Resolved: Rejected Delivery of our T@B 400: Multiple Problems

TNOutback

Today was supposed to be an exciting day - the day we take delivery of the T@B 400 we ordered back in June.  Unfortunately, we had to reject delivery due to multiple, simple mistakes by NuCamp.  We chose this camper for the reputation and quality built into them, but something is terribly wrong with Quality Control at NuCamp.

1.  Dents in roof and gaps in roof gaskets.  The roof near the black tank vent is dented in places and the trim gasket has several large gaps where the dents are on the edge of the roof.

2.  Decorative trim loose.  The decorative trim at the roof is loose and completely unattached in the same area where the dents are in the roof, and on the opposite side there is an obvious gap where two pieces join.

3.  Victron Battery Monitor Not Installed.  I paid for and shipped a battery monitor to NuCamp and had it added to the build order.  The trailer arrived without the battery monitor.  (The factory even acknowledged receiving it and confirmed it would be installed after the build.)

4.  Wrong color accent stripe.  We ordered the camper with a blue accent stripe, but it arrived with a black one instead.

5.  Wireless backup camera.  The camper arrived with a wireless backup camera installed even though we did not order one!

These are all simple mistakes and easily avoided by even minimal attention to quality control.  It is sad to say my first experience with Nucamp has been very disappointing. I know these are well-built campers, and I am looking forward to enjoying the adventure - when these avoidable errors are fixed. 

Cbusguy

Sorry to hear it.   

Gonna guess they shipped you the wrong unit.

My roof has either a hand print or elbow dent on the driverside between the side and the fantastic fan.  There have been other pictures of these dent

What was your dealers reaction?

TNOutback

@Cbusguy it was the correct unit; the VIN number matches the one assigned to my build.  The salesman was just as shocked as I was when we got a look at it this morning when it arrived.  Such simple, obvious errors are really irritating.  I left today with assurance it will all be taken care of.

Cbusguy

Nucamp screwed up my loan by delivering a camper with a different VIN from what they gave the dealer

I am still cleaning up that mess.

The bottom line is their process is sloppy at best and at worst they simply don't care

Deb55

Disappointing, to say the least! I'd make them leave me the backup camera for free, though... 

idletab

So you had the roof dents on your 400 too.  NuCamp swore that these dents could not have been caused by them or the shipping process after I contacted them - of course, after I accepted the trailer. They refused to fix them, naturally.

The cosmetics are annoying, but what I'm really worried about is that this sloppiness is hiding something that's going to damage the trailer underneath. 

NuCamp has been unbelievably disappointing for me. I like the trailer but I'm worried I need to get rid of it before it just falls apart, I can afford depreciation but I can't afford for this thing to be worth nothing. My dealer is clueless and so I'm really concerned they simply won't be able to take care of the issues I've identified - like it seems most NuCamp dealers are.

TNOutback

If I had to guess, it would seem plausible that the way the roof was fastened to the frame may have been over-torqued, causing the aluminum skin to deflect/dent on the edge.  It’s about 18 inches of “wavy” area, causing the gasket to lose contact with the roof in the dips.

Cbusguy

I have a 320,  But have the same dents.   During initial inspection how are you going to see it.  Bring a ladder?  I noticed mine while on the garage roof.    

I absolutely believe it happened when they installed the roof fan.

It is disappointing, not the end of the world.

I agree and wonder what other defects remain hidden

TNOutback

@Cbusguy I asked my salesman for a ladder so I could inspect the roof, but I actually first noticed it from the ground standing around the back of the trailer.

idletab

TNOutback said:

If I had to guess, it would seem plausible that the way the roof was fastened to the frame may have been over-torqued, causing the aluminum skin to deflect/dent on the edge.  It’s about 18 inches of “wavy” area, causing the gasket to lose contact with the roof in the dips.

Whose image are you commenting on, TN?

webers3

With more frequent cases of poor quality control NuCamp is losing its shine.

jrhamel

@TNOutback, sorry to hear this. We have a 400 on order and will make sure to look it over carefully before excepting it. 
Keep us updated on your 400

Olena

It really sounds like Nucamp is growing too big and too fast.

TNOutback

idletab said:

Whose image are you commenting on, TN?

Sorry; the roof on my T@B

jkjenn

Cbusguy said:

I have a 320,  But have the same dents.   During initial inspection how are you going to see it.  Bring a ladder?  I noticed mine while on the garage roof.    

I absolutely believe it happened when they installed the roof fan.

It is disappointing, not the end of the world.

I agree and wonder what other defects remain hidden

Cough....cough... hire a commercial drone pilot. 😁

ecyfoto

Sorry to hear about your issues. I ordered a 400 in the spring and I've had no issues so far tough I haven't looked at the roof. BTW Interesting to hear your 400 came with a backup camera. When I ordered mine in January I wanted one but I was told that no such option was available.

SweetlyHome

It is disappointing to hear this but incidents do happen and always have.  We rejected the delivery of our factory order 2012 T@B (320), obviously in 2012.  And I recognize these are not as serious as the roof damage being reported.  

In increasing order of concern at the time:

1. The 3-way refrigerator was not plugged into the 120AC outlet
2. The literature showed and the floor models had all birch shelves above the windows.  Ours arrived with the front retention boards upholstered.
3. The trim strip above the diamond plate in the front of the trailer was broken.

