Thor RV Repair

RV life is not for the meek. We’ve had nothing but trouble since buying a new Thor RV. Every time we take it into Camping World we have more problems. When you buy an RV from Camping World you can theoretically have it fixed at any Camping World in the country. The problem is that when you ask for service, the first date available is anywhere from one week to several months. When you finally get in, they tell you to wait several more weeks to get approval for repairs and for parts to arrive. All of this is VERY difficult if you are full-timing. We’ve completely rescheduled our travels and greatly limited our travel for the last year based on the delays and problems. To make it worse, when Camping World attempts to fix something, they end up breaking more things. For example, when fixing a gas leak on the stove, they broke the oven. When trying to find a water leak, they damaged trim and put a hole in the side of the RV.

Anyhow, we decided to bring the RV back to Thor in Indiana for a repair. We had 15 items on our list. Some was poor design that they can’t/won’t fix. The TV can’t be heard when the AC is running. They suggest buying more speakers. The gray water from the bathroom sink goes to black tank (bad thing). They suggest living with it. Most items were repairs from Camping World ‘fixes’. Plus more things have failed like the DVD player.

It took around 2 months to get a date for the repairs for the Thor repair center in Indiana. The good news is that they give you a camping site with water and electric with a dump station on site. There is internet, but only in the waiting room and only available 7 am – 4 pm.

It’s a very different world. We got there on Sunday. There were already quite a few RV’s parked and by Monday morning there were 14 RV’s. Apparently that’s lower than usual. After setting up, we got to hear their horror stories. One couple had been there a month, left for a while, and were back starting their second week. One had their RV for 3 years but it had been in the shop for 8 months of that time. Many had stories about multiple repairs at other shops (Camping World was universally despised).

The whole thing was depressing!

Then Monday came. We had to get up early. The technicians drive out to the RV’s that they are repairing at 7 am. We went over the stuff that was wrong with our technician. After prepping our RV for travel, he drove off with the RV to a shop. We moved to the waiting room for the day. There we heard more horror stories. After 3 pm, the RV came back (most of us were out waiting for the RV’s to return).  This repeats every day. Some people visit relatives or friends or sightsee during the day. Funny thing is that there are tours of the different Thor facilities. However, they are only at 3 pm. If you go you can’t talk to your technician at the end of the day and find out the status. I assume it’s intentional but definitely not good customer service. It’s a very weird life not having access to the RV during the day. Plus, most of us are not used to being up before 7 am. We’re retired!

In our case, we heard good news. They replaced much of the problems with new equipment (DVD, stove/oven, and mattress). However, given that this is the 3^rd mattress we’ve had, there is no doubt this one will collapse again. They fixed the damage that Camping World did. We had great technicians. We were out on Tuesday by noon. Others weren’t so lucky. One had a spongy floor. Apparently they had to wait for more parts. As far as I know, we were the first to leave that week. We were very lucky!

And just as a lighter note, I spent some time biking to nearby geocaches. Along the way I saw this. I’ve seen these buildings before but forgot what they are. Turns out they are VORs (VHF Omnidirectional Range). They are a navigation beacon for aircraft. Most were installed back in the 1940’s. The ~1000 VOR’s in the U.S. will be retired over the next decade as GPS replaces the system. Very cool looking!