Date:         Fri, 7 Oct 1994 09:34:48 -0700 (MST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Black <dblack@argus.lowell.edu>
Subject:      yet another horror story

Well gang, I made the big move from the San Francisco Bay area to
Flagstaff, Arizona, and decided rather than put lots o' miles on
my '71 Westy, I'd have it shipped by the moving company.  I put
lots of personal stuff in the Bus, thinking it would be safer in
there than being handled by the movers.

WELL....

They put my Bus up on top of one of those auto transporters, and
sometime during the trip, the wind got up under the fiberglas top
and lifted it partially (it's supposed to be lifted from the *other*
end :-o), then, when the truck went under an overpass, guess what?
(wince, wince!) Yep, it struck the overpass, and RIPPED THE WHOLE
DAMN THING RIGHT OFF MY CAR!!

So the guy calls me, apologizes all over the place, and says he'll
fix it, no problem.  OK, I say, he's insured, I'll let him do it 
(there aren't that many places that can do that kind of work in
Flagstaff; the bus is in Phoenix).

WELL...

45 plus days later, the guy has been telling me he's almost done,
just a few more details, then he'll ship it to me, and don't worry,
everything inside is safe...but now I think something is fishy.
So I find out what shop it's at, and mosey on down to Phoenix
over the weekend to have a look at it.  What a MESS!  The 'new'
top he found is warped, moldy, and cracked; he didn't even repair
the damage caused by the accident (ripped, dented, gouged sheet
metal); sometime while the top was off it rained, and everything 
inside is soggy, moldy, rusted, and generally ruined (including
most of my personal goods!).

Anyway, I jumped on the guys' insurance agent, and he has personally
taken over responsibility for the repair, but I don't really think
they can put it back into the kind of shape it was in :-(

At this point, I think I'll demand that he pay me what the thing
was worth, plus the loss of the vehicle for the last month and a
half, and then ship the car to me.  Maybe I can put it back together
myself, or maybe I can part it out (ouch!).

Well, I glad to get that off my chest!  Any words of encouragment
or sympathy appreciated.

Dave
'71 Westfalia & SB