Sunday, July 03, 2011

Accessories, Still Waiting

Seffner, Florida

We’re still at Lazy Days waiting for the motor home to be moved to the delivery area so that we can move in.

We are trying to get some of the must have accessories that will be needed.

One of the most important things to us is the front windshield sunscreen.  We have one on the old motorhome and have loved it.  You can see out, but no one can see in. and it blocks heat and stops the sun from fading everything.

The one we have now is made by Prompt Rv Sunscreens.  We have been happy with it.  It does not attach with any kind of snaps.  You just place it up against the front windshield on the outside.  The systems that use snaps are too troublesome for us.  There are 2 straps that hook onto the driver and passenger window.   It’s attaches in about 15 seconds.  We’ve had it for about 5 years and it still looks good.

With the new diesel motorhome, the side windows are different because one is a door.  You can’t use the straps to hook the screen into place.  We’re lazy and didn’t want one that had to be snapped on.  That’s too much trouble and takes too long.

I’ve seen some from another company and we decided to go with them.  They are  called Magne Shades, and attach to your windows by strong magnets.  We’re placed the order Friday from a company based in North Carolina.  It’s a small family owned business.   We’re getting a screen for the front, and side windows, as well as wiper covers.  They aren’t cheap, but they sure help keep out the heat and give you lots of privacy.  You know how rv people are…..nosy. SmileTheir business is so successful and it’s a family run business, so they have had a 4 week back log all year.  It’s nice to hear of a success story in these economic times.  Of course Lazy Days seems to be doing quite well as well.  The service bays are at least 3/4 full and people are running around all over the place.  No signs of a bad economy around here.

We did not get to move into our new to us motorhome on Saturday and we’re fine with it. Since Monday is a holiday, we’re not expecting to move in until the end of next week.

When they told us  on Thursday, that the intended move-in date was to be Saturday, we were surprised…and skeptical.  We knew our pre-delivery guy, Mike had a list of things that we wanted done, including install the 2 tv’s and our new satellite dish, fix a gap in the screen door, and replace the damaged rubber slide gasket.  What we didn’t know is that Mike had his own list and it was growing as he went through everything.

It turns out that before an rv is delivered to it’s new owners, it is assigned to a person who is to go over each and every system, light, compartment, and everything on the coach.  Anything that isn’t working, unless it’s cosmetic, is fixed.   They won’t replace a piece of furniture or carpet that is a bit dirty,  but if it’s worn out they will.  We have a brand new leather recliner in ours because the old one was worn out.   Mike is very meticulous and thorough.  He checked each switch and found some that were supposed to light and didn’t.  He found out the “automatic” toilet didn’t work properly or hold water.  Those are the kinds of things that are difficult to check ahead of time.  We knew Lazy Days would fix anything like that, so we didn’t get too crazy finding the small things.  (although a malfunctioning toilet isn’t really small, is it?)

So on Friday the service advisor Dana called in a bit of a panic, saying she was worried they weren’t going to make their target delivery date of Saturday.  This was no surprise to us.  Remember though, that we have already paid for this coach, so the fact they were worried, made us feel like they still cared!  We would never have paid for something this expensive before we took delivery, at any other place.  We knew that Lazy Days would do the right thing, so we agreed to help them meet their sales goal, and in return we did get some bennies.

We met with Dana at the coach and Mike showed us the list of things he found that needed to be fixed.  He had 4 pages, but said that was pretty normal, and he frequently has 8 pages.  Many of these things were things we would have never found and mainly just small things, but he takes his job seriously.  We assured him and Dana that we were fine with waiting, and they should take as long as they need.  We want everything to be in working order and would happily wait…..as long as they keep giving us free space in their campground and feeding us twice a day, why not. Smile  I guess most people wouldn’t be in our situation, but since this is our “home” town and we have no where we have to be, it’s saving us money and we know the coach will be right.

Later that day, we went back to the coach and visited with Mike again.  It turned out the coach came with a dvd player and Mike found out that it wasn’t working, so we were getting a brand new Sony Blu-Ray player!  Okay Mike, keep looking! 

He got the tv’s both mounted and our new 32 inch Panasonic looks very nice.  We even rented a BluRay movie and watched part of it before our friends Rhonda and William came to visit.  Once the service center closes for the day, we are free to use the motorhome. Of course it’s in a service bay and not a nice campsite.  Rhonda wanted to come see it, so they came and had some some wine and a few beers and visited with them a while before returning to the old motorhome. 

We’re going to have to feed ourselves today and tomorrow.  The free breakfast and lunch Lazy Days provides doesn’t include Sundays or holidays, so we’ll be on our own.  I might even have to cook!

We have laundry to do this morning, then over to Rhonda and Williams, then to Mom’s house to visit with her later today.  We’re sitting outside on the patio right now watching the pair of Sandhill Cranes that live here.

Friday, July 01, 2011

It’s Official

Seffner, Florida – Lazy Days Rv

Whew, what a day!

