A Bad Experience with Family RV in San Jose

[PuppyBearSF]

We rented from Family RV on Monterey Blvd. in San Jose this year. Although I'm not sure this is the proper forum I wanted to try to try to let other Burners know about our negative experience so that they might be able to avoid the same in the future.

We rented the RV online. The price was reasonable as were the terms and conditions. Then, at the end of July (when there was not adequate time to find an alternate) the company sent us additional terms and conditions by mail. These new terms required our signature or our reservation would be cancelled. They stipulated a prep fee of $155. They demanded that we change oil and air filters before returning the unit or we would be charged for parts and labor--about $110. Finally, they charged another $55 to pick up the RV before 2 p.m.. By waiting until the last minute to change the terms of rental Family RV was able to increase our rental charges by $320.

Then, before even arriving at Burning Man while driving down the road under normal circumstances the awning released onto the roof. This caused three small rips (under 4" each) in the awning. The last person to operate the awning was the RV rental technician that checked us out. When we re-stowed the awning after pulling to the side of the road we found that its release switch was in a position that would allow it to be pulled out. It is not unreasonable to conclude that the technician set the awning roller switch that allowed it to be pulled out. The awning was not damaged through our negligence or by an act of God. It was damaged as the result of the technician's mistake. Although we let Family RV know these circumstances the service manager still insisted we pay to replace the entire awning. This added another $500 to our bill.

Then, because we objected to the charge for the awning the manager instructed the technician to go over the unit again to look for problems. Luckily he could not find anything that we could not fix on site. However, it was clearly an attempt to harass us because of our objection.

For example, he threatened to charge us a "cleaning fee"--a minimum two hours for a total of $230-- because there was dirt inside the generator compartment. We were able to use handiwipes to clean it up. But the dust was clearly there from regular use through the life of the generator, not from the Playa.

Coming back to the real world after the Playa is always tough but this year seems a little bit harsher than usual. Hopefully a few people can avoid similar troubles with the help of this post.

[dixie]

We rented from Family RV in San Jose 2 years ago for Burning Man. I posted a warning at that time but don't know if anyone can still access it. They were horrible from start to finish. And when I say finish, I mean Small Claims Court! Actually, when I filed paperwork to sue them for keeping $970 of my deposit they finally paid. Everything they claimed we broke or left dirty was either broken when we left, broke on the road or disintegrated under normal use. And we cleaned the hell out of that rig! It was cleaner when we returned it than when we left. They even substituted a different RV than promised on the day of pickup...signed paperwork for a new model and got an ancient one. I could go on and on. Don't ever rent from them! They have negatives on their Better Business profile too.
This year we rented from A Fun RV in Santa Rosa. Awesome people. Cindy and Jeff. It's a family run business with a small fleet. They are a pleasure to work with and very burner friendly. Good rates too!

[Box Burner]

folks this is the kind of thing you need to post on the day tickets go on sale and keep bumping up right to the day of the burn. sorry about the bad experience, there a lot of jerks in the default.

[mars]

There is an entire tribe on Tribe called "RV Burners--(Don't use Family RV)".

This company is notorious for being rip-offs and jerks.

[dj_john69]

Sorry to hear about your bad expirence with the rv rental company. There are alot of them around that will get you for anything.

I still havent figured out why people don't buy their own older used rv's. For the price of renting an rv, you can find a good used one for about the same price of a rental. Most rv rentals go from $1200 - $3000 for the week PLUS cleaning fees, generator usage fees and deposits. For about $2000 - $4000 you can find a sweet older rv on craigslist. I found an older one with less than 40,000 miles on it for $2200. After getting insurance and registering it, it runs me about $300 a year. Im lucky enough to have rv parking at my house but you can find cheap storage units to store the rv. After you add that all up, it makes sense to buy your own. Screw dealing with assholes trying to burn you for every penny upon returning the rental unit. Hell, get a couple of friends to go into the used rv and split the cost. If you keep the used rv in good shape...oil changes, tune-ups and a lil TLC...you can get many years use of the rv at a small fraction of the cost of renting a rv from those assholes. Also, there are tons of storage units in the Reno/Sparks area to store rv's. Why drive an rv all the way home if you dont have to ?? Store all your burner stuff in the rv while in storage.


Just an idea.

~John

[PuppyBearSF]

We've thought about buying. Thanks for pointing me to Craig's List. How obvious... but why didn't I ever think about it?

BTW, I'm disputing the charges through my credit card company. Hopefully Family RV will back off. If not, I think I might try the small claims court route.

[can't sit still]

"cleaning fee"--a minimum two hours for a total of $230"
I'M IN THE WRONG BUSINESS!!!

I agree with dj_john69 on the idea of buying.
Bare from camp Arctica found a 25 ft. class A for $100. It needs cosmetic repairs but it has low mileage.
The rabi rick found a couple of nice ones for CHEAP

If you find a good running RV, the next most important thing to check is the roof. If the roof sags it will collect water and rot.
Try to buy a Dodge if you can. They used a very heavy duty chassis.
The Chevys were built on a P-30 chassis. Like all "30" chassis, they're rated for 10,000 lbs. Chevy just put in bigger springs and called it a 14,500 lb chassis. They're weak and they eat ball joints.

