4 years ago
We purchased a used Dutch Star from Lazy Days at t...
We purchased a used Dutch Star from Lazy Days at the end of Feb. Older, seemed to be in decent shape, but one of their lower priced sales. Our salesman Dave L showed us around the place before showing us available motorhomes. Seemed great,work areas galore, efficient and busy. We found a motorhome that we could afford and paid the price they "could let it go for". We had to leave for home that afternoon (CT) and the arrangement was that we would return in 3-4 weeks to drive it home. Dave assured us that it would be throughly cleaned/ inspected and made road worthy, and that is there were any major issues he would let us know. It came with no warranty because of the price/age, but again, we were told they would do a thorough inspection My husband booked a flight with my brother for 3/31. On the 29th ( 2 days before we were due to pick it up after they had 1 month to get it ready) my husband received a voicemail that they were having a problem with the coach shutting completely off "when the steering wheel was turned but it didn't always happen" He thought we my husband was already there and said that they thought the problem was in the steering column and that they had ordered a part and it would be "overnighted" and arrive sometime Monday with installation on Tuesday. When John and my brother arrived at Lazy Days Monday at around 1 pm the RV was in the "park" ready for them to spend the night and they were told "it's all ready to go and we will do the walk through inspection tomorrow am". That was done and they left Tuesday am. They never said that they made the repair but John assumed it was done Monday am as they said it was "ready to go" They traveled to Atlanta to spend the night and were told by someone following behind that they had no brake or taillights. They parked at dark and got on the road in the am, went a few miles, were navigating a bend in the highway when the coach stopped running. My husband struggled to get it to the side of the road. They called for a tow, waited 4 hours at the side of the highway barely off the road. They had to spend the night in a freight liner parking lot, wait all the next day for someone to trouble shoot and the problem turned out to be a fuse in a very hard to reach area. It was found purely by accident as it was touched while the coach was running and the motor died. They found the plug where the fuse was to be inserted was pushed back and a complete contact could not be made and was blackened from arcing, They were able to put it in the correct place and start the coach. The mechanic at the freight liner depot found that the taillights were unplugged and when they were plugged in the brake lights would remain on all the time, thus they still had no functioning brake or taillights. They arrived home 2 days late and had to travel with no brake lights from Tampa to CT. Since arriving home my husband has made numerous phone calls to 4 different people at Lazy Days x 2 days and have received no return phone calls. They knew there was a problem, said they ordered a part for the steering column, which I do not believe and when the coach was picked up they led my husband to believe it had been fixed. I'm sure that the problem with the coach cutting out and shutting off was a positional situation and when it started up for them later they never pursued why it was happening.. Someone also disconnected the brake lights, unsure who, rather than fixing the problem of them remaining on all the time.. We have incurred a $475 tow bill, traveled over 1400 miles with no brake or taillights and still have to pay someone to fix that problem. If anyone had been hurt due to their negligence this letter would have been in different hands. When you walk into Lazy Days you are greeted with a friendly, good old boy "Hi welcome to Lazy Days, we have complimentary coffee and water" but when you are leaving you are forgotten in a nanosecond..Spreading this far and wide Lazy Days!!
Claudia Dickens Smith
Bethel CT