Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Exchanging Invisi Brake for Brake Master

Whiling away the hours on the tank treatment aisle.....


The Invisi Brake really never stood a chance after its bad start. Two days after its installation, Wayne was back at Camping World making the necessary arrangements to have it removed and replaced by a Brake Master system. 

We'd "eat" the $500+ Invisi Brake installation fee but get a refund on the Invisi Brake.

Sometimes it seems we throw money away with both fists.

Finding humor in sewage handling products. 
Here, it's a hearty laugh at "Tissue Dissolver"

One important item of research Wayne didn't do initially was to place a call to Roadmaster. He did make the call though after last week's fiasco.   If he had called earlier, he would  have learned a valuable lesson:  An important part of slowing 30 tons of rolling thunder is to use the best brake available. That is not to use the brake pedal, but instead, to use Endie's exhaust brake. Too late we learned that using Endie's exhaust brake with Invisi Brake would apply pressure to the brake pedal on Big Blackie. That will cause unnecessary wear on Blackie's brakes.  The service advisor at Roadmaster explained that the Brake Master would not cause pressure to be applied to the car brakes when the coach exhaust brakes are applied.

This was the scene. Ugh.
So the folks at Camping World ordered Brake Master last week and installed it yesterday. Another horrible day-long experience capped by disappointment in Andrew, the service technician from hell

It all began with yet another 8:30 a.m. appointment, ending at 4:30, complete with exhaustion and a really bad backache for Wayne.


The new Brake Master device that presses the brake pedal when the coach brake is applied.
It does not apply pressure when the coach exhaust brake is applied.
A bar was attached in front of the driver seat for the cylinder to be attached.

The cylinder is fitted onto the brake pedal.

So it looks like this when it's attached to the brake pedal on one end and the bar mounted under the drivers seat.

There's also a Brake Master apparatus mounted under the hood that requires some kind of maintenance every 2,000-3,000 towed miles.


The imbecile who installed our Brake Master is Andrew. He is customer service challenged, as are very nearly all Camping World employees. It's a employment prerequisite, I believe.

In this photo, Wayne is near collapse with back pain. 
Andrew would not assist in hooking up the car.

Andrew looks on as Wayne hooks up the car.
Wayne is too nice. I could hardly hold my tongue.

I did verbalize my complaint about Andrew, the tech from hell.  The Junction City Camping World General Manager did not reply when I suggested that Andrew needed some customer service training. The General Manager never asked for detail, nor did he make any apology. Why am I not surprised?


All brake lights illuminate when the coach brake pedal is pressed.
We're ready to go. Finally.  
One final installation and we'll be ready to leave the Willamette Valley of Oregon. We're waiting for the small 2-1/2' shade to be mounted over the kitchen window. It's being shipped from Carefree Colorado and should be here sometime this week.  It will not be installed by Camping World.

7 comments:

  1. Now you know why a lot of people will not allow any Camping World to touch their RVs. You are just a "number" and they don't even think about the possible return business they would get if they pleased you. They hire cheap inexperienced employees and just hope for the best. You should check www.rvservicereviews.com before having work done on your rig.

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    1. A couple of old dogs learned a new trick in this installation. Thanks for the internet referral. Will check it out.

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  2. Hope this unit works as well for you as our's has for the past 12 years. Once you get on to connecting and disconnecting the cylinder to the brake pedal it will be a piece of cake. My wife does it while I am doing the other connections! Now you know only I can say something like that to you! So get with it gal!!!

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    1. Well, I'll just say this... I have a real good friend who is going to put arsenic in her husband's coffee. He is a tyrant and makes her do all the heavy lifting. She secretely told me she's going to spend all the money he's been hording too.

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  3. thanks for your advice. I need a braking system for my new tow vehicle. I called Camping World this morning and they said they were busy they would call me right back I am still waiting after 6 hours if they do call back I won't answer I will go somewhere else and get a different braking system. this is the Camping World in Tampa on McIntosh Road

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  4. First mistake going to CW. Takes forever to get something done and most so called technicians they hire off street put a CW shirt on them and that makes them qualified.

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  5. First mistake going to CW. They hire people off the street put a CW shirt on them and call them rv techs.

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