Built on a Friday night shift?

AdkWoody · 05-25-2014, 06:31 AM

Hello all. After almost a year of ownership I have come accross some warranty issues. A drawer slide (one side) was missing, the other side was upside down. One of the boards under the couch cushin was too large and wasn't sitting properly. An exterior hatch door was installed upside down with the weep hole at the top and none at the bottom, allowing a lot of water into the door and under the bunk before she even went on her first trip of the season. And now for the biggie..... I put my slide out the other day to open her up and inspect after the winter.... A larg rip in the linoleum floor of my brand new camper. Further inspection revealed a rip in the under side of the slide out as well. After investigating, I found a brand new, never used screw between the slide and the floor. It's one do those white hex head self tappers used on the outside of the slide. I am not a "happy camper" right now with this particular incident.

On EVERY occasion though, the dealership has stepped up with a positive attitude making me feel comfortable that it will be taken care of and have followed through on their word, every time. I may not be happy with the quality control of this unit

but its not so bad when you know you have the dealer in your corner for the fight.

**JRTJH** · 05-25-2014, 06:56 AM

Hopefully, when you contact your dealer about these issues, he'll step up to the plate again to repair them as he has with issues in the past. There shouldn't be a "fight" at all, but rather a quick, painless repair to get your RV back to you quickly.

As for a "Friday night shift", Keystone only runs one shift, 5 days a week, 5AM to 1PM. That allows the farmers in the area to work the plant and still work the farm. It's been that way at Keystone for a number of years.

Regarding the sofa, Keystone only puts it in the RV during the assembly. They do construct the built in dinettes and the framework for some built-in sofas, but not the freestanding furniture. All of that is built by a furniture company away from the Keystone plant and is installed by Keystone during assembly of the RV.

As for the drawer slides, that's a "factory goof", but your dealer should have discovered that problem during his PDI, long before you ever took possession of the trailer.

That unused screw could have been in a location where it wasn't visible and didn't do any damage during the entire assembly of the unit and during the assembly line quality checks. Apparently it made it through your dealer's PDI as well without causing any issues. Somewhere along the way, the RV hit a "bump in the road" that caused the screw to bounce into a place where it caused the damage. There are reports of owners finding everything from sawdust to spare parts when they remove panels or appliances from their RV. Finding one screw isn't that remarkable. What is remarkable is the damage that it did. Hopefully your dealer will take care of it quickly and you'll be back to camping without any significant delays.

mom2budnbug · 05-25-2014, 04:15 PM

Hope all is repaired and taken care of for you.

JRTJH thanks for the information on the Keystone manufacturing. Do you know if that is the same for both East and West plants?

Our friends bought a Bullet a month before we bought ours. They have so many warranty issues, where we don't have any. We often joke that theirs was made during second shift or a Friday shift. Hard to believe they both went through the same assembly line.

**JRTJH** · 05-25-2014, 05:32 PM

I haven't been to the Oregon plant, so I can't speak to how that manufacturing process is managed. I can say that at the Goshen facility, Each "plant" is numbered and as we drove around the facility (actually that end of town) I started looking at the signs more closely. I took a picture of "Keystone Plant 41" so there are at least that many "independent operations" at the Goshen Keystone facility. It's like a community within the town of Goshen. As I understood what the tour guide that was taking us though the Cougar plant (they only make fifth wheels in that plant, the Cougar travel trailers are made in a different plant), each of the "plants" is managed within it's "brand division" and what happens at one "plant" isn't a "Keystone decision" but rather a "brand manager's" decision.

In other words, just because Cougar changes something or makes a major decision about production, it won't affect Passport, Alpine, Sprinter, Springdale or any of the other brands and how they operate their "plants"... Essentially each is an "independent manufacturer" under the Keystone banner which is an "independent manufacturer" under the Thor banner.

I would suppose that the Oregon facility is managed much the same, but I don't know that for sure. The two Bullets you speak of may well have been made on different assembly lines. If there is a great demand for Bullets, they may have two "plants" producing Bullets. One could be producing all Bullets under 27' and the other "plant" could be tooled and equipped to produce the larger models. It would seem that way all the "heavier equipment" would not sit idle while the "little ones" were being run down the line. That is just my assumption, I don't know if it's actually that way in the Oregon facility. It would seem more efficient to have a double line/double facility if the demand for the product is great enough to warrant that much production capability.

All the above about the Oregon facility is my "best guess" and hasn't been verified by Keystone and, as I stated, I have not been to that facility so I can't speak with first hand experience about the Oregon facility.

mom2budnbug · 05-26-2014, 03:11 PM

Thanks for sharing the information. It would be fun to tour one of the plants.

AdkWoody · 06-04-2014, 06:07 PM

I got a call back from the dealer on Monday saying that they approved the claim and would like to take the camper over winter to replace the floor appropriately. I agreed since its just a large rip in the floor and on the underbelly of the slide. My whole experience with the Alpin Haus in Wilton NY has been fantastic. Keystone has been great at standing behind their product and making sure mishaps and defects are taken care of. I'll definitely go back there for my next one!!

GaryWT · 06-05-2014, 05:49 AM

Good to hear that it is being taken care of. Don't know a lot about NY but is that the dealer you can see from Route 90? Travel that way when I go to Ohio.

AdkWoody · 06-08-2014, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaryWT

Good to hear that it is being taken care of. Don't know a lot about NY but is that the dealer you can see from Route 90? Travel that way when I go to Ohio.

No. You can see them off I-87 at exit 16. I'm not sure, but I believe the one you see is the one in Amsterdam. I've never been but heard it was right off I-90. Probably be able to get an awesome deal on hail damaged models at that one after the tornado that ripped through near there a couple weeks ago. Reports of baseball size hail around that whole area.

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