Lewis RV Center Lewisrvcenter.com Sold me a softstart that didn’t work and there was no support available because the manufacturer was out of business. Oklahoma City Oklahoma

REBUTTAL TO LEWIS RV RESPONSE TO DISPUTE OVER
$380 CHARGE TO VISA CARD FOR DEFECTIVE MERCHANDISE

Pictures available in link , copy and paste, located here:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xCq1y-2d8s2JBABy3D_yhThW9oNkPRjKuMIBehACbhE/edit?usp=sharing

This is the full narrative with complete and comprehensive details.
I would like to start off by thanking Ripoff Report for this opportunity to respond and to set the
record straight on several important factors.
Part 1
I have reviewed the merchants documentation and I still believe this amount should be refunded based on the following accurate information I am providing.
I am including complete details of the dispute, how the merchandise is defective. I will include the dates
the merchant was contacted and their response to my request for credit. 
 
After reading Ms. Ruthefords response, I would like to submit a rebuttal and verify the things
that she said in the response that are true, and to point out the areas of her response that are
either assumptions, conjecture, innuendo, or flat out untrue.
Here is the narrative of the events that occurred involving the purchase of the part, the
discovery that it does not work, and the discussion of returning the item with regards to this complaint and request for refund/chargeback.
I arrived in Oklahoma on July 5th in the late afternoon. On the morning of July 6th, 2024 I
contacted Lewis RV by phone to inquire if they sold soft starts and Sue informed me that they
did. I told Sue I would be by to pick it up and she said I should ask for her. I went to pick it up
that day, and when I entered the front door a young man sitting at what appeared to be a
reception desk (exhibit A*), asked me if he could help me and I asked for Sue, as she
suggested, and he pointed me to a desk which was around the corner in the back of the parts
room.

I walked down the center aisle, along the reception desk to the water cooler (exhibit B), turned
right and and walked over to the desk where Sue was sitting Exhibit C). We said hello and she
had the Softstart sitting on top of her desk. She proceeded to open it up and show me the
instruction sheet with 4 simple steps to install and then put the instructions back in the box and
we completed the transaction.

