Country Coach Restoration, Repair & Parts Forums => Country Coach Archive => Topic started by: Jsinger99 on July 04, 2004, 09:28:29 am
Title: Our Brand New RV Zapped at KOA Okeechobee, FL
Post by: Jsinger99 on July 04, 2004, 09:28:29 am
Yahoo Message Number: 10470 (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Country-Coach-Owners/conversations/messages/10470)On June 4, 2004, less than 24 hours after purchasing a brand new RV, our site (#419) at the KOA Okeechobee FL campground experienced a power failure, and the employee who was sent to fix it mis-wired the power box and sent 220v through our 110 v system. This has resulted in devastating damage to the RV. The damage included the microwave, VCR, refrigerator, headlights, turn signals, fog lights, emergency blinkers and more.
On Wednesday, June 23, 2004, we learned from the General Manager of KOA Okeechobee that the KOA employee who mis-wired the electrical power box was not a licensed electrician, was not certified in electricity or electrical repair, had received no training in electrical repair, and had never attended any continuing education program for the work he is doing. We expressed our extreme disappointment to the GM that she would employ a person with those qualifications to work on the electrical power supply for structures that house people, and we indicated that we did not think that would be acceptable in the state of Florida.
On June 23, we spoke to the GM regarding an acceptable settlement. We felt it would be in both our best interests to resolve this issue promptly. She basically told us to DEAL WITH THE KOA INSURANCE COMPANY FOR REPAIRS.
Our last plea to her was why do we, the victims, have to bear the burden of insurance companies, delays, scheduling and repair of damage inflicted by KOA Okeechobee. We said that we have an RV that sits in our driveway day after day waiting for repairs, and that we are paying for it but cannot use it. We noted that KOA Okeechobee, the unqualified employee and the GM have been totally unaffected by this disaster to our brand new RV. It has been business as usual at the campground. We received no response from the GM.
The KOA Okeechobee zapping is now resulting in additional failures. On 6/21/2004, our RV was dead in the driveway. Nothing happened when the ignition key was turned to the ACC and ON positions, the only thing that worked was the radio. The chassis batteries had gone down to 0.0 volts. A factory expert told my wife that our RV has a electrical device called an Isolator, which protects the RV from unusual power flows, but in our case, the 220v into the 110v system went through the Isolator and may do extensive damage to wiring.
We estimate that with the difficulty of scheduling appointments for estimates and repairs, we will probably lose the first years use of our brand new RV. In addition, we will never trust this vehicle again, since we have heard that it will probably have short term, intermediate term and long term electrical gremlins, due to 220v running into a 110v RV system.
We are unbelievably disappointed at KOA Okeechobee. We ran searches on the Woodalls web site discussion forum before we made our reservation, and found no negatives for the facility. Only after the disaster to our RV did we hear from an RV technician in Okeechobee that "they (KOA Okeechobee) have electrical problems". Another RV tech at the same facility who worked on our RV said that we were lucky to have such little damage! He said that there have recently been 4 or 5 other RVs with similar damage at the KOA Okeechobee campground.
My wife and I have been in a stunned state since this horrible event. This is our first RV and that was our first stay at a campground. Now we are afraid to hitch up to any campground electricity. We have only been dry camping since then.
We are now asking ourselves the following questions:
1. What does the KOA Okeechobee employee know about the current electrical codes for the United States and the state of Florida? PROBABLY NOTHING!!!!
2. After hearing about the lack of qualifications for the KOA Okeechobee employee and seeing the resultant disaster to our brand new RV and retirement dreams, we wonder about the qualifications for all the other KOA Okeechobee electrical repair workers! We wonder if the whole facility is out of compliance with the current federal, state and county electrical codes. In addition, we wonder if sub- standard electrical work by unqualified workers has resulted in a facility that is a danger to the lives of its paying customers.
Our RV dream is quickly turning into our RV nightmare!
From your experience, what should we do now?
