2004 Oven in a 2011 RV?

I've discovered an additional wrinkle with our Apollo Half-Time oven, which I've written about before.

Our 2350 is a 2011 model that was built in late 2010.  However, there's a manufacturer's label on the inside of our oven which states it was manufactured in 2004.  The warranty on it was two years (five years for the tube), so it was out of warranty years before we ever bought our brand new RV.  It's also got some internal wear inconsistent with the couple of light months of use it's seen from us.  Frankly, it looks like somebody put a new door on a used oven.

I don't know if it's refurbished, used, or if it just sat around at PC for 5 years.  But I do know it still shuts off at least once or twice a day, and since we use it about once or twice a day, that's pretty much every time.

It's hard not to be upset about this, and I will definitely be contacting Kermit about it, but before I go too far down that road, I'd appreciate hearing from others about both how the age of their oven compares to the age of their RV and whether using years-out-of-warranty and/or refurb parts in new construction is one of those corner-cutting moves I should have known to expect from the RV industry.

I try not to think about questions like "what else in my RV isn't as new as I thought?"

jdw,
     Was curious so I checked our oven.  The PC is a 2011, picked up Dec./2010 and the manufactures date on the oven is May of 2009.
      Bob

JDW,
We picked up our 2011 PC 2350 in PA. on 4/18/11.  I never thought to check- I just checked our Apollo oven and we have the same issue as you- our oven was manufactured in 2004.  I also would like to get some answers on this.  I was under the impression that the Apollo's were new to this years models.  Maybe they are handling the warranty issues that come up.  I will be emailing Kermit to ask about it.  Thanks for noticing the date and posting about it!
Roni   

I am just guessing wildly here.

In the Elkhart area where the PC factory is located, many RV companies went out of business in 2008 with their stock sold at auctions.  I know Kermit bought a bunch of 2008 Sprinter chassis then, and offered those rigs at the same discount he got, to make great offers during very hard RV times.

Maybe Kermit bought more product at auction, not just chassis.  Maybe ovens, fridges, TVs, who knows?

But it really should not matter.  The appliance manufacture should honor the warranty regardless of when it was made.  It is based on when it got sold to the consumer.  The same applies to those Sprinter chassis.

Walmart, Sears, Target, Carsons, Ford, GM, it doesn't matter when the product was manufactured and how long it was stored in a warehouse, the warranty begins when the consumer buys it.

But it really should not matter.  The appliance manufacture should honor the warranty regardless of when it was made.

Ours was manufactured by "Apollo Worldwide Inc" of West Palm Beach, FL.  They went out of business in 2006.

Okay, that's different.  I would think now that will fall in the direction of Phoenix USA.

Let us know the outcome.

It seems like the people that owned that company have been through several variations on the name in different states (FL, AL, and TN) over the past few years.

Hopefully we will know tomorrow if the reason for that is to dodge warranty obligations.

(I did try contacting the current incarnation by email but got an immediate auto-response telling me they don't bother to answer email inquiries from customers; they only take phone calls.  My wife will try that tomorrow.)

She also wants me to add that if she has the counter-light on and opens the microwave door, the light goes out as the inside one comes on.  Is that normal?

I do not have any issue with my oven I do have and issue  with the Ford warranty.  I would agree with Ron D. that the warranty starts when the consumer purchases the unit but I have been told that is not the case..... Ford begins the warrenty when the RV outfiter purchases the unit. In my case I have lost a year.  Would like to hear more on this subject and who actually regisitered the unit and when?  thanks

I always understood the warranty begins when the vehicle gets titled.  There might be a max time allowed after the vehicle production date or year.  For example, a dealer might have a brand new 1965 Corvette in his show room that he intentionally never sold so it never got titled.  I can't imagine GM honoring a new car warranty once it gets sold and titled the first time.

It would be good to know what the law is on this.

jdw --- my 2011's oven was manufactured in Oct 2009, which is not a real concern  --- and yes, the counter light does go off when the door opens and interior light comes on.  Maybe it's a current draw/saving thing?

Jack

JDW,

     Did you ever get this oven problem resolved?  Just wondering.

I am not JDW. 
We also had the same issue with the Apollo oven in our 2011 2350 PC.  I did check with Kermit.  He assured me it was new out of the box and is under warranty for a year from purchase date with their distributor Midwest Sales.  I would have preferred a newer model but it is what it is.
Roni

JDW,

     Did you ever get this oven problem resolved?  Just wondering.

Not yet.  We're storming* the PC factory later this week with the punch list of problem items, of which this is a prominent one.

And, after reading another recent thread here, we've vowed to leave with the same Phoenix Cruiser we show up in.

*Not like a stormy-storm. More like, um, a happy party storm.

To follow up on this issue, we had a very nice visit to the Phoenix Cruiser factory this past Friday.  Everyone was really wonderful and they worked very hard to solve all of our problems, cheerfully, even the nitpicky ones.  We love those folks even more than we did before.

On this particular issue, we eventually figured out that the Apollo oven shuts off after three minutes of microwaving like clockwork.  Unfortunately, the problem went away for the duration of our stay in Elkhart.  We used it the night before and it didn't happen, and they ran it that day more than once for 5-10 minutes with no problem.

Despite not being able to reproduce the problem, they did replace the oven with another one anyway, which I appreciate.  That one was also made March 2004, unfortunately, which I appreciate somewhat less and which provokes me to call the replacement "another one" and not "a new one."

Worse, I am sad to report that did *not* solve the problem.  Just now, the replacement oven shut off after three minutes of microwaving.

It's not clear if the replacement has the same problem, or if there's a problem somewhere else that's causing this.  We've all been over the electrical system (both Phoenix and myself on separate occasions) and nobody's found anything even the slightest bit amiss.

Really not sure what to do with it at this point.  I've read stories online of people going through five or more of these Apollo ovens trying to get one that works.  That's not something I'm particularly looking forward to.

Just out of curiosity, did you encounter the three minutes and you're out problem only at one location, like wherever it's stored at your home location?  Does it do it only on outside power or on generator also?  Some microwaves have fuses and some have internal breakers.  If you have a source that's low in voltage, it could be tripping out and then resetting itself later.  Also, are you always running your tests with a cup of water or something else in the oven, as they do not appreciate being run empty?  I have an older PC 2551, so I don't have one of these "new" ovens and have yet to have any problems. 

Jerry