May - June 2020 - FIRST TRIP at Tiffin Service Center in Red Bay Alabama and SVRRVR in Star Valley WY

Friday, May 22, 2020: We arrived at Self-Serve Campground.

Saturday, May 23: We found out by accident that we were supposed to go to the Service Center campground, despite having called three times previously and having been told to go to the Self Service (paid) campground, so we moved.

Monday, May 25: 
National Holiday.

May 26th 2020
After the few days to rest during the Memorial Day weekend at the Tiffin Service Center campground, on Tuesday May 26th a Service Advisor (Jason) showed up at a little after 7:30 am to go over our list of issues (but who we never saw ever again after that day). We told him that the ladies at the Service Center had said that they would only take care of 10 items, but that we had well over 50 items as THIS coach should never have left the factory in such sad shaape, and we expected that Tiffin would honor their warranty, or extend it if they were going to allege difficulty in working on it due to Covid 19. He said that that is the standard line that Management tells them to say, but that Tiffin would take care of ALL our issues. (He lied). He then mentioned that one of our issues... the P/S (passenger-side) slide awning not rolling into the roller when the slide is retracted back into the RV, is a Girard Awning issue, and that Girard Awnings had just opened a new Factory Service Center right there in Red Bay, not more than 1-2 miles from our location. He gave us their Manager's name (also named Jason) and his cell phone number to call him. Jason of Girard was very accommodating and said to take the RV to his shop where he would not only fix whatever issue there was, but would also check all the other slide awnings and window awnings on the RV to assure that we have no other issue with their awnings, and adjusted them for our preferred angle for rain to go to the prefferred side. THAT is what we expected from Tiffin. Boy, were we disappointed.

When we arrived at Girard's new facility we were very surprised of the size of their facility, and degree of modernization. Right next to their facility there is a very new and well laid out campground as well, which Jason explained is also theirs, as well as the General Store and Restaurant next to it. While there, they noticed that our rig was leaning to the front left, evident from the height of the wheel well over the tire on that one side... so we shall have to have that addressed tomorrow as well. 

IF you need a Girard Awning repair in or near Red Bay AL, they are located at 990 9th Street West in Red Bay AL 35582, and the Manager's (Jason) cell is 702-419-0850. We heartily recommend them for their good service, professional and very friendly attitude to take care of the problems.

After our repairs, handled professionally and quickly, we took the RV back to Tiffin and then took 'Edith2' (the Ford F150) back to the restaurant for something to eat. The restaurant, called the 'Red Bay Yacht Club' was most tastefully decorated and the food was very good. The tables were socially distanced and the waitresses all wore masks, but the patrons were not required to, since they had to use their mouths to eat. See the photos of the Girard Awning facility, campground and restaurant. 

 

By around 3:00 pm we received a phone call from the Tiffin Service Center telling us to be in front of Service Bay #48 at 6:45 am, tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

Wednesday, May 27th through Friday, May 29 2020, Bay 41 (Mike),

Mike said he fixed MOST items on our list (other than Paint) that should never have left the factory QC in such condition. However, the SPYDER electronic touch control system was NOT fixed and Mike lied to us with a story @ 'Spyder Mike' having tested Positive for Covid19 so he would not be available to fix Spyder systems. He also never fixed the cargo doors and other issues..

Monday, June 1, Bay 47

(Tech never gave us his name, and was most belligerent, stating that we are not competent to know if the RV is leaning just because it looks off balance, stating that it could be the floor... UNITIL LATER he found out that one air bag had a leak.)  He also confirmed Mike's story about 'Spyder Mike'. Said cargo doors are not his problem and that someone else would have to try to fix them. VERY RUDE MAN.

Tuesday-Wednesday, June 2-3 

No Activity or word from Office. So on Wednesday afternoon, June 3, we went to try to see Bob Tiffin at Main Office. The Guard said that custiomers cannot see Bob Tiffin and had to see Tim Massey, Svc Mgr, FIRST. So, we went to see Tim Massey. He seemed interested and got us with "L.D." for Paint, who said for us to be at Bay #23 on FRIDAY. Tim also countered the previous Techs' stories @'Spyder Mike' saying he saw him working that same day and promised he would have him fix our Spyder problems.

Thursday, June 4, Bay #23 (Billy). 

