Surprise

[cptgringo]

My hot and cold water being reversed in the kitchen wouldn't Warrent a 800 mile trip to the factory for repair.  If this got jammed in a  valve or pipe on the way out.  Now that is another story.  Someone at the factory would have a messy job!

[John E Davies]

OK, that is really distressing since it indicates really shoddy work at the factory. Switched lines at the faucet are understandable, though they should have caught the problem and corrected it when testing the system before delivery.

 

Where did you find that disc, plugging up your waste hose?

 

You can't leave us hanging like this.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[Mainiac]

Switching hot and cold lines might happen when someone reaches blindly under a sink to hook up. My guess is they don't even run the water heater long enough to fill the lines with hot water to see if the faucets are running hot. Just long enough to see if not leaking and the water heater is working correctly. But it would indicate sloppy quality control or a procedure process that should change to be sure to deliver a quality product.

 

I have had a bad experience with the "black disc" before. Most times that disc comes from when the black tank is drilled for a 1 1/2" sink drain or vent pipe. I don't see a center hole for the drill bit. The bit usually holds the disc to the hole saw. Without the bit it can fall out of the hole saw and into the tank. Usually that disc will pass out of the tank through the 4" discharge and no problem to the camper owner. Maybe sloppy quality control again or maybe you just identified a way they can improve their process.

 

What happened to us was we hooked up a "honey wagon" to a camper. (It was a high end camper and not an Oliver). It ran well as usual for a few minutes and then struggled from extreme pressure and we had to shut it down. Poured water through the line and all was fine. Start machine and it would run fine for a while and shut down. This disc would act like a butterfly choke in a carburetor and block off the hose at a coupling. Had to take lines apart to finally find. Not a fun task. We think manufacturers should count one disc for every hole they find...

 

Where did you find yours?

[cptgringo]

John,

 

I agree with the shoddy work.  I have found a couple of other things that also point in that direction. That being said,  I've  seen 800k class A's with two pages of punch list. I still think  Oliver does a darn good job,  but it could be better. To answer your question how I  found the little goodie.  I added  a small extension to the dump connection in the bumper with a section that is clear . I have the fun job of watching the black tank til it is running clear.  On one occasion this got stuck in the clear plastic section.  Ugly

[Mainiac]

Yup. Now you know why some campgrounds and other places charge to dump if you don't camp. Things like that disc not only occasionally plug up campers, but can raise all kinds of problems for waste disposal systems They can lead to plugged filters, backed up lines throughout whole sections of a camping area. You think a clear plastic fitting plugged is gross, try looking out and see 12 sites bubbling greenish brown "crude". Almost as bad as 'baby wipes'. Those things can become expensive for folks down the line.

[DavePhelps]

You know, I sure hope Oliver reads these forums. These kinds of issues are really unacceptable. There is great potential here with the Olivers, and they do a pretty good job, but they really need to pay more attention to the construction process. These are not complicated units compared to the aforementioned class A behemoths. The systems are simple and straightforward, which is what drew me to them in the first place.

 

Quality is in the details, most of which are not readily visible. All the bling is just a smokescreen. Whoever does QC over there needs to up their game and get the production crew on board. As I said, Oliver makes a fine trailer, and I'm proud to own one. But there is so much more potential that could be realized without too much extra effort or expense, that it frustrates me to see them struggle in this way.

 

Dave

[Mainiac]

Indeed. Someone must understand, with their marketing plan, that word of mouth is their lifeblood. And the forum and it's members has to be one of the greatest sales tools they have come across. If the sales dept., engineering, production, service, IT, and overall manager ( if they have one) was to devote an hour a day minimum scouring the forum they could jump start their brand. They would then have to spend an hour a week discussing their findings. It does seem like inter-department communication is severely lacking. The forum provides more information than costly market research could ever provide. I don't see any need to go international to grow their brand. I think they have to look internal and get back to their core standards and values...

