Newmar not taking accountability? Passing the blame on quality to vendors?

[Neal]

I see a lot of recent model year Newmar's returning to the market, owners are not keeping them, they are tired of spending all of their travel time trying to resolve issues. I've talked to several to learn the pain they are going through on quality, warranty resolution, and just fearing their coach at every campground stop. I'm hearing Newmar is blaming quality on vendors, take for example the rash of fogged windows that are popping up. In 2019 it was Kwikee steps making headlines, now it's poor paint, woodwork, tile, grout, slide issues, KIB, silverleaf, the list goes on and on. The expected lifetime of your new Newmar coach is up until it drives off the dealers lot!

So let me say something to you, Newmar, YOU are the one that chooses your 3rd party components and vendors, therefore YOU are responsible for your decision to use their products and that they met some level of quality for your coaches. Your customers, us, are not seeing that level of expected quality and we are having a hard time supporting you as we did in the Miller era. It's time to stop, evaluate, and make change. You are headed for an ugly decline if this is not turned around soon. Many looking to buy a new coach are not confident in Newmar and are seeking other options.

 

[Neemer]

It doesn’t help that we owners tend to ride that train as well, making excuses for Newmar and pointing the finger at suppliers.

We wouldn’t do that with an automobile manuf.

 

[Stuart W]

add in Customer Service personnel with a license to mistreat owners and staff undertrained for their positions. An example of this, my KIB 10 inch display went bad and these displays are programmed based on the coach build. After waiting almost 2 months for a replacement display, meanwhile I had no access to my tank levels, heated floor, lighting and HVAC settings. Newmar sent the dealer a replacement display that was not programmed for heated floors or dinette lighting. My dealer called Newmar and the representative told him my coach didn’t have heated floors or dinette lighting! of course it does have both and Newmar has a build sheet to prove that. Long story short two 600 mile round trips to the dealer later the correct display was installed.
You may have noticed that I have removed all Newmar references from my profile and have a 2025 Entegra Cornerstone on order. I will continue to support my Newmar friends, All of you, in anyway I can
When it’s appropriate I will provide more details
Stuart W

 

[Neal]

Congrats @Stuart W as you are moving away from something you believed in for several purchases and a lot of money invested in the Newmar brand. It takes courage to break free of this hold and you are doing something that you need to do to ensure your joy of RVing returns. I look forward to hearing of your happy experiences ahead.

 

[Neal]

add in Customer Service personnel with a license to mistreat owners and staff undertrained for their positions

We've all seen companies where when you call in or interact you get a survey afterwards. It sounds like maybe Newmar needs to implement this so customers can provide feedback of their service when contacted.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

We've all seen companies where when you call in or interact you get a survey afterwards. It sounds like maybe Newmar needs to implement this so customers can provide feedback of their service when contacted.

Hummm! May only work if the surveys were made public so all employees were brought on board to keep their jobs!!!

 

[Stuart W]

Or are the CS representatives operating in a cost control mode?

 

[scottramer]

As a Honda dealer up until I retired a couple years ago it has always amazed me about these coach manufacturers. And it's not only Newmar that passed the buck along to the suppliers.

Any automobile manufacturer does not make all their parts, they have hundreds of third party suppliers. I could not imagine telling one of my Honda customers that it's not Honda's fault and it's a supplier and they cant fix it.

Newmar manufactured the coaches, spec'd out the parts and ultimately in any court of law they would be responsible under the terms of their warranty.

My 2019 London air was a nightmare for the first 18 months of ownership so much I had to make a 4,000 Mi round trip back to Nappanee because my dealer couldn't fix the full wall slide because of a manufacturing issue.

What perplexes me the most is that expense was on me, $2,600 in fuel plus campgrounds, plus I stayed in a hotel so they can have the coach full time for repairs. Total cost of my trip was almost $4,000 out of my pocket and nobody offered to compensate me for their mistakes.

Like Neemer said above, we as owners continue put up with and make excuses for the manufactures. It's sad but I'm sure nothing will change until we as owners hold them accountable and that may have to be throught some type of lemon law legislation at the states level or class action law suites.

 

[Rich W.]

This reminds me of the decline in quality of Dynamax when Forest River took over that brand. FR said at the time nothing would change and the same quality would continue. That lasted about three years. I’m sure Winnebago sees more profits to be had in many ways with the Newmar line up. Some are probably good for both Newmar coaches and Winnebago. Shortcuts in construction, lower quality components, and poor service after the sale are not among them and will only damage the Newmar reputation.

I’ve had my share of problems with my 2016 but I’ve never been held up waiting for repairs other than for two days over Thanksgiving a few years ago because the FL shop was closed. And that was for emissions which wasn’t Newmar‘s fault. I can’t imagine shouldering the cost of a new rig, especially with the radical price increases, only to have it sitting unusable for months at a time due to quality issues.

 

[Stuart W]

As a Honda dealer up until I retired a couple years ago it has always amazed me about these coach manufacturers. And it's not only Newmar that passed the buck along to the suppliers.

Any automobile manufacturer does not make all their parts, they have hundreds of third party suppliers. I could not imagine telling one of my Honda customers that it's not Honda's fault and it's a supplier and they cant fix it.

Newmar manufactured the coaches, spec'd out the parts and ultimately in any court of law they would be responsible under the terms of their warranty.

My 2019 London air was a nightmare for the first 18 months of ownership so much I had to make a 4,000 Mi round trip back to Nappanee because my dealer couldn't fix the full wall slide because of a manufacturing issue.

What perplexes me the most is that expense was on me, $2,600 in fuel plus campgrounds, plus I stayed in a hotel so they can have the coach full time for repairs. Total cost of my trip was almost $4,000 out of my pocket and nobody offered to compensate me for their mistakes.

Like Neemer said above, we as owners continue put up with and make excuses for the manufactures. It's sad but I'm sure nothing will change until we as owners hold them accountable and that may have to be throught some type of lemon law legislation at the states level or class action law suites.

Scott I spent over 35 years in the new car dealership world as a master technician and parts and service director, I totally agree with you, not once did I avoide a beating by saying to a customer that it’s the parts venders fault. What I learned is it was almost always do to the manufacturer providing an inadequate specification or changing vendors to save money on the part to reduce cost. In the Automotive world your Customer Satisfaction Ratings are what a dealer lives by, pay plans for dealer personnel are based on it, failure of a dealer to have compliant CSI could cost the dealer it’s franchise. With the exception of NIRVC and Brett Davis are the only company to pay attention to after the sale Customer satisfaction. Those that know Brett know that he agrees the system isn’t perfect. What he dose do different is analyze the data and adjust processes accordingly to improve customer satisfaction outcomes. He is also not afraid to let the manufacturers know about needed areas of improvement.
Although not perfect companies like JD Powers did hold the automotive world more accountable. The RV world needs a JD powers type accountability.