Thursday, April 21, 2011

RV Show Comment Response To Camping World

pcarr stated: “Thanks for coming when we were not open- Sunday hrs. are 11 am -5pm so our employees can attend church and spend time with their families. Perhaps you would of found the number of cars in the parking lot more to your expectations had you come when we were open. BTW there were more class A's C's B's TT's and FW's (110) inside the facility.”

PCARR, My response is going to seem a little extreme so let me explain why. I have had some pretty lousy experiences with RV dealers so your comment rubs me the wrong way, steps on one of my very last nerves plus you didn’t seem to read my post, you just reacted to what rubbed you the wrong way. Since clearly I’m the consumer side of this equation I don’t have to say things you like. It probably would have been best if you disagreed with me to post some questions asking me why I came to the conclusions I came to and maybe even asked me what time I was there instead of assuming, well, everything.

I digress, back to the point. I had no idea you were closed when I got there at 12:15pm on Sunday, I don’t think the other people there or the employees I saw knew either but thanks for clarifying it. Disappointed smile Did you look at the pictures I took? Does it look closed to you or did I bring those people with me as props to use on my blog. Thinking smile

Click the picture, I know it’s hard to tell, but there are people in the foreground and background. The doors to the rigs are open, my guess and I could be grasping, you were open when I was there.

SAM_2103[3]

I had expected more cars there because this was an RV show, Collier RV has similar events on “Sunday’s” and they were packed, on Sunday. I’m not slamming you for not having a lot of people there, I was happy to be able to walk around without bumping into children who have to sit in every drivers seat and jump on everything. I was just surprised by how few people there were, because this was the first time, Sunday or no, that I had gone to an RV show with so few people showing up.

You either have an event, have enough staff there to properly prep/clean the RV’s for prospective buyers or you don’t, simple really. Being a Sunday has nothing to do with it, Church and family time has nothing to do with it (they are of course important, but that’s not the point here). The rigs I saw were anywhere from dirty to filthy and almost every Class A RV I went into smelled bad, except for the HR Imperial, even though it was dirty, the floor mats for the driver and passenger were thrown into the middle of the rig upside down but I looked past that, it’s an awesome rig and washable but it makes you wonder how well it was cared for. I’m guessing many people have to look past things when buying an RV and just going by the blogs I read I know this is true, which is unfortunate but there are only so many places locally to buy from and not everybody is willing to travel to look.

I appreciate the effort it takes to put together an event and I understand why you do it. I don’t doubt it takes quite a bit of money to do it but don’t cop an attitude at me for going to an event on a Sunday, you were, sir or madam, indeed very open for business. However I can fix my mistake by never going to a Camping World again.

I apologize to my blog readers for losing my temper but it’s my blog and if I can’t lose my temper on my own blog where can I do it.

13 comments:

Merikay said...

It's you blog, you can rant if you want to!

There are NO dealers within a reasonable distance of where I live. There was one, but the owner died last summer and it is closed now. The nearest dealer is over 25 miles one way.

I am waiting to go to a show in My that is over 50 miles from home and the cost is $8.00 to park and $4.00 to get in.

No seminars or information booths, just dealers.

We are definitely thinking of having to go to another area to really get a good choice when our time comes!

Donna McNicol said...

Go for it...Stu ranted about KOA a couple of days ago and I ranted about Camping World charging an exorbitant shipping fee for a $3 item back a few months ago. That's part of what our blogs are for!

Sue and Doug said...

rant away my friend..hope you feel much better!!!

Teri said...

I went to Camping World in Northern IL about a month ago, the salesman asked me to be honest with my opinions. I told him the RV's were very dirty, he said people are walking through them, I said the tub was dirty and other areas that you don't walk on. They obviously don't care - because they are still showing dirty rv's.

Diana said...

In the photo it DID look open to me too.
Face it Erik, there just is no good customer service anymore.
I think a lot has to do with how people were taught when entering the job market.
In my day, we were taught proper customer service. Unfortunately that seems to be a thing of the past.
You go ahead and rant Erik, it's your blog and you can do what you want to! Love Di ♥

Alan and Marilyn McMillan said...

