Apparently Camping Worlds motto is profit over people

On Friday, March 17, 2023 my wife and I purchased a 2020 SportTrek Touring Edition STT333VFL. We have never owned an RV and made that very clear to everyone at Camping World Lubbock. We also wanted to make sure our truck could pull the trailer. The salesman assured us our vehicle could easily pull the trailer. We left the dealership after they installed our $1500 distribution/sway hitch and connected the trailer to our truck.

Throughout our first trip we couldn’t drive over 50 mph because the trailer was swaying so bad it was causing us to cross over into oncoming traffic and onto the shoulder. The first day took us nine hours to drive 240 miles because we kept stopping to tighten the sway control 1/4 turn at a time as instructed. We ended up tightening the sway control four full turns to as tight as it would go.

After the first day we really started researching towing weights and trailer weights. We figured out our truck had a towing capacity of 8200 pounds and the trailer weighed 8300 pounds dry. We later learned Camping World also filled our fresh water tank to capacity which isn’t supposed to be done when traveling. We also later learned they installed our hitch too high. The bottom of the frame at the front of our trailer was 28” off the ground and the bottom of the frame at the rear of the trailer was 16” off the ground.

Once we found out the trailer was too heavy we bought a 3/4 ton truck. The new truck pulled the trailer well but the hitch, still unknown to us, was too high. We later learned as well the trailer they sold us had prior damage under the passenger side and had two spare wheels instead of the original wheels.

We were driving on the interstate and the front leaf spring bracket on the passenger side broke causing the front wheel to turn outward and the trailer crab walked off the road and bounced into a guardrail. I spoke with the GM of Camping World and explained to him all of the issues and he assured us he understood all of the errors made and he would repair the trailer. We ended up leaving the trailer in St. Louis MO to get repaired.

My wife and I decided after this traumatic experience we no longer wanted the trailer and asked the GM to assist us in getting the trailer sold so we weren’t out anymore money since we’d already lost over $15,000 with down payments and supplies and hitch. The GM then called us and blamed us and said they did nothing wrong. He said our trailers are sold “as-is”. I guess they have no ethical obligation to check these trailers for damage or disclose the damage to their customers.

Apparently Camping Worlds motto is profit over people. They set us up for failure with a trailer previously damaged and installed incorrectly and we are lucky we weren’t severely injured or killed or didn’t kill someone else.

Name: Brian Schamber