I’m usually a real easy going person and don’t bother with bad reviews. I like to try to look at the positive but this service was so bad I’d like to make as many people aware of it a possible so hopefully I can save someone else the hassle.
It started about two weeks ago. I had a number of items built up over our previous two month trip that I wanted to repair/upgrade. I saw A Mobile RV Repair in the park and in fact he advertises in the park newspaper here at Far Horizons Tucson so I figured I’d give them a try. I give em a call in the morning, don’t get anyone, and leave a message but never hear back. Not a great sign but I call the next day anyways and get him and set up an appointment. I give him a list of items over the phone that I plan to have repaired/replaced including the water pump, a whole new roof vent, and new sink and some other minor items. Certainly a few hours work.
So when he shows up he immediately tells me he has to leave at noon, his assistant couldn’t make it, and he’ll only be able to do an item or two and he’ll have to come back for the rest. This is a real hassle for us as we live full-time on our RV and my wife works night shift so she usually sleeps during the day. Anyways he takes care of an item or two and we schedule for him to come back out, this time to hopefully complete the work, the following Wednesday. He surprises me by showing up early Monday morning, riling the dog up and waking my wife up. When I tell him he was scheduled for Wednesday he just says “Oh” and the asks if he can work anyways! I tell him no because my wife literally just got home from work and needs to sleep and that he’ll have to come back on Wednesday.
So Wednesday rolls around and he shows up with his assistant and begins to work. All seems to go fine they get the roof vent in and the new water pump in seemingly without too much trouble. However this is where it all went to hell. The water pump was running and running. I had to leave for an appointment but he said he was going to stay behind and test the pump. Later he tells me that the pump is bad, it needs to be sent back to the manufacturer. Mind you this is a brand new pump so I thought it was a bit odd but things do happen and he said he tested and confirmed it was bad. So he removed the new pump and re-installed the old pump again so we could still use our water. Mind you the pump is not the in the most accessible location and he’s charging me $100/hr for this.
Before sending it back I figured I’d take a look at the manual. Low and behold it says if the pump runs continuously to turn a nut right on the face of the pump a quarter turn and that should take care of it. Since the pump is no longer in the RV it’s not real easy for me to actually test that so I give him a call to see if he tried that, no answer and no return call. So I go to Home Depot to get some hoses, a bucket, and some wires so I can test this thing out of the RV. Amazingly with a quarter turn the “defective pump” is miraculously “fixed”. I expect that someone that charges $100/hr could have figured that out easier than me, someone who has only been RVing for 6 months and was never terribly handy in the first place. I figure it’s not too big of a deal though, he said he guarantees his work so I’m sure he’ll come put it back in for free and even refund me the money for removing the new pump and putting the old one back in. I mean clearly the pump was not defective right?
So I call him the next two days to see about him coming out and get the same response, nothing. Finally on the third day he gives me a call back, I ask him if he got my messages, he says sure, he guarantees his work, and when can he come back out? So we set up for that Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning rolls around and there is no RV tech? So I call, no answer, no return call. At this point I’m thinking maybe he’s in the hospital or something but I keep calling. Finally four days later, instead of calling me like a decent human, he sends me a text message, he’s sticking with the story the pump is defective and he’s not coming out. Apparently a quarter turn on a nut is too much to ask of a tech with 30 years experience? I should have sent the pump back to the manufacturer to have them turn the nut and then paid him to reinstall it?
I tried to convince him still to just come out and fix his mistake but he just flat out refused. At this point I tell him I plan to make sure everyone here’s all about his “service” both online and in the park. He then proceeds to threaten me that he’s going to trash my business online if I bother to post the truth about the way I was treated! Mind you he literally isn’t even certain of what my business actually is, lol. Judging by the way he treated me so far, I’ll be expecting him to try anyways. I posted the texts below which I received four days after his NO CALL NO SHOW for entertainment value.
Anyways this was by far the worst service I’ve ever had in my entire life, and having rehabbed a lot of homes, I have worked with a LOT of contractors. The scheduling trouble, the no call no show(is this a business owner or a minimum wage MCDonald’s employee?), the misdiagnosis on the pump, the failure to correct it, and then the (idle?)threats, all add up to some horrendous service. Hopefully at least one person will read this and not even bother to call him.
[11/21/2015 9:31 AM] A Mobile RV Repair (5202352220): A Mobile RV Repair
I guarantee all parts that I sell. You bought a discounted water pump on line that was not adjusted properly or is defective. I have installed over 50 water pumps and have never had a pump I have had to adjust.
[11/21/2015 9:33 AM] Me: All it needed was a quarter turn on the screw. It clearly says in the manual to turn that if the pump is running. At $100 an hour I expect better than that. Then you agree to do, set an appointment, and no call no show? That’s not very professional…
[11/21/2015 9:37 AM] A Mobile RV Repair (5202352220): You cannot adjust pump with it installed, there is not enough room because of where the manufacturer put your pump. Pump was not adjusted properly from supplier.
[11/21/2015 9:38 AM] Me: Now you just making stuff up, you could easily get a small Allen wrench there. It took literally 5 seconds to correct. Just admit you screwed up and take care of it. It’s not that big of a deal.
[11/21/2015 9:43 AM] A Mobile RV Repair (5202352220): I did not screw up. You bought a discounted part on line that was not adjusted properly. You get what you pay for!!!!