Sue had mentioned that the printer was not working and asked if she could email me the receipt
rather than a printed receipt. Since I paid by credit card which can also suffice for proof of
payment, I said an emailed receipt would suffice. And because the charge was greater than
$100 I also received a notification from Citi showing the charge had been completed.
I want to stop here and make note that in the reply sent in by Ms. Rutherford, she states in the
first sentence of her reply that I purchased a soft start from them on July 6, 2024. That is a true
and undisputed statement. She says in the second sentence of her reply that I was “made
aware” of their 2 policies regarding returns. She also states that they do not allow returns on
special order items or electrical items. And also states they do not allow returns on any item
after it has been installed.
Let’s examine these statements to see if they are factual or not:
First off, I was not informed of either of these policies. I was not informed verbally that this was
the case, and Ms. Rutherford even states that I was informed by virtue of a “CLEARLY” posted
sign, at customer level, at checkout, and emphasized in black and red lettering
I have attached a picture of the desk area where I was directed to, and where the
transaction/payment took place. (Exhibit C above) The only sign that is “CLEARLY” posted here
at the place they had me checkout, is a sign that informs customers of a surcharge for large
purchases. So the statement that “The customer was made aware” of those policies by virtue of
the sign they took a picture of does not hold water. I believe the statement that the sign is
clearly posted at the checkout is not true because it was not posted at the checkout where I
made my purchase at the desk in the back.
Now the sign itself does actually exist. The sign is printed on 8-½ by 11 paper is posted at the
UNMANNED computer/register pictured where you first enter, at the end of the counter from the
young man with blonde hair who is standing at another computer which is probably the primary
register. This is an assumption of mine based on the fact that you see the young man stationed
at that computer, just like the first day I walked in to the merchant back in July. so take a look if
you can find the return policy clearly posted in either (exhibit A)... and if you don’t see it in
exhibit A, then try (exhibit D), just below.
Exhibit D
You see the clearly posted sign, right??? The one at “custome level”?
It is interesting that Ms. Rutherford states that the sign is posted at “customer level”. She
cannot even state that the sign was posted at eye level… a level where someone could easily
see and read what is written on the sign. Instead, she uses a vague, or an ambiguous phrase
like “customer level”. I will let you draw your own conclusions as to why the business does not
first off, have that critical policy posted at 1, every checkout computer/register, and number 2,
does not post it at actual eye level. By the way, You’ll notice an almost empty wall behind the
desk where Sue checked me out at. Plenty of room for sign at eye level there. Notice too that
there are signs posted on a pillar right behind the checkout area that Ms. Rutherford references
the clearly posted sign being, (Exhibit D). Think about it, is this really what they think is making
someone aware ? Especially since it is not at eye level and it was certainly not at the register
that I was checked out at, even though there is plenty of room on that wall?
Ms, Rutherford goes on to say that the posted notice is emphasized in black and red lettering…
yes, two words of the obscurely places sign, obscurely placed if you are not at that specific
register to check out, two words on the sign are in red and she says this is to emphasize this
policy to their customers. Same point, if you truly wanted to emphasize this information you
would post it at all three registers on a larger sign at eye level.
She further states that this policy is also printed on the customer’s printed receipt. This line of
reasoning fails for 2 simple reasons: 1, I was never handed or provided a “printed” receipt. As
stated earlier, Sue told me that their printer was not currently working and asked if she could
provide me with an emailed receipt rather than a printed receipt. But, 2, if the policy is to not
accept returns on electronic parts as stated in the picture that was sent to Citi in response to my
request for refund, than having it printed on a receipt does not matter. You do not get a receipt,
printed or otherwise until after you have paid for the part, and the giving of a receipt technically
occurs post-sale, after the money has changed hands. Only moments after, but nonethe less,
after the completion of the sale. So according to the argument that the receipt makes me aware
of the policy, while that may somehow be generally true, it makes me aware of the policy after it
is too late , after the transaction is completed. And once the money changes hands, and the
receipt is given, according to their policy, no refunds on that part. At the point of the receipt
being given, it is already too late, because the purchase has been completed.
Ms, Rutherford further states they do not allow refunds on any item that has been installed, but
that is not what the posted policy says, it says all other uninstalled stock parts may be returned
within 30 days of Purchase.
Because of the defective nature of this part, it has been uninstalled. it is an uninstalled part.
And this part is a part that they do stock, Or at least they did the day I picked it up. As
mentioned earlier, I did not have to special order this part. This is an uninstalled, stock part. It
meets both criteria for return. As you can see, the policy definately says, “All other uninstalled
stock parts may be returned within 30 days of purchase”
Let’s go on to the other issue that Ms. Rutherford raises which is whether or not the installation
was done correctly. She says I had a 3rd party install the system for me, 100% true! I had the
part installed on July 9, 2024. She further states that her company is not aware of this 3rd party
who did the installation for me. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt on that one, let’s say that is
also true. So they are unaware of the 3rd party who did the install, and because Ms. Rutherford
is not aware of the 3rd party, she levels the accusation against this company, that they did not
wire the unit correctly, even though she is not acquainted with the company, so she has no
knowledge of the expertise of this company, but she accuses that company that she is unaware
of,that they made an improper installation. This is an unfounded accusation based on the fact
that after installation it was not working. And by the way, in the first part of my narrative, Sue
advised me during the purchase process that the install was an easy 4 step process. An
unproven assertion by the merchant.
Ms. Rutherford says that the next thing that happened is that I called to talk about returning the
part. Once again, this is simply not true. The reason I called them back on 7/11/2024 is that I
was looking to find the customer service division of the manufacturer so that I could get some
support from the manufacturer. On that day, 7/11/2024, I was talking to Sue and asked her for
the phone number to the support division of the soft start manufacturer. At the time she said
that her internet was down. Right then, another employee, whom I later learned was named
Porsche, gave her a phone number to the company sales rep by the name of Tina Goodwin. I
took the number with the intention of calling Tina Goodwin to see if she could help me to get
some technical support in order to get my RV cooled down in the very hot Oklahoma summer.
In fact, getting a refund was not on my mind, nor did I ask for a refund on that call. I’m not sure
how Ms. Rutherford came to the conclusion and makes the claim that when I called them I
wanted a refund. When I called back it was to get info on the manufacturer, it was in good faith
to get the problem fixed, not to get a refund. I called for the number of the company and once I
had it I was ready to call it to get the information to get my soft start up and running.
So what happened next was I called the phone number I was given to reach the sales rep of the
company, Tina Goodwin by name according to Porsche. I called the number that Sue had
gotten from Porsche and provided, to me. That number is 315-400-1822, 09 7/11/2024 at
approx 10:00am is when I called the number. and there was a generic voice mail. Feel free to
call it, nobody answers. It did not sound like a sales rep for any company, the voice mail did not
leave a company name, it did not leave a person’s name, just an extension number, 1001.
Things were starting to smell pretty fishy to me at that point, So I looked up the company online
using the website rvacsolutions.com and what came up was the website name with a message
that the site can’t be reached (exhibit d).
Exhibit D Inactive Site for RVAC Solutions
It dawned on me right then and there that this screen is what Sue was looking at when I called
her and she had gone online to try to get me the phone number for the company, and because
of this page she thought her internet was down. I did some further research using the company
name, rvac solutions, the only thing that came up was a few social media posts from 2023,
October was the most recent I could find. So their social media accounts, the bread and butter
of many businesses these days, had not been touched in something like 8 months. So it
appeared that the company was out of business,
Here is their facebook page with the last post being on 10/6/2023 and a history of previous
posts on a monthly basis. https://www.facebook.com/RVACSolutions/
Here is their youtube page with the last video posted a year ago.
https://www.youtube.com/@rvacsolutions9609/videos
So one of the claims in the response is that they, Lewis RV, is not acquainted with the mechanic
I hired, and therefore they want to assume that the source of the part failure is an unsuccsesful
repair by Cornerstone RV. But they are obviously familiar with the company they bought the soft
start from. But the softstart manufacturer has no active website, and does not have a working
phone number. However, the company I used to perform the installation, has an active website
and has a working phone number and is still in business… (Exhibit E)
But according to the merchant, it isn’t the now defunct business that sold a bad part that is the
source of the problem, it is the business that is currently in business that is the one at fault for
the part not working. I question that logic!
Exhibit E
At this point it seemed like I was not going to be able to find a contact for the company, (rvac
solutions), in order to get the issue resolved. The part was clearly not functioning as it was
