I’m not a frequent poster, but I want to let everyone know what happened to us while traveling through Kingman, Arizona, although it could happen anywhere. My wife and I are both successful business people, live in a big city dealing with all sorts of individuals daily, and are not naive. And yet, we were almost scammed by a thief.
My wife and I were returning from my daughter’s wedding and stopped for fuel. After getting back on the freeway, we were flagged down by a guy in a pickup truck driving beside us, waving for us to pull over and pointing to the back of my motorhome. Since I had experienced some problems towing my Jeep on this trip, it seemed likely there was a possible problem.
Once pulled over, he told us that he had entered the freeway just behind us, and every time we went over a bump, there were sparks coming from under the coach. He presented a business card and showed me a business license showing that he was a licensed mobile RV tech. He suggested getting off the freeway at the next exit and follow him to a truck stop. At this point I was not comfortable driving across remote desert stretches in 100+ degree heat, so I decided to do that. Once stopped, he inspected the rear shocks and told me that the right rear shock was bad and needed to be replaced, along with the left side.
I thought he was only inspecting the shock, but he actually removed it entirely before I could object. According to him, to clearly see the part #. He made af few calls, and recommended that I replace all 4 shocks. They needed to come from California at a cost of $960 + $400 labor. Since it was Sunday, it would take 2 days for the parts to arrive from California.
I was cautious from the beginning, but at this point I was becoming suspicious. And then came the clincher; his “chip reader” was down, so we would need to go to the bank or Walmart to get cash for the down payment on the parts. I told him I wasn’t comfortable doing that, and all the while he kept telling me that he was an honest businessman. He told me he did work for people staying at the local KOA, and they could vouch for him. Since the possibility of a problem had been raised, I wasn’t going to continue across the desert until I had the coach inspected anyway, so I told him to go with us to the KOA and talk with the people there.
We did this, and the awesome woman behind the desk (thanks Dee!) told him they had 2 other people over the last few weeks with the same story. He insisted he was telling the truth, but when she suggested that we call the Highway Patrol to resolve the issue, he left. But not before telling me to be sure to call him in the morning to order the parts.
So now we were stuck in Kingman on Sunday, on our way home to San Francisco where I had a big backlog of work waiting for me. I started calling phone numbers from the legitimate business cards in the KOA, and by sheer luck Russell, at Russell RV Repair picked up. He heard my story, opened up his doors for us, inspected the shock which was perfectly good, and reinstalled it. Russell told us that 3 other people had the exact same story as ours over the last couple of months. He is a true gentleman, an honest businessman, and saved us a tremendous amount of grief. I paid him well, gave him a nice bottle of Sonoma Valley wine, and we were on our way,
So be careful out there! No matter how much you think something like this could never happen to you, it can happen very quickly.
Tim, my wife Li, and Snickers and Ziggy the Wonder Kitties
2008 Tiffen Allegro 30DA, Workhorse W22 Chassis, Allison 6 speed, Chevy 8.1L V8
2015 Jeep Cherokee with Blue Ox baseplate & ReadyBrake system
http://www.timandrews.com/ My photography web site
