kdbgoat said:
Here we go. I knew as soon as I saw Camping World in the title it would come to this. We all just need to stop, regardless of what side we're on.
SargeW said:
Yep, lets not go down that path.
I don't agree. How else can one determine where best to shop?
That said, my experience with Camping World sales was relatively good. The salesman was attentive and helpful. Not pushy. Where I ran into trouble was the idiot financial manager who took hours to process our loan and the details that went with it. I do mean hours. We were passed to him about noon and we finally drove off just after five pm. In the meantime we had to listen to the guy's life story, his son's baseball career, and watch him tear up and redo application after application. But, the salesman was good.
That was our experience with CW sales. CW service turned out to be the real nightmare, however. We had purchased a diesel powered Winnebago ERA (Mercedes Sprinter chassis). Coming back from visiting my son, we hit the 10,000 mile mark (time for oil change) just as we were passing by the CW dealer where we had bought it. We had time, so I wheeled in for the oil change. I was assured they could get right on it, which they did. It was 1 pm. At 5 pm, it was finally ready. They explained the delay as not having the right oil in stock. Then after having to go to the local O'reilly auto parts store for oil they decided they didn't have the right filter...back to O'reilly's. So, finally, we started home. We got about 5 miles down the road when the 'check oil' light came on. I pulled onto an off ramp and shut it down and called CW. Their service department had just closed, "Can you come back tomorrow?" Of course, that wasn't acceptable, so they had to run down the guy that had done the job and get him to come check it out. He was on his way to pick up his kid from the sitter, so he had to take her home first. About an hour later, he arrived and found he had over-filled the oil (it takes 13.5 qts, he had put in 15 qts). So, he had to go back to CW and get a container and tools so he could drain some out. In the process, he drained out too much and since the pan he brought to drain it in was contaminated, he couldn't use some of the drained oil, he had to go back to CW for some more oil. And...you guessed it, they didn't have any more in stock and he had to go back to O'reilly's. We got back on the road about 9 pm.
I called CW the next day to raise hell only to find the "good" salesman we had had been arrested and was no longer with them. I spoke directly with the service manager who apologized, gave us a $50 gift certificate, and then told me, "We shouldn't have serviced your motorhome as we're not qualified." "OK", I said. "Where do we get it serviced?" His response was, "I don't know." Again, I raised hell. They sold it to me, but didn't even know where to get it serviced?!!
I went back to this CW one more time to have my generator serviced. It's located underneath just behind the rear axle and not something I could do. This time I had an appointment. They had the filter in stock and they had the oil. I figured they could handle it. Wrong. It took 3 hours to change the oil.
I realize each CW dealership is under individual management. However, as bad as this place is, I cannot believe "headquarters" wasn't aware there was a problem there. So, franchise or not, I will not go to another CW again.
Oh, one last thing, the CW dealer has quit selling Winnebago. I suspect Winnebago dumped them, but I'm not sure. So, the Camping World dealership located in Strafford, Mo. (just outside Springfield) is not recommended by me, to say the least.