Plagued with water problems, amongst others

[firefiter236]

Hello,

My wife and I took delivery of a 28MKS the first week of August 2018. since then, there has been a slough of issues that we have found ranging from stripped screws, to drawer slides not even being attached, to water leaking and holes, even terrible and incomplete finish work.

The first issue was that the hole where the porch light is mounted, is not sealed causing water leaking and damage issues.

Next, the Molex connectors at the back of the water heater were not correctly assembled with the wires from install and they came out of the connector creating an electrical nightmare and possible fire.

Then, when they drilled into the top of our bathroom gray tank for the drain inlets, the hole saw "core" fell into the tank and was never retrieved. Then got lodged in the outflow of the docking station causing a backup to the mushroom plug at the top of the tank where the sink drain comes in. That plug was not seated properly during installation causing an overflow and flood destroying the underbelly, insulation and seeped into the subfloor.

Next, the back flow valve in the water pump failed creating an issue where the city fill was backfilling into our freshwater tank and overflowing that.

Then a hose clamp at the back of the water heater was not tightened enough causing a leak, water damage and needed repair there.

After all of that, I found the fresh water fill line that goes into the top of the holding tank is kinked and twisted creating water pressure problems and stress on the rest of the system.

And that is not to mention all of the other issues of hardware not being attached or installed properly and just such a horrible assembly job on our entire unit. I have had to re-drill hinges, latches, drawer rails, re-staple trim pieces and even the microwave fell out of the OHC on a drive down the highway.

HOLY!!!! I thought these were supposed to be nice?!?!?!?

 

[Country Campers]

That is not a very good report for any manufacture let alone GD.
Is the dealer working to rectify these issues?
I GD working with the dealer to make sure all problems are being attended to?
Sure hope you are getting some kind of satisfaction on an extensive list of major problems.

BTW , welcome to the forum, wish it was better circumstances.

Brian

 

[Steve7]

Firefiter236, welcome to the forum. Your long list of issues definitely does not seem to be the norm. I hope you’ve been in contact with Grand Design so they are aware and can either assist you with corrections, or find out what went wrong. I wish you luck as these problems can be stressful when all you want to do is enjoy your new RV!

 

[TucsonJim]

Dang Firefiter - That's horrible. It seems every once in a while we get stories about units with a long punch list of problems. In fact, my most recent unit had a lot of issue too. If you aren't getting satisfaction from your dealer or GDRV customer service, let me know and I'll provide you with contact information to escalate your concerns.

Jim

 

[firefiter236]

Oh, and our slide got stuck open once and would not close, tearing the weather seal surround. We are at our wits end. The dealer is in Colorado that we bought from and currently in Arizona with permanent residence now in Washington state.

All of the repair facilities close to us are backed up for months creating the issue of me spending hours chasing down leaks, shorts, breaks and all the other problems, then taking more time to do all the repairs myself.

The gray tank issue alone took an entire month of our underbelly being torn apart laying on the ground before it was all approved and put back together.

 

[TucsonJim]

Oh, and our slide got stuck open once and would not close, tearing the weather seal surround. We are at our wits end. The dealer is in Colorado that we bought from and currently in Arizona with permanent residence now in Washington state.

All of the repair facilities close to us are backed up for months creating the issue of me spending hours chasing down leaks, shorts, breaks and all the other problems, then taking more time to do all the repairs myself.

The gray tank issue alone took an entire month of our underbelly being torn apart laying on the ground before it was all approved and put back together.

If repairs are taking months, then GDRV customer service will usually authorize a mobile repair technician or non-GDRV repair facility to do the repairs. I'm going to send you a PM with information on how to contact the VP of customer service. He needs to hear your story.

Jim

 

[ChristopherRogers]

I hope you didn't have to face any kind of property damage due to leaks and all. My friend once thought that the leak was just a normal thing but it actually leads to a lot of damage as the whole water was on the floor damaging their property. So, they took help from Alliance public adjuster who helped them in every way possible like from claiming insurance till repairing the leak. So, it is better to keep in mind about various casualities that can happen from small things.

 

[BeerBrewer-MGRV]

Are these issues typical of a Transcend? My wife and I were planning to purchase our first travel trailer, a Transcend 26RLS literally within the next week or two. Now I'm VERY concerned.....VERY!!!

Our original plan was to purchase a "new-ish" used trailer, like a 2600RB or 2670MK and do a thorough walk trough/testing of the TT with the seller. Then I figured that we'd deal with the misc issues our selves as they turned up, just we do with the house. We'd already looked at a couple used trailers and none passed initial inspection. That was the plan until we saw the 26RLS at an RV show a couple months ago. Now I'm afraid I may be back to square the original plan.

As you can tell I'm new to RVing, but shouldn't a lot of these issues have been picked up by dealer? Doesn't Grand Design inspect the trailers before they leave their factory? It sounds to me like Grand Design should replace this trailer with a brand new one! Sadly, I'm guessing that firefiter236 has a better chance of getting struck by lightning than he does at seeing a new trailer.