Jack & Sally Florida
Title: Re: Our Brand New RV Zapped at KOA Okeechobee, FL
Post by: Jim on July 04, 2004, 05:30:53 pm
Very sorry to hear about your horrible experience. Next step, in my opinion is HIRE A LAWYER. Don't waste any more of your time. KOA is dragging their feet. Get a Lawyer, now! Don't try to deal with them yourselves. Good Luck
Jim
Quote from: jsinger99
On June 4, 2004, less than 24 hours after purchasing a brand new
RV,
Quote
our site (#419) at the KOA Okeechobee FL campground experienced a > power failure, and the employee who was sent to fix it mis-wired
the
Quote
power box and sent 220v through our 110 v system. This has
resulted
Quote
in devastating damage to the RV. The damage included the
microwave,
Quote
VCR, refrigerator, headlights, turn signals, fog lights, emergency > blinkers and more.
On Wednesday, June 23, 2004, we learned from the General Manager
of
Quote
KOA Okeechobee that the KOA employee who mis-wired the electrical > power box was not a licensed electrician, was not certified in > electricity or electrical repair, had received no training in > electrical repair, and had never attended any continuing education > program for the work he is doing. We expressed our extreme > disappointment to the GM that she would employ a person with those > qualifications to work on the electrical power supply for
structures
Quote
that house people, and we indicated that we did not think that
would
Quote
be acceptable in the state of Florida.
On June 23, we spoke to the GM regarding an acceptable
settlement.
Quote
We felt it would be in both our best interests to resolve this
issue
Quote
promptly. She basically told us to DEAL WITH THE KOA INSURANCE > COMPANY FOR REPAIRS.
Our last plea to her was why do we, the victims, have to bear the > burden of insurance companies, delays, scheduling and repair of > damage inflicted by KOA Okeechobee. We said that we have an RV
that
Quote
sits in our driveway day after day waiting for repairs, and that
we
Quote
are paying for it but cannot use it. We noted that KOA
Okeechobee,
Quote
the unqualified employee and the GM have been totally unaffected
by
Quote
this disaster to our brand new RV. It has been business as usual
at
Quote
the campground. We received no response from the GM.
The KOA Okeechobee zapping is now resulting in additional
failures.
Quote
On 6/21/2004, our RV was dead in the driveway. Nothing happened
when
Quote
the ignition key was turned to the ACC and ON positions, the only > thing that worked was the radio. The chassis batteries had gone
down
Quote
to 0.0 volts. A factory expert told my wife that our RV has a > electrical device called an Isolator, which protects the RV from > unusual power flows, but in our case, the 220v into the 110v
system
Quote
went through the Isolator and may do extensive damage to wiring.
We estimate that with the difficulty of scheduling appointments
for
Quote
estimates and repairs, we will probably lose the first years use
of
Quote
our brand new RV. In addition, we will never trust this vehicle > again, since we have heard that it will probably have short term, > intermediate term and long term electrical gremlins, due to 220v > running into a 110v RV system.
We are unbelievably disappointed at KOA Okeechobee. We ran
searches
Quote
on the Woodalls web site discussion forum before we made our > reservation, and found no negatives for the facility. Only after
the
Quote
disaster to our RV did we hear from an RV technician in Okeechobee > that "they (KOA Okeechobee) have electrical problems". Another RV > tech at the same facility who worked on our RV said that we were > lucky to have such little damage! He said that there have recently > been 4 or 5 other RVs with similar damage at the KOA Okeechobee > campground.
My wife and I have been in a stunned state since this horrible > event. This is our first RV and that was our first stay at a > campground. Now we are afraid to hitch up to any campground > electricity. We have only been dry camping since then.
We are now asking ourselves the following questions: >
1. What does the KOA Okeechobee employee know about the current > electrical codes for the United States and the state of Florida? > PROBABLY NOTHING!!!!
