Excited but scared

[Modmike]

Hello all,

After buying a new Starcraft 1221 popup last August, I decided to trade it in and go to what the pup community calls the dark side. Although I lost a ton on the trade, I was the happy owner of a 2015 Fun Finder 242BQS.

I say was because I bought on emotion, something I never ever did before. Every purchase I make is considered for a long time, researched to death, and bargained to the last penny.

After a pleasant but physically trying 4 day trip, we stopped at out dealer on the way home Monday night. I took one look at the layout, the gorgeous fiberglass cap, generous equipment, quality hardwood cabinets, and signed on the spot.

I can't remember ever falling in love with a purchase before but my heart practically stopped when I read all the problems on this forum.

I take it all in with a grain of salt of course. The much vaunted brand reputation of Starcraft and it's parent company Jayco did nothing for me in terms of quality. The lackadaisical assembly and lack of craftsmanship is endemic to all RV's unless you are in the 70K and over bracket.

The only common thread I found so far are slide leaks, general leaks, unconnected plumbing pipes, and the good sense to stay away from toy haulers.

I am super handy and made many substantial mods to my pup when I had it so I am not afraid of a little work. I just hope Fun Finders are no worse than so called leading brands.

 

[Dakota 1120]

Welcome aboard.

It seems all man made products have their flaws, some more so than others.

However, please bear in mind, mankind finds it far easier to complain than compliment. :wink:

I am more than pleased with my XT276 toy hauler for the $$ spent. Other than some minor tweeking and some 'personal alterations' I have had zero problems with my unit as everything functions as it should and as designed.

Also - you could give some people a million dollars and they would complain about the color of the bills.

 

[Travels with Yoly]

I can really relate Skripo. Our Fun Finder 214 WSD arrives next week at our dealership and we've never even seen one. We're relatively new to the TT lifestyle and it took us two trailers to learn what we didn't like in order to find out what we did like. This will be our third trailer in 14 months. We had issues with both previous trailers and with the last one, it was the selling dealer that was the biggest disappointment.

However, we found a really great dealer that helped us out even though they didn't carry our brand. They still worked through the individual component warranty to help us and got us to the front of the service line because of a scheduled cross country odyssey we had booked far in advance. The next 6 weeks we traveled well over 8,000 miles and fell more in love with the Travel Trailer lifestyle. But we finally realized exactly what we wanted and knew exactly what dealer we would want to deal with. Searching their inventory we discovered the FF 214 WSD and the floor plan and specs suit us perfectly. We've never actually seen one. The one that the dealer had, had just sold that day when we called about it. The dealer called us back that day and told us that Cruiser RV had another 214 WSD coming off the production line the following week and it was available to order. We put $1000 down and ordered the unit.

Now, here is where we can relate. A day after all this went down, I discovered this Forum and read every single post in every single thread in the Maintenance Section. Like you, I was swept with a wave of fear. I too also realize that forums are perfect places for people with problems to get things off their chests as it is a place were answers and solutions can be found. No real need for happy customers to be posting since that possibly makes it worse for the poor people with issues. That is the nature of Forums.

That being the case, I mentioned this to my sales associate Kristen at RV World of Georgia and she commented that some FFs are sold through wholesaling dealers who don't bother to do the things that a dedicated retail dealership does. They don't charge the customer the $695 PDI fee in order to keep the price down, but then again, they don't really do a thorough PDI either. Having spent 25 years with a wholesaling manufacturing company with a very large dealer network, I know quite well the value of a good dealer and how that relates directly to customer satisfaction. I don't expect our new TT to be perfect (previous experience makes that very obvious), but I do expect our new unit to function as it should at least initially because of the dedication of the dealership and the promise from our sales associate. I also expect things to break down and fail along the way but again, I have faith in the dealership to help me along that path.

 

[Modmike]

Let me reassure by saying that I love our trailer more than ever. The layout, appliances, and interior appointments delight me every time we go out. In fact we just got home now from an outing at Ausable Point state campground in NY state.

I have had a minor cosmetic issue and the dealer and Cruiser RV went beyond the call of duty getting it sorted out. I am satisfied beyond belief.

Don't worry and enjoy your trailer.

