Wisconsin Tacomas and bad financial advice

FWIW
The hidden front receiver I was looking at went up to 325 from 285.
Guess I wait for Black Friday.

 

Seems that everything is going up except for personal income. Have noticed that most items ordered from Amazon have increased by 50% in the last three years.

 

Also the food at Culver's

 

Honestly, I think their pricing has changed less than other places. I spent like $16 on breakfast at McDonald’s recently!

 

That shit'll kill you!

 

That's how it goes.
Then by the time wages catch up to goods and services it's time for them to go up again.
Many factors involved and not to get too into it, though some people who demand a higher minimum wage don't fully understand the domino affect it has on the economy.

 

Well, yeah, if that's all you eat. I used to eat fast food on a daily basis, but I have cut back on it. The older I get, the harder it gets to work off the empty calories.

You're definitely better off not eating it at all.

Yup.

It's amazing. 20 years ago (heck, 10 years ago) I never thought I'd make as much money as I do now. And, I'm definitely not affording the rock and roll lifestyle I'd have expected to be living on it.

 

$16 McD's brekkie sounds pretty rock n' roll, no? I mean... it's latter-stages Elvis type stuff but in the words of Billy Joel "it's still rock n' roll to me?"

 

RV Off Grid Solar https://www.rvoffgridsolar.com/ - My tale of woe

Paid RV Off Grid Solar to do an upgrade on the solar charging system of our truck camper. They installed two 200 W solar panels, Victron controller, Baja Lithium 200 AH battery, Victron Orion-TR DC-DC charger and Victron SmartShunt. The installation seemed to be great, they managed to get everything placed very neatly in a small cubby where the factory camper electronics were installed. The system works fine, far superior to our original setup. We camped off grid for a month with no electrical issues.

When we arrived back home in Wisconsin and took the camper off of the Taco, things were not so pretty. Found that they routed both of the #2 AWG wires through the tailgate area making it impossible to reinstall the tailgate.

When I contacted them they told me that it was not their fault, was not a mistake because the tailgate was not installed on the Taco when they did their work and they had taken advantage of an existing open access to route the wires.

The wires are too short to relocate to the bumper area so I requested that they send me:

#2 - ground wire, 2 feet with lugs on each end
#6 – camper wire, 4 feet with Anderson lug on one end
Anderson Plug 50 A Flush Mount Cover Assembly

They sent me two four foot lengths of #2 wire, one red & one black with lugs on both ends which are of no use to me. The 50 A Anderson flush mount assembly was not the correct size as they had installed 175 A connectors to prevent any current drop.

When I crawled under the Taco to reroute the #2 wire, I found that it was routed through the frame and various brackets, wire tied but without any flexible conduit. I carefully removed the wire but there is one spot where the wire insulation was cut almost 50% from abrasion against a bracket, clearly visible before removing the wire. They have blamed me for pulling the wire out and causing the cut.

The #6 wire is routed through a hole that they drilled in the fiberglass exterior of the camper without installing a grommet. They applied some silicone into the hole but it is far from sealed and the wire wiggles.

The positive battery terminal was replaced and whatever type of metal it is, already has a pile of corrosion accumulating.

What would you do after paying $5.5k?

 

No
That shit will block you up.

 

Cancel the check?

 

It wasn't all that extravagant. Sausage bagel, 2 hashbrowns, and OJ.

Side note: If anything in that meal was likely to kill me, it would most likely be the OJ.

 

Damn that's pretty sloppy with that rear cable for a finished install for that kind of money. Add on your other problems and them accusing you of damaging the cable when you took it off and I wouldn't be happy. Sorry to hear all that has happened. I'd document everything and try to have them make it right, and if they can't do that then it's time to leave reviews and tell everyone you know not to work with them.

 

That's pretty amateurish, considering how much you paid. A couple of things: your link doesn't work, probably because the typeface is bold. And, they're near Colorado Springs, right? If that's the case, why get this done so far away?

If they are in CO, they know you're not going to chase back and forth to CO to go all Wapner on 'em. You don't have much leverage other than a bunch of bad reviews, wherever you can put them. They also know hiring a lawyer to go after them is going to cost you more than you'll recover. Should've been noted before even paying in the first place, but that's another story. Also, that price is outrageous for what they did, there's what, maybe $1k in parts/materials.

Anderson plugs aren't too hard to take apart to relocate to under the bumper, the ground could be moved also pretty easily. That way you can get your tailgate back on. The cable can be re-routed fairly easy too, and covered with split loom cover while you're at it. It's just going to take a couple of hours of your time to correct.

As for the camper: you may have to pull the wire out and put a grommet in there. Again, more of your time. While you're at it, maybe a clamp somewhere to anchor the wire for support.

edit: Add another $1k for the battery.

 

Everyone knows OJ didn't do it.

 

That does stink. If they aren't going to budge, about all you can do is diy it right.

I wondered this earlier about @WiscoPat and his ride but I didn't want to sound like a negative Nelly.

What happens if he drives it back and something doesn't work, stops working.
Who fixes it?

 

https://youtu.be/4CR8u-2TKb0?si=n6T7WVWiGPlRak-m

 

brekkie.... Got another escaped Aussie out here

I hear Komatsu is having a sale....

Were you in Canada?

The man is correct

 

Reads like a lawyer or 2 is gonna get involved. I'd take the truck to them and have a conversation. Face to face is way different than over the phone.

 

As far as @WiscoPat's truck goes: it's a matter of the quality of shop you work with. He's done a lot of research and had a lot of conversations with them as to what he's looking for and what they can/will do. IIRC, he's said that they have some form of warranty in place that will work with a local shop.

There's no doubt there's a chance of shit going south when working with someone that's across the country. You do your homework and hope you've caught everything.