2016 AI House Batteries and EMS Concerns

[Kathryn McA]

Originally Posted by Hawk-ination

Kathryn, I hope you didn't misinterpret what I was trying to say. What I meant is that Airstream does a poor job of explaining what works at what point on the electrical system. They need to greatly improve their instructions in their manual for us owners who don't get the in-person walk through or for even those who do.

I certainly meant no disrespect to what you do or don't know! We went through a very large learning curve ourselves and had to fix some things that had been damaged from an unknowing owner before we owned the coach and also self-inflicted issues, such as leaving our batteries drain past the point of no return thinking the solar would keep them charged and not understanding the parasitic draw on the coach when we were new owners. I'm still learning certain things after owning the coach after a year.

It's sad that your inspector caused that much damage. I still think any company providing a professional service should be liable for the damage they caused. I was trying to say that I don't think you should feel bad for what you didn't know they were going to do or exactly what power needs to be on or not during an inspection like that. It's their liability to know and not mess up your Airstream. Feel bad for you.

I fully understood and agree with what you were saying. I know you didn't mean any disrespect and I am so sorry that my reply may have indicated as much. I truly appreciated your comments. I purchased my 2016 off the showroom floor so didn't have to deal with any previous owner's negligence. My first year was a huge learning curve referring to the owner's manual and this airforum often. Unfortunately I neglected using adequate amounts of shore power both on long road trips and when not in use. Lesson learned! This forum, along with the Airstream Interstate FB group, has been the greatest resource for learning what to do and what not to do and what items require pampering.

Please know that I appreciate your kind expressed empathy. I am doing my best to let go of so much anger I have for this "certified" inspector so that I am able to think straight. I have to keep telling myself "It's not Cancer."

[Hawk-ination]

I'm sorry to hear your frustration, once again. If only we had hours to write or chat, I could share stories that might make you feel better! Our damage was mostly self-inflicted. Sadly there can be such an expensive learning curve with the Interstates. I know certain things from reading and studying like you, but I've even found myself forgetting... well, that's not quite the right term, but there's times I get frustrated with why something isn't working, and forget I'm plugged in and it won't work plugged in...those kinds of things.

We damaged our new set of batteries this year by me thinking my fiance' had plugged the Interstate in and vice-versa. I mean, things happen....sadly a lot of things happened because of someone else in your case. I agree 100 percent that this forum is a life-saver and the members are great to share their knowledge.

There are many people out there that jump to saying it's someone's fault when sometimes it's not something you can hold someone or worth trying to hold someone accountable for. I hope you at least make the company aware that you sustained a lot of damage from this person's negligence. They own a company and if they cause damage to anyone's property, they should make it right. We sell products that have decent warranties and deal with making things right even when a lot of the time it isn't the product that fails. It happens and this is what we have insurance for in business. I think you are blaming yourself too much as it's the inspector's responsibility to leave your RV in the same condition it was prior to them walking into it. How would you know they didn't know what they were doing?

I agree, I probably wouldn't choose to let someone go blind operating the Interstate but you expected this person to be a professional and they were far less than that. Just my thoughts but I really think you should not feel at fault and might be worth a good try to make sure they know they were accountable for causing damage to your Interstate and need to make it right with you. Sometimes people don't want the hassle of trying and you might just want to move on though. You're right about your perspective, it can always be worse. Good luck with your situation and don't beat yourself up to much!

[Heckler56]

Wow. I had the exact opposite experience with an inspector. The gentleman had me turn everything on and off. I drove on the test drive while he made video and sound recordings. The 15 minute drive to get the engine to operating temperature and highway speeds ended up a 45 minute drive in the country sharing stories and getting to know each other.

So sorry for your experience.