It has been a long time since my last post and a lot has happened since then, but quite frankly I haven’t had the heart to share this until now. Usually I’m sharing beautiful pictures of the amazing places we have been. It’s really hard to share a post like this instead. I’ll warn you — the pictures aren’t pretty.
Our living and traveling in our beloved home on wheels came to an abrupt halt last month on a lonely stretch of highway in rural Maine. We had just finished visiting Acadia National Park which I haven’t had a chance to blog about yet. I will eventually, but first…this:
We noticed another stress crack in the sidewall of the RV. If you remember we had one of these repaired back in 2016. I sent the pictures to our contact at Heartland to ask for help since he helped us find a place to have the first crack repaired a couple of years ago.
My Heartland contact never answered me so we talked to some repair centers near us in Maine and although none of them could fix it for us, they said we should be fine to wait until we could find a repair center in Canada where we were headed next.
We left Acadia and headed towards Canada where we had planned to spend a few weeks exploring and visiting family up there. My parents were flying up to meet us in Nova Scotia.
The roads in Maine were pretty rough and bumpy and after several miles of that we stopped at a rest area. Someone pulled in after us and said that he had been behind us for several miles and he thinks something is wrong with our trailer. He said our trailer shifted to the side and the wheels didn’t look quite right. Chris looked around and noticed the wheels protruding out too far on the driver’s side and the frame looked bent.
Frame shifted to side and wheels protruding.
Frame shifted to side and wheels protruding.
Bent frame.
We also noticed the crack in the sidewall had gotten worse and we had 3 new cracks on the opposite side!
Passenger side crack.
Passenger side crack.
Chris broke the bad news to me that we weren’t going to make it to Canada and we just needed to find the nearest campground so we could figure out what to do. We called Good Sam Roadside Assistance, but they were not able to send someone to help us. They actually told me that if we can’t tow it neither can they. Well, we couldn’t very well live at the rest area so we had no choice but to move on. So I searched on my phone and found the nearest campground in Calais, ME called Keene’s Lake Family Campground. It was about 30 miles away so we put on the hazard lights and drove slow. By the time we got to the campground the initial crack had gotten so much worse that the roof was starting to separate.
Passenger side crack with roof separating.
Passenger side crack gets worse each time we move it.
I know the passenger side crack is pretty bad which is why I share the most pictures of that one, but I don’t want to ignore the other 3 cracks on the opposite side of the RV.
Driver’s side crack #1.
Driver’s side crack #1.
Driver’s side crack #1 interior.
Driver’s side crack #2.
Driver’s side crack #3.
The campground owners were very accommodating and kind to us while we were there, letting us stay as long as we needed while we sorted things out. Once we were set up in a campsite and opened the slides we noticed further damage on the inside: the crack goes all the way through to the kid’s bedroom, paneling fell off the ceiling, a wall separating in the kid’s room as well as the floor separating in their bathroom.
Passenger side crack interior.
Bathroom floor and kid’s bedroom floor separating.
Bathroom floor and kid’s bedroom floor separating.
Bathroom floor separating exterior.
Bathroom floor separating exterior.
Kid’s bedroom wall separating.
Kid’s bedroom wall separating (close-up).
Chris called our insurance provider to file a claim. They sent someone out a few days later to take pictures and inspect the unit. Unfortunately they did not cover the damage because they said the damage is due to “frame failure” which is a manufacturing defect. I guess rough and bumpy roads should not cause an RV to literally fall apart without there being a weakness somewhere in the build of the unit.
I started conversations with the manufacturer Heartland to see if they would help. Heartland only offers a 1 year warranty and our unit is 3.5 years old. Still, I had hoped that since there was such extensive damage to a relatively young RV that Heartland may step up and do the right thing. I had wrongly hoped they would agree that an RV they built should not fall apart after just 3.5 years.
My initial conversations with an employee at Heartland ended with this email:
He said this has nothing to do with manufacturing but he thinks something was “drug down the top of the sidewall”. Well, if that was the case then our insurance provider might have covered it. Then there would have been an actual incident that caused this. However, this explanation makes no sense because it does not take into consideration all the cracks on the opposite side of the RV and the interior walls and floors separating. So we did not just go away with this explanation as I’m sure they hoped we would. After pushing them further, 2 employees at Heartland said they would send someone to inspect the unit.
Email asking me for the unit location so a frame vendor can come to inspect it.
