Post by navylcdr on May 29, 2021 22:23:17 GMT -5
2021 231VRL purchased March 23. Slideout (containing dinette and refrigerator) allways made popping and groaning noises going in and out which dealer assured me was normal. Last camping trip a week ago I was testing things on batteries in prep for dry camping. Slideout moved really slow and left (rear) side seemed to really bog down. I gave up trying to get slideout to go out on battery and hooked up shore power. Did not help much, left (rear) side still really did not want to move out. After getting it out, finally, I did the programming feature - move slide in a couple inches, back out all the way, repeat 3 or 4 times. End of camping trip, pulling slideout in, it seemed again like the left (rear) side just did not want to cooperate. The motor kept stalling. I had to stop and run it out for a second. Then run it in again, about three times before it came in all the way.
At home, same issue. Slideout, especially left (rear) just did not want to work. Had to stop several times, pull in for a second, push back out. Did some unpacking. Decided to see if I could figure the slideout out, so I pulled it in. On the final pull inwards there were a couple of loud pops from the left (rear) side. Tried to move slideout out and noticed the left side top, and right side seemed to move, but the left side bottom did not. Uh-oh. Tried in direction again, a couple more bangs/pops from the left side but everything seemed to engage. Tried out direction and everything moved, although the left side was dragging on the floor now. So, on inspection, I find that the left side bottom track is misaligned by about 5 of the splines on the rack from the rest of the slide. When slide is in, and there is no gaps on the other three racks, the left (rear) rack still has about 5 splines showing.
So, I call Venture customer support. I purchased this trailer at a dealer 450 miles away because they were the one that had it in stock. Venture RV tells me warranty service in my area is provided by Camping World. Well, that's just great, yuk! So I call the second closest Camping World to me, because they are larger, they will have a scheduler call me back. Call the smaller, but closer CW, they will call me back. Really ?!?. So the second CW did call me back 45 minutes later only to inform me that they don't warranty work for Venture RVs. So I call Venture RV and Dan tells me he will call them and they will call me back. OK, so the first CW does call me back to tell me they don't do warranty work for Venture RVs! I told them that Venture RV seems to think differently, but they assured me they don't do warranty work for Venture. UGH! So I call an actual venture dealer in Portland, OR, about 70 miles away, and they tell me since I did not buy the trailer from them they won't work on it, even though they are a real Venture dealership!
So, I call Venture RV back. Dan tells me they have a contract with Camping World to do warranty repairs and I will get a call back from CW, again. So the closest CW calls me and they tell me they have no technicians that work on slideouts, they can't help me. The second, larger CW calls me back and says there was a misunderstanding, they do warranty work for Venture, and I can bring the trailer to them in two weeks, but it will only be an assessment for me to show them what is wrong, but they won't take the trailer for actual repair until September! UGHHH! Banging head on wall......
So, I bite the bullet and call the closest branch of the dealer I bought the trailer from, which is 300 miles away. They said bring the trailer to us June 14th. We should be able to fix your problem the day you bring it in. So looks like I am going to making a 600 mile round trip to be able to get the darn thing fixed before camping season is effectively over this year.
Lessons learned:
1. Schwintek slides suck. Have you seen what you have to do if the darn thing fails in the out position in order to push it in manually? It's going to take a 6 foot ladder and tools to disconnect the motors to be able to push the slide in manually - and there is no guarantee you are going to be able to push it in after you disconnect the motors!
2. Most dealers these days are booked out until August or September for repairs and they likely won't even look at your RV if you didn't buy it from them. So.....
3. Your local dealer may not have what you want immediately available. And what you want is likely going to be a three to five month wait time to get. But, if you don't buy local, you probably are not going to get service local this season.
At home, same issue. Slideout, especially left (rear) just did not want to work. Had to stop several times, pull in for a second, push back out. Did some unpacking. Decided to see if I could figure the slideout out, so I pulled it in. On the final pull inwards there were a couple of loud pops from the left (rear) side. Tried to move slideout out and noticed the left side top, and right side seemed to move, but the left side bottom did not. Uh-oh. Tried in direction again, a couple more bangs/pops from the left side but everything seemed to engage. Tried out direction and everything moved, although the left side was dragging on the floor now. So, on inspection, I find that the left side bottom track is misaligned by about 5 of the splines on the rack from the rest of the slide. When slide is in, and there is no gaps on the other three racks, the left (rear) rack still has about 5 splines showing.
So, I call Venture customer support. I purchased this trailer at a dealer 450 miles away because they were the one that had it in stock. Venture RV tells me warranty service in my area is provided by Camping World. Well, that's just great, yuk! So I call the second closest Camping World to me, because they are larger, they will have a scheduler call me back. Call the smaller, but closer CW, they will call me back. Really ?!?. So the second CW did call me back 45 minutes later only to inform me that they don't warranty work for Venture RVs. So I call Venture RV and Dan tells me he will call them and they will call me back. OK, so the first CW does call me back to tell me they don't do warranty work for Venture RVs! I told them that Venture RV seems to think differently, but they assured me they don't do warranty work for Venture. UGH! So I call an actual venture dealer in Portland, OR, about 70 miles away, and they tell me since I did not buy the trailer from them they won't work on it, even though they are a real Venture dealership!
So, I call Venture RV back. Dan tells me they have a contract with Camping World to do warranty repairs and I will get a call back from CW, again. So the closest CW calls me and they tell me they have no technicians that work on slideouts, they can't help me. The second, larger CW calls me back and says there was a misunderstanding, they do warranty work for Venture, and I can bring the trailer to them in two weeks, but it will only be an assessment for me to show them what is wrong, but they won't take the trailer for actual repair until September! UGHHH! Banging head on wall......
So, I bite the bullet and call the closest branch of the dealer I bought the trailer from, which is 300 miles away. They said bring the trailer to us June 14th. We should be able to fix your problem the day you bring it in. So looks like I am going to making a 600 mile round trip to be able to get the darn thing fixed before camping season is effectively over this year.
Lessons learned:
1. Schwintek slides suck. Have you seen what you have to do if the darn thing fails in the out position in order to push it in manually? It's going to take a 6 foot ladder and tools to disconnect the motors to be able to push the slide in manually - and there is no guarantee you are going to be able to push it in after you disconnect the motors!
2. Most dealers these days are booked out until August or September for repairs and they likely won't even look at your RV if you didn't buy it from them. So.....
3. Your local dealer may not have what you want immediately available. And what you want is likely going to be a three to five month wait time to get. But, if you don't buy local, you probably are not going to get service local this season.