And it was NOT a Chinese Bomb - Montana Owners Club

Mrs. CountryGuy · 05-08-2013, 05:34 PM

Yep, our turn.

Blown tire, some damage to Tana and sewer system part/storage.

Good Sam, EPIC fail, in our books. And, it was our experience and our books and our opinion, eh??

Photos and blog post.

Yamaha_Mama · 05-08-2013, 05:49 PM

I am so sorry for your misadventure today. Hopefully you will have everything taken care of soon. Glad you made it to your next destination. Sit back, breathe deeply and relax!!!

Mrs. CountryGuy · 05-08-2013, 06:04 PM

CountryGuy has already beat the sewer storage area back into service, along with a bit of wood to fill in the gap where the end was ripped off.

The tire, well, gotta replace, of course.

Some new sewer stuff parts.

Have said it time and again, we were VERY lucky and knew it all along. The real angst of the day was the Good Sam Fail. The rest we have put aside. Just a bump in the road.

Our first blown tire while running. In how many years??? LOTS!! Since 1972 with some kind of rig or other. We have been very lucky. We were very lucky today.

GS was not so lucky, cause I am really disgusted, snarky and snarly. LOL

A bit of wine and some Italian dinner tempered my angst some.

That said, I am not done with them yet!

**Rondo** · 05-08-2013, 06:42 PM

Know how you feel because we had a blow out on our way down to Florida two winters ago heading South down the Georgia Interstate. We didn't hear a thing and one trucker waved at us but we couldn't see anything so kept rolling. The next trucker came up waves at us and then starts to edge us off the Interstate. That when I saw the tire smoking a little. Got over with no problem and nothing wrong but the tire itself. Set up the warning cones while Mary calls Good Sam. They did know where we were and gave us a call back in about 5 minutes. Unit would be out in 40 minutes or less. Two minutes later got the call from tow truck and they were within three miles of us. He pulled up got out the jack and up the Tana went. When he got it up and the spare on he told me to join him under the Tana. He suggested we change all four tires. The other three were dry rotting and going to blow also if we kept running them. He suggested two or three companies and we picked Discount Tire in Cordell, GA. Called them and they had four of what we needed so pulled in there and they changed over and balance the new ones and we were on our way within an hour. Discount Tire has a great warranty and if you need locations Carol and Al let me know and I can get you the locations or company/s associated with them. Glad you didn't have anymore damage than you suffered and that Guy can do a whole lot of the repairs himself. Take care and keep us informed!

Mrs. CountryGuy · 05-08-2013, 06:54 PM

Ron, We do understand. You had good service, called you back in 5, heavens, by the time I went ballistic, it was well over 1.5 hours.

Oh, we purchased the tires from Discount. There is one back in Santa Rosa, 40 miles north. We are going that way anyway, they will be getting a call from Al, probably first thing in the AM.

Thanks!!

woodtic · 05-08-2013, 07:09 PM

I'm guessing you already know but I'll say it anyway. On www.rv.net forums there is a section to report problems with any good sam service. You will be contacted promptly by senior personnel. They open at 8:00 am mountain time. As long as your respectfull they will try to compensate you for your problems. I went through this process several weeks ago after being refused service.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 05-08-2013, 07:39 PM

I do not read RVnet. The only RVing forum I read is this one. CountryGuy used to read RVnet, but, I do not know if he ever does any more.

I doubt I was respectful today, that is the honest answer. Telling me they needed to send out BIG rig equipment when a tow truck would have done and did do, did not bring any respect from me. 3 to 4 more hours on the side of the road after well over 1.5 hours was not getting any respect from me.

I blew up, I did what I had to do to get their attention. It was not pretty, but, it was effective.

I also had a robo call from them about 2 plus hours into this experience, after I punched a bunch of 1's for unacceptable service, they wanted to know if I wanted to talk to someone. Well, YAA!!

I gave that gal more than an earful too, when I finished telling her what I thought of 3 to 5 hours for a flat tire I told her it was my responsibility as a consumer to let them know where they had gone wrong. And, then I told her she would not have a job if they kept up this inferior service, I could almost hear her crying and sobbing.

Bottom line, their rep did not know his job or what we needed. Bottom line their app is a total fail. And, by the way, it only allows one user per account, the second user/phone is never able to register the vehicles that are covered under our JOINT account.

Let's face it, I am too old to spend 3 to 5 hours on the side of the road. I am surely too cranky!

Ozz · 05-09-2013, 01:49 AM

Carol and Al, so sorry for the bad experience. It seems to be the norm now-days unfortunately.
You did the right thing, if they don't know they have a problem, there can be no improvement.
Better luck from now on, don't let it ruin your travels.
You are a happy and upbeat gal, hang in there.
Ozz

**DQDick** · 05-09-2013, 03:20 AM

Glad it all worked out, but sorry you went thru it. What kind of tire was it that gave you the problem?

Mrs. CountryGuy · 05-09-2013, 06:22 AM

DQDick,

Will get back to you on this, we will be doing some mileage figures and such after we get our thick thought processes cooking.

Art-n-Marge · 05-09-2013, 06:54 AM

I'll bet if you were 3 or 4 months late with your payments for their service they would like that? It's also too bad they concentrate on wasting some senior person's to call for their poor service instead of fixing what causes the poor service! Lastly, they hire cheap and when they do, I doubt it's a person who can relate to the problem or even understanding your dilemma and this caused much of the problem.

If it wasn't Chinese made, what kind of tire was it? All tires get stressed somehow even the best ones, but it's about how prone they are.