Email from our selling dealer letting me know someone is coming to inspect it.
Well it turns out they lied about sending someone to inspect it because about a week later I spoke with Anthony Roberts (from 2nd email) on the phone and he told me he does not believe anything is wrong with the frame and he will not be sending anyone to inspect it.
Chris decided to contact him after that to which he replied that they would inspect the unit if we bring it to them in Indiana. Seriously?
Email telling us to bring it to Indiana if we want it inspected.
We had previously told them the unit is unsafe to tow. We had to move the RV from a campsite to a storage area within the same campground and in doing so some of the cracks got worse and the hole in the side opened up even larger. Also one of the slides doesn’t even go in correctly anymore. Do they really want us driving this down the road??
Slide goes in at an angle.
Slide goes in at an angle.
Does Heartland really think it is reasonable to ask us to tow this all the way from Maine to Indiana? Do they really want that liability on their hands if we were to have a serious accident on the way?
Anyway, after informing Heartland that I would be publishing this story on social media, they finally decided to send someone to inspect it. But guess what? The inspector was a paid employee of Heartland and so I’m sure you can guess how that turned out.
Notice that this inspection is for the “Benefit of Heartland”
Here is a picture from the inspection report basically claiming that we hit a tree.
This totally disregards the fact that the crack was there in June long before our incident in July on the road when the unit just basically started falling apart. We did not hit a tree or anything other than maybe pot holes in the road. This sidewall crack was already there before we moved from Acadia. On that drive the crack got so much worse and the roof began to separate. The inspection report also totally disregarded the 3 cracks on the opposite side of the RV. He didn’t even mention those! Obviously that’s what happens when a manufacturer sends their own guy out to inspect a unit. Whatever it takes to swing it in their favor!
I used to give positive feedback about Heartland because we experienced great customer service through them in our first year. You may remember I blogged a couple of years ago about a previous crack we had in the sidewall and how Heartland took care of us and helped us find a place to have it repaired: RV Repairs in Louisiana. Back then I was so impressed with how Heartland took care of us when our selling dealer (Dick Gore’s RV World) in Jacksonville did not.
I didn’t realize when I used to praise them for their great customer service that it only lasted while we were under the 1 year limited warranty. I guess they don’t care about keeping customers for life. We had been looking into upgrading our RV to a toy hauler at some point, and had considered another Heartland. Not anymore — now we will never buy another Heartland because we know from experience that they do not stand behind their product. We will also discourage anyone we know from purchasing a Heartland.
I realize that not every Heartland will fall apart the way ours has, but wouldn’t you like to know when you buy an RV that the manufacturer stands behind their product when something this extraordinary happens? Even though we are well past the 1 year warranty, if they were a company that cared at all about maintaining customers for life they would have done something to make this right. The frame should really have a longer warranty than 1 year anyway — I mean who buys an RV and doesn’t expect it to last longer than 3-4 years?
Unfortunately many RV manufacturers have a reputation of making poor quality units, but I have been researching and asking other RV friends for feedback to find out if there is any manufacturer who truly stands behind their product. I have been consistently hearing great things about Grand Design. All of my RV friends that have a Grand Design rave about their excellent customer service. Perhaps our next RV will be a Grand Design and if so, hopefully we will experience much better customer service with them than we did with Heartland.
So, that’s the story of our life for the past month or so. The good news is we were able to make it to Canada. We moved all of our stuff out of the RV and into a storage unit and then stored the RV at the campground.
Our last night we spent in the RV. Still smiling and looking forward to seeing the grandparents in Canada.
Fat Cat hid in a moving box to make sure we didn’t forget her. 🙂
We met up with my parents in Nova Scotia and visited several places with them while staying in VRBO rentals and with friends and relatives. It wasn’t quite the same as having our home on wheels, but we made the best of it.
After a vacation in Canada with my parents we headed back to Maine, loaded everything we own into a Uhaul trailer and headed south to regroup and start over.
We came to Maine with our home on wheels and left with a Uhaul trailer. 😦
I will write later about our travels in Canada and also about our time in Acadia before this disaster happened.
I will end this with a reminder, please think twice before purchasing a Heartland RV. Remember, when we had trouble, they left us homeless and refuse to accept any responsibility.
UPDATE: an update to this post can be viewed here: Heartless Heartland RVs.
