Updates from Redwood

[hoosierguy]

JeffM,

Thanks so much for checking in with the folks here on the forum. It is great to read your comments about Redwood's interest in listening to the owner's concerns relative to factory quality issues and dealer poor service. Redwood makes a very good product and, with a few tweeks in the manufacturing and QC processes, it will be a very great product. I know my wife and love our 2012 36RL.

I wish we could be at this factory rally. We have been at the rally for the past two years, but this year, we are on our way to Washington state. It would have been great to meet you and see the Redwood team again. Have a great rally.

Guy

[atom ant]

Thanks Jeff!

It is too cool that you read and participate on this forum.

I feel like our 36RL was put together by the "A-Shift", but some of the QA issues experience by others here reveal there is also a "B-Shift"

Of the few issues we have had (mostly inferior supplier parts and perhaps some not so great early design), I see they have quickly been resolved in the 2015 models, which indicates to me that Redwood listens to the Dealers, warranty trends, and are responsive in correcting those issues on the line.

Looking forward for some good feedback from those attending the rally!

[Rick]

Hi Jeff, when I was the General Manager for Cruisers Yachts I regularly monitored and participated in the customer forums. Manufacturing complex living quarters that travel by land and/or sea is difficult and "things will happen" on occasion. It is how they are dealt with after the fact that sets the tone for great customer relations. Recently I experienced a catastrophic bearing and brake failure that also required an axle replacement. We were out of commission for over two weeks. As full-timers you can imagine the inconvenience. Although Redwood did come through Mark Quinn really made things more difficult than needed and nearly broke me at one point. I had to shell out over $6,000 for repairs and wait for reimbursement from Redwood and Lippert. The latter's check just received two weeks ago from our March incident. I was also expecting reimbursement for our fuel (to son's house) and for the hotel nights we had to incur while Lippert and Redwood tried to figure out how our unit was going to be repaired. Unfortunately Mr. Quinn decided to short change his expense reimbursement commitment and then left. Hilton has the numbers and I am still waiting to be made whole. Thanks for any help you can provide. I remain proud of my unit and readily show it off at every opportunity which is quite often as fellow RV'ers regularly ask about the unit (36 RL.)

For the record no one has been able to tell me why this happened. Just this week I spent $250 for an independent RV service tech to inspect the new bearings, brakes and axle after traveling from Florida to Minnesota. I am glad to say everything looks great and I am now worry free again. Still, I wonder what caused the failure after less than 2000 miles on the unit.

Best regards,

Rick Jelinski

[JeffM]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for letting me know. I am sorry for the issues that you have been having with your Redwood. Please continue to work with Hilton on these issues - he will be able to assist you best in communicating to our warranty dept. what needs to be done to make everything right.

Thank you,

Jeff

[Thumper7]

Jeff, I really appreciate the info you provided. We went this past Saturday and looked at 5 different brands of fifth wheels. All were upper end - the ones that are Redwoods competitors. I saw issues with them all. I believe people are just asking to get their monies worth and not lipstick on a pig. As an example, in the auto industry the Jaguar is a beautiful luxury car with all the bells and whistles but has always been known for problems. I feel like the rv industry is a Jaguar at the moment. Someone needs to become the Lexus of the industry. The Redwood 36 RL is our favorite floor plan of them all and we feel has the most of everything we want. IF Redwood becomes the industry leader for solid, well built high end FW's, it would be a win win for everyone. I don't know if J D Power rates rv's or not but but if they do, it would be nice to have their highest rating. Thanks for listening and participating.

[atom ant]

So would that be the Brit Jaguar, the Ford Jaguar, or the Tata Jaguar

[JeffM]

Thank you Thumper7!

I don't think JD Power rates RVs - I've never heard of it at least. It would be useful to see.

I'm glad you like the 36RL! Please let me know if I can be of assistance to you.

Regards,

Jeff

[Oriana]

Originally Posted by atom ant

So would that be the Brit Jaguar, the Ford Jaguar, or the Tata Jaguar

The first one is the only real Jag. Brings back some great memories.

[Campers]

Hi Jeff
I had an LG home theater unit go bad so I was sent a new one, a 3d model as well. Works great but. There is a plug needed on this new unit to hook up the sub wolfed and it did not come with the unit and LG says they do not have any. What do you use and could I get one from you in Aug?
Thanks. Bud

[piper guy]

Andy ~ I put myself through school as an English Sports car mechanic back in the early 70's. owned a succession of assorted English cars but have forever regretted selling my '67 XKE Coupe. Especially when I look at what it would be worth now .........

[lwg]

For the record Jaguar and even Land Rover have done an absolutely stunning turn around in reliability over the last 10 years (I'm a long time Land Rover owner). They've done this to the point where most dealers had to lay off techs. An unfortunate event that's the result of much more reliable product. If they can do it, anybody can. Its absolutely an industry problem and goes beyond just the dealers and manufacturers, much of the equipment most manufacturers use (think Lippert, Norcold, etc) need to make the initiative as well to improve overall quality and customer service. It'll take many years but can certainly be accomplished.

