"My Experience"
Ron Hoover Company & Discover America
May 21
In January of this year I put a deposit down for two Motorhomes. This deposit was a damage deposit as explained to me. So the 1000.00 was charged to my credit card at that time. (the rentals where for April 5th-7th)..
We arrived on thursday April 4th to pick the units up. (they allowed me to pick them up early, as we planned to leave at 2A.M. Friday morning). I did waive a walk thru, I had been renting from Ron Hoover for at least 5 years, I trusted that every ammenity was in work - ing order. I was told the fuel tank was full, the water tank was full, and specifically the generator was working. (I had a problem with the generator during the last rental, the
water tank is always a concern.) By the way, after I mentioned the problem with the generator and smelly bathroom during my last rental. I was told that the April rental would be discounted. Please note that I never asked for a discount, It was offered.
Now that I have set the stage concerning my LAST rental experience with Ron Hoover Company and Discover America I shall begin.
As I said before, I was told the fuel tanks were full. As a habit my father and I took the motorhomes to the gas station just to top off. Well to our suprise unit# 54 took only about 2 dollars in fuel. Unit# 39, the unit I was driving took over 35.00 in fuel. Again I was told the tank was full, thank god we stopped to top off the tanks. During this stop I noticed water dripping out from under unit 39. I mentioned my concern to my father,
he assured me that this was fine. You see he noticed the same thing at the yard, he was told that it was just the OVERFLOW. Now on to the rest of the trip.
When we arrived at Texas Motor Speedway friday morning, we got settled in. At around 4 P.M. Or so I started the generator in unit 39 It ran for only 15 minutes. I made a phone call to Ron Hoover, thankfully a nice lady answered the phone. I explained the problem I was having, this was met with a slight chuckle. I am sure nothing was meant by this, I seem to have generator problems no matter what unit I rented from them lately. Anyway she connected me with someone there that was going to help me figure out why the generator was not working. I was told Ron Hoover or Discover America did not have the resources to send a mechanic out. I was going to have to work this out over the phone.
(I must be honest, I was very rude to this guy that was trying to help me troubleshoot the problem) I could not believe this was happening AGAIN. After I got off the phone I found that the oil level for the generator was 1 quart low. After a small search I was able to locate some oil. Then I could not get the thing to fire, I switched the battery leads, messed with the fuse holder. The generator did finally run for a bit, but shut off. I noticed some wires melting I never messed with it again. So from this time on the motorhomes generator was useless. The people next to me allowed me to run power from there Prevost, but they decided to disconnect me due to the problems with my motorhome.
I was able to use a 1800 watt generator, But I had no fuel for it. I went to the camping supply store located on the grounds to purchase a gas can and siphon hose. After I got back to the motorhome I soon realized the 17.00 hose was useless. At this time a friend offered me a ride off the grounds to a gas station. Anyone who has been to the races knows what a pain it is to exit and enter the camping area. I guess this is why I chose to rent a SELF CONTAINED motorhome. Finally I was able to use the generator for lights, it was getting dark. Yes the lights also work off of the batteries, but with all
that had happened at this point, I did not want to keep starting the motorhome to charge up. My luck the thing would run out of gas.By the way the gas gauge did not
work properly either.
On Saturday I noticed we where out of fresh water. (I could only think of the drip I had seen at the gas station on thurs.) As I was out in the middle of at least 10,000 other campers, I was forced to pay the water scalper. It cost me 40.00 to fill the tank. I could
not understand why the tank would be empty, the 3 of us used the bathroom only up to this point. This was a good thing because the hotwater heater was not working. So it
would have been cold showers anyway. For heat we had to start the motorhome, we turned the motor off prior to going to sleep.
I found out real quick that alot of the ammenities I was paying for did not work without the generator. I saw alot of people in tents, they were getting by. I'm sure that the tent campers did not pay 189.00 plus a night. I guess they where happy campers. Not this one, sure the motorhome kept me dry during the sunday evening storm. I'm sure the tent campers where just as dry in the 50.00 dome tent. When you pay 189.00 plus a night for a rental of a self contained motorhome. When you are told EVERYTHING is in working order. When you trust them enough not to do a walk thru, because you know the past 5 or so years had been uneventfull. (except for the January ordeal). When you think your getting all the amenities (in working order) you had been promised. Then the
cost is not an issue. This was not case with ron hoover or discover america... The following is what happened after I went to the dump station and returned the units to Ron Hoover Company on Monday April 8th.