4 Radical Roadschoolers and a Fat Cat 
Gebbia’s,
Wow! Those are shocking photos. No doubt you are even more shocked with the response from Heartland. You are not a typical customer, so do what you can to make your voice heard all the while not allowing bitterness to brew.
I too have been considering a Grand Design. Be forwarned the rib against them is the Lippert axle they use is known to quickly degrade and get grease on the brakes, making them useless. This full time family provided an enlightening post awhile back:
https://www.stubers-simplified.com/single-post/2017/06/18/RV-Mods-ModRyde-Independent-Suspension-and-Disc-Brakes
There is a Grand Design owners forum that has been a helpful resource for me too.
Lippert addresses reports of leaking RV axles
I hope your adventure will continue in a dependable rig…a local dealer in my area includes a Lifetime Warrantly with every sale. As I understand it, they just buy a policy from a third party insurance company. I bet you guys would appreciate having such a policy cover your next rig.
Thanks for sharing your adventures with your readers!
Chris Donovan
>
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Grand Design has switched to Dexter Axles as of September last year
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That’s great news!
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What does that mean? We have a 2015 Grand Design …
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I had Dexter axles on my Holiday Rambler fifth wheel and had to replace them because the never lube bearings were junk and they quit making replacement parts. I had no choice but to replace both axles when three of the four bearings went bad. The sad part of this, the American consumer is getting ripped off by corporate America and our politicians do not care.
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Terrible! Just terrible. I’m glad you are warning others about this. It’s especially concerning they are trying to say you hit a tree when the damage seems to have started long before that and you tried to get help earlier. Thanks for spreading the word.
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WOW! The “must have hit a tree” excuse is shameful! The inspector clearly ignored so many factors and other damage. If you had hit a tree, the insurance adjuster would have come to the same conclusion. So ridiculous! Can’t believe you are going thru this!
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When our company does the RoadSchoolers movie, we’ll be sure to not go to Heartland for product placement.
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That’s terrible. I hate awful customer service. Good luck rebounding from this.
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We had an issue with our Heartland Road Warrior frame as well, though not to this extent. One of the leveling jacks welds broke and twisted the frame. LCI did send out a tech to inspect it and the same tech came back at a later date, after many emails and phone conversations with LCI, and fixed our issue. No thanks to Heartland who simply said ” it’s out of warranty. It was 2 years old !!!
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I’m glad to hear that you had some resolution on your issue.
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This is just terrible.To see a family go through this when obviously there is an issue somewhere.I know when you have this happen with a regular vehicle(car,van,pickup truck) as long as it’s not in a repair faculty they meaning insurance company and manufacturer will keep playing the ping pong games to wear you down.Talk with an independent repair facility if there is such a place.They will know how to handle these issues and you’ll have less headaches and stress.Good luck for the best and I’m interested in knowing The outcome.
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WOW!! That is shocking. It is quite clear the frame damage is what caused the wall damage.
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My husband and I have been considering RV options and we’ll definitely be staying away from Heartland! Their “customer service” sounds entirely lacking and it’s clear they don’t care about what they produce.
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I am so sorry that you had to go through that! The damage is extensive to say the least and I can’t believe that all Heartland can do is make excuses and blame you guys. The business thinking behind this doesn’t make sense. Don’t they realize that they will lose so much more future business with this kind of tactic?? I’m sending positive vibes your way 🙂
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Right?! Just in the last 24 hours this post has been shared hundreds of times and viewed well over 1000, and I’ve hardly shared it anywhere. I wonder how many sales they have to lose before making it right. We have plenty of other RV Facebook pages to share this on if we need to, but I think I’ll pace it out a little because I’m overwhelmed by all of the support we’re receiving. 🙂 Thank you for your kind comments.
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Have you considered obtaining the services of a Consumer Attorney and suing Heartland? I believe you may have a case for the courts!
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This should be shared across the US. Its time RV manufacturers produce a high quality product.
We have a Grand Design 2014 Solitude 369rl & love it. We did have an occasion to call GD with a window problem which GD handled efficiently.
You will not go wrong with GD.
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Thank you, I’m glad to hear such consistently good feedback about Grand Design. I know that no manufacturer is perfect, but from what I hear GD stands behind their product.
