Most experienced RVers understand, though don't fully accept, that during the initial year of ownership of a newly manufactured unit they can anticipate there will be items that need to be addressed under warranty. In fact so certain is this reality that many RVers purposely choose not to "buy new". In addition to the obvious disadvantage of the highest depreciation usually coming in the first couple of years, the prospect of working through the inevitable bugs encountered -- perhaps especially in very complex high end units -- so they seek refuge from this facet of RV ownership by purchasing a 1-2 year old unit. Anyone who has survived the "First Year" syndrome can relate to that. Perhaps the counter-argument is that by purchasing new you have the opportunity to customize a new unit to your personal taste and specifications. And despite the inconvenience of having your new unit "in the shop" and unavailable for a period of time, your exposure to the items that might not work as expected (real or imagined -- and there will be both) begins to build an exceptionally useful knowledge base about how things work, and often some small tweaks that can easily remedy what initially seemed to be an insoluble problem.
For us it was not so much a question of whether we'd have issues to be addressed under warranty, but rather how well those issues would be addressed, and what degree of customer support we might expect from the manufacturer. In the final analysis, and short of major failures to the coach, that would be the crucial factor. We had taken a deep breath when our new Alpine was delivered, especially when we learned that our little 34 was the FIRST of the new Limited SE models produced in that length. In the world of new RVs, "first" is not always a favored position!
Such was the background of our opting to schedule a factory service visit at the 6 month mark following taking delivery of our new Alpine. We made the appointment more than two months in advance to coincide with visiting our kids and grandkids in Yakima over the Easter weekend. At the time we made the appointment we were aware of a few things that might need to be adjusted -- but we had not knowledge of any really "serious" issues. We had a note from the Alpine service folks requesting that we update our list of items to be addressed approximately 30 days before the appointment, so they could ensure that any needed parts would be on hand. We did so, and we provided a short update to that list approximately 10 days before our scheduled appointment.
As we kept track of items we wanted to have checked out, we found our list would sometimes grow (as we encountered new things that didn't seem to work quite properly, needed adjustment, etc.), and at times it would shrink (as we discovered the answer to how something we hadn't fully understood really worked -- or found we could make an adjustment that was a cure).
At the time of our service visit our quite dynamic "list" included both items we wanted to have treated under warranty, and items that we wanted to do for our own account, simply to finish "customizing" the coach to our requirements. Chief among the latter items was our decision to install a washer/dryer unit. When we opted for the smaller '34 Alpine Limited SE we assumed that there simply couldn't be adequate storage space in that unit if some of it were taken up by the washer/dryer. After six months of virtually constant travel, and some 8,000 miles on the odometer, we found quite the opposite. In fact all Alpine units are delivered already plumbed for the washer/dryer unit, even if one isn't ordered. The cabinet where it is installed is simply filled with three drawers behind closed cabinet drawers. We found we had so much storage elsewhere in and under the coach that we hadn't even used those drawers. And our experience with the Alpine had been sufficiently positive that we felt quite comfortable investing in it just a bit further.
Since we live in Bend -- an easy four hours from Yakima -- we decided to just leave the coach at the factory in Yakima and return home while the various items were being addressed. With hindsight, this may not have been the best idea if a "quick" service visit was our objective. And while it was not at the time, we didn't anticipate the coach wouldn't be completed until some 17 days later. Clearly by not being physically present, work on our coach assumed a lower priority than afforded to units in service while their owners stayed on the property with them each night. And to complicate matters further, we found we'd lost almost an entire week because two service techs had been unexpectedly unavailable, which no doubt contributed to the priority of a coach with absentee owners.
While none of the items on our list had seemed overly significant -- with the exception of the cabinetry remodeling needed for the washer/dryer installation -- as it turned out two significant issues that were unknown to us at the time of the service appointment had been discovered by the factory techs. We'd listed one item as an adjustment to the main slide, which seemed a bit erratic when it was retracting. Unbeknown to us that "little item" ended up requiring the removal of the entire slide room. The other involved some failed hydraulic hoses that support the bedroom slide mechanism. While they had not yet actually "failed", they were in need of replacement. Apparently ours was only one of several new coaches found to have defective hoses in the slide mechanism, and a tech from HWH was called out to the factory to review this issue and find a solution. Both of these items consumed considerable time, and in concert with our not being physically present resulted in what we considered an extremely lengthy service appointment.
We did note that once our unit began to fall behind the anticipated schedule steps were taken to make up for some of the lost time. A special crew was brought in on a weekend to move our unit more quickly towards completion, and for the last several days it was in the shop the techs were working a shift that started at 6 AM. And while the visit was considerably longer than we'd planned, and two issues previously unknown to us had been discovered, the service advisors made considerable effort to keep us informed of the status of their efforts -- especially once the schedule began to slip.
At the end of the process we reviewed the list of items that had been worked on with Dave Avila, checking off each items as it was listed on their work order. In general all of the items we'd listed that could be addressed had been addressed. There were exceptions. Perhaps the most significant was our sense that the cooling fans for the A/V system are -- in our opinion -- just too noisy. There are several of them. They are small, and thus have to turn at a high RPM to move the needed volume of air. We had hoped that by now WRV would have changed the models in production to provide a more quiet system. That apparently hasn't yet happened, and instead we now have a "on/off" switch that controls the fans. This might be a limited solution for situations such as listening only to a music CD (only one component) when the ambient temperatures are low. But it doesn't seem to be the more sophisticated solution that a coach of this quality deserves. Hopefully this will be getting some engineering attention.
The other exception related to the issue that the kitchen faucet had begun to leak -- and it was replaced. However, once we'd left the factory we couldn't figure out why there was no hot water -- until we realized that if we turned the faucet in the direction of cold water, we really did have hot water!
We've now resumed our travels in our new Alpine, and we continue to prize its outstanding handling characteristics, and the very livable floor-plan that a 34' coach can provide. Because we ended up with a considerably longer service appointment than we'd contemplated, in fairness this is a bit of a mixed review. But we can't help but note as well that it was that same group of techs that discovered some potentially more serious issues than we had known of -- and got to the more complex task of correcting them. Most of the items on our list were minor by comparison, and most were adequately resolved. However we do intend to amend the way the kitchen faucet is turned to provide some hot water...
Consistent with our original plan, we'll be scheduling a second service visit at the one year mark, to coincide with the warranty. Hopefully the significant items are now behind us, and that one will be more "routine". However we're mindful that we're still in that "First Year", and scheduling a final warranty appointment at the one year mark is only prudent. We hope we'll be able to do a final product review summary at that point. We know WRV is in the process of upgrading its service capabilities, and we look forward to providing a first hand assessment of how that project will have progressed at that point in time. We had hoped to meet with Richard Fish, who on behalf on Monomoy is now providing management supervision for the "new directions" charted for WRV and Alpine. Knowing the folks that run the company is an important element of establishing owner confidence in a product. Apparently our schedules didn't coincide, and this remains one important and missing link in our full understanding of where the Alpine coach is headed over the next several years. Hopefully we'll be able to make that connection in the months ahead.