We had been working in a South Dakota State Park and were preparing to leave when our motorhome would not start. We tried charging the batteries, they showed as being fully charged, but could not get the engine to turn over.
It's impossible to get someone in South Dakota to make a "house call" so we went to the dealership that handles our brand of motorhome in Worthing, SD, but they would not work on it, (that's a story in itself), and told us to have it towed to a Freightliner dealer since it has a Freightliner chassis.
The closest Frieghtliner dealer was Holcomb Trucks in Sioux City, IA. We called them and they said they would fix it for us and even told us they would arrange to have it towed to Sioux City.
It was towed in the next day and it was found that the batteries were both bad, so they replaced them. When we got the bill we were flabbergasted! $275.00 labor. (The unit was in the shop for 2 1/2 hours). $218.00 parts (that seems reasonable). $520 for the towing. (That;s $10.00 per mile!) and 27.50 misc. Charges and 72.90 sales tax (!!) for a grand total of $1114.23.
My wife called the towing company and they told here that's not what they charged them to have it towed. That's what THEY charged US!
I also recall that while standing in the shop I overheard a mechanic make a remark when another RV was pulling out: "There goes another unhappy RV'er."
Fortunately we had insurance to cover the towing, but, our $7,900 "cover everything" 7 year extended warranty didn't cover one red cent of the rest.
After having a near ripoff by a South Dakota RV repair shop the previous year we haven't had our RV back home in South Dakota since.
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