I completely understand that we as people get busy, we have a personal and professional life, and with today’s society everyone expects instant answers. That said, it is no excuse for someone to not apologize for communication breakdowns and continue to deliver a bad customer experience. Ok, let’s back up a bit and get some background. I’ll keep this post super short as I believe in second chances, I believe in good karma, and I believe there are always more sides to the story than one. I didn’t plan on actually publishing this article but thought for my own reference it may be wise, so I’m sharing it with you as well. If you’ve ever had any experiences, good or bad with Camping World, I’d love to hear them as well in the comments!
As you might have read, I dropped off my RV the same day I bought it at Camping World in Statesville, NC. I just wanted it checked over a good time before I started on my adventure. I knew what I was buying, an older RV that would most definitely need some work, but it was a transition RV – going from my stick and brick to a RV, I thought it would make more sense to get something I could learn and use as a stepping stone before buying something expensive that might not have what I need or want. It will take some time to figure out exactly what floor plan works for me, what I can and can’t do, and what I really need. So, this is perfect. Six months in this RV with little additional investment would mean I break even from when I was renting my stick and brick house. A year in it means I’d be making money! After the six months to a year I expect to have a good list of likes and dislikes.
I called up to Camping World in mid June and made an appointment. The appointment was for July 4th at 10am. The service was a comprehensive, multi-point inspection. My service advisor, Sandy Tippins, took all the information over the phone, setup the appointment, and said she looked forward to seeing me. I asked if I should wait for the appointment, or if I should drop it off and pick it up. She mentioned it would take 3 hours and that I can wait for it. I said, great! I was sympathetic as it was also Independence Day and said are you sure they would be working and available, as I was very flexible and could move it, but she reassured me they were open and eager to help me. Great!
Well things change a bit, so I call up to Camping World and ask if it’s possible to drop off the RV on Saturday as I wouldn’t be in town until late on July 4th. I didn’t expect it to be looked at earlier, but wanted to see if that would be an issue. Again, she stated no issue, I can drop it off on Saturday July 1st and they’ll look at it on the 4th, but maybe even sooner. Great! I got the RV dropped off on the 1st at the end of the day, and while Sandy was not in the office or available, another service manager helped me, did a walk through and walk around and explained the process. So far, I was pretty happy with their customer experience. I was a bit sad as I left with my parents and I left my less than an hour owned RV in their parking lot for the weekend!
I didn’t hear back at the end of the day on July 4th – again, no big deal as I wasn’t planning on heading out for about another week and a half, so not rushed. I’d rather get a long list of everything I need to focus and prioritize, rather than rush and miss something. I waited until about four o’clock on July 5th before calling and just asking for an update. I get a service receptionist who explains Sandy is in the lot and all calls are being answered by the receptionist. I mentioned I was calling about the ’99 Fleetwood Bounder, and she said, oh, one minute let me get Sandy as she had some questions for you. {Patiently Waiting…} – Sandy gets on the phone about two minutes later to explain there are lots of things wrongs – all of the batteries are completely dead (I immediately thought, hmmmm….. how did I start it up and drive it to you?), but more importantly they believe there is a LP Gas leak. Yikes I think!
Sandy asks me if I’d like them to start looking at it, and I thought well, I probably should but I asked what it would cost? She said she was willing to discount the hourly rate, but it could take several hours for them to diagnose where it was leaking. I said I’d be willing to do one hour but if it was needed I could go two hours max. She said great, they will look at it and let me know. So, I asked what else was wrong and it was said several times, “Lots of stuff, there is a long list already”. I still didn’t know what specifically was wrong. Then, I asked if they looked at anything else and she said nope, most everything runs on gas, so they need to fix that first before looking at anything else as it is a safety issue. Hmm, that seems odd, but ok. The air conditioners don’t run on gas, but I patiently waited.
Fast forward, July 7th, 5pm. Two days had gone by and still no calls back. So, I called to Sandy and got her, and asked how it was going and when I can expect more information. She stated that their LP Gas guy wouldn’t be in until Saturday (which I hoped she would have previously told me). I said ok, but have you had time to look at anything else? Nope, need to look at the gas first she said. Ok, so I waited until Saturday, 5pm – called back up and she said they haven’t found it quite yet but they are still looking. She will call me on Monday. Now I hung up the phone and became a bit worried. Had they spent 8 hours looking at it on Saturday, I hope not! I only authorized two hours max. So I worried all weekend.
Monday, busy day at work, still no call back, so I called at about 5:30pm and talked to Sandy. She said she was so sorry she didn’t get a chance to call me back, so she said she has a sticky note to call me back and let me know first thing in the morning.
Tuesday, I was traveling out of town for work until Wednesday, but by the end of the day I still had no call back – so I called, and asked for another update. This time I got the receptionist at about 4pm and she said Sandy has one person in front of me to call and then she will call me before the end of the day. 6pm – closing time for them, and nope – no phone call!