2. After hearing about the lack of qualifications for the KOA > Okeechobee employee and seeing the resultant disaster to our brand > new RV and retirement dreams, we wonder about the qualifications
for
Quote
all the other KOA Okeechobee electrical repair workers! We wonder
if
Title: Re: Our Brand New RV Zapped at KOA Okeechobee, FL
Post by: Jennylindca on July 05, 2004, 09:39:21 am
Very sorry to hear about your horrible experience. Next step, in
my
Quote
opinion is HIRE A LAWYER. Don't waste any more of your time. KOA
is
Quote
dragging their feet. Get a Lawyer, now! Don't try to deal with
them
Quote
yourselves. Good Luck
Jim
How terrible for you, Jack and Sally! Jim's advice is the best and what I was thinking while reading of your travails.
The rest of us can take this as a reminder to use that little test- thingy that we got at Camping World Every time we hook up.
Carol
'04 Inspire Genoa
Title: Re: Our Brand New RV Zapped at KOA Okeechobee, FL
Post by: Dean Ansley on July 05, 2004, 02:12:00 pm
Yahoo Message Number: 10485 (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Country-Coach-Owners/conversations/messages/10485)Dear Jack and Sally,
Sorry to read about your KOA issue. Many of the campgrounds are franchised, some are actually company owned. I had heard that the KOA people are trying to get more company owned locations to improve the overall quality of the campgrounds and the "customer experiance". The HQ for KOA is in Billings Montana and the president is Jim Rogers [or was] 404 248 7444. I am sure he would want to know! If my memory is still good I think he came from the hotel and hospitality industry and would want to keep customers happy.
I addition to contacting a lawyer you might also want to send some letters to the RV Mags that have the sections that publish or intervene to help people recover losses from companies that cater to the RV industry.
If I were the head man at KOA I would sure hate to see my name or an article in RV mags about some unhappy customer and the poor service at one of the locations.
Good luck,
Dean Ansley 04 Allure
[quote author=Jim"
> Jack & Sally,
> Very sorry to hear about your horrible experience. Next step, in my
> opinion is HIRE A LAWYER. Don't waste any more of your time. KOA is
> dragging their feet. Get a Lawyer, now! Don't try to deal with them
> yourselves. Good Luck > > Jim >
How terrible for you, Jack and Sally! Jim's advice is the best and
what I was thinking while reading of your travails.
The rest of us can take this as a reminder to use that little test-
thingy that we got at Camping World Every time we hook up.
Carol
'04 Inspire Genoa[/quote] =====
Dean Ansley
Home Office 949-733-3232
E-Mail ansleyd2001@... (ansleyd2001@...)
Title: Re: Our Brand New RV Zapped at KOA Okeechobee, FL
Post by: Jim Hughes on July 06, 2004, 06:21:31 am
So far some great ideas. Don't waste your time trying to fight with the KOA or their insurance company directly. Let an attttorney do it and only settle for total replacement of your coach. As you mentioned, you will have the constant skeletons in the closet showing up down the after supposedly everything is fixed.
Additionally, I bet the local county/city officials would be interested in unlicensed and unpermitted electrical work happening at the KOA. Some counties have some hefty fines the can be placed. A good building inspector could have a field day with such problems and if the problems are wide spread, shut it down until things are corrected.
Good luck and hope you are compensated to your satisfaction.
Jim 2000 Allure #30511
Title: Slide Out Problems
Post by: Douglas Yunker on July 06, 2004, 09:22:28 pm
Yahoo Message Number: 10504 (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Country-Coach-Owners/conversations/messages/10504)I recently had the slide adjusted on my coach. Unfortunately, the top still goes in 1/2" too far. Also, the coach's slide does not seem to "lock". Before the "adjustment" at the end of inward travel, the room would bump up about an inch. The room does not seem as stable either, it rocks slightly when fully retracted.
The RV facility called CC and said it was normal that the slide not "bump up".
My question is, do other coaches of that era also bump up at the end of inward travel?