Recently I just had a MICHELIN fail but when the internals separated the tire DID NOT blow up and I was able to pull over even though the steering was very wobbly because of the errant tire. Luck was on our side, because minutes later a FREE County service truck drove up behind, and he changed the tire for me (I just had to drop it down from under the truck bed). If I was on a country road it would have taken a lot longer, but I do have all the tools and the physical ability to do it.

I'm just thinking that it was a good thing you were only planning 40 miles. Just think if it was a longer trip.

Please keep us posted on getting the tire replaced and hopefully you get the sewer outlet working quickly which should be quick compared to getting the rig repaired.

Tom S. · 05-09-2013, 06:58 AM

I hope the bad part isn't just beginning. Although you don't say one way or the other, if these were truck tires mounted on the trailer, I hope the manufacturer doesn't give you grieve about replacing it and fixing the damage. They could take the attitude that the tires were misused and deny any responsibility. That seems to be the norm with companies today.

sambam · 05-09-2013, 07:15 AM

Although I won't be as detailed as you, this story is eerily familiar. I'm no fan of GS ERS. We had a flat and had to pull over in a construction zone. The fast lane was shut down, so all traffic was using the slow and breakdown lane. There was a steep pitch off to the side of the highway, so I had to use a good chunk of the breakdown lane. This was during rush hour with a good amount of traffic. I called GS and they told me it would be about 1 1/2-2 hours before anyone could be there. This after asking me if it was a dangerous situation and I responded yes, it was. I told them to forget it and changed the tire myself, with cars going by, people yelling, horns blowing. I called GS when I got home, filed a complaint and cancelled my membership to everything Good Sam. When you pay for this service for years and never use it, it's disappointing when you finally need it and they can't step up.
Best of luck with your dealings with them.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 05-09-2013, 08:09 AM

OK, first, snickering a bit, as I had no idea

Time sure flies when you are having fun!

Tires purchased mid August 2008.

LT 235/85R16E1 120R B BFG commercial T/A A/S (American made by Michelin.)

The build date is no more than 4 months before purchase. We have not climbed under Tana to look at the dates or flipped that dead tire to get the exact dates, but, that is close.

Total mileage on the tires estimated to be no more than 17,500.

Tires have always checked for pressures very well. Meaning, they all were almost exactly the same, sometimes a bit higher if one side of Tana was in the sun. Pressure loss, even over extended time was almost nothing.

Tires were checked regularly for pressure, not every time we towed, but, a LOT! The other 3 tires yesterday were checked after the blow out and they were good readings. Frequent monitoring has been done with the infared heat scope, always numbers that CountryGuy was comfy with. CountryGuy estimates that no more than 1/4 of the original tread is gone, IF that much!

None of these tires were in that recall that Goodrich had a while back, these tires were all manufactured before those dates. We checked!

We usually drive between 55 and 67 MPH, it is rare that we have gone faster than that.

It was not that warm yesterday, I had on a sweatshirt and was comfy for the most part even with Jolly's windows closed. We saw no road hazards, we don't believe we ran over anything.

Seeing that Good Sam finally did get a tow truck out there, we did not have to pay anything for the service to the tow truck driver.

I do not expect to hear anything that will make a difference from Good Sam, saying I am sorry does not cut it. I keep asking myself, where did service go??

Countryfolks · 05-09-2013, 08:46 AM

I think GS contracts the service out. We changed from one company to another some time back and I noticed the contact number was the same for both. We've used them alot and usually get good service.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 05-09-2013, 08:55 AM

And, let's all be aware, there are only so many service providers (tow trucks) in any one given area, and most of them have contracts with more than one company like Good Sam.

We were told a while back, that the tow truck driver may be listed, but, if the company/contractor did not pay timely, they would just turn down calls from that company/contractor. That little tidbit came right from the tow truck driver's mouth.

8.1al · 05-09-2013, 10:25 AM

When we had a tire on the truck go bad (BFG COMMERCIAL T/A)in southern Michigan Good Sam couldn't find anyone withing 100 miles. The representative told me she couldn't find anyone that would agree to their terms. Carol, even though Al has taken good care of the tires they are getting old and even though they weren't in the recall doesn't mean those were all the bad ones as evidenced by the one on our truck.

sreigle · 05-09-2013, 10:45 AM

Carol, I'm sorry to hear about the blowout and the damage. I know that pain very well. I'm surprised at GS ERS, though. Have to wonder how that person got into the queue to take these calls. We've used the service numerous times and have always had very prompt and very courteous service from the folks on the phone. One time we had a blowout in Oklahoma when all the tire guys were out fixing tires for the folks fighting the raging fires all over the western half of that state. We had to wait an extra couple of hours but they diverted a guy who was to pass near us going from one fire truck flat tire to another. The GS folks called us about every hour to give us an update and, as they always do, called back later to see if we got things fixed and if we were satisfied with the service. Your experience is troubling. I hope they've not gone cheap on their phone help.

Hopefully this blowout will be the last of the tire problems for you.

**DQDick** · 05-09-2013, 10:54 AM

It's interesting because many campers swear by Good Sam. There are just enough stories like this out there that I use a different company, however.

8.1al · 05-09-2013, 11:05 AM

We recently had a blowout on the trailer. Good Sam told us if we felt unsafe that WE should call 911. The service truck arrived within an hour (they were 2 miles away) but Good Sam never called back to see if we were OK and if the tire had been taken care of

You may also like: