I felt as if they just wanted to get us in and get us out. - pete21
We encountered many problems with our 2019 Winnebago Era on our first long trip, which started in January 2019. We finally decided to completely change our route and make a thousand mile detour to Lichtsinn RV, where we had bought the vehicle. We hoped that we would receive competent and reliable service there.
We had to leave the southern states and ended up dealing with weeks of winter storms, freezing weather, thunderstorms and generally lousy conditions, both on the way to Lichtsinn and after leaving there. Given the service we received we’re particularly disappointed in both the dealership and Winnebago. These were the problems:
1. Air conditioner completely failed to cool the RV.
Lichtsinn adjusted distribution louvers and fixed defective controls.
2. Novakool refrigerator failed to maintain a steady temperature. I pointed out to Lichtsinn’s service tech that I couldn’t find a lower vent to provide airflow, as required for this refrigerator. After lengthy debate -- he insisted everything was dandy and built just right -- the tech finally found a diagram on the Winnebago site. Turns out Winnebago had failed to cut a large hole and install the required ventilation for the refrigerator.
Lichtsinn cut a vent for the refrigerator.
The refrigerator still fails to maintain a consistent low temperature. What else did Winnebago fail to do to provide adequate ventilation?
And there are several scratches on the refrigerator door.
3. Awning would not open.
Lichtsinn made some ineffectual adjustment and explained that we’d have to pull or hit the casing every time we wanted to open the awning.
4. Toilet fresh water connection sometimes leaked when the toilet was flushed
Lichtsinn said they repaired this. The toilet water flush line still leaks.
5. The water pump would occasionally run momentarily when there had been no demand. This suggested to me that there might be a leak. The pump also had begun to run and not turn off, even when there had been no demand.
Lichtsinn replaced the pump. They chose not to install the vibration dampening mounts I requested, or do anything else to minimize pump vibrations, as I had asked.
The pump still runs momentarily. It would appear that Lichtsinn did not look for a leak in the system.
6. Bath heat vent provided no heat. Lichtsinn said this was a function of the way Winnebago ran a very long duct to the location.
Lichtsinn said there was nothing they could do.
7. Door and other squeaks and rattles:
In several cases Lichtsinn’s techs said they could not replicate the noises that have annoyed us for thousands of miles. I would then move something or step on somthing and produce the noise. A couple of times, Justin, the Service Consultant, would look at me as if he was completely unable to hear the noise.
Eventually Lichtsinn replaced some hinges on a bathroom door and a cabinet door. The squeaks and rattles are all present. But now the two doors are installed out of alignment with the adjacent doors.
8. Front ceiling lights flickered on and off.
Lichtsinn found and repaird a defective electrical connection.
9. One MCD shade was broken (the mechanism is cheap plastic).
Lichsinn repaired this.
A second MCD shade rolled up very slowly, and then only if helped by “pushing” the shade up by hand.
Lichtsinn’s Service Consultant gave us a really hard time about this, insisting that the shade worked fine. (Why argue??) He finally agreed to tighten the mechanism. A few days later the shade worked more poorly than ever.
10. The side screen door is extremely difficult to open and close.
Lichtsinn was unable to suggest or provide a solution or improvement.
I recently attached a standard kitchen cabinet handle to the leading edge of the door so that it could be raised slightly when opening or closing. This has substantially improved function. Too bad Winnebago or Lichtsinn couldn’t have thought of this.
Bottom line: Our purchase experience from Lichtsinn was quite good. I would never return there for service of any kind. Oh -- and our vehicle was not ready when promised, so we had to stay in the area another day and wait for Lichtsinn to try and repair their repairs.
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