We were up early (don’t want to miss that free breakfast).  It’s only served from 8 until 9am, and Al is afraid he’s going to miss it.  Yeah right!  Al miss a meal?  Hardly!

Afterwards we went to the Convection oven class.  About 5 minutes into what I thought was an hour,  or hour and a half class, I realized it wasn’t going to be worth my time and I was squirming and trying to figure out how I could make a graceful exit. 

The “teacher” was the chef at the neat new restaurant they have opened at the campground.  The outside of it looks like a Class A motorhome.  He handed us the manual from a convection oven and proceeded to read the manual to us.

He kept calling it a microwave and explained how you use a microwave.   Hello, I already know that!

What he didn’t explain and I wondered was how can you use this thing as a microwave if there are metal walls in it and a metal rack?  If I put metal in my microwave, it will spark and catch fire.  He also didn’t tell us how to use the convection features.  Since this will be the only oven I have in our new coach, I really wanted to know how it worked.

The class was so boring and we had so much to do that we were both very unhappy to be sitting there wasting our valuable time.  Not long after the class began,  I started to read some blogs from my phone, and Al took a cue from me and opened his iPad.  I know it’s rude, but by this time I was ticked off that he was wasting my time,  and he was completely unprepared. 

He finally realized he was over his head and cut the class short.  Thank goodness!  The only thing I got out of the class were 2 very fine chocolate chip cookies.  It was a far cry from the excellent “Drivers Confidence Class” we had attended the day before.

Lazy Days had some big end of the month push going, where they were trying to reach a sales goal.  I think it was 380 units for the month.  Hard to believe our economy is bad when you’re around this place!  This place is jumping!

Our new motorhome was not going to be ready by yesterday, but they asked if we could possibly  “do the paperwork” (pay) by the end of the day and take delivery on Saturday.  Of course we will need a few more free nights in the campground. Smile

Normally with any other car or rv dealer we would not have given that any consideration whatsoever.  However, we have had a previous good experience with them and know them to be reputable, so we said we could consider it if…… (it’s nice to have some power) 

We ended up getting a free installation of our satellite dish, plus set up and mounting 2 tv’s and Tivo boxes. 

Al had been concerned about the batteries and made it known he wanted them all replaced.  We were told if they didn’t test good, they would be replaced.  It turned out they tested  okay,  and they were not going to replace them.  However, after a little nudging and so that we could “help them reach their end of the month goal,”  they decided to replace all 6 batteries.  Smile

We feel pretty good that we will have brand new batteries.  They had already put 6 brand new tires  on the coach, so we’re covered there for a few years.  Yes, we did check the DOT “born on” date on the tires, so we know they are new.

I took a few minutes to get our new insurance arranged, but decided to keep the insurance on the old motorhome until we actually have moved out.  You normally have automatic coverage (sometimes only for 14 days) on “newly acquired” vehicles, but we would have to be canceling the old policy since we were going to be writing a new policy in a different state, it would not have applied.  Once we closed the deal on the new motorhome, Lazy Days officially owns our old one….but all of our stuff is in it, so we’re keeping the coverage a bit longer.

Anyway, by 6pm, we “did the deed” and purchased the new to us motorhome.  We felt a bit shell-shocked after we left, but when we went to visit our new home, we felt better.  Things were progressing there, but we aren’t going to hurry them.  We want things done right and as long as we get free days in the campground, we’re okay.

Yep, it’s official.  We are the proud owners of a 40 foot Monaco Windsor, diesel pusher!   

Unfortunately our new baby is still living in the pre delivery bay, so it was back home to the old one.

Hopefully all will be completed Saturday and we can start moving in.  They park your rv’s door to door in their “move in” area to make it easier to transfer items from one to the other.  Normally they give you one night, but we’ve already made arrangements for as long as we need.  There is electricity, but no water or sewer, so we won’t be there too long.  I think this will be a good time to do an inventory of our belongings and document it all for insurance purposes in the event of a total loss.  I estimated $15,000 in personal property that we have, but I really don’t know.  It might very well be higher.  Have you all checked the amount you carry? Remember, the actual rv is separate from the “contents.”  I believe the standard is $3000 contents coverage.  You can increase that amount for minimal premium increase, and I recommend everyone carry higher limits.  If you have a total loss (fire) and have to replace everything that didn’t come with the motorhome, what would it cost you?  Things like toothbrushes, make up, underwear, shampoo, dish detergent, socks, shoes, coats, sweaters, shorts, pants, swim suits, robes, canned food, spices, refrigerated foods, dvd players, Dvr’s, computer, cd’s, dvd’s, gps, iPad, canoe or kayaks, ladders, tools, bedding…..and the list goes on.  Do you have adequate coverage?  Could you remember what you had, or prove it in the event of a fire?  Remember, it is your duty to prove your claim.  (this is the insurance adjuster in me talking now).