Has Grand Design gone down in quality?

[Skiddy]

I'm sorry, I thought this was a forum for owners to share experiences. Yes first post, as I said I just bought the thing and was researching others problems when I found this post. Sorry if the truth hurts your feelings. The only troll I see here is you. Thanks for a helpful reply. If you are typical of the lot I'll find on here, it'll be first and last post. Hopefully at 119 posts I'll be more insightful than you. Idiot. Run back to Instagram and troll people there. "Terminally bewildered" do you even know that means or did you combine two words of the day to try and sound intelligent behind your little keyboard?

Terry

I for one can certainly believe your experience. RV’s are flying “off the shelf” or perhaps off the lot, like crazy due to this COVID thing. Friend was looking at a GDRV unit and asked if I thought they were OK, I showed him some of the issues I’ve had in spite of being ignored by GDRV and my dealer. They went for an appointment to look over a 2020 2800BH(??) and found virtually everything I showed him on my unit to be not quite right on the 2800BH. His wife liked the interior colours and layout, but they moved on to another dealer.

[Buckaroo]

I for one can certainly believe your experience. RV’s are flying “off the shelf” or perhaps off the lot, like crazy due to this COVID thing. Friend was looking at a GDRV unit and asked if I thought they were OK, I showed him some of the issues I’ve had in spite of being ignored by GDRV and my dealer. They went for an appointment to look over a 2020 2800BH(??) and found virtually everything I showed him on my unit to be not quite right on the 2800BH. His wife liked the interior colours and layout, but they moved on to another dealer.

This guy called out a relatively large number of issues that are discussed on this site. On Tripadvisor or Amazon, it has been documented that a large number of reviews are fake. Both ways, positive and negative. I just can't believe all these issues happened to one person. I think we all need to be a little skeptical of the info we find on the internet. Sorry, but I am not buying it. I don't think he owns a GD.....perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

[Roussell]

Roussell, sorry to hear about your experience. 4 years ago we took a new 303RLS on its maiden voyage to the local state park which was all of 4 miles away. The sound and smell of hissing propane was quickly noticed. There had been a recall on regulators, but ours had the older version. GD customer service tried to help over the phone, and after they confirmed the recall on our VIN, offered to have a mobile tech come out and fix; unfortunately there were none in our area that we could get in a timely manner. We made do with a portable induction cooking appliance until I could get it into our dealer. While your unit sounds like it has more than its fair share of issues, it would be worthwhile to give GD customer service a call and engage them. They cannot help if they do not know.

I am also curious about your dealer. Have had a good relationship with them in the past? Some of what you describe, as you mention, really ought to have been found in a PDI by the dealer.

At any rate, welcome to forum. Your fix it yourself attitude is a good one to have, and eventually things will get sorted out. Again, reach out to GD and give them a chance.

Thanks for the reply John303 - propane problems are scary! I had a similar problem with a Coast Guard approved tank while 50 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico many years ago, I still sweat thinking of what could have happened and havent had propane in a boat since!! . In my 51 years, I've owned a lot of toys, and am pretty experienced with most anything having wheels, wings, or sails - but I'm only into RV ownership since 2018 so maybe I have to adjust my expectations some. I have a friend who's been RVing for a while and reminds me that an RV is a house that's designed to survive constant earthquakes.

Thanks for the tip on GD customer service, I will reach out to them and have heard good things about the support. I'm a manager in IT, and I'm constantly telling my users the same, if you don't tell me about the problems, we can't get better. Time to take my own advice - and yours!

I had done a lot of research on the dealer before purchasing, and several others in the area (central Alabama), and had even talked to Josh at Haylett RV up in Michigan. Fantastic guy, and really wanted to do a deal with them, but having the Coleman as a trade and being so far away made is less apealing for them and me, but still a great guy and company. Anyway, did a lot fo research and found this particular dealer to have the best reputation in the area. Still being green in the process -despite watching and reading all I could on the subject since buying the Coleman- I didn't really know what to double check in the PDI process and question. My fault. and to be fair, the dealer offered to ship me parts, pick up the expense of having repairs done near to where we were camping, or anything else that would resolve the situation.