If you leave it parked for long periods of time , you should change the DOT 3 brake fluid to DOT 5 silicone fluid to preserve your hydraulic cylinders.
Try not to leave gas in it til it's old and stale. It can ruin the engine. There are additives like "stabil" that can keep the gas from going bad.

Happy camping

[Kinetic IV]

If you leave it parked for long periods of time , you should change the DOT 3 brake fluid to DOT 5 silicone fluid to preserve your hydraulic cylinders.

Curious advice. DOT 3 or 5 is NOT compatible with DOT 5. You could convert a brake system over to it...but you have to be very, VERY meticulous with the conversion....this is a clean freak's dream project.

I would consider buying a relatively inexpensive Mityvac one person brake bleeding system and flushing out the old fluid with new, maybe upgrading to DOT 4 but that's as far as I'd go with it. YMMV....I love tinkering on cars and worked in the parts business even....there's a lot of stuff I'll mess with. But I'm one of those that doesn't skimp on brakes or takes any chances with 'em.... Also the only place you'll find DOT 5 is really on race cars....DOT 3/4 will suffice for most everything else. If you do a Google search you'll see I'm not alone on thinking this way.

[can't sit still]

Hi K IV, I've used DOT 5 for at least 25 years. It got a bad rap in the beginning because people were changing to it willy nilly.
I buy a lot of heavy truck parts. The rebuilders are the ones who scream the loudest about how bad it is. They stand to lose the most if hydraulic cylinders last forever.
I've changed dozens of hydravacs that never lasted worth a shit.
I have a 1960 F-600 boom truck that I used to build my log house. It's had the same hydravac for 20 years [DOT 5]
I've never seen a problem!!
I blow the system out with high pressure air and then add the silicone fluid. No alcohol,,,no nothing. Works every time.
That wouldn't be a good procedure for anti-lock brakes but I was referring to old motorhomes.
My '70 Dodge Power Wagon has had the same hydraulic cylinders since '84
DOT 3 is like ATF. It's garbage that doesn't belong in a well designed vehicle.
My experience with DOT 5 has always been positive.

[PuppyBearSF]

Thanks for recommending it. Loads of useful info!

[Kinetic IV]

I know about the early problems with it that have been resolved. I'm looking at this from the viewpoint of not everyone's going to have all the equipment you and I do for flushing out the system and doing it right. And if you don't do it right....well I'd hate to be coming down the East side of Donner Pass when you find out about the "incompatibility" problem.

I also look at parts availability. While it's not too hard to find DOT 5, it never fails that things break in the middle of Bumfuck USA, population 40 with a few tumbleweeds counted too. You could find DOT 3 and maybe 4 but 5 would be iffy. And I've seen brakelines get ripped out while making Y turns and getting into tight campsites. I'm also thinking if you let anyone else do service under the hood and they would happen to see low brakefluid some time...what do you think they'll stick in there? You have to make sure the master cylinder is labeled to keep the good intentioned mechanic from mucking things up.

(So if you have total control over who works on the thing and have the time to flush it out with compressed air....I agree it's definitely the best way to go)

[can't sit still]

Kinetic, you're right about parts availability problems. I took motorhome [and motorcycle] caravans to Mexico and Alaska for 10 years.
Mexico doesn't have TH 400, 425 or 450 trans. I lost several. No big block Chevy, no 460 or 440 or 455. No P-30 B-300 or M-400 chassis.

That meant no brakes U-joints, cylinders, fuel pumps etc.
Murphy's law held sway in all problems.
The motorcycles were even worse. You couldn't find a spark plug for a Honda unless it was the same as one for a Moto Islo or Carabella.
No tires or tubes either.

Sometimes it was a tow truck back to the border,,,sometimes it was a flatcar [RR]
I had to explain to people that I was leaving them behind and that they would have to fly in parts.
Bearings were about the only thing that I could find.
Just to make it more interesting, the mechanical problems usually came at the same time as heart attacks, strokes and crashes.

Compared to all that brake fluid is easy. You can piss in the master cylinder and it will get you home.

[mars]

Another resource for finding an RV to buy is on the Tribe "RV Burners" group. There's a guy on there who is always looking for good RV's for sale and when he finds them, which is practically daily, he posts them. He helped my friend buy her RV, going so far as to help her negotiate with the seller. No fees involved.


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[Catapillar]

We were also totally destroyed and humiliated by this company. I think besides the $3,300 xtra dollars added onto our bill, it was the feeling of leaving incomplete and something missing...like they really dont care.

I also found that their integrity isnt all up to date...they say one thing and a price and charge something else...the labor/hour was $115 in their office and then the guy said he would cut us a break and charge us $105. Well, on the burning man form they had me sign, it says $105/hour.

And i read above that they charged someone $55 dollars for early pick-up..they charged us $100. Clearly there is something missing inside their own organization which gets carried out over to us and leaves us feeling upset.

They also charged us $400 to clean the rv after we cleaned the f*ck out of it and took it to an industrial truck wash.

I say that we could get our money back as a group in court...i know its a lot..but theyre scammers. I think we might have a case b/c they say one thing and charge another.

what do you guys thinK>?

[Apollonaris Zeus]

Serves you all right!

Next time rent a tent!

RV's suck!

AIIZ

[mars]

Serves you all right!

Next time buy an RV!

Tents suck!



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[BAS]

"Life sucks, and then you die/
Your sould gets sucked into the sky"
-- the Dead Milkmen.


B.