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scorpiontimo · 04-02-2011, 07:06 AM

I have a story for all airstream people a good friend of ours owners a sob they love airstream's but want a new one as opsosed to a vintage. They found one at Camping World in Katy TX, made the normal inquires and drove there with their sob which is a year new. they got there at 8am was to do the walk through at 9am which did not happen till 11am. they found some things to be fixed on the airstream which the salesman told them it would be ready the next morning but call before picking up so they made the deal with their sob as a trade -in. they went to a relative house for the night called next day at 10am no answer for 5 hours they called the salesmen, store manager, service manager only to get transfered to voice mail. the operator kept saying give me your number and someone will call you back never happened. after 4pm they gave up and went to the store found that nothing happened to airstream no fixes and no one would talk to them so they picked their trailer up and drove the 175 miles back to there home base guess a 78,000 sales is not so much for camping world they e mailed the corp office and general manager with no response as of yet I told them this is exactly why I don't shop at the camping world chain still dint know why airstream would ever put new units in their stores not airstream friendly at all.

**blmitch5** · 04-02-2011, 07:15 AM

Pretty stupid on the dealers part! Did they ever get their AS?

au_ee · 04-02-2011, 07:27 AM

Thanks for the post. Its good to know both the bad ones and the good ones.

DougZ · 04-02-2011, 11:03 AM

You have to wonder how some places stay in business.

brunoffrance · 04-02-2011, 11:22 AM

"great" advertising for Camping world.... What a difference between a web site and the reality... sure it's not the only one.... some A/S dealers do the same....

bredlo · 04-02-2011, 11:46 AM

Assuming all this is true, that's an incredible story, no matter how CW would try and spin it.

I'm sure others have had perfectly fine experiences there, but I sure wouldn't take a chance - nor would I reward the company in general with my business if corporate can't even give them the dignity of a response.

zedex · 04-02-2011, 09:22 PM

I posted my story about "camping world" a while back and it was quickly deleted. I will never deal with them again. Im sure some have had luck but thats just it. Luck.

Lance M · 04-02-2011, 10:18 PM

I'd like to hear your story Zedex.

zedex · 04-02-2011, 10:57 PM

I ordered some stuff, they gouged me with shipping as well as sent it 2 separate orders, UPS tried to charge me $100+ because it was 2 orders, i cancelled both and told UPS to pound sand and send it back. I lost my shipping gouging fee. UPS billed me which i will not pay . So all in all a bad experience costing me money for nothing. Will never deal with them again and their prices are not great anyways. The only reason i ordered from them in the first place was because i heard about them on this site.I wonder if other unpleasant experiences like mine were quickly deleted as well?

That's about it.

Lance M · 04-02-2011, 11:02 PM

zedex,
I only went in CW once. I looked around and walked out. Not bad, not good.

NevadaGeo · 04-02-2011, 11:07 PM

Today's marketing guru's sure have a strange idea to me on how to attract business into their door. 5 folks right now reading this endearing story about customer service. Not the kind of service I'd expect after spending the price of a house in their establishment.

JFScheck · 04-02-2011, 11:35 PM

You wanna buy an Airstream? Regardless of if you live in Florida, San Diego (as I did when I purchased my first Airstream) Seattle or Texas, Colonial Airstream in New Jersey can not be beat! I know of folks who find their trailer on their web site, buy it, and have it shipped cross country and still save money.

Knowledgeable, customer oriented, they are great!

I'm sure there are other dealers like them out there - but my point is, if there are, I bet you the dealers are family owned/private - and not some crazy chain!!!

Airstreams are a lot of money, make sure you buy yours from a reputable dealer!!!

rseagle · 04-03-2011, 04:52 AM

My experience with Colonial of New Jersey was NOT a pleasant one.

Silverfoxrae · 04-03-2011, 10:05 AM

I wont go into details but I would not recommend Bates RV in FL for purchasing used RV's.

via~ AIR Forums App.

kry226 · 04-03-2011, 05:50 PM

But for every good opinion of a dealership (or any other establishment, really), one could also find a bad one. The key here is to do your research, talk to the establishments, get a feel for them, and caveat emptor.

Over the years, I have found that customers' perspectives are often skewed, and some are never, ever happy with any level of customer service. On the other hand, I have also found that there are businesses who rape customers at-will. The buyer should truly beware...and treat the establishment with dignity and respect too.