I called back Wednesday at the end of the day and still had no update for me, but that their LP Gas guy was still looking into it. I said I’m a bit concerned because I only authorized two hours and she said it’s ok, they won’t charge me more than 2 hours. I’m really confused, does that mean they charge me two hours but they will actually spend more time locating the leak? Weird. I don’t know any other business that does that!
Now, I’m extremely frustrated. I called back at 2pm on Thursday, July 13th. That’s thirteen days after they have been in possession of my RV for a service which should only have taken three to four hours of service, and was told I can sit and wait.
Seriously though! How long could I have really waited? Should I have stayed and waited – would it have added pressure to get it completed sooner? Remember, this was for an inspection to get a list of items, no where was I asking for anything to be fixed. Even on the LP Gas, it should have stated “Not operational/Customer advised safety issue” and for any appliance which runs on gas should have also been tagged with “safety issue / unable to check due to gas issue / customer advised to not operate”. Something along those lines would be sufficient.
As frustrated as I am, I look through my phones to see I have logged 18 outbound calls and zero inbound calls. A simple follow through or phone call back is all I ever asked for. I would have never had an issue if Sandy would have called and said we apologize our team is slammed, this is a bit more complicated than some of the ones we look at, etc. So, I called for the 19th time up to Sandy and explained how extremely frustrated I was and it had to do 100% with her lack of respect and customer service. I let her know that no one is too busy to simply make a return phone call – the best part of it, if at any point she would have called back I most likely would have been unable to answer so she would have left a voice mail anyways. They have a service department receptionist, Sandy couldn’t ask that receptionist to make a phone call back to say they are still working on it and didn’t forget me, or they need another week?
As I’m explaining my frustration, I let Sandy know that I’m no longer authorizing them to do any work on the RV and that I would be there within the next two hours to pick it up. I asked specifically two questions – number one – will it be all put together and ready for pickup, and number two, I do not expect to pay as the service is not completed. Both questions Sandy said would not be a problem and she would have a zero invoice ready when I arrived.
As I got a ride up to Statesville, and went to the service counter, conveniently Sandy was not available. Another gentleman helped and pulled up the invoice. Found the keys and said I would need to take it up front to pay. I explained I already talked to Sandy and it was to be a zero balance. Unfortunately for me as Sandy was not there, I would need to come back when she was, and they also cannot forego the fact that I had a completely empty LP Gas tank, and they had to completely fill the LP Gas tank to check for the leak, so I was responsible for that. Also, they provided a small page of a few checks so they did as much as they can as I was no longer authorizing it. No discount either. As you can tell my level of frustration and run around I’ve gotten I want out of this place as fast as I can.
We go up to the front counter to pay, and I asked if they offer a Good Sam’s discount – why yes they do! I asked can you tell me where it shows that, and low and behold it’s not on there. I was told because I provided them with an incorrect phone number it wouldn’t be on this invoice. I said I provided a phone number as they asked for the “best number to reach me while my RV is in the service department”. That was different than my home phone number. So, back to service to have this invoice re-done. We also bring up that the price is much different than quoted, and they said well you never said you were a Good Sam member. (They never asked, should I also tell them I have an Old Navy credit card and I also have a iPad?) Shame on them! I also asked two more questions: first – why would you fill the entire gas tank up to look for a leak? I was told because they need pressure in the tank and you can only get pressure in a tank if it is full. That’s news! Second, why was I never quoted or told as part of the two hours to look for gas leaks that I needed to pay to have it filled? And, I was told – well it’s obvious that you would need to have it filled so we filled it.
I was also told in a very pointed tone that it took so long as Camping World does not maintain price lists for RVs over 10 years old. I’m not sure why that’s relevant as I was expecting a checklist of what is wrong and what to focus on – I never asked for quotes. I was also explained that my RV is quite old so I needed to account for time for their technicians to research and find appropriate resources. I mentioned that I was fine with them taking a month, all I ever asked for was a phone call back and never got one call back. I was shoved and pushed off and my money and service did not matter – they had no problem taking in my RV when I brought it to them, damn well knowing the year. Again, a phone call back would have been perfectly acceptable. He, who I did not get his name, said well I’m sorry but we are busy and I’m sure we would be able to continue working on this if Sandy returned a phone call but I can’t change that, but I am sure it would have made a better experience.
Needless to say, my RV was on the way home – safe and sound.
Oh – the best part? If I had all dead batteries (which when questioned, was told we hook up a machine and it says they have bad cells so we just go with what the tech says) – how would I ever have started the RV to get out of their parking lot?
I was very tempted to cancel my Good Sam’s membership upon leaving there. I’ll use the weekend to go through the RV myself and see what to start on and where to focus my time on! I don’t anticipate stepping into a Camping World anytime soon, although as I mentioned before, I am open to second chances – just not at the Statesville store.
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