I’m very unhappy with the product and service I have received

“If you’re not happy, I’m not happy,” is what your advertisements for Marcus Lemonis and Camping World claim. Well, I’m very unhappy with the product and service I have received at their store in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I have written to Mr. Lemonis twice about the problems I have encountered. I don’t know whether to again list the myriad issues I have faced since purchasing a Thor Freedom Elite 23H motor home nearly a year ago, but I suspect it probably wouldn't do any good.

At least it didn’t do much good the last time.

Suffice it to say that I have been trying for the past twelve months to get warranty repairs done on my unit. Some are minor, while others have affected the functionality of the motor home and caused me to return it to the dealer at least four times with promises that the repairs would be made. To add insult to injury, some of the service work that was allegedly done has made the original problems worse than they were when I dropped it off.

While a few of the less serious maladies were addressed, many of them have not been. Instead, I have received a litany of excuses from the sales and service teams as to why they are unable to make the repairs, or even deliver the spare tire and rim that they promised as part of the purchase agreement (I have a “We Owe You a spare tire" note from the sales team, but Camping World has resisted getting it for me for the past year, saying they would provide extended roadside service instead, which I immediately declined).

The excuses range from the mildly understandable to what I consider to be the absurd:

“We’re too busy to get you in.” “We don’t have enough technicians.” “We can’t get the parts needed.” “It’s not our fault, because we didn’t manufacture the motor home; we only sell them.” “We can’t do the warranty work without pre-approval from the manufacturer.” "It takes a long time to go through the warranty process and get such approval.” "You can take your complaints to the manufacturer." “That’s just the way the industry operates.” The sales team shouldn’t have made that promise.” “It’s up to the service team to work these things out.” “I wasn’t here when you bought the motor home, so I had nothing to do with that.” “Bear with us, we will eventually get the bugs worked out and you won’t have so many problems.”

Month-after-month I’ve heard the same song-and-dance. Meanwhile, I can’t get full use out of my motor home and can’t sell it for a reasonable price due to the tardy warranty repairs that are still needed.

When I asked the dealer to refund the full purchase price and take the unit back, they said they can’t do that. Instead, they offered to buy it back for $25,000 less than I paid a month or so before, but only if any necessary repairs were made first.

When I ask why Camping World is unable to get the parts needed to make the repairs when the manufacturer (Thor Industries in nearby Elkhart, Indiana) is still making the same motor homes and sending them out to dealers for sale, I was told: “That’s the way it is for all businesses now since the Covid-19 pandemic.” “It’s a different world.” So, I suggested that they take the necessary parts off one of the Freedom Elite coaches sitting on their lot and put them on my motor home. They, of course, scoffed at the idea and said, “Then we wouldn’t be able to sell those units.”

Couldn't they at least send a driver down to Elkhart to pick up the parts at the factory, which obviously has them if they continue to build the motor homes?

I guess Camping world would rather capitalize on the woes of their existing customers than please those individuals who have already been fleeced by the company. What a business model!

Given all this, I think owe me a full refund of the purchase price of my motor home. Short of that, I believe they should at least buy it back for a reasonable price.

No unsuspecting customer should be treated the way I have been, nor should he or she be forced to take a major financial loss because they believed Marcus Lemonis' marketing promise of “If you’re not happy, I’m not happy.”

Do the victims of Camping World need to lawyer up and file a class action lawsuit against you and company to get the company to do what is right? That seems to be the case.

Yes, I'm a very unsatisfied customer.

Name: Anonymous