Disappointed in Grand Design warranty

[StevenDiannaOates]

Steven Oates, Colorado Springs, CO. We are first time RV'rs. We purchased our new 2022 Grand Design Imagine 2600 RD, delivered in April 2022. We live in our rv unit full time. For the first 6 months it was great, had fun. We are parked stationary in a mobile home park 90% of the time with We take our unit out on weekends. We had our first good snow and below freezing temperatures around December 20th 2022. We've had 4 snow events with temperatures in single digits.

Immediate response but circumstances delayed response. Upon observing water in the bedroom, I called my rv technician (RV Care Plus Armando De La Garza) but because of Christmas vacation, snow and single digit temperatures – Armando swept off the roof and secured a tarp over roof. Then we had to wait about 4 weeks until we had a window of 3 sunny days with temperatures over 50 degrees. At that Time Armado did a complete seal job of roof and exterior side panels. ($1286).

I submitted a Grand Design warranty reimbursement. Results = Good afternoon, This is denied as it is maintenance, as it is the owners responsibility to maintain the roof seals per your owners manual. Grand Design only covers roof seals for the initial 6 months.
Ty Retail Service Manager | Grand Design RV 11356 CR 2

This is very disappointing. From my new owner consumer perspective, tells me that your warranty is good for only 6 months. That the quality of roof structure is good for 6 months.
Addressed to both Cousins RV and Grand Design = The new owners orientation at the time that I picked up our unit, that orientation was very inadequate. About 50 minutes that covered basic set up and basic system functions, even that was incomplete. There was no instruction or mention of any seal, maintenance on the roof. The rv technician handed me the new owners packet and said bye bye, “If you have any problems make a list, and bring it in and we will fix it.”
Wrong assumptions = I picked up the unit with two good faith expectations, assumptions. 1) Quality manufactured and inspected, that the unit was ready to be used, that I would not have to be concerned with the roof and other system functions. 2) That if I had any problems in the first 12 months, that Grand Design had an impressive warranty. I am sad to say that I was wrong on both expectations assumptions.
Reality = The reality is that the unit delivered to me had manufactured roof defects, And the truthful warranty is conditional and limited.

Have other Grand Design owners experienced leaking roof and denial of warranty coverage? Steven Oates, Colorado Springs, Colorado March 6, 2023.

 

[NB Canada]

Yup part of maintenance. Same with every RV so….
Every 90 days get on your roof and inspect

What did he find anyway? Did he just do the entire roof? Why if it just leaked in one spot?

Your mobile tech ate well that weekend btw

 

[Gronk1]

Steven Oates, Colorado Springs, CO. We are first time RV'rs. We purchased our new 2022 Grand Design Imagine 2600 RD, delivered in April 2022. We live in our rv unit full time. For the first 6 months it was great, had fun. We are parked stationary in a mobile home park 90% of the time with We take our unit out on weekends. We had our first good snow and below freezing temperatures around December 20th 2022. We've had 4 snow events with temperatures in single digits.

Immediate response but circumstances delayed response. Upon observing water in the bedroom, I called my rv technician (RV Care Plus Armando De La Garza) but because of Christmas vacation, snow and single digit temperatures – Armando swept off the roof and secured a tarp over roof. Then we had to wait about 4 weeks until we had a window of 3 sunny days with temperatures over 50 degrees. At that Time Armado did a complete seal job of roof and exterior side panels. ($1286).

I submitted a Grand Design warranty reimbursement. Results = Good afternoon, This is denied as it is maintenance, as it is the owners responsibility to maintain the roof seals per your owners manual. Grand Design only covers roof seals for the initial 6 months.
Ty Retail Service Manager | Grand Design RV 11356 CR 2

This is very disappointing. From my new owner consumer perspective, tells me that your warranty is good for only 6 months. That the quality of roof structure is good for 6 months.
Addressed to both Cousins RV and Grand Design = The new owners orientation at the time that I picked up our unit, that orientation was very inadequate. About 50 minutes that covered basic set up and basic system functions, even that was incomplete. There was no instruction or mention of any seal, maintenance on the roof. The rv technician handed me the new owners packet and said bye bye, “If you have any problems make a list, and bring it in and we will fix it.”
Wrong assumptions = I picked up the unit with two good faith expectations, assumptions. 1) Quality manufactured and inspected, that the unit was ready to be used, that I would not have to be concerned with the roof and other system functions. 2) That if I had any problems in the first 12 months, that Grand Design had an impressive warranty. I am sad to say that I was wrong on both expectations assumptions.
Reality = The reality is that the unit delivered to me had manufactured roof defects, And the truthful warranty is conditional and limited.

