The Beast!

Recently we had some service work done on our RV. A couple of years ago, my wife and I got absolutely drenched while camping in a tent. Wet dogs, wet clothes, wet bed, pissing rain and no toilet too boot. That was it and we found a nice, but older, Class A Motorhome with all the comforts and conveniences of a bed, kitchen, air conditioning and a toilet. For us it was like hitting the lottery and we love being out in nature especially when we are warm and dry.

Now with purchasing an older RV comes a lot of TLC, which really means say goodbye to lots of cash. There is an old saying, that if it Flies or Floats it’s better to rent than to buy. I think that saying applies to RV’s, because they too can be nauseating to ride in and RV’s absolutely suck the cash from ones wallet, just like a Boat or Plane. With rare exception do any of them ever appreciate in value most ending up in landfills and scrap yards. They truly personify the term, Money Pit.

What I didn’t expect was too be so blatantly taken advantage of because we have a Motorhome. We took, as we affectionately call her “The Beast”, into a new RV dealership to remove a toilet so I could replace the flooring in the bathroom. I watched a couple of YouTube videos on how to remove the toilet and all were laden with frustration and colorful metaphors by those attempting it. I take a look at this task and realized this job was definitely not for me. The toilet is not like you find in your home. This toilet is a nightmare designed by a true Sadist, who takes great pride in inflicting frustration and misery on others.

What has me so angry about this is the fact that this RV dealership never disclosed its tiered rate system in advance. As we found out, if you have a trailer, the shop charges a rate of $180 per hour but if you
have a motorhome the rate is $210 per hour. WTF? Nowhere were we told that and why it was such a shock is that other places we go to charge about $140 per hour at the most. So I asked the service
people if this toilet is any different in a trailer versus a motorhome? installation? functionality? No, it is the same in both. So why the rate difference based on the type of unit? Apparently, it is just a Head
Office policy. Really, well that is just BS. Did they base this policy on the notion that customers with motorhomes are the biggest morons in the RV universe? Maybe.

Further to this, I was charged separately to remove the old toilet and then to reinstall a new toilet. When I was charged separately I noted that I paid a shop fee in each case as well as an environmental
fee and handling fee. These additional and subjective fees were in addition to the outrageous shop time of $210 per hour. Again no one said anything to us, no signage on the walls, nothing.

The only time cost of anything was mentioned was when the Service Manager explained my old toilet could not be fixed and I needed a new one, which he said was between $100 and $200. Well, it was considerably more than a $100. After all the costs, fees and of course taxes, the Beast now has a $900 toilet in it. So yeah I am pissed and frustrated. Oh I won’t be going silently into the night about this, I will be going up the corporate food chain so to speak about this absolute and complete BS and will let you all know how that ends up in due course…..

Have a great weekend and be safe…………