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This is very dangerous- your RV is complete breaking apart. After only 3.5 yrs!!!!! I hope Heartland will use this as an opportunity to be the hero’s of the story and do the right thing. Your insurance adjuster would have been a structural engineer- that trumps an employee. You could contact LCI to inspect the frame. Next please contact National Highway Safety because this is dangerous to be on the road. Your unit could have caused a major problem on the roads.
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I definitely agree with contacting Lippert directly to have someone out. Press them like you did Heartland. And I also agree with Michelle about contacting the NHSTA about this.
Do you guys have any recent weight slips where you’ve weighed the rig?
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We had a major problem with them as well! We purchased a travel trailer from them, got it all loaded up for our first trip, started down the freeway about 2 miles and realized that something wasn’t right! We turned around, went home, unloaded everything then took it to the dealership. IT SAT THERE FOR 8 MONTHS!! We tried for months to find out what was wrong. Come to find out, the frame was crooked. It was off an inch or so. We fought to get our money back but after 8 months the only thing they (Heartland and said dealership) would do is to let us exchange it for another Heartland product. Talk about being held for ransom! I will never own a Heartlan product! I left out all of our horrible phone calls to many different people at Heartland! Disgusting, horrible, heartless, money grubbing people EVER!!
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Wow! That sounds like a horrible experience! I’m sorry you had to go through all that. Hopefully sharing these stories will either convince Heartland to step up their quality control or convince people not to buy their product.
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Since others have had problems, maybe a class action suit would be the ticket.
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Wow! What a scary horrible event. We live in Maine and know about rough roads. We have a Jayco Class A, 2002. We do not have any cracks or seams widening because of our roads. That is to say, it is a well built unit and much older than yours. I would be horrified to have any rig, tag, A, B, or C to do what this Heartland has done. AND, they certainly don’t seem to want repeat business. Too bad your insurance couldn’t help you to go after them for this issue. Prayers for better days ahead and more pleasant RVing.
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Glad to hear you’ve had good luck with your Jayco. My son works there and I’d hate to know they put out a bad product. He is very proud of their work.
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Thank you for sharing this! We too, have a Heartland that is forming stress cracks that Heartland will not address UNLESS we get it to them in Indiana. Then they MAY!! We live in TX. Not sure of our next step but its good to know we arent the only ones. We will NEVER buy another Heartland product!!
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I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this issue too. I wouldn’t wish this mess on anyone! That’s a tough decision to make whether or not to take it to Indiana. I heard from another Heartland owner that said they demanded HL come and pick up the unit and bring it to Indiana and they did. Maybe that’s worth a try?
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Sorry to hear about your problems. I wish you had taken pics of the right side frame and suspension . Definately looks like a frame failure. There is very little strength on the RV body it relies on the frame for rigidity .
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As a new full time family RVer this was Devastating to watch. Sorry for the brutal analogy but it was like watching a disease eat away at someone you love. So sorry. Good for you for working through (some of) it with a smile. Being resilient teaches your children resilience. Maintaining composure is our biggest challenge, right? Good Luck.
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Have you tried to contact an attorney? There is a law firm in Ohio that deals with RV problems. I can get the name for you from my daughter who is an attorney but not with this firm.
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We talked to an attorney, but I think we need one in Indiana. Not sure about that though. I would love a suggestion from your daughter though, thank you.
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I believe you should be able to sue both the Dealer and Heartland right from Florida.
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WOW I am so sorry you all had to go through this horrible ordeal and have your lives interrupted. I am really appalled by Heartland’s attitude toward you. I wish I had seen your blog before we purchased our 2018 Elkridge 5th wheel manufactured by Heartland. I thought we did our homework thoroughly, but we guess not 😦 We are truly concerned about our Elkridge. I have already shared this with our salesman and service manager so now they know. We wish you all the luck you will need! We look forward to your updates!
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Well let’s hope your Elkridge will be a good unit for you and you won’t have these kinds of issues. I can’t imagine that all Heartland units fall apart like ours. But that’s what makes it so surprising that Heartland won’t step up and take responsibility. It seems our issues would be an unusual occurrence that they would want to investigate further to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
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WOW My husband and I are so sorry you all had to go through this horrible ordeal and have your lives interrupted/put on hold. I can’t believe how bad Heartland treated you. I wish I had seen your blog before we purchased our 2018 Elkridge 5th wheel (also manufactured by Heartland) last June 😦 I thought we did our homework thoroughly, but I guess not. We will have to wait and see down the road. We are keeping our fingers crossed! We wish you lots of luck. Please do keep us posted with your updates. Again, we are so sorry.
