Complaint Review: Keystone RV - Nationwide

We purchased a brand new 2012 Komfort travel trailer (I don't recall the exact model) in August of 2011 from a dealer in Santa Rosa California.  Now, let me tell you, the model that they had on the lot was great, a new design with opposing slides, high ceilings at a great price.  This was before Keystone bought out Dutchman.  We were told that there was a new trailer, still being built in Portland Oregon that was just like the trailer they had on the lot but it had a wardrobe slide.  The dealer said that they would sell us the one that was available soon at the same sale price of the trailer on the lot.  We discussed it and decided to take the plunge.  Now, let me tell you, we owned a 2002 Komfort bunk model for 10 years and loved it but wanted a bigger unit that suited our needs a bit better.  We purchased the trailer sight unseen.

We took possession of the unit in August of 2011 and were in love.  The wardrobe slide was perfect.  We could walk around the bed with reletive ease and it was awesome.  We noticed, however, hard bumps under the rubber roof after having the unit for a few months.  We live over 2 hours from the dealership so we asked a friend, who owns a RV repair business here in town, to take a peek at it.  He didn't know what the issue could be.  We took photos of the roof and emailed them (along with calling them) to the dealer in Santa Rosa.  They forwarded the photos to customer service and were told that electroysis was happening and that they were experiencing a 'good number' of reports of this happening.  At the same time, we noticed small, hard bumps had formed below the wardrobe slide.  Upon picking off the bit of wallpaper, found a black substance stuck to the wall and wallpaper.  We took photos of this, too and sent them to the dealer.  Now, honestly, I don't know if Dutchman had been bought out by Keystone at this point and it doesn't really matter.  We were instructed to empty out all of our stuff out of our trailer (and, with a 30 foot trailer, that's a lot of stuff), take it back to Santa Rosa where arrangements had been made to be picked up and taken back to Portland Oregon to the manufacturing plant to have the roof replaced and the wall bump issue fixed.  This was in July 2012, less than a year after taking possession of the unit.

The trailer was gone for about a month.  We got it back with a new roof and no signs of the mystery bumps.  We received no written notification of the repairs that were done but were told that the bumps were mold brought on by placing the wallpaper over damp wood.  Oh, how niave we were to believe that.  Regardless, we took the trailer home, loaded all the crap back in it, remade the bed, you know....got it all ready for Labor Day camping. 

All was golden until July 2013.  Yes, almost a year after getting it back from having the roof replaced and a wall fixed (we don't know if they replaced the wall or just tore off the wallpaper, scraped off the mold and applied new wallpaper...we have no idea), we noticed those same pesky bumps again.  This time they were left of the fridge by the super slide but not within the super slide.  That makes sense, right?  The bumps were below the chair rail and there were about a dozen of them.  Upon extensive searching, as we now are on a rampage, find that there are more mystery bumps in the rear cabinets and around where the window valances and blinds attach to the wall.  Ok, so now we are pissed.  I call the dealer in Santa Rosa and the owner is clearly upset as she has been more than accomodating. Keystone instructed the dealer to have us bring the EMPTY unit back to Santa Rosa to have the dealer take photos as the photos I had taken couldn't be trusted!  So, back we went to have the dealer take photos but she used MY photos as they were much better. By the time we got to the dealer (a few weeks), the bumps were from floor to ceiling, not just below the chair rail.  We left the trailer there in anticipation that they would, again, have the trailer pulled back to Portland for repairs.  We received a call from the dealer that Keystone was having a truck pick up the trailer on Aug 22 or 23 and it would be pulled to Portland.  We, unfortunately, would miss Labor Day camping.  I called the dealer on Aug 23 and asked if the trailer had been picked up.  She placed a phone call to Ben Kruit at Keystone who told her he was waiting for HER to order a new unit so they could use our unit as a back haul!!!  Um, no, that's not our problem.  She was NOT buying any new units.  Our trailer was finally picked up the Tuesday after Labor Day!  We were without our trailer half of August, all of September and got it back the 3rd week of October.  I had, during that 6 weeks that they actually had the trailer in Portland, requested WRITTEN explanation of all repairs that were done and why.  I wanted them to give me some kind of written proof that there was a mold issue rather than just a verbal excuse.  I received none.  I have probably close to a dozen emails asking for that information, too.  So, we got the trailer back, examined the areas in question and were satisfied. We, again, loaded our crap back into the trailer in anticipation of our annual Christmas shopping trip in early Dec.  The morning of Dec. 7 I loaded our food and clothes into the trailer and off we went early that afternoon.  It had been storming so the roads were wet and, in some areas, snow/slush covered.  We drove the 4.5 hour drive, arriving at Cal Expo in Sacramento at about 6 PM.  Imagine to my horror the entire carpeted area under the dinette was SOAKED!!!  Not just damp, but soaked, including the dog bed that was stored under the table.  I used 3 bath sheets to soak up as much as I could soak up.  I lifted the carpet flap (this is the super slide, same side the bumps were on) to discover that there was an area on the slide out mechanism where you could see the ground.  The slide was open and the hole was about the size of a 50 cent piece.  We closed the slide and the area was even bigger.  So, our assumption was that the road water had sprayed up through the hole.  There wasn't any visible leaking coming from the roof although it had been pouring most of the way over.  We dried the area with the towels, cranked up the heater and my husband went and purchased a space heater to place in that area.  Note, it took the entire week that we were there for the area to dry. 