Thanks for responses,
Doug Yunker
1999 Allure 36' single slide #30374
Title: Re: Our Brand New RV Zapped at KOA Okeechobee, FL
Post by: Don S. on July 06, 2004, 10:52:25 pm
Yahoo Message Number: 10506 (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Country-Coach-Owners/conversations/messages/10506)I don't think this coach was a CC. The same post was made on another BB a week or so ago. Don
'02 Intrigue #11427
Quote from: Jim Hughes
Jack & Sally,
So far some great ideas. Don't waste your time trying to fight
with
Title: Re: Our Brand New RV Zapped at KOA Okeechobee, FL
Post by: Faa_engineer on July 07, 2004, 12:30:17 am
Yahoo Message Number: 10508 (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Country-Coach-Owners/conversations/messages/10508)I am sitting here trying to figure out how 110 can become 220. You see, 220 volts is the voltage that you get when measuring between two 110 volt phases. All of our units with a 50 amp service are wired for 220 (or the more commonly found 240). So how does one get 220 into a 110 circuit? The "tech" must have wired one of the phases directly to the neutral, or the ground. Could have been either. I suppose that could happen, but it would take some effort. I guess anything is possible. So, that would mean that the coach ground potential would have been sitting at 110 volts, instead of 0 volts, and anyone who touched it (like the door handle) while it was plugged in would have got one heck of a shock. Anyway....I guess it is possible. Whether this story is true or false, from now on, I will always use a Voltmeter to check the voltage at the post prior to plugging in my coach. Also, I have always had a rule....I never stay at a campground that begins with the letter "K". If you can't properly spell "campground", you don't get my business. I'll find a small airport, a quiet street, or something else first. Every KOA that I have ever stayed at was an overpriced dump....especially the one in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
My $0.02. Mike
Quote from: jsinger99
On June 4, 2004, less than 24 hours after purchasing a brand new
RV,
Quote
our site (#419) at the KOA Okeechobee FL campground experienced a > power failure, and the employee who was sent to fix it mis-wired
the
Quote
power box and sent 220v through our 110 v system. This has
resulted
Quote
in devastating damage to the RV. The damage included the
microwave,
Quote
VCR, refrigerator, headlights, turn signals, fog lights, emergency > blinkers and more.
On Wednesday, June 23, 2004, we learned from the General Manager
of
Quote
KOA Okeechobee that the KOA employee who mis-wired the electrical > power box was not a licensed electrician, was not certified in > electricity or electrical repair, had received no training in > electrical repair, and had never attended any continuing education > program for the work he is doing. We expressed our extreme > disappointment to the GM that she would employ a person with those > qualifications to work on the electrical power supply for
structures
Quote
that house people, and we indicated that we did not think that
would
Quote
be acceptable in the state of Florida.
On June 23, we spoke to the GM regarding an acceptable
settlement.
Quote
We felt it would be in both our best interests to resolve this
issue
Quote
promptly. She basically told us to DEAL WITH THE KOA INSURANCE > COMPANY FOR REPAIRS.
Our last plea to her was why do we, the victims, have to bear the > burden of insurance companies, delays, scheduling and repair of > damage inflicted by KOA Okeechobee. We said that we have an RV
that
Quote
sits in our driveway day after day waiting for repairs, and that
we
Quote
are paying for it but cannot use it. We noted that KOA
Okeechobee,
Quote
the unqualified employee and the GM have been totally unaffected
by
Quote
this disaster to our brand new RV. It has been business as usual
at
Quote
the campground. We received no response from the GM.
The KOA Okeechobee zapping is now resulting in additional
failures.
Quote
On 6/21/2004, our RV was dead in the driveway. Nothing happened
when
Quote
the ignition key was turned to the ACC and ON positions, the only > thing that worked was the radio. The chassis batteries had gone
down
Quote
to 0.0 volts. A factory expert told my wife that our RV has a > electrical device called an Isolator, which protects the RV from > unusual power flows, but in our case, the 220v into the 110v
system
Quote
went through the Isolator and may do extensive damage to wiring.
We estimate that with the difficulty of scheduling appointments
for
Quote
estimates and repairs, we will probably lose the first years use
of
Quote
our brand new RV. In addition, we will never trust this vehicle > again, since we have heard that it will probably have short term, > intermediate term and long term electrical gremlins, due to 220v > running into a 110v RV system.
