DaveBus

Mike Kadletz, bus conversion conman

ebay user 'HwyBus'
HwyBus.com
Moose Creek MotorCabins
MotorCabins.com
GoBusing.com

My bus purchase nightmare

June 2006 Update: I won my court case against Mike!

Aug 2006 Update: Mike has decided to ignore the court order to pay me, wasting my time and costing him more money in the long run.

Aug 2006 Update: BBB has downgraded Mike from a "D" rating to an "F"

Sep 2006 Update: I get my money back! It's finally over!

For alternatives, see Buying A Bus

When looking to buy a bus to convert to an RV, I came across Mike Kadletz (originally the owner of Bus Conversions Magazine), and on August 18th, 2005 I purchased my bus from Mike Kadletz.

Mike Kadletz was selling buses down near Los Angeles. He has since moved to Arizona, near as I can tell. He previously owned Bus Conversions Magazine and now owns HwyBus.com as well as Moose Creek MotorCabins.

Moose Creek MotorCabins is his conversion company that creates a specific coach conversions out of buses.

Furthermore, he also runs the "Proud Americans" "Thank You Soldier" program which is allegedly a non-profit to aid returning soldiers. I don't have more info about this program yet, but anyone who knows or has done business with Mike would probably not be surprised to find out that these are fraudulent as well.

My purchase agreement with Mike Kadletz included:

  1. Remove bathroom & luggage racks ($1000)
  2. Cut holes for rooftop A/C so I could open the emergency exits ($200)
  3. Remove all seats except the front 6.
  4. Register the vehicle as a motorhome ($100)
The tag axle has a bearing that needs to be replaced, he says that I can bring it back to get it fixed or pay someone else to do it and he'll reimburse me.

Furthermore, when he found out I was going to need a genset, he tried to sell me one. I told him I hadn't done enough research on this yet and didn't even know what I needed or what they were worth. He was "convinced that he had the right genset for me" and he wasn't using it, so he let me use it for a refundable deposit of $2700 with the agreement that I could return it if it didn't work after a few months. I figured it would be worth trying out for a month to find out if he was right.

As it turned out, he failed and lied on every count of our agreement.

The most important issues:

  1. He refused to return the $2700 for the genset
  2. He refused to pay for the tag axle repair: $700

All in all, Mike Kadletz owed me over $4000 according to our original contract, which he has since told me he is not interested in following. When I asked him to stick to our original contract he actually said, "let's move past that" as if I would happily discount it.

Here are some specifics:

  1. He failed to completely remove the bathroom.
  2. He cut the holes for the rooftop A/C so they were directly in the way of the exits. Furthermore they can't be seated properly on the roof so the front leaks. The holes need to be sealed so new ones can be cut. [photos 1, 2]
  3. He didn't leave the front 6 seats, putting my first trip in jeopardy. When he later installed 6 seats, he skipped over the seats that were in perfect condition and installed the seats that were broken and ripped. [photos 1, 2, 3]
  4. He never registered the vehicle, thereby also putting my first trip in jeopardy.
  5. He refuses to pay for the tag axle repair which cost $700 [photo]
  6. The genset he gave me was garbage, it broke after exactly 12 hours of use. When I had a mechanic look at it the insides, it had literally fallen to pieces. He refuses to take it back and he refuses to honor the warranty. He claims that I didn't return the unit within 30 days which is amusing because A) I called him days after receiving it but he refused to return my calls for weeks and B) we never had any such 30 day agreement. [photos 1, 2]

If you're thinking about purchasing a bus, especially from Mike Kadletz of HwyBus.com, this will be useful information for you!

As far as I'm concerned, if you are looking for a bus, stay away from Mike Kadletz and HwyBus unless you are prepared to deal with fraud and filing lawsuits. He has demonstrated, time and time again, over every point of my contract that once he has your money, you basically don't exist.

In May of 2006 I took Mike to court. He lied extensively in court, but I told the truth and still managed to win!

His main business is "HwyBus" but he also sells buses and motor cabins on ebay as proudamericans and proud_americans and off the net as MAKConversions. His business phone is 562-972-2158. He also owns the following websites:

Buyer beware!

Number of buyers diverted from Mike:

So far, ELEVEN buyers have told me they've seen my site and have decided to not deal with Mike [5/2007]! Hopefully others have been warned away that I haven't heard from - feel free to drop me a line to let me know you've been saved.

The Better Business Bureau gives Mike's business a solid "F" rating due to refusing to answer BBB complaints (such as mine).

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