He said it would take it would take him 3/+ WEEKS to fix all the paint issues that the RV has, that should never have been allowed to leave the factory in such bad shape, but that perhaps because it was made during the Christmas - New Year period, the painters were not at their best. He also stated that it would take the factory less than week to repaint it, since it was their screw-up. "LD" called them to come see the piss poor work they had done. They said they would come by to see it, but never did that day nor the next morning.

Friday, June 5, 

So, "LD" got them to commit to repaint it on Monday, and confirmed to us that they could do so within a week, and got us a place to stay at Spark's B&B. We said that we woulld wait for it, if they could repaint it within the week; otherwise we will bring it back in October to fix that plus the Spyder and all other still unresolved issues. Again he confirmed that the Paint factory at Belmont could take care of it within a week. HE or JOSH at Belmont LIED. It seems that LYING is becoming a favorite pasttime of TIFFIN.

Monday, June 8, 

07:00AM - Delivered our RV to Josh Stacey at Tiffin Belmont 07:00am. Turned over our Phaeton 40-IH and told them to be sure to keep it plugged in as this is our full-time Home and the Ref-Freezer is full of food. They said they would... THEY LIED.  Also gave them a listing and photos of all the paint issues, including gouges in roof. They were astounded of all the issues and of the condition of the roof.

Wednesday, June 10, 

Tiffin Belmont, Paint (Josh Stacey). checked on status update. Said they would work later today to try to further the work and said he would call us on Thursday 08:30 (+/-) to see if we want to take it as it is, then bring it back in Oct to finish paint work... or wait until finished, with a time schedule.

As it is we'll have to accept not having a dependable RV due to a defective Spyder, which Tim Massey never got Spyder Mike to fix. Other Techs at Bay 43 (supposedly to fix the remainder of problems still unaddressed, said they replaced a Spyder board and that THAT fixed it... IT DID NOT.   They LIED.  It still changes tank levels up and down within minutes while level, the shower still fails to cut-off even after replacing the had set, the PS rear-view mirror (a safety hazard) is still hard to see ALL of it, due to having moved the mirror from the front of the RV to the right side  (cutting off the angle of view) and failing to extend the arm on the mirror to allow the driver to still see it; 1/2 bath door still warped (when forced closed stick out of bottom). They say they had to order one because they don't have any at the factory. So we ask ourselves, how are they going to make any more Phaetons, IF they don't have any doors for them... and how can they replace the 6" moulding above the bed (that the fan tore up) the same day... IF they don't have wood to make a door there??? MORE LIES or PISS POOR customer service. So what happens when we receive the door (by mail)? Who installs it?? They would never say.  Why can't they just  replace it THERE. Fleetwood did.

The main door screen door & latch are loose and now, among many other things, the door has trouble opening together witht he screen; the Emergency Exit window is locked (won't open); the P/S window next to dinette won't close fully. So now we have to spend $$ to go back to Red Bay, AL from Wyoming, after having already taken it to RED Bay once from Benson AZ. which we'll have to bring it back in Oct before Warranty runs out. A Tiffin RV is quickly becoming too expensive to have to deal with it, too hazardous to risk our lives in, and loosing its previous reputation as to a well-built coach.

After 3 weeks in service, Paint was the only MAJOR issue left, that we wanted taken care of, but there are so many issues with bad painting that it would have taken 3 weeks to fix it all at the service center and tied up a paint bay for all that time. So the factory committed to LD that they would strip the RV and repaint it RIGHT at the factory. Regrettably after a week, they had hardly touched it, except to repair the buffed out clear coat by Billy, fix the gouges on the roof and replace the engine cover which  was also warped. 

So now we will have to make plans to return it back to Red Bay in October, to leave it with them while we wait for them to fix ALL the issues and we will NOT LEAVE until they are ALL fixed correctly. Tiffin can put us back up at Sparky's or at Bob Tiffin's house (maybe that will encourage them to finish the job right).

We will follow-up with what they do to honor their warranty (or still won't/don't do) in October and hopefully Bob Tiffin will grace us with accepting to talk to us in person, instead of hiding behind his other managers, who won't take care of what needs to be taken care of. 

Then for the rest of the summer...