We are unbelievably disappointed at KOA Okeechobee. We ran
searches
Quote
on the Woodalls web site discussion forum before we made our > reservation, and found no negatives for the facility. Only after
the
Quote
disaster to our RV did we hear from an RV technician in Okeechobee > that "they (KOA Okeechobee) have electrical problems". Another RV > tech at the same facility who worked on our RV said that we were > lucky to have such little damage! He said that there have recently > been 4 or 5 other RVs with similar damage at the KOA Okeechobee > campground.
My wife and I have been in a stunned state since this horrible > event. This is our first RV and that was our first stay at a > campground. Now we are afraid to hitch up to any campground > electricity. We have only been dry camping since then.
We are now asking ourselves the following questions: >
1. What does the KOA Okeechobee employee know about the current > electrical codes for the United States and the state of Florida? > PROBABLY NOTHING!!!!
2. After hearing about the lack of qualifications for the KOA > Okeechobee employee and seeing the resultant disaster to our brand > new RV and retirement dreams, we wonder about the qualifications
for
Quote
all the other KOA Okeechobee electrical repair workers! We wonder
if
Title: Re: Our Brand New RV Zapped at KOA Okeechobee, FL
Post by: Warren Leuning on July 07, 2004, 01:42:37 am
Yahoo Message Number: 10509 (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Country-Coach-Owners/conversations/messages/10509)Yeah, when I read the account of the incident, I too, wondered how it could happen. Unless they were wiring a cord with a receptacle on it, it would be hard to connect one phase to neutral without it shorting out and blowing a fuse, tripping a circuit breaker, or causing lots of sparks. Even if the ground or neutral was wired to one of the phases, the other wire should have cause the fuse to blow or the circuit breaker to trip as soon as it was plugged in. However, as you said anything is possible. If they really re-wired so one of the 110 volt legs got 220 volts and the ground and neutral were either not connected or one of these were connect to the other phase, I suppose it is possible. Anyway, I agree with your comment. Carry a voltmeter and check the voltage before plugging in.
Small airports? Interesting.
Warren
1990 Prevost Conversion
Title: Re: Our Brand New RV Zapped at KOA Okeechobee, FL
Post by: JimC on July 07, 2004, 06:50:03 am
Yahoo Message Number: 10510 (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Country-Coach-Owners/conversations/messages/10510)RE: 220 vs 110
It happens a lot. But in most cases the people doing the 'repairs' find the error before any damage is done.
The biggest cause is repair of broken undergournd conductors. Only three conductors are generally run and they tend to be all black (or gray). It is easy to make a mistake in splicing them.
Also note that a ground is not run from the 'main' panel to the sub panel at the camp site. The ground is "born" at the campsite power post (a good ground rod if your lucky).
As the campsite power post is a sub feed panel the ground and neutral are not bonded (nor are they bonded in the motor home/trailer) So with an isolated neutral buss it's easy to put a hot leg on the neutral without blowing the fuse or breaker.
End result you get both hot legs (a hot leg where the neutral should be) on the post outlet. This error can affect all the outlets on a post 20 30 and 50 amp..
Two interesting items on metering in a sub feed system. 1.) the ground may be poor or missing and 2.) currents and resistance in the system can result in unexpected neutral to ground voltage readings.
Good luck and keep the meter handy!
JimC*
2002 Intrigue #11446
(* 7 years industrial electrician and 22 years as a facility electrical engineer.)
