Well, its dark, its late, and I spent the better part of my day just waiting around because they didn't do all the inspecting they probably should have. But it is attached to the truck, in the driveway and everything seems to work.Let's start at the beginning for the day... I really don't like California anymore. I'm sure I could get used to it again, but wow - what a hassle. Traffic, is a nightmare. It is stop and go, ofr no reason other than that there are too many people to fit on roads that were designed and built just last year even. The freeway is worse (we stop-and-go'd around a corner on the freeway just because it was a corner - no accident, no stall, CORNER. sigh. Then, I needed diesel, so I got off the freeway where a station should be, but no diesel. drove down the street, no diesel... ugh. Took me what seemed like forever to get everything done and then get down to Norm's...
Then: Well, you'd think it was going to be easy - they knew I was coming two weeks out, they knew I was leaving with the RV that night, and they KNEW I was from far away and wasn't going to bring it back in for a due bill... sigh. We did some shopping - with the deal I got a $50 gift cert. Because I bought from them I get 10% off. This still brought the price down to HIGH retail, so I didn't buy anything more than I absolutely needed. She tried to upsell me on everything, and I'm sure her information is good and she just wanted me to be happy, but I can cut about 20% off those prices by waiting a couple of days, so I did. I used the cert to
get: cheap sewer hose and connector, egg crate (I needed another $5 thing), RV shaped like the Glendale for the girls, a 15 to 30 adapter, and a 25' water hose (longer primary, then a 15' can be an extension). They gave me some nice 'getting started' books, including a Woodall's guide, an atlas, and a nice "one tank trips" book for the far west of the US... In addition (and because they matched Camping World's president price) I bought the 50 amp portable surge protector and lock (aside: The Glendale's wiring thus far seems to be behind the panel, and I can't easily get to it. I want to hard wire one in instead, but I'll have to wait to see if that's possible. I probably won't plug in until our first trip - not on the way home... AND if I did, it'll probably be to the Honda i2000 I plan to buy.) Anyhow, I also had to buy the gooseneck adapter you see, and they came close to CW's price, but I didn't have to go get it, lug it around, etc. so that was worth it to me. I'll call it a convenience fee. :) I'm excited to see what the girls do with the toy.So we finish that deal, and i go out for the walkthrough - but wait, the GN adapter isn't put on yet. They are afraid to do it with the pinbox my trailer comes with, and 'have been trying to call me all day'. Anyhow - the decision is made to replace my pinbox 'for free' to a solid box from a past unit and then attach the GN to that. OK, sounds reasonable, but they had several ways to get ahold of me (including the email address Norm had emailed me at just days before...) well, no harm, no foul - just an annoyance, and a telling sign of things to come.
I get a silly guy that likes to joke for my technician in the walkthrough. He likes to talk, likes to kid, and jokes. I'm not really in the mood for it, but I go along with it for now. It turns out that I'll be glad i did, but we'll leave that for later. :) We went through all the systems in the coach, and find several odd things. It seems to me that they are used to having someone come in that just wants to know how the systems work, but don't go any further than that. I fine-tooth-combed the unit. Every light, every drawer, everything - and found several faults, INCLUDING one's I'd brought up the day before...sigh. We find about 10 things that are kinda minor, but still should be addresses if they are delivering a brand new coach. Then we did something I don't think they were used to... we went to the roof. You see, I know that there's a lot of stuff up there and I want to know about it - AND I knew that the unit has been sitting in the sun and elements for probably a year... So up we go, and he says that I'm supposed to check this stuff about every 6 months, and clearly they haven't - the sealant around things is supposed to be white - it isn't. It is supposed to be pretty smooth without pitting, it isn't. Nobody seems to have looked at that - and the fact is that they should have. My advice to anyone buying/looking. If the units spent anytime outdoors, get up on the roof and inspect it. Ask questions, complain if it doesn't look right and don't let them blow you off. Earlier I said I got lucky, and I did, because I think if I'd been up there with any other tech, they would have told me that's how it was supposed to look, and I might have been ok with that. Steve was honest, and took ownership of the process and the product. While that probably costs his employers in the short term, it probably is minor in comparison to what they gain in customer loyalty/repurchase/etc.
Steve even looked at one of the doors that seemed a little to largely gapped in the back, and while Kim (mgr) and I discussed that it did in fact seal, and that its just the way the coach is built, Steve at least was willing to write it down and take it to her, rather than just blow past it. That is something I can truly appreciate.
Anyhow- because of the roof fiasco I missed dinner (they should have probably offered to buy since my truck was hooked up by that point), and didn't get out of there until 8. BUT at least they were willing to stay and let me get out of there tonight, rather than have to burn 4 hours doing it tomorrow. I'll take it. Norm's RV is behind me, I've got my unit in the driveway, and things work fine now :)
More blogging on Day 6 after I mess around a bit with it. More photos too (now I need to open a flickr account... darnit!)
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