When I arrived I was directed to the "manager", she asked us to come into her office. Present were my father, a friend, and myself as well as the "manager". As we began to explain our multitude of problems with unit # 39 she looked down at some notes we had prepared. It was as if she was taken back by this. We had listed the expenses that we had paid out of pocket. (36.00-gas, 17.00-siphon, 18.00-gas can & fuel, 40.00-water) I was told by her that "she could not take our word for it" and that Ron Hoover would not pay for anything except maybe the 36.00 top off. This woman would not allow anyone in my party to get three words out before she rudely interrupted. This went on for many minutes when finally my friend just had to leave her office. We asked that possibly a discount would be considered. We offered to pay in full for unit # 54, but she said to give her a day and she would get back with either myself or my father. Prior to leaving her
office my father told her he had gone over on the allowed milage and owed some extra for this. He asked her to please go to the motorhome and note the ending milage. This was met with "I don't need to look at the odometer, I trust you". I could not belive my ears. She had just told us she could not take our word for it, relating to the money we spent out of pocket. Anyway my father made her go to the motorhome and notate the odometer.
A day passed and she called my father, not with a resolution, but to let him know there was a problem with the credit card. (I believe she had no intention of working this out).
You see, she first tried to run 681.38 for each rental thru. As she stated she tried to force 1362.76 thru before she would credit the DAMAGE DEPOSIT. At this point I contacted her to explain the card was near its limit. I thought the customer came first and that she would credit the DAMAGE DEPOSITS back (1000.00 total), then charge
the rental for unit # 54. Once this happened we could come to a resolution on unit # 39.
Whatever was owed for unit # 39 at this time would be paid for in full... During all this I asked her if a discount would be offered, her reply "NOPE, and by the way you owe us money" You see she claimed that the motorhomes never moved from where we had left them Monday. She added that her guys took them less than two miles up the road to top off the tanks. This was due to the fact that we had mentioned that the fuel gauges
seemed off. Guess what, unit # 54 took 20.00 or so dollars, and unit # 39 took 30.00 or so dollars. This I find hard to believe, as I have two fuel bills with dollar amounts, gallons, and most of all a time stamp. I'm sure they can recall what time I arrived back.
I do, it was 5:00 the lady at the desk was leaving. Anyway what this "manager" did next suprised me (well not really). She first tried to run 365.00 or so thru at once, when this did not work she then split this up and ran two transactions thru. The credit card was in my brothers name, he was not on the contract, he asked the "manager" if the DAMAGE DEPOSIT was going to be refunded. He was told flat out NO. And that the
transaction was going to be done this way. My question to Ron Hoover Company is what are the damages that made you decide to keep the DAMAGE DEPOSIT.
Since she made these transactions, she ran the credit card over the limit. Another USELESS expense incurred. I just could not believe that a well known company
was conducting business in such a manner.
I was able to get in touch with a vice president out of Rockport Tx. When he did finally return my call he said he would look into the matter. I was getting confused as to whom I was to be dealing with. I was told Discover America by the "manager", but when I called the number for Discover America in Rockport guess who answered. It seems when you call that number a rep from Ron Hoover Company answers the phone.
The vice president called me back around the 18th of April, a full ten days since we returned the motorhomes. Once again the customer is never right. He explained to me
that he had them fill the tank and watch it for 48 hours, he had them test the generator I was told the water held, and the generator fired right up and ran. Did it ever occurr to him that in the ten days since they where dropped off that they just may have been serviced. I believe the problems had been taken care of before he arrived. I was there, I experienced it, I don't have to make this story up... It's real.
All this could have been avoided with the proper customer care. I have been a good customer in the past, but was not treated as such in this case. I asked him what was
Ron Hoovers primary business rentals or sales. I was told sales...
My suggestion, stick with sales, because if others have suffered the same customer care as I did, then alot of customers will look elsewhere, like I am.
Thank you
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