michel77
Adventurer
Hello All,
Not sure if this is the right sub-forum to post, but wanted to relay my experience (thus far) with a new A.R.E DCU unit I recently had installed. I ordered my unit late December and had it installed last week. During the post-install walk through, I noticed some flaws which I pointed out to the tech. He mostly shrugged and said this is how they build them and to contact the owner of the canopy place with my concerns. Upon closer inspection after cleaning out the canopy (it was full of metal shavings and dust from production still), I noticed many more issues and poor workmanship in general which I have summarized and sent to the manager on Sunday:
- there are many unfinished sharp edges from where the aluminum sheet was cut in a very rudimentary way; since we camp with kids this is a safety concern,
- screws holding the windows seem overtorqued and there are many where they were repositioned leaving gaps next to the screws,
- there are several screws from the exterior that missed the interior aluminum framing and are just poking through the skin,
- the doors are severely misaligned resulting in large open gaps and are very difficult to close,
- the striker plates for the doors are misaligned,
- the windows are not sitting correctly in their framing (this may be an install issue as the frame is "bowing"),
- the seam on the roof is bulging, I worry that with thermal expansion this will crack or otherwise fail,
- the welds are unsightly and quality is questionable at best,
- there are many gaps that are left due to the mentioned misalignments or poor fit in general; I worry about overall watertight integrity,
- the rear door windows are off kilter by about 1/8 to 1/4",
- wiring routing and securing could have been improved at install.
I am attaching some pictures to this post for reference. My main goal is to get some feedback from other DCU owners to see if their experience with finish level was similar? And to serve as a heads-up to anyone considering one of these as to expectations on quality when they do decide to move forward. As for my case, I paid $6.5k for this unit and can not accept this absolute lack of quality and workmanship. Even the issues I can fix and cover up would only improve things marginally, and I also wouldn't expect to have to fix something I paid a premium price for. I have asked for my old topper back and a refund but have yet to hear back. I expect this will be an uphill battle with A.R.E. and the canopy dealer I purchased from but I am willing to go the distance to get my money back.
Not sure if this is the right sub-forum to post, but wanted to relay my experience (thus far) with a new A.R.E DCU unit I recently had installed. I ordered my unit late December and had it installed last week. During the post-install walk through, I noticed some flaws which I pointed out to the tech. He mostly shrugged and said this is how they build them and to contact the owner of the canopy place with my concerns. Upon closer inspection after cleaning out the canopy (it was full of metal shavings and dust from production still), I noticed many more issues and poor workmanship in general which I have summarized and sent to the manager on Sunday:
- there are many unfinished sharp edges from where the aluminum sheet was cut in a very rudimentary way; since we camp with kids this is a safety concern,
- screws holding the windows seem overtorqued and there are many where they were repositioned leaving gaps next to the screws,
- there are several screws from the exterior that missed the interior aluminum framing and are just poking through the skin,
- the doors are severely misaligned resulting in large open gaps and are very difficult to close,
- the striker plates for the doors are misaligned,
- the windows are not sitting correctly in their framing (this may be an install issue as the frame is "bowing"),
- the seam on the roof is bulging, I worry that with thermal expansion this will crack or otherwise fail,
- the welds are unsightly and quality is questionable at best,
- there are many gaps that are left due to the mentioned misalignments or poor fit in general; I worry about overall watertight integrity,
- the rear door windows are off kilter by about 1/8 to 1/4",
- wiring routing and securing could have been improved at install.
I am attaching some pictures to this post for reference. My main goal is to get some feedback from other DCU owners to see if their experience with finish level was similar? And to serve as a heads-up to anyone considering one of these as to expectations on quality when they do decide to move forward. As for my case, I paid $6.5k for this unit and can not accept this absolute lack of quality and workmanship. Even the issues I can fix and cover up would only improve things marginally, and I also wouldn't expect to have to fix something I paid a premium price for. I have asked for my old topper back and a refund but have yet to hear back. I expect this will be an uphill battle with A.R.E. and the canopy dealer I purchased from but I am willing to go the distance to get my money back.
