Aspen RVs

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:While most of the narrative the merchant has provided are accurate, the following are not:(From the merchant) "None of the systems mentioned (stove, furnace, electrical) were shown functioning or even hooked up on our walkthrough before he left it with meNor are those systems mentioned anywhere on the final estimate so I left them as isThe “electrical system” the customer mentions probably hasn’t worked (by the looks of the rotting insulation around the wires) in several decades because the inverter is a year old trailer fire accident waiting to happenBut, if by electrical he means the solar panel roof mount install and wire routing to 12v battery then, yes, I did complete that job minus the cutting and capping of screws inside."My response: This is untrueI spent 1-month in the trailer in the fall of 2015, and all of these systems were completely operationalAt the end of that time, I did winterize it (but did not unhook anything), except for forgetting to drain the water tank, which was crackedAll of these systems were hooked up and working when I dropped the trailer off at the merchant's shopThere were not hooked up when I picked the trailer upYes, the trailer is old and is definitely not in good condition - it is heavily used as the merchant claimsBut, it was operational when I dropped it off and was not when I picked it upJust because something is old and heavily used, even not properly cared for, does not let the merchant off the hook for doing greater damage to the trailer.(From the merchant) "But because of limited budget, the unknowns that reared up, and time constraints not everything got the 'finish' layer if you willTaking that into consideration and mostly not wanting unhappy customers I reduced the bill by $1000, leaving $due, which was paid at the time and then they left."My response: The merchant did not agree to reducing the billWhen we first expressed our dismay at the state of the trailer, he said "This is what you get for $5000." Then, after about two hours of debate and scrutiny of the condition of the trailer, the merchant did offer the continue working on the trailer, saying that he'd already lost tons on money on the job but was willing to try to fix it upAs I had little trust in the merchant's commitment to quality work, I did not want to leave the trailer with him anymoreAfter reviewing the estimate we had agreed on, I calculated that, generously, we should pay $more (we'd already paid $2500, so we paid $4500)After taking the trailer with us, we discussed the above-mentioned problems with the systems(From the merchant) "On April 6th I received an email from the customer that ended with the ultimatum, “ you have hours (that’s the evening of Saturday, April 9, 2016) to refund us $If you do not do this, we will dispute both charges, the $on April and the $on March 14.” I counteroffered with a $refund that when paid would resolve the matter for good but if they went after anymore money I would have to fight it because that’s a lot for a small business owner starting upThe customer agreed (or so I thought) so I sent a check via certified mail for $which was cashed by the customerI received an email yesterday 6/23/from my bank stating the customer has disputed the March 14th payment of $I’ve already discounted the original labor rate, reduced bill by $and refunded another $Added up that’s over 50% off the original amount."My response: In none of our correspondence after April 6th did I agree to anythingWhen the merchant offered to refund us $and asked to confirm the address to mail a check, I replied that, yes, I'll accept a refund and that he had the correct addressI did not promise not to pursue the issue furtherAfter that date, I discovered further problems with the trailer, most notably the severe propane leak, which is a significant health and safety risk that was not present prior to when I dropped the trailer off with the merchant(From the merchant) "' seeing the work you’re doing in your vanClearly, you all do great work.' –The Customer 3/5/16"My response: I did write this in an initial email, as the van the merchant showed us demonstrated a work-in-progress that did look niceThis does not disprove the lack of quality nor the damage that my trailer now has after I left it with the merchant Regards, [redacted] Please accept this note as an addendum to my response to the merchant's response to complaint [redacted] I realized that I should have addressed the credit card charge dispute in my response.Yes, I have disputed the charge through my credit card companyWhile I wanted to address many of the problems with the merchant's response, as long as the merchant does not challenge the disputed charge, I have received a full refund at this point.I wanted to submit a complaint to the Revdex.com about the work done on my trailer by Aspen RVs both to inform future potential customers and because I wasn't sure if I would dispute the credit card charge or not and wanted to have the details of the problem documented publiclyI did this as a layer of protection in the unfortunate event that the merchant challenges the disputed charge or takes some other kind of action to continue this fight.So, again to be clear, at this point my credit card company has refunded me the original $2500, so counting that with the $that the merchant refunded me, I now have a full refundUnless the merchant fights this further, I am satisfied with the present situation.Thank you,

