To keep things from being confusing (especially if you follow our real-time adventures on Instagram) – I’m about a month behind in blogging, here are some of our adventures from the week of August 5, 2015.
Do you recall our broken fresh water tank? Our fresh water tank appointment finally came around on August 5 (we spent the day at the Science Museum of Minnesota). After a long day we picked up Stella (our Airstream) right around closing time from Shorewood RV and she was still leaking water from the underbelly. The staff at the RV shop assured us – don’t worry about the dripping – that’s just residual from the repair. But two days later our tank is STILL leaking – especially when we would use our water pump – we knew it hadn’t been fixed properly. Sigh, by this time, we had already moved north to Bemidji, Minnesota to spend time with family and bringing it back to Shorewood RV wasn’t an option. I’m not sure I would have anyway, as they didn’t seem to fix it right the first time.
Let’s just say we were a little frustrated. We had waited THREE long weeks for the initial appointment at Shorewood RV. The fresh water tank is where you store clean water for when you aren’t hooked up, via a hose, to a water source. This fresh water tank allows you to go to a dry campground and be able to flush a toilet, wash the dishes or even take a shower – without a hose hook-up. We had spent three weeks in expensive private campgrounds because we needed a water hook-up and we were itching to get into the state parks, not a possibility without the water tank working.
We called the next closest Airstream dealer on our route, Woodland Travel Center – in Grand Rapids, Michigan and took their earliest appointment of August 20. I knew as soon as I talked to them on the phone that we’d be taken care of. They were immediately more responsive and helpful than the last place – but we would have to wait another two weeks for another repair.
This is part of life on the road friends. It was frustrating, but not enough to throw in the towel. If we were living in our old house, we’d have car repairs, housing repairs and other things to tend to. It’s just part of life – whether your nomadic or stationary. This was just another bump in the road – so to speak – and we’d take it in stride.
We pledged to make the most of the situation and enjoy our time in Northern Minnesota and then head quickly through Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois and up to Grand Rapids. I’ll share more about these adventures soon. . .
Just sent an email to Shorewood RV in Anoka. I live in MN. I mentioned about their terrile repair work that you had and that I would never buy an RV from them. I really dislike dishonest people and companies.
Hi gfix –
Although I appreciate your intent, I’d like to clarify that I don’t necessarily think that Shorewood RV in Anoka is a dishonest company or that they have dishonest employees. I just think they didn’t do a good job on the repair and their customer service is lacking – they were difficult to work with over the phone and not very personable in person. This can happen anywhere. . . and to be fair, we didn’t give them the opportunity to make it right because we had moved on to another city. What we will later find – at our next repair appointment in Grand Rapids, was that the new fresh water tank installed by Shorewood RV was cracked during installation and that the fittings they used were also leaking. Apparently it’s easy to crack these water tanks during installation. The Grand Rapids RV Shop, Woodland Travel Center, uses different fittings – one they think are superior to the ones installed by Shorewood and were able to install the water tank without cracking it. 🙂
Where do you live while your Airstream is in the shop?
Tony – great question! We’ve been lucky to have only one-day repairs so far. We usually drop her off between 8-9 in the morning and pick her up by the end of the day. Woodland Travel Center repair shop was amazing and allowed us to stay on site, overnight, free of charge – with electrical hook-ups! They even set up the trailer and leveled her for us. 🙂
I feel your frustration with warranty/repair work. We purchased a new 5th wheel from a dealership in Portland, OR last year. Since we have a two year warranty on the unit, we waited until this spring to take it back for the warranty work. We took the trailer there on May 16th of this year. After numerous emails/phone calls; being lied to, and total frustration, we were able to pick up our trailer on July 28th. After traveling for a few days, we discovered the warranty work had either not been done, or they a slip/shod job. It wasn’t until after we got the trailer back that I checked with the Better Business Bureau only to discover this dealership has an “F” rating with the BBB. Never thought to check that out before we purchased. Now we have the factory involved and they are arranging to have our warranty work done in Olympia at an RV repair facility.
Hi Cathy – I’m so sorry to hear about that! Glad the factory is involved and will hopefully get you up and running soon!
Is there still a warranty from Airstream or was this damage from road debris?
Best of luck for the rest of your trip.
Hi David – The damage was not the result of anything we’ve done. Every repair we’ve had on our Airstream to date has been covered by warranty – no hassle there, thankfully!