ORANGE PARK, Fla. – For the second time in recent months, General RV in Orange Park is being sued. This time the company is accused of duping an elderly couple into buying an RV with a part under recall.
The latest lawsuit was filed Monday in federal court in Jacksonville. It claims the dealer knowingly sold George and Odelia Dolores a 2018 Coachmen Crossfit with transmission problems.
Monday’s complaint comes as General RV, one of the nation’s largest RV dealers, faces a separate lawsuit alleging an elderly couple was sold a used RV with a series of defects.
An attorney for the company disputed the lawsuit's claims in a statement provided to News4Jax, saying in part that the customers were told about the recall before the sale was finalized.
DOCUMENT: Dolores family's lawsuit against General RV
The Doloreses said they made the purchase April 3, but it wasn’t until days later that they realized the vehicle had a part that was the subject of a recall.
"If they’re so family oriented, how can they go around screwing us?" said Odelia Dolores. "That’s how I feel. They sold us a vehicle that was recalled, sold as is. No warranty."
Among other things, the couple's complaint accuses General RV of exploiting the elderly, using high-pressure sales tactics and misleading the couple about the RV’s condition.
The complaint states the couple has visited the dealer’s service department for a range of issues since April, from an "inoperable and burned out awning motor" to "unsafe and defective tires."
It argues that the Doloreses, both of whom are senior citizens and cancer survivors, "lacked the capacity to consent" to buying the RV from General RV.
The couple said they would have never bought the RV had they known about the recall. They did not know what to do until they saw a News4Jax report on another couple’s lawsuit against the dealer.
"We were not aware of any of this until we saw another interview," George said. "So we found out who was representing them and we called him."
The couple hired attorney Eric Jones, who also represents Leon and Patsy Carrigg, another couple suing General RV over woes with a used RV purchased in November 2016.
"These laws are in place to protect people like the Dolores family, the Carrigg family and many other consumers that are now calling our office saying, 'Wow, the same thing has happened to me," he said.
Attorney Michael Dolenga, who represents General RV, said the Doloreses knew of the recall when they bought the RV, noting that the chassis issue was repaired before the vehicle was solid.
We were just advised about this lawsuit today when we were contacted by a reporter from WJXT. We are still investigating, but can confirm that these customers did not make these claims to anyone at General RV. It appears that instead of contacting us they hired a lawyer who is making claims without fully investigating the facts. General RV has a system in place to make sure that RVs are not sold with open recalls. This RV was not recalled. It had a recall on one item. The customers were advised of this, and the recall was completed before the sale. In addition, the sales price of the RV did not change, and the sales figures provided by the lawyer to WJXT are not accurate.
Rather than ever contacting us about the allegations their attorney is making, these customers contacted us about some minor service issue with their RV. We obtained parts to correct those and advised the customers of this. The customers have not brought the RV back to us to correct the issues.
General RV is a family owned business with thousands of satisfied customers and a reputation as one of the best RV dealerships in the country, with extremely high customer satisfaction rates. We deny all of the lawyer’s allegations, and are happy to speak to our customers about their camping needs and anything else they want to talk about so that we can remedy any issues they may have with their RV.