive. Super nice guy. Every person I've dealt with at Grand Design from 2015 until now (post Winnebago buyout) has been outstanding to work with.

I didn't drink any Kool-Aide. I made informed decisions after hundreds of hours of research. And by the way, I've never seen anybody prevented from posting negative comments about Grand Design on this forum and I've been here for a while. There have been dozens of threads by people complaining about their RV. I started what turned out to be a very long thread about the leaking axle seals and was very vocal about it. Nobody ever attempted to shut me or that thread down.

If you think there is a manufacturer out there that builds high quality units with high quality components at any price - let alone the price point Grand Design competes in, please let us know!

[sande005]

Sure, read the reviews at the site you noted. But then also look at all the other RV brands on that site......you'll never buy any RV if that is your big criteria! Take those experiences into account, but don't let them be your only consideration. And don't forget to edit out those that confuse terrible dealer service with Grand Design service.

[Canyonlight]

We are interested in replacing our current rv and were impressed with the Imagine 2600rb we toured a few days ago. I have been reading in the GD forum and find that for the most part GD owners are very happy with the products. I read complaints Pi**ed Consumer about GD products and find major diversions. I recognize that many of the Pi**ed Consumer input is from customers new to rv's. Our upcoming purchase will be our 5th rv purchase in nearly 40-years so we expect that there will be a few problems but wow, what I read in the Pi**ed Consumer concerns me.

Please reassure me that our anticipated GD purchase is the right decision.

Let me approach this from a different direction. You have owned 5 Rvs and have 40 years experience. You are no rookie. Your history is like ours and many other experienced RVrs here and who bought one or more GDRVs for several reasons.

What other due diligence research have you done or are considering other than a "negative" site or sites like PC ? Where do you place the most credence is what is being shared ? What is most important to you in your next RV purchase ?......RV itself, components used, manufacturer service/support, dealer, other ?

Yes, there will be issues with Rvs as you as an experienced owner already know. The key is what happens next ? Let us know whom you find to be the best out there.

Dan

[Saldog]

Grand Design created a unique niche in the RV market by offering a longer duration warranty, good customer support, and creating the rallies to interact with their customers. Grand Design was purchased by Winnebago, not sure if that is bad or good.

We currently own a 2017 315 RLTS, my wife's uncle and aunt own a Grand Design 5th wheel, and a co-workers father in law owns a GD travel trailer, all Reflections from 2016-2019.

Grand Design is not manufactured any better than other brands. What they have done is create an image of higher quality. They do offer good customer support and are prompt to reply when contacted, but, this is also reflected in the price of the RV.

If you tend to not do your own work on your RV and you want a longer warranty, go with GD. If you are handy doing your own work you can save some money by purchasing a lower cost brand where you will experience the same problems.

One area where all the lines of GD are experiencing problems are tires, brakes, and suspension.

I was adding some light dimmers and under carriage lights to our camper. While doing so I thought it would be good to have a wiring schematic of the our camper. Unfortunately GD does not have them available.

Jayco offers what I have heard to be a good product, they offer wiring schematics for their units, and a suspension upgrade that consists of Goodyear Endurance tires and Moryde Cree suspension...a very worthwhile investment if you won't be stationary.

Personally if I were to do it again I would have gone with a different brand since I do all my own work. Every camping season I have a list of repairs...I'm hoping at some point we will have a problem free season.

These problems are not related to movement with traveling as some may mention, but failures ilof components that should work as designed. This is a lengthy reply, so I will not list them

I hope you find what you like and safe happy traveling.
Jim aka Saldog

[Wicked ace]

Grand Design created a unique niche in the RV market by offering a longer duration warranty, good customer support, and creating the rallies to interact with their customers. Grand Design was purchased by Winnebago, not sure if that is bad or good.

We currently own a 2017 315 RLTS, my wife's uncle and aunt own a Grand Design 5th wheel, and a co-workers father in law owns a GD travel trailer, all Reflections from 2016-2019.

Grand Design is not manufactured any better than other brands. What they have done is create an image of higher quality. They do offer good customer support and are prompt to reply when contacted, but, this is also reflected in the price of the RV.

If you tend to not do your own work on your RV and you want a longer warranty, go with GD. If you are handy doing your own work you can save some money by purchasing a lower cost brand where you will experience the same problems.

One area where all the lines of GD are experiencing problems are tires, brakes, and suspension.

I was adding some light dimmers and under carriage lights to our camper. While doing so I thought it would be good to have a wiring schematic of the our camper. Unfortunately GD does not have them available.

Jayco offers what I have heard to be a good product, they offer wiring schematics for their units, and a suspension upgrade that consists of Goodyear Endurance tires and Moryde Cree suspension...a very worthwhile investment if you won't be stationary.

Personally if I were to do it again I would have gone with a different brand since I do all my own work. Every camping season I have a list of repairs...I'm hoping at some point we will have a problem free season.

These problems are not related to movement with traveling as some may mention, but failures ilof components that should work as designed. This is a lengthy reply, so I will not list them

I hope you find what you like and safe happy traveling.
Jim aka Saldog

Jim
You twice mention GD having a longer duration warranty. The only one I saw and that I have, is for 1 year "limited", like 90% of other 5W makers. I only saw one manufacturer that had a 2 year bumper to bumper warranty. There are things like structural and roof that are longer but you better read the fine print because that's where the "limits" come in.
You bought up your pre-season list. I have been out with mine four times now, 3 weeks to a month each outing and upon return I've reached out to the customer service contact with a new list of items. In fact now it's back in the shop. My warranty is up in two and half months and my faith in this as long term holding are diminishing. Funny you should mention Jayco because I looked at one but because of the dealer and their reputation I just wrote it off.

[Wicked ace]

We accept poor quality and workmanship because there is literally no alternative- at any price.
My wife and I looked at probably twenty different brands of RV's when we started shopping for our first 5th wheel in 2014. Our price cap back then was $100k so we didn't look at New Horizons, DRV, etc. Everything we looked at was poorly built with cheap components. In addition, the floor plans just had goofy designs. When we stepped into our first Grand Design, it was different. Grand Design placed the chairs so they were facing the TV. Simple concept but just about every other brand had the TV off to the side somewhere as an afterthought. Grand Design had colors and finishes that looked better to us. Still cheaply made but they looked better. The reason we picked Grand Design was because the floor plans fit our needs better, the finish work looked better to us and customer service was second to none. We knew the build quality was typical for the industry and we knew the materials were mostly Lippert junk. But, we also knew we would get good factory support.
Sooooo, we accept poor workmanship and quality because there are no better alternatives - at any price. Our choice to go with Grand Design for our third 5th wheel wasn't wrong. It was the right choice for us in a very crowded field.

What you said here is a sad state of affairs. That is three times what I paid or could afford and still no improvement. Especially when you point out it's a crowded field.

[Sissys Folks]

Thanks for your feedback.

[Sissys Folks]

Thanks for you candor. I am not a Kool Aid drinker that's why I am undergoing due diligence.

[bertschb]

What you said here is a sad state of affairs.

It is indeed! But, it's the price we pay if we want a towable RV. Now if you have $1,000,000+ to spend, there actually are some well built, well engineered and very high quality Class A motorhomes.