AC troubles near Alburqurque

[nelsonraymond]

Hi
We will be in Alburqurque next week and were wondering if anyone had any good experiences with warranty service there. Our main living room Ac is out (2nd time now, this one lasted just a year) We will be calling Dometic to see what they have to say on Monday, but on the last service call we ended up paying $180 out of pocket, $50 for service call (exceptable) but the rest was because the repair place that was an approved service that they sent us to could not meet the standard time allowed to do the job to put the Ac in, so we had to eat the charge for labor.
Janice

[jdwilson3]

Janice, you got taken to the cleaners. Both of my AC units were replaced in under 3 hours, which was a 3 hour job according to Dometic. Look at my posting about AC troubles, as I just had both replaced, the front 13.5K is on the 2nd replacement, and 1 repair between replacements. I will check to see if I can find you a reliable repair service in Albuquerque. Check back.

[jdwilson3]

Janice, check with American RV in Albuquerque. Found one good review for them at www.rvservicereviews.com. The others in Albuquerque did not score well.

Also, you can do an inquiry at www.rv.net.

When you get to the RV Park, (or better yet, call ahead and ask) you can inquire at the desk about a reliable mobile RV Tech. They should know the best (and worst).

[rdunk]

FWIW - Dometic recently replaced one of our 15k ac's/heat pumps. A mobile service tech installed the new unit, and he also said, prior to doing the job, that the Dometic standard hours were less than required. This service tech is someone I trust, and I paid the additional labor without question.

So, at least there are a number of installers in the industry that are in agreement that the Dometic standard is too low.

[jdwilson3]

On August 23, 2006 I paid Bondurant Mobile Service a $45 service call to replace my 13.5K AC, he had to travel approximately 45 miles to get to my ES. Dometic does not cover "trip charges". Kiwi RV tech was on vacation, so I called Bondurant. Alan is highly recommended and I had used his services previously in Sierra Vista. He even wrapped my ladder to insure there was no "rubbing from the new AC going to the roof, etc.

On July 27 Kiwi RV replaced my 13.5K and on July 31 (2007) he replaced the 15K. In that he is local, he did not charge me a trip charge. He was paid 3 hours by Dometic to do the work. My out of pocket expense was $0. Yes, I helped him get the two AC units on the roof.

The AC units on DT 5th wheels are held in place by 4 lag bolts. There is no interior work to do. To remove the AC cover, 4 screws. To remove the interior housing, 2 screws and a few locking tabs, to remove the electrical box cover, 2 screws. Disconnect 2 telephone cables (RG type in modular connectors) 1 goes to thermostat, 1 to front AC, disconnect 120V AC, remove 4 lag screws and lift out, reverse process to install and reset thermostat. When reinstalling the AC cover, it is best to install the foam insulation directly to the top of the unit, and not to the inside of the cover, to insure proper sealing. Kiwi found some loose attic insulation and lots of sawdust, etc, and removed it (All within the 3 hours.)

I am only stating that I believe 1.5 hours to remove and replace 1 AC is adequate. I have had three done on this unit. I did a new installation on my 2000 Avion, and that job (prewired to 2nd AC) required inside work, and took less than two hours (I had help getting the Coleman Mach unit on the roof.)

[nelsonraymond]

John on our first replacement, the unit was replaced by a cheaper unit and the tech didn't even know if it was the right unit until he made a phone call and found out they were replacing it with a cheaper version. Then he had to drill new bolt holes. Once he had it in he found it was not level and bound the motor up and had to take it off and shim it level. Now how would he know all this? We did not get the quality AC/heatpump unit we paid for either, but I guess that is what they are putting on all of them now. Maybe they should have stuck with making them in the US.
Janice

[jdwilson3]

Each Dometic AC unit, in addition to a Model Number and a Serial Number has a Product Number. When whoever ordered your AC, the Model Number and Product Number should have gotten you a direct replacement, and the Serial Number is used for Warranty.

