[Note: We are here reporting our actual experience during a factory service visit. Subsequent events have made some of what we're reporting below was based on circumstances which subsequently have changed. See "Postscript" at the end of this article.]
To death and taxes, one might easily add the list of fix-em-ups that every new rig will require after the first few shakedown cruises. Our new Intrigue proved to be no exception, and some six weeks after taking delivery at the factory in Junction City, Oregon, we were back at the factory. In fact, so certain is the anticipated need for at least some minor adjustments, we scheduled our "punchlist visit" on the same day we took delivery. During the course of our two-day delivery inspection we were invited to drive the rig for a couple of days, and return for any needed fixes. With hindsight, that may have been a good idea, though we did find a few things after a few weeks that we would likely have not even noticed during the first couple of days.
Our carefully researched "Search for the Right Coach" (for us) was predicated in no small part on finding a manufacturer which excels at post delivery service. We were about to put the results of our research to the acid test -- by going to County Coach not as a buyer, but as an owner with service needs.
When we set up the appointement with Teresa, the service scheduler for Country Coach, she requested that we send her, approximately two weeks before our service date, a list of items which would need attention during our visit. I asked whether we could send her the list by email. We were pleased to learn Teresa is completely set up online at Country Coach, and is quite comfortable setting up service appointements over the Internet. [And her attractive personality even transcends the sometimes impersonal nature of cybernotes.] As a consequence, we emailed our first cut of the punchlist items soon after delivery, and then sent an updated list about a week before our scheduled arrival. By updating the list we were able to delete a few items we'd figured out for ourselves, and to add a few new items we'd not noticed until we'd had the rig for a while longer.
Our appointment was at 8:00 AM sharp. Teresa had said that if we wanted to stay overnight the night before our appointment we should call that day to see if space would be available. We called a few hours before arriving in the Junction City area to see whether they'd have room for us at the factory parking facility. Angel, who schedules the 17 overnight hookup spaces told us that at that moment, all the spaces were taken -- but there was a possibility someone might leave late in the day. Given that uncertainty we decided to call Guaranty RV in Junction City, since they were our selling dealer (and have some overnight spots). We called in, explained we were one of Susan Graham's clients, and had an excellent reception from Guaranty. They had a spot available for us, and were most hospitable when we arrived. Susan was "on the road" at the time, but her colleagues saw that we were well accommodated.
Early in the morning of our scheduled service appointment we were up early to do a final check of the coach -- mostly to make sure we wouldn't forget to identify every item on the list when we checked in. We arrived at the service check in area about 15 minutes early -- just time enough to download the day's email and have a quick cup of coffee in the service lounge. At exactly 8 AM I saw a Country Coach service representative walking up to our coach, and we quickly returned to meet Steve Fuller. Steve was to be our "Service Advisor" for this visit. He had a clipboard which included our complete list of service items.
Steve reviewed each of the items with us, making a few notes as we went along. Most of the items involved fairly minor adjustments -- a bay door that didn't close easily, a front door handle which didn't open easily, a towel ring which had an imperfection, a couple of mysterious streaks of red on the leather seats, and similar items. A couple of items we felt we were being maybe a bit "nit picky" about -- such as one of the corian sink covers which was fit ever so slightly less then flush. Steve showed no evidence of thinking we were being overly meticulous. His attitude was that everything should work properly, fit perfectly, and be entirely satisfactory to us. We'd noticed that the computerized leveling system seemed think "level" was something that favored the coach being a bit lower at the left front corner, and showed Steve that a golf ball placed on the tile portion of the floor would consistently head off in just that direction.
One of the items on our list involved a large, deep bedroom drawer which we intended to use as a file drawer, and which I'd discovered would not stay closed properly because the drawer hardware was coming loose. Steve pointed out that if we intended to use the drawer as a file, which could potentially involve a heavier load than if used for clothing, we should consider installing "Grant slides", which apparently are file cabinet type drawer slides. The deal would be that if we purchased the slides (which turned out to be a quite nominal cost) the service team would reinstall the drawer with the new hardware without cost to us.
