RE: Breaking News from Fleetwood

[topcat7736]

 fleetwoodrv
1) ABS Roof Problems Fleetwood didn t design the roof, but contracted with another company to design and manufacture them. The other company couldn t get them right and was eating 70% of the replacement costs, leaving Fleetwood to eat the other 30%. Fleetwood began developing their " aluminum roof" , (to replace the ABS) and planned to introduce them this year. However, the other company went bankrupt last year from all the returns, forcing Fleetwood to eat all the costs and to introduce their " new roof"  in the middle of the year.
 
 2)Tracy s question: " I do like the lights in the new roof. They have the 3 way switch that allows you to turn the light to off, 1 bulb one or both bulbs on. This is the same switch my 1987 Coleman trailer had. Why did they ever change that? "
 Fleetwood has been making trailers under license from Coleman for only the last 14 years, or since 1989. The 30 year old trailers, with the Coleman name, that are still on the road aren t Fleetwood products!
 
 
 3) Like Copcarguy, our Taos has swelling and edge coming off problems. The heavy and cheap pressboard used in making the countertops and cabinets belongs somewhere else. The 30 year old Taos lookalikes didn t use this stuff and don t have the problems. Our big vinyl window just had the threads come loose from the zipper for about a 6"  span. While it s covered under warranty for 5 years, I m responsible for removing it and shipping it back to Fleetwood for repair under warranty! I was overjoyed by this news!
 
 4) We didn t buy a " Fleetwood"  popup, we bought a " Coleman"  trailer. And, the reason we bought Coleman is that the majority of camping equipment I ve been using for over 40 years is COLEMAN. I understand that most things bearing the Coleman name are manufactured by other companies, but that Coleman name means something in the camping world. And, Coleman always stands behind their products 100%.
 
 Perhaps Fleetwood used popups as a place to experiment with changes they planned to make on their more expensive units (like GM does with Chevy s before moving them up the line to Cadillacs). That way, when the new things arrive at the top they re bug free. Whatever their reasoning, I m not impressed with Fleetwood s handling of Coleman named products.
 
 With all that said, I would still buy a Coleman trailer over any other. The frame, lifter system and (until this year) tenting material is far superior to any other in the industry. The original aluminum roofs (used on the Destiny Series) until this year, have been around a long time without any problems. Which only goes to prove that a Coleman product IS better. Fleetwood should have realized that fact & left well enough alone.

[mike4947]

 fleetwoodrv

1) ABS Roof Problems Fleetwood didn t design the roof, but contracted with another company to design and manufacture them. The other company couldn t get them right and was eating 70% of the replacement costs, leaving Fleetwood to eat the other 30%. Fleetwood began developing their " aluminum roof" , (to replace the ABS) and planned to introduce them this year. However, the other company went bankrupt last year from all the returns, forcing Fleetwood to eat all the costs and to introduce their " new roof"  in the middle of the year.

 Unfortunately it was Fleetwood that developed the infamous ABS roof and produced it for several years. When the Sh*t hit the fan with the original warranty claims, Flletwood farmed out the redesign and production to another company when they realized they didn t have the capability to do the redesign.
 Again unfortunaly the other company didn t fare any better than Fleetwood.
 IIRC Jayco used ABS for one year in the late 90 s but abandoned it as unworkable.

[jpreiser]

 fleetwoodrv
Coleman seems to have  so many problems with " their"  name on it.. from roofs to seats, to coolers...  Maybe thats why they changed the name???

[tlhdoc]

 jpreiser

 

ORIGINAL:  jpreiser
 
 Coleman seems to have  so many problems with " their"  name on it.. from roofs to seats, to coolers...  Maybe thats why they changed the name???
 

 
 No Fleetwood changed the name because of a lawsuit.

[YellowXterra]

 fleetwoodrv
If fleetwoodrv and the Fleetwood company were anything at all they would have made more than 1 post in the last 8 months and addressed some of the issues that have come up on the board. I am on Colemans side with this one as I owned a REAL Coleman it was a 1987 when it came time to trade I bought a new Coleman because I liked the quality of the old one, The quality was not there the second time with Fleetwood building them.

[Gone-Camping]

 fleetwoodrv

If fleetwoodrv and the Fleetwood company were anything at all they would have made more than 1 post in the last 8 months and addressed some of the issues that have come up on the board.

 I agree with this thought. But it doesn t matter any more, I m now on my fourth trailer, the first two were Starcraft, the current one R-Vision, and the Coleman will be the only Fleetwood product for me, I ll steer clear of them from this point on. Don t get me wrong, the Coleman PU was a nice trailer, but too many issue s and the mfgr doesn t seem to be interested in addressing these issues. I ll probably be moving up to an even bigger hard sided unit next year or the year after at the latest, and it won t be another Fleetwood product....count on that!