Winter storage woes

[marc2912]

Living in a pretty suburban area near New York City I don’t have a driveway nor the space to store my Dutch Star 4312. This year I decided to try storage at a new dealership. Overall well reviewed, I figured I would give it a try and that the hour and a half drive there would be worth it. When I dropped it off, I asked them to also look at an issue I was having with my rear passenger side jack. A few weeks after to drop off they call me to tell me the jack was bad and a new one would need to be ordered. I approved the cost, even though excessively expensive (assuming they went with Newmar price). About a month or so later they reach back out, the jack had been delivered, but now they have to weld the bracket on as it isn’t something that gets bolted on and has now an additional installation cost. At this point I’m a little annoyed as this is something they should’ve known but I again approved the repair cost.

Now this year I have a new job and the RV season is getting a late start. I called them last Friday morning to tell them I’d be picking up later that day around 3pm. I get there, get handed my keys and told I could pickup in the storage yard a mile or so away. I get there and everything (battery wise) is dead. House, chassis … everything. Now house batteries are 2 seasons old and chassis are 3. They jumped me and expected me to take it. I refused and told them to take it to the shop and check it out. Today I get a call, nothing is holding a charge or even charging.

I told them that in full transparency I was very annoyed and disappointed. At first they tried to say that batteries were not their responsibility when storing. I reminded them that they pulled it in and out of storage a few times and therefore were the ones responsible for storing it properly. Am I being unreasonable with my expectations here?

Up until now I was accepting all the things I ran into. I didn’t even mention yet that they won’t do oil changes, I need to take it to freightliner or other. They wouldn’t change a bad relay on generator, need to take it somewhere else, and they won’t change tires either. I’m waiting to see how they respond before name dropping but at this point I’m starting to feel that storing there is going to be around a $10k “lesson” I’m going to end up eating.

Would love feedback on your thoughts though to make sure I’m not too close and reacting wrongly.

 

[Neal]

Marc, sorry to hear this. I would stay on them regarding the batteries.

 

[Jim]

Hi Marc,

My knee-jerk reaction is that it should be their responsibility, but I wouldn’t count on them stepping up and taking accountability. Finding professional service anywhere these days is like spotting a unicorn in a Walmart parking lot, rare and probably not happening.

That said, it doesn’t mean you won’t get your issue resolved. You might just need to apply a little more pressure to get them to accept some responsibility.

Do you have a storage contract with them? If so, what does it actually say? Is there one of those all-encompassing disclaimers that basically says they’re not responsible for anything, anytime, anywhere, no matter what?

 

[redbaron]

Batteries going bad in service or storage is a big deal. The only time I have ever had a problem is when leaving with a dealer.

One dealer assured me it was plugged in the whole time, which it was. The problem was the breaker was also off the whole time.

Never once has a dealer owned the battery problem. For this reason, among many others, I choose to not leave a coach unattended at any dealership or service center if it can be avoided. When it cannot be avoided (ie: paint), then I personally prepare the coach for storage.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

Keep on them about the batteries.
If they don’t think they are responsible for performing a complete shutdown when they drive it to storage, then they should not drive it to storage.
We had some paint work done on our coach and they needed to do a full shutdown due to the fumes. Did most of the shutdown myself and explained how to shutdown the chassis and then after painting they needed to plug back in and reengage the battery charger on the chassis battery which has constant parasitic losses due to a few items that connect directly.
They did not turn the charger back on.
So we arrived to pickup the coach and it was still in the paint bay with dead chassis batteries they were trying to jump start. Wouldn’t even perform a jump start with mobile booster and car jumper cables both attached.
Had to argue with them a bit but they finally ate the $500 for new chassis batteries so they could get our coach out of the bay so they could start the next job.
Don’t give up. Sounds like they messed up.

 

[Weighit]

Wow, I would spend a lot more time researching in your town/village a closer place to store your motorhome. Since the"dealerdship" really doesn't seem to be a all inclusive repair center, shouldn't matter where you store it.

 

[marc2912]

Do you have a storage contract with them? If so, what does it actually say? Is there one of those all-encompassing disclaimers that basically says they’re not responsible for anything, anytime, anywhere, no matter what?

Generic we're not responsible for anything unfortunately. It's also the same at every other storage place I looked at .

Don’t give up. Sounds like they messed up.

They clearly did but let's see where it lands.

Wow, I would spend a lot more time researching in your town/village a closer place to store your motorhome. Since the"dealerdship" really doesn't seem to be a all inclusive repair center, shouldn't matter where you store it.

Trust me I have, if there was other options it wouldn't be 1.5 hours away. The cheapest place that was willing to let me park it on a gravel lot with zero fence, security etc, wanted over $800/mo.



Thanks to all who responded. I'm very concerned that they're just going to, at best offer to eat the chassis batteries and I'll have to eat all the house ones. It's mind boggling that a dealer that sells these things is incapable of not destroying them.

 

[Neal]

Marc, do you recall if you had your Low Battery Cut Off (LBCO) set? I think this could be an important reminder for people to review their inverter setup and ensure params like this are correct. The inverter should have cut itself off per your settings.

 

[marc2912]

Marc, do you recall if you had your Low Battery Cut Off (LBCO) set? I think this could be an important reminder for people to review their inverter setup and ensure params like this are correct. The inverter should have cut itself off per your settings.