Have other Grand Design owners experienced leaking roof and denial of warranty coverage? Steven Oates, Colorado Springs, Colorado March 6, 2023.

Our 310 had roof problems (no leaks) & I was told of the 6 month warranty denial until I got on the roof & took pics of the problem BEFORE work was done & submitted to GD. They did approve the work as it was a manufacturing defect...where the cap, front & rear, meets the roof material, sealant was missing on all four corners about 5 inches long at the edges.
Is their roof warranty BS, probably, but I think it is standard among all manufacturers.
Get a roll of Eterna Bond & a tube of sealant for your rv toolbox.
Also climb on the roof often, I do every month or two & before trips to inspect. Colorado summer sun must be brutal on it. Wash the roof at least twice a year.
As for orientation, that's all on your dealer. I was schooled on systems that I was not familiar with (hyd. landing gear/slides, auto level & stupid Nautilus) about 15 minutes, I did need to ask a few questions. Then I did my PDI for 4 hours.
Your dealer should have done a thorough PDI when they received it & fixed any problems found.
I think your beef is with the dealer & not GD.
Oh- and welcome to the forum

 

[sande005]

The manual covers it, see pages 151-152, even if your dealer didn't specifically address it. Also the warranty about lack of maintenance causing issues. Lots of other info about all aspects in there also. While the list is not long, it WOULD be nice to have a auto-manual type checklist of maintenance things and intervals in the manual. In slight defense of the dealer, there is a LOT to cover just in operation, let alone all the other aspects of ownership. My dealer(s) (Jayco prior and then Grand Design) also included their own multi-page guides that emphasized things they felt were important, and roofs were in both.

 

[huntr70]

Steven Oates, Colorado Springs, CO. We are first time RV'rs. We purchased our new 2022 Grand Design Imagine 2600 RD, delivered in April 2022. We live in our rv unit full time. For the first 6 months it was great, had fun. We are parked stationary in a mobile home park 90% of the time with We take our unit out on weekends. We had our first good snow and below freezing temperatures around December 20th 2022. We've had 4 snow events with temperatures in single digits.

Immediate response but circumstances delayed response. Upon observing water in the bedroom, I called my rv technician (RV Care Plus Armando De La Garza) but because of Christmas vacation, snow and single digit temperatures – Armando swept off the roof and secured a tarp over roof. Then we had to wait about 4 weeks until we had a window of 3 sunny days with temperatures over 50 degrees. At that Time Armado did a complete seal job of roof and exterior side panels. ($1286).

I submitted a Grand Design warranty reimbursement. Results = Good afternoon, This is denied as it is maintenance, as it is the owners responsibility to maintain the roof seals per your owners manual. Grand Design only covers roof seals for the initial 6 months.
Ty Retail Service Manager | Grand Design RV 11356 CR 2

This is very disappointing. From my new owner consumer perspective, tells me that your warranty is good for only 6 months. That the quality of roof structure is good for 6 months.
Addressed to both Cousins RV and Grand Design = The new owners orientation at the time that I picked up our unit, that orientation was very inadequate. About 50 minutes that covered basic set up and basic system functions, even that was incomplete. There was no instruction or mention of any seal, maintenance on the roof. The rv technician handed me the new owners packet and said bye bye, “If you have any problems make a list, and bring it in and we will fix it.”
Wrong assumptions = I picked up the unit with two good faith expectations, assumptions. 1) Quality manufactured and inspected, that the unit was ready to be used, that I would not have to be concerned with the roof and other system functions. 2) That if I had any problems in the first 12 months, that Grand Design had an impressive warranty. I am sad to say that I was wrong on both expectations assumptions.
Reality = The reality is that the unit delivered to me had manufactured roof defects, And the truthful warranty is conditional and limited.

Have other Grand Design owners experienced leaking roof and denial of warranty coverage? Steven Oates, Colorado Springs, Colorado March 6, 2023.

Do your due diligence and check your roof at least every 90 days. Most manufacturer's only warranty sealants for 90 days from date of purchase.

So, because you didn't do this, it is now GD's fault....?

