Camping World Shenanigans - scam?

[moose074]

Originally Posted by sherman12

The satisfaction vs dissatisfaction ratio in retail is; not satisfied equal to 23 people will be affected by negative word-of-mouth reviews. Satisfied customers will equal out to 11 persons being swayed by the happy customer.

As far as CW goes, IMHO the ratio should be about 100 to 1 on the negative scale. Sometimes I wonder how they are still in business, but some stupid people don't know how to negotiate I guess. As far as their stores go, when they have sales you can find some bargains there with a Good Sam membership, and their propane price for members is pretty good.

I looked in 2009 they sold 30k units probably over 50k now based on number of stores and growing revenue I would say they doing pretty good to have such a horrible reputation. In this case following the money CW must be doing something right

[AlaskaErik]

Originally Posted by moose074

I looked in 2009 they sold 30k units probably over 50k now based on number of stores and growing revenue I would say they doing pretty good to have such a horrible reputation. In this case following the money CW must be doing something right

Lots of newbies out there that just don't know any better.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by AlaskaErik

Lots of newbies out there that just don't know any better.

Exactly and CW has bought up many smaller RV dealerships so the they are the Walmart of RV dealerships.

[NJKris]

Originally Posted by sherman12

The satisfaction vs dissatisfaction ratio in retail is; not satisfied equal to 23 people will be affected by negative word-of-mouth reviews. Satisfied customers will equal out to 11 persons being swayed by the happy customer.

As far as CW goes, IMHO the ratio should be about 100 to 1 on the negative scale. Sometimes I wonder how they are still in business, but some stupid people don't know how to negotiate I guess. As far as their stores go, when they have sales you can find some bargains there with a Good Sam membership, and their propane price for members is pretty good.

Haggling is a dying art in the USA. My Mom taught me to haggle. But now most people make purchases clicking on prices on a computer screen. They are uncomfortable haggling.

[sherman12]

I'll refer Moose to my first post about the under-40 crowd being a significant percentage of today's RV buyers.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by NJKris

Haggling is a dying art in the USA. My Mom taught me to haggle. But now most people make purchases clicking on prices on a computer screen. They are uncomfortable haggling.

I went to a car dealership once that was "no-haggle". The price on the sticker was the price you paid.

As soon as they told me that, I left and never went back.

[PenJoe]

Originally Posted by NJKris

Haggling is a dying art in the USA. My Mom taught me to haggle. But now most people make purchases clicking on prices on a computer screen. They are uncomfortable haggling.

I helped my in-laws negotiate the price of a new Ford pickup. The negotiations went past the closing time, but we got the price. Actually, we did better than what we were asking because of some misunderstanding.

On retirement, my in-laws asked me to help negotiate the price of a new Class C mini. I accompanied them on more than one trip to the dealer. The back and forth between the salesperson had my MIL embarrassed to go into the dealership. I suggested to look at it this way. Once we are done dealing, you will never see them again (my in-laws were going to be full-timers heading south).

The dealer had us in the sense that it was the only one in the area. But then again, we had the checkbook paying cash. Maybe the dealer just got tired of us, but we finally negotiated the price.

Negotiating is a hardball game-may the best team win. However, with the pandemic, things changed. Our Silverado was demolished and our son was also looking for a new truck. Searching a 5-state area, not one new car dealer would negotiate a dime-even though we were offering to buy 2 new vehicles. By chance, I found a dealer over 300 mile distant that had factory new old-stock discounts of $10,500-exactly what we were looking for, even to the color we wanted. To sweeten the deal, the dealership would deliver it to our door for an additional $300. The dealership still would not discount anything from their side, but we were okay with that. A new, last year model for less that a 2-year old used truck.

[NJKris]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

I went to a car dealership once that was "no-haggle". The price on the sticker was the price you paid.

As soon as they told me that, I left and never went back.