supposed to and the likelihood of getting technical support to get it fixed seemed to dwindle with
each search performed and each link clicked. It was at this pointj on the same day, 7/11/2024,
that I called back to Lewis RV. This time when I called and asked for Sue, I was told that she
was not available. I told her I was talking to Sue about a part and trying to get the phone
number for the company, and the lady on the phone, Porsche, said she had gotten the phone
number for Sue previously… I explained the reason for my call because the part did not work
and it appeared that the company was no longer in business, at least from what I could find.
She really didn’t offer any assistance to me except that she would continue to try to find a good
phone number for the company. NOTE: To date I have not heard back from Porsche with an
alternate phone for rvac solutions.
I did ask her where she got the phone number provided earlier from. since it was obvious that
the website did not work, and she stated that she had gotten the phone number for Tina
Goodwin/RVAC Solutions from an email. I asked her how old the email was and she said 2
years old. Very much inline with the lack of communication that would come with a company
that had gone out of business.
Yes, it was at this point that I came to the conclusion that I needed to get my money back
because the part did not work and the company was out of business. And that I needed to find
an actual solution to my problem that did not include an out of business company. The fact that
nobody had mentioned that this company was out of business led me to believe that they were
either hiding this fact from me, or, they did not have the wherewithal or the business accumen to
know that a vendor of theirs had gone out of business almost a year earlier, even though they
sell and install these without ever having a problem with them. Either situation is not acceptable
when I’m out $380 bucks and all they can do is try to avoid responsibility for any of it, again, not
acceptable!
By the way, subsequent research shows the last time, according to wayback machine, which
catalogs and archives active websites during their lifetime, is that the website was last active
during the 2nd quarter of 2023 and their last recording of it was on June 8, 2023, see here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230101000000*/rvacsolutions.com
I have supplied the link, but it looks like you will need to copy and paste, and I’ve added a
screenshot of the archived webpage that can be found on wayback machine, and you can see
that this website was active from the 4th quarter of 2021 up to the 2nd quarter of 2023. And if
you scroll down and click on June 8th, 2023, the last time the wayback machine crawled and
captured the site details, you will actually see the website that was operational at that time, and
is no longer operational today, or back on June 6th of this year when I purchased the defective
part.
Hence, I came to the conclusion that I was sold a part manufactured by a company that had
gone out of business at least 6-8 months previously and would therefore not be able to get
support from that company either now or if I have any further problems in the future. I stated it
plainly and simply to Porsche that I had intended on coming in with the part for a refund. Her
reply, no refund on installed parts. By the way, the times I had called I am pretty sure that they
record calls, please ask them for the recordings of the 3 calls I made to them and see for
yourself if I am being accurate in my detailed account of those conversations. Those dates are
7/6/2024 for the first call and 7/11/2024 for the second call. And I made a 3rd call later on the
same day, 7/11/2024. There was also a 4th call made to me, from Sue on 7/12/2024.
At that point it was more important, to get my A/C squared away and working. I contacted a
company, they had a unit, and it was sent via 2 day shipping, when it got here, Cornerstone RV
came out and installed it and it works like a charm since he installed it. Using the logic of Ms.
Rutherford, “we have installed these before, they worked previously, therefore this one did not
have a defect.” Here is my logic, “Cornerstone RV installed the 2nd soft start and it worked, and
when he installed the one sold by Lewis RV, it did not work. Therefore, the one sold by Lewis
RV is defective.” This line of logic is every bit as valid as the merchants logic, particularly
because I have proof that both the soft starts I bought were installed.
And yes, it is true that I reported the merchant to ripoffreport.com, because they sold me a
product that does not work, and no longer has any support from the manufacturer, and the
treatment that I did get from Lewis RV, while initially good service prior to them receiving
payment for the part, it quickly deteriorated to really poor customer service when they had the
chance to prove that they are a reputable company that deserves my future business. As far as
the assertion that the symptom described could only be from improper installation, they have
not actually shown that to be the case. As a matter of fact, Ms. Rutherford herself makes this
pointby saying that “It sounds like the item was installed incorrectly”. Sounds like is an
assertion, and proof is something completely different. What documentation can Ms. Rutherford
provide from the manufacturer that shows what the symptoms will be if installed incorrectly as
opposed to what can happen if the wires that are contained within the internal parts were
attached or incorrectly assembled, or not properly soldered during the manufacturing and
assembly process. Last time I checked, manufacturers produce items that malfunction with no
help from the installer or the owner. Brand new cars even go in for repair or replacement of
brand new, but defective parts.
Ms. Rutherford also make an assertion that they have sold and installed these with zero issues.
She does not state how many they have sold and/or installed. Yes, quite an easy thing to say,
and yet… other than the assertion, she provides no proof. No records showing they purchased
and installed. No proof whatsoever.
There are a lot of assertions and plenty of innuendo in Ms. Rutherford’s response, but from this
experience with Lewis RV, it looks like they are selling a product from a company whose
products were not good quality, and then all of a sudden one day, they go out of business. And I
am expected to believe that they are selling these, how did she put it again, “we have sold and
installed these items with zero issues.” Not much in the way of specifics here! She does not say
how many SOLD? Or how many INSTALLED? Over what period of time??? Did they know the
manufacturer went out of business? It does not sound like they have tried to contact them for at
least 8 month, possibly up to 2 years according to the email Porsche had received. How many
did they buy at the last time they made a purchase more than 6-8 months ago from this
company? How many have they installed in the last year, or last 2 years. Again, plenty of
assertions, but extremely light on any proof of what they claim. Like the “NO RETURN” sign
being at “CUSTOMER LEVEL”, whatever that means. At least be honest and say that the sign
is at abdomen level, or sternum level, and at the check out register that does not seem to be
manned!
In addition to all of this, I did receive a call from Sue on the 12th. She asked if I had gotten my
problem fixed, and she made the offer, if you bring it in, maybe we can do something. Again,
have them provide the recordings of the phone calls that I made to them and the one they made
to me. If you listen to it fairly, it sounds like a stall rather than any real offer to make things right.
I can’t rely on maybe , because in the 90+ degree heat the temperature in an RV can easily get
up to 110 degrees in a very short time.
Again, see if they will provide you with the recordings of the phone conversations that they
make.
At the end of the call with Sue I did tell her I would be coming by to formally return the item, but
had already been told that the part would not be taken for return or refunded. I wanted to see
what Citibank required to start a dispute, and so I called Citi and discussed the situation with the
nice folks over there and they said that since I was already told verbally on the phone that it
could not be refunded that I could start the dispute process without driving there and making the
formal request for refund.
I am also showing a letter from the mechanic to explain his experience with both the defective
softstart from RVAC solutions and Lewis RV, and also the secondary softstart purchased from
another company.
In conclusion, I hope that you see that in this transaction:
1, Proper notification of the company policy regarding refunds was never properly made as
claimed by the merchant
2, That they sold this defective part to me, even though the manufacturer had gone out of
business approximately 1 year prior. Maybe they knew, maybe not, but it is unfair to make me
pay for a part that does not work and does not have any support provided by the manufacturer.
3. They never really tried to help me with the issue, other than the initial sale of the faulty part.
4, That their assertion that the company that installed the part, cornerstone RV, wired it
improperly. It is merely an assertion and has no basis in fact. And that Cornterstone RV is
somehow at fault because the merchant is “not acquainted” with them is simply ridiculous!
Especially in light of the fact that Cornerstone RV has a 5 star rating from every single person
that has ever written a review about them, and especially considering the fact that the merchant,
can only muster a 4.4 google rating, see review from Ernie Robinson below as to how well he
was treated with his air conditioning problem. Please also see review for Cornerstone from
Josh Rittenhouse/2nd review in pic attached, in regards to his A/C issue below.
And 5, that you see fit to return the purchase price including tax based on all of the above
information, which I have done my best to convey with pertinent verifiable information and not
just a lot of assumptions and assertions.
I look forward to the resolution of this matter and the refund of purchase price as soon as
possible!
* Photo’s provided of the reception/parts desk and the empty desk in the back of the
parts room where the checkout occurred, were not taken by me at the time of sale. They
were taken on a subsequent visit on 8/23/2024 when I stopped by Lewis RV to see
where and how this notification sign was posted within the dealership as is explained by
the merchant, earlier in this letter. Sue was not present at the desk when I took the
pictures of that desk on 8/23/24 in my reconn mission to find out how it was possible to
miss the “clearly?” posted sign according to the merchant.