Lastly, I'd like to thank firefiter236 for making the original and subsequent posts. Please keep us informed how this situation progressed. I for one will watch this thread closely!

 

[howson]

Are these issues typical of a Transcend?

I wish I could say firefiter236's experience is unique, but there are occasions where there are reports along the lines of his. It's not just the Transcend, either. There's folks with a top-dollar Solitude that have a laundry-list of issues. On the other hand, some of us have relatively minor to no issues or choose to deal with the nuisance problems ourselves. As I'm sure you know, these trailers are not synonymous with today's very reliable change-the oil & filters, add gas and drive cars.

For your purchase, the only defense is a thorough, painstaking PDI inspection before anything is signed or money is exchanged. Another option is a look over by an independent RV Inspector. [MENTION=5932]JCZhome[/MENTION] can give you more information on that subject if you're interested.

Finally, what's set GD apart is their well-earned reputation for standing behind their products. That doesn't mean repairs happen overnight, but eventually things get sorted out. Let's hope that's true in firefiter236's case, too. The specter of potential problems may also be a reason to buy from a dealer with a stellar service reputation, even if the initial price on the trailer isn't the best you can get. Sometimes that "insurance" is worth the peace of mind.

Good luck!

-Howard

 

[phonemannn]

RV units have a very restrictive set of "rules" they must adhere to. Sure they have to be nice looking, or they don't sell. Now if they were built like we all would like, like a car that that just drives forever with oil changes, they would weight too much. So they have to be as light as possible. Aluminum has helped, strong and light. Why not titanium? Cost too much. The third rule, it has to be affordable. So you see the problems the RV industry has. Look good, light, and affordable. Light is mandatory, thus, cheap light weight construction. Look at build quality of a pusher bus.. Great, expensive and heavy. There will be build issues with something that is barley hanging together when newly constructed. IMO, GD has done a good job on all the "rules".

 

[BeerBrewer-MGRV]

In the not to distant past many american cars were unreliable nightmares to own and drive, but all that changed when the Japanese entered the US automobile market. They built reliable cars at a reasonable cost and the rest of the industry was forced to follow suit or go out of business. Now it seems to me that most of issues that firefiter236 is having had nothing to do with making making the trailer lite enough or strong enough. They all seem related to someone not having the time to complete their task, they lacked adequate training or frankly they just didn't care. I understand that they have to keep costs down, but having lots of stripped screws, unattached drawer slides, water leaking thru unsealed holes is just unacceptable.

 

[phonemannn]

In the not to distant past many american cars were unreliable nightmares to own and drive, but all that changed when the Japanese entered the US automobile market. They built reliable cars at a reasonable cost and the rest of the industry was forced to follow suit or go out of business. Now it seems to me that most of issues that firefiter236 is having had nothing to do with making making the trailer lite enough or strong enough. They all seem related to someone not having the time to complete their task, they lacked adequate training or frankly they just didn't care. I understand that they have to keep costs down, but having lots of stripped screws, unattached drawer slides, water leaking thru unsealed holes is just unacceptable.

I agree, My 311BHS, 2018 has zero build issues. Zero. It is hit or miss....just the greased brakes....
I get the stripped screws, there is practically nothing to screw to! The same with the drawer slides.. Leaking water is the number one destroyer of RV's. Well, accidents...Collisions..

 

[phonemannn]

I agree, My 311BHS, 2018 has zero build issues. Zero. It is hit or miss....just the greased brakes....
I get the stripped screws, there is practically nothing to screw to! The same with the drawer slides.. Leaking water is the number one destroyer of RV's. Well, accidents...Collisions..

There should be lemon laws for RV's.

 

[BeerBrewer-MGRV]

In absence of a RV Lemon Law we've got to rely on the internet and forums like this one. I'd be willing to bet that someone in Grand Design is reading these posts and probably cringing.

 

[JCZhome]

Are these issues typical of a Transcend? My wife and I were planning to purchase our first travel trailer, a Transcend 26RLS literally within the next week or two. Now I'm VERY concerned.....VERY!!!

Our original plan was to purchase a "new-ish" used trailer, like a 2600RB or 2670MK and do a thorough walk trough/testing of the TT with the seller. Then I figured that we'd deal with the misc issues our selves as they turned up, just we do with the house. We'd already looked at a couple used trailers and none passed initial inspection. That was the plan until we saw the 26RLS at an RV show a couple months ago. Now I'm afraid I may be back to square the original plan.

As you can tell I'm new to RVing, but shouldn't a lot of these issues have been picked up by dealer? Doesn't Grand Design inspect the trailers before they leave their factory? It sounds to me like Grand Design should replace this trailer with a brand new one! Sadly, I'm guessing that firefiter236 has a better chance of getting struck by lightning than he does at seeing a new trailer.

Lastly, I'd like to thank firefiter236 for making the original and subsequent posts. Please keep us informed how this situation progressed. I for one will watch this thread closely!

If you do not have a lot of experience with RVs then I would suggest having the unit that you want to buy (the exact unit, not "one just like it") inspected by a certified RV Inspector prior to signing the contract (purchase agreement). You can put down a refundable deposit but do not sign a contract until after the inspection and all repairs are completed.

