Carl Hultenberg, Internet Sales Manager
Just another liar on the payroll of Poulsbo RV
July 24, 2003
A prospective customer of Poulsbo RV telephoned us the evening of July 10, 2003. She had been planning to buy a travel trailer from Poulsbo RV but, after finding our web site and reading about how Poulsbo RV treats its customers, decided against the purchase. She communicated that decision via e-mail to Carl Hultenberg, Internet Sales Manager of Poulsbo RV.
Carl Hultenberg e-mailed back. That's why the prospective customer phoned us -- because of what Carl Hultenberg wrote about us and our situation.
I asked her for a copy. She sent it to me and I published it here.
However, I removed the (no longer) prospective customer's identification because she told me that
two of Poulsbo RV's cowardly employees began making harassing telephone calls to her.
Our e-mail correspondence following those harassing telephone calls follows:
July 24, 2003
Dick,
Please remove my email from your web site. Sorry...but now I am
getting phone calls regarding this and it is not worth it to me.
I feel that I am stuck in the middle. Please let me know when you
do this. I am sorry, and thank you for your understanding.
I replied:
I
just read your message and understand. All reference to you has
now been removed.
Are you getting harassing calls from people at Poulsbo RV? What
kind of calls are you getting?
She replied:
Dick,
Thank you very much. Yes...a couple people have called me from
Poulsbo RV. Another today and he was not nice. I haven't thought
about the email since you posted it, so it was kind of a shocker
to start getting calls. They must check the web site often.
Again, thank you very much...I appreciate it a lot. My kids too.
The guy today made me cry and that upset my kids. I would much
rather be over and done with it. But I also want to thank you
very much for having that site to warn people like me. I just
might have bought a used travel trailer from them. I am sorry
about the hassle. I really hope you understand.
Take Care,
I have honored her request.
I am trying to get their names.
Here is her e-mail to Carl Hultenberg:
July 8, 2003
I sent
an email in a couple days ago requesting info on a
2003 Prowler. I was going to venture out and look at this RV, but
I came
upon a web site that has warned me not to. Almost everyone that
has
replied has said that they have had a bad time with Poulsbo RV. I
then
called my brother, who just bought a brand new travel trailer a
couple
weeks ago from you and they are having a hard time getting a leak
fixed!
Brand new and they can't get it fixed! I told them about this web
site,
but it is too late for them. I really thought that Poulsbo RV was
a
decent place to buy an RV. I am still so stunned I don't know
what else to
say. That could have been my family! I can say one thing...anyone
that
is in the market for an RV, I am going to tell them about this
site. I
wish it wasn't like this...I really liked that travel trailer,
but oh,
well.
This is his
reply to her (my responses to Mr. Hultenberg's lies appear in
red):
To:
Subject: / Prowler 26W/ PoulsboRV
From: "Carl Hultenberg"
<carl.hultenberg@poulsborv.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 15:00:17 -0700
Dear ,
I appreciate your comments and I wanted to respond with a couple
comments as well. We have tried repeatedly to work with these
people,for the last four years.
There's a lie from Carl Hultenberg. Poulsbo RV has never contacted us, other than by paying two law firms, Foster Pepper & Shefelman PLLC, 1111 Third Avenue, Suite 3400, Seattle, Washington 98101, and Betts Patterson Mines, 1 Convention Place, #1400, Seattle, Washington 98101, to mail threatening letters to us.
We have offered to buy the coach back,
There's another lie from Carl Hultenberg. Poulsbo RV never contacted us, period. Poulsbo RV's lawyers never offered to buy the coach back or to replace it. Poulsbo RV's final offer, made through its lawyer, was the threat of a lawsuit. That "offer" is printed below. After discovering the many serious defects in our Bounder, we wanted, and asked for, a refund. We were ignored, other than being told, "Get lost! Got a gripe? Sue Fleetwood", until we filed a complaint with the Washington State Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division . At that point, Poulsbo RV hired a lawyer who began to threaten us and, so he hoped, to scare us off.
or offered to have they (sic) coach transported to Fleetwood's plant
Poulsbo RV was well aware that we live in our motorhome. It would have been ridiculous to have someone else drive it to the factory while we live in it. We arranged with Fleetwood, on our own, to drive to its factory in Riverside, California, after Poulsbo RV's service manager, Larry McAmis, responded to our problems with "We can't fix that here. You'll have to go to the factory. But that's O. K., you're retired. What else do you have to do, anyway?" Fleetwood had our Bounder in its factory repair shop from October 3 to November 15, 2000. This let Poulsbo RV off the hook, which is just what they wanted. Our diary has the whole story.
and fixed to their hearts (sic) satisfaction. This has been a 4 year process. These particular customers have made a crusade out of this. They claim their coach was unlivable and unsafe to travel in. So much so that it constituted a buy-back. Yet, according to their website they have multiple stories about their travels with snuggles, and tell their readers inviting places to RV?
