jimdevenport
New Member
I've searched around for a forum with this topic, and it must be included in a list of most-discussed topics somewhere.
We're relatively new Class C RV'ers, second season now, and are almost used to the life in the slow-lane, getting cut-off by zippy little cars zooming ahead and then braking directly in front of us, horrific fuel costs, etc.
We took the RV to Corona CA for a wedding stay of a few nights a couple weeks ago. On the way home, the wife was driving, and tried to stop in Kingman AZ for gas. I was sleeping in the back, and awoke with the bumping and turning and slowing going on. As she attempted to turn in to a Flying J station off Exit 53, a man in a small pickup zoomed up beside us and blocked our further progress, gesticulating wildly. I at first thought he must be an irate motorist intent on chewing out the wife, but he immediately began trying to tell her there was something dreadfully wrong with our RV, it was leaking transmission fluid, it was smoking, he would fix it for us, "come on over to Exxon, not here at Flying J, and we'll fill you up and give you 5 cents off a gallon...". I stepped out the side door and he appeared disappointed the wife wasn't alone, but it didn't take long for him to launch into the same sales pitch with me. He said "Look under your RV!! It's LEAKING fluid!!" I looked, and all I could see was a quarter-sized spot of something that may not even have dripped off our undercarriage, and from the guy's rapid-fire vacuum-cleaner-salesman voice, I suspected he was some sort of low-budget shill for a competing garage or service station nearby. I told him I was an experienced mechanic and that I didn't think anything was wrong, and to not worry about us. He trailed after me like a barking puppy, claiming we were going to ruin our RV if we drove anywhere but the block or so over to his Exxon station.
We pulled on in to Flying J, gassed up, and I checked all the fluid indicators, oil, trans fluid, brakes, etc, and could find nothing amiss. We drove on back to Albuquerque without the slightest difficulty or delay, and yesterday ( a couple weeks later) I checked the fluid levels again to find them to have not lost a drop.
I have tried to find the Better Business Bureau in Kingman to lodge a complaint, without success. I'm wondering how often others may have experienced such things, and where. I fully realize the consequences of having to take the RV to a garage. Every place I have gone with "RV" over the door seems to charge 20 to 100 percent more than similar items bought in a non-RV setting such as Wal-Mart. So far I've been able to do all repairs myself. I shudder to think what it will be like when we finally experience real transmission or engine trouble.
Jim & Jacque and Radar, the Rescued Greyhound
in a 1993 Fleetwood 23-footer with no toad, 350 Chevy and Turboglide
Festooned with Ham Radio Antennas
We can be tracked via the Internet via http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=w5aox-13
We're relatively new Class C RV'ers, second season now, and are almost used to the life in the slow-lane, getting cut-off by zippy little cars zooming ahead and then braking directly in front of us, horrific fuel costs, etc.
We took the RV to Corona CA for a wedding stay of a few nights a couple weeks ago. On the way home, the wife was driving, and tried to stop in Kingman AZ for gas. I was sleeping in the back, and awoke with the bumping and turning and slowing going on. As she attempted to turn in to a Flying J station off Exit 53, a man in a small pickup zoomed up beside us and blocked our further progress, gesticulating wildly. I at first thought he must be an irate motorist intent on chewing out the wife, but he immediately began trying to tell her there was something dreadfully wrong with our RV, it was leaking transmission fluid, it was smoking, he would fix it for us, "come on over to Exxon, not here at Flying J, and we'll fill you up and give you 5 cents off a gallon...". I stepped out the side door and he appeared disappointed the wife wasn't alone, but it didn't take long for him to launch into the same sales pitch with me. He said "Look under your RV!! It's LEAKING fluid!!" I looked, and all I could see was a quarter-sized spot of something that may not even have dripped off our undercarriage, and from the guy's rapid-fire vacuum-cleaner-salesman voice, I suspected he was some sort of low-budget shill for a competing garage or service station nearby. I told him I was an experienced mechanic and that I didn't think anything was wrong, and to not worry about us. He trailed after me like a barking puppy, claiming we were going to ruin our RV if we drove anywhere but the block or so over to his Exxon station.
We pulled on in to Flying J, gassed up, and I checked all the fluid indicators, oil, trans fluid, brakes, etc, and could find nothing amiss. We drove on back to Albuquerque without the slightest difficulty or delay, and yesterday ( a couple weeks later) I checked the fluid levels again to find them to have not lost a drop.
I have tried to find the Better Business Bureau in Kingman to lodge a complaint, without success. I'm wondering how often others may have experienced such things, and where. I fully realize the consequences of having to take the RV to a garage. Every place I have gone with "RV" over the door seems to charge 20 to 100 percent more than similar items bought in a non-RV setting such as Wal-Mart. So far I've been able to do all repairs myself. I shudder to think what it will be like when we finally experience real transmission or engine trouble.
Jim & Jacque and Radar, the Rescued Greyhound
in a 1993 Fleetwood 23-footer with no toad, 350 Chevy and Turboglide
Festooned with Ham Radio Antennas
We can be tracked via the Internet via http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=w5aox-13
:laugh: