Check Your 50 Amp Inlet Wiring!

[tgodrich]

Part of the selling point with getting a Grand Design when I bought mine was that they were supposed to be of higher quality. I was told the guys who left another manufacturer to start GD did so because the other manufacturer was slipping on quality. It kind of sounds like they have now let the quality focus take a back seat to production numbers due to the COVID demand for trailers these days. Hope they get a handle on this. Once you get a reputation, it is very hard to change it.

[Canyonlight]

QUOTE=tgodrich;n63211]Part of the selling point with getting a Grand Design when I bought mine was that they were supposed to be of higher quality. I was told the guys who left another manufacturer to start GD did so because the other manufacturer was slipping on quality. It kind of sounds like they have now let the quality focus take a back seat to production numbers due to the COVID demand for trailers these days. Hope they get a handle on this. Once you get a reputation, it is very hard to change it.[/QUOTE]

Tony - I think the majority of long time RV owners (like Carol and me) having owned a number of RVs from differing manufacturers will still share that GDRV in this category of RVs was and is still a better designed, better made, and certainly a provider of outstanding owner support. There will be issues with these......the key is what happen next, as I have always said. GDRV is hands down superior in this regard.

Don Clark, CEO, (Bill Fenech, and Ron Fenech who left after about a year after the purchase of GDRV by Winnebago) started Keystone RV nearly 4 decades ago and sold it to Thor in the mid 2000s as I recall. Long time RVrs all know what Thor does to focus less on a quality product/service and more on the bottom line. The three after working for Thor for sometime knew it was time to move on and someday maybe re-invent the wheel to raising the bar on product, service, support to owners, etc. Over bowls of Chili on November, of 2010 ? the Blackbear (original name in discussions) RV company know eventually as GDRV was started

Relative to Rudy's post starting this thread, there 337 is a 2018 produced long before Covid. Carol and I know Mike and Andy quite well and other than this issue, they really like there 337 and certainly the company support as with 95% plus of owners do.

Hopefully your 303 has been a pretty good rig for you all and your support from Owners and GDRV has been better as well.

Dan

[tgodrich]

Hi Dan,

So far I have had several issues with the trailer. I have owned RV's since the '70's and work through most issues on my own. The issues are more nuisance issues than show stoppers. What has been lacking in my experience is knowledgeable service staff. They have looked at several issues on my trailer and offer no solutions. I am keeping it under extended warranty, but I still have items they either cannot or will not fix (squeaky floors, slow tank draining, leveling system, etc.). I make an appointment to take it in and they have it for months, and it comes back still unfixed.

Not superior service in my opinion. If I make an appointment, I would assume I have a service technician scheduled to look at it when I take it in. If they have it for over a month, then obviously someone else is in front of me or got in front of me in the queue.

I have also had some parts on order since February and I still do not have them. I am modifying the two stairs in my RV to the bedroom to 3 stairs, so ordered the treads to do this expecting a Spring project. Now it will probably be a Fall project, hopefully.

I was supposed to get VIP service when I purchased my EasyCare warranty. Not so. Perhaps it is just my dealer here in Livermore that is the problem. But it really is not in their favor to treat me this way if they expect repeat business on a new trailer down the road. Maybe since they work on Tiffins too, those owners are getting priority? Who knows.

Perhaps feed this back to the folks you know at GD. And feel free to offer that they can call me to discuss if they would like. They can contact me through this forum and I will get them my phone number. I hesitate to put the dealer name in this forum, but would be more than happy to share candidly with the GD folks who I am dealing with.

[Jlawles2]

tgodrich Tony, unfortunately it's becoming more and more common that customer service is not service. Technicians are parts changers not fixers. Dealerships for RV's I do not think are regulated by MFG like auto dealerships. The only thing GD could probably do is pull the selling dealers rights to sell GD, but that will not correct your issues with them.

Extended warranty is by a 3rd party company and probably not controlled by GD.

[ThePowells]

Hi Dan,

So far I have had several issues with the trailer. I have owned RV's since the '70's and work through most issues on my own. The issues are more nuisance issues than show stoppers. What has been lacking in my experience is knowledgeable service staff. They have looked at several issues on my trailer and offer no solutions. I am keeping it under extended warranty, but I still have items they either cannot or will not fix (squeaky floors, slow tank draining, leveling system, etc.). I make an appointment to take it in and they have it for months, and it comes back still unfixed. 1)

Not superior service in my opinion. If I make an appointment, I would assume I have a service technician scheduled to look at it when I take it in. If they have it for over a month, then obviously someone else is in front of me or got in front of me in the queue. 2)

I have also had some parts on order since February and I still do not have them. I am modifying the two stairs in my RV to the bedroom to 3 stairs, so ordered the treads to do this expecting a Spring project. Now it will probably be a Fall project, hopefully. 3)

I was supposed to get VIP service when I purchased my EasyCare warranty. Not so. Perhaps it is just my dealer here in Livermore that is the problem. But it really is not in their favor to treat me this way if they expect repeat business on a new trailer down the road. Maybe since they work on Tiffins too, those owners are getting priority? Who knows. 4)

Perhaps feed this back to the folks you know at GD. And feel free to offer that they can call me to discuss if they would like. They can contact me through this forum and I will get them my phone number. I hesitate to put the dealer name in this forum, but would be more than happy to share candidly with the GD folks who I am dealing with.