It just struck me as odd because of all the great over-the-top stuff I'd heard and seen on GD to have these problems. It's a brand new model, maybe there's just some kinks to work out. Like I said, despite the problems, we love the camper - the layout is the best we found for our lifestyle and we plan on having it for a very long time. I always accuse my wife of "helping the salesman" when we got the Coleman. We were avid tent campers, but my old body got tired of tents and sleeping bags, so we went just to look, knowing nothing about campers or the camping life, and left with a camper... It was totally wrong for what we 'needed', but on the positive side the time we had it taught us exactly what we did, and didn't want in a camper. The Imagine checks all the boxes for us, once the kinks are worked out I'm sure it will be fine.

I grew up a poor country boy; if I couldn't fix it, I didn't want it. Taught me a lot about life.

Terry

[WhittleBurner]

@Roussell , @Buckaroo

We do our best to try and keep things friendly and civil here. Above all there is a be nice rule. Please refrain from name calling and belittling each other. There are other ways to convey what you want to say without insults and name calling.

[Roussell]

Don’t let the GD Faithful run you off. There is a lot of knowledge here and most members are friendly and willing to share their experiences.

Heh more like a GD fanatic. No worries, I've been in IT since the dawn of the internet and have seen an uncountable number of keyboard warriors . He's blocked so I'll never again see his rants, and I'll continue block all that prefer to throw a tantrum when somebody says something they don't agree with, reporting if necessary and going on with my life. I've zero time or patients for the crazies of the world.

Thanks for the warm welcome, nice to see some normal folk hang out here.

[Roussell]

@Roussell , @Buckaroo

We do our best to try and keep things friendly and civil here. Above all there is a be nice rule. Please refrain from name calling and belittling each other. There are other ways to convey what you want to say without insults and name calling.

Agree totally WhittleBurner. As I mentioned, I've blocked (ignored) him. I didn't start the argument, and my upbringing didn't allow turning the other cheek. From now on, rather than calling out the idiocy of an attacking post, I'll simply block and report.

Thanks for what you do. I moderate a few forums and know first-hand the work involved!

Terry

[DaveMatthewsBand]

Agree totally WhittleBurner. As I mentioned, I've blocked (ignored) him. I didn't start the argument, and my upbringing didn't allow turning the other cheek. From now one, rather than calling out the idiocy of an attacking post, I'll simply block and report.

Thanks for what you do. I moderate a few forums and know first-hand the work involved!

Terry

Some of the guys here are pure fanboys and can’t handle it when someone posts something negative about Grand Design.
Ignore them.


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[DaveMatthewsBand]

What is this? Stay home....you seem to be terminally bewildered.....troll.....first post BTW.....

Who’s the troll now?


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[Ynot4me2]

Getting the popcorn

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[Roussell]

I for one can certainly believe your experience. RV’s are flying “off the shelf” or perhaps off the lot, like crazy due to this COVID thing. Friend was looking at a GDRV unit and asked if I thought they were OK, I showed him some of the issues I’ve had in spite of being ignored by GDRV and my dealer. They went for an appointment to look over a 2020 2800BH(??) and found virtually everything I showed him on my unit to be not quite right on the 2800BH. His wife liked the interior colours and layout, but they moved on to another dealer.

I mentioned something similar to my wife regarding the whole Covid thing, The amount of RVs on the roads and all the packed campgrounds in a 500 mile radius of us blows my mind. We're starting to look into boondocking just to have more options (plus just got a new generator and I'm itching to try it out!) The thing that blows my mind is how expensive (relatively) the new small designer campers are. the cool little ones with the off-road tires, and no toilet some are more than what I paid for the 3100RD. If people are buying them at those prices though, why not keep building them!

Re: other brands - the biggest thing I noticed was that brands other than GD offered more options for the money, auto-leveling, slide-toppers, etc. My assumption was that GD's higher priception ratio is because of the baked-in quality, and for a long-term investment I definitely wanted quality over quantity, knowing I could add the bolt-ons myself later down the road. I remain optimistic, but would be remiss if I didn't point out what I've experienced.