WOW...a LOT has changed in two month!!!

[TheGriz]

Hope all are doing well since my last post in August. Since my last post I have been on an RVing roller coaster!

My last post I was a very happy camper and soliciting input on a cover for my Premier 19FBPR. Well...since then my wife and I and my bestest buddy Jeter (my German Shepherd) took our shake down trip from NE PA to the Shenandoah National Forest in VA. A few things shook out, but I will focus on the most major issue. The first night 18 Aug I went to step into bed, of course with shoes off, and I felt a soft spot on the floor between the bed and the door side wall. Eeeek!!! I said to my wife "That's not good!" Knowing that the floor was compromised, taking on water from somewhere, and I have only owned the Premier for one month, I tried to put that aside for the time being and enjoy our trip. We did have a great trip.

Getting home on Sunday, I immediately took the RV into the dealer first thing Monday morning. The dealer’s service manager immediately recognized the issue. They said to fix properly without patching, the entire unit from sides up would have to be lifted to re-deck the RV!!! I’ll try not to bore you with the details and get to the point. I had to be patient and wait for the dealership to work through the wickets with Keystone. Understand that my RV’s date of manufacture was 3 OCT 2016. So, although I have only had the unit for a couple months, the RV is one year old and was sitting outside on Keystone’s and the Dealer’s lot for most of that year. In the meantime I made it VERY clear (with emphasis) to the dealer that completely tearing up my RV to fix this problem was not acceptable!!! There were only two options as far as I was concerned to remedy the situation, either swap out a new unit of like kind, or a full refund. Please table that last thought for a moment.

Back to my VA trip in mid-August and a quickie on my tow vehicle. I noted that my 2011 Siverado half ton with the 5.3L and towing package just didn’t meet my expectation while towing the 19FBPR. Did the Chevy do fine? Absolutely. I just didn’t like how much I had to “get into the pedal” climbing the mountains. So just what is the “Tim Allen” in me going to do??? MORE POWER!!! I traded my faithful 2011 Silverado half ton in on a 2017 Silverado three quarter ton crew cab diesel!!! I now have all the power I should ever need.

Back to the dealership and my RV soft floor issue. For the past month I was being told by the service manager that if I insisted on a swap or refund, I would have to contact Keystone directly. There was NO WAY I was going to play that game of finger pointing between Keystone, the dealership and me. I emphatically made it clear that I purchased the RV from the dealership, and the dealership needed to be my spokesman to Keystone. BTW…note that the compromised floor area has grown significantly as of today from in front of the door into the pass thru cargo area. I must premise the next thought that I have only used an attorney three times in my life of 61 years, and that was for purchasing my two homes and my cabin…purely for the purpose of keeping my real estate transactions perfect. I have never used an attorney for anything contentious. That ALMOST changed! I was getting very tired of hearing the same story from the service manager about contacting Keystone directly. I finally made it clear that if they insisted that I contact Keystone, I would step out of this exchange and turn it over to an attorney. Well that FINALLY got the attention of the dealership’s owner!!!

This past Thursday I got a call from the dealership’s owner, and he offered me a swap of a 2018 Premier 19FBPR on his lot for my 2017 Premier 19FBPR plus $400 for the model year increase. I was very happy to accept that offer!

Hmmmm…then I got to thinking (always dangerous) about (1) what I learned from my 19FBPR, (2) a significant upgrade of my tow vehicle, and (3) what might be nice upgrades over my 19FBPR…things like walkable roof/ladder, roomier shower, more square footage so my wife, pooch, and I didn’t have to keep getting out of each other’s way, auto-leveling, porcelain toilet, and last but not least my most favorite thing a RECLINER!!!

So, I asked the dealership’s owner if he would consider an upgrade to a larger TT on a cost basis. He accepted that offer and he would apply full value of what I paid for my existing 19FBPR…essentially as a trade. Understand, I did due diligence to assure I was getting the new TT at or very near cost. The process took a while, but the dealer did the right thing and made things whole!

What did I get??? I will be picking up my new 2018 Laredo 288RL this Wednesday!!!!! Not one, but two RECLINERS so my wife and I won’t be fighting over one recliner.

So a LOT has changed in two months! New bigger RV and new bigger truck! Hopefully WX holds out and we can get to the Finger Lakes before the freezing temps set in. I am again a Happy Camper!!!!

Regards,
Mike