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Sorry to hear about your troubles. Out of curiosity I looked over their Google reviews. I definitely wouldn’t buy anything from them either. There are a lot of folks that seem to have the sort of issue.
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Glad you guys are safe and weren’t hurt.
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So sorry to hear about this, and how frustrating and disappointing this must have been. But I’m glad you guys are all safe! With the good always comes a little bit of bad, I suppose. I was just reading your Acadia post and it looks like you had a great time there! Hope you enjoyed your time in Canada as well.
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I’m in the market for a used RV. I’ve already seen and heard from other Thor and Heartland owners about the lack of quality and workmanship on their products, So Thor, Heartland et al are not in any of my searches. I Tweeted your story. hopefully others will do the same. @heartland owes you another unit. Good Thots. Bill
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Thank you for sharing our story, I really appreciate that!
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Did you contact Lippert? They are the ones that built the frame. Heartland should have referred you to them immediately.
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Looks to damaged to repair…rent a flat bed trailer load the damaged trailer ,take it to there Indiana plant and dump it in there front yard.
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Very disturbing to say the least. We have a 3015 3650 that we really do love, but this is scary since we are planning our full time launch in the spring . We really have not hadxa y major issues, but now I feel like I am plingva time bomb 😣
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Sorry about the spelling at the end of the previous post…we have not had any major problems but feel like we are pulling a time bomb
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Okay, here is a suggestion — a lot of state warranty laws will trump manufacturers BS warranties. Contact a lawyer in the state where you purchased the unit and see if you can get some help that way.
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There are a lot of Grand Design Owners groups on Facebook. Most of the admins of the groups were invited to a social media summit hosted by Grand Design. A lot of the groups delete posts about negative experiences. One group that doesn’t is Grand Design Owners with Issues. You may want to check that one out before deciding on your next purchase. There have been quite a few cases of broken frames on Grand Design’s recently, ranging from brand new units to units 3 and 4 years old, and while not as drastic as your situation, still very serious.
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Unfortunately I have worked in the r.v. industry for most of my adult life. Being 51 now I made the decision to do something els here in the r.v. capital of the world . I remember along time ago, a plant manager speech began with ” we are very fortunate. We get to build people’s dreams.” Meaning many people sell there homes and buy a r.v. hoping to travel the rest of their golden years. No we turn people’s life into a night mare. These r.v. companies only care about one thing the all mighty dollar. It is very shady business from start to finish. The company’s treat their employees terrible. They expect the impossible. Buying the cheapest materials possible. Exoecting the workers to build or install their junk at NASCAR pit crew speeds.then the dealers will promise you the moon to sell you a unit. Sorry for your horrrible experience. Not that ive worked at Heartland because its one of very few that I haven’t worked for. But they are all the same . Absolute SHIT !
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I work for a rv company and I can tell you that this sickens me. And I believe your frame wasn’t welded properly or not enough stud runs..
I inspect rvs and a true inspection inside and out (after they are built) takes no less then 3 and a half hrs. Now there is suppose to be line inspections, meaning every step of the way is suppose to be inspected chasis,floors,plumbing,electrical,walls,side walls,etc. The only problem is they have so many rvs that they try and build in one day,anywhere from 12-20 something.( Depending on company)
Floor mgrs, to group leaders push the line like 45 min ,is most goals I believe. There is always gonna be something missed. And then you have group leaders who just sign those papers and don’t care. They trust and just move on. It’s a sad situation I see daily. And there is absolutely no training if there is training it’s not like a corporate world where you need to be certified in different aspects of the company. And honestly this “rv world” we have over here is a joke.
The wrong people have titles to run departments and again no training. Your only gonna be as good as your leader and if you make a mistake instead of showing the person the correct way to do it,they either fire the person or slowly make you quit. And the cycle begins all over again. No training. If you worked at “6”plants in elkhart Ind. you are considered a qualified employee with no further training. Sure you get quick run downs of how there plant is ran. But it’s a fast paced production line and that is first on there list.
Sure they scream and yell about quality but it just goes back to quantity. And to many slip through the cracks.
Me personally I would keep on fighting this battle,stress cracks like that don’t happen everyday and hitting a tree does not conflict pain like that. Myself I work at a smaller company that runs 3 a day. We get 2 hrs to move the line a little longer when we find issues. But by looking at those pics it begins behind the wall,I don’t see a bonding material behind panel (seecoflex) a strong adhesive.
