Is Camping World typically a poorly run operation?

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oldryder

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 8, 2017
Posts
538
Location
Avon MN
My wife and I are shopping.  Called Camping World a hour from us Friday afternoon, spoke to a sales guy about a unit we were interested in.  Told him we'd visit Saturday morning and that I would call an hour before.

Called Saturday morning, told sales guy we'd be there in an hour to inspect the unit.  He said he'd have it ready.

Got there right on time, sales guy was "busy" so rookie sales guy took us out to see the unit.  It was stone cold and worse all the batteries were dead and frozen so we couldn't even inspect it except for a brief look inside.  Wasted 2-1/2 hours of my saturday.

The sales guy obviously never even checked the unit and scheduled our visit to conflict with another appointment.

This is about as bad of sales support as I can imagine. (I guess it would've been worse if the sales guy had been available but drunk.)

So I'm not inclned to ever visit a Camping World again but maybe I was just really unlucky?

Interested in comments.

thx
mark in MN
 
Like many franchised business, all with the same electric sign in the front,  every different location can be either good or bad.

a local Yelp response may answer this question better.    Statistically however most people only post a response,  to a negative experience.
 
oldryder said:
So I'm not inclned to ever visit a Camping World again but maybe I was just really unlucky?

That would be a wise choice.  I'd walk an extra 20 miles before I gave them a dime of mine.
 
Oldgator73 said:
I can't ever recall visiting a CW but have really never heard anything positive about them.

Same here. People will admit they bought an RV from CW.. but never have anything to say.. about the "Deal". That.. to me says.. a lot. Not bashing.. jus' say'n.
 
Salesmen are.. Salesmen. finding a good one is not a common expierence.

I've heard complaints not unlike this from many people about many different dealers.

CW is a chain/Franchise type operation. Some stores are better than others.
 
I don't see that as just a typical CW experience. Instead, I think it is typical of many, many RV dealers.  Sales professionalism is very difficult to find.  Far to often they do not return calls, do not follow through on promises, give faulty information.  Further,  RV dealers rarely prep or stage vehicles for sale (especially used rigs), nor do they do a thorough pre-delivery check (no matter what they say). Too often, they ignore anything the customer doesn't notice.
 
Heli_av8tor said:
I didn?t realize they are franchised. I assumed they are all Corporate owned.

They are all corporate owned. They used to, and may still somewhere, lease space from a few large RV dealers for the store, but the stores themselves have always been CW owned operations.
 
    Went to CW in Bellmont AZ to look at an advertised unit and they did not know where it was at. Stopped by a month later and they still could not find it so I purchased at another dealer in Phx (not CW) oh well............
 
TonyDtorch said:
Like many franchised business, all with the same electric sign in the front,  every different location can be either good or bad.

a local Yelp response may answer this question better.    Statistically however most people only post a response,  to a negative experience.
Hit the nail on the head Tony.  I have had nothing but good experiences with Camping World but I detest their owner and no longer darken their doors because of his desire that I not continue my patronage.  Nevertheless I continue to get lots of junk mail from them with pre-made membership cards for each of their various areas - roadside assistance, membership, etc, etc.  Still, the point is that negative posts about a widespread business seem to always outnumber positive posts.  Just the way of the world.  And social media has made that more evident.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
I don't see that as just a typical CW experience. Instead, I think it is typical of many, many RV dealers.  Sales professionalism is very difficult to find.  Far to often they do not return calls, do not follow through on promises, give faulty information.  Further,  RV dealers rarely prep or stage vehicles for sale (especially used rigs), nor do they do a thorough pre-delivery check (no matter what they say). Too often, they ignore anything the customer doesn't notice.
Agree Gary.  If you want to see an RV in an open and staged condition go to a RV show that is indoors.  You will have to pay an admission (which I will never understand) but at least you can get a good look and have a decent conversation with salesmen (and even an owner from time to time).

Bill
 
Bill N said:
Hit the nail on the head Tony.  I have had nothing but good experiences with Camping World but I detest their owner and no longer darken their doors because of his desire that I not continue my patronage.Still, the point is that negative posts about a widespread business seem to always outnumber positive posts.  Just the way of the world.  And social media has made that more evident.

Bill,
It's a shame you would stop shopping somewhere that you have had a good experience with just because you misconstrued what management said. And aren't you "spreading a negative post" on a social media platform? But I think you are correct when you say that folks only Air negative experiences. Rarely do folks, unless prompted to do so, post positive experiences. Maybe sites like TripAdvisor are different in that respect.
 
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.
 
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.
 
My experience with CW is limited to the one in Oakwood, GA.
We have visited this business on several occasions, shopping for routine camping supplies, for service and once to look at a used 5th wheel camper.

The service department visit was to replace the awning fabric and install a new slide-out cover (all in one visit). Install labor was discounted, parts were on sale. Dropped off the travel trailer, picked it back up 2 days later, work was done to our satisfaction.

Inside sales people for parts and supplies have always been courteous and helpful.

Salesperson we interacted with regarding a used 5th wheel was a disappointment. We made an appointment to view a specific camper.  The camper had been in inventory for a few months but not even inspected for sale readiness by the salesperson. I asked if the sale price included all fees except tax and title and the answer was "yes". When we discussed later inside the office, he added other fees such as "transportation fee" (it was moved from another CW location), dealer prep (inspection and repair), document fees (to process their paperwork) and finally the registration and sales tax.
So, I told him that since he misrepresented the sale price while we were out on the lot, I didn't trust him on any other part of the sale process including making the unit meet our expectations regarding the items I noted that needed repair.  He got angry.  We walked away.

That summarizes my  experience with Camping World.

Regarding my experience dealing with another RV dealer:
We found a used 5th wheel camper at Mid-State RV, Byron, GA that met our needs, the salesman was very professional, we paid the negotiated price plus sales tax and state registration fee, no other 'document' fees or service department fees and all items noted that needed repair were addressed before our scheduled return for PDI.  (thumbs up for this dealer)

 
Our experience with both Bartow,FL CW & Dover (Tampa), FL CW were bad. Won't go back to either one. Bartow was horrible service-didn't do sales-, and Dover was both sales & service.
 
Molaker said:
I don't agree.  How else can one determine where best to shop?

I guess I wasn't clear. I am not talking about good or bad experiences at a RV dealer. I am talking about pushing the comments into a political arena.  This is an RV forum.  There are other places to air political views.
 
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