Gone to Hell in a Handbasket While Waiting in Limbo or in other words..hard lessons learned

We have been in Chicago since the 12th of June. We did want to have a good long visit, but we also wanted to make stops and connect with friends and family in southern Minnesota. But here we are with the OZ mobile in the shop AGAIN. Hoping and praying we haven't made the biggest mistake of our lives. Feeling a bit stupid, duped and somewhat naive, I am regretting this purchase. Trying to wrap my head around it all working out and envisioning this vehicle taking us 100,000+ miles to see extraordinary sites. I'll give the low down at the end of this entry.

I think our last post left off in Tennessee. We picked up the Interstate until we hit the border, then started traveling along old Highway 51 to my alma mater Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL.  We took a good long stop at Giant City State Park, a favorite haunt from my college days. Still as beautiful as ever. I had to give my college buddy, Mary C. White a call and wax poetic about the old days. Nothing along the country roads had changed since we left there in the late 1970s. In fact, the tiny town of Makanda, Illinois is exactly the same.

The Streets of Giant City

Upper 90s but the breeze and the coolness in the rocks made for a nice break in our drive. Sitka and Kole were both appreciative to go for a stroll.

Fat man's Squeeze

Makands, IL

We still needed to drive another hour and a half to get us settled at Carlyle Lake. The entire route was back roads and beautiful rolling farm fields, rivers and creeks... a wonderful diversion from the flat open roads of I-55 and I-57. The camp sites at Carlyle are part of the Corp of Civil Engineer Camps. With a national park pass camping is as low as $7. We paid $14 for full hook-ups. We had a view of the lake and the marina.

Carlyle Lake straight east of St. Louis

Morning brought a noticeable reduction in coolant. We filled and made our way to Sunny Island RV in Rockford, Illinois.  Here we would leave it overnight, rent a car and head to my mom's place.

We had been on the phone with Roadtrek, but customer service is not what I had imagined. We have not been shown care and concern. We have asked them what they will do for us now that they want us to bring the OZ mobile to Kitchner, Ontario, Canada. We have received no commitment that they will reimburse us or compensate us for this disaster.
At the dealer in Rockford they got us back on the road, but the coolant issue is still happening and now it is at a Chrysler, Promaster certified shop in Arlington Heights. We call and email every day, but we get no definitive answer. Our questions remain unanswered. We truly are in limbo.  I called the Attorney General in Florida and they gave us all the steps to pursue the Lemon Law. My sister works for a car dealer and they have advised us to get an attorney who specializes in buy backs. I could have never imagined this all happening in a million years. All the other issues the van is having I could have dealt with, in fact, this is one of the lessons learned that no dealer seems to ever tell you... you need Shakedown trips... short trips to have things shift, settle, fall off that can be repaired by the dealer or manufacturer before heading out on a major roadtrip. It is the nature of the beast whether you have a $10,000 trailer or a 2.2 million dollar tour bus. One fortunate thing is we have a deferred payment until Spetember. I expect to be out of this mess by then.

For those who are reading and interested in our day by day log ... I will include it here.  Besides the hassle of all this and a ruined vacation, we missed the birth of our grandson. I don't know if I can now ever get rid of the sour taste regarding Roadtrek.

June 1- purchased 2015 Roadtrek Zion for 80k after trade-ins at RV World of Nokomis

June 2- took delivery in the afternoon(19 miles on odometer), drove 14 miles, vehicle overheated and all coolant spilled out onto road. vehicle was flat bedded back to RV World of Nokomis (35 miles on odometer)

June 3- after 6-7 hours of repair we drove the same 14 miles to camp for the night. Called Nokomis and told them of other problems...i.e. water backing up into bath. Returned to RV World of Nokomis on June 4 (63 miles on odometer)

June 4- Returned to RV World of Nokomis (63 miles on odometer) After inspection we were told by Craig –––, service manager that it was good we returned as the repair for coolant issue was not going to work. Spent 6 hours waiting. When repair complete, drove to Bradenton, FL

June 6- Coolant is at minimum level, no coolant on the ground. We fill it to max level [Navarre, Florida] (632 miles on odometer) Call RV World. Told by service tech we need to get in touch with Roadtrek, nothing more they can do.

June 9- Coolant is at minimum level, fill to maximum [Memphis, TN] (1352 miles on odometer) We lose hot water and lights on the center ceiling panel.

June 10- Coolant is below minimum level, fill to maximum, leave numerous messages at Roadtrek, do not want to go to St. Louis for service waiting to hear from Roadtrek about taking it to Rockford, IL. Arrive in Carlyle, Il (1749 miles on odometer)

June 12- Finally connect with Roadtrek, yes we can take it to Sunny Island RV in Rockford, IL and Roadtrek wants to have the vehicle brought back to them in July for multiple repairs.We leave it with Steve Morgan overnight and rent a vehicle [Rockford, Il] (2063 miles on odometer)

June 13- Hose has been clamped and electricity and hot water restored. Steve Morgan says we should have Roadtrek pick the vehicle up and have them bring it back to Canada.

June 14-19 Vehicle is driven 23 miles and coolant is about a ½ inch down. Vehicle sits in Hoffman Estates NOT being driven while trying to reach Roadtrek for a plan of action (2124 miles on odometer)

Leo Haire at Roadtrek tells us he want us to take it to a Chrysler dealer for another opinion and then they will make a determination whether or not they will come get it or have us drive it to Canada  July 15. We take it to Napleton Chrysler in Arlington Heights, Il. We are told we should drive it and get it hot, if we lose a significant amount of fluid they will take it in on Monday June 22.

June 20- Coolant is nearing the minimum level after driving it 107 miles on the 19th and there is a small pool of coolant on the driveway. Contacted Arlington Heights service tech, no return call. Contacted service managers in Nokomis, Florida and Rockford, Illinois requesting written report of repairs completed by them. Contacted Leo Haire at Roadtrek and requested they come pick up the vehicle. No answer by the end of the day. (2231 miles on the odometer)

To date Leo Haire as not responded to concerns in writing nor committed to any remedy

Other issues:

• attaching electric to the unit, it just doesn’t thread on correctly.       

•water stain under window behind fold down bed

•corrosion spot in sink

•splintered cabinet door

•two places on slide door where the glass is chipped and cracked … behind curtains

•no screens

•torn carpeting on front passenger side

•pantry door won’t open