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Friday, Apr 26, 2024
General RV is one of the nation’s largest RV dealers — but now the retailer could be facing some big issues.
In April, a local FOX News network reported on a Utah woman who purchased a Thor Motor Coach in 2015, thinking that she would pay $156,000 for the RV over 20 years. Then, she found out that the copy of the purchase agreement she signed, was not the same agreement that was sent to the credit union in charge of her loan. Turns out, her agreement was slightly smudged — and that smudge allowed for an adjustment to the numbers, with a “clean,” non-smudged version sent off to the credit union. The result? A purchase agreement that required a $63,000-plus balloon payment in 2025.
FOX News reported that General RV, at that time, did not respond to the buyer until they got involved. Meanwhile, the woman is doing all she can to pay her RV bills, including donating plasma.
As of this May, the FOX News story has prompted the Utah Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division to investigate General RV, but it’s also prompted something unexpected: More customers are coming forward with the exact same slight smudge that the initial customer found, as well as the surprise balloon payments. An updated story from the FOX station detailed how customers are now finding out that they have balloon payments of as much as $105,000 due within the next few years, as early as 2023.
Still, General RV is holding its ground. The company told the FOX station: “We have completed a thorough investigation of the allegations and confirmed that no one at General RV did anything wrong. We confirmed that General RV followed all legal requirements in this instance. As a part of our standard process, all General RV forms, including details of the payment terms, are completed prior to acquiring a customer’s signature and do not undergo any alteration afterwards. As was the case for the customers flagged by FOX, no alterations were made prior to, or after, the customer signed the documents. As common in Utah (sic), all balloon payments are amortized over a 240 month term. The customer pays 119 payments at this rate, then the final balloon payment for the balance. This allows the customer to have the lowest payment possible. The financing contracts the customers have, and which the customers signed, are correctly set for this payment schedule. Each customer can obtain the original of that from their lending institution. The original contracts that our customers agreed to, and signed, have the correct numbers on them. The copies the customers show are carbon copies, which are not part of their files with us.”
The General RV representative also noted that they “disagreed” with customers’ “false claims.”
There’s no indication at this time that General RV has been involved in other such fraud cases in other states, as well as no indication that other RV purchasers outside of Utah have experienced such issues. However, it’s worth taking a look at your General RV contract, if you have one, no matter where you live.
Do you live in Utah and have you purchased an RV from General RV? If so, if you have concerns regarding your contract, you can file a complaint online at mved.utah.gov.
