A Warrantee Cautionary Tale

[theOrca]

I think I have figured out why Oliver no longer uses the Dometic Awnings...

My "purchase" date of Hull 615 was 6 April 2020. I had it delivered, so the first time I saw it was 11 April. Within 10 days I had noted a hole in my awning, and deep drag marks in the fabric, in the fore and aft direction versus open and close direction. I sent pictures to the Oliver Service department, and was told that I would need to take the trailer to a Service Facility for a Dometic Rep to take a look. (That was actually an error, as I found out that I could have communicated with Dometic myself.  Camping World merely took pictures and sent them off to Dometic.)

Dometic denied my claim! They claim that I only had 30 days to make such a claim vice the one year warrantee that is stated in the awning documentation.

The awning has only been opened two times that I know of. Once by me, and once by Camping World (who agree that the defect was Dometic's fault, and should be covered by warrantee.) I saw no rush to get the awning looked at since I had documented the defect, and did not intend to use the awning again until the fabric was replaced.

This coming week I will raise the issue with Oliver Service and see it they will intercede with Dometic for me. If that fails, I intend to lawyer-up an sue Dometic under Washington State law, which is pretty specific as to warrantee issues.

No wonder Oliver dumped Dometic. Even United Airlines has better customer service than Dometic...

[Jairon]

My sales rep told me that Dometic couldn't meet demand so they switched manufactures.

Companies bank on customers not working through the courts so I hope you see it through! A new awning isn't cheap! A demand letter from a lawyer can also save you some time and money.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Jairon