A few minor tweaks and repairs

We've only used the RV a few times, but with a machine as complicated as a motorhome, a few things were bound to need fixin' and tweakin' in the first year.  I've been very impressed with how well all of the major systems have worked and how few issues we've had.  We expected high quality from Newmar and our expectations have certainly been met!

I recently took it in for a warranty repairs and left it there for several weeks.  When dropping it off, I told them that we weren't in a hurry.

The List

Here's our list of things that have gone wrong:

• LED accent light in the half bath went out.  Suspect a bad bulb.
• MCD electronic window shade won't go up behind one of our recliners.  I reprogrammed it myself, but it still won't raise.
• Dometic Freezer in the basement won't freeze food.  This is odd because my thermometer reads 19 degrees on the floor of freezer, but pizzas stay soft even after several days.
• Ring below the outside shower nozzle is cracked.  Just a small crack in a very small part.
• Right front rim scratched during installation of the Tyron band.  National Indoor RV Center in Atlanta, who installed our bands, is paying for this replacement.
• Recall for bay door actuators.  This is a Newmar recall.

Some other things we wanted them to check:

• Battery fluid levels.  The coach was built in January 2015.  We bought it in November and have had it about three months.  I could check it myself, but it's in the shop, so they may as well have a look.
• Tighten nuts on the breakers in the half-bath.  Several people have reported that the nuts holding the wires to the breakers (in the cabinet in the half bath) have been loose as received from the factory.  This is a potential fire hazard.
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The Dealer 

Our nearest dealer is Independence RV in Winter Garden, FL.  It's the same one where we almost bought our custom-ordered 2016 Dutch Star, but we ended up getting a new 2015 from NIRVC in Georgia.  The folks at Independence RV were very nice and told me that they would take care of everything on our list.  They have worked on the phone with NIRVC to resolve issues related to replacing the front rim, and were very nice when I took it in.

I specifically told our Service Advisor, Andy, to take his time getting the coach back to us since we had no plans to take it anywhere in February or March.  We went in at the three week point to get a few things out of the coach and they had finished everything, but were going to check out the freezer a bit more.  While we were there, we noticed that our door-side awnings weren't all the way in.  They were sticking out about 4-6 inches further than they should from the side of the coach.  As we left, we mentioned it and Andy said that they would take a look.

Picking it up

We finally went out to pick it up today, one month and 13 days after I dropped it off.  Remember, I told them that there was no hurry whatsoever - and even asked them to do something extra when we went back in the middle of the repairs.  So the duration was no problem.  In fact, they actually had everything completed in eight days.

We were surprised to find out that, although we had complained about one LED light out in our half-bath, they actually replaced all 57 LED lights in the coach because of a recall.

The MCD shade did have a bad motor.  In working to replace it, they found another one that required adjustments and fixed it, too.

They said that they found the Dometic freezer set to 42 degrees.  I should have asked about this because I could have sworn that we had it at 18 degrees and measured it at 19 degrees; at these supposedly-set temperatures, it wasn't even freezing pizza.  They set it to zero and said that it froze water bottles every time.

They replaced the shower hose and the rim (taking care to move our Tyron band to the new rim).  They also replaced the recalled bay door actuators, checked the battery fluid levels (still good), and didn't find any loose nuts in the breaker panel.

They also adjusted our awnings, which look quite a bit better even though they still don't seem quite as flush to the body as I would expect.

Our opinion of Independence RV's Service Department

We were treated with kindness and patience.  They fixed everything they said they would at no charge to us because it was all warranty work.  I had asked Andy how much they would charge to wash our coach before we picked it up.  He had it done at no cost!  He was helpful and answered all of my questions.  They handled all warranty issues and worked in tandem with our "purchase" dealer NIRVC in Atlanta, as well as the folks at MCD regarding some of the window shade issues.

My only complaints are small ones.  I would have liked them to take our invoice and walk through it with me at the coach to show me everything that had been done.  The awning work wasn't shown on the invoice, so I have no "official" record of it, and the window shade that they replaced works great when controlled individually, but doesn't respond to the "All down" or "All up" commands.  It'll require a little more programming that I should be able to do.

Overall, our experience with Independence's Service Department was excellent and I'd recommend them to anyone needing work done on their motorhome.

We drove it back to our storage lot.  Sad.  Can't wait to take it out again!!

Dealer Recommendations

I talked about this a little bit in an earlier post, but thought that it's important to give recognition where recognition is deserved.  Here's a little bit about our favorite salespeople and dealers.

If you've read our story, we originally wanted to order a 2016 Newmar Dutch Star (after years of research) but ended up buying a new 2015 coach of  the same model.  During the planning and negotiations for our customized 2016, we got quotes from several salesmen and dealers.  In the end, we found a 2015 model we wanted at a highly-recommended dealership in Georgia and were very pleased that we went with them.

