Dealing with QUADRA (BigFoot)

[DXSMac]

For those of you who have the BIGFOOT stabilizers..... If you have a warranty issue, you cannot deal with Forest River on that. You deal with Quadra.

Forest River considers those as "after market" even if you have them installed at the Factory. Go figure.

It's pretty easy to FILE a claim. All you do is send them an email with your documentation attached.

Ok, that's the easy part.

I have had one claim paid and now I am submitting two more claims for leaking hydraulic fluid.

Quadra paid the first claim, but it took 3 months. This is why.

Quadra will "duke it out" with Forest River over whether or not Forest River did a "bad install." If Quadra can prove Forest River did a "bad install," then Forest River pays the claim. If not, Quadra pays the claim.

Thus, it will "take awhile."

I'm at the point where an RV dealer has determined I need one stabilizer replaced. However, Quadra won't "authorize" it yet until they research the history and go through the "duke it out" process. So, I'm driving home from North Dakota with a leaking stabilizer and praying it will continue to work for me. The RV dealer that determined I needed a new one was in Minnesota and I wasn't able to hang around Minnesota and wait for a part to be ordered. I gotta get home, got stuff to do! I have an RV dealer at home that will do the repair if Quadra authorizes it. Worst case scenario, I'll just have the dealer order the part and pay for it myself and hope Quadra reimburses me.

But I do love the BigFoot.

[paulmlac]

Couple thoughts about your post.

Don't know this for certain. But I believe this to be the case. If your unit comes from FR with the jacks, they are actually installed by Quadra at their facility. Here's why I say this. I had my Bigfoots installed after the sale by Quadra in Michigan. For the few hours I was there I saw quite a few brand new Sunseekers being dropped off for jacks to be installed. Probably about approx four in a span of three hours. A person literally drove it in, got out, tossed the keys at the install guys, didn't say a word, and then left. They were brand new units with plastic still on the seats, etc. Saw some Nexus units come in this way too. Maybe just done at Quadra when the FR and Nexus plants run out of space. That might explain the duke it out process. They are looking at the unit serial number to figure out the install location.

Not a hydraulic expert by any stretch of the imagination. But, if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't drop the jacks for fear that the leaker wouldn't go back up. Or, if really unlevel, park in such a way that you didn't need that pair of jacks (the leaker plus adjacent one). Just saying that from the perspective of crossing my fingers every Sunday morning when I hit the retract button.

[DXSMac]

Gawd, I know about the "cross your fingers." I do that every time I retract. The Minnesota dealer said I would be able to "get home" ok as it's a slow leak. But I think I will take your advice. I do have "Lincoln Logs" (Lynx Blox) with me.

As for the "install." You could be right. But I'm going by what Rick told me. If you have a warranty, you will deal with Rick.

What irks me is after you send the email, they don't "keep you informed" or "give you status." You basically gotta harass them on the phone. I tried emailing for "Status" and get nothing.

But when I email the initial claim, I called on the phone to confirm. Brian Clemons posted the phone number on another thread, but if someone needs it, I'll repost, oh wait a minute, the phone number is right here:

800-752-9815 I believe option 6 is technical support.

M-F Eastern Time,

[DXSMac]

Wow, quick response from QUADRA on my latest issue. I sent them a claim last Friday and as of today, they are shipping a new part to the RV dealer that I chose to install the part.

Ok, let's see if they pay for the second and third trip to RV dealer to diagnose the problem...... They paid on the first trip......

[DXSMac]

Well, I cannot believe this.

GOod news, Quadra shipped the part for me to get installed by my dealer.

BAD news: Quadra shipped the WRONG part. The "pick list" shipping document has my name, and my purchase date, but wrong RV. They shipped a part meant for a 2009 5th Wheel.

LORDY! I'm due to leave for Oregon on Thursday. We will see how this saga goes.

[DXSMac]

Got ahold of Quadra this morning. The tech support guy had already seen my email detailing my tale of woe and he was working on it. (Gotta give them credit, they DO read the emails.....). He said his paperwork correctly showed my Sunseeker, not the 5th Wheel information that the dealer got.

Methinks they have a computer glitch. They are working on it.

[DXSMac]

Quadra came through, I got the replacement part today at my address (only because the dealer I'm using is closed Tues and Wed). I have an appointment tomorrow to get it installed before I head to Oregon.

However, I'm concerned. Two different RV dealers said the cylinder is 2" X 15". The "packing list" that came with the replacement part said 2" X 13". LORDY, I AM STRESSING OUT!

On the other hand, despite this very annoying saga, I have to give Quadra credit. They do try to work with you. They don't take the "tude" of: "We will do things at our own speed and you work your schedule around us, because we are the all powerful company."

I am crossing my fingers that the part is correct and I can get to Oregon tomorrow. If it is the correct part, the Quadra management is going to get a very grateful thank you letter from me. If it's the wrong part, well, you don't want to know how mad I will be!

On the other hand, I still have about $300 of labor from three RV dealers during the summer that I'm submitting as a claim to Quadra (I' still under warranty). Wonder how much of that I will get reimbursed? They did reimburse for one, but I have three more visits due to leaking.

[ATVer]

I can't seem to lay my hands on my notes from 2 years ago when I talked to a Big Foot engineer but I believe the rears are 13" stroke and the fronts are 11" as factory installed on Sunseekers so you should have the correct part. The engineer said FR specifies a shorter stroke unit to increase ground clearance and reduce weight but others often use the longer stroke units.

I wish I had the longer stroke units but it was not worth the cost to change the rams out. The engineer suggested I make 2"thick by 10" square plywood feet and attach to increase the "effective stroke" and truly make them "big feet" not the 7 X 7 "little feet", which I did. You can also carry blocks to put under the jacks before they are lowered to do the same thing if needed.

[paulmlac]

I had mine installed directly by Quadra after the sale. It's a heavily modified job. I have a pair each of 12" & 14" stroke. But the backs are mounted higher on the frame. Net, my 14" in the back may only have an effective raise of 13". I needed the longer stroke to offset being higher on the frame. This was to counteract my !@#$%^ sloped driveway which I back into. I do like having the biggger 10 x 10 pads. I wanted a leveling system primarily to stabilize the unit & figure the bigger feet help with that.

[ATVer]

Longer stroke is good and the larger feet not only stabilize better but the corners are bent up so if you drag them they are less likely to dig in like the flat 7" feet.

[DXSMac]

It's installed! Before I went to my appointment, I called Quadra to make sure it was the right part. The rep said it was, and he added that on this replacement part, I will get an extra inch of down stroke. (Get your minds out of the gutter, I'm just repeating what the tech rep said..... it was all I could do to keep from laughing! We could all use an extra inch of down stroke.) I asked if the extra inch would put the rest of the stabilizers out of alignment, I was told, no.

So, I am sitting here happy with my extra inch of down stroke. Just repeating what the tech rep said......