We contacted Ben Kruit, Bischop Christensen and everybody else we had previously been in contact with to explain what was going on.  Oh, the night that we arrived, the paper on the ceiling, right were the wall that had been 'repaired' due to the bumps started to drape and bubble, where it wouldn't stick to the ceiling anymore.  Yes, I took a crapload of photos and began in insane number of emails to everyone, including the dealer, who was mortified.  I called and left voicemails.  I emailed.  I called again.  I emailed.  I was PISSED.  Finally, we got calls and emails back and they were like "Well, the warranty is expired but we'll see if we think that we should cover it anyway as a good faith gesture."  Stuff like that doesn't go over well with me.  My husband is the good cop, I'm the bad cop.  Arrangements were finally made, after dealing with these jerks for the entire week we were supposed to be enjoying a shopping trip, to take the trailer to a local (Ukiah California) repair facility and that Redwood RV would be handling the warranty claim.  Remember, Keystone picked the repair facility, not us.

We contacted the repair facility in Ukiah and were told they had just (or were in the process) moved to a new location and we could bring our trailer over at any time but they were back logged on their current jobs.  We dropped the trailer off just before the new year.  We, basically, told them to take their time because we wanted things done right.  We didn't hear anything from anybody for a few months (March) so we called the repair place and they told us they were examining the unit and it appeared the roof needed replaced and there were at least 3 major leaks.  I had, at this point, been in contact with Alisha Howton, the customer service lady that was assigned to our case and had told her that we were D-O-N-E!!!  I was this close to contacting a Lemon Law Attorney.  She, being a professional, didn't let my tirade faze her.  I asked her if SHE would want a trailer that had a history of mold (hoping she would say no)?  She, unfortunately, responded in a way not to disclose that there was a mold issue.  We mentioned the Lemon Law to the repair facility and they immediatley stopped all work and examination of our trailer.  They told Keystone we were picking up our trailer and filing Lemon Law.  No, were didn't say that.  I did tell her, to avoid having THEM be responsible for paying legal fees and the like that we wanted a refund of our purchase price and interest paid and they could have their piece of crap back or we might be satisfied with a NEW comparable trailer.  This was in March.  The repair place wouldn't look at the unit until Keystone assured them they'd get paid but Keystone wouldn't authorize them to do any repairs until they actually opened a claim!  Meanwhile, we are making payments on this trailer that is being held hostage.  The repair place finally opened a claim but is hesitant to make repairs because they haven't been told if the claim has been accepted or denied!!  Countless calls to Alisha go unreturned.  She'll call back but have nothing new to tell us.  I am so close to leave a scathing post on Keystones facebook page but don't want to run into any kind of slander issues.  As of right now, 6/4/14, we've been told by the repair facility that the trailer needs a new roof (which would be the 2nd replacement) and at possibly a wall replaced as well as all the slides have incorrect seals on them as you can see daylight around each slide when they are closed and opened.  Now, we wait, almost hoping that Keystone will deny the warranty claim and just refund our money.  We thought, by asking for what we could be awarded in a lemon law case without going through litigation, thus saving Keystone money, it might make things go easier.  Wrong.  Keystone cares nothing about their customers.  Now, we wait.