Quality Control Problems with my 2018 10.0

[Vismin]

I'm really frustrated with some quality control issues I've been fighting with my 2018 model 10.0. All the LivinLite dealers near me are reluctant to do any work on it too, since it's a tent camper and not a travel trailer. I dropped it off at one of them and the service tech acted like it was completely foreign to him, even though they service LivinLites. Maybe it's just because they don't sell many, but it was not confidence inspiring.

I'm looking to see if anyone else has had these issues and what everyone's experience has been with warranty repairs.

1. Leaking tent (even after getting "pre-conditioned" 3 times) 4 spots along the driver side top seam leak badly.
2. Faulty wiring. The running lights don't stay on and I discovered today that the right and left turn signals are wired backwards.
3. Side marker lights, the LEDs in them are all the wrong color. The red lights in rear have amber colored LEDs and the amber lights in front have red colored LEDs
4. Galley screws are wearing holes in the floor.
5. Bench/storage box screw is pulled out of the wall, causing a gap and movement at that location.
6. Spare tire is mounted crooked because it's rubbing against a corner of a frame rail. This can't be good for the tire.
7. Exterior bottom of floor is delaminated and obviously came from the factory that way because it is tucked under a frame rail from when it was put together. Under the black part that's pulled back is basically brown cardboard exposed to the elements.

I am seriously wondering what kind of care went into building this. Clearly no attention to detail and weak quality control. I'm hoping to talk to someone from LivinLite directly but I have yet to hear back and can't find any phone numbers to call.

[Onroad]

We posted about 4 weeks ago concerning quality issues with the 2018 10.0 tent camper. Our end walls are flexing and appear to be only be attached by the exterior diamond plate. Dan Miller  (260-768-4016) at livin lite admitted that they almost certainly forgot to use the any bolts when building the structure. It fact, it's our understanding that they started to check and change the design after we brought this their attention.
Our problem cannot be fixed by a dealer, it fact it cannot be fixed. Even with this example of quality control we have spent the last four weeks without any response from livinlite except some exasperating calls to Dan.
Unfortunately we believe you will have a difficult and long journey to try and have this issues resolved.  We are now being forced to consider other more formal options.

I'd much rather be camping.......

[Vismin]

Thanks for the info! I'm hoping to get some contact this week from someone... we'll see.

[Onroad]

Have you had any luck with contacting LL?

[Vismin]

I did speak with Dan a couple times and also got a call from Amy Bowen with Livinlite. When Amy called she was really nice and seemed to want to make it right. She did not make excuses and acted like she wanted to make sure everything get taken care of. I'm just playing the waiting game now with the dealer that I brought it to. They have still probably not gotten to it considering how far behind their service department was.

[ravenmana]

I just got a 2018 Q 6.0 that was built in July 2017, and I found the one LED side marker was wired backwards. I fixed it as I was 260 mils from the dealer I purchased it from. Other than that its been great. I use armorall tire shine on the tent, cover, and tires that helps bead the water off. 

[chilchele]

We purchased our 8.0 three months ago. We have taken it out twice, one trip to Charlotte Motor Speedway, and one trip to family land in the NC mountains. Getting to family land is slightly rugged with creek crossings so the Off-Road package was right up our alley. In just two outings we are seeing QC issues as well. The awning zipper fell off on the second trip, so the awning is now unusable. The vinyl flooring is "bubbled up" or bowed up in front of the galley. One of the tent snaps will not snap on, allowing bugs to enter. However the tonneau cover snaps fine in the same spot when covering, so it must be the tent. The tent leaks heavily around the seams, but not at the windows. I made sure to season it, but that really hasn't helped. I spent an hour or so this weekend trying to get the stains off of the interior (used a horse hair brush and 303). This helped, but I have permanent stains and well, it leaks...a lot. Did I mention it has only been out to camp twice? Now, here is the saddest part....I was washing the unit and I noticed a very sizeable hole in the diamond plating, on the right side, where the front and side meets. I was blown away. It looked as if whoever was cutting messed up and veered off the template or something....but somehow decided to use the same piece anyway! The only reason I did not see it earlier is because it is near the AC unit and at the bottom. But it is truly sad. I will try to get a pic of that later today.  I will get other pics the next time I open up the camper, maybe this weekend....if they are not calling for rain here. I really want to love this unit. Affordable, no wood, light, rugged, etc. but just really bad workmanship and corner cutting. 

[smjcolsga]

Is your 8.0 a 2018 model? If so, then unfortunately the vinyl flooring is a thin top layer which is ‘permanently bonded’ to the fiberglass top-sheet of the azdel and foam laminate flooring. I have personally seen issues with that same flooring in a 2018 QS10.0 we ended up returning due to QC and substandard materials used. There are multiple threads on this forum describing the flooring construction and problems with the changes introduced with the 2018 model year builds. As you know, Thor has discontinued production of these campers, no doubt in part because of the expense and expertise required to build them as they were originally designed to be, imho.

[chilchele]

Yes, ours is 2018, purchased new this Spring. I have some photos I am attempting to attach of the awful exterior work and the cover that is already crumbling after just 2 trips out.

[chilchele]

Pics attached. Notice the one pic with the metal that is cut too short and just open to let in water, etc. That is at the lower righthand side of the trailer. If I was to drive in any rain all of the road spray water would just flood in.

I understand that new things have issues, and the need for warranty work, etc. but once I found that total QC/lack of inspection (pic 0443) uneven cut job...I just feel that I made a bad decision and there really is no "quality" or "well made" RV out there. I searched for a rugged, no rot, no rust, off-road capable RV so we could get to our family land. We were planning on purchasing an additional CampLite 16 for our "normal" campground and weekend outing needs next season. Again, I was drawn to the whole no rot, no rust, etc., but if Thor or whoever can't get these simple rugged rigs right, then I really do not think there is really any such thing as a "quality" RV.

[RockorSomething]

In our experience across several different companies, quality control problems seem to be an issue across the entire RV/camper industry. QC issues within Livinlite are certainly nothing new, as evidenced by a quick Google or forum search.
And, we as eager consumers give these companies zero reason to change, as we keep buying these things.
If a company were to emerge with attention to quality, detail, and service at a reasonable price, they'd make a killing in the industry.

[Mitch]

Or a large company with deep pockets would buy said company and slowly reduce the quality using techniques like "standardizing parts across product lines" so that the industry retains the status quo of eager buyers and cheaper less well made products which result in higher profit margins.

[DavidM]

Or a large company with deep pockets would buy said company and slowly reduce the quality using techniques like "standardizing parts across product lines" so that the industry retains the status quo of eager buyers and cheaper less well made products which result in higher profit margins.

Until the loyal customer base figured out what was going on, stopped buying and the “large company” had to shut down because they couldn’t sell them anymore.

David

[jadmt]

believe it or not I am/was going to Spokane tomorrow to check out a new 2018 QS 8.1 but after reading this forum I have crossed it off my list of tent campers I am going to check out. 

[Bejinscbr]

Honestly, if I were you I'd look for an older used one. Most of the issues didn't start for a couple years after Thor bought them in 2013. I think anything prior to 2015 is your best bet. There are quite a few out there. I've had a couple older VRV's and a Camplite. I think the build quality of the older ones are pretty good compared to almost everything else on the market.