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Eagle & Bear · 07-01-2020, 10:50 PM

Being spoiled retirees, we have been hanging out on the beaches near Florence, Oregon each summer for the past 5 years. Last year we left the Reno area and dove north to Oregon. About half way there our 43 year old RM100 fridge died. Glad that it lasted three to four times longer than I could have hoped for but now we have to find out what we need to do.

I spent several hours researching the options that we had if we were to replace the refrigerator. Found out that there was only one model that would slide into the original cabinetry. Trying to find the one model that was recommended, I made numerous calls to RV dealers and repair shops that would be on our route north. Fortunately the Campingworld in Eugene, OR had the fridge in stock.

Renovation of a vintage Airstream can take a lot of time but most of it is fairly simple. Over the years I have upgraded the 110 wiring, replace all of the copper with PEX, installed a new TV antenna, put two surveillance cameras on the roof, put in 2 TVs, redid all of the '70s upholstery and shag carpet, created a storage area for the spare tire, installed TPMS, coated the roof with white Buss Topper, etc. So far I have done over 90% of the work (including repairing a broken frame) but since I had just turned 70 and had no idea how to dispose of the old refrigerator, I decided to have the Campingworld dealer in Eugene, OR do the job.

I got a quote of $1800 for the fridge and $160 to install it. From what I could tell the price was OK. Since they could not work us in for several more days I began disassembling the cabinetry (I am just a helpful kinda guy). On the day that I was told to bring our trailer in I towed it from Florence to Eugene and left it with the Campingworld service manager. We returned at 4:30 but had to wait for another two hours so that the technician could finish the job.

Since it was after 6 I payed and then left. Unfortunately I did not say anything when I saw that they tacked on another $400 for labor. Dope slap has already been administered. When we got set up in Florence again I looked more closely at the finish job that the technician did. The finish work on the cabinetry was done very poorly but we were happy to see that the fridge worked.

Being very classy people we decided to buy a Dish receiver about 8 years ago. This year we decided to leave the dome in storage for the summer and use our new TV antenna for the summer.

When I installed the antenna for both the radio and TV I ran the wires through some flex conduit, down the outside, through a stainless "clamshell", into the refrigerator compartment and attached the coax it to the antenna booster that is located on the wall next to the fridge cabinet. When we got set up and settled in Florence today we turned on the TV, installed the correct settings and scanned for TV stations. No TV. Slowly rotated the antenna but found no channels. Nada.

I said to myself "WTH". I checked all of the fittings inside and then opened the outside access door to the fridge. What I found was that the Campingworld technician had cut the coax that ran from the antenna to the signal booster inside and a second wire that plugged into the second TV. I had no idea why he cut the coax instead of leaving it attached to the inside of the compartment but now I have to reroute the wiring.

The point of my story is to ask if this is a typical example of the kind of work that Campingworld does or was this a bad day for the technician? If you had a similar experience with the kind of work that Campingworld does what did you do about it?

**wulfraat** · 07-01-2020, 11:03 PM

I took my trailer to camping world in omaha one time. They gave it back missing my Sony wall mount TV!

“Are you sure it had a TV when you dropped it off?”... was the first question I got....

Stolen by an employee. I had a heck of a time wrangling a replacement....

rmkrum · 07-01-2020, 11:29 PM

Boy, I’m glad I’m the only one making repairs to my Airstream or failing that, I stay and watch like a hawk.

ROBERT CROSS · 07-02-2020, 03:47 AM

I brought 'Cloudsplitter's' wheels there for an estimate to mount & balance my new GYE's $40ea + tax and had to leave 'em.
Went 4mi down the road to the GY Store...$15ea with a DAV discount.

Our local Gander/CW, good for name brand emergency purchase only and LP by the gallon.

