laurajetter
Mouseketeer<br><Font color="red">The Tag Fairy thi
- Joined
- May 19, 2004
- Messages
- 2,225
I am so ticked off... We had a hitch installed on our Toyota Sienna last September (approximately) by Reichart's RV Camping Center in Hanover, PA. I waited close to 5 hours in their waiting room with my toddler (I had been told it would take about 2 hours). We were getting it installed so it would be all ready to go this Spring/Summer when we decide to go camping.
Since getting it installed, there have been multiple occasions where the lowest part of the hitch (in our case it is the electrical connection plug) scrapes bottom. The first couple times I figured it was just something I need to be really careful about, and any time I came to a place where there was a higher chance of it hitting the ground I would drive really slow and carefully. Sometimes that helped, other times it didn't matter and would still scrape.
Yesterday we went to my FIL's house to open their pop-up camper we'll be borrowing sometime and do a dry run of hitching everything up. Upon closer inspection, we realized that because of it hitting bottom the metal plate the electrical plug is screwed onto had gotten bent upwards, causing the plastic plug to crack at the bottom on the left and right side. Because of the plastic being broken, the cap did not fit snugly anymore causing some mild corrosion inside the plug. FIL and DH used pliers to bend the metal plate back down so they could fit the plug in the hole, and they cleaned the corrosion.
When we left their house, DH slowly pulled out of their driveway and we heard "SSSCCCCRRRAAAAAAAAPPE"
I jumped out and saw the metal plate had bent right back up again, this time completely cracking the plastic along the whole bottom edge.
Today I went to the bank and as I was SLOWLY pulling out of their parking lot, there was a brief scrape yet again. DH told me he can bend it back again, but I feel we shouldn't have to do this. We spent all this money to have a hitch put on, we haven't even used it yet and it's already getting destroyed.
With the frequency this thing is scraping the ground it makes me feel like it was installed too low to begin with. Does anyone know if there is a minimum height that a hitch should not go below in order to avoid it scraping? I just went out and measured ours; the lowest part is 6 inches off the ground.
I want to call and complain but I don't know if it's been so long they will say I should've brought it to their attention a long time ago. Does anyone have any advice? I don't want to complain if they did in fact do a satisfactory job and it is just my drive skills to blame.
TIA - sorry this is so long!
Laura
Since getting it installed, there have been multiple occasions where the lowest part of the hitch (in our case it is the electrical connection plug) scrapes bottom. The first couple times I figured it was just something I need to be really careful about, and any time I came to a place where there was a higher chance of it hitting the ground I would drive really slow and carefully. Sometimes that helped, other times it didn't matter and would still scrape.
Yesterday we went to my FIL's house to open their pop-up camper we'll be borrowing sometime and do a dry run of hitching everything up. Upon closer inspection, we realized that because of it hitting bottom the metal plate the electrical plug is screwed onto had gotten bent upwards, causing the plastic plug to crack at the bottom on the left and right side. Because of the plastic being broken, the cap did not fit snugly anymore causing some mild corrosion inside the plug. FIL and DH used pliers to bend the metal plate back down so they could fit the plug in the hole, and they cleaned the corrosion.
When we left their house, DH slowly pulled out of their driveway and we heard "SSSCCCCRRRAAAAAAAAPPE"

Today I went to the bank and as I was SLOWLY pulling out of their parking lot, there was a brief scrape yet again. DH told me he can bend it back again, but I feel we shouldn't have to do this. We spent all this money to have a hitch put on, we haven't even used it yet and it's already getting destroyed.
With the frequency this thing is scraping the ground it makes me feel like it was installed too low to begin with. Does anyone know if there is a minimum height that a hitch should not go below in order to avoid it scraping? I just went out and measured ours; the lowest part is 6 inches off the ground.
I want to call and complain but I don't know if it's been so long they will say I should've brought it to their attention a long time ago. Does anyone have any advice? I don't want to complain if they did in fact do a satisfactory job and it is just my drive skills to blame.
TIA - sorry this is so long!
Laura