It's your blog...you should be able to say what you mean and mean what you say! People don't like what you say and/or how you say it, they don't have to read it -- my opin of course:)

Erik's RV Blog said...

Merikay - There are 2 dealers within reasonable distance from my house. One is Abel RV which is a great dealer. Very helpful people, great parts department as well. There is also Barrington RV, I wouldn't wish this dealer on my worst enemy, it's the worst dealer in the Illinois area bar none.

Collier RV is good but hectic, always and they are about 40 miles away. Camping World is a crap shoot. Some good sales people and service has been helpful when I called them but they don't clean anything before showing it to customers. They may claim they do, but I have been there several times and have yet to see any of the Class A units clean.

I wish you luck when you're in the market, don't let them bullshit you. :)

Donna aka Froggi - Agreed! Big time!!

Sue and Doug - I do feel better my friend! I want to like Camping World, not sure why they insist on making sure I don't. Ah well, General RV is opening in Huntley next month, they seem to have a good rep so I look forward to checking them out.

Teri - Agreed 1000%!! I know it costs money to show these rigs off but the dirt has got to turn away customers. I have been to enough dealers where they have people going through the rigs to at least keep them presentable and I try to do business with places that are customer centric and care, who wouldn't right!

Alan and Marilyn - You got it! You opin so well! :)

Barb said...

I have a Camping World by me. I looked there 3 or 4 times. When I went to see a rig that was on-line, it was a mess and smelled like feces. I asked the salesman why they don't clean them up, and he said it costs too much to detail them, and they only give them a quick clean (which I doubted) and spend the money for detailing after they are sold. Too bad, I never went back. I bought mine from La Mesa RV, where they had LOTS of very clean, good smelling RVs.

I'm finding too few salespeople in the Camping World stores, too, and uninformed ones at that. Very disappointing. And they don't take American Express!:( What's up with that?

JoJo said...

OK to me Camping World is the worst place in the RV World to shop or buy anything. I was so rudely treated there I even sent a complaint to the Good Sam and Camping World. Each sent a reply that didn't fix the problem or seem to care if they did or not. I know a lot of people don't like Walmart but I have picked things up there for my motor home for less than half the price they charge at Camping world. If I ever have to go to Camping World again I think I would rather sell my motor home

Lee and Loralie said...

I guess this is why we ended up researching and then finding our rig on line from a private owner. Every time we went to a dealer we were disappointed. If I ever buy a new unit I think I'll go straight to the manufacturer (not that I'll ever have the money for a new one...but the thought is good!)
I hope they post another reply to you...would be very interested in their response. Customer service seems to be an idea of the past.....

Erik's RV Blog said...

Me and My Dog - It's unfortunate but it seems that many dealers feel you should just pretend how nice the rig will look when it's cleaned up. You know this has to affect sales but apparently not enough to cause them to make any changes. I was at Collier RV today and walked into as many Class A's there as I went into at CW and they were all clean and didn't smell bad which is why I will continue to do business with them.

JoJo - I guess the company is so big that they see no reason to change anything. I don't know, maybe they don't care what kind of people they hire which makes no sense but there has to be a reason why so many people don't like them.


Lee and Loralie - Agreed, many others are doing the same thing. I don't see them responding again. They have nothing to win by doing so, this person, who ever it was thought they could chime in and take a shot. I guess they don't realize I lose nothing here but they stand to lose more customers, which is fine if that's their goal. If it is, it looks like that's something they are actually good at.

Erik's RV Blog said...

It's 4 years later and Camping World still uses that user id and I guess couldn't find the words for a response.

I have been good to my word, I have not been back to Camping World and in that time I have purchased a new rig. They must not mind losing customers.

Anonymous said...

I refuse to go to them now, given the ceo's aversion to conservatives. They're dead to me.

Steinar Andersen