Quality Control 2015

[pjcd]

After doing much research, I decided to purchase a 2015 21RBS, (I was unable to inspect the trailer, bought in Fla. and shipped to NY) when I got it home I immediately notice that the trim at the bottom front of the trailer was not applied correctly and that the transition from the roof to the front on the trailer was sloppy, (to say the least). I contacted LL and complained about their QC, I was told that I was correct, the trailer should never have left the factory with the trim in that condition, I was also complimented on being "handy" when I told them I fixed the trim myself. The roof, I was told was because of the camber, there was nothing they could do. It was the only way that the front could meet / join the roof. I've had the trailer for two days now and have notice some "quirky" design issues, nothing I can't live with, QC is another issue. It was stated before, (on this forum) the whole industry has a poor attitude towards quality control, after owning five RV's over the course of my life, nothing could be more true. I will say that I'm looking forward to owning a trailer with no wood, with my other trailers water damage was found only after it was to late.

[tinkeringtechie]

It's unfortunate, but seems to be "normal" for a low-volume but still competitive market. Niche markets allow for higher markup so someone can obsess over the details for a few days, but LL is competing with companies that probably do 10x the volume with ALL IDENTICAL trailers. LL is able to produce a completely custom trailer for what I consider a reasonable price but QC isn't that great on the details. It would be awesome if it could come off the line with the quality of a car, but car manufacturers probably do 1000x the volume.

[geo92128]

If and when I say IF, LL invests in QC they will begin to dominate the market due to quality. Every LL owner bought one due to the perception of "no wood" or perceived better quality. It seems from this forum that LL is making changes to better quality materials albeit slow. They obviously do not have a checks and balances or QC manager that is responsible for final quality as a trailer rolls out the door. Quality costs money and LL may or may not go there. I do not know how Air Stream is holding up (same owner as LL) but historically Air Stream has been known for quality products.

[monigeb]

Another issue seems to be with delay of manufacturing; LL does not want to say when they expect delivery even only several days before it is ready; I am still waiting my 21 RBS ordered april 20 th. Wednesday july 15 it was at painting and were told it should be ready soon, july 22 having no news we inquired, to be told that some parts were missing and that we would be informed ASAP of when the parts were due in. Finaly Friday 24 th, we were told that the parts were in and that they should be installed monday 27 th, leaving only the valences, it should not be any longer they say but no date. Today we inquired again and no answer.

Frustrating..., no paperwork seems to be done yet and my dealer cannot schedule the carrier to Quebec. In the meanwhile I am burning vacations and cannot look at a plan B.

[fasteddieb]

I do not know how Air Stream is holding up (same owner as LL) but historically Air Stream has been known for quality products.

I spent a fair amount of time on an Airstream Owner's forum - airforums.com - while deciding what kind of trailer to get.

They are beautiful and iconic and I may own one someday. But there is a lot of unhappiness on that forum about really poor quality control, and quality in general, especially in recent years. Filiform corrosion on brand new trailers, chintzy hardware, leaks, rotting floors, poorly fitting cabinets, and on and on.

Anyway, it dissuaded us from spending that kind of money to still face shoddy construction.

As as an aside, went to an Airstream rally in Hiawasee last year. Really great bunch of people, most of whom love their Airstreams, but are quite up front about problems they have.

[whoofit]

[p]It's availability that we struggled with. Ours, like yours, had a very sloppy transition from the roof to orb. After the fact of wiring the dealer a $1k deposit to hold it we drove 300mi to pick it up and noticed the lumpy transition. We were told it was normal. Without having another trailer in all of New England to compare with we bought it. After it was home we noticed a leak there. It was hard to find but it was an easy fix. It had leaked for a good long while on the dealers lot as it was a 2yo left over.

The beauty of LL's is a roof leak is a minor flaw and that adds immense value to me.

After fixing the fairly minor flaws we are so happy to own it. Congrats![/p][p]
[/p][p]Need to mention that it will pay to become familiar with your LL bought the way you and I did as the dealer network is sparse where I live and all the major brands that are well represented in my area are most anything but LL. I look at the warranty period on all but the appliances as basic training. You will choose to jump into the ditch and get dirty even before the bullets are whizzing past your head.[/p]

[pjcd]

I really like the trailer, I agree, even a leak isn't a major issue to deal with. I've been tweaking the trailer, (inside and out) and am happy with the mod's I've made, as soon as I can figure out how to down load photo's, I'll post them. Thanks for all the feed back.

[christianm]

QC is definitely an industry-wide conversation right now...and it should be! While it's great to hear about "handy" owners, we would love to make products that don't require very much after-market tweaking or fixing. Livin Lite is very aware that we have some work to do in this area, and we WANT to earn repeat owners by making a product that is low maintenance. That being said, if you guys ever run across an issue that continues to pop up, or an issue that you think Livin Lite should hear about, PLEASE don't hesitate to make a thread about it OR contact me directly. I would love to take your concerns, bring them before production, and make the next batch of Livin Lite products be better than before! 

Now, that doesn't offer much help to those of you who have already purchased, I know. But hopefully, it's a step in the right direction! 

[kycamper]

I can't tell you how pleased I am to see christianm's comments on our forums. I always believed, from the time we owned a Lil Snoozy until now with our Camplite, that the manufacturers should read these forums put out by owners. They would learn a great deal, as we all do, from each other. I have both spoken to Don Nufelder and emailed him that he could get a lot of good info on these forums.

Thanks, christianm. As you can tell, we really are a group of folk that truly love our trailers and want your company to do very well, now and in the future. Keep up the good work.

[pjcd]

Well, just got back from a 7 day trip to Pa. and nothing major went wrong, how ever there are a couple of things that need to be addressed, the bed room window latches, (bottom two ) don't make contact with the base, they are too high, the shower curtain is basically useless, ( a deeper shower pan would be nice ) and the black water tank strap, ( the middle one ) pinches the tank in the middle, like a belt thats too tight on a fat guy, so the middle of the tank is higher then the two ends. The AC froze up, I don't mean mechanically, the unit iced up, at one point no air was being drawn into the camper, the blower was going full speed but no air, I shut it off for a day and it seemed to work, I haven't tried using the AC again, (the weather didn't call for it). I believe its a drain issue, although initially the drain on the AC, (when I was using it), seemed to have worked fine, water was running off the roof.

[djsamuel]

If it is humid out and you have the thermostat on the A/C set too high, they will ice up.  When that happens to me, I turn it to just fan until the air starts flowing again.  I then raise the thermostat a bit to give the compressor a chance to kick off every once in a while.

[pjcd]

Thanks,,, Never ran into a A/C freezing up like that, not on any RV I've ever owned, but there's always a first time....

[admin]

That happened to us on a regular basis when I camped a lot in Florida. We just knew we couldnt run the AC on max cold for extended periods of time.

[pjcd]

So, you just run it on medium temp with the fan on hi?

[djsamuel]

[quote source="/post/14865/thread" timestamp="1441418406" author="@pjcd"]So, you just run it on medium temp with the fan on hi?[/quote]When it froze on me, I ran it fan only until air flow resumed. Then I ran it fan high on medium temp. Worked fine.