We found with the dealer on items 1 and 3 as these should have been found and addressed before we set out our 8 hour round trip to pick it up.  A proper pre-delivery inspection should have found these two items. The dealer, Lazy Days in Tampa, took a week to correct these items.  They are no longer a dealer.

NuCamp, then Pleasant Valley, shipped us the pre-cut and finished birch shelf pieces which were simple to replace ourselves.

Other things have changed over the years as well.  Our 3 special order items:

No Furnace - (There was no Alde.)  We live in Florida and have only sorta missed it twice.

Custom Flooring - We ordered what we wanted from Lowes in Massillon Ohio.  Factory picked it up for the installation.

Custom Fabric - We shipped them the fabric we wanted for the cushions.

All happily and promptly handled.

Note the trailer was delivered by a Little Guy salesperson who was driving down to Jacksonville for a trade show. (Probably why the trim was damaged.)

Times do change.

Cbusguy

@ecyfoto the backup camera and wrong stripe color makes me think that it was someone elses special order.    That person probably ended up with a wrong colored stripe and a battery monitor.

lkc001

That is very disappointing news to hear.  Are they growing too rapidly?  Hope someone is reading here and taking note that sloppy work is slipping past QA?????

TNOutback

Cbusguy said:

@ecyfoto the backup camera and wrong stripe color makes me think that it was someone elses special order.    That person probably ended up with a wrong colored stripe and a battery monitor.

@Cbusguy unfortunately it is my camper as the VIN number matches my order/build sheet. I think it was very simple mistake to catch really if someone was paying attention to quality control at the end of the line.   I’ve had the opportunity to be in the Corvette plant several times, and I’ve always been fascinated by the last stop on the production line - the quality control area.  Those men and women go over those cars in meticulous detail, and reject them if anything is not correct and they are immediately fixed.  It would seem someone at NuCamp needs to be doing that.

idletab

lkc001 said:

That is very disappointing news to hear.  Are they growing too rapidly?  Hope someone is reading here and taking note that sloppy work is slipping past QA?????

I don't think they really care unfortunately. They know about my issues and haven't shown that they do, at least.

TNOutback

Apparently our camper, which we haven’t even paid for yet, is headed back to the factory to correct all the issues.  That at least gives me hope they are going to make it right.

TNOutback

Update:  two weeks after rejecting delivery of our camper and 12 days since being told it was going back to the factory to be fixed, it’s still sitting on the dealer’s lot.  Dealer says they are still waiting for NuCamp to approve the “repairs” and cannot do anything until NuCamp responds.  I don’t get it; this is the complete opposite of everything I’ve observed thus far about this company.

Sharon_is_SAM

@TNOutback, if I were you, I would consider reaching out to nuCamp myself to confirm their participation.  Customerservice@nucamprv.com

It may serve as an additional reminder that a customer is patiently waiting.

TNOutback

Sharon_is_SAM said:

@TNOutback, if I were you, I would consider reaching out to nuCamp myself to confirm their participation.  Customerservice@nucamprv.com

It may serve as an additional reminder that a customer is patiently waiting.

@Sharon_is_SAM I have already done that, and got a quick reply and assurance it would be promptly taken care of, but that was 12 days ago.

Sharon_is_SAM

Poke them again!  Soon to be 2 weeks.  Next thing you know it will be a month.  Never hurts to remind them.  Maybe they DID reply to your dealer and the message got lost in the shuffle.  It happens.

VictoriaP

Agree with @Sharon_is_SAM, and I’d take it a step further. In writing, let them know you will be contacting them every Monday until the work is completed to your satisfaction or until the problem is otherwise resolved. Then stick to it. Squeaky wheels and all that sort of thing, if you make it clear you will be staying on top of them, they’ll keep your issue at the top of the pile until it’s finished.

While one would hope such isn’t necessary with a supposedly good customer service department, companies are run by humans, and humans let things slip through the cracks. Better to just schedule weekly follow ups with both dealer and nuCamp, and hope you don’t have to do too many of them before this is over with.

TNOutback

Can’t express how disappointed I am:  found out today that NuCamp won’t be picking up my 400 to bring it back to the factory until September 17th, 5 1/2 weeks after we rejected the delivery over factory errors!  We made the order/purchase decision based on NuCamp’s reputation for quality and customer service, and I am very disappointed on both accounts.  One would think that in the face of errors made by the factory, they would try to set things right, but this is very disheartening news.  This is the opposite of customer service.  At least my dealer is trying make the best of the situation by offering me a rental unit to use in the interim (not a T@B), but borrowing another camper is not something we are interested in given the liability exposure, the work involved and the places we were going to camp this fall.

Sharon_is_SAM

Did you ask why the delay until September?  I assume that is the earliest a delivery truck will be making a return trip.  

TNOutback

Apparently the dealer was told it was due to the factory’s backlog of work, but even that doesn’t make sense as I was told earlier this week by Nucamp it was due to the trucking company’s schedule. I could deliver it myself tomorrow to them if that was the issue.

at this point I would be better off canceling my order and buying one off of a dealer’s lot somewhere, but I would lose my deposit. 

VictoriaP

@TNOutback I’m sorry this is happening. It may be worth asking the dealer about getting your deposit back, or depending on the size of the deposit, it may be worth walking away IF there’s another one on a lot somewhere that can be had sooner. I’ve heard previously that the wait time recently for factory repairs has gone up, and I know from talking with dealers that the wait for trucks is also a bit crazy, so I’m not completely surprised, but I also don’t feel like this wait time is acceptable without some sort of discount or other compensation.