Title: Re: Slide Out Problems
Post by: C Marshall on July 08, 2004, 03:46:52 pm
Yahoo Message Number: 10536 (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Country-Coach-Owners/conversations/messages/10536)You didn't say where it was adjusted, if you can have the HWH factory rep at CC in JC perform the adjustment. He's sharp and is good. Make sure they take off the top trim piece and the piece next to the drivers seat to get the out position correct. Mine wasn't and pulled off the trim in pieces. The in adjust ment is easy. But there is a nack to it. The slide comes in just barely clearing the carpet and tyle and then swoops up into place. Lifting up about 3/4". I forgot to say I am assuming you have Deschutes kitchen slide. I can't believe there is any rocking, mine didn't. Are you experiencing yawing as the slide comes in? That could be the entire problem. That takes a factory trained person to fix that, and I mean HWH trained. TWI 98 Allure 30255, 2004 Intrigue 11731
Title: Re: Our Brand New RV Zapped at KOA Okeechobee, FL
Post by: C Marshall on July 11, 2004, 03:31:15 pm
Yahoo Message Number: 10580 (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Country-Coach-Owners/conversations/messages/10580)The problem is if they lifted the nuetral wire and tied the two circuits in series with 220 across them causing an increased current draw on anything that was on. I bet the Invertor went tilt and any control circuits. Soun ds horrible to me. But I wonder why the AC mains input isolator didn't catch the problem and never allow the voltage to pass. I wonder. TWI 2004 Intrigue 11731Message -----
Title: Re: Our Brand New RV Zapped at KOA Okeechobee, FL
Post by: James M. Green on July 11, 2004, 07:51:57 pm
I ask the question: Has anyone determined what brand of coach underwent this declared damage. I sent a message asking the question but did not receive a response James M. Green
- In Country-Coach-Owners@yahoogroups.com (Country-Coach-Owners@yahoogroups.com), "C. Marshall" wrote:
Quote
The problem is if they lifted the nuetral wire and tied the two
circuits in series with 220 across them causing an increased current draw on anything that was on. I bet the Invertor went tilt and any control circuits. Soun ds horrible to me. But I wonder why the AC mains input isolator didn't catch the problem and never allow the voltage to pass. I wonder. TWI 2004 Intrigue 11731Message -----
Quote
From: Warren Leuning
To: Country-Coach-Owners@yahoogroups.com (Country-Coach-Owners@yahoogroups.com) > Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 11:43 PM > Subject: RE: [Country-Coach-Owners] Re: Our Brand New RV Zapped at
KOA Okeechobee, FL
Quote
> Yeah, when I read the account of the incident, I too, wondered how
it could happen. Unless they were wiring a cord with a receptacle on it, it would be hard to connect one phase to neutral without it shorting out and blowing a fuse, tripping a circuit breaker, or causing lots of sparks. Even if the ground or neutral was wired to one of the phases, the other wire should have cause the fuse to blow or the circuit breaker to trip as soon as it was plugged in. However, as you said anything is possible. If they really re-wired so one of the 110 volt legs got 220 volts and the ground and neutral were either not connected or one of these were connect to the other phase, I suppose it is possible.
Quote
>
Anyway, I agree with your comment. Carry a voltmeter and check
the voltage before plugging in.
Quote
>
Small airports? Interesting.
Warren
1990 Prevost Conversion
Quote
>
From: faa_engineer [mailto:m.brundage@w...] > Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 9:30 PM > To: Country-Coach-Owners@yahoogroups.com (Country-Coach-Owners@yahoogroups.com) > Subject: [Country-Coach-Owners] Re: Our Brand New RV Zapped at KOA
Okeechobee, FL
Quote
>
> I am sitting here trying to figure out how 110 can become 220. You > see, 220 volts is the voltage that you get when measuring between > two 110 volt phases. All of our units with a 50 amp service are > wired for 220 (or the more commonly found 240). So how does one get > 220 into a 110 circuit? The "tech" must have wired one of the > phases directly to the neutral, or the ground. Could have been > either. I suppose that could happen, but it would take some > effort. I guess anything is possible. So, that would mean that the > coach ground potential would have been sitting at 110 volts, instead > of 0 volts, and anyone who touched it (like the door handle) while > it was plugged in would have got one heck of a shock. Anyway....I > guess it is possible. Whether this story is true or false, from now > on, I will always use a Voltmeter to check the voltage at the post > prior to plugging in my coach. Also, I have always had a rule....I > never stay at a campground that begins with the letter "K". If you > can't properly spell "campground", you don't get my business. I'll > find a small airport, a quiet street, or something else first. Every KOA that I have ever stayed at was an overpriced > dump....especially the one in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
My $0.02.