[DavePhelps]

Canoe12,

 

Yes, I agree completely with all the points you made.

 

Dave

[KarenLukens]

Plus, I think doubling their line has really put a lot more stress on the guys building them. Businesses are always looking for ways to cut costs and make things faster and that all reflects on the quality overall after a certain point. We've been really happy with our trailer and everything checked out great at the factory. The drawer problem that we had was an easy fix. And now after using the Zamp controller, I'm ok with it even though the Blue Sky controller is better overall being that an mppt controller and is the best and newest controller on the market. The Zamp is dependable and runs itself more or less and that's why they switched to it and so far, it has charged up the batteries every day, though we don't use much ourselves anyway. Lots of things go wrong in new RV's all of the time, but here with Oliver, that didn't happen and everything worked from day one.

I did have to set the Zamp controller to our "Wet battery" system but that was a quick and simple fix. It had come set on the AGM factory default setting. In Jasons Technical Sevices Bulletin, he says that they set it there, but that just didn't happen with ours and I don't see how it really could have been missed when it was installed. Still it was another quick and simple fix. Overall, I expected to find more problems and being that they also supplied everything needed to operate our new trailer from day one... That says a lot :)

[Buzzy]

Overall, I expected to find more problems and being that they also supplied everything needed to operate our new trailer from day one… That says a lot ????

 

Reed and Karen,

 

I applaud your enthusiasm!  I agree we have purchased a great fiberglass trailer!  Sometimes it can be a challenge to maintain a positive mental attitude and you do that better than most.

 

I would like to take a moment to add an observation.  Last summer when I took delivery of my Ollie, Tommy served as the OTT Customer Services Manager.  He understood the value of tracking customer concerns and identified issues related to the factory assembly, the component quality or the customer training.  He participated in the delivery day training, was an active member of our Forum and the key interface between the customer and the factory.

 

I remember vividly how Tommy added value to me and future owners as he understood two key issues that surrounded me and other owners last summer.  At the time, we were being challenged by the complexity of the Blue Sky controller/monitor as well as the Andersen weight distribution hitch.  We resolved our Blue Sky issues, but our efforts highlighted the need for gear which would help owners feel more successful.  Although I love my Blue Sky gear, I believe the transition to Zamp gear is best for improved customer service.  On the Andersen WDH issues, it was clear we needed guidance from the Andersen company, so Tommy brought Sage to our Forum.  As an Andersen technician, Sage brought great insights.

 

I understand key personnel can come and go within any organization, but the function of a Customer Services Manager transcends individuals and helps existing and future owners.  Now this is not the first time I have stated this observation.

 

In the interest of attempting to emulate the superb positive mental attitude demonstrated by Reed and Karen, I will reflect on a saying my mother taught me as a young man.  She said, “Buzzy, you cannot give an organization something it does not want”.  Perhaps our collective knowledge is something OTT does not want.

 

Like yourself, I will use 2017 to simply help owners as well as prospective owners and go camping!  Sounds like worthy goals indeed! ????

 

Buzzy

[Mike and Carol]

When we built our home we chose a quality custom builder with a great reputation.  Before we took possession we did a walk through with him and found a number of things that needed to be addressed.  After we moved in, there were other issues that we found.  In all cases he took care of the deficiencies.   He lived up to his reputation.

 

When we picked up our trailer we found a few issues during our orientation with Tommy.  Once we had a few weeks and months of camping we found some more issues.  In all cases Oliver has taken care of the deficiencies.  One last item is scheduled to be addressed while we're at the Rally.  To me, Oliver has lived up to their reputation of building the best fiberglass trailer on the market and standing behind their product.

 

I think it is unrealistic to expect every trailer to be perfect.  I do think it is realistic to trust Oliver to correct deficiencies.  In our case, they paid for our extra night at Fall Hollow B&B, mailed replacement parts to our home and paid a local RV repair facility to work on our trailer.  Never any disputes.