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:While most of the narrative the merchant has provided are accurate, the following are not:(From the merchant) "None of the systems mentioned (stove, furnace, electrical) were shown functioning or even hooked up on our walkthrough before he left it with me. Nor are those systems mentioned anywhere on the final estimate so I left them as is. The “electrical system” the customer mentions probably hasn’t worked (by the looks of the rotting insulation around the wires) in several decades because the inverter is a 40 year old trailer fire accident waiting to happen. But, if by electrical he means the solar panel roof mount install and wire routing to 12v battery then, yes, I did complete that job minus the cutting and capping of screws inside."My response: This is untrue. I spent 1-month in the trailer in the fall of 2015, and all of these systems were completely operational. At the end of that time, I did winterize it (but did not unhook anything), except for forgetting to drain the water tank, which was cracked. All of these systems were hooked up and working when I dropped the trailer off at the merchant's shop. There were not hooked up when I picked the trailer up. Yes, the trailer is old and is definitely not in good condition - it is heavily used as the merchant claims. But, it was operational when I dropped it off and was not when I picked it up. Just because something is old and heavily used, even not properly cared for, does not let the merchant off the hook for doing greater damage to the trailer.(From the merchant) "But because of limited budget, the unknowns that reared up, and time constraints not everything got the 'finish' layer if you will. Taking that into consideration and mostly not wanting unhappy customers I reduced the bill by $1000, leaving $2000 due, which was paid at the time and then they left."My response: The merchant did not agree to reducing the bill. When we first expressed our dismay at the state of the trailer, he said "This is what you get for $5000." Then, after about two hours of debate and scrutiny of the condition of the trailer, the merchant did offer the continue working on the trailer, saying that he'd already lost tons on money on the job but was willing to try to fix it up. As I had little trust in the merchant's commitment to quality work, I did not want to leave the trailer with him anymore. After reviewing the estimate we had agreed on, I calculated that, generously, we should pay $2000 more (we'd already paid $2500, so we paid $4500). After taking the trailer with us, we discussed the above-mentioned problems with the systems. (From the merchant) "On April 6th I received an email from the customer that ended with the ultimatum, “…you have 72 hours (that’s the evening of Saturday, April 9, 2016) to refund us $3000. If you do not do this, we will dispute both charges, the $2000 on April 3 and the $2500 on March 14.” I counteroffered with a $2000 refund that when paid would resolve the matter for good but if they went after anymore money I would have to fight it because that’s a lot for a small business owner starting up. The customer agreed (or so I thought) so I sent a check via certified mail for $2000 which was cashed by the customer. I received an email yesterday 6/23/16 from my bank stating the customer has disputed the March 14th payment of $2500. I’ve already discounted the original labor rate, reduced bill by $1000 and refunded another $2000. Added up that’s over 50% off the original amount."My response: In none of our correspondence after April 6th did I agree to anything. When the merchant offered to refund us $2000 and asked to confirm the address to mail a check, I replied that, yes, I'll accept a refund and that he had the correct address. I did not promise not to pursue the issue further. After that date, I discovered further problems with the trailer, most notably the severe propane leak, which is a significant health and safety risk that was not present prior to when I dropped the trailer off with the merchant. (From the merchant) "'…seeing the work you’re doing in your van. Clearly, you all do great work.' –The Customer 3/5/16"My response: I did write this in an initial email, as the van the merchant showed us demonstrated a work-in-progress that did look nice. This does not disprove the lack of quality nor the damage that my trailer now has after I left it with the merchant
Regards,[redacted]
Please accept this note as an addendum to my response to the merchant's response to complaint [redacted]. I realized that I should have addressed the credit card charge dispute in my response.Yes, I have disputed the charge through my credit card company. While I wanted to address many of the problems with the merchant's response, as long as the merchant does not challenge the disputed charge, I have received a full refund at this point.I wanted to submit a complaint to the Revdex.com about the work done on my trailer by Aspen RVs both to inform future potential customers and because I wasn't sure if I would dispute the credit card charge or not and wanted to have the details of the problem documented publicly. I did this as a layer of protection in the unfortunate event that the merchant challenges the disputed charge or takes some other kind of action to continue this fight.So, again to be clear, at this point my credit card company has refunded me the original $2500, so counting that with the $2000 that the merchant refunded me, I now have a full refund. Unless the merchant fights this further, I am satisfied with the present situation.Thank you,

Prior to the customer bringing in his travel trailer for remodeling in early March 2016 he had called me on several occasions over the course of the winter to discuss the work that he was looking to have completed come spring. Not only did he call once but he called twice if not a 3rd time to...