Mike
[quote author=jsinger99"
> On June 4, 2004, less than 24 hours after purchasing a brand new > RV,
> our site (#419) at the KOA Okeechobee FL campground experienced a > > power failure, and the employee who was sent to fix it mis-wired > the
> power box and sent 220v through our 110 v system. This has > resulted
> in devastating damage to the RV. The damage included the > microwave,
> VCR, refrigerator, headlights, turn signals, fog lights, emergency > > blinkers and more. >
> On Wednesday, June 23, 2004, we learned from the General Manager > of
> KOA Okeechobee that the KOA employee who mis-wired the electrical > > power box was not a licensed electrician, was not certified in > > electricity or electrical repair, had received no training in > > electrical repair, and had never attended any continuing education > > program for the work he is doing. We expressed our extreme > > disappointment to the GM that she would employ a person with those > > qualifications to work on the electrical power supply for > structures
> that house people, and we indicated that we did not think that > would
> be acceptable in the state of Florida. >
> On June 23, we spoke to the GM regarding an acceptable > settlement.
> We felt it would be in both our best interests to resolve this > issue
> promptly. She basically told us to DEAL WITH THE KOA INSURANCE > > COMPANY FOR REPAIRS. >
> Our last plea to her was why do we, the victims, have to bear the > > burden of insurance companies, delays, scheduling and repair of > > damage inflicted by KOA Okeechobee. We said that we have an RV > that
> sits in our driveway day after day waiting for repairs, and that > we
> are paying for it but cannot use it. We noted that KOA > Okeechobee,
> the unqualified employee and the GM have been totally unaffected > by
> this disaster to our brand new RV. It has been business as usual > at
> the campground. We received no response from the GM. >
> The KOA Okeechobee zapping is now resulting in additional > failures.
> On 6/21/2004, our RV was dead in the driveway. Nothing happened > when
> the ignition key was turned to the ACC and ON positions, the only > > thing that worked was the radio. The chassis batteries had gone > down
> to 0.0 volts. A factory expert told my wife that our RV has a > > electrical device called an Isolator, which protects the RV from > > unusual power flows, but in our case, the 220v into the 110v > system
> went through the Isolator and may do extensive damage to wiring. >
> We estimate that with the difficulty of scheduling appointments > for
> estimates and repairs, we will probably lose the first years use > of
> our brand new RV. In addition, we will never trust this vehicle > > again, since we have heard that it will probably have short term, > > intermediate term and long term electrical gremlins, due to 220v > > running into a 110v RV system. >
> We are unbelievably disappointed at KOA Okeechobee. We ran > searches
> on the Woodalls web site discussion forum before we made our > > reservation, and found no negatives for the facility. Only after > the
> disaster to our RV did we hear from an RV technician in Okeechobee > > that "they (KOA Okeechobee) have electrical problems". Another RV > > tech at the same facility who worked on our RV said that we were > > lucky to have such little damage! He said that there have recently > > been 4 or 5 other RVs with similar damage at the KOA Okeechobee > > campground. >
> My wife and I have been in a stunned state since this horrible > > event. This is our first RV and that was our first stay at a > > campground. Now we are afraid to hitch up to any campground > > electricity. We have only been dry camping since then. >
> We are now asking ourselves the following questions: > >
> 1. What does the KOA Okeechobee employee know about the current > > electrical codes for the United States and the state of Florida? > > PROBABLY NOTHING!!!! >
> 2. After hearing about the lack of qualifications for the KOA > > Okeechobee employee and seeing the resultant disaster to our brand > > new RV and retirement dreams, we wonder about the qualifications > for
> all the other KOA Okeechobee electrical repair workers! We wonder > if
> the whole facility is out of compliance with the current federal, > > state and county electrical codes. In addition, we wonder if sub- > > standard electrical work by unqualified workers has resulted in a > > facility that is a danger to the lives of its paying customers. >
> Our RV dream is quickly turning into our RV nightmare! > >
> From your experience, what should we do now? > >