 

[Travels with Yoly]

Thank you Skirpo for the reassuring words. It seems that you too have a dealer who stands behind their products and takes care of their customers. It's easy to love our rigs when everything is working correctly. Our second trailer was so much more roomy and comfortable than the first we also loved it while we covered the 8,265 miles. However, we had been a bit conservative in our purchase and found out that in fact we needed a larger dinette (no slide out) and wanted a larger fridge and freezer along with a larger shower. The FF214 WSD is the perfect trailer for our needs. We are planning to expand our experiences beyond previous trips and actually spend this winter in Florida in 3 different locations, broken down as 4 weeks, 2 weeks and 2 weeks. We also have reservations for the week after delivery in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park amidst all the fall colors. Expect to see lots of Fun Finder videos on our channel in future months (see link in signature)

 

[LJAZ]

Yoly, interesting point about wholesale dealers. I didn't realize that some trailers were sold that way. It makes sense though when you read about some of hte complaints. The dealer is the point of contact with the customer and face of CruiserRV. If the dealer doesn't do a good job of prepping the trailer before delivery and then won't follow up on issues the buyer is going to be pretty unhappy.

Personally I had a very customer oriented dealer. Literally a small mom & pop operation 5 people (6 if you count the dog). The owner, his wife, son, a mehcanic and a bookkeeper. When I picked up my trailer they spent over an hour going through everything and demonstrating how it worked. I have no doubt he went over it thoroughly when it arrived from Cruiser. Initially I had a few minor issues - adjustments really - that the dealer took care of in short order. Since then it's been very reliable and needed nothing more than routine maintenance.

I doubt my trailer was built any better, or worse, than any other CruiserRV rig. I just had a better dealer.

 

[Travels with Yoly]

Our previous dealer was also a mom & pop organization. Unfortuately, the son ran the service department with one helper. They were consequently so swamped with service work that they did a very poor job on the PDI. The water heater wasn't connected and didn't work yet they never even checked it. The tail lights didn't work on the trailer and they never thought to check that. They set up the weight distribution hitch without my vehicle being there so it wasn't level. Our vehicle wasn't there because we had to take it to a Dodge dealership to get the electric brake controller installed when they couldn't figure out how to do it. We had a 10 am appointment to pick it up and we ended up being rushed off their property when they wanted to close at 6 pm due to all the other stuff we were finding. We ended up having to bring the trailer home in rush hour Atlanta traffic. Four days later when I discovered the water heater not working I called them because we had a scheduled trip in 10 days, they told me they were booked up for the next 5 weeks before they could look at it. Also discovered that the rubber sealing window extrusion was about 10 inches too short and left a huge gap which was collecting water. They didn't have any time to address that either. The manufacturer sent me some of the extrusion and I had to replace it myself which took a novice all of 30 minutes to do. Also discovered a couple weeks later when my credit union called that they had switched trailers and sold us a different one from the one they originally showed us and had written up (VIN numbers didn't match). This is just a partial list of issues with this dealer (trying to keep it short). Needless to say, I would never set foot on this dealers property again.

Having a good dealer is first and foremost the most important decision we can make.

 

[michellep]

I'd like to add (though this thread is a bit older) that in spite of all the issues with my 2015 189FDS, I still LOVE this darn little trailer. I think I was spoiled by my 2008 X-160 that was, for the most part, issue free.

I have been assured by several of you handyman types that the types of problems I have been experiencing are pretty typical (well, except for maybe the fridge issue) for all makes and models, including higher end Airstreams.

I feel that if you keep take an active role in preventive maintenance, you'll have an overall good experience.

So, let's just keep this Fun Finder Love Fest going...

I learn a lot from all of you who are so willing to share (and patiently explain) things that need to be done. THANK YOU!

 

[Travels with Yoly]

Maybe I didn't clarify my opening post as I had told this story several other places on this forum. This experience was NOT the Fun Finder dealer nor a Fun Finder trailer.

My Fun Finder dealer is awesome and our 2015 Fun Finder 214WSD is also awesome. I have no issues what so ever and we too simply LOVE the unit. Unfortunately, we haven't had a chance to use it yet but I've gone through all the systems and winterized it. Everything is 100% good to go

 

[michellep]

I completely understood what you meant. How can you not love these little trailers, even with issues. I just wanted to clarify to people who might get "scared" by reading my other posts, that, in spite of all my issues, I still love the layout and overall, the brand. It really helps to have an incredibly helpful dealer, too - Arrowhead Campers, Mayfield KY.

Too bad you can't get out and fall more in love with it after a good campout. I'm planning to go camping over Thanksgiving - TN State Parks have a 50% discount for us old ladies in the "off season". Always wanted to camp at Thanksgiving, but the hubby would have none of it!

 

[Travels with Yoly]

Yes, we'd love nothing better than to go camping now But as you may know from my previous posts, our truck can't make it up our driveway with the new trailer so we're "land-locked" until the new truck arrives. We'll make up for it though in January when we spend 6 to 8 weeks down in the Florida sun during the predicted harsh Georgia winter