A San Angelo, TX, RV sales company is the subject of a lawsuit filed at the Tom Green County Courthouse, reports San Angelo Live News. A defendant in the case, Funtown RV, will have a court hearing July 31 on whether or not the plaintiff, Midland resident Kara Stephan, can have her case heard by a jury.
The lawsuit filed May 31 claims Funtown RV and the RV’s manufacturer, Forest River, Inc., sold Ms. Stephan a pile of junk. She alleges 77 defects in her brand-new, $80,000 2017 Cedar Creek Champagne RV Model 38ERK she bought from San Angelo’s Funtown RV location on May 19, 2017.
Among the defects, she alleges the water heater leaks, the hydraulic system does not function for the fifth-wheel’s landing gear and slide-outs, and the built-in wine cooler will not chill lower than 54 degrees F.
Ms. Stephan also alleges the one-year warranty she was told by the salesperson she would receive was unknowingly voided by her because she used the fifth-wheel as a permanent residence. She claims she told the Funtown RV sales person she intended to use the RV as her permanent home and the salesperson failed to warn her that would void the warranty.
Funtown RV’s lawyers replied that the salesperson was engaged only in “puffery,” which is not a liability under Texas law. If you plan to fulltime in your new RV, you would be wise to determine: 1. Will living fulltime in my RV void the warranty? 2. What defines fulltime? 3. What if I snowbird for 3 or 4 months a year and rent out my house when I am not there?
Or do you just hope to go under the radar and don’t say that you are planning to be a fulltimer and just deal with it if you get caught? It would be wise to be careful and thoughtful on the decisions you make when you are in the buying euphoria.
##RVT856
This is what we were told by our insurance agent when we bought our FT unit.
Our regular tow vehicle insurance would cover the rig being towed behind it up to the Limits of our existing policy if used for “camping”.
However, if we were using it more than 6 weeks in a years period this was not considered camping and we had to add on Full Timers Insurance (its a rider) which covers use of the rig more than 6 weeks a year and adds on comp and collision and FTxrs Liability in addition to our TV insurance for the rig. FTxers covers, personal affects, motel stays, rental car coverage, lost luggage, meals, towing from a breakdown, travel out of the country(mexico and canada) and liability (break a tree at a campground, pull down a gas station overhead, someone slips on your step ect..).
So, in our case the insurance would not be voided for the TV, the rig just is not covered if use has been more than 6 weeks(not camping) in the year(will differ from company to company some are 12 weeks, 8 weeks and so on) without the rider.
We wrote our Tv policy and umbrella with one company and the Rig policy with another because we decided to write an Agreed Value Policy with FullTimers Package and only one company offers this to Full Timers. Progressive. Add to that we had to write it through a progressive Agent(Adventure Rv) because Progressive Direct does not write AV policies, they will only write Cash value and Stated Value Policies Direct. The AV policy will be active to its current limits for 10 years at the current premium and then need to be reassessed.
Our TV insurance has it logged we are FTxers and were able to write us a 2mill umbrella on top of our Tv insurance because we explained we wanted more than we had for liability due to the heavy load we tow and the fact that the vehicles on the road today are made so poorly just a knick these days will total something. We pay 178$ year additional to our TV insurance for the umbrella and between 1800-2000$ year for the AV Ftexrs Policy. A Cash Value Policy was quoted to us for the amount of 1700$ year. So, it wasnt much more to just have it set in stone if something ever happened.
We have been shopping at Funtown’s Cleburne, Texas location. BUT, now we will look elsewhere. Treat 1 customer poorly shame on you; risk becomming another poorly treated customer, shame on me.
We were told from the very beginning by salesmen that there were only a handful of 5th wheels that qualified for insurance purposes as “full time”. Otherwise, you could not only void the warranty but the insurance coverage would be voided as well. We’ve been very careful with the brands we’v looked at for just that reason.
Just read the warranty myself…unbelievable. So if you live in it for 30 days spend one night in a tent, hotel, with a friend so it doesn’t invaliate the warranty.
I bought in October and parked it for the winter. Took it out the first time in June. Had a roof leak and was told that the roof warranty was for only 90 days. BUT I still have the window sticker that says full 2 year warranty.
I just read their warranties, and it’swritten black on white, Incredible!!!
https://www.forestriverinc.com/OnlineManual.aspx
What’s the point of a 12 month warranty if you cannot use the item for twelve months ? If they want to play that game why not have a warranty for 12 months of use?
they cannot have it both ways.
Richard.
I think Texas is a Buyer Beware state and the buyer should have signed a statement that says the warranty is limited to the stated warranty on As Is agreement. If there are manufacturers warranty in effect, according to state and federal law, the manufacturer is allowed to have a reasonable time to repair the agreed upon defects. And if its not all repaired in the first attempt, the dealer can be given a second chance to repair the remainder. And if the buyer is not satisfied with the repairs they can file a civil suit to recover their expenses or to possibly get a refund of the purchase price if the judgement is in their favor. If the judgement is not in your favor, then you lose.
Full-time or not, that has nothing to do with the 77 defects it has which means it is a pile of junk.
Go for it and sue the heck out of them.
Forest River is owned by Warren Buffet’s company, call his office and complain. Good luck with suing as only the lawyers win.
Sue nothing surprises me if it,s made by Forest River I pulled RV’s out of In for 3 years and I took 2 back to the dealer because when they were checking them in at the receiving dealer they found defects and told me not to leave because they were sending it back because they had so much trouble getting the repairs approved it just wasn’t worth the hassle. They both called FR and talked to them FR told them they would take care of the problem, but both sent units back. Told me when they got them fixed they could send them back. I started to work selling RV’s and told them I would not sell a FR and the mgr said no problem we don’t carry them. We did get them in but kept them for less than a year same problem getting FR to take care of the repairs.