[nelsonraymond]

John that was done properly ( were not stupid), and we were told that this new model, which was an AC/Heatpump but cheaper made was the new replacement. There was no arguing with Dometic about it! We found out later up in Lagrane, IN. after some other warranty work at Paul's place that he was already installing these same cheaper units for warrany replacements. He ran into the same problems and had received a shim that Doubletree was using when they now install them.
Janice

[jdwilson3]

Point taken about the Heat Pump units. I was not implying anything negative about anything you did, but about the extra charge to replace an in-kind unit. Lots of mobile RV service folks will charge more than the "allowed" warranty rate/time, making extra income. If you take your Ford/Chevy/Dodge to the dealer to replace the starter, the dealer doesn't tell you he has to charge an extra $XXX , because Ford only allows X hours to do the work. It is done from the book. Why do RV Service guys do it? RV Techs know you will be gone tomorrow, and you need AC today, and they have us over a barrel.
Not sure about Dometic Duo-Therm "cheaper" units, unless Dometic has done something in the production (besides making them in Mexico). I thought that maybe mine went bad because I failed to have the AC units renew their Green Cards I will tell you, in no uncertain terms, I DO NOT TRUST MY DOMETIC AIR CONDITIONERS ! I am on my 3rd unit on the front (plus I had to have the 2nd one repaired) and now have the 2nd one in the back!

Anyway, American RV in Albuquerque. There is also an American RV Park in Albuquerque, and the park is right across the street from Camping World (a Dometic Service Center!) Not sure if both "American" RV and RV Park are the same folks (and maybe co-located).

Anyway, good luck in getting it replaced/repaired. If you are heading Southwest, stop by and say HI, we are staying at Butterfield RV Resort in Benson.

[rjohnsonnm]

Just got your post because we've been woithout wireless for several days up here in Canada & norhern Minnesota. If you haven't gone to a repair shop, I have used Rocky Mountain RV on Central with good results. I live there and buy parts all the time. I have found them to be knowledgeable and easy to deal with. Plus, they're in town if you're staying in town. American RV is good also, but they are waaaay out on the westside on I-40 and when the wind blows out there it's pretty nasty.
Ron

[47hook]

Here in the cooler Pacific NW, we haven't had too much need for the A/C, but when used it has worked fine. Is there a possibility that there is an outside issue? Such as power spikes, low voltage, or???

[nelsonraymond]

Hi
We are still without our main AC/Heatpump resolved. On Thursday we got up at 5:00 so that we could be at an appoint ment in Alburqurque between 10 and 11:00 am at Camping World/ American RV. They did not get to our rig until lat afternoon. They siad it was a bad compressor, which is what we thought. We left and went to out campground on the North side. We found out the next day around noon that Dometic wants more information which requires us to take our rig back!. We already have they say 1 hour labor at $109.00 to diagnose, which we had at them with the General Manager. They have no mobile unit to send out and will not except liability for anyone elses readings. I spent over 2 hours wainting on hold between two diff. attempt on the warranty line to talk to Dometic to a person who said they had to follow procedure and could sympathize but if the tech needed the readings than there was nothing she could do. this unit that went out was just replaced a year ago. and we got screwed $180 on it now we are getting screwed on this one. Dometic only pays for so much time these guys have used up the time trouble shooting because Dometic for one has such a long check list and they also have to wait on the same waiting line for warranty when they call in on the tech service. I also no Camping World Has a check sheet that Dometic gave them that they use and the info that they are requesting suposedly is not on it that they are now requesting. the whole thing is a big joke and when it is all done in said I am going to find out who to send copies of the invoices to at Dometic and let them know what a scam they got going with there junk they are producing. I have to vent someway. It is a shame that they don't have any competion, that is what helps keep the quality in check.
So Monday Morning we have to pull out and drive thru rush hour to the west side and have them do the readings and sit around and wait....
oh by the way the service people there were pretty incompetent, they put on the paper work posssible warranty which we have a 3 yr, warranty and we had them make photo copies of all our warranty paper work so they had it, and they kept referring to us with the refrigerator problem when we would check back with them for an update. We knew there was going to be problems right away from that.
Sorry just had to vent.
Janice

[rotaxman]

Janice

Don't feel bad about venting I think you are keeping your composure very well I get real real real ugly when I don't have air and I was born ugly so you can imagine how bad it is with me.