 

[triplethreat]

My Momentum stays under a covered RVport at all times when not being used, and thus the affects of direct sunlight on the roof simply does not exist....just one of the advantages of keeping it under roof. Even with me doing that, I still climb on the roof at least 3 or 4 times a year to check things out and look over the sealed areas for possible cracks/damage.....it's just something that has to be done by the owner of the trailer...and is YOUR responsibility, not the dealer's. To me, it's kind of like doing oil changes on a vehicle. Once you buy it, the responsibility becomes yours...not the dealer. You can choose to do it..or not, but the responsibility is the owner's.

 

[trailrydr]

We keep ours under 4 sided covered storage (roof, rear, sides) when not in use too. But, we also had RV Armour put on so that we dont have to get on the roof but maybe once a year - and that, along with our lifetime warranty is well worth the additional cost IMO.

Note: When the RV Armour Tech prepped the roof, he said it was one of the cleanest well kept roofs he had worked on.... mostly due to keeping it under storage. Prior to coating it and after cleaning, which I had never done before in the prior 3 years of owning since new, it looked brand new!

We did get some small cracks in the factory sealant along the rear edge in those 3 years that needed repaired, but everything else was never touched.

 

[Petrovsky]

Steven Oates, Colorado Springs, CO. We are first time RV'rs. We purchased our new 2022 Grand Design Imagine 2600 RD, delivered in April 2022. We live in our rv unit full time. For the first 6 months it was great, had fun. We are parked stationary in a mobile home park 90% of the time with We take our unit out on weekends. We had our first good snow and below freezing temperatures around December 20th 2022. We've had 4 snow events with temperatures in single digits.

Immediate response but circumstances delayed response. Upon observing water in the bedroom, I called my rv technician (RV Care Plus Armando De La Garza) but because of Christmas vacation, snow and single digit temperatures – Armando swept off the roof and secured a tarp over roof. Then we had to wait about 4 weeks until we had a window of 3 sunny days with temperatures over 50 degrees. At that Time Armado did a complete seal job of roof and exterior side panels. ($1286).

I submitted a Grand Design warranty reimbursement. Results = Good afternoon, This is denied as it is maintenance, as it is the owners responsibility to maintain the roof seals per your owners manual. Grand Design only covers roof seals for the initial 6 months.
Ty Retail Service Manager | Grand Design RV 11356 CR 2

This is very disappointing. From my new owner consumer perspective, tells me that your warranty is good for only 6 months. That the quality of roof structure is good for 6 months.
Addressed to both Cousins RV and Grand Design = The new owners orientation at the time that I picked up our unit, that orientation was very inadequate. About 50 minutes that covered basic set up and basic system functions, even that was incomplete. There was no instruction or mention of any seal, maintenance on the roof. The rv technician handed me the new owners packet and said bye bye, “If you have any problems make a list, and bring it in and we will fix it.”
Wrong assumptions = I picked up the unit with two good faith expectations, assumptions. 1) Quality manufactured and inspected, that the unit was ready to be used, that I would not have to be concerned with the roof and other system functions. 2) That if I had any problems in the first 12 months, that Grand Design had an impressive warranty. I am sad to say that I was wrong on both expectations assumptions.
Reality = The reality is that the unit delivered to me had manufactured roof defects, And the truthful warranty is conditional and limited.

Have other Grand Design owners experienced leaking roof and denial of warranty coverage? Steven Oates, Colorado Springs, Colorado March 6, 2023.

With all the flexing that goes on it is hard for manufacturers to warranty the seals. The PDI if done properly should find most issues but not all. The PDI on my trailer did miss some extremely obvious issues and I am dealing with a pretty good dealer. My PDI also missed the same issues that I later found with coffee in hand taking my time. Dealer did fix everything. Note: They did talk about seals and roofs during the orientation and I read the manual cover to cover even though I have had and repaired issues with trailers in the past.

Now to talk about roof leaks. At seasons end I washed it and inspected. Caulked a couple of areas just as a precaution and found no issues. After it wintered at the dealers in his yard along with 50+ other trailers (snow covered-Ontario) it seemed o.k. Did a roof cleaning and inspection and did not notice anything inside or out. During one of my trips last year, in the bathroom "thinking", I hear gurgling coming from the rear corner (its a rear bath room). Looked for leakage but did not find anything, checked the seals and a quick look on the roof turned up nothing. However, every time it rained during the trip I would hear something in the rear corner of the the RV. When I got home I inspected the roof and initially did not find anything but with some poking at the corner, the sealant had come apart leaving a slit that obviously in a torrential downpour would allow water to infiltrate the corner where the rear top trim meets with the trim piece going down the side. I cut out some of the sealant and extruded 1/2 a tube into the cavity sealing it permanently. I also added sealant to the front cap and resealed where the wire comes out to power the awning.

