BUYER BEWARE: Look-Alike RV Rooftop Air Conditioners Hit Market

ELKHART, Ind. – Dometic is issuing a consumer warning that its Brisk Air RV air conditioner and heat pump models appear to have been counterfeited by a Chinese company and are now being sold into the RV industry under the brand name Advent.
 
Brad Sargent, vice president of marketing at Dometic, said the Advent air conditioner “seems to be purposely made to look like our Brisk Air models at a glance in order to trick people into thinking it’s the same product.”
 
Dometic is evaluating its legal options against the Chinese company and the Advent product. In the meantime, Dometic encourages consumers to use caution before purchasing these products.
“Dometic has made a long-term commitment to the industry through its people and operations,” said Doug Whyte, president of Dometic Americas, urging consumers to be wary of products and organizations with no track record behind them.
 
With over 35 years of designing and manufacturing air conditioning systems for the RV industry, Dometic’s longevity and track record speak for themselves. The company has manufactured more than one million RV air conditioners and has pioneered development of products including heat pumps, dehumidifiers, multiple-zone thermostats and ducted air conditioning systems for RVs. Dometic has a depth of resources including UL certification test facilities, environmental test chambers large enough to house a full-size RV, HVAC engineers, application engineers and sales application specialists, which are used every day as a long-term reliable business partner and innovator to the RV industry.
 
Not only does Dometic supply the industry with quality products, it also uses its 80-plus years of experience and innovation and 60 sales and technical support representatives for widespread education initiatives. The company has consistently provided service school and certification programs since the 1970s. Approximately 50 service school programs have been conducted by Dometic already this year; participants are awarded certificates of achievement upon completion to display for their employers and customers.
 
“These programs from Dometic provide training to over 1,600 technicians per year, improving the universal workforce,” Sargent explained. “We consider this part of our responsibility as a major presence in the market, and it’s something we enjoy doing for the good of the entire industry.”
 
For more information, call the Dometic sales office at 574-294-2511 or contact Brad Sargent at [email protected].
 
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About Dometic: Dometic Group is a customer-driven, global provider of leisure products for the RV, automotive, truck, marine, lodging and medical markets. Dometic supplies the industry with a complete range of air conditioners, refrigerators, awnings, cookers, sanitation systems, lighting, mobile power equipment, comfort and safety solutions, windows, doors and other equipment that make life more comfortable away from home. Dometic also provides specially designed refrigerators for hotel rooms, offices, wine storage and transport and storage of medical products. Dometic products are sold in almost 100 countries and are produced mainly in wholly-owned production facilities around the world. For more information, contact Dometic at 574-294-2511 or visit www.DometicUSA.com.

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14 comments

tgluckman says:

This is ASA Electronics response:

“Dometic recently released a warning to our customers to beware of counterfeit air conditioners, sold under our brand name Advent. This is a feeble and desperate attempt to stop their recent market share erosion,” said ASA Electronics CEO Tom Irions. “They believe they own the RV air conditioning business and see any new competitor as spoiling their party. This foreign company believes that by discrediting ASA they can put an element of doubt in your mind about our ability to serve you in this product category. They also see that our partnership with Zymbo and Stag-Parkway has been working successfully in attaining market share, and are obviously worried that they will see continued losses.”

Recently, Stag-Parkway partnered with ASA to be ASA’s exclusive Advent aftermarket distributor in the RV industry. ASA also partnered with Zymbo to manufacture the Advent RV Air Conditioner product line.

“Zymbo’s design and engineering abilities allowed us to include the most updated and advanced technologies on the market today,” a spokesperson for ASA said in a statement. “They have a big market in Europe and the Middle East under their own Zymbo brand.”

ASA Electronics has 34 years’ experience in the RV industry.

“Before ASA entered the air conditioning product category we did a complete search for all related intellectual property. It is our patent attorney’s opinion that we do not violate any patents or trademarks. We are running parts on tools only owned by ASA or Zymbo. Bottom line, we intend to be in this product category for a long, long, time. We also expect to become a major player in this category as we are in the RV electronics market,” Irions said.

“We are an American company with full design and testing facilities here in the United States. We look forward to competing in the RV air conditioning field for new business,” Irions said. “Our entry in the market is a very healthy sign for the category. We will bring the same skills in product development and quality control to this category as we have in our current electronic products. This will ultimately result in higher quality, lower prices and more innovative designs.That’s what competition does for you, it makes you better.”

JJackson says:

Market shares is one thing but junk and not taking care of customers after purchase is another. i read reviews where Advent did not take care of warranty issues and for that reason I won’t consider buying your product.

DRAnderson says:

I think it about time that there is some good competition for Coleman/Dometic…I am very impressed with Advent air conditioners..Keep up the good work.

Hank Johnson says:

Well I guess the debate goes on with Dometic – Durotherm and ASA – Advent.
Well for one I’m glad someone is giving Dometic some competition beside Coleman. We have four RVs in the family and the 2008 30 foot fifth wheel is the only one that had a Dometic the rest were Coleman. For the last two years we have had nothing but issues with the Dometic, replacing one item after another trying to keep it running and not throw the circuit breaker. Well my two boys and I fixed it finally this last February on a hunting trip. We took it right off the top of the RV when we went through a ranch gate entrance due to the top rail was lower than we thought. I looked around to see about getting a Coleman since we have never had an issue with any of the ones we own including the 1992 RV. Then I got to reading about Advent – all the good and all the bad. All the specs I read showed it to be the most efficient and the only one with a two years no BS warranty, so I decide to go with the 15,000 one. Putting the unit on the RV was not bad but the wiring up part was not that easy which I contribute to the lack of information in the manuals and there is no adapting wiring harness from Dometic to Advent (but there is one for Coleman to Advent). But one quick call to tech help and we got it running. It was 101 inside the RV when we started and in two hours it was down to 74, the Dometic never got it that cold. And a plus to my surprise was even though the specs say non-ducted unit have a three speed fan, my ducted unit also had a three speed fan and the unit was the quietest of any unit we have running on high speed. Plus the other Coleman ducted units and the Dometic ducted unit have only two speeds. Three speeds – Now I like a that! Oh by the way just for the debate my Dometic unit had a “Made In China” blower motor. At this time I think I bought the right one.

