Return to Factory for Repairs…thoughts?

[JohnnyPop]

Originally Posted by darndave

That's a schwintek in-wall slide mechanism. Two of the main reasons my Solitude is going back to the factory. And a significant factor that my Rockwood doesn't use them in our purchase. There are supposed to be wall mounted heavy rollers attached to the wall under the floor of the slide to support the weight. Make sure those are actually touching your slide bottom and bearing weight. Might need mirrors and lights to see behind and below slide from inside. If those aren't right, your likely cause of cracking. I hope they got it right for you.

No offense but I don’t understand why you’d change from a Solitude to a Rockwood…?

I may have to look at installing rollers underneath this wardrobe slide. I never had any issues with the schwintek mechanism however. Just the paper thin wall construction spider cracked.

Rockwood uses no rollers on any slide with exception of the heavier weight non-flush floor kitchen slides. I’ve had issues with the big flush floor slide…no rollers just two little wear bars at the slide wall ends. It’s a poor design choice, but there are many things about a Rockwood that is of questionable design and execution. Wish I had looked more closely before purchasing. Hindsight is 20 20…

[JohnnyPop]

Originally Posted by Reverse_snowbird

I think I'd forward those pictures to Forest River Warranty.

I’ll be contacting Rockwood directly this week. The dealer really left a mess of this job…and rockwood needs to see it. Not that they’ll care. I’m the one left with figuring out how to clean it up, repair the repair, bear the extra cost, and ensure it’s not going to leak. Because if I leave it like this, there’ll be water damage in short order.

[billcrews81]

I would need an extra Blood pressure pill if I got my RV back looking like that. One would think, being a new model they would swap you a new slide and be done with it. Ridiculous what you have to go through to enjoy RVing. Quality was questionable before 2020, its much worse now on all makes and models.

[BehindBars]

Originally Posted by hebee90

A factory repair wouldn't cause me any problems because I know it would be done correctly.

I wouldn’t feel that way. The factory can’t build them correctly in the first place so I’d have no reason to believe they would repair them correctly, either. You take your chances either way.

[billcrews81]

Bingo Behindbars

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by BehindBars

I wouldn’t feel that way. The factory can’t build them correctly in the first place so I’d have no reason to believe they would repair them correctly, either. You take your chances either way.

Well, if you looked at the posts from those that did, over the years, I'd estimate that 95% of those that did, were completely satisfied. And most got upgrades or extras done at no extra cost.

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[Mr. Dan]

A few years ago, the Wildcat division had a service team which did “back to the factory” service/repairs. They were not at the factory but in their own service shop. This same service team did repairs at the Goshen rally, too. They were good.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by JohnnyPop

I’ll be contacting Rockwood directly this week. The dealer really left a mess of this job…and rockwood needs to see it. Not that they’ll care. I’m the one left with figuring out how to clean it up, repair the repair, bear the extra cost, and ensure it’s not going to leak. Because if I leave it like this, there’ll be water damage in short order.

See if they'll authorize a mobile rv repair service. I've read that they usually have a list of companies that they use. You shouldn't have to bear the cost of repairing the dealers mistakes.

[JohnnyPop]

Sweet! They sliced a hole in the roof membrane.

I’m in Canada guys…we basically have no options for mobile techs or anything closely related to factory anything

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by JohnnyPop

Sweet! They sliced a hole in the roof membrane.



I’m in Canada guys…we basically have no options for mobile techs or anything closely related to factory anything

Well, your profile says you're in Mobile, Alabama. So how would we know that you're in Canada?

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[JohnnyPop]

🙄 ….

[JohnnyPop]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Well, your profile says you're in Mobile, Alabama. So how would we know that you're in Canada?

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I had no idea it said that! Will have find where to update lol.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by JohnnyPop

Sweet! They sliced a hole in the roof membrane.

I’m in Canada guys…we basically have no options for mobile techs or anything closely related to factory anything

I think you're about to learn a whole lot about rv repair. Start with the Forest River Owners videos and instructions then visit the rveducation101 videos and others

..... or escalate your complaints at the dealership. Get Forest River involved. They have more leverage than you do.

[JohnnyPop]

I’ve just sent off pictures to Rockwood…the punctured roof membrane was the final straw. I’m not going back to the dealer, which I mentioned in my message to RW. They shouldn’t have authorized them to repair something of this level. They created way more problems than if it would have not been repaired…but not repairing the wall would have also lead to problems…just would have taken longer. The way it is now…one rain shower will cause a leak into the roof and wall.

[JohnnyPop]

Can someone tell me which is the correct installation…over or under? I’m preparing to fix all the issues pictured above in this thread myself, my time and expense. Not getting any help from anyone 😔

[JohnnyPop]

GOOD NEWS!!! Rockwood is going to work with me personally on this and make it right!! The gentleman I spoke to on the phone was empathetic and apologized for all this happening. They will allow me to work with an “outside network” technician to get everything fixed up, and they’ll ship me whatever parts are needed. I will have to pay for the repair and get reimbursed by Forest River…which I’m fine with. I just want it done right. The technician I had come to inspect was shocked at the dealers sloppy workmanship, and called out an bunch of things done wrong, at the factory and on the dealer repair job.

Faith in humanity (and Rockwood) has been restored!!! ☺️

[bikendan]

Great News!

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[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by JohnnyPop

Faith in humanity (and Rockwood) has been restored!!! ☺️

EXCELLENT!
Hope you're able to get on the road soon!

[darndave]

Sorry for the slow response, been traveling over a week in the RW on our first outing. The list on ours is getting longer...but for you, that's great news! As far as the rollers under the slide go, that isn't up to RW; it is a critical part of the design of the slide mechanism. In order to learn as much as you can about what you have, visit the LCI website. There is online education content for their products, including the "in-wall" slide mechanism that anyone even owners can complete for free. Note that once they acquired this technology, they dropped the Schwintek moniker. I got a real quick real life education on these slides with the Solitude. And we didn't switch from, we added to our fleet. We use our RV too much to be down for 8-9 months. Since it is an entire 41 foot vacubonded wall that is twisted aluminum superstructure, I highly doubt it will be economically feasible for the factory to replace the entire wall, and you can't take it apart in sections. Our appt at the factory isn't until January, then who knows how long.
Our RW had just arrived at the local dealer, was optioned correctly for us, and they were hungry to sell something that day. So we jumped on it. We aren't using the Solitude anymore; damage to wall gets worse with every mile of bouncing. By the time it gets to Indiana, who knows? But it will be on their transport truck, not my GMC.

[AbdRahim]

Took my Forester back to the factory. They did an excellent job on 24 items, inside and out.

My thought is the original build is piece work - get it out the door. There is a separate area for warranty repair. I think they take their time and do the job correctly there.