RE: Discouraged..Coleman roof..What to do?

[LKaskel]

 
On our first trip this year our 99 Mesa with A/C has begun the dreaded roof sag.  It has sagged so much the roof needed to be lifted to get the door in place  All I could do was take a walk and focus on the fact that " At least we are camping.  We are the second owner (bought it when it was 6 months old) and Coleman stated the warrenty to the first owner stuff so it looks as if I m stuck!  What have any of you done to keep this from getting so bad it can t be used.  I m so frustrated I feel like selling the camper, stove, lantern, grill, watch, flashlight and anything else with Coleman on it.  Hopefully someone has an idea that will keep us camping.
 
 Thanks in advance for all your support!!!!
 Lord Bless
 

[tlhdoc]

 LKaskel
First let me say I am sorry to hear your roof is sagging.  Second the Coleman company did not make your 1999 PU, Fleetwood did.  They bought the Coleman PU company in the late 80 s or early 90 s.  Some second owners have had a roof given to them, but they have to pay the shipping and labor to install it.  Give it a try.

[Tim5055]

 LKaskel
Sorry to hear this struck you []
 
 Tracy is right on the money.  Fleetwood Folding Trailers is the manufacturer, Coleman just licences the name to them.
 
 Only you can make the decision as to what your final goal is, but if you like the camper in other ways and enjoy camping asking for a new roof is not out of the question.
 
 In this case having a dealer on your side will help.  Go into your dealer and speak with the service manager.  Let him know that you are aware that FFT has supplied roofs free of parts charge to second owners who were willing to pay freight and labor to install it.  It will help to have a dealer working with you.
 
 Photos on a web site and other " pressure"  can t hurt either.
 
 
 

[don]

 LKaskel
I don t think there is much of a chance of Coleman offering you a roof like they have in the past to others if you pay frieght and labor.
 Look at this thread, I think that at least some of their customer service reps could care less about customer service.
 http://www.coastexplorer.com/popupexplorer/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2146
 

[Tim5055]

 don

 

ORIGINAL:  don
 
 I don t think there is much of a chance of Coleman offering you a roof like they have in the past to others if you pay frieght and labor.
 Look at this thread, I think that at least some of their customer service reps could care less about customer service.
 http://www.coastexplorer.com/popupexplorer/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2146
 

 Don,
 
 Only time will tell how FFT begins to handle these situations.  Right now it appears they are just enforceing the letter of their written warranty.  The warranty has always excluded freight after the first year on a roof for all owners.  It just stings now because of all the problems with the ABS roof coupled with the fact that they were not enforceing this clause in the warranty.
 
 Other than the wording adding the Kyrstal Kote roof, the [link=http://foldingtrailers.com/warranty.htm]FFT/Coleman Warranty[/link] has remained the same for a long time.
 
 I really wish they would get their act together on this issue.
 

[LKaskel]

 LKaskel
Most of the issues with their products are just " things that need to be fixed" ...and then there are issues like the sagging roof that could or will cause you to lose the use of your camper.  If the stove or fridge is having trouble we can still use the camper.  If the roof saggs to the point I cannot put the door in place then the camper just sits.  If I cannot afford a new or replacement roof then I have spent all that money (over $6000)  on the " best camper on the market" ...at least I thought and I can t evn use it.  I realize I m preaching to the choir here but man I could just scream!  We take care of our camper to the extreme and to no fault of our own the roof is sagging.  The fault actually is on Fleetwood.  They manufactured the roof and it is bad.  If the number of roofs that are bad are actually small then why would they not turn this into a positive thing and show the camper market that they really care about our customers like  they claim to be?  I acn say that the dealer that sold me the unit shares in this too.  They were aware that the roof could have problems and cost me 3 grand or more down the road and they had no problem selling me on how the roof far surpassed anything else on the market at the time.  They even showed me the video where a dump truck dumped a huge load of stone on the roof of the camper and the roof held up.  Man, all I want to do is camp.  I m just wondering how long until the sag gets too bad.
 