Given that Tiffin was not honoring its New Vehicle Warranty on our FIRST trip to them in May 23 - June 12,  2020, (citing Covid-19 as an excuse, but not offering to extend the warranty either) we decided to just go on back to Wyoming and then bring it back to them after having enjoyed our summer in Wyoming. During our Wyoming summer 2020, crazy as the whole year has been, we spent most of our time coming to a long and well thought out plan to relocate was ourselves from Benson AZ to Star Valley Ranch WY more permanently, because Arizona has increasingly become a bluer state (currently purple) and because by comparison we have 10x as many friends in Wyoming as we have in Arizona. Actually, the only friends that are actually at Arizona Legends or even including the area is Dan & Beth. The others, Nancy Bunker moved from Vail farther away; and Richard & Francoise Chasse, Jack & Billie Dain, Bob & Joy Thomae, and more recently Russell (last name unknown) in Vail, are retired RV travelers so meeting up with them (like us, we suppose) is a hit and miss proposition and not always possible. In Star Valley Ranch, however, there are many full-time residents and even those that leave for the winter, are always back for the whole summer. And if we ever don't want to spend the winter in Wyoming, we too can load the motor home and travel ourselves for the winter or summer, free to go anywhere we so choose to.

So on we spent the summer of 2020, for lack of better things to do with all the political and Covid insecurity, shopping for a nice (larger than the Arizona Legends lot) 1/2-acre+ lot on which to build a 1200sf (minimum residence allowed) 2 bed/2 bath house with a 2-car garage plus a full-sized (20'x48') RV Garage. Star Valley Ranch is about 45 miles south of Jackson (Hole) WY, between Alpine and Afton WY and about 5 miles east of the Idaho. Land sales there are going through the roof because everyone seems to be leaving California and large cities and looking to move out of the metropolitan areas and toward red(der) states. Wyoming being one of the most conservative, where gun carry (open and concealed are both lawful without a permit) and beautiful wherever one goes, as well as having no state income tax and being very RV friendly has a growing draw of conservatives fleeing other blue states. They say that the Billionaires are moving to Jackson (Hole) WY, which is forcing the Millionaires into Star Valley, and consequently the land and homes are being sold quickly and prices are skyrocketibg. Since our arrival in May we had found some 1/2 acre lots on one of the golf courses for sale at about $20,000. No sooner we started too look at one, it was Sold. Finally, we contacted the owner of a 1/2 acre golf course lot, whose lot was not listed for sale.  We convinced him to sell it to us, at a price of $50,000. That may seem steep but suffice to say that by the time we left WY in October those same 1/2 acre golf course lots were selling in the $60,000 - $70,000 range. Who knows where they will be when we get back there in May 2021. See plans and lot photos.

During this summer we also placed our Star Valley Ranch RV Park lot for sale and sold it for $9,100 more than what we had paid for it just 12 months earlier, and with those funds paid for the Town of Star Valley Ranch golf course lot, about 1 mile to the north. As an added bonus,  due to the Buyers already having plans for the rest of the summer, and given the extremely amicable transaction, they agreed to allow us to remain on the lot until the end of this season, and even until they come on June 1 next year. We agreed to winterize the lot (shed dryer/water heater) and close/open it for them, paint a doorway, maintain the property and set up their gazebo next year, as well as pay for the remainder of the taxes and bills.

Shortly thereafter we received a call in response to our Zillow ad on our Benson Casita, which Bill had loaded with an abundance of the construction photos as well as photos of the clubhouse, and area, creating a very informative marketing presentation. The prospects, basing their decision to buy our place solely on the photos and written presentation and a one and a half hour phone conversation with us made a full price offer, cash sale to close ASAP. They have not seen the casita in person but the more they found out about it the gladder they were to have found it. As they said "It's just like you have designed and built the casita FOR US". They still had to sell their house but felt assured they could do so quickly without any problem (and they did so). This too proved to be yet another very amicable transaction and of new friends which seem very compatible to our own mindsets.

At the Star Valley RV Park we HAD TO leave every October and were not allowed back in until May, yearly. At the Town of SVR however, there is no such restriction and the HOA dues (same as at the RV Park) all the streets in the town are plowed when it snows, so one can stay as late as one wants to, return as early as one wants to, or even stay all winter if that's what one wants to do. During the winter months, when it's too cold or due to snow one can't play golf, the golf courses are converted to cross-country skiing tracks and some for snowmobiling.  Of course snow mobiles are also usable off-road and along the sides of the roadways and are a popular means of transportation, seen readily at the grills and saloons in and between the various towns. 

So on October 20, 2020 (barely a few days before Interstate 80 would be closed due to high winds), we loaded our fresh water tank FULL... (100 gallons) to make us bottom-heavier to resist the high side winds (which when we went through were blowing at about 25mph and gusting to about 65mph) we left Star Valley Ranch enroute back to Tiffin Service Center,  inn Red Bay Alabama, for TRIP #2