I'd have to check but I believe so. Though with everything having been without power for who knows how long I don't even know if my controller will have kept it's memory. The other thing too is I had everything at the breakers turned off.




Anyone ever setup a kill switch like the chassis bay has for the chassis batteries but on house batteries?

 

[Neal]

I'd have to check but I believe so. Though with everything having been without power for who knows how long I don't even know if my controller will have kept it's memory. The other thing too is I had everything at the breakers turned off.




Anyone ever setup a kill switch like the chassis bay has for the chassis batteries but on house batteries?

I added that on my inverter long ago when there was talk of inverter fires. There's no way to kill the power between the batteries and the inverter in the event of an inverter fire. Newmar should do this, it's an easy mod, I highly recommend it.

If LBCO triggered, it should have stopped at the voltage you set, some use 11.9, some use 12.1, depends on your batteries. I think if set, that would protect the batteries but I'm not sure of any other parasitic drains.

While my main purpose of solar panels when I installed them in 2018 was for my current storage situation, the secondary benefit was being in a service lot. If parked outdoors it could maintain the batteries, backed up with AGS, but some shops may turn off AGS.

Final consideration, if you need new batteries, consider going to LiFePO4 such as @lostinfla just did. LiFePO4's have a BMS that protects from situations like this.

Sorry you have to deal with this, RVing is supposed to be fun, an escape, but sadly has experiences like this we all endure at times. You'll get through this.

 

[MarkMaxPayne]

Sorry to hear. I've seen some folks resort to a sign in the window saying something akin to "Rig must be plugged into shore power, food in refrigerator." With myRozie (via SilverLeaf) I can also remotely monitor what the AC and inverters are up to. When in for service anytime myRozie system goes offline I call the service manager to let them know the coach was left unplugged (again). Also, one of the reasons I have an AT&T MiFi and Blink security cameras installed inside the rig. I usually have to call the service manager 1 to 3 times per service visit.

Best,
-Mark

 

[Wemustrv]

I'd have to check but I believe so. Though with everything having been without power for who knows how long I don't even know if my controller will have kept it's memory. The other thing too is I had everything at the breakers turned off.




Anyone ever setup a kill switch like the chassis bay has for the chassis batteries but on house batteries?

My Coachman Encore has Chassis disconnect in the engine bay and a house disconnect inside the front door. Energy Management System should hold your settings indefinitely.

 

[marc2912]

My Coachman Encore has Chassis disconnect in the engine bay and a house disconnect inside the front door. Energy Management System should hold your settings indefinitely.

I had the chassis disconnect but no house disconnect. I'll probably add one at some point during the season.

 

[marc2912]

So update...

June 17th - Dealer tells me that the house batteries are fine but the chassis batteries aren't taking a charge and show as bad. Since they're 3yo (but close to 4 from manu date) they're saying the batteries are at the end of their expected life. They tried to sell me $800 (each) batteries, that's without labor. I told them that they could keep their $800 batteries and that I would pick up a set from Napa at < $200 each. They reached back out to me and said they would source from their local Napa and change them at cost which I agreed to.

June 18-19 Exchanged a few messages back and forth with the dealer. Told them I was planning to come back to pick up on the 20th and if they could make sure the RV is good to go.

June 20th, drive the 1.5 hour to the dealership to pick up. Get there and while the engine turns over no problem the Inverter controller shows a fault and yet has no errors listed. It also wont clear the error, won't turn on or charge and is showing low 11v on the house batteries (the ones that are fine). I call the rep in and show him the issue, he gets a tech. They can't clear it. At this point we've been trying to get the inverter working for an hour, I once again have to leave the RV there as I have no clue what the issue is and don't want to take a chance that there's a larger problem. I tell the rep that while I appreciate them taking care of switching the chassis batteries I would have preferred they actually had checked things which clearly they didn't.

June 23rd, dealer sends zero update so I follow up right before they close. They respond that the mechanic couldn't figure it out but that there's more techs the next day and that he has someone schedule first thing tuesday to look at it.

June 24th.... you guessed it, no update so once again i follow up around 3. Finally get a response that they haven't solved it yet.

June 25th. Finally get told that it's fixed. They fully disconnected the inverter and left it unplug for a bit before reconnecting. It seemed to have cleared. No insight as to what happened or what the issue was. I tell them that I will pickup Friday the 27th and to make sure the RV is ready.

June 26th. They de-winterized the coach, figured I've wasted enough of my time so had them do it. They tell me the rear toilet is leaking and send me pictures. Dometic no longer makes it and they say a replacement is over $4k. I tell them to put it back together and that I will deal with it.

June 27th, I get there to pickup. Inverter is working, coach runs. I do my walk around and the house battery bay door is open, I go to close it and clearly the latch is bent and it won't close. I tell the rep to come out when he's done with his customer to show him and while waiting I go around to get my toolbox out of another bay. I open it and the bay door shock is not only broken off on the door side but they slammed the door on the shock still attached to the frame bending it in half and bending the bracket it's mounted on. I showed the rep but at this point it feels like it's more wasting my time than anything else. I took my RV and left and they'll never see me again.

This has been by far the worst experience I've ever had. The total lack of care given to someone's property is mind boggling.
The part that is infuriating is that the experience became worse and worse when I would have thought that having a pissed off customer would mean maybe paying attention to not fucking up more...

Anyways, at this point I think it fair to say DO NOT trust your RV to Alpin Haus, specifcally the Alpin Haus of Oak Ridge.