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Originally Posted by chunker21
You have a lemon but unfortunately most lemon laws in states do not cover any of the house stuff, only chassis.
My suggestion is quit talking to thor and hire a great consumer lawyer.
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Thank you chunker21. You are correct. Most state lemon laws are different, and often when it comes to RV's, the house portion of the coach isn't covered, unless it concerns the safety of the driver in some way. As you might imagine, Indiana has no lemon law whatsoever for RV's.
Fortunately, for cases like this, there is a federal law for consumer protection under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. About my only leverage is that my attorney fees (if deemed reasonable) will need to be paid by Thor, should I prevail. I cannot imagine that I won't prevail... but is it a check or a full repurchase? Magnuson-Moss isn't like a lemon law regarding replacement or repurchase. It usually lands on diminution of value. What is my coach worth if it can't be fixed, can't be used, can't be rented, and can't be sold, all based on the electrical system malfunctioning?
I'd like to believe the only way to fairly determine that would be for Thor to repurchase it from me, then they can resell it themselves to know the exact amount. It is probably guesswork to assume any number at all if you can't find a buyer. (Knowing what you know, would any of you even make me an offer? Doubtful anyone would.)
Thor is clearly playing a game that is solely about the money for them. Whether it is officially legal or not in our correspondence, they clearly agreed to a repurchase if they were unable to resolve the problem within a timeframe. At a bare minimum, repurchase at this stage was implied. IMHO, what Thor is doing to me to try to save themselves some money is truly disgusting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kwplot34
You need to get an attorney and he/she will tell you how to proceed from here.
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Most of the lawyers I've been in contact with are now referring me to litigation lawyers that are licensed in Indiana, who specialize in Breach of Warranty claims (based on the standard text in Thor's warranty). Most lawyers are more than happy to take my case, but typically it is a demand letter where you settle on a dollar amount. Since I don't know what the time or expense will be for resolving the problem, taking a small 5 figure settlement is not very appealing. Nearly nothing other than a repurchase will seem reasonable if I still have no clue how to make it usable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PreCambrian
I don't think that Thor is going to take it back without a fight. So hire a lawyer which of course is expensive.
I don't know your electrical system but off the top of my head...
The key to Thor finding the problem is to assign someone knowledgeable and give them sufficient resources (time and budget) to solve the problem. I don't think that this is going to happen in this environment although sales are down quite a lot.
If you or your technicians can't solve the problem then filing suit against Thor is your only option. It doesn't sound as if you can live with it the way it is.
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PreCambrian, you sound far more knowledgable than many in regards to this. Certainly more than anything Thor has ever contributed. My coach is currently just a few miles from my storage unit, and I really like the technicians there. Here's the rub: they seem further along than anyone in diagnosing the actual problem, but while they could clearly show that the electrical system is still faulty as delivered from the Thor factory, yet another set of house batteries has completely failed. They are recommending that I replace the house batteries (this would be the third set of replacements) so that they can further test to try to identify the problem.
Unfortunately, as goes the system, I had to tell them that they can only act as a technician/inspector. While I want to find the problem, these are independent inspectors, and not a Thor Authorized Service Center. If they start on any work, I can already hear Thor (and lawyers) telling me, "that's what ruined things. Not us. You are on your own now for voiding any warranty." So I don't know the details of the report, but this one will show that there is an electrical problem, but it can't be diagnosed without replacing yet another set of batteries.
My coach eats batteries like popcorn, apparently.
I appreciate all of the input. Even though the system is set up to simply pass your problems on to the next unsuspecting buyer, I'm trying to take a stand against Thor to prevent that. It is miserable, though, and I'm hoping to secure a litigation lawyer in the correct jurisdiction soon. I'd love to simply take this to trial and let the chips fall as they may.