Lame Post to Explain Why I Haven't Been Posting

Our little RV family is still laying low here in southern Alabama.

The past two weeks have been busy, but very routine.  Some RV-ers crave constant travelling/doing/seeing, but my personality type demands a regular routine mixed into the chaos of our RV adventures. It keeps me sane.  ish.

When we're not on the road, a typical day includes:

• an hour or so at the community tennis court
• a 5 to 7 km daily power walk, so I can drink beer and eat peanuts
• walking the dogs half a dozen times a day, PLUS a few rounds of squeak fetch
• regular boring chores (cleaning JohnnyDisco, buying groceries, laundry, etc.)
• a few hours every morning and afternoon digesting the business news, monitoring our stocks, and futzing around on the computer 

On top of this I've spent mucho time over the past month communicating with Tiffin Motorhomes. They are based in Red Bay, Alabama and they are the reason our little RV family is here in Alabama; we have to visit the Tiffin mothership.

Won't go into all the gory details right now but we've had quite a few issues with our Tiffin Allegro (JohnnyDisco) since we bought him new in February 2010:

• the furnace controls were wired backwards, and the bedroom furnace didn't work at all
• a bubble started forming on the roof of the coach
• the freezer will not stay defrosted, an inch of ice/snow forms every three months
• the front door sticks 
• the seal on the front door is coming off
• the generator fizzes out when you turn on too many things, it's only firing on one cylinder 
• the electronic drivers side door window opens but won't close - it needs to be pulled shut manually
• several outdoor bins either won't lock or are hard to open

Could this be why we got such a great deal on the rig?   :)  

I should also mention that these issues were all discovered during our first few months of ownership.  Last year we brought the rig back to the dealer in Tucson for warranty work and the only thing fixed properly were the furnaces.

We bought JohnnyDisco in early 2010 while the US economy was still pretty messy, so our new rig was priced the same as the used units that were a few years older. Plus we bought it in Arizona so it was 35% cheaper than the same unit in Canada. And we paid cash which gave us a little more room for negotiation.

We knew there would be some minor 'first year kinks' to work out with a new unit, but we did NOT expect a whole laundry list of problems. 

After a number of frustrating emails were exchanged with several different Tiffin Motorhome employees, I got a call last week from the Big Cheese, Bob Tiffin. He told me all of our issues would be fixed, free of charge.

Mr Tiffin started the company. He is the Father of the Tiffin Family and runs the whole shebang so I appreciate that he's a busy fella. He seems like a very nice man who cares about the reputation of his company. And it's good news that they're fixing everything for free. But to be honest, I'd rather not be in this situation in the first place. My Fella and I would much rather be driving JohnnyDisco around Mexico this winter... not laying low in Alabama waiting to get in to the Tiffin Mothership.

Our appointment is at the end of January. In the meantime, we're making a complete list of everything that should have been repaired properly, under warranty.  And then I'm gonna try forget about this whole hassle until we finally drive JohnnyDisco into the Tiffin service bay next month.

Turns out the free-wheelin RV lifestyle is NOT problem free. It's been a good reality check for us.

And while I'm totally jealous of all the Canucks that did make it to Mexico this year, at least we didn't get stuck trying to maneuver our big rig thru a narrow, crowded street of a tinyteenyweeny Mexican town in the middle of nowhere - like my cyberpal, Mexi-Croft. Good thing you're a good driver, mister... HOLY MOLY.  Oh yeah, and "LISTEN TO YOUR WIFE! That's what she's there for!"  :) 

To end on a high note:  While I've been tearing my hair out over our frustrating coach issues, My Fella has been doing something constructive. Literally.

He made this out of $15 dollars worth of pvc pipe, connectors and rope. 

It's a laundry hanger for the back of the coach and it fits snugly on our roof ladder.

We were looking for some place outside to hang our towels (and other non-controversial laundry) and most RV parks don't allow clotheslines.

These little contraptions are selling for $75 bucks at Camping World, but my own Mr Construction-Pants was able to rig up this copycat model in less than two hours.

Fancy schmancy.

Comments

[Don]

Nice to have you back. I hope my comments make you feel better. We have owned 5 rvs/5th wheels and they have all had problems. After doing a lot of repairs myself I realized they are not at all the quality of houses and that they are built super light weight (flimsy) so they get reasonable fuel mileage. The quality of the components is for occasional use only. I have had bad experiences with dealer repairs and usually do the work myself or just take it to someone else who can do it. I just took our under warranty new rv to our local garage and paid them to have a minor item repaired. The dealer obviously gets paid very little for warranty work. I don't think your problems are unusual for an item that is made up of 10,000 parts, and once they are repaired properly you will probably be very happy with your rig. Tiffen obviously cares about your satisfaction which is a good point. I am sure you will be happy in the end.

