Community Forums

raineman · 10-03-2018, 07:00 AM

Sorry to read this. I won't scold you the way others have as the damage is already done. I have often wondered how often this happens. Reason being, I have seen some pretty sketchy RV techs. The occupation seems to attract a lot of bad people. Not all are bad by any means. But some of the ones I have seen locally look like they are just working to get high. Turn over is also very high.

BonS · 10-03-2018, 07:12 AM

The power bay door locks don't make them a safe place to put valuables as anyone with inside access can just unlock them. This thread has inspired me to put in disconnect switch(s) on some of the bay doors. I don't know which will be easier: either each bay door gets an inside bypass switch or installing one master on/off switch for the power locking system.

JohnBoyToo · 10-03-2018, 07:13 AM

I'm sure this happens more than we know..... It takes all kinds to make up a world and the 'greatest generation' is not this one

I actually had the opposite happen to me with a previous 5'er - when we got it back from service, we had two new chairs in the front bay !!!! figured they used the 5'er for a personal vacation and forgot the chairs

and they were nice chairs that we still use !

mobilemike · 10-03-2018, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tfryman

It may be posted but it doesn't hold a drop of legal water if the shop does not take prudent action to secure your vehicle while it is in their possession.

The reasonable care and caution clause is a very low bar. This has be adjudicated many times. A basic fence around the lot is considered secure. Employee theft has been shown to not be the responsibility of the shop owner. Also in the clauses of the signed work authorization is the promise the owner of the rig (you) have insurance coverage in the event of theft or damage.

The only avenue you would have is negligence, which is very difficult to prove.

Bigd9 · 10-03-2018, 11:34 AM

I always try and look at the other side of the coin.

Lets say I own a repair shop, and I deal with say 6 customers per day. My employees have been with me for a while and they are dependable workers (hard to find these days, let me tell you!) Now my shop parking lot is enclosed in fencing topped with barbed wire. A customer walks in and states someone entered his coach and stole coins and rings while his coach was in or on my shop's property.

How do I know, or how does my insurance company know that customer is not scamming me? How do I know there were coins and rings at all? What do I, as the owner do, just fork over $500 and say sorry for your troubles? I think not. I would notify my insurance company and let them work it out. They would probably stall waiting for some proof from the accuser before they did anything.

There are many situations like this, and they usually boil down to he said - she said arguments.

okcnewbie · 10-03-2018, 11:39 AM

All of this makes me think that with our fancy phones the last thing you should do when dropping off the MH is to take a little video of the outside and inside.

Bigd9 · 10-03-2018, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by okcnewbie

All of this makes me think that with our fancy phones the last thing you should do when dropping off the MH is to take a little video of the outside and inside.

Absolutely! When I used to do that dirty 4 letter word called "work" I would take pictures of my rental car before I left the rental parking lot and after I returned to the rental parking lot. just incase the rental company would accuse me of damaging their car.

Rickeoni · 10-03-2018, 06:00 PM

In this day and age, who knows where and when the theft ocuured. I run a parts and service center and we weekly get people walking in off the street and stealing things. While not from a clients vehicle, I have had staff members phones stolen off their desks, bike ridden off and displays ransacked, all during business hours. Our after hours cameras have caught on several times groups of thieves jumping our fenced in compound and pulling on door handles. Part of our end of day routine is a handle pull on every car in our lot, sometimes even we find an unlocked car. That being said, we emptied out our fiver when it last went in for warranty service.

Isaac-1 · 10-03-2018, 06:13 PM

My only suggestion is to invest in your own motion activated security cameras and place them so they are not easily seen inside your RV.

As to shop horror stories, I had a friend that had a car in an independent auto shop being worked on 15-20 years ago. There was a fire and the shop burned down with 3-4 vehicles inside, including the one owned by my friend, of course the shop had the we are not responsible for damage sign, and did not have insurance to cover damage to cars. Unfortunately the friend only had liability insurance on the car, as it was an older car at the time, and ended up not getting anything for the destroyed car. After much argument with the shop they refunded him the labor charges for the work they had done on the car the previous week, he had brought the car back in for additional work after the initial work had not fixed the problem, though they would not refund him for the installed parts.

Jmac00 · 10-03-2018, 06:34 PM

what would any of you do if the RV was your full-time residence and it had to go in for service?

Would you go get a hotel room? find a way to a friends house?

rk911 · 10-03-2018, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rickeoni

In this day and age, who knows where and when the theft ocuured. I run a parts and service center and we weekly get people walking in off the street and stealing things. While not from a clients vehicle, I have had staff members phones stolen off their desks, bike ridden off and displays ransacked, all during business hours. Our after hours cameras have caught on several times groups of thieves jumping our fenced in compound and pulling on door handles. Part of our end of day routine is a handle pull on every car in our lot, sometimes even we find an unlocked car. That being said, we emptied out our fiver when it last went in for warranty service.

sounds like you need a pair of guard dogs in your lot...hungry guard dogs.

Forkyfork · 10-03-2018, 09:14 PM

We have a gasser so we can get away with locking the bed storage down or locking the door to the bed and bath. With a diesel I would have to designate a cabinet that gets locked down.

After thinking about this, I am going to put a keyed locking doorknob on the bathroom. Plenty of room to stash things during service and no one needs in there ever. Just don't lose the key.

Thing is, most people are opportunists. Typically they take what is in the open or what can be found by opening a cabinet or drawer. They aren't going to take the time to break into a cabinet or a safe.

We don't full time. I don't have anything on the RV that anyone would want except our folding club chairs. Those things are expensive. lol The electronic bits and pieces are put away. Except the TV in the bedroom...please steal it, I would like an excuse to replace it.

Like I said before it bothered me more that they slept on our bed and used our bathroom....what else did they do? Put my toothbrush in their armpit? This is the city where the Dominos employees were putting toppings up their nose and putting them on Pizzas. Yeah those kinds of people.

We dropped our RV off earlier for its first night in indoor storage. There were way more interesting RVs in there than ours. It was a valet service and they already had a few rigs ahead of us. Well....I couldn't sleep I had to go down and make sure it wasn't on the lot still.

Its a nice place but in the worst part of town.

I think if I did outdoor storage I would chose a different location. I was more worried about the damage from someone breaking in than anything being missing.

twogypsies · 10-03-2018, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jmac00

what would any of you do if the RV was your full-time residence and it had to go in for service?

Would you go get a hotel room? find a way to a friends house?

As I stated previously on this post.... we just put valuables in the car. In 16 years we never stayed in a motel. Service facilities let you spend the night - most often even with electric.

6x16inside · 10-04-2018, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobilemike

All standard service contracts state "Repair facility is not responsible for lost or stolen items. "
It has been that way for 30+ years that I have been in the business.

I am sorry this happened to you.

You should have known. You should have takes steps. Now you know.

Not with the garagekeepers liability act.
They locked the other one pilfered, busted into, stolen from....why not mine??
Why not my goofy 92 model painted with house paint, etc.??
Not with knowing they had a breach, several areas that a person can slide under and in a somewhat vagrant popular area.