Again, all pictures referenced can be found here if you copy/paste into address bar of browser:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xCq1y-2d8s2JBABy3D_yhThW9oNkPRjKuMIBehACbhE/edit?usp=sharing

This customer purchased a soft-start system from our store on July 6, 2024.  At the time of purchase the customer was made aware of our 2 return policies.  1) We do not allow returns on special order or electrical items.  2) We do not allow returns on any item after it has been installed.  Both policies are CLEARLY posted at the customers level at check out and emphasized in black and red lettering.  It is also printed on the customers copy of the printed receipt.  This customer purchase and had a 3rd party install the soft-start system for him.  After the third party (a RV service company that we are not acquainted with) installed the soft-start system the customer stated that the item did not work.  The customer called to talk about returning the item and we told them since they installed the system (which did include wiring) that we would not be able to offer them a refund per our posted policy.  In a rip off report the customer has given details to what the items is doing that he believes is a malfunction.  From the customers details it sounds like the item was wired incorrectly.  This improper installation would cause what the customer is stating and would damage the soft start system.  For clarification the item would have performed correctly had it not been installed incorrectly.  Since the customer used a third party to install the part and we were not part of this all we can go off is what the customer said was happening after the installation.  We have sold and installed these items with zero issues.  This further leads us to believe that the other company wired it incorrectly and the customer is wanting us to be responsible for their error.