Bob
🇺🇸

Squairstream · 07-02-2020, 09:46 AM

We were on a caravan a few years ago and the refrigerator went out on us. It would work on 110vac but not on propane. I called the local Camping World store to see if they had the controller board ib stock and they said that they did and and they could replace it the following day. We took the rig in and they said that they had to run a diagnostic on the refrig to determine what the failure was and sure enough it was the controller board, which was the reason that I brought it in. They did NOT have the board in stock and it would take about a week to get it from their distributor.At which time I said forget it and would handle it myself. They informed me that I had an outstanding bill for the diagnostic service.It took a while and a long talk with the manager before I could reclaim my rig.. This seems to be quite common with Camping World service.

I called Dianasour Electronics for a replacement board and had them overnight it to the next campground the caravan was staying at and we had the refrig back in operation.

PS We have never returned to a Camping World store.

drbrick · 07-02-2020, 09:49 AM

I am a DIY person - and what I can't do mechanically I take our AS to my honest Abe auto mechanic who is an RV'er. For the stuff like stoves etc: to Arbutis up in Port Alberni ... good people that know what they are doing.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 07-02-2020, 09:59 AM

Hi, FYI there is an Airstream dealer in Eugene, Oregon.

Plan-B · 07-02-2020, 11:13 AM

I would not even use a Campingworld's bathroom. Youtube up Campingworld. How they stay in business baffles me.

Gibson3798 · 07-02-2020, 11:26 AM

I’ve had my new AS at the local dealers shop now for a month getting a bike rack, replacement vent curtain and replacement vent, only to learn last week the wrong vent was sent and it will be 2 more weeks.
Blames it all on high volume of new sales.
Not pleased with their service Dept.

featherbedder · 07-02-2020, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plan-B

I would not even use a Campingworld's bathroom. Youtube up Campingworld. How they stay in business baffles me.

If I remember rite AS loaned cw millions of $ time back.

Foiled Again · 07-02-2020, 03:27 PM

The retail store south of Akron Ohio is big and well stocked, and has a discount for Good Sam members (without that Amazon would beat the pants off of them every time). The bathrooms were clean too. But it would not surprise me if they install pay toilets. (Of course experienced boondockers might use the parking lot.)

But sales and service; pray for the souls of all who venture near. Watched a sales professional (oldest profession?) Try to sell a propane tank and propane fill to a buyer of a small trailer trailer. Wonder how.much it will cost to buy wheels and tires?
The one in Tampa across the road from Airstream dealer... well prices were lower at Airstream... and 3 sales people accosted me before I got to the retail store.

**azflycaster** · 07-02-2020, 03:41 PM

We often stop while on the road at CW to stock up on paper products and other RV related items. Our biggest issue is the fact that many of the locations do not have any place to park your TV and Airstream. If you are going to focus your sales on the RV crowd, give them a place to park.

Exceptions to this are the stores in Albuquerque, NM and Anthony, TX. They both have plenty of parking room.

The very worst was Lafayette, LA (Now Closed) where there was no room for just my truck and we had to park on the frontage road. CW of Indianapolis, IN had no place to park as did CW of New Hampshire.

Gkiesel · 07-02-2020, 03:56 PM

I tried to schedule a leak test for our 76 Argosy with Camping World in Harrisburg PA. I was told that they do not work on trailers older than 10 yrs. End of story.

Silvr_Bullet · 07-02-2020, 04:15 PM

I have used service at Kingston NY Camping World, I found them to be professional and have developed a good working relationship with my service advisor. I have seen other Airstreams there for services also. As with all everyone experience is unique.

Wayne&Sam · 07-02-2020, 04:47 PM

Florida.

Halford1 · 07-02-2020, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagle & Bear

Being spoiled retirees, we have been hanging out on the beaches near Florence, Oregon each summer for the past 5 years. Last year we left the Reno area and dove north to Oregon. About half way there our 43 year old RM100 fridge died. Glad that it lasted three to four times longer than I could have hoped for but now we have to find out what we need to do.

I spent several hours researching the options that we had if we were to replace the refrigerator. Found out that there was only one model that would slide into the original cabinetry. Trying to find the one model that was recommended, I made numerous calls to RV dealers and repair shops that would be on our route north. Fortunately the Campingworld in Eugene, OR had the fridge in stock.

