Great Weekend - Now Back To The Problem

Monday morning we broke camp around 7 am heading to Richland, MS to the Cummins Engine Service Center. At least we were praying that we would make it there.

We actually got to Hwy 49 north and up the road about 10 miles before the acceleration problem began. I sure was hoping that it wouldn't start, but no such luck. In spite of not being able to accelerate to more than 35 -40 mph we really made good time and pulled into the Service Center around 10:30 am. I guess it was all the down hill speed that helped us.

I went into the office and a very nice lady said she had been waiting for us. She told Dean where he was to park the Bus and started writing up our work order. After about 5 min. she said that the technician had just clocked in and would meet us at the Bus. He showed us what bay to bring it to and thus began our next adventure!

I'm not going to go into great detail, but the first thing that was done was to put the computer on it. Guess what - it showed no problems!!! Grrrr - their computer must be like mine and have a mind all it's own. The tech worked on the engine until about 3 pm and informed us that we would have to overnight. We also had been told in Meridian that there was a leak in the exhaust manifold gasket and that was what he, the tech, had been working on. Unfortunately one of the bolts broke off and they thought they would have to get a welder to get it out.

Meanwhile, we secured a double queen at the Hampton Inn. Now, Hampton Inn has always been my favorite motel to stay at and when I saw the beds (a queen all to myself) I said a quick thank you prayer for having to stay overnight. I was at least getting a good nights sleep that night - guaranteed (and I did). As a side note, the next time, if there is one, I'll remember to ask for a room with a jacuzzi tub.

OK, so I got side tracked - sorry. The tech worked on the Bus until 6:30 pm and then the shop closed for the day. The next morning we were there at 7 am along with our tech. Around 10 am Dean and the tech took it for a test drive and Dean came back saying it was running good. We paid the bill, hooked up the Jeep and headed north for I-59. Guess we maybe got about 3 miles from the Service Center and wala - the turn engine light came on along with a obnoxious buzzer and it quit accelerating. After the light went out (about 15 seconds) we looked for the first place to turn around and back to the Service Center we went. OK, so back to the computer and this time it shows a "acceleration error". The tech says he needs to calibrate the accelerator. 30 minutes later, we're off again and make it to I-59 and north Jackson, MS before the buzzer and light take off again. This time we are in the center lane of 5 lanes of heavy traffic and no acceleration. Dang, I really thought we would get rear ended, but God was watching down on us and we make it to the side of the road. The light and buzzer finally quit and yes, you've got it, back to the Service Center again!

Several hours later, after our tech and another "computer savvy" tech work on the Bus we are off for another test drive, this time the computer tech is driving and the other tech is holding the computer, watching for any sign of trouble. Well, this was a good test drive, at least 40 miles round trip. No problems.

We left the shop for the third time (it's the charm you know) and decided to only go as far as Canton, MS, about 30 miles north of Jackson, to stop for the night. We made it, but where on pins and needles all the way.

While we were in the shop, we had the engine oil changed since it was discovered that it had not been done at Lazydays. We also decided to have them go ahead and service the generator as well since we didn't have anything that said when it had been done last. As I mentioned in a previous post, both of these items where supposed to have been done at Lazydays prior to our picking up the Bus. It is very obvious that they where not accomplished even though we were lead to believe that they were.

After I calm down and relax and feel comfortable going down the highway again, Lazydays will be hearing from me. I'm not really blaming the salesman, but more our service technician, who by the way, is no longer working at Lazydays. I wonder why? Maybe because he got caught in his lies? Anyway, I will be calling to speak to the General Manager of the company. He will hear what happened and that I cannot in good conscious give any recommendations for anyone to do business with them.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but I submitted a claim for 50% of the cost of some repairs we had done prior to us getting on the road. This was an agreement that we had with Lazydays since we would not be able to bring the Bus back to them to have repairs done. I had a call from our "new" service technician saying he had the bill in front of him and was sending it on for payment. They in fact did reimburse us 50% of the whole bill which included items that I had not mentioned to them because they came up after our "30 day warranty". This included us replacing the front A/C unit instead of having it repaired. Anyway, this kind of puts me in a love/hate relationship with them, but, I still can't get passed being lied to!!! No amount of reimbursement would have mattered if we had broke down in traffic and been rear ended.

Trust me, I've not really gone into great detail - it would be a 50 page book! The message is Buyer Beware - Don't believe what you are told, ask for proof!!! We didn't.

I just pray now when we start out, that we will not have any problems like this again.