You would be surprised what these guys are finding on new RVs of all types, makes and models. And while it's not common to find a list of issues like this on a Grand Design, it does happen once in a great while. Seeing some of the things these guys are finding on other popular makes, it makes me happy that I have a Grand Design. I bought my Momentum before I became certified....just a good call based on my research and due diligence two years ago.

Some believe that an RV inspection is pricey but what's your piece of mind worth? If they find just three or four minor issues or a list of issues, you can be sure that they'll all be addressed within a few days if you haven't signed a contract yet. But once you sign that contract, they'll have your rig for weeks or even months....so that's another plus to getting it inspected before you sign that contract. A legitimate dealership does not have a problem with you sending in your own certified RV inspector and they will provide full hook ups for the inspector to absolutly test everything. He or she will spend 6-8 hours going over the RV and then several more hours putting a multi-page report together that will include photos of any issue they find. It's a very comprehensive report and people are always suprised at the detail of the report. It comes directly to you.....the inspector is working for you, not for the dealership.

Dealerships will tell you "oh we've already had our inspector do a xxx multi-point inspection and there's nothing wrong with it" or "it's a new unit....there's nothing wrong with it". These dealerships tell the inspectors the same thing "go ahead but you're wasting your time....you'll not find anything wrong with it....we've already done a PDI on it" and they're always surprised when the buyer comes back at them with the inspection report in hand with photos. They jump on it immediatly and I would suggest not moving forward on the purchase until absolutely everything is corrected on the list and to negotiate the purchase price further to help offset your cost of the inspection (that they should have found!).

To find an inspector click on this link.... https://nrvia.org/locate/

 

[WhittleBurner]

Even a lemon law probably wouldn't help. The lemon laws are only when the factory can't fix the problems that a consumer has. With the way GD takes care of the consumers would negate the lemon law.

 

[phonemannn]

Even a lemon law probably wouldn't help. The lemon laws are only when the factory can't fix the problems that a consumer has. With the way GD takes care of the consumers would negate the lemon law.

Agree, but since the introduction of the auto lemon law, the quality has improved greatly. If the consumer held RV builders feet to the fire like they did on Autos, we would get a better product out the door, without the return issues we have. IMO.

 

[Chiefblueman]

Most rvs are of adequate design and use decent, not great materials. Appliances and such are just what's available and relatively cheap. Yes there are some cheap materials used. Suspension comes to mind. But IMHO the biggest problem in the RV industry is the "Don't give a s#%t" attitude of the workers on the line. When it comes to assembly, the companies are as much to blame because they foster this attitude. If our trailers were assembled with a modicum of care we'd have far fewer troubles. I have had tens of thousands of dollars worth of warranty work done on my trailer. Almost every issue has been due to builder error. I thank my lucky stars that GDRV has been willing to fix it under warranty. Quite frankly, I think GDRV would have been money ahead to just give me a new trailer, They certainly haven't made money on this one!

 

[phonemannn]

Most rvs are of adequate design and use decent, not great materials. Appliances and such are just what's available and relatively cheap. Yes there are some cheap materials used. Suspension comes to mind. But IMHO the biggest problem in the RV industry is the "Don't give a s#%t" attitude of the workers on the line. When it comes to assembly, the companies are as much to blame because they foster this attitude. If our trailers were assembled with a modicum of care we'd have far fewer troubles. I have had tens of thousands of dollars worth of warranty work done on my trailer. Almost every issue has been due to builder error. I thank my lucky stars that GDRV has been willing to fix it under warranty. Quite frankly, I think GDRV would have been money ahead to just give me a new trailer, They certainly haven't made money on this one!

IMO this issue^^^with quality, comes first design, training how to assemble per designs, and paying worker adequately to want to assemble the finished product per plans. Like said the consumer needs to hold them to a higher standard, they can rise to the challenge if they were motivated. By correct plans, no screw should only go into styro foam or 1/4 luan. Or just air. Needs adequate backing planned out on initial plans.

 

[goducks14]

Are these issues typical of a Transcend?!

The issue with ALL RV's is that there's no strict requirements for construction. Most guidelines are safety related. Unlike autos that're built mostly by robots, RV's are hand made. Unlike home building where you have inspections for every facet, RV's only have a so called PDI where you have to wonder if it's really more than a check list and not an actual function list. If MFG's really did a PDI then the dealer wouldn't have to.
All the above reinforces the idea that you can have two identical model 28MKS sitting side by side on the dealers lot and one could have hardly any problems and the one next to it could be like the OP's.
You pretty much roll the dice when buying RV's. It also helps if you're fairly handy. Being able to diagnose problems and fix them yourself actually makes ownership less stressful. Nothing worse than having to take your RV to the dealer and having it sit there for weeks to get something fixed that only takes a few hours to fix. Many times repairing things yourself can be done in less time than it takes to drive back and forth to the dealer.
Like someone once said on another RV forum. "I bought an RV kit to take home and finish"