Not sure what product heartland uses. Don’t see insulation. Outside walls. Not that has anything to do with why it cracked,but could be useful in later days to come.
I would hire a certified master tech that has no ties to the company. And a qualified builder of metal. They do cost probably $120 a hr. But that is very minimal to what a rv cost. Your rv should not just start falling apart like that.
I’ve had custoMers bring me a coach that they drove under a bridge and ripped the ac units right off,I’ve had coaches slam trees and signs on the back end cracking the fiberglass. Didn’t effect the frame at all. That’s just a couple I’ve seen.
I am gonna look more into your pictures because I have a few ideas that might be of help.
I hope I’ve put some insite on this but I would like to see if I can find a loop hole for your family,despite of the warrenty they give.
My heart goes to your family I hope that this gets resolved in a way that is right. Very sorry this has happen to you.
L.C
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I have a 2011 Heartland Greystone which began to have serious problem over three years ago. Took the unit to the manufacturer in Indiana two years ago and they told me they would fix the numerous issues for around $8000. Told me the problems were mine due to poor maintenance of caulking. To my knowledge none of the caulking seams have ever leaked but the entire camper is full of rot. All three slides have experienced major failures, two of the due to floor rot. The back cap has come lose twice due to rot in the back and sidewalls. Finally determined what I think to be the cause of all this damage. On a whim, I started pulling screws along the roof line of the main body of the camper and on the slideouts. What I found was a bit disturbing. Many of the screws had taken in water and were rusted off, some of them rusted to the point that the only thing left was the screw head. I’d say don’t ever buy a Heartland product but from what I’ve heard and seen in the last three years, Heartland is the rule rather than the exception.
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I’ve worked in RV factories they dont care I’d never buy one cause ik how there put together cheaply poorly half assed yes Rvs my look nice but there not built nice there only ment to stay together for 4 to 5 years
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See now here’s the thing frame failure bashing on Heartland RV when in reality the frame was not made by Heartland RV so the failure was not a manufacturing defect of Heartland RV now I’m not saying that it’s not a bunch of crap that you RV fell apart but you know I do work for Heartland RV service center the factory service center and the amount of extra things and how we go above and beyond to fix the problems of the customers it’s actually quite unreal on a how hard we will actually try to fix any issues that arise see now Lippert Components is the one who manufactured the frame not Heartland RV so that was a Lippert quality problem that cause all your issue you know there’s a reason why you only get a one year warranty because anything like that could happen and now you’re talking about a company that’s going to have to take the fall for something that was not their fault so just kind of think about that when you bash company and I’m not saying that Heartland builds the best units cuz they’re far from the best units but most RVs are built to the same standards all across the board everywhere and a lot of people don’t realize that so many of the components that are put into an RV are not built by the manufacturer of the RV and when they have a bunch of problems because of things like the metal that the side wall was built out of was made week and it’s cracking out it’s having issues or the water heater quits which isn’t made by the manufacture it’s made by Atwood or Suburban the furnace quits same thing made by Suburban the refrigerators made by Dometic when you sit there and complain about the entire brand that manufactured your RV because of failure components that are built they’re all used all across the board by all of the companies every company uses pretty much the same components and I’m not saying that there’s not quality issues that are due to the manufacturer because there are it’s really a terrible thing that so many things are built so fast and there isn’t a lot of really good quality control when it’s all about numbers instead of quality I get that I’ve been in the industry a long time one of the major things to consider is what actually failed and who manufactured that product before you say that the company that built your product is terrible because that is a prime example right there of that is not heartland’s fault
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So if my Ford tuck fails due to the ball joints bursting on their own, I should not take it in to Ford, but find out who made the ball joint and go to them?????
NO, Ford has to stand behind the product.
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Completely disagree with your analogy. If the frame fails then Heartland has a quality issue with their supplier. At the end of the day it’s Heartland’s name on the product. It sounds like your saying the frame vendor is causing your issues; then you hold them accountable. Heartland and the frame vendor should split the cost and replace their unit. Then Heartland should give the frame manufacturer an ultimatum. Correct your quality issues or your out!! Your name is on the unit and you need to be synonymous with quality and safety. If that’s not happening it’s time to pressure your supplier or make a change. Your comment was a poor excuse to deflect blame. It’s Heartland’s problem to own. I surely hope they take notice of how this will negatively impact their name within the RV buying community and work hard to correct this issue. Dropping this on your buyer is wrong no matter how you look at it.