LLB21 · 04-03-2011, 06:21 PM

I treat forum opinions as opinions.

I don't think it is fair to judge a business good or bad from posts on the internet. Every customer is different and their experience may not be mine. Some poeple say never go there, others say go there. I don't know the people who are posting.

There are a lot of complainers and unreasonable people. The internet has become a mouthpiece for them.

scorpiontimo · 04-03-2011, 07:25 PM

Louie point taken however if a bad review saves another person some bad experience than I will review every time and I do both good and bad like old days you knew in town who the shady people were and the honest were by WORD OF MOUTH the INTERNET is just another way of spreading the good word or bad word each of us has to make his or her own decision as to the relevancy of the info better to speak up than to be one of them led to the chamber catch my drift.

Foiled Again · 04-03-2011, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LLB21

I treat forum opinions as opinions.

I don't think it is fair to judge a business good or bad from posts on the internet. Every customer is different and their experience may not be mine. Some poeple say never go there, others say go there. I don't know the people who are posting.

There are a lot of complainers and unreasonable people. The internet has become a mouthpiece for them.

Dear LLB... You're not wrong, but I find that when someone has 25 bad reviews and no good ones, they tend to be pretty accurate. It's true that some people are impossible to please, but when a merchant has NO fans and detractor after detractor it isn't a bad idea to confront them.

In fact one of Answer Center's best customers had 8 or 9 bad reviews online. All mentioned that this company wouldn't do a one-time cash delivery of propane or fuel oil. I've known this company as clients for 10+ years. They'd made a marketing decision to avoid the most downscale clients... it came back to bite them. I asked them to respond to their detractors, and they did - effectively. They avoid one time cash stops because they had a driver robbed and his truck hijacked on one. Their goal is to protect their drivers and trucks. Once they responded and retrained their dispatchers to respond appropriately, the reviewer's tone shifted.

We all know how strong the opinions about Chevy vs Ford vs. Dodge can get here. Amuse yourself: try looking for online ratings of your favorite restaurants. YIKES. I've figured that Italian food is ALL personal preference, but that most people CAN give you an accurate view of steak or seafood restaurants.

Did you know that JOINING the Better Business Bureau can instantly improve your score there? I was skeptical until I saw a company go from a D to a B+ rating over night. I know way too many details about that company to think that even a "D" was adequately bad.

Here's my one piece of advice to try to add something productive. Watch out for busineses that over-advertise. If you know of a business that has billboards, radio, tv, yellow pages, internet, etc., etc., That CAN be a company that is really trying to grow in an adverse economy OR it can be someone who never gets repeat business. Colonial Airstream comes to mind... but most of us don't buy RV's every year, so they may NEED to advertise. Key thing? It's not HARD to find delighted customers. Find a heating and air conditioning company that does that much advertising... just BE CAUTIOUS. Most HVAC companies get 80% repeat business.

Remember Hill Street Blues?
Be careful out there people!

Paula

MrUKToad · 04-03-2011, 07:58 PM

I appreciate all the opinions on this site, but treat them as that; they are people's points of view. What I will do, though, is approach a merchant a little more warily if I've heard that someone else has had a problem. Forewarned is, after all, forearmed.

lylesgl · 04-03-2011, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JFScheck

You wanna buy an Airstream? Regardless of if you live in Florida, San Diego (as I did when I purchased my first Airstream) Seattle or Texas, Colonial Airstream in New Jersey can not be beat! I know of folks who find their trailer on their web site, buy it, and have it shipped cross country and still save money.

Knowledgeable, customer oriented, they are great!

I'm sure there are other dealers like them out there - but my point is, if there are, I bet you the dealers are family owned/private - and not some crazy chain!!!

Airstreams are a lot of money, make sure you buy yours from a reputable dealer!!!

I agree regarding Colonial Airstream. Great customer service. I was in Iraq when I bought my first Airstream. Bought it sight unseen (other than the photos online) and had my dad pick it up for me. The Airstream was fairly priced. My dad was also impressed with their customer service. A year later, after my first Airstream was totaled, despite living in Oklahoma at the time, I again went to their dealership to purchase a replacement.

As mentioned earlier, Airstreams are a lot of money; always purchase from a reputable dealer. I recommend Colonial Airstream.