[11/21/2015 9:49 AM] Me: It was not a discounted part, it is brand new is functioning just fine. You just didn’t bother with any real troubleshooting. If you want to play it like that, fine. But I’m going to make sure everyone, both here and online, hears about it. Not to mention your terrible customer service. You schedule to do the work and don’t have sufficient time or your assistant the first day, come back on the wrong day the next time, then you make an appointment and no call no show, and then send me text three days later. Again very professional, I’ve gotten better service from $20/hr off Craigslist…
[11/21/2015 10:26 AM] Me: Alright, I guess you made your decision. Unbelievable. You’d rather damage your reputation and your business than admit that you made a little mistake and correct it.
[11/21/2015 11:27 AM] A Mobile RV Repair (5202352220): I’ve been in business since 1984. I have more regular customers than I can handle,so if you want to waste your time bashing me go for it, you are not going to hurt me or my business. I am not going to guarantee any part not supplied by A Mobile RV Repair. Your the one who made mistake by buying inferior part on line, and now you are wanting me to correct your problem at my expense. I see you are in the reality business so you might want to think twice before you start bashing mine. I am pretty computer savey if that’s the way you want to go.
[11/21/2015 12:31 PM] Me: That’s pretty sad, you’ve been in the business as long as I’ve been alive and I was able to identify the problem within in five minutes. That should tell you something, considering I’ve been RVing for six months. There is nothing wrong with the part. It just hurts your pride to admit you messed, you should have been able to figure that out at least as fast as I did. It be comical if I hadn’t already paid you.
[11/21/2015 12:36 PM] Me: Telling the truth isn’t bashing someone by the way and considering you literally have had nothing to do with my business you’d just be fabricating stories. Judging by the way you’ve handled this I wouldn’t expect any less though …
i normally do not comment on these things, ie blogs etc, so what i have to say now in this instance will mean something. first, NEVER hire a company, in any field, that their business name starts with the letter “A”. folks do that in order to be the first that is called alphabetically in a phone book. (old school) second, when a business cant be bothered to return a call in a reasonable time, ie same day, general rule should be no more than 4 hours, or at all, it is best to move on to other option. third, know this, no business actually guarantees a part they install unless they are the manufacture as well of said product. the general rule on that is if they upcharge you for a certain brand product (common practice) and something goes ary they simply return said product to manufacture (who actually guarantees product) and should make amends to the consumer by installing new at no additional cost. fourth, it is best to ask a lot of questions before hand to know the experience of the business you plan to hire. hind sight i know but, if you had asked how many water pumps have you installed and he said 50 over the last 30 years, i would run. that is less than 2 a year. in az that number should have been more like at least 10-12 a year. fifth, never leave a tech (in your case term is used loosely) alone no matter what. the only time that should happen is if you have had multiple past experiences with them and know their ethics and even then it should be a rare occasion. ….i originally saw your issue on boondocking & free camping usa facebook page. these things happen much more often than folks are made aware of. thank you for letting others be aware. i find it interesting he says “you get what you pay for” when you didnt get what you paid for from him and “was not adjusted properly or is defective”, but then only refers to adjusted properly. you have learned a very valuable lesson and im sure it will bode you well in the future. i would suggest you check his work topside to ensure you have no leaks. stay safe. lana
All very good tips, thank you. I’ll certainly be more wary in the future. I think I might have been a bit lax because I’ve had good experiences elsewhere so far. The only real problem I had was a tech who came out to run a propane line, admitted he wasn’t certain of where to drill, and recommend someone else. Took an extra day or two by it was done correctly….
Yikes. I had a similar issue with a mobile rv guy in Idaho who took 2 days, with my assistance (getting tools etc) to achieve what should have taken 3 hours. He simply didn’t know what he was doing. Luckily he knew THAT, and charged me accordingly. Still a giant waste of time.
Yea, depending on what you have going on the waste of time can be worse than a high price. At least the guy was willing to adjust accordingly…
(We’re in Yuma…must be something about services down here…
Neighbor on next site over, yesterday.. RV washer guy shows up with 3 helpers. Fires up pressure washer, one going up the ladder to roof.
RV washer…Knock, knock we’re here.
Owner…It’s 3:30. We agreed before 1 PM. I have a house full of company. BBQ is going on the patio.
RV washer…Oh, that won’t bother us, your friends can see how good of job we do!
To funny
Even if the initial service had not been as bad as you described his responses to your issues showed a lack of professionalism that speaks volumes about service rendered. I am at Tucson Village and almost made the mistake of calling the number in his advertisement. Thanks for this review.
Great to hear, that’s what I wrote it for 🙂 I hope you find someone better.
As an update I ended up borrowing a right angle drill and installing the pump myself. Took about thirty minutes and is working flawlessly.
I also had a terrible experience with A mobile RV service. He happened to be in the park I’m staying in giving someone else some service and I asked him if he could come and have a look at my refrigerator as it was not working properly. He misdiagnosed the problem and attempted to replace the control board with a new control board. He then discovered his mistake and realized that it was the cooling system that had failed not the control board. While he was switching out the control board’s he and his all too eager assistant did something which sent a shock through my electrical system. The result was that he burned out the control board on the furnace and my air conditioning unit. I then hired Happy Camper RV service to come out and fix the problem because Colin at A mobile refused to return. Joel from Happy Camper correctly diagnose the problem and fixed everything at a cost of nearly $400. I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau about A mobile RV Repair.
Be sure to leave negative reviews on Google and Facebook, that way we can help others out. He somehow had mine removed but I just kept posting it, I ought to check again. I also filed a complaint with the BBB but nothing ever came of out.