We did arrive with two service items which seemed to us more complex than minor fixes or adjustments. One involved the air system -- and we had no previous experience with air suspension or air brakes. We understood it's normal for the air system to purge itself occasionally with one of those loud "hisses". But our coach seemed to blow off the excess air way too often. At highway speeds, we could hardly notice it, because it's much more difficult to hear even over the relatively slight wind noise. But on country lanes, and on winding mountain roads, it was much more noticeable, often giving off its explosive hiss once or more per minute. The other more serious issue involved what appeared to be a water leak. We'd first noticed that when not hooked up to city water, the internal water pump could periodically be heard even when no water was turned on. This, we'd learned from seminars we'd attended, was an almost certain indication of a water leak somewhere in the system. Yet at first we hadn't detected any water leaking out under the coach. At some later point though, when we were hooked up to city water, we found a fairly sizeable puddle under the center of the coach, about 18" forward of the rear axle. Each time we'd hook up to city water the result would be the same -- a puddle the next moring under the coach. Surely these were confirming a leak somewhere in the water system -- right? Not necessarily, as it turns out...
Once Steve had thoroughly reviewed the list with us, he asked (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) what time we'd like to pick up the unit. We were leaving the rig off on a Thursday. We explained we would be making a quick round trip to Idaho to close our cabin, and expected to be back on Sunday. Steve said he thought the work would be done by then, and he'd make sure our rig was set up in the Country Coach overnight area and ready for our return on Sunday. He also gave us his cell number where we could call in at any time to get a status report.
We had contemplated calling in sometime on Friday to see how things were going, but as it turned out we didn't have to. About mid-morning on Friday, Steve called us on our cell phone and gave us a complete status report. Most of the items had been completed, and the air system fix was scheduled for that afternoon. He'd already done an inspection on the items that had been fixed or replaced; and he said he'd look forward to reviewing all of the items with us the following Monday morning.
That afternoon we arrived at our Idaho cabin, which is in a remote area of the Sawtooth mountains, and far from any cell coverage. When we were back in an area with cell coverage the next day we saw we had one message on our AT&T cell voicemail system. I quickly dialed in to see who'd called. Uh oh -- it had been Steve. He'd called back early Friday afternoon to report that the service team needed to access the engine compartment, but our bikes were locked on the back precluding access to it. He asked us to call him back with the combination to the lock so they could complete the work. Unfortunately we hadn't received the message until Saturday, so we could only speculate what problems we'd inadvertently caused by leaving the bikes locked on the back of the rig. Now it would be Monday before the work could be completed...
When we got back to Junction City on the weekend, we found the overnight spots almost all taken -- but this time one of them was our rig. The service folks had parked it, and plugged it in for us, making coming home an easy and pleasant experience. The generously spaced hookup sites included 50 amp service, water, sewer and cable TV. When we went inside, we could immediately see that all of the visible inside items had been completed. I checked the file drawer, and found that it was now mounted on heavy duty steel slides -- more than adequate for any load we'd ever put in it. But surprise, the other large bedroom drawer, which was then full of large, thick manuals, also had been mounted on the heavier slide hardware. With hindsight, it was probably needed. We hadn't noticed it, but they had -- and they'd just gone ahead and taken care of it for us. The golf ball we'd purposely left out may not have been used in re-calibrating the computerized leveling system. This time the ball didn't seem quite as anxious to run off the tile floor, though with a little coaxing it would roll toward the front of the coach. While we have a preference for a slight "nose down" attitude, it was still just enough to prevent the shower from draining properly.
But we'd now have to wait for Monday morning to find out the status of the two main items -- the frequent air purges and the water leak. We did hook up to city water, which had considerable pressure, and waited for the usual puddle. This time it didn't appear. Had they found and fixed a water leak? Or had we mis-diagonosed the problem?
Monday morning arrived, and Steve was there bright an early to take the coach in -- sans bikes this time. Twice during the day he reported back the status of the one remaining signigicant problem -- frequent air purges we'd been hearing. As it turned out, several attempts to correct the problem had left the service technicians still puzzling with it by day's end. Nevertheless, Steve seemed confident the next day would bring a solution. We were glad to learn that one of our primary problems had been diagnosed fixed -- the mystery of what we thought was a plumbing leak. With hindsight, it was related to an unexplainable event that should have triggered more of my curiousity than it did. Unlike other RVs we've owned, this coach has a valve in the plumbing bay which, if turned on while hooked into city water, will fill the house water tank. I'd experimented with it when refilling the water tank. After I'd emptied the onboard 100 gallon fresh water tank (as recommended for all new water tanks) I hooked into city water and turned the valve. I watched the guage inside, and when it was about half full, I turned the valve off. A day or so later I noted, to my surprise, the guage now said the house tank was completely full. I think I just chalked that off to another mechanical mystery that I'd probably not be able to understand. But, as it turns out, that was the key to the leak. It seems the valve did not "close" properly, and it was overfilling the house tank, causing water to drain from an overflow relief point. When it was completely full and we used only the internal water pump, that caused a leak too -- for a while (until the overfilled condition was relieved, I surmise). Anyway, the story seems to be no leak was present -- just a faulty valve which has no been replaced. And a good lesson for me to be more curious when something mysterious like that should happen again...
