Shocking roof caulking mess on new unit

[loft47]

Don’t take the rig

[slowmover]

Two companies control 80% of the RV market. One owns AS.

I hate seeing what's pictured, but in this scenario I'd reject. "Good faith" seems almost meaningless in a monopoly.

[mrsmup]

That pile of caulk is hiding something...period. Dents? A rip in the skin? Who knows...a nightmare for sure. Sorry, I know you must be very disappointed. It is not like you spent thousands on a whim. Take Care.

[Zybane]

But look how long that line of ridiculous caulking is. It's almost like at some point the awning was open, got pulled away from the skin by a big gust of wind or something. Then they screwed it back down to the roof and did that laughable caulking job.

[franklyfrank]

Originally Posted by Wingeezer

Even with all the complaints about Airstream quality from the factory it is very hard for me to believe that would come from Jackson Centre that way. Nothing is i possible I suppose.

I think it may be more likely that at the dealership perhaps they saw some evidence of water ingress and sent someone - perhaps a very new employee? - out to add more caulk!

I'm no wizard at caulking by any means but sure hope I wouldn't have made mess like that!

A "wetted" finger and paper towel to deposit the excess fresh caulking can do wonders in making a much neater job, especially in conjunction with some masking tape to stp the stuff spreading too much!

I just came back from JC having spent a few days getting warranty work done our 2017 - 30' Classic. Our major issue was a section of floor around the lav area flexing. They had to drop both black and gray tanks and install support that was not done when the unit was built a 12 hour job for two technicians. Aside from that happy to report, we only had some minor miscellaneous issues.
This being my 4 th trip with new units for warranty work over the last 5 years with various new units here is my observation.
From five years ago one major difference I noticed is the lack of direct supervision of the work. You are basically turned over to a technician and you need to be directly involved in the progress and checking the quality of the work. The supervisors were present but not directly involved. I got the impression that all are working on some sort of commission. Not so 5 years ago. The shop supervisor was directly involved from a to z.
Extrapolating from this, this could also be the working model on the factory floor. The employees are basically subcontractors.
And I say this because it appears to me that new units are shoved out the door without anyone with authority thoroughly inspecting them.
I our case a simple walk thru would have immediately revealed the problem.

[AlinCal]

Send photos to all upper level people at AS as see response. The more I look at it the worse it looks.

[drew05]

I think you were right in not accepting the unit. I understand the frustration and disappointment in not taking it home. However, there were a lot of good opinions given, and in the end the decision will be yours to make and live with.

The caulking job looks bad, (rushed and amateurish), as did the mess on the awning cover. (I missed the dent). It may be a simple case of 'no good deed going unpunished', or worse.

I'm not sure who the dealer is, nor their status (I thought someone mentioned they were a distributor?). It's not really relevant as we have heard of established dealers with poor performance. When we bought Trixie, we were lucky in that there were only a few minor warranty issues, and I would rate the dealer a grade of "B".

It's going to be difficult to get an honest answer if that was a factory doing, or dealer attempt to repair 'in transit' damage, or damage done their property. It can be fixed, but what about hidden damage?

So what would I do? I would not accept that trailer. While waiting for a response from Airstream and the Dealer, I would stand fast in not accepting the unit,and look at another comparable trailer, for the same cost or even with a better discount, especially if you stay with that dealer. If the dealer is unwilling to work with you and keep you happy, take your money back and leave. Don't worry about it. Yes it will be painful and suck, but for most of the rest of the country camping season is winding down, and there will be dealers willing to earn your business in order to move units.

Lastly, remember this dealer might also be the one you go to for warranty repairs...

Good Luck!

[Lily&Me]

[QUOTE=weirdstuff;2015974][QUOTE=Lily&Me;2015866]That’s insane.

You may never find out how it got that way, but you were right not to accept it in this condition...and you have to wonder what else could be wrong.

If you have the dealer scrape it down, examine, and redo it, I would have them take pictures of it so you can see for yourself and have a record.

Maggie, great minds think alike.

We did a fairly thorough inspection, and everything else seemed to work ....stove, oven, water pump, toilet, shower, hot water heater, windows, jacks, awnings, etc.. It was 97 degrees out, and the a/c was coming out very cold, but the interior temp only dropped a little bit. It wasn't plugged in and turned on until about 3:00pm, and by then, I think the thing was just too darn hot.

Anyway...we were going to tell them exactly what you mentioned..that we want to see pictures of the roof when scraped down. The main dealer (where service is done) is 2 hours away, and we do not intend to drive back and forth.

Even with photos though, I'm suspicious...between the caulking and the scraped up back bumper area.....I thought it was odd that these are both occurring on the same side. Maybe coincidence, or, did the driver hit something?

We are so anxious to get our trailer and start traveling again. It is taking every ounce of self control to think that we might have to totally reject this one.

There should be perhaps a police report, or at least an insurance claim?

Might ask about those, where there would have been pictures taken and a record made, tho if you are not actually the owner you my not have a right to that information.

I think rejecting it outright is probably the best way to go...aside from the damage and unanswered questions, there is a principle that has been violated here, in my opinion.

