There she is: beautiful, new, only had it for 17 days camper of ours. RDB and I are still so beside ourselves on the fact that we specifically bought a new camper so that we could walk away from the mold issues in the Wildcat that we bought from PPL in February, and yet, here were are, again, dealing with mold issues.... in what should be a brand new, mold-free camper.
We texted our sales guy, Rusty, Sunday afternoon as soon as we realized the problem, letting him know we were coming down to the dealership first thing Monday morning. RDB asked him to let the GM know that we'd want to discuss this with him as well; we wanted everyone aware of the situation from the get go.
The service department gave us a call as we were on our way, wanting to make sure we knew they were aware of what was taking place, and to ask for Victor when we checked in. In no time, they were up on the roof inspecting the damage and agreed with what we had puzzled together.
The hole in the roof membrane near the front AC unit was likely there from the time the unit was installed at the factory (Forest River). The unfortunate part to this meant that it was likely letting in water from the time the dealer (Ron Hoover) took delivery of the unit until we found it. It's a new 2019 model, so we could figure that it's been on their lot, leaking every time it rains, since the beginning of last year (just shy of 52" at IAH last year, including Hurricane Imelda which hit in September, and another 21" in Houston so far this year). We've heard others say the two things that will kill your camper are: water, and electricity.
And they weren't kidding:
Those were the photos we received from the service department, once they had taken down the ceiling in the bedroom. RBD went back and took a few more, to give us better context on what was visible on that first day.
The roof was so soft, from all the rain damage over time, that the service techs were able to tear away portions of the plywood using their bare hands. The dark black on the ceiling panels, and the white fuzz in between the rafters? Mold. Obviously, this damage had happened over a lengthy period of time - not just in the 17 days that we took possession of it.
Ken, the GM, said that they'll work Forest River to determine a plan of action. He mentioned several times that "there are steps we have to take" and (in summation) if we were unhappy with the resolution that we could "take it up with Forest River." We understand that he has a process he has to follow, so we're doing our best to be patient.
RDB made sure to inform him, as we had told Rusty when we arrived that morning, that we have no intention of taking this specific unit back; Rusty knew our story: we came to Ron Hoover to buy a NEW camper, so that we wouldn't have to deal with mold issues. Taking back the Palomino Columbus, even if it were repaired, doesn't change the fact that it now has a history of mold. It's not just a cosmetic issue (though the pictures of it torn apart are breaking my heart); it's a health issue; not one we ever wanted to deal with.
So now?
We wait.
