When we attended the Tampa RV show, two of the many vendor
booths we visited and where we spent a lot of time was Classic Coachworks and
Porta-Bote.
For some time we have wanted to upgrade our TVs and
satellite to HD. When we were in
Lakeland, we drove to three different RV renovation companies and were
extremely impressed with Classic Coachworks.
After much thought, we decided to do a few upgrades to the motorhome
including replacing the TVs and satellite dish, replacing the gas absorption
refrigerator with a residential refrigerator and replacing our day and night shades. Chuck wanted all electric shades and I wanted
all non-electric shades, so we compromised and got only electric night shades
(not day shades). They could have done
all the work with us staying in their parking lot, but we knew they could
probably get the work done faster if we weren't there...and we had to be in
Daytona to meet up with Donald and Anna by February 14th. So, we decided to drive back to Atlanta for a
few days to visit with the kids and grandkids while the renovations were being
completed.
Also, we have talked for a long time, even before we began
full-timing, that we thought we would enjoy having some type of boat for
paddling around and to go fishing. We
did not want a blow-up type boat like a Sea Eagle because we didn't want to
have to be concerned with punctures. We
had seen the Porta-Bote for years at the RV shows and thought this would work
for us because it is a hard-shell boat that folds up and you carry it on top of
your car. We measured and talked about
it and researched it and thought about it some more and finally,after much
deliberations, decided to buy one. Since
we knew we would be in Atlanta for a few days, we arranged to have it delivered
to Tafanie's house.
When we left Pine Island on Thursday, we drove to Classic
Coachworks in Lakeland, spent the night in their parking lot. We left the motorhome with them to begin the
renovations on Friday and drove back to Atlanta. It was great getting to see the kids and
grandbabies again and seeing how much they had grown.
At Tafanie's, we unboxed the Porta-Bote and practiced
putting it together. It was very stiff
at first and we even almost got folded up with it, but by the time we headed
back to Florida, we felt good about how to put it together and take it back
down. So we loaded the Porta-Bote on top of the roof rack on the car and early
Wednesday morning, headed back to Lakeland, Florida.
We got back to Classic Coachworks about 3 pm in the
afternoon and they were still finishing up some of the renovations. We were sitting in their waiting room when
Greg, the owner, came up to me and said we had a problem. He showed me that the TV that we had ordered
from Best Buy was defective but he had already found another TV at a Best Buy
store in Tampa. He said if we could go to
Tampa and get it exchanged (since we had ordered it online), they would wait
until we got back and get it installed. We
had to buy the same model TV because the cabinetry had been built specifically
to this model. He said they would wait
on us to get back and would work overtime to make sure everything was complete
because they knew we had to be in Daytona the next day.
Chuck and I drove to Best Buy in Tampa with the defective
TV. We took it in with the packing slip
that says that anything you buy online can be returned to a Best Buy
store. At first, the customer service
manager acted like they would not be able to exchange it because we had not
brought it to them within 3 days of it being delivered. I was starting to get a little angry at this
point. I pointed out to her what the
packing slip said and that it said NOTHING about having to return it within 3
days. I said it had been delivered to
Classic Coachworks and that it had apparently been damaged in shipment. We had ordered 2 TVs from Best Buy and had
them delivered to Classic and the other one worked just fine. She talked with her manager and finally got
approval to exchange it.
We rushed back to Classic and they immediately started
working on getting the TV installed. By
around 8 pm, they took us back to our motorhome to show us all the renovations
and how everything worked. They asked us
to try everything out that night and if there was anything else that needed to
be adjusted or if we had any questions, to let them know in the morning.
The TVs worked great.
The BIG new refrigerator is awesome.
And for some reason the new shades not only make the motorhome look
cleaner but bigger too. We were
extremely pleased.
The next morning we asked them to make a small adjustment to
the bedroom TV to allow a little more room for the slide to come in and by 11
am, we were on our way to Daytona.
We were VERY pleased with Classic Coachworks and would
recommend them to anyone. Their website
is: www.classiccoachworks.com.
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