Hard to imagine that the dealer was not aware of this, and thought you might not notice til after you had accepted it. You want the truth, but can you trust you will get it, is the question.

I would take hold of that dealers feet, and haul them right to the fire....send pictures to JC, be documenting everything and send that as well.

Maggie

[gklott]

Originally Posted by SeaLevel

There is something very wrong here, and there is no way I would accept any of that on a brand new trailer.

Agree - VERY wrong. Reject the entire trailer. Accept no "warranty" repair. All new Airstreams must be PERFECT from the factory. Accept nothing less. Airstream toasts their QC, but this is evidence of QC failure. Makes one wonder if anyone inspected this unit.

We made the BIG mistake by accepting ours to get things "fixed" under warranty. No one should have to go through what we did.

73/gus

[rodsterinfl]

Unless it is a bend in the photo. There are also dents in the upper side area near the awning.

[Rocinante]

Ok, I’ll just say it: if you’re gullible enough to accept this trailer after what you’ve found so far, there isn’t much we here on the forum can do to help you. I wish you good luck, regardless, but most of all I hope you’ll reject this sad excuse for a new Airstream.

[WestieHouse]

The OP at least has a choice to make. In my mind, an easy, if discouraging choice. My real concern is for the poor sucker who will eventually purchase this "new" Airstream assuming the OP refuses delivery. PT Barnum's comment about the birth rate of suckers still applies.

[weirdstuff]

I agree with ALL of your comments.

To clarify the whole scenario (for those that are wondering about this aspect of it)....trailer arrived at dealer on Monday. We couldn't get there until Friday to inspect.

In the mean time, dealer told us they sent it to main dealer service dept to fix a few things (they didn't tell us what the items were). The main dealer is, I believe, about 45 minutes or an hour north from the branch we bought it at.

We drove up Friday for our 2:00 appt, (1 hour 15 minute drive), and we were on the road at about 1:40 when our dealer called and told us "The items weren't fixed to our satisfaction, and we need to send it back to the service department. If you haven't already left home (which we had), don't come up, I don't even want you to see it yet."

We told him we were almost there, so we may as well inspect the rest of the trailer, and then everything can just be fixed at once. And we asked what was the big problem, and he told us it was a mess of a caulk job on the roof.

Our dealer said that when they got the trailer back from the main service dept, that they were surprised that the the service dept hadn't fixed but one issue (with the radio), and had not fixed the caulking issue, and one other issue.

I bore you with these details (again, for those interested), because we realized that, had this sequence of events not happened as they had, it would have been possible that service would have fixed the messy caulking, and we would never have known what had happened.

We are actually lucky that things played out this way and we were able to see the real state of affairs.

I'm going to look at the original photo, at full size on the computer, to see if I can indeed identify dents anywhere.

[kendrick.l.j]

Well I am going to chime in and agree with those saying "do NOT accept this Airstream". Even if it get "fixed" I still wouldn't take it. There are simply too many issues wth this particular trailer to accept as NEW.
There are other dealers and with Airstream to work with that are good, honest, reputable people who have a good working knowledge of Airstreams. I would stay far away from that dealer.

[Lily&Me]

I’m glad the dealer told you about the caulk job, but it then left Jackson Center that way?

That’s even worse.

Maggie

[weirdstuff]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

I’m glad the dealer told you about the caulk job, but it then left Jackson Center that way?

That’s even worse.

Maggie

No, still not sure about that, because I think it was delivered to the main dealer first, and then to the branch dealership that we're dealing with.

I just looked at all of the photos on my big computer screen, where I was able to zoom in on everything.

It does look like some part of the trailer or awning is dented along the top (below the awning, about 1/3 of the way into the photo.

And the Zip Dee end cap...is that supposed to be that shape, or is is damaged? It looks like it should be a complete "circle".

And the scraped bumper piece...lots of rust, even on the side it's scraped and rusted. And it extends to the part under where it attaches, which means all that damage was probably done prior to assembly.

If anyone has photos of the roof of a new-ish trailer, I'd love to see what the caulking looks like along the awning, as well as what the awning end caps look like.

[Lily&Me]

What a ******* mess.

Your brand new trailer, that you’ve been excited about, and waiting for.


Maggie

[weirdstuff]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

What a ******* mess.

Your brand new trailer, that you’ve been excited about, and waiting for.


Maggie

I know. We are so disappointed. I guess I should cancel our camping reservation for this coming week.

We will still have a conversation with the factory and the dealer on Monday to see what explanation they even have for this.

Then, I think, back to square one. Order a new one...again...or switch gears. Now that we've got a brand new tow vehicle, and a Pro Pride hitch sitting in our office waiting to be installed on a freakin' trailer....

[Rocinante]

Maybe rent an RV from someone like Cruise America for your camping weekend and go out anyhow? [emoji6][emoji41]

[weirdstuff]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

Maybe rent an RV from someone like Cruise America for your camping weekend and go out anyhow? [emoji6][emoji41]

thanks for the idea, but, we'll probably just stay in a hotel..have to go to the area anyways, and it'll be easier this way.