I'd love to be writing a glowing review, because it seems like Cheify, the owner, is a great guy,…read morevery friendly and personable. Alas, calling the work they did half-assed is an insult to people who only have half an ass. Slipshod, shoddy, indifferent, incomplete - these are the words that best describe their "efforts."
To start - the good: Chiefy came to our house, took a look at our trailer (which had been sitting for five years) and said we had a hole in the roof from a fallen branch and he said it would cost about $2,000 - $2,500 to fix. Reader, it did not - it ended up costing $3,000, or as he put it "Just what I said it would cost." Ummm, what??
We explained we were going full time and wanted EVERYTHING checked out COMPLETELY because again, we were going to be living in this thing and repairs would be exponentially more difficult on the road. He said he'd test "all the systems," and we felt really confident that we were in good hands. In the end, he fixed the roof, installed new tires and wheel bearings, and flushed the winterization crap out of the system.
So much for the good.
When we got the trailer back, five days before we had to leave, we looked things over and immediately discovered the awning wouldn't open. When we called, he said that "his guys" had opened it a little to get to the roof part. What's really interesting about this is that "his guys" also took the time to replace the pine needles that had been caught in the awning brackets, as seen in the photo. We really appreciated that they took the time to make it look like nothing had been done with the awning when in fact - oh, wait, yeah, nothing was done with the awning.
Another thing we'd told him about were the stabilizer jacks. The rear set was having trouble extending and may have been bent. We said we wanted those checked and replaced if needed. His response "his guys" said they went up and down fine. Well, they must have the magic touch because no one since has been able to get them to go ALL THE WAY down. Maybe "his guys" partly extended them and called it all good?
Next up - the runaway trailer brake actuator cable was frayed to the point of failure (again, see pictures). Apparently checking this is not a part of "checking all the systems." Side note - "his guys" left the light on the tongue jack on, killing the brand new batteries and necessitating a jump before we could even hitch the trailer up, so we know they were at least in the vicinity of the cable at some point in time.
On to the AC - apparently another system that's not a part of the systems that get checked - it is continually short cycling and needs a tune up, per the other RV tech we spoke with to fix the issue, who explained the problem was that the coils needed to be cleaned.
Next, the slide outs - the larger of the two squeaks badly when extending and retracting. Maybe it just needs some lube (which we bought) or maybe it's something more, like some misalignment? Who knows - apparently the slideouts are not one of the "systems" tested.
Finally, a minor issue - the grey and black tanks were supposedly flushed as part of the whole de-winterizing. When we connected the sewer hose at the first RV park (after using the bathroom a couple of times), we discovered - surprise! - they didn't shut the valve, so some lovely raw sewage dumped out.
All this is particularly frustrating since we talked to him quite a bit about how we were going full-time, and one would expect that a mechanic, knowing that, would be particularly thorough. This was clearly not the case. Also, while "all systems" were supposedly checked, we never got a checklist or anything like you get for an auto inspection detailing what was done and what needed to be fixed. We just got a bill for the work that was done, and faulty assurances that everything had been checked.
Like I said, he seems like a great guy, and I find it hard to believe he is lying deliberately. Maybe "his guys" are telling him things that aren't true, but without any kind of checklist and accountability, we'll never know.
If you have a specific issue that needs to be fixed, the work that was done seems high quality, and he had pictures that they took during the process. For general tune ups and inspections though, I would definitely go somewhere else. Caveat emptor.
TL;DR - We asked for the trailer to be THOROUGHLY checked because we're going to be living in it for a year. We got adequate work on some of the things we specifically asked about. We cannot say anything beyond that was actually checked, despite claims to the contrary, because we are continually discovering problems that would have been caught by a real inspection.
EDIT - Both of the small exhaust fans in the bedroom and bathroom are also not working.