Renovation of a vintage Airstream can take a lot of time but most of it is fairly simple. Over the years I have upgraded the 110 wiring, replace all of the copper with PEX, installed a new TV antenna, put two surveillance cameras on the roof, put in 2 TVs, redid all of the '70s upholstery and shag carpet, created a storage area for the spare tire, installed TPMS, coated the roof with white Buss Topper, etc. So far I have done over 90% of the work (including repairing a broken frame) but since I had just turned 70 and had no idea how to dispose of the old refrigerator, I decided to have the Campingworld dealer in Eugene, OR do the job.

I got a quote of $1800 for the fridge and $160 to install it. From what I could tell the price was OK. Since they could not work us in for several more days I began disassembling the cabinetry (I am just a helpful kinda guy). On the day that I was told to bring our trailer in I towed it from Florence to Eugene and left it with the Campingworld service manager. We returned at 4:30 but had to wait for another two hours so that the technician could finish the job.

Since it was after 6 I payed and then left. Unfortunately I did not say anything when I saw that they tacked on another $400 for labor. Dope slap has already been administered. When we got set up in Florence again I looked more closely at the finish job that the technician did. The finish work on the cabinetry was done very poorly but we were happy to see that the fridge worked.

Being very classy people we decided to buy a Dish receiver about 8 years ago. This year we decided to leave the dome in storage for the summer and use our new TV antenna for the summer.

When I installed the antenna for both the radio and TV I ran the wires through some flex conduit, down the outside, through a stainless "clamshell", into the refrigerator compartment and attached the coax it to the antenna booster that is located on the wall next to the fridge cabinet. When we got set up and settled in Florence today we turned on the TV, installed the correct settings and scanned for TV stations. No TV. Slowly rotated the antenna but found no channels. Nada.

I said to myself "WTH". I checked all of the fittings inside and then opened the outside access door to the fridge. What I found was that the Campingworld technician had cut the coax that ran from the antenna to the signal booster inside and a second wire that plugged into the second TV. I had no idea why he cut the coax instead of leaving it attached to the inside of the compartment but now I have to reroute the wiring.

The point of my story is to ask if this is a typical example of the kind of work that Campingworld does or was this a bad day for the technician? If you had a similar experience with the kind of work that Campingworld does what did you do about it?

Camping world was hoping that you were so dumb to bring the Airstream back there for them to fix your TV and overcharge you. Or there’s a silver envy so they cut your cable.

At the other forum Popupportal.com, there are so many complaints against Camping World. We were so disappointed at many owners sold their camping dealership to Camping world which made the dealership worse off.

I wouldn’t go there at all.

21Airstream · 07-02-2020, 05:01 PM

“Silver Envy”. Good term for a couple of our negative experiences (not at CW, just in general).

Indy_Air · 07-02-2020, 05:27 PM

We ordered a new A/C with heat pump from camping world in March. Payment was processed immediately. After almost a month of no sales receipt or shipping invoice we started calling(or sitting on hold for hours at a time). More than 6 times over the last 3 months we spoke to a new representative who was "going to look into it and call or email us back" they would also "add notes to our account about this conversation"

It took until mid June for a competent person to finally get to the bottom of our missing A/C and it might be another month until we receive it. There were never any notes added to anything. We had to start all over from the bottom every time we finally got through.

We will NEVER use them again and steer anyone as far from them as possible.

Shane

onelisab · 07-02-2020, 05:36 PM

Two things. Marcus Lemonis needs to consider hiring himself a new manager.
I will never take my Airstream there again either.

bweybright · 07-02-2020, 05:41 PM

Dating myself here, but I remember when CW was a great place to go to. Hired rv folks to work where ever they might be so they knew what they were talking about. Fantastic selection of stuff I didn't even know I needed and reasonable prices. Now ask for basic stuff and it isn't in stock...and the prices - I should be so proud of myself.
Kind of like what happened at West Marine after Randy handed over operations and Crawford has to step away for health reasons....sad but part of history I guess.