There's another lie from Carl Hultenberg. What we said was that it was unsafe to use the generator, unless the wind was blowing just right, because of the dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.
We are not in the business of loosing (sic) customers. We want nothing more than raving fans, and we want people to honestly enjoy your products. We have made EVERY reasonable effort to work with these people
There's another lie from Carl Hultenberg. No effort has been made, other than to attempt to scare us off with threatening letters from Poulsbo RV's lawyers, Brian Buckley, Jeanette Adams Gorman, and James D. Nelson.
and they have asked for unreasonable solutions.
There's another lie from Carl Hultenberg.
Why at this point, would he NOT want a new coach,
Poulsbo RV has never offered a replacement coach or any other solution. Poulsbo RV has done nothing but hire lawyers to try to intimidate us by threats of lawsuits.
one with new technology and slide outs? Why continue the process if we and the factory have been willing to fix anything he wanted?
We gave Poulsbo RV many opportunities to fix the major defects in our motorhome. They were unable to do so (see above statement to us by Poulsbo RV's service manager, Larry McAmis). That is why we had to drive to the Fleetwood factory. Note: our motorhome had already been sent by Poulsbo RV back to the Fleetwood factory for repair (unsuccessful) of the same defects before we bought it. Larry McAmis denied this when we asked him directly.
I wish we knew. I
don't like it any better than you do.
Unfortunately we are stuck with this dilemma, to let people make
comments when they feel it is necessary, and we try to explain
what we have done and continue to do.
We are one of the top 5 recreational dealers in the country and
we are extremely committed to our customers, but as the old
saying goes, "Sometimes you cannot please everyone." In
this case when we have offered to buy the coach back
There's a repeat of Carl Hultenberg's lie in the first paragraph.
or fix whatever it
needed, and that is not good enough, well, we have nothing left
to offer. I appreciate you (sic) insight, hopefully, this sheds
light that there are indeed two sides to every story.
I sincerely doubt that we are the only dealer that has these
issues.
Carl
Hultenberg continues to use the old excuses, "That's the way
the motorhome industry is" and "All motorhome
manufacturers and dealers are like that".
I know that this will probably not sway your decision to purchase
from PoulsboRV but I think that we have a right to express our
side as well. If there is anything I can do to assist you weather
(sic) you purchase from us or elsewhere, please don't hesitate to
ask.
I'm also concerned with the problems that your brother is
experiencing and would like the opportunity to assist him as
well.. Please have him give me a call.
Sincerely,
Carl Hultenberg
Internet Sales Manager
PoulsboRV
1 888 538 9400
I asked her permission to post her correspondence with Carl Hultenberg.
Be my guest! I am glad that I found your web site. You
might have saved us big! We appreciate it! Keep me posted!
Take Care,
Carl Hultenberg managed to lie six times in that letter. Of course, he did tell the same lie twice, so is that five lies or does he get credit for all six?
Six lies would get him close to Jim Elliott, General Manager of Poulsbo RV in Everett. Mr. Elliott wrote an eight-lie letter about us to the Attorney General of Washington.
Now, to Poulsbo RV's "final offer":
To: "'dellingson@earthlink.net'" <dellingson@earthlink.net>
Subject: RE: Poulsbo RV
From: Brian Buckley <BuckB@FOSTER.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2000 20:20:45 -0800
Mr. and Mrs. Ellingson:
You will be receiving no further correspondence from Poulsbo RV or from me regarding this issue. Poulsbo RV's final offer to you is set forth in my email below. I understand that Fleetwood has made the same offer in writing. If you would like to discuss arrangements for Fleetwood and Poulsbo RV to attempt to address your concerns regarding your RV, please feel free to contact me.
With regard to your website, Poulsbo RV's demand that you remove all defamatory statements from your website and cease your infringement of Poulsbo RV's trademark rights has not been withdrawn. You are on notice that Poulsbo RV is prepared to take appropriate legal action if you do not comply with that demand.
Brian Buckley
Foster Pepper & Shefelman PLLC
1111 Third Avenue Suite 3400
Seattle, WA 98101
Any lawyer knows that the truth can't be defamatory. This lawyer was just hoping that I didn't know that.
So Poulsbo RV's "final offer" was another threat of "appropriate legal action". That "offer" was repeated a little more than two years later by another lawyer who threatened to sue us.
Poulsbo RV has never contacted us.
* * *
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer of July 21, 2003 published an article about business ethics, written by J. Edward Ketz, a columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. The following is from that article:
". . .all people have ethical lapses. What differentiates the two groups is that an ethical person will admit the error, try to make amends and learn from the transgression. Unethical people cover up the blunder, do not care about the consequences and learn nothing from the experience."
The complete article is here.
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