[DLRAKOWITZ]

Ok I can see and understand in improvements for the products redwood uses in there trailers but one item I wished our trailer had was the residential package and we were wanting to pay the couple of grand to have it put in the one we bought that had the norcold fridge. But this was the first time I saw a dealership deny making money by putting this in our trailer. So we got stuck with another norcold fridge that takes a long time to cool down. Instead of messing with companies like norcold that has a pretty bad customer relations department why not invest money with other tried and proven manufactores like the electric fridge that gives you double of the fridge and freezer space than the norcold did. If a company wants to be known as the best and quality made products then maybe it needs to think out of the box and not put in the same exact items a lower quality trailer puts in there units. Food for thought

[Oriana]

Originally Posted by piper guy

Andy ~ I put myself through school as an English Sports car mechanic back in the early 70's. owned a succession of assorted English cars but have forever regretted selling my '67 XKE Coupe. Especially when I look at what it would be worth now .........

OMG - serious sports car envy. An "E" Type Jag - that's the car most UK kids dreamed of owning. Took my dad's Daimler, which was basically a V-12 XJ, for a spin around UK one of the time we went back. Very comfortable.

Even more to talk about at the Rally.

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by DLRAKOWITZ

Instead of messing with companies like norcold that has a pretty bad customer relations department why not invest money with other tried and proven manufactores like the electric fridge that gives you double of the fridge and freezer space than the norcold did.

That's a little like comparing apples to oranges - A cheap residential fridge compared to a RV type multi-energy source refrigerator which have very little in common. The RV type fridge was a must for us as we prefer the propane energy option, and it has worked flawlessly, even makes ice. It would be a deal breaker for us at this point if all Redwood offered were residential fridges in their units. We use ours as a camper, not a park model home. The more residential gear you get in one of these, the more dependency on high amp electrical supplies which aren't always available in the park system. We just spent 10 days on a 30A power source and we were able to do that by switching the fridge, HW to propane and running one AC.

[coloradolivin]

Gotta be honest--when we were shopping the available RW units on the lot at the dealer, they showed us two 38GK's, one with the residential fridge and one with the 4 door. As soon as the DW walked in and saw that french door POS, she said no way. We have one here in our Kitchen and really dislike it. Not that it is a bad fridge, but the bottom drawer freezer is a real pain and we use it every day for our business.

[DLRAKOWITZ]

We have the double door nor cold fridge with ice maker. Ice maker takes 3 days to fill 3/4 bucket if ice one full 24 hour day to get mid cold. I just can't see how this is a fridge people like. What can you fit in the freezer by the way since the other one is solely for ice. I liked the idea of the residential fridge because of the dpace alone. Ice maker that takes half the time and a freezer that's not that bad but understandable why people don't like it. But you can look at it this way. It's a whole lot cheaper to replace a residential fridge with a better one than to replace a nor cold with a mother one just like it

[Dan]

Originally Posted by lwg

For the record Jaguar and even Land Rover have done an absolutely stunning turn around in reliability over the last 10 years (I'm a long time Land Rover owner). They've done this to the point where most dealers had to lay off techs. An unfortunate event that's the result of much more reliable product. If they can do it, anybody can. Its absolutely an industry problem and goes beyond just the dealers and manufacturers, much of the equipment most manufacturers use (think Lippert, Norcold, etc) need to make the initiative as well to improve overall quality and customer service. It'll take many years but can certainly be accomplished.

Yup Jag and Land Rover had a big turn around when Ford picked them up BUT it dam near bankrupt Ford in doing so. That is when the grandson Henry took back control and got Ford back on its feet, just before all the bankruptcies. This is why Ford was the only auto company that didn't require government bailout.

The Jag and the lincoln were manufactured on the same platform. The Brits did try and make something out of Landrover by dumping wiring system, they had the Japanese manufacture one, also they installed a European GM engine but like they say too little too late

[ksaltman]

I have to echo Atom_Ant and say if the RV style fridge was not an option it would be a deal breaker for us. I would not buy an RV with a residential fridge and expect to use it the way we want to.

Now that all said, my DW is the primary chef on board and I find myself looking after the beverages (adult and otherwise). I have a routine to build a good ice supply then find it used in 1 night around a camp fire, or a session of trying to find the perfect frozen drink (queue blender sound....), that's ok.

I know that many 12V ice makers are available and if I routinely need more ice I will invest in one, but so far for our needs having the Propane+12V option on the fridge has worked and is a requirement for our lifestyle.

Just my 2¢.

[DLRAKOWITZ]

Bit the propane side of norcold just pre cools the fridge while you are on the road but it doesn't actually keep items frozen or drinks ice cold in the fridge

[rob_fla]

We fulltime in our RW and have the NorCold Refig.
We also had the option of the Residential but decided to stay with the Norcold due to our lifestyle and travel.
I did add some additional cooling fans outside to pull the heat out of the compartment.(did the same thing on our last SOB 5th Wheel)
Our freezer stays at 0 to 10 degrees and the ice maker filled the bucket about 1/2 full overnight, it was full by the end of the day..