Before we sent out our requests for quotes, we researched dealerships by looking them up, pouring through their web sites, seeing what shows they participated in, examining their dealership and service awards, and then combing through forums looking for customer comments - good or bad - about purchase and maintenance issues.

Here are the salesmen and dealers that impressed us the most, and why we think they represent the cream of the crop.

David Scott, Independence RV in Winter Garden, FL.   As everyone knows, Florida is knee-deep in RVs.  And the Central Florida area, home of Walt Disney World, Sea World, Busch Gardens, and Universal Studios is a very desireable area for RVers.  Newmar allows certain top-notch dealerships to sell their products and each of them is given a particular territory.  Independence RV has Central Florida area around Orlando, which includes Kissimmee and Clermont.  The dealership isn't large, but their employee's knowledge about Newmar coaches is incredible.  Their  service department has  won several of Newmar's top service awards (the Mahlon Miller Service Excellence Award - they only give out a few of them each year).

We were fortunate to land David Scott as our salesman.  Every time we went to the dealership, often just to sit in a coach and talk, David was there.  He applied no pressure whatsoever.  As a matter of fact, he took the time to sit with us and talk about the RV lifestyle and design ideas (of which he had many) for our order.  When it came time to send in our "special requests", he prepared the lists from papers we gave him and made several phone calls to Newmar to clear up some things we didn't understand.  After we received several other quotes (we did our homework), we were honest with David and shared our  concerns.  He worked fast to get us the best price of all the ones we had been given.  And when we decided, for reasons related to some manufacturing issues for that  model year, not to buy the coach from him, he graciously said he fully understood and refunded our deposit.

David is easy-going, has a great eye for design issues, and is patient.  We highly recommend him if you are looking to buy a coach, whether or not you live in Florida.  But particularly if you're thinking about Independence RV.

David may be reached by calling 407-877-7878 extension 8817.  His e-mail address is dscott@independencerv.com.

Tony Morse, National Indoor RV Center in Livingston, GA.  I had heard fleeting things in the forums about NIRVC.  They apparently have several dealerships around the country, and people always tell stories about how happy they were when they did business with them.  As it turned out, the only dealership in the country that had the 2015 coach that matched our wish list was this one.  We spoke on the phone with Tony and, the next day, drove seven hours to NIRVC.  When we pulled up about 2:30 in the afternoon, Tony had the coach we wanted to see sitting in an empty parking lot  next to the dealership - with the slides out and the A/C running.

Our experience at NIRVC was wonderful.  The facility was a bit older, but they will soon be moving into a beautiful, large, brand new home that will offer much more in the way of parking and amenities for their  customers.  When we arrived to pick up our coach a week later, they had pulled it into the main showroom area and about six people were rubbing it with cloths like a person does when they polish a mirror.  Slides were out, lights were on, and a tech took his time to show us everything and answer all of our questions

Tony then set us up with three nights of camping at Stone Mountain, only four miles from their dealership (it'll be about 21 miles from the new one).  That gave us a chance to camp nearby and then return for any tweaks or concerns.  And if you have to stay overnight while they are working, they'll plug you into 50 amp power and let you stay overnight.  This is a top-notch dealership - especially in the service department.  All of them - service techs (three of them!), Todd (the General Manager) and Tony individually came up to me and gave me their personal cell phone numbers in case I ever have a question.  The second night we were at Stone Mountain, a Saturday night, I called two of them and they patiently helped me over the phone.  NIRVC should be on everyone's list who is shopping for a new RV.

Tony may be reached by calling 770-979-4051.  His e-mail address is tmorse@nirvc.com.

Chad DeMaat, Midway RV, Grand Rapids, MI.  When I was scouring Internet forums looking for recommendations of places to get quotes, I noticed that there were a lot of positive posts for Midway RV.  I contacted them and happened upon Chad, who not only fired back his numbers quickly, he included a lengthy e-mail that went over all of the details and provided suggestions.  Chad was very helpful on the phone and said that if we decided to work with him, he would meet us at the Newmar factory (about two hours from his dealership) to do the paperwork.  Based on the price he gave us, the details he provided, his quick turnaround time and his friendly talks with us on the phone, Chad seems like he'd be the perfect kind of salesman to work with.  Even though he is so far from where we currently live, he was our second choice - only because we had been working with David at Independence.  When I let Chad know that we were going with Independence, he had kind words for them and was very gracious and understanding.  I hope I can meet him in person one day.

Chad may be reached by calling 800-875-4787.  His e-mail address is chad@midwayrv.com.

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We spoke with several other dealers while we were looking and left with what I'd call "average" impressions.  Some hardly ever returned calls, others passed us from person-to-person, and some were even discouraging.

If you're looking for quotes for a new RV, call David, Tony or Chad.  I guarantee you'll be glad you did.