 

I don't know the inner workings of the Oliver factory, but I do think a dedicated QC person with authority and clout could prevent some of the issues we're seeing.  But, considering that they've only built a couple hundred trailers I think they're doing pretty well.

 

Mike

[KarenLukens]

One of the things that really is interesting to me is that in the first 10 years they built 200 trailers with ours #200 being finished February 9th. And now 2 months later they're up in the 240's. This is really ramping up the line this year, and it really showed while we were there. The Sales Office workers had been brought back into the factory, so they felt out of place for the time being until their office is remodeled, Tommy had quit a couple weeks before, so we never met him. Jason had been thrown into the Service Managers position, before the new gal, is her name Tracy?, was hired. Anita was filling in for Jason as Salesman... And they were building a new custom trailer for Jim Oliver also and he picked his up at the same time we picked up ours.

So we went from Jason to Anita as our salesman 3/4 of the way thru, and then after the paperwork was done and they had finally finished our trailer at the end of the day, Jason walked us thru the trailer partially and then took us over to Fall Hollow and he helped me set up quickly just before dark. We didn't hook up the sewer and we just filled the water tank to check the pump because it had already been a long day for everyone. Basically because they hadn't finished buffing out the rough spots when we got there and hadn't put in our extra outlets where we wanted them so there were 4 guys still working on our trailer when we got there. Plus Jason didn't need to go thru everything with me because this is our 5th trailer and I told him not to bother because of other things he had going on at the same time also.

But every time we've called since we picked up the trailer, Jason has been right there to help in any way he can and that's the kind of service that keeps people coming back :)

[Overland]

I think you guys have hit the nail on the head. What I've seen over the past 3-4 months from Oliver shows all the signs of a company with growing pains. Increasing production is tough. Finding new employees is tough, especially in a small town. Training them is tough. Promoting people into new positions is tough. Do all of these at once, and you end up with short screws and plastic cutouts in the black tank. Though I'm sure it's frustrating and I agree it's not acceptable, at least so far these have all been small problems that are easily remedied.

[John E Davies]

I think you guys have hit the nail on the head. What I’ve seen over the past 3-4 months from Oliver shows all the signs of a company with growing pains. Increasing production is tough. Finding new employees is tough, especially in a small town. Training them is tough. Promoting people into new positions is tough. Do all of these at once, and you end up with short screws and plastic cutouts in the black tank. Though I’m sure it’s frustrating and I agree it’s not acceptable, at least so far these have all been small problems that are easily remedied.

Excellent comments! I agree 100%.

 

I have no problem with minor manufacturing mistakes, unless it becomes a trend that never gets corrected. XP Camper makes the best pop-up camper in the world and they have a few issues, but like the Oliver, they do have very complicated systems. When they moved production out of their little shop into a much bigger facility four years ago, I expected to see a spike in problems but that does not seem to have happened.

 

The reason XP Camper owners are so devoted is due to the owner, Marc Wassman, with his fanatically obsessed approach to very high quality design and construction, and to his stellar long term customer support.

 

http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/166511-XP-Camper-V1-Experience-thoughts

 

Their comments sound an awful lot like what I hear from Ollie owners! I do have high expectations for my new trailer.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[KarenLukens]

We read about the XP's and the Earthroamers also and they were not going to be something that we could comfortably get up into and use. After looking at the XP forum link just now, I wanted to add that in all of the other trailers that we have owned, we had big condensation issues. Where we haven't had any condensation at all in the Lil' Nugget :) We even brought DampRid with us to use on rainy days like today, but there is no visable condensation inside anywhere. There is rain on the windows but all of the moisture stays outside, while the inside of the windows are dry. We have only had a little water around the windows along the edge from when we have them cracked open in the rain.

We were always wiping the wet windows in the Casita and had at least 2 boxes of DampRid open and in use at all times.

On another note we are really enjoying our Side Dinette Awning that we got from Little House Customs, it's easy to open right from the table, rain or shine, and keep the sun and glare outside :)