The Power of Bloggers

Crystal River, Florida

 

One thing about bloggers, is that we share things.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Last winter when we had bad experience at a FMCA rally in Brooksville, Florida, I posted about it on my blog.  Before long I got an email from a woman that was with FMCA.  She apologized for our shabby treatment and even offered us tickets to their next rally. 

Recently, I have read blog posts from people who have had trouble with things they have purchased.

The most recent is from Margie with a problem on her Cricket golf cart.  The paint has peeled off and the company has offered her no assistance at all.  That paint job is way beyond just a little defective!  It’s a shame too, because we had thought of buying a Cricket and we told some friends about it and they did end up buying one.  These companies don’t realize how bad service gets around the blogging community.

Another issue that comes to mind is from our friends Carol and John.  They had major troubles with their extended warranty company, Allegiance.  This one is of particular concern to us because that is where we purchased our extended warranty.  Allegiance tried to deny their claim saying their was corrosion in the radiator even though they didn’t find any.  It appeared that they stalled and left Carol and John sitting without their motorhome for over 2 weeks.  They were not even able to live in it since Allegiance had insisted the radiator be pulled before anything else would happen.  Calls to them were not returned for days, it took several days for them to get their own adjuster out to inspect the radiator, and when he did he seemed surprised at how expensive radiators were for diesel pushers.  Duh!   They denied the claim until Carol threatened to take them to arbitration.  In my experience as a claim adjuster, a claim is paid or denied on it’s merit…not on whether or not arbitration is filed.  It makes me extremely uncomfortable that we have the same extended warranty company.  Have any of you had experiences, good and bad with an extended warranty company?   We are considering cancelling ours, and purchasing one from another company. 

Yesterday was a no kayaking day.  We were going to try to do some things around here, including a little washing of the motor home.   Unfortunately we got some rain a few times during the day and it interfered with our plans.  Al did get out our manuals and tried to do some of the routine maintenance checks that are required for a diesel pusher. Boy is there a lot more to check on a diesel than a gas coach.  I think going to a Monaco rally would be helpful as he could pick the brain of others who have had diesel coaches longer.

Our nice peaceful campground filled up for the week-end.  Apparently there is some sort of Recreational World Rv Rally going on, and this place is nearly full.  Of course soon all the winter visitors will be arriving and it will be full all the time.

It’s funny though how different the people are at campgrounds.  There are quite a few people here that leave their rv’s here all the time and just come for week-ends.  They are not overly friendly. There appear to be some that live here all year around. They are not overly friendly, for the most part.   There are people who are just here for a week-end or short camping trip.  These people all seem to have their own lives and are too busy to be friendly except to the people they come with.   During the winter months, it all changes when all the snowbirds arrive.  The whole vibe just changes.  They all appear happy to be in Florida and are very friendly.  They wave when they go by, always say hello and are just generally more friendly.  I like those people better.   

We’re probably going to get some heavy rain this week-end.  There is some weather in the gulf that may turn into a tropical storm.  The computer models are divided between it forming on the Atlantic side and moving up the Atlantic coast, or it forming in the Gulf of Mexico and causing problems for Florida.   Either way, it looks like we’ll be getting some rain this week-end.  I guess it’ll be a good chance to read our books and watch movies.