Jerry Anker says:

Thank you for the heads up on the counter fit Advent. Only one thing how do you recognize the counter fit ones?

Tom K says:

Hmm Dometic? Let’s see – Asked for a complete replacement for a 20 year old Duo Therm. Got a 15k BTU Brisk, with the wrong ceiling unit, the wrong control box and Adapter cables that had no wiring diagram. No parts list is included in box and no installlation instructions to mount the fancy Comfort Control relay unit. When it does work, you turn it on and it taksd 3-5 minutes before it even starts. And the whole thing is made in China, according to the printing on the box, the papers and the units. This company deserves foreign competition. You can bet this is my last Dometic anything. That gets added to the ITT Water pumps that suck also.

G Jackson says:

I just bought a new 2013 Coleman 19ft travel trailer on 11/3/12. It has an Advent AC non-ducted unit. The Advent AC unit is noisy, even on low, in fact there is very little difference in noise and air circulation when going from low to medium or high.
It vibrates the entire trailer and the knobs keep falling off while the AC is running.
I traded in a 1996 Coachmen 5th wheel with the original Dometic ducted AC unit, it was quiet, did not vibrate the trailer and did not give a minutes trouble in 16 years of use in the heat of south GA & FLA.
I am taking the trailer back to the dealer for other warranty work and hope to get the Advent AC unit swapped out.

dave says:

Did you ever get your advent swapped out? I have the same problem with a new 13,5 unit that vibrates, and shakes and knobs fall off. Any luck with a new one?

Jim Shrum says:

They will not warrant a AC unit if you install it yourself or if you put it on something other than an RV. I put a new Advent AC unit on my food trailer and it vibrated the whole roof the 1st time I turned it on. Called tech support and they said to check the fan blades. Two blades were broken off. I could not find the broken blades inside the unit, it had to be installed missing! Tryed to get it replaced, Advent would not warrant it because it was not a RV and I installed it myself. So you can forget about the warranty and the cheaper price if you replace a unit yourself. You better go ahead and get a RV installer do it for you. What a bunch of jerks.

Jim Posey says:

2013 Sundance by Heartland Fifth Wheel 33 foot. Dometic 15000 btu ac. Failed in late 2014, replaced under warranty. Failed again 3 weeks ago. Took it in was told it was working ok. I picked up RV and transported to our weekend RV resort lot we own. Turned on, would not cool at all. Runs but no cool. I talked RV dealer into sending their tech to my RV. He tested and said it had failed. They are replacing again. They come from China with a leak and over time gas leaks out. They are none serviceable unless you add the service port to the piece of junk. I researched Colman, They are now made in Chine also. What the hell is the USA coming to. Does anyone know of a decent RV roof top unit made in USA ?? Help

Tom Jancek says:

We understand! Our Heartland Big Horn turned 1 year old on July 26. We are about to replace with #7 & 8. We are seriously disgusted! We are requesting replacement with different models from Dometic.

We have owned RV’s for 42 years and until these units, never had so much as a service call on any! DOMETIC NEEDS TO STEP UP AND REPLACE THIS TRASH WITH GOOD UNITS. Lets all start screaming!

delper says:

I have a 2012 Bridgeview park model with Advent AC (ducted) and thermostat which controls both the furnace and AC. On a 85 degree day in PA the AC never cooled the unit to a comfortable level without the use of a fan in the room. The thermostat has malfunctioned since day one. We usually winter camp so the AC was really not an issue. The heat became a problem. We put a separate thermostat on the furnace and haven’t had a minutes problem. We are currently camping in the summer and have found to Advent AC to be useless. Our RV serviceman checked the unit the other day and found the amp draw was good but the unit would not blow cold air, just slightly cool air. I have talked to MANY campers and Dometic seems the way to go. Everyone whom I spoke to had Dometic units with varying age and absolutely no problems to report. I am switching all my Advent equipment to Dometic. Hopefully we will be able to enjoy the rest of the summer camping season this year. Just my 2 cents worth..

steve says:

From day one my Advent Air 135 rooftop air conditioner about vibrated the roof off my new slide in. With a simple inspection I found the fan wobbled on the shaft because it was manufactured wrong and was not straight on the shaft. The slide in dealer and myself have both tried to get a warranty blade from Advent and have only received obnoxious communications with
advent employees.

Don says:

I have a class b travel van that has an advent roof top ac. Florida RV Sales and Service in Deland Florida built my van and installed this piece of junk. First problem the control knobs will not stay on. Fixed this problem with a toothpick and elmers glue after adjusting the metal plate behind the cover because the shaft was not long enough for the knobs to stay on. Then we were 250 miles away from home when the squirrel gage that blows the cool air into the van came off. No ladder or tools so we had to come home. Blower came off the shaft and I put it back on with locktite on the bolt. Could not see a broken fan but now the ac vibrates very bad. I’ve had the cover off several times to see but can’t really tell. Talked to advent through emails and they seem like they really don’t care. Makes me want to choke them and Bob Murphy at Florida rv sales and service for installing this piece of crap. If you are looking at an rv or replacing a unit make sure Advent does not go on top of your rv. They are nothing but junk.

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