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1/10/2021
We purchased a used hybrid camper from the Kingston (NY) Camping World location three years ago. We also purchased a five year extended warranty plan, to ensure that we wouldn't experience any problems. It was our first foray into the non-tent camping style, so we had no real experience with campers.
The camper seemed to be in good shape, but we later learned that it was somewhat mechanically worn out. We also found out that the dealership was well aware of that fact. On our second time using it, just a month after purchasing it, the slide out completely stopped working. I had to crawl under the camper and manually close the very large slider with wrenches.
We headed directly to the Kingston Camping World store. Upon arrival we were informed that we would need to bring it back at the END of October to have it repaired... and that it would be repaired "after" all of the other campers were winterized. Oh, and on top of that, we would need to pay the $100 deductible... after owning it for a "whole" month.
It was early August, and we were being told that we basically couldn't use our new camper for over three months. We were well beyond unhappy, as I am quite sure you all can understand.
The Sales Manager was as rude to us as anyone has ever been to either of us in any situation. At one point, instead of trying to appease us in any possible manner, he informed us that he was done talking, and that if we didn't leave immediately, he would call the police. He never even made one small offer to attempt to satisfy us. His attitude was obviously that he couldn't care less.
One more thing, we now know that we paid well above the value of that camper, which would have been a little more acceptable if we hadn't had a few mechanical issues in the first year.
We had to bring our camper to another dealer to have it repaired, and they were so much easier to deal with. We traded it in on a very expensive 2020 luxurious 34' camper this past spring, which would have been their sale if their sales manager worried just bit more about retaining customers, and not just making the initial sales.
There is a very good chance that we will be trading up every two to three years... so Campers World has lost much more than one or two big sales from us.We have been asked many times, by many other campers, who we purchased our camper from... and we are always more than happy to share this horror story with them. We have also heard this same basic scenario, about their Kingston location, from many other campers, so this is far from a one time incident.
Thanks,
Jon & Linda Gifford