Quality Control

[Endodoc]

Paul,

Would you elaborate on the water damage you found on this "new" trailer?

Thanks

[paul541]

There were two areas of noted water intrusion. The white fabric wall covering was stained pink and started as a small narrow streak at the top edge of a window and spread out wider and wider as you looked down the window trim. We did not notice the large area at first as it was covered by the window treatments.

On the opposite side of the coach, there was also some pink staining (very small amount) of the wall covering directly under a window.

The sales person tried to pass off the small stained areas as glue seeping through the wall covering and that it would be cleaned prior to delivery. The sales person actually found the large area of stain and stated that it looked like a water leak caused the staining and that he would "pull a ticket" so it could be repaired.

Paul

[AWCHIEF]

Airstream seems to make a big deal of their method of leak testing each and every unit before it leaves JC. Why then do leaks seem to be the number one issue that new buyers seem to be having or at least reporting the most?

[Farmer Dan]

We were able to take the factory tour last Monday, Aug 13. My wife and another interested couple were with me. The tour was very, very interesting. QC appeared very good except for one of the first steps we saw. A worker was sweeping small aluminum scraps of some sort off the assembly floor. When the wooden floor assembly was finished on the workbench it was drug off and dropped on the floor before the scraps were all swept up!! Obviously some scraps were stuck on the bottom of the wood. My friend, who is a very experienced tool and machine guy, just looked at each other in amazement. Its not likely this will throw the thing out of square but those scraps can affect the paint on the frame and may be a source of rusting. This may / may not show up, but it the little things that count. Aside from that the tour and guide were great

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by w7ts

When I bought our trailer new 3 years ago, I asked why things were not fixed prior to me inspecting the trailer. The dealer's service manager told me that Airstream had told them not to repair anything until the customer asked them to. He said if they didn't have a work order with the customer's signature, they would not be paid for the work.

I let you guess what the reason for that might be.

The service manager had only been working there for two weeks when he said that. I'm guessing that he would say it differently now.

Ken

This is standard in virtually all industries, including autos......but a little out dated. Many, less than ethical dealer service managers will "graze" the lot for warranty work. They are paid on the profit of the service department for a given month. If customer pay is slow, they go "shopping" on the lot.

I had the same policies in place when I was a dealer rep back in the 80's...except they had to call me with an issue in an in stock vehicle, just to keep them honest.

HOWEVER, in this day of electronics and digital files, it would be soooo easy to document a repair order of an in stock unit that this type of policy should be lost in antiquity.

[Wonder Dog]

A salesman at an RV dealer once told me to check every water connection I could find on a new RV and you are guaranteed to find at least one that is not tight. This was confirmed by a friend who has had several motor homes and has always found those loose connections before use. A stitch in time...

[dkrug]

I can't emphasize enough the value of a good dealer. We just bought our first new Airstream. (We owned two used ones before this one) We got it from the dealer who was closest to us. They had what we wanted and the price was good. I wish we had purchased from some other dealer. Once these guys had our money they wouldn't even answer emails. We had a couple of minor issues fixed at a different dealer who was close to were we were camping and had Airstream ship us some parts so we could repair the other issues ourselves.

[Bigventure]

We got it from the dealer who was closest to us. They had what we wanted and the price was good. I wish we had purchased from some other dealer. Once these guys had our money they wouldn't even answer emails.


What was the dealer name?

[dkrug]

It was National RV in Belleville (Detroit)

[Bigventure]

I purchased ours at Woodland Travel Center and they were very good about the sales and service. I'm glad to here it wasn't them.

[jyang11]

Originally Posted by bycrom

Paul541,

I am in the same (kind-of) boat as you, in fact I have two posts in this forum so far, the first one Quality of new... sigh... echoes basically your general concerns.

My second post All I have to say is wow... was after I went down to my closest Airstream dealer and spent hours looking over their 20+ units of all types.

I did not do a low level rivit check, but I did do some serious looking for QA/Design issues, and I did find some minor stuff but nothing like what you are saying, they all seemed solid. Way better then the SOB's I have looked at over the years.

For me I am now on the path to become an AS owner, and have settled on trying to find a newly used AS, but if I get a few months down this path with no luck, I am going to order new b/c I have an 8 year old daughter and we are going to be RV'ing next summer in an AS god willing. My time with my little girl (vs teenager, grownup) is shrinking fast, I will never get it back, this is what is driving my process, for what it is worth. :-)

Unlike you I have never owned an RV, so take my comments in the proper context which is a noob, e.g. my comments all need to have the noob bit &'d into their context, if that makes sense.

We bought a used 2009 flying cloud 1 months ago and loving it every moments. You are absolutely correct about the limited time that we have with our children.

We have 2 children, 5 yrs old girl and a 17 months old boy. We live in 5.5 hours from the oregon coast and drove there for the last 4 weekend. Most of the times it may take us 7 hours to get there but it is well worth it.

Hope you fine your dream airstream soon.

jonathan

[dkrug]

Originally Posted by Bigventure

I purchased ours at Woodland Travel Center and they were very good about the sales and service. I'm glad to here it wasn't them.

Woodland RV has really great people. When we had our 2005 Safari, we got some things from them and they were really helpful and nice.