[C.LeeNick]

I'm sorry to hear others having issues with warranty service..makes me wonder if I didn't make a mistake in my purchase. Hopefully it all pans out for all of us in the end. (Honestly, a couple long term RV'ing buddies of mine suggested I buy late model used and just get used to fixing things myself. Considering I've been doing that with our old RV for over a decade, I now wonder if that just isn't less stressful overall than dealing with a dealership to try and get issues fixed....I'll probably take my buddies advice next time.)

I don't know if this will, in the long term, be borne out by the facts, but it SEEMS to me that having good communication with the manufacturer helps. The people on the phone may be trained to simply say "Yes sir", "No sir", and get you off the phone, but when I've had issues, and didn't feel like the dealership was giving them the importance they deserved, I've called Keystone. Long story short: The TECH at the dealership appears to be pretty savvy, but the service MANAGER is the most wishy-washy non-committal guy you will ever meet. He doesn't make you feel that your problem is really of any importance to him. He's "overworked, understaffed, has too much to do, yada yada yada". He's nice enough about it, but looking at the stacks of broken parts around his office waiting to be addressed, and all the RV's around the service bays, my impression of him is that his general procedure is to simply kick the can down the road for as long as he can before the work finally gets done.

Because of that, I've spoken to several different people at Keystone now, and I can state that they do listen and document issues. I've had the current person I've been speaking to on the phone run down nearly exactly what's been discussed in previous calls, so they seem to keep good notes in their computer, all connected to my trailer's VIN number. My main concern with the manufacturing so far was with the shelves that broke in my back closet...a totally avoidable design flaw that will cause every single one of them in every single trailer like mine to fail in the exact same way. I thought it would be good for Keystone to know that so they could make a change/improvement. Will they? Who knows. But considering mine broke the way they did within the first 100-200 miles of paved road travel, they'd better do something about it. The dealership eventually fixed them with some extra metal brackets, and they lasted through my last trip..which included a few miles of dirt road.

As I documented in another thread, I got pretty hot under the collar on another issue.
The dealership driving from 1 to 7 self-tapping screws into the electrical wiring while installing the enclosed underbelly that should have been installed at the factory. That seems like anywhere from a rookie mistake to total incompetence to me, and frankly, I don't trust the dealership to not "cut and splice and patch" when what really needs to happen is a complete replacement of that electrical line, conduit and all. That's what I'm demanding, anyway. The trailer is new, and it needs to be returned to new. The tech seemed to think it was a "20-30 minute repair". I'm not saying it ain't so..but if he can do it in that time frame he's a magician and worth twice whatever he's getting paid.

Because of the nature of the issue, and the safety issues concerning electricity, I called Keystone again. Primarily because I wanted everything documented with them. After feeling satisfied with communication with Keystone over several previous calls, I finally got a woman on the phone at Keystone who didn't appear to care about the issue. She said I was basically on my own in dealing the dealership. That angered me greatly, and I finally said "Look, I've owned the trailer for 3 months, and it's been at the dealership for ONE of those months. It was supposed to come from the factory with the underbelly. It's YOUR product. YOU forgot to install the underbelly. And YOUR dealership screwed up the installation. Apparently YOU should have had one of YOUR factory techs oversee the installation. YOU need to step in and help take care of it." Apparently, she detected my suddenly fairly stern tone, because she got another fellow on the phone right away who apparently had a bit more authority, because by the time I got off the phone with him, I was comfortable with giving the current dealership the chance to fix their mistake, AND got the commitment that if I wasn't happy with the workmanship, I could take it to the next closest dealer, about 40 miles away, for them to fix, and Keystone would handle everything with both dealerships. The fellow also sent me his email address and wants me to send him photos of the issues so they are documented. It remains to be seen how this is going to play out in the long run. I'm pretty sure the dealership is getting tired of dealing with me. But this problem is entirely on them.

All I can say to the original poster, along with everyone else who might be having issues, be nice and conversational at first and try to let everything work itself out. Anyone can make mistakes. But stand your ground, and if it drags out, it's time to put your foot down and escalate the issue.

My impression with Keystone is of course they should build a good product first and not make big stupid mistakes, but as one of their videos states "They're human". I've even referenced their own video in my conversations with them so they understand I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and the opportunity to make things right, per what their media on their website suggests. It's hard for them to argue with their own sales media. Their customer service TRIES, but they can only do so much from 1500 miles away. My issues appear to stem directly from the dealership. I'm not impressed with the dealership currently. But that could change.