Being Prepared

I really like to be prepared for things, I guess that comes from my boy scout years, their motto is Be Prepared. Well this morning Marcia and I was very UN-Prepared. We spent the night in the parking lot of Shoreline boat and RV repair where Foremost insurance company sent us to have the roof looked at.

They looked at the rig and decided replacing the roof was the only way to fix the problems. We needed to leave the rig with them TODAY so they could start the repairs TODAY. We was not prepared to be evicted from our home today, but we were ready to do almost anything to get the roof fixed so we don't have to worry about it any more.

Marcia jumped into high gear and started gathering things we would need for the next few days, and I did what I could to help her. We unloaded the things in the tracker and loaded our clothes, the bird, and a few things we didn't want to leave in the rig while we weren't with it.

Now we are sitting in a motel room in Kansas City KS, we will be here as tourists until Friday when the rig should be ready to be picked up. I will be taking advantage of the hot tub here at the motel all week.

If you want to read the entire, LONG VERSION, of the ordeal just read on, if you don't want to be bothered with all the details just tune in tomorrow...

If you remember back to March of 2008 you remember we spent 10 days in San Antonio Texas getting a new roof put on our rig because a tree branch jumped out and bit the roof putting small holes in it from the front to the back. South Texas RV Superstore in Seguin TX was the preferred repair shop for foremost so they were doing the new roof install.

Naturally they found "previous damage" that wasn't covered by the insurance company so my $250 deductible turned into almost $1500. We dropped the rig off on a Wednesday morning and they were going to have it ready for us to pick up on Friday, or Saturday at the latest. Well things don't always go as planned and they had to tear off the new piece of rubber they put on because it didn't stick to the new plywood they installed. They had to order a new piece of rubber and we picked the rig up on Friday, 10 days after we dropped it off.

When we picked it up I noticed there were bubbles in the roof, the caulking wasn't sealing the cracks, and part of the rubber roof was sticking through the vent in the bathroom. They re-caulked the seams, fixed the rubber in the bathroom vent, and told us the bubbles would dissolve when the sun hit the roof. I had no reason to doubt their explanation of the bubbles dissolving so was accepted the rig and drove away to see our new grand daughter back in KY.

I watched the roof all summer long and as I watched I saw the bubbles getting bigger and more of them, they didn't disappear like they told me they would at South Texas RV Super Center. I had already fixed the satellite crank that didn't work after we picked the rig up and I had replaced the springs in the awning that mysteriously disapeared while it was in the shop.

After washing the rig several times I could see the bubbles were getting bigger and I figured the roof would start leaking a lot sooner than later. While we were stationary in Raccoon Valley RV Park back in July I decided it was time for me to contact Foremost and have someone look at the roof of the rig so we could get it fixed.

Several days after I left the message with Foremost Josh, (the adjuster we had back in March of 08) called. He set it up for an adjuster in the area to come by and look at the rig, he said it would be within the next 48 hours. Well 5 days later a guy showed up, he said he knew nothing about rv's, but he would look at it and take pictures to send to Josh.

About two weeks later I called Foremost again and had to leave another message for Josh. He returned my call a few days later and told me the owner of South Texas RV was going to call me and discuss the options on getting the roof fixed. (At this point I knew we would have to have another roof put on to fix the rig.) Several days later a guy named Charlie from S.T.RV called and we talked about the roof. He said he would have to talk to Josh about it and that he would call me back.

Several days passed and I never heard from anyone so I called and left another message for Josh, and then I called Charlie and ask him if he was ever going to call me back. Charlie said he had tried to contact Josh but Josh wasn't returning his calls. I then called foremost and "left another message" but this time the message was for Josh's supervisor.

Several more days went by, and by now we were rolling, we were in western Kentucky and still nobody was returning my calls. I got on the internet and went to the Escapees RV Club's forum where they have a section titled Foremost Insurance. I explained part of my problem on the forum asking for suggestions as to what action I could take. I had several comments about who to call or write, and one message from Randy to send him the claim number and our personal information. (Randy is a Foremost agent).

I sent Randy all the information he needed and he contacted Joey, the branch Claims Supervisor.. Joey called me that day, (I wasn't able to take his call when he called) but he left a message and I returned his call the next day. Joey set it up for us to take the rig to Smithville MO. a preferred shop that wasn't too far out of our way going to CO. we were to have the rig there Monday morning, (today) so Greg could look at the roof.
So we will spend a few days in a motel while Shoreline repairs our roof by putting new rubber on it, and fixing the "soft" spot near the rear AC unit. We should pick it up Friday.