The dealer confirmed seal issues are not an isolated incidents for a new trailers from any manufacturer and gave me a few tips. One tip that I would like to pass along to you is the following.

All the trim pieces have a plastic cover on them used to hide the screws. Get yourself a tube of good marine grade silicone and remove each screw, put in a bit of silicone and put the screw back in. He mentioned that this is one of the most come areas of water infiltration. I am slowly making my way around the trailer doing just that, lots of screws. And although I don't love getting on the roof I do it 2-3x a season washing it 2x. Unfortunately it sits from October to April in storage uncovered. Would love to be further south.

Good luck

 

[KDRunner]

I took our new camper to Double Dueces in York ,PA and had the whole roof done with FlexArmour.
Absolutely no caulking to maintain now. Guaranteed for life not to leak, and also transferable. Just went back there in April and had them mount 6 solar panels. All resprayed with bo caulking. Mounted in with lab bolts. 4 nuts to remove to replace if needed. If or when I buy another new camper, the first thing I will do is the roof. You may want to look into this. Amazing how many newer campers they get in with rotting roofs from lack of maintenance on the caulking, especially by front cap area. Check out their Facebook page.

 

[Mary Manka]

Steven Oates, Colorado Springs, CO. We are first time RV'rs. We purchased our new 2022 Grand Design Imagine 2600 RD, delivered in April 2022. We live in our rv unit full time. For the first 6 months it was great, had fun. We are parked stationary in a mobile home park 90% of the time with We take our unit out on weekends. We had our first good snow and below freezing temperatures around December 20th 2022. We've had 4 snow events with temperatures in single digits.

Immediate response but circumstances delayed response. Upon observing water in the bedroom, I called my rv technician (RV Care Plus Armando De La Garza) but because of Christmas vacation, snow and single digit temperatures – Armando swept off the roof and secured a tarp over roof. Then we had to wait about 4 weeks until we had a window of 3 sunny days with temperatures over 50 degrees. At that Time Armado did a complete seal job of roof and exterior side panels. ($1286).

I submitted a Grand Design warranty reimbursement. Results = Good afternoon, This is denied as it is maintenance, as it is the owners responsibility to maintain the roof seals per your owners manual. Grand Design only covers roof seals for the initial 6 months.
Ty Retail Service Manager | Grand Design RV 11356 CR 2

This is very disappointing. From my new owner consumer perspective, tells me that your warranty is good for only 6 months. That the quality of roof structure is good for 6 months.
Addressed to both Cousins RV and Grand Design = The new owners orientation at the time that I picked up our unit, that orientation was very inadequate. About 50 minutes that covered basic set up and basic system functions, even that was incomplete. There was no instruction or mention of any seal, maintenance on the roof. The rv technician handed me the new owners packet and said bye bye, “If you have any problems make a list, and bring it in and we will fix it.”
Wrong assumptions = I picked up the unit with two good faith expectations, assumptions. 1) Quality manufactured and inspected, that the unit was ready to be used, that I would not have to be concerned with the roof and other system functions. 2) That if I had any problems in the first 12 months, that Grand Design had an impressive warranty. I am sad to say that I was wrong on both expectations assumptions.
Reality = The reality is that the unit delivered to me had manufactured roof defects, And the truthful warranty is conditional and limited.

Have other Grand Design owners experienced leaking roof and denial of warranty coverage? Steven Oates, Colorado Springs, Colorado March 6, 2023.

Yes! We purchased 2023 Grand Design from Cousins RV in the Springs. 1st trip out it leaked in what I'm guessing is the same spot, as looking into bedroom light fixtures on the left. 2nd trip out bathroom skylight area. Both times Cousins caulked areas but the n roof is detective and there is water damage to roof of unit. We are thinking of a suit as the warranty work has been denied despite this being a new unit.

 

[Scott'n'Wendy]

I was unaware of the 6 month deals with the roof. I inspected my roof within the first week of ownership but would have expected a year on the roof along with everything else.
Unfortunately, having someone repair it and then sending the bill to GD will never work. They need to see it first to see if it was a defect or a maintenance issue. Once resealed, the evidence is likely gone.