Nomad Nexus

What an ordeal…stuck in 110 degree heat. Here’s our story in getting one of our AC units repaired.

Our appointment day had arrived after 3-week wait, so we drive over to drop it off, added some other minor warranty items, and parted ways to our 1-week AirBNB.

After 1 week, no communication came from dealer so we, needing to make another AirBNB reservation, visited the Service Rep who said they would get with technician and call on Monday. We got another AirBNB for 2 weeks since the minor warranty work items had not even been looked at.

The end of week 2 came and Rep said they had ordered parts. Parts were supposedly on order but after 2 weeks to diagnose we then waited 2 more weeks for parts.

The dealership had the trailer for 2 weeks, had only diagnosed the AC, but still no parts had arrived for anything nor any repairs started. Their lack of communication on what had been done or what parts were ordered or when to expect anything was beyond frustrating.

We called Airstream Mothership but their advice was to take the trailer to a Coleman AC Service Center if we had lost confidence in the dealership. Knowing we would still have to return to get the other minor repairs done, we accepted defeat and waited… some more.

FINALLY, on week 5, the part was installed but did not fix the AC issue, so another part was ordered. Since the last parts took 3 weeks to arrive, we said we would take the trailer, stay in it with one AC working in 110+ degree weather.

After 3 weeks, the parts came in but we now had to wait for another open appointment… which was 6 weeks out!

We waited it out, flew to Las Vegas to decompress and have AC at any temperature we desired (a luxury!), flew back, and waited… some more. Finally, parts arrived, we waited the 6 weeks for a new appointment, and it was time to FINALLY head to Airstream to end our suffering.

Here’s how things went that morning, which was a premonition:

1. The shoe drawer would not close and went off track, so we were late getting started to Airstream.
2. The road to get to Airstream was closed, so we had to go around…a mile detour.
3. We dropped the trailer off and was about to head to our 2-week AirBNB, but the service rep said “we may have it done today.”
4. I had emailed 3 weeks prior to get an idea of how long the repairs would take. At that time the rep said “no clue” but now he thinks “same day” (palm in face)
5. We leave Airstream after dropping off the trailer to get breakfast and decide what we should do (wait for trailer or drive 2 hours to our AirBNB), but the entrance to the shopping center also had a detour.
6. We finally got to the Chick-fil-A to order breakfast, but they were closed for 3 weeks.
7. We found a Cracker Barrel as an alternate, stopped in, and ordered eggs with cheddar cheese, but they didn’t have cheddar, only Monterey Jack.
8. The waiter returned to say they didn’t have Monterey Jack either. We said ‘nevermind’ about the cheese.
9. We ate our breakfast and requested the bill only to find a charge for cheese was still on the bill.
10. I had already paid the bill when I noticed it.

Believe it or not, we didn’t trust the dealership rep’s same-day time estimate, and left to stay with family 3.5 hours away. Another week later, the AC was fixed!

We picked up the trailer to drive to our nearby favorite campground. We arrived, hooked up and… the AC worked! A few days later, we packed up to head for cooler climes and good friends in Minnesota. We made it to Memphis where… the AC stopped working.

Calling the dealer, they said bring it back (to 110+ degree weather). Having reservations at Disney World, we abandoned our trip to Minnesota, drove to Asheville, NC, hired a great mobile RV repair company, who fixed a loose, burned freeze sensor connection, and we never looked back.

LESSONS LEARNED

1. If you are a full-timer, don’t bother with large appliance warranty work through Airstream dealers.
2. Find a great mobile RV Tech, have them come to you when you’ll be at one spot for 2 or more weeks.
3. Almost no RV tech likes dealing with warranty work, so also don’t bother with buying extra warranties. Just put away some cash each month to cover possible repairs.
4. Airstream isn’t involved with large appliance warranty work and passes you to the component manufacturer unless you want to risk time taking it to a dealer.
5. The Dealer tech needs to call the manufacturer, wait online for HOURS, talk to their tech to determine what measurements and checks are needed to perform. They go back to the trailer, do those checks and return to make another call to the manufacturer, wait online, rinse/repeat, and eventually process warranty. Maybe an awesome dealer tech can help circumvent this process.
6. Time is money.

😁