[kelsi]

Hey Mr P - hope the leg is mending nicely.
You're right, My Fella and I did expect some minor issues to pop up within the first year, but we didn't expect to have these major issues with JohnnyDisco. After owning the coach for only a few days we found out the front furnace control was wired to the furnace in the bedroom/bathroom and vice versa. It was wired completely backwards, straight from the factory. And because the wiring was so messed up, the rear furnace didn't work at all so we had no heat in the bedroom/bathroom during a chilly February, March, April and May. Isn't there a quality control person that checks things like this before a brand new coach leaves the factory?
The other major issue occurred a few months later when we noticed a bubble starting to form on our roof. Which means we had to drive 5500 miles round trip from BC to Alabama to have the entire roof replaced. The roof replacement is covered under warranty but the $6000 cost of the trip here is not. How would a person with a full time job or a couple with a young family be able to take time off work/school/life to drive all the way to Alabama to get a roof replaced on their brand new motorhome?
For the money we paid for a brand new Tiffin, I expected a lot more.
On the flip side, I still love JohnnyDisco and we still love RV-ing. And My Fella and I have learned some good lessons here... just not quite sure what they are yet :)

[Trent and Teresa]

Hi Kelsi ...
Nice to get an update from you. Wow, you are very active.

Isn't it frustrating the way RV's are made ?

We have outgrown our little class c, and are researching motorhomes and fivers.
Oh, man, are there a lot of problems out there !!

It totally takes the fun out of it sometimes.

Now we are even considering buying a park model down south, and just driving a car back and forth, after hearing of all the problems people are having.

At any rate, we are very thankful that we are able to be snowbirds and to have choices.

Please have an awesome Christmas, and keep in touch with your repairs. We have our eye on a Tiffin for sale in our park right now.

Take care ... TnT

[mave]

Good to see you back on here Kelsi. My son sure is a handyman isn't he? You got a good one there. But I'm prejudiced. Just over a week til Xmas. I haven't bought any presents-our trip this year was very expensive and we're saving (haha-in jest) for our trip next month. Where did the time go? Wish you two + two were here to celebrate. We have a frozen turkey in a friend's freezer now we have to figure out how find an oven large enough to cook it, lol. Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year from Mom and Dad.

[kelsi]

Feliz Navidad, Mavey y Miguel-OutLaw!
Waiting patiently for some pics of my fave beach in all of the land.

[kelsi]

TnT - Nice to hear from you guys. Hey, what's your blog address again? I wiped out my entire blogroll last month and couldn't remember what your blog was since it was so new.
Been wondering what you two were up to... Where are you looking at park models? Arizona?

[Mave]

Ok, we'll go and take some gorgeous pics in the morning. It still is the most beautiful beach I've seen, so uncrowded, no (not very many anyway)pedlars (sp), lots of friends to sit and talk to and then come back to the park for happy hour and then a good meal made by hubby and a good book to read. I've started downloading ebooks onto the computer to read, but have found a new author to read-in book form -James Patterson. Only three weeks before we head out to the Philippines. Too bad you aren't coming with us. You'd enjoy yourselves, I think. ttfn, Mom

[John Calypso]

"...controversial laundry" one can only imagine I guess ;-)

Second the comments on RV living - having done it. They are just not made for full time living (in terms of the quality or sturdiness if you will).

Living at the beach is kind of the same - most household stuff REALLY takes a beating from the salt air - a price to pay for the beautiful sunsets and soothing ocean lapping nearby.

There is a price to pay for mobility of that kind - bottom line. Trade-offs.

[kelsi]

Mavey - just saw Pa-Outlaws post on your blog. It's really good - great pics!
But inquiring minds wanna know, How much Tecate did you have to bribe him with?

[kelsi]

Senor C - of course YOU would be the one to catch the 'controversial laundry' comment :)
And back to RV's... I understand they aren't of superior quality or built like houses, but aren't there standards for structural things like an RV roof? Or electrical wiring?
We fully expected cosmetic issues with our new rig (flimsy wall panels, cupboard hinges not lining up, etc) but the manufacturer actually has to replace our entire roof. The whole thing. It's a new unit. What the heck???

[John Calypso]

"...but the manufacturer actually has to replace our entire roof. The whole thing. It's a new unit. What the heck???"

That does seem over the top sort of speak amiga