Remember "Walker Coach"? He's been arrested...

[Jimm-TC]

http://www.tnonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050806/TN_NEWS/108060044

http://www.brctv13.com/local_news.shtml

More discussion at:

http://www.busnut.com/bbs/messages/11/10964.html?1123808676

There's a bit of a debate going over whether he's a "classic scammer" or just one of the world's worst businessmen...I lean towards the latter theory

.

Anyways. Clowns like this exist. Do business with somebody whose track record you can document...

 

[Camping Dutchman]

amazing enough the website is still up and running. Nice one too.

 

[Gary Atsma]

Originally posted by Camping Dutchman:
amazing enough the website is still up and running. Nice one too.

Yeah, that's how he snares 'em. It is indeed an impressive site. Makes one think it's a real going operation.
Oh well.....

 

[Jimm-TC]

I know, it's one of the best bus conversion shop websites out there. Amazing.

There's two big busnut forums out there, the last link above is the bigger. It's run out of Canada and the moderator is understandably wary about getting sued (weaker "free speech laws" up there). So the earliest threads on what happened in Florida with Walker got pulled.

The other board has no archive.

So between these two, there wasn't enough "institutional knowledge" online for newbies.

THAT caused more problems than anything else I think...

 

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

.....so the "system'' mearly perputuates the scam....interesting....censorship-no historcial information ability and a con artist combine to scam the neophyte...maybe even the experienced/savy as well as the uninformed.........for $450,000.... seems it is getting very common. Have your been reading the IRV2 and Escapees comments on Rv construction?....Is there a pattern here-Kinda like a fly-by-nite operation?...RV'ing is a 13 BILLION dollar a year business IIRC....seems it is attracting more than it's share of Gypsie/cons/x-home builders/used car salesmen etc etc etc....here one day and gone the next....geofkaye

 

[Gary Atsma]

Only problem is, guys like Walker just keep re-appearing. I would be surprised if Walker gets anything near the sentence he appears to deserve...

 

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

.....then Gary we become part of the scam also....we don't /can't question-we PC our opinions-we are censored at the whimm of someone we don't even know-I'm getting leary of these forums.....maybe it is time to venture to other venues.....IRV2 had a round of " censureship " some time ago- I Know-as I was blasted by a mystery moderator-one that I never even heard ofa few have discussed what is going on and how it is to be interpertated.....Now it seems to be spreading to other forums. I wonder if it is just the threat of lawsuit or could something else be going on.....the over 55 folks are the most easily duped-the less likely to guestion-the less likely to be computer savy-have more money and better credit avvailable-AND the least likely to complain for fear of reprisals....are we setting up each other for a fall by putting our heads in the sand?....geokaye

 

[Jimm-TC]

Kaye, can you post some links? I've seen a few such discussions and long ago came to the conclusion that the mainstream RV industry was studded with crap product...not just "fly by nighters", the biggest like Winnabago and such.

My rig is being "expanded" right now by a very honest RV repair shop (RV Doctor George, Sacramento). He tells some STORIES.

Lesse...one company set up a fifth wheel with a slideout - and put the kitchen in the slideout. The weight of the fridge/sink/oven area caused the slideout to collapse and stick open. Had to be massively re-engineered in his shop.

Trailer axles and suspensions almost universally suck.

Right now he's got a 40ft Wanderlodge tandem pusher in the shop, late 1980s vintage, no slides. That thing is AWESOME. Just reeks quality and looks to be in brand new shape. It's in because a muffler shop lowered it without pulling some blocking stands first, caved in a couple of the bays, hardly the buses' fault. I mean, damn, other than the reduced towing ability versus a truck conversion, there's nothing finer on the road.

Mine was one of the first truck conversions he'd ever seen and he's been very impressed. He's turning the original flatbed racecar hauler rear deck into a garage, adding on to the original 2" square steel tube frame.

 

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

.....Jimm...the discussions have happened over the last year or so on IRV@.com and Escapees.com and others.....some were carried off forum because of whatever....and some continue today off forum....I got so dam busy I couldn't keep up with the discussions as it was running about 25-30 privates a day and I was reading rather than responding.....I have 7 sites I view every nite and that leads to 150-200 posts on normal day....It fills the time while I'm waiting for the phone as I was the company dispatcher/owner till the end of July when the new owners gave me the check[YES!]....Now I have more time to investigate some issues......which are more of an interest to me.....another pressing concern is the legal issue of censorship-which I going to look into as time permits.....seems there is some money to be made here-I can smell it-I just don't know who to bring suit against quite yet....there are constutional issues and there is an election brewing soon so the time might be now....we will see.....I think the money is burning a hole in my pocket....I'm glad you are posting the name of the guy that is re-doing your rig that is refreshing-seems nobody tells the good service centers and only lists the fly-by-nites which is free adversising in a way....like the entertainment business " As long as they are talking about YOU-whether good or bad-they are talking about YOU!" This controversy only expands the population of the "informed" but as to what they are informed about, is questionable as the age group increases....funny how things seem to become cyclic in nature as we age.......geofkaye

 

[Jimm-TC]

I've had to face down censorship myself:

http://www.equalccw.com/liebold.html

Beat 'em though. In that case I dared 'em to sue me and they backed down; I then sued them to get the state of California a refund on the bad voting gear they peddle. The state attorney general limited the suit to just a $2.6mil settlement but at least I and my co-plaintiff each collected a bounty off that ($76k) which was enough for a well-chosen nice used rig...

In another incident I was arrested for trying to observe the counting of the vote in San Diego County recently. We later realized they'd violated at least two election rules and were probably trying to cover it up. Details at:

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/8568.html?1122664155

(And yes, they've now dropped felony charges...)

The point is, not enough people are willing to take a stand. "Evil flourishes when the good do nothing."

I think we need one forum by somebody with guts covering both bus conversions and truck conversions. There's a LOT of overlapping ideas and even parts...drivetrains, tires, sikkaflex skins, all the electrical stuff, on and on. Both camps are rebelling from the domination of the normal RV industry idiocy.

 

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

.....I really like what you are saying/doing-wish I had time right now on my side as I have 3 major projects going and I have to do the day to days....Friday is Mayors office and Attorney General for the State of Ohio...plus the usual problems of employees that are still kinda lost with new company owners....I'll hanging around so they don't get frustrated and leave in a huff and destroy/throwaway all their built up compensation....some of these guys are in the over 100k salary plus bonus-but they work so much that they have stress related issues and change doesn't work well....one employee equals almost 450k in sales and service plus our section 8 maintenance in off season....I'll miss it-but I'll miss more the relationships we have grown in the last 11years.....I really like the idea of an exchange of opinions with out an "Overseer"....Freedom of speech is almost as good as taking to the open road in your RV....the same feeling of getting underway after a struggle to get all the family and their crap together in one spot....like stopping and giving a fellow RVer a hand with a breakdown and just getting a "thanks for stopping" handshake from his family....can't beat those feelings-specially when you look at the look on the kids face when the dam thing starts up and goes again.....Powerful times those are!....geofkaye