- Report: #1533482
Complaint Review: Lewis RV Center - Oklahoma City Oklahoma
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Lewis RV Center
1600 East Reno Ave Oklahoma City, 73117 Oklahoma, United States
Phone:
405-232-1800
Web:
lewisrvcenter.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
(1)
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Lewis RV Center Lewisrvcenter.com Sold me a softstart that didn’t work and there was no support available because the manufacturer was out of business. Oklahoma City Oklahoma
On 7/6/2024 I called Lewis RV in OKC to inquire if they carried a product called softstart. I spoke with an employee by the name of Sue who informed me that they did have a softstart on hand for $349.
Even though the price was higher than what I had seen online, I wanted to get it right away and get it installed so that my wife and I could get relief from the sweltering temperatures as we are elderly and are moving from a more temperate climate in Western WA.
So I drove to Lewis RV located at 1600 Reno Ave in Oklahoma City Oklahoma 73117. I met Sue and she had the softstart waiting for me at her desk and she briefly showed me the instructions outlining the 4 “easy” steps to install. I paid for it in full with my credit card and was on my way.
I then arranged for installation by contacting Cornerstone RV Repair and the installation was set for 07/09/2024. The installation took place on that day, but, the A/C would not run. It would start and then almost immediately shut down.
I was advised by Aaron that the unit was not functioning properly, and that the directions provided were missing information and we discussed contacting the manufacturer for support.
In the meantime, I could not let my wife and I swelter in the 100+ degree heat so that night I went and bought a generator for $868. Upon arriving home I set up the generator according to the instructions and fired it up. I connected it to our RV and turned the A/C on, as we were waiting for the cool air to start flowing, moments after I turned the A/C on, the electric in the RV shut down, again. I called my mechanic who suggested he come by and remove the softstart sold by Lewis RV because it should run off of a 30 amp generator.
After the softstart was removed on the evening of the 10th I once again fired up the generator and plugged it in to the RV. The A/C started… and kept running… all night!
Clearly, their was a problem with the softstart. So on 07/11/2024 I contacted Sue at Lewis RV to get the customer service phone number for RVAC Solutions, the manufacturer of the softstart. She was going to get me the number, but stated their internet was down. I later that morning found out that the company website was no longer active. It was apparently shut down.
Sue said to hang on, another employee nearby said she had the phone number for the company representative whose name is Tina G and Sue gave me the number. I called the number and it went to voicemail. In the VM Greeting there was no mention of the name of the company or the individual that I was calling. Just a reference to “extension 1001”. It seemed a little strange, but I still left a message stating who I was looking for and the purpose of my call.
Because it seemed odd to me I started doing a little online research. Doing a search by company name it brought up the company website, rvacsolutions.com and it is not an active website.
After I saw this I initially suspected that I didn’t have internet but as soon as I remembered that Sue said her internet was down I suspected that:
1, This company was no longer in business and
2, when Sue saw the message, her assumption was that the internet was down.
I still continued to try to see if there was a way to contact RVAC Solutions to get the help that might put me back on track to getting the permanent solution installed. All I could find were some social media accounts that were inactive since October of 2023.
I recontacted Lewis RV and asked for Sue, she wasn’t available but I did speak with Porsche, and when I told her the reason I wanted to speak with Sue, Porsche said she was the one who had Tina G’s phone on her email. I asked Porsche how old the email was and she said about 2 years ago. This was further confirmation of my suspicion that this company had gone out of business. There was clearly not going to be any help or support to get the softstart installed.
When I mentioned to Porsche that with a defective part and with no help or support to get it functioning properly that I would bring it back for a refund, and she informed me that any part that had been installed was not eligible for a refund.
I am seeking other remedies until such time as they see fit to refund my purchase price due to selling a defective part to me.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Lewis RV Center
Oklahoma City,Oklahoma,
United States
In response to report 1533482
#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Fri, August 23, 2024
This customer purchased a soft-start system from our store on July 6, 2024. At the time of purchase the customer was made aware of our 2 return policies. 1) We do not allow returns on special order or electrical items. 2) We do not allow returns on any item after it has been installed. Both policies are CLEARLY posted at the customers level at check out and emphasized in black and red lettering. It is also printed on the customers copy of the printed receipt. This customer purchase and had a 3rd party install the soft-start system for him. After the third party (a RV service company that we are not acquainted with) installed the soft-start system the customer stated that the item did not work. The customer called to talk about returning the item and we told them since they installed the system (which did include wiring) that we would not be able to offer them a refund per our posted policy. In a rip off report the customer has given details to what the items is doing that he believes is a malfunction. From the customers details it sounds like the item was wired incorrectly. This improper installation would cause what the customer is stating and would damage the soft start system. For clarification the item would have performed correctly had it not been installed incorrectly. Since the customer used a third party to install the part and we were not part of this all we can go off is what the customer said was happening after the installation. We have sold and installed these items with zero issues. This further leads us to believe that the other company wired it incorrectly and the customer is wanting us to be responsible for their error.
We do not feel that a chargeback should be granted since our return policy is clearly stated and there was another business involved that installed the item, and that we believe wired the soft-start incorrectly.
Below is a response that we have previoulsy reponded to the customers complaints. Please note, the customer never came in to discuss the situation as stated on a telephone call when we said the part could not be returned. Nor did the customer ever come in to talk about the circumstance outlined below to see if we could help diagnose what might have happened. The customer did, however enter our dealership to take pictures of our parts department, posted return signs, and our employees, but denied any help while he was there.
Good afternoon ****, we are sorry that you have not had a good experience with your soft-start system, and feel that we have ripped you off. When you purchased this part is was in an unopened box. Per our return policy we clearly state in the store that there will be no returns once an electrical part has been installed. This is becuase if the part is installed incorrectly it can damage the part. The soft-start system requires electrical work to be installed, thereby making a correct installation imperative. When you purchased this part you had a 3rd party install it. We do not know their method and cannot be responsible for their work. WE have installed all of the other soft-starts we have sold and have had no problems with the systems.
In your review you mention that the AC would not run so you needed to go purhcase a generator. Again without knowing your trailer, the installations process, or power source we cannot help diagnose. However if you were hooked up to 110v power I am unclear on why you would have needed to purchase a generator. If you were not hooked up to 110v I am unclear on what power source you were using to try and activate the soft-start or AC orginally. The soft-start is designed to help reduce the pull of power the AC uses when starting. If the soft start detected a reduction in amperage once you did have the generator hooked up it would have disrupted power to the AC as a way to try and protect the AC from an unreliable power source. If however, the electric in your RV shutdown, as you have stated, that is much more indicative of soft-start being wired incorrectly there by tripping the breaker on you RV. However, as stated before thos are not details we have or a process we were a part of.
Per our last conversation we thought you were coming by to give us more details. We have not seen you yet, but if you would like to provide us with anymore details that may allow us to help diagnose your problem we would gladly listen and see if we can figure out if the soft-start is functioning and if so what needs to happen for it to perform correctly, or to see if it is shorted, which most likely means it was initially wired incorrectly.
It is our belief that a mistake was made on install and this customer, istead of holding the installer accountable, believes that we should be responsible for an incorrect install. The customer did not take any opportunity to walk us through problems in an effort to diagnose and fix the situation. The first details we recieved of the mechanical malfunction were in this ripoff report. When the customer did return to our store he had no interest in discuss anything and denied help when it was offered. The customer was only interested in, what appeared to be, collecting "evidence." We believe this ripoff report should be removed.
