Dealer lied about soft floor!

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Don't ya just luv a happy ending?  It kind of restores your faith in American businesses.

If you really like the RV, it might be worthwhile to make another attempt to reach the GM. Ostensibly to thank them for handling the problem so well, but then "wonder out loud" if some sort of deal could be made to get the floor repaired and the deal in place again.  The GM (or sales manager) should have more negotiating latitude than the sales guy.  Think about whether you might be willing to up your offer a bit before you ask, though.

 

[Bob Buchanan]

    Rather than giving you funds to get it fixed, I probably would have asked them to fix it - as it should have been fixed prior to the sale.

Winnebago MH's in the mid 90's had soft floors as described by that dealer. When they laid the flooring, the panels that extended past a beam were just tacked to the next panel - so neither was supported by a beam. As a civil engineer, I found that amazing.

I had purchased a new Winnebago Brave in '94. It took almost a year for me as a solo RVer and my 8 pound cat to break the tacking - that resulted in soft floors in 2 locations. I took it to the dealer preparing to complain, find out what it was going to cost me to fix it, and ask why it happened in the first place. This is when I found out about the design flaw.

The service manager called Winny, and even though out of warranty, agreed to fix the flooring for me. I was pleasantly surprised - especially when finding out what needed to be done. The flooring was made up of 2 pieces of a masonite kinda material separated by about 2" of insulation. The fix involved removing the carpet, then sawing thru and removing the top masonite plus the insulation. This was replaced by equal thickness of plywood laid on top of the remaining masonite - cut to meet midway on each beam. Then the carpet was replaced. My rig was heavier, but had the strongest flooring ever in an RV.

The price tag for this was over $2,000 - and took 2 full days to complete. So would imagine that your decision to not accept the dealers offer for you to fix it was a good one.

I always mention to anyone buying an older Winny to be sure to carefully test the flooring from front to back. 

 

[catblaster]

Bob, like you I found two soft spots on our 95 Winnebago and the same condition where they had met two flooring panels between cross members. To make matters worse they cut in a floor grill across the joint to further weaken it. Someone during construction had to have said to themselves that this just isn't right.  Fixed it by bracing underneath in the compartment.

 

[BrokenHorn]

I did ask them to fix it and I would keep it.  He said they were too busy at the moment and he would rather refund me the money, as he wouldn't be able to get to a project like that until fall.  I will be contacting them and thanking them for the way they handled everything.  But as they say everything happens for a reason.  I found a year newer TT for the same price that is the same length, sleeps 2 more, and has way more options.  Also like the over all look of the TT better than the one I had purchased.  I should be picking it up saturday morning as long as after inspection it turns out to be a solid TT.  Might just be camping for Memorial day after all!

 

[574rvman]

AS A RV REPAIR MAN ALL THE TRAIL LITES I HAVE WORKED ON HAVE LAMINATED FLOORS SO THERE A BEAR TO FIX THATS PROBABLY WHY THE DEALER DID NOT FIX IT. THE LAMINATED FLOORS HAVE LUAN ON TOP AND BOTTOM AND FOAM IN THE MIDDLE AND ARE GLUED AND PRESSED. THERE IS ONLY A FEW ALUMINUM TUBES IN THE WHOLE FLOOR. RETURN IF YOU CAN....