I have to agree with you about Dometic they are a very pitiful operation. Coleman is about the only other choice and I'm not a big Coleman man either but I think if I had a lot of trouble I would do what ever it took to go to a Coleman unit.

I haven't had any air trouble yet except for the poor excuse for a climate control center that they put out the remote sensors are junk just like the whole system pretty much everything that Dometic makes is very poor quality and very troublesome. The bad thing about it is they have their hands in almost everything related to the RV industry. They really need some competition that could possibly make them put out a better product.

Hope that things get better for you and you get a break in all of the BS and get something up on that roof that will put out cool air

As always good camping

Joyce and Jerry

[Motor31]

Janince,

Your situation is not unusual for either dometic or camping world. I don't use camping world for anything. I have had 2 out of 2 bad experiances with them for work and won't go back. I look for anyone other than camping world if I need service on something I can't fix.

I have had better luck with an independent service facility from dometic's list of warranty centers. Keep in mind that it's a good idea to call the service center as they may not work on that particular kind of appliance. Once they are set to do warranty work on one dometic accessory, they get listed for everything dometic makes.

[RustyJC]

The Colemans on our previous 5th wheels were pretty crude and inefficient but never failed. I have no experience with the Carrier RV A/C units, but wonder if they have units that would pretty much be a bolt-in replacement for the ducted Dometics (we have the 15K and 13.5K non-heat pump Dometic units).

Rusty

[billr]

I was told by our dealer that the Carrier was the way to go. Much better than the Dometics. Ours are still working, but if and when the time comes, we may decide to go with a Carrier unit. I know that the warranty will not cover the change, but after seeing what others have gone through with repeated failures and the trouble getting them fixed, we may be $$ and peace of mind ahead making the swap.

Curious if anyone has first hand info on the Carriers in RV's?

Cheers,
Bill

[nelsonraymond]

Hi
We finally got our new AC/Heat pump put in. What a fiasco! But thank God for the AC it is Hot here.
We had an appointment for first thing in the am and I was the 1st to check in and guess what they lost all our paper work from the previous 2 visits. The AC was there but they could not do anything without paper work. They were short help and it was different people than who knew what was going on with our situation. The guy finally printed out something to get it going and took it next door to American RV who Camping World sub the work to . 2 1/2 hours laer I see our rig still out side and people leaving that checked in after me. So I go to find out where we are in the pecking oder, but only to see our keys and the paper work he printed still sitting on the desk. I tactfully spoke my mind on how I felt about the situation at this point about our whole Camping World experience. He finally got something going ang walked the paper work down. We got out of there at around 2:30pm and got stuck paying again. They charged us for the diagnosis time onn the 1st two visits, at this point we just wanted to get the He.... out of there and there was no point of arguing with the incompetence. They never even found the paper work.
Janice
I would like to follow up with a letter to Dometic if I knew who to address it to so it wouldn't just go in the trash can. Things won't change unless we speak up....

[jdwilson3]

Can I suggest, if you have received bad service or good service from a dealer/service tech, that you post it on www.rvservicereviews.com that way, others can check before going there, or, especially when on the road, trying to find a good place to get service.

[maltruck8]

We are sitting in central Ms without the back AC. I called Tom Peck at DT, he had me call Dometic, which I was sure he would. While I was on with Tom Peck, because I had read about people being charged, I ask him about that. He said that if that happened I should call him. If you look at the warranty, it says NOT TO PAY for the warranty work. I will be getting ours fixed next week, I hope, guess I'll find out about it then. Jim

[Motor31]

Sounds like typical camping world service to me. I won't trust them to be able to add air to a tire anymore.