Tony, Unless you are taking your trailer back to the factory, you need to be focusing on your dealer rather than Grand Design.

1) Your TT factory warranty for most items expired at one year. You entered into a service contract through your dealer who made a huge profit off of it. Unfortunately dealership service departments are held to few, if any standards and do not answer to Grand Design. This is well known and is applicable to every dealership. Maybe you need to ask Easy Care if you can use mobile service techs in the same manner as Grand Design does with warranty issues. Also, did your service contract specify that it would cover squeaky floors and slow tanks?

2) Our local dealership has (had?) a notice up at their service department that their appointment date was for drop off and was not the date that they would start work. this again is between you and the dealership's service department.

3) Who is ordering your parts, you or the dealer? If you have ordered directly from Grand Design then they should be giving you an answer. If it was your dealer, ask for the paper trail.

4) What you get with your Easy Care service contract (and all others) the dealer will promise you everything that you want to hear in order to get you to sign on the line and give the dealer a very profitable experience. Once again, this isn't a Grand design issue. Grand Design did not contract with you to provide the lie known as an "extended warranty". Maybe the Tiffin's get in faster because they pay at higher and faster than Easy Care. Your dealer should be your advocate with Easy Care, but they probably won't try very hard unless that are hard up for work.

Please understand, I am not trying to belittle or marginalize your problems, but simply trying to refocus the issue in the proper direction.

Jerry.

[tgodrich]

As I said, not happy with the dealer. As a Grand Design dealer, I expect some level of support from GD toward the dealer. Otherwise, the dealers out there are really ruining the GD reputation through lousy service. All of my issues occurred within the first year (except the broken jack), and the dealer service simply kicked the can down the road until the year expired. Perhaps time to look elsewhere for service, but as you indicate, may be the same elsewhere. Grand Design may not be responsible, but I would think they should have a valid interest in how their dealers operate. Their name is involved.

EasyCare was not cheap, but if something like the fridge or AC goes out, it can easily pay for itself. Been there, done that. It is peace of mind. EasyCare will cover mobile mechanics. Maybe I need to give that a try. It can't be any worse (he says tongue in cheek)

I do have to say that I have had less issues with the GD trailer than my last trailer, but getting the issues I have serviced has been a worse experience.

[Guest]

tgodrich Tony, unfortunately it's becoming more and more common that customer service is not service. Technicians are parts changers not fixers. Dealerships for RV's I do not think are regulated by MFG like auto dealerships. The only thing GD could probably do is pull the selling dealers rights to sell GD, but that will not correct your issues with them.

Extended warranty is by a 3rd party company and probably not controlled by GD.

Joseph,

One main issue is that dealers sell and service many different brands and as a result are in control. In the auto industry, the dealer will typically sell from one company and a single location which puts the auto maker at a higher level of influence.

I've had a wonderful experience with General RV in Wixom Michigan. When purchasing our rig, I figured a large dealer will be there for years to come and may care about their reputation. Having a larger service department would promote a great deal of cumulative experience in making repairs since most all rigs are built the same. For me, this theory has worked at least for this one dealership. Having stated that, if an RV manufacturer would pull out their franchise, the dealer would just pick up another maker since they are as common as boat makers. What eventually needs to happen is for one company to own several brands, control quality and have a dealership network that sells and services only their brands. This would put the manufacturer at a higher level of influence with respect to honest sales and quality service.

On the flip side, this forum serves as a valuable resource from users with skills and who can point out issues with these rigs. GDRV needs to use this powerful resource and quickly investigate and correct these issues rather than to continue to release rigs with the same problems. In many cases for years such as improper vinyl hose to PEX connections as a most recent example of a failure.

Jim

[howson]

MeMine -- moved your question to it's own thread. See Where is 381M's 50A Wiring? at https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...m-s-50a-wiring

[Jlawles2]

Rudy When you pulled that line out, by chance did you note orientation of the damage? Not saying they did not cut it during install, but is it possible that the box, strain relief, or something else could have damaged it?

[Rudy]

Rudy When you pulled that line out, by chance did you note orientation of the damage? Not saying they did not cut it during install, but is it possible that the box, strai
Tn relief, or something else could have damaged it?

The damage was caused during installation. There are 4 screws to remove the 50 amp inlet from the outside wall. Once out, there is a plastic retaining nut to loosen and 2 small screws inside the inlet to get at the wire lugs to remove the inlet from the wires. The cuts to the wire was inside of this housing with no visible damage to the housing.

[Jlawles2]

Rudy Good to know Rudy. I've seen insulation damaged by some of the fittings is the reason I asked.