Land Yacht Defects

[lemonLY]

We purchased a new, 2004, 30' landyacht, motorhome in May 30, 2003, and are sorry we ever purchased this brand of motorhome. The manufacturers uses top of the line materials and parts, but, has no conception of the term " QUALITY CONTROL". This unit has spent more time at the dealer than it has on road trips, and we try to travel, alot. Many times are trip plans have been cancelled, due, to another needed repair. The TV has been removed from the front dash for 16 weeks, awaiting parts and repair. A highlight, but, short list of problems are as follows: roof leaked, due to failure of proper bonding at assembly, defective windshield, warped front end due to removal from fiberglass mold, too soon, hydraulic levler pump failed and had to be replaced,and ,finally, fuel line fell off at a major intersection, causing the need for three police cars, two fire engines, and the office of emergency management. Plus, the expense of a heavy duty tow truck. A very, short list of my problems. Have any other motorhome owners bought such a defective product????????

[swebster]

Many major brand motorhomes have problems when they're delivered to customers. In other words, it not necessarily specific to Airstream. While there is much discussion about QC at AS the reality is these are large complex machines assembled by hourly workers motivated by unit throughput, not necessarilly a quality performance index.

If you already have a dealer who is working with you to resolve everything then you're ahead. If the problems get really bad (beyond the dealer) then you should begin to ask for factory assistance. It may mean a drive to Jackson Center to get things resolved, but it could be worth it to have major factory defects repaired by the factory.

Not sure if this makes you feel any better but there is a joke in the RV industry that the dealership is actually the last ten feet of the manufacturing line. The industry is working to improve it, but unforetuinately, it's not quite the auto industry yet and quality is a major issue the industry at large needs to address if they want to keep growing the market.