Having seen most of the Junction City highlights on Monday, we decided the next day to take off with our tow car on a scenic circle tour out to the Oregon coast. The scenery was specatular, and the activity seemed like a much better option than hanging out for another day in the customer lounge. When we returned in mid-afternoon, Steve said he had a schematic he wanted me to see. We went back to his office, and he rolled out a five foot long scroll of paper which displayed the coach's air system. It was, to this technically challenged individual, a bit like carefully untangled spaghetti, with lines covering virtually the entire sheet. It apparently depicted all of the "air plumbing" lines in the coach, which is routed through separate systems. The cause of our excessive air purging ("hissing") had been traced to the use of new air valves in the 2000 models. These new valves, apparently much more responsive than the ones used in earlier years, would instantly respond to any shift in the coach's weight by inflating/deflating the air suspension system to maintain a balanced, conrolled, and smooth ride.
The problem, however, was that these new valves are apparently so sensitive they send signals to the coach's air compressor much more frequently, saying something to the effect "send me more air". The problem is that while the air compressor responds by sending air frequently, it also sends air into the "air dryer" system. That system then gets more air than it is programmed to handle, so it purges the air -- thus the frequent hissing. A bigger problem for us, though, is that Country Coach presently knows of no way to fix this condition. It is diagnosed as "benign", in that it is entirely safe to drive. However, it's a bit of an annoyance, particularly at slower speeds on rough or windy roads where the purges seem to be the most frequent.
I was of course anxious to learn what the practical solution would be for this issue. That's when the Steve used the acronym "ECO". This was a foreign term for me, but had an ominous ring to it -- as if it was prolonging the disclosure of some not-so-good news. As I quickly learned, it means "Engineering Change Order" -- a process which involves sending the problem to the Company's engineers for study and solution. Steve said realistically this means it will be at least some months before a fix can be designed, and the problem cured on the 2000 Intrigues. [But see "Post script" below...]
I'd have to concede that while we'd been favorably impressed with the positive response we had with respect to most of the items on our punchlist, we were disappointed to learn that for at least the next few months we'd have to live with the somewhat annoying characteristic of frequent air purges. We appreciate that with innovation there will inevitably be an occasional engineering glitch. However, the way in which Country Coach reacts to this error, and provides a timely and satisfactory solution at minimum inconvenience to its customers will be an important measure for us of this Company's product. Oh well, we knew when we started that our year on the road would include a few bumps along the way. This will likely prove to be only the first of several. But consistent with my Mom's admonition when something didn't work out quite right, "if that's the worst thing that happens to us during the next year, we'll indeed be very lucky!".
With the major issue now diagnosed as unfixable, we were down to a couple of very minor items to finish the punchlist the following morning. A piece of the carpeting needed to be secured a bit more firmly; and one of the plastic dial knobs on the Princess cooktop had broken. Steve opined that finding the replacement dial would be the most challenging of the two items. When we saw Steve mid-morning the following day, he said that finding a new plastic knob for the cooktop was proving to be a challenge as expected. Shortly after Stephanie (who I thought looked just a touch impatient) said "I think I'll go get a new plastic knob for the cooktop". Within 15 minutes she was back at the Country Coach lounge, brandishing a new plastic knob for the Princess cooktop -- which she'd obtained by just going into the Parts Department at nearby Guaranty RV. Hmmmm. When our rig was returned to us in the early afternoon, we found that the "new" plastic knob on our cooktop was in fact the "old" plastic knob glued back together again. We decided to do our own "installation", and replaced it with the new one Stephanie had so easily purchased down the street. We also had a good laugh over this one. I think we began to appreciate even more that one of the essential requirements for full time RVing is a good sense of humor!
We had a final checkout with Steve, who reviewed with us each of the items on the punchlist. It was also a good time to ask Steve a short list of unrelated questions we had about the coach, and we found his responses helpful.
And so, having completed our new coach "punchlist" to the extent humanly possible, we were poised to adopt a generally southerly heading to escape the rapidly changing weather that predictably accompanies the arrival of November in the Pacific Northwest...
POST SCRIPT: Since posting this article, we've learned much more about what was causing our concern. The bottom line is that everything turned out to our complete satisfaction. See our "Report Card", which is a later item in this series....