Life in the Parking Lot

 Holy moly! The things RVers do!!

For the past week or so, there's been a fifth wheel parked next to us...they're not here for service, and the folks at Bretz have no idea why they're here...the guy in it told me his wheel bearings leaked grease and it got on the brakes, so they had no brakes...he changed out the bearings and brakes right there in the parking lot....

Last night, the service manager stopped by to give us an update on our issues, and asked if anything had been going on next to us...so we told him what we had been seeing, and that even if the truck was gone, there was a woman and child inside...so he went over and asked them to please leave, since they weren't customers (a reasonable request, especially since they had been plugged into the electric here for a week.)

So last night about 9, the guy came back with his truck, hooked up to the fifth wheel, and pulled out...and the whole are heard a big metallic clunk! He stopped, got out of his truck, went to the back of his camper, and then he reeled up his power cord...the clunk was the plug ripping out of the electrical box! I hope he didn't damage his trailer (or the power box here)...seems like they have enough problems already...

Then just a little while ago, a motorhome just like our old one (same model, same year, same paint job...I mean identical...I had to go out and look to make sure it wasn't the same one, but it wasn't)

Anyway, this motorhome pulls up the road past me, and I always look at the top of RVs passing by...because I've chased down lots of them with the antenna up...but this one was different...this one had his satellite dish up!! Now ripping a tv antenna off an RV roof would cause some damage....but ripping a satellite dish off an RV roof...well, that would cause a whole lot of damage!!

I went out and pointed to the guy as he sat in his driver's seat...then I pointed to my head, and cupped my hands together on my head and swiveled from side to side...his eyes got wide as he realized what he had (or hadn't) done...he finally got it lowered and we had a nice chat about his motorhome, since we both had or have the same one...and I suggested that he get a clothespin and put it on the key or steering wheel when the dish was up, and on the switch box for the dish when it was down...I told him that, having had the exact same coach, I knew that the travel height is about 12' 8", and his dish was in definite jeopardy! He's really lucky that he didn't have to go under any low bridges!

The RV life is never dull!!!

You should get what you pay for...really!

 Last year...just about a year ago this month, we had a new Humminbird fish finder put on our boat...it was supposed to have had both "down imaging" (which shows what's underneath the boat) and "side imaging" (which shows what is under the water to both sides of the boat).

A few months ago, Dale was trying to figure out all of the controls, and was having trouble accessing the side imaging feature.

We finally looked up the model number on the Humminbird website...and...lo and behold...our fish finder did NOT have side imaging!

When we had picked up our boat after the installation, we hadn't checked the model number of our new fish finder (who actually does that??? well, we do now...) or we would have seen that it was the wrong one, but we didn't know the difference from just looking at it, and we had no idea how the side imaging feature actually works without having the boat on the water...

So today, we went back to the place where we bought the unit and who also had installed it. We spoke to the parts manager, who asked for pictures...a very reasonable request...but I didn't have any pics on my phone...so we told her we would do one better, and, having nothing better to do today (seriously...we had nothing better to do, since the motorhome is sitting in the parking lot of the same place, waiting for some repairs that couldn't get done before we left for Texas last year), we drove the hour home to get the fish finder out of the boat so the parts manager could see it for herself!

Now, mind you, the boat is still on the big trailer...and although it's lower than it is when we travel with the truck underneath it, it's still about 8 feet up, so I played "monkey" and climbed the trailer and got into the boat to retrieve the fish finder.

(We also picked up all of our propane tanks, since we get propane here at the RV place for only $.99...can't pass up that deal!! (propane is going for $3.25 a gallon elsewhere))

But I digress...

So we brought the fish finder back and she looked up the model number in her system...and she looked up our invoice in her system...Incidentally, we had looked through all of our paperwork and couldn't find anywhere that said which fish finder model we had actually paid for...

And it turns out that we were charged for the correct (and more expensive) fish finder...but when the unit was entered for the installation guys, whoever had typed it in had gotten one number off, and so the less expensive, non-side imaging unit was ordered for installation. (Can't fault the guy who installed it either...he did what he was told!)

So we're waiting for the verdict, figuring that we would be offered a refund for the difference, but that's not what we really wanted...we wanted the unit that we had ordered...we wanted side imaging!

So the parts manager looks up and says "well, we installed the wrong one. The warehouse is currently out of the correct model, but I'm ordering it and we'll call you as soon as it comes in, and we'll install it...with no charge to you, since this is obviously our mistake.

Wow!! I was kind of expecting to have to argue the point that we should have the unit that we ordered, but we didn't have to say a single word! I'm impressed!

Then Dale commented that, of course, they would take the wrong one out and we would just have the new one...and...the parts manager said "you know...I don't even want to mess with trying to do anything with the other one...you keep it and sell it or do whatever you want to do with it"

So I have to say that I'm thoroughly impressed with the service we received today at Bretz RV on this matter!

Now, hopefully, the rest of our "fun with RV repairs" will go as smoothly...tomorrow will tell!!