The RV community is large and word travels fast. Heartland depends on this community as their bread and butter. If we as buyers stick together we can affect change.
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But Heartland is the final manufacturing point where everything is assembled and put together. Heartland or any other final assembly point manufacturer should do everything possible to assist their end customer to get the issue resolved by going to bat for said end user with the companies that supply them their products, whether it be Lippert or Dometic, or Atwood, or Suburban or whoever made the component part. Most companies that are final point of assembly will fix/repair the issue and then go back to the component manufacturer for reimbursement of cost and time. RV manufacturing companies don’t do this, so in the RV industry all of the manufacturers whether it be in final assembly or component manufacturing, just keep pointing the finger at each other and say “it’s your fault, not ours”. Until that kind of thinking continues, nothing will change.
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Wow! Extremely glad I will not ever be buying anything made by heartland! Absolutely terrible! So sorry you had to deal with all of that ridiculousness.
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I’m having problems with mine also. Bought in 2014 brand new model. Used in 4 times between 2014 -labor day 2016. Always kept closed up with ac on.. went to take it out labor day 2016 the whole rear quarter floor was rotted.. 7k in repairs. Dropped off sept 2016. Picked up March 2017. Brought it home used it 1 week after hurricane Irma. (Oct 2017) been closed up since.. now took out for labor day 2018. Floor is rotted again.. and I took it to a heartland dealer before who is know no longer in business..
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I will be showing this to my husband as we have aPioneer by Heartland 3 months after purchasing it I had to turn in it for warranty work for a water leak on the slide due to poor craftsmanship. It took them 4 months to repair and I currently fell the slide seems weak and tends to bow when extended. I want to get rid of it. Im currently in Maine on a travel assignment.
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First, I am appalled by the physical and emotional damage suffered by you and your family.
I am a long time reader of RV Travel and this past year the editor has taken on this issue. If you are not a reader I urge you to look them up. Recently that started a Facebook page called “RV Horror Stories”, in which this fits perfectly.
There is also an attorney that handles cases against the RV manufacturers, but his name escapes me at the moment. If you contact RV Travel through FB, they will be able to give you the information. I urge you to pursue action on behalf of all us that love to RV.
Finally, look at the Vanleigh RV’s as an option. This company is a part of the Tiffin family and consider their owners to be their lifeline. They are on our short list for our next RV because I know a few of the Vanleigh RV owners and they are happy with how the Tiffin family stands behind their product.
Good luck to you and your family as you start over.
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Have you tried contacting Thor industries? They own heartland and many others. Maybe they can do something.
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Was the frame made by lippert?
Many RV manufacturers use lippert.
Many frame issues. Do a face book search.
May be get a lawyer?
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Please contact me regarding the damages. I work in the insurance industry. I might have information that may help you.
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Pingback: RV Travel Newsletter Issue 863 - RV Travel
Doesn’t Lippert provide the frame with the specifications that is dictated by Heartland and their design department? Either the frame didn’t meet the specifications or it was under engineered to start with.
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I have had a lot of good luck with the Better Business Bureau fighting for things for me. They’ll open a case against them, and afford them the opportunity to make it right. If they do nothing, they usually advise you to contact the States Attorney Generals office. Please don’t give up the fight. In the meantime, we won’t ever consider a Heartland, as we believe reputable companies should always back their product. Please update us with a final outcome. Best of luck, and praying for a victory for you and your family!
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I have posted this on my Facebook page. I am so sorry this happened to you. Praying that Heartland will step up to the plate and help. So sad that they don’t care about standing behind their product.
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Pingback: repost: The Day our Heartland RV Left us Homeless – RV'ing with Herb & Kathy
I posted your story on a Facebook group, might help.
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As one who is actively shopping for his first RV, I an horrified that Heartland is that Heartless, and relieved I have not yet bought my RV.
Rest assured, your experience means Heartland will never see a penny of my money, and, every time I talk about my RV dreams with others, which is often, I will share Heartland’s callousness. Your experience will continue to live until Heartland shows some integrity.
I encourage you to share your take with national media, investigative journalists, attorneys, etc.
Wish you success.
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