speak at length about not just what he wanted done but also ballpark figures of what it would cost. To which I told him it can run the spectrum from sky-is-the-limit to recycle-everything-possible just depending on what features and amenities are chosen, what known existing problems need attention, and then there’s always the unforeseen problems. I made him aware of my hourly rate but that I couldn’t give him an exact overall price quote on the phone until I got my eyes on it for all the reasons mentioned above. It was obvious upon first sight when the trailer pulled in it had been neglected for many years. Most recently being under the current customer’s ownership. The customer reveled that he had left it outside exposed to the elements sitting in the snow at high altitude all that winter and it even had to be slightly dug out of snow just prior towing it to me. None of the systems mentioned (stove, furnace, electrical) were shown functioning or even hooked up on our walkthrough before he left it with me. Nor are those systems mentioned anywhere on the final estimate so I left them as is. The “electrical system” the customer mentions probably hasn’t worked (by the looks of the rotting insulation around the wires) in several decades because the inverter is a 40 year old trailer fire accident waiting to happen. But, if by electrical he means the solar panel roof mount install and wire routing to 12v battery then, yes, I did complete that job minus the cutting and capping of screws inside.    Also, when the customer left the trailer he failed to mention that he improperly (actually worse, did nothing at all) to winterize it and that all winter long the fresh water tank was full of water which had frozen into a solid block of ice. That’s why “water tank repair” is not on the first estimate because it wasn’t found until later deeper into the inspection. We spoke on the phone about his preference to replace or attempt to repair, even after I told him there are no guarantees when hairline cracks are under pressure that they’ll stay water tight, his budget said repair so it shouldn’t be a huge surprise if it didn’t hold. Unmentioned or unknown snafu’s can eat up an RV budget in no time. I took pictures of most everything as I worked along so I can visually substantiate my claims. Also have all our email correspondences and dates and lengths we spoke via phone. My first estimate was $12,845 and included everything he wanted. And this is where I’ll interject; the price you pay for a “heavily used” item has no relation to the cost and time it takes to get it back into full (or even partial) working order. “Due to the cost of materials and shipping in some instances, severe damage can cost more to repair than the trailers worth”- Tony Yerman author of an industry manual The RV Damage Repair Estimator 4th ed. speaking about trailer repair. There is absolutely no correlation between price paid for something and the cost to restore so that’s really a moot point. It’s a major misconception among first time used RV buyers, if you get a crazy good deal there’s probably a reason why. Being a sole proprietor new business I told the customer that I would reduce my labor rate and get all the main items complete on the revised estimate even though it would mean I would probably just break even on the job financially but it was more important to generate a little goodwill in these beginning stages of operation. We agreed upon $5500 total ($2500 down and the rest due upon completion) for 6-line item jobs, all of which I completed. But because of limited budget, the unknowns that reared up, and time constraints not everything got the “finish” layer if you will. Taking that into consideration and mostly not wanting unhappy customers I reduced the bill by $1000, leaving $2000 due, which was paid at the time and then they left. On April 6th I received an email from the customer that ended with the ultimatum, “…you have 72 hours (that’s the evening of Saturday, April 9, 2016) to refund us $3000. If you do not do this, we will dispute both charges, the $2000 on April 3 and the $2500 on March 14.” I counteroffered with a $2000 refund that when paid would resolve the matter for good but if they went after anymore money I would have to fight it because that’s a lot for a small business owner starting up. The customer agreed (or so I thought) so I sent a check via certified mail for $2000 which was cashed by the customer. I received an email yesterday 6/23/16 from my bank stating the customer has disputed the March 14th payment of $2500. I’ve already discounted the original labor rate, reduced bill by $1000 and refunded another $2000. Added up that’s over 50% off the original amount. “…seeing the work you’re doing in your van. Clearly, you all do great work.” –The Customer 3/5/16