My Saturn was the first and only dealership that did that. But their prices were competitive with other makes after haggling, so it was kind of nice.

[fipntdot]

Originally Posted by NJKris

My Saturn was the first and only dealership that did that. But their prices were competitive with other makes after haggling, so it was kind of nice.

If I remember right, that was part of Saturn's shtick.

[PenJoe]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

I went to a car dealership once that was "no-haggle". The price on the sticker was the price you paid.

As soon as they told me that, I left and never went back.

In 2012, we were looking to buy a new 2013 Silverado and found one on a dealers lot 35 miles distant. We were about ready to walk out on the sales person because of his mannerisms. But we learned that he was just fed up of looky-loos. He finally warmed up to us, the more we talked. We negotiated a fairly good deal, but wanted to think on it. The salesman was not happy to see us walk, but at least understood. Turns out, he was one of the more honest salesmen we have delt with.

The following day, we were headed back to the dealership and passed another Chevy dealer. On an impulse, let's stop and see what they have to offer. Well, it was high pressure, but we gave them the specs. They found the one at the other dealer, so we knew we were dealing on the same truck. The salesman gave us his selling price and it was noted that it did not include factory incentives. He assured us that it was the best he could do.

Not worth our time to negotiate, we started for the door. The salesman then suggested that he would beat anyone else's price after he already tried to shaft us on factory rebates. No, thanks. We drove the 35 miles, got a few more perks and made the deal.

BTW, I believe we have/had roots in the same home town.

[sherman12]

Where is Saturn today? Things didn't work out too well for them in the end.

When I bought my KIA Sorento at the time there were only three KIA dealers in WNY state. One of the sales managers mentioned to me "Aren't you running out of KIA dealers" when I bluntly told him what I thought of his price. I replied that I am also an avid RV'er, and one thing RV shopping has taught me was if I have to drive 200 miles to save thousands of dollars, that is what RV'ers do. I asked Mr. SM, do you know how many KIA dealers there are within 200 miles? With that, I got up and walked out. I bought my KIA at a dealer 50 miles away two weeks later saving over $3000 from what the local dealers offered.

[NJKris]

Originally Posted by sherman12

Where is Saturn today? Things didn't work out too well for them in the end.

When I bought my KIA Sorento at the time there were only three KIA dealers in WNY state. One of the sales managers mentioned to me "Aren't you running out of KIA dealers" when I bluntly told him what I thought of his price. I replied that I am also an avid RV'er, and one thing RV shopping has taught me was if I have to drive 200 miles to save thousands of dollars, that is what RV'ers do. I asked Mr. SM, do you know how many KIA dealers there are within 200 miles? With that, I got up and walked out. I bought my KIA at a dealer 50 miles away two weeks later saving over $3000 from what the local dealers offered.

Good for you guys sticking to your guns. Saturn's big draw for me is it was like an independent dealer from the big 5. GM said that it was going to leave it do it's thing on it's own, but I don't believe GM did in the end. And we all know about GM's fiscal irresponsibility.

[chriscowles]

Originally Posted by sherman12

... As far as CW goes, IMHO the ratio should be about 100 to 1 on the negative scale. ...

I'm skeptical about the marginal effect of additional complaints on Camping World's already bad reputation.

[tpgdiver]

I purchased my new 2024 mh 3011 from a CW in Florida. There are no issues with the purchase. Actually second purchase in three years from them, last one was a travel trailer. Got 38% off the supposedly msrp, and I was satisfied. I said no to all the add one, nothing else was said.

There was another big dealer nearby, that carried the 3010 model. They wouldn't return phone calls timily and didn't even acknowledge the last email I sent with an offer.
Same issue I had with another dealer on the west coast for a 3011. Promised they offered great customs service, but forgot to follow up on my questions.

Have to say, I do all my repairs and would only go back to CW (or any dealer) for extremely major issues. So far, never had to do that.

In a nut shell, do your research before visiting any dealer.