 

[LKaskel]

 LKaskel
OK...sorry to all of you for that last post.  Here..I like to claim " God is my pilot!"  and I think I may have lost track of that.  I m going to start contacting Fleetwood and we will see what happens.  This whole issue is really about money!  If this were a couple hundred dollars I would pay that and move on but who has $3000 or more for this fix?  I wouldn t give this a second thought if Fleetwood just did the right thing!  Actually I m sure I would feel great about Fleetwood because they took care of things like this and not focus on the fact that the roof had problems in the first place.  Oh well,  I do know that my faith is in God and not in man so I will focus on that and camp as long as the roof holds up.  Sorry again to all!
 
 
 Lord Bless!

[NJDucks]

 LKaskel
Hi there!
 
 Glad to see you have decided to concentrate on fixing the problem!  The Lord never gives any problem to us we can t solve with Him - it s just that human nature wants to always try and do it on their own - I m pretty sure he throws a couple of stink bombs at us every once in a while just to emphasis that point!
 
 First off, I have never heard of roof sag becoming so severe that the camper was unusable.  I wouldn t think any problem beyond lifting the roof silghtly to get the door in will occur - certainly not this year.  A bigger problem will be the roof sealing when you pop down.  If you have true roof sag then the  very ends can curve up and the end seals aren t doing there job.  If you drive through rain you could get a wet camper.  
 
 You might want to run a string on your roof while it is buttoned up to confirm your concern.  True roof sag is at least a 1 1/2"  drop in the middle from a string stretched across the roof end to end.  Really anything more than 3/4"  is a strong indication.
 
 Are you sure that the roof was sagging?  I know that how level the ground is plays a roll in how easy it is for me to put my door in.  could you have had a bad level or maybe you deployed your support legs before you pur the door in?  either one can make it difficult to get your door in.
 
 If you do have roof sag and it is a issue that will prevent you from using the camper, by all means push Coleman.  I think $3,000 is a bit high.  From waht I know shipping is stated to be about $800, but if the dealer gets the roof as part of a camper shipment then it can be less.  Even if Coleman doesn t stand up then still ask the dealer to install the new one for free or a discount.  He does have some responsibility here - he sold it to you.
 
 If the new roof is really expensive you might consider trading it in on a new model.  Deal with the dealer!  You do have leverage with him.
 
 Good Luck and Blesssings,
 
 Tim
 
 00 Utah
 97 Suburban
 03 Explorer V8

[tlhdoc]

 LKaskel
I don t know the cost of the roof itself, but the labor is only a couple of hour to switch a roof over (at least that is what Fleetwood pays dealers on warranty jobs).  Have they given you a breakdown on the cost?  Shipping to my dealer in PA is just under $300.  If you need to get your roof replaced it may not be as expensive as you think.  Talk to your dealer and try to get them to help you, you just bought the trailer so if they are a good dealer they should go out of their way to help you out.

[Tim5055]

 NJDucks

 

ORIGINAL:  NJDucks
 First off, I have never heard of roof sag becoming so severe that the camper was unusable.  I wouldn t think any problem beyond lifting the roof slightly to get the door in will occur - certainly not this year.  A bigger problem will be the roof sealing when you pop down.  If you have true roof sag then the  very ends can curve up and the end seals aren t doing there job.  If you drive through rain you could get a wet camper.  
 

 I can agree with this thought.  I was sitting next to the campfire last year when a 12 foot Coleman pulled into the site next to mine and began to set up.  As soon as it pulled in I saw that the roof had a SEVERE sag (it kinda looked like a banana).  The sag didn t get any better when it got set up.
 
 After they were set up I wandered over and began talking with the owner.  They were the original owners (i.e. full warranty) and had never heard of sag.  Not participating in any on line forums they had never been exposed to anything other than their pop up.  They just thought that was how the roof was as it began to age.  
 
 They had no issues with set up, tear down or usage at the campsite.  They did report a little water intrusion during towing.
 
 I must admit that I was surprised that there were no usage issues looking at how much it sagged, but having watched them set up and use it for the weekend I didn t see any.  Now this may also be dependant on door placement on the individual model as to weather door problems amy be created.