We do not feel that a chargeback should be granted since our return policy is clearly stated and there was another business involved that installed the item, and that we believe wired the soft-start incorrectly. 

Below is a response that we have previoulsy reponded to the customers complaints.  Please note, the customer never came in to discuss the situation as stated on a telephone call when we said the part could not be returned. Nor did the customer ever come in to talk about the circumstance outlined below to see if we could help diagnose what might have happened.  The customer did, however enter our dealership to take pictures of our parts department, posted return signs, and our employees, but denied any help while he was there.  

Good afternoon ****, we are sorry that you have not had a good experience with your soft-start system, and feel that we have ripped you off.  When you purchased this part is was in an unopened box.  Per our return policy we clearly state in the store that there will be no returns once an electrical part has been installed.  This is becuase if the part is installed incorrectly it can damage the part.  The soft-start system requires electrical work to be installed, thereby making a correct installation imperative.  When you purchased this part you had a 3rd party install it.  We do not know their method and cannot be responsible for their work.  WE have installed all of the other soft-starts we have sold and have had no problems with the systems.

In your review you mention that the AC would not run so you needed to go purhcase a generator.  Again without knowing your trailer, the installations process, or power source we cannot help diagnose.  However if you were hooked up to 110v power I am unclear on why you would have needed to purchase a generator.  If you were not hooked up to 110v I am unclear on what power source you were using to try and activate the soft-start or AC orginally. The soft-start is designed to help reduce the pull of power the AC uses when starting.  If the soft start detected a reduction in amperage once you did have the generator hooked up it would have disrupted power to the AC as a way to try and protect the AC from an unreliable power source.  If however, the electric in your RV shutdown, as you have stated, that is much more indicative of soft-start being wired incorrectly there by tripping the breaker on you RV.  However, as stated before thos are not details we have or a process we were a part of.

Per our last conversation we thought you were coming by to give us more details. We have not seen you yet, but if you would like to provide us with anymore details that may allow us to help diagnose your problem we would gladly listen and see if we can figure out if the soft-start is functioning and if so what needs to happen for it to perform correctly, or to see if it is shorted, which most likely means it was initially wired incorrectly.

It is our belief that a mistake was made on install and this customer, istead of holding the installer accountable, believes that we should be responsible for an incorrect install.  The customer did not take any opportunity to walk us through problems in an effort to diagnose and fix the situation.  The first details we recieved of the mechanical malfunction were in this ripoff report.  When the customer did return to our store he had no interest in discuss anything and denied help when it was offered.  The customer was only interested in, what appeared to be, collecting "evidence." We believe this ripoff report should be removed.