Florida Investigating KOA Okeechobee's Use of UNSKILLED LABOR for E

January 09, 2005, 11:38:50 am

We are sending this posting as a safety information bulletin for a potential hazard to life and property that exists at KOA Okeechobee.

The state of Florida is conducting an investigation of KOA Okeechobee's use of Fred Hofmann, an unskilled laborer, to do electrical repairs at the campground at the direction of Wendy Woodman, the GM. Fred Hofmann mis-wired the power box supplying power to our RV, resulted in 220v being sent into the RV's 110v and 12v systems resulting in devastating, permanent, persisting damage.
Electrical repairs at campgrounds in Okeechobee County, Florida are required to be performed by a licensed electrician.

After our posting on this site on 7/4/2004 (see copy at end of this posting), we received a communication dated June 23, 2004 from KOA Okeechobee that contained a letter, an Incident Report, and a statement by Fred Hofmann. The letter and Incident Report were signed by Wendy Woodman. The 6/23/2004 communication contains admissions by Fred Hofmann and Wendy Woodman, that Fred Hofmann had made electrical repairs to the power box that was supplying power to our RV.

I then called numerous officials at Florida's Okeechobee County Building Department and Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation regarding the regulations for electricians and campgrounds.

I learned the following:
1. In Okeechobee County Florida, electrical repairs at RV campgrounds are required to be performed by a licensed electrician, and a permit must be obtained.

2. The state of Florida and Okeechobee County Florida have no record of Fred Hofmann as a licensed electrician.

I then filed a formal complaint with Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) in Tallahassee, FL. DBPR reviewed and analyzed my narrative and the KOA documents that I provided. DBPR then forwarded my complaint to the regional office for investigation. The investigation is ongoing.

My next goal is for KOA Okeechobee to be inspected by electrical experts from Florida. Wendy Woodman previously stated to my wife and me that Fred Hofmann had been performing electrical repairs at the kampground for "years". I can only imagine how many electrical code violations there must be at the facility. In addition, on June 5, 2004, a technician from the RV dealer told me that there had recently been 4-5 other RVs that had their electrical systems damaged while at KOA Okeechobee. He said that the other RVs had more extensive damage than ours (including inverters, electronic equipment).
After our original posting we took your recommendation and discussed this with a lawyer. He said that we would be wasting our time and money since we would not get a new RV or punitive damages. All that they would do is repair the damage after electronic equipment on the RV fails. We have been advised that when mis-wired 220 v goes into the RV's 12 v system and 110 v system, the RV becomes an "electronic lemon". Our brand new RV has been converted into a potential ongoing problem that we cannot trust. We have told by our manufacturer that the warranty will not apply to electrical problems, since they know about our zapping at KOA Okeechobee. And the resale value has diminished greatly.

We also took your recommendation to notify the head of KOA, Jim Rogers, but we have had no reply from him. Earlier attempts to contact KOA HQ by e-mail and phone were referred back to KOA Okeechobee.

So, what does a dissatisfied consumer do in a situation like this where KOA Okeechobee and KOA HQ both ignore us, and where Wendy Woodman makes false claims that our RV has been fixed? When we posted back in July, some people questioned our motives. We are posting this so that hopefully there will not be a next person in our situation. We do not know whether or not Fred Hofmann is still performing electrical repairs at KOA Okeechobee. Even if he is not, until a complete electrical inspection of the campground occurs, there may be many hidden electrical problems. Stay there at your own risk!

Jack & Sally

Florida

Date: Sun Jul 4, 2004 8:58 am

Subject: Our Brand New RV Zapped at KOA Okeechobee FL
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 Okeechobee 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 this 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 this KOA
Okeechobee repairman 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

Re: Florida Investigating KOA Okeechobee's Use of UNSKILLED LABOR f

Reply #1 – January 09, 2005, 12:27:39 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 14239

This post is VERY STRONG reason why a surge protector should always be installed..or if you do not have one... run out and buy one, they are very easy to use and do not have to be hardwired into your coach..Jack and Sally sorry to hear about your bad experience

Russ and Jean

Was: FL Investigating KOA Okeechobee .. 230V to 120V systems

Reply #2 – January 09, 2005, 08:36:44 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 14246

Jack, Sally,

I can't help you with any of the legal issues, but I may be able to put your mind at ease about the 12V systems being troubled by you receiving 230V when plugging in to a 120V outlet.
When 230V got send into your system, the only things that could possible go wrong are those 120V appliances that were turned on and given 230V vs 120.

They could be:
The fridge.

The waterheater.

The battery charger (which is usually combined with the inverter).
Airconditioner(s).
Others..

Forget about anything that wasn't on, they simply didn't feel the effects of that higher voltage.

If any of these units were on and received 230V, you'd probably now about it, as they will likely instanteneously "fry", or if they are protected by a fuse that is closely over the amps they are supposed to receive, you may have had some blown fuses (or tripped circuit breakers).

So after those items have been taken care of (and maybe you've replaced the coffeemaker), lets look at the 12V issue. If the battery charger kept up with the 230V input (didn't burn out, or break a fuse), it may have attempted to charge the batteries at a rate of 14 or more volts. It would not have done any damage to any of the 12V logic in your coach, as the batteries are kind like dogs, they would die to protect you. Thus the most damage may have been done directly to your house batteries, likely nothing to anything connected to them.
Most 12V stuff is rather capable of putting up with an increased voltage, and your batteries will die to keep the output at no more than 13-14 volts.

Just trying to convince you of something a lawyer might not (they don't make money easing your mind): Your problem may not be as big as you think. Of course, having to replace some 120V items and maybe having shortened the life of your batteries isn't good, however, it will likely not make your RV investment depriciate any faster than ours (and depreciate they do for all of us ).

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