2022 - Newmar Quality Call to Action

[sheridany]

I should probably stay out of this thread since I don't own a Newmar anymore and I really think @redbaron is right 100% in his last post and every owner should document their issues. My only concern is Newmar is owned by WGO. As a holding company with diverse brands where 90%+ is owned by institutions including Blackrock who is the largest owner, they are focused on profits first and so you are going to have beat your drums loudly so they hear and hopefully they don’t ignore. just my 2 Cents. I‘ll stop here.

 

[redbaron]

@sheridany you are correct. WGO does own Newmar, and they are focused on profits. Profits can be considered in short term or long term. In the short term, a company would buy newmar and sell it off for the value of its indivudal components.

I don't see that happening with Newmar. If that was going to be done, then WGO would have purchased Tiffin.

Newmar is a premium brand. Foretravel is the only close competitor now, and they do not have near the market saturation that Newmar does.

For long term products, the Newmar value cannot drop. Value for newmar is based on quality. So a small investment in quality will keep the profits high. WGO has proven itself to be in the business for the longterm.

Accountants will be accountants, and they will push cost savings measures. This has been done with Newmar, and the impact to that decision needs to be immediate from the consumers. Done properly, the path forward will be clear for the accountants, and the brand value will become priority once again.

 

[MapNerd]

I can’t participate as I am out of warranty but I’ll corroborate some of what has already been said with my own experiences.

1. My coach has been mostly problem free and I attribute that to doing an FPU and my post-it note approach to it where I put red post-it notes on every item I found a problem with, wrote on the post-it note what my problem was, and told the tech that I wasn’t leaving FPU until they were all gone, he was not allowed to remove the post-it notes and his job was to make me remove each one by resolving the issue. It started off slow but when they realized on Wednesday that I was dead serious and had no issues with staying the weekend and into next week or the following, problems seemed to start getting solved very fast.
2. I have had several post-FPU issues that I considered major and dozens of minor issues. The major ones were:

• Girard awnings anchored at improper locations
• Grey tank drain clog due to excessive use of pipe glue
• Finish wearing off of cabinets and driver and passenger side valences literally falling apart and off the wall

Newmar addressed all of the major issues and on several occasions, when I was in FL, sent their own NewServe mobile technician to my
Campground to fix the minor issues (FWS alignment, water pump replacement, FWS alignment part two) on site. The key I have found in working with Newmar is, as was said earlier, documentation, explaining in reasonable terms why it’s Newmar’s responsibility to resolve the issue, not expecting something for nothing, and using honey to catch your flies, not vinegar.

I currently have a couple of issues right now that I have been going back and forth with Newmar over for the last few weeks. They are currently minor issues but they have the potential, if left unresolved to become major ones. I feel confident that by continuing to follow up, be reasonable, and explain my position that they will come through for me, which makes the premium I paid for a Newmar worth the cost.

I’m have considered upgrading the coach a couple of times but every time I think about doing it, I come back to the question of the quality of units being produced right now. My coach hasn’t been perfect, but other than the grey tank no issue has ever stopped me in my tracks and Newmar got the grey tank issue resolved within 24 hours. When I look at how many units they are producing now, and how fast, and then I add on the exacerbations of supply and labor shortages, there’s just no way that I can see them building a solid unit without substantially lowering their production numbers, which has absolutely zero chance of happening. So while “there has never been a better time to upgrade” - words said by a man in the RV industry that I have great admiration and respect for, I also have to realize that given the state of the industry, in many ways there has never been a worse time to upgrade. You have to wait longer and pay more for a unit that is almost certain to have some substantial defects. As a full timer, that’s just not something I am willing to do because every defect that requires an unplanned visit to the factory or a dealer is a visit that severely impacts my lifestyle.

I really hope Newmar listens and does what it takes to fix the issues because I would love to upgrade with confidence at some point.

 

[NWIP]

I am out of warranty on our 2020 DS and have had the basic 1 year issues resolved because I was able to wait till I went thru Nappanee to have fixed. We are happy with our coach but have discussed upgrading to a London Air in 2024 but quality issues as they are, probably will keep us in our Dutch Star.

 

[J&JD]

The question I always come back to is where is the cost savings for Newmar when they have to pay a dealer to do all the warranty/pre delivery repairs on a poorly built coach? Wouldn’t it be much more cost effective for them to have solid quality control during construction and a thorough inspection before the coach leaves the factory?

 

[redbaron]

The question I always come back to is where is the cost savings for Newmar when they have to pay a dealer to do all the warranty/pre delivery repairs on a poorly built coach? Wouldn’t it be much more cost effective for them to have solid quality control during construction and a thorough inspection before the coach leaves the factory?

Absolutely.

The savings is when 90% of problems go unnoticed. I am hoping to make this 10% unnoticed, and force change.

 

[Neal]

How about a "Dealer Quality Call to Action" to reject a product received and return it to the factory to get it right before delivery to the customer? Dealers will have far more power in getting Newmar to resolve Q/A issues than having customers fight them.

 

[turbopilot]

How about a "Dealer Quality Call to Action" to reject a product received and return it to the factory to get it right before delivery to the customer? Dealers will have far more power in getting Newmar to resolve Q/A issues than having customers fight them.

I was told when my 2018 NA started it's delivery trip to California that the ownership of the coach officially changed from Newmar to the dealer as the new coach drove off the yard at the factory. If this is true the dealers would have to return their coach to factory for quality issues. Not likely going to happen if this is true.

 

[redbaron]

Dealers have far less influence than the consumer does.

A dealer is only a middle man in the transaction. They are frequently denied warranty requests, that are later approved when the consumer calls the manufacturer directly.

The dealer does not have a vested interest in pointing out quality flaws. It delays them getting paid, and upsets their customer who will end up blaming the dealer for the quality concern.

This is why I want consumers going direct to newmar. Newmar needs to hear from the owner and needs to see the problem directly.

 

[redbaron]

As @turbopilot stated, the dealer pays newmar in full before the coach leaves the newmar lot.

Most dealers cannot afford to let a single coach be sent back to newmar for an indefinite period of time awaiting repairs.