Camping World a let down.... Update

peaches&cream wrote:
I do not agree with you because:

We only see complaints from a very small number of posters. This means there are thousands of happy customers out there patronizing CW every week.

If you have the expierence you write about, you know there are a certain number of customers you will never make happy. If you spend all your time trying to make them happy, you will neglect your "good" customers.

Just observe any CW and you will find none are hurting for business. I don't think they will be closing doors anytime soon. The few complainers will drive off into the sunset, looking for someone else to bother and the "happy" customers will continue to visit the many CW stores and centers.

Comcast, Direct TV, Bank of America, these are just a few with the "worst" Customer Service, and they are not going under.

What people often confuse is "Busy" and profitable. They are not the same. In addition most of the CW stores I have been in were nearly empty of customers, a few were truly bustling. But what you dont see is how many are actually BUYING vs just leaving empty handed because the product was overpriced or not available or they just couldnt get helped.

While CW has undoubtedly many satisfied customers every good businessman knows that for every complaint that is actually "voiced" there are fifty or 100 more with THE SAME issue that never come forward. They just leave and dont go back.

Good companies WANT feedback, negative and positive. Great managers and CEO's know from experience that is the only way to judge what is really happening in the minds of customers.


Why else do you think almost every time you go shopping nowdays at almost any retail outlet on your receipt will be the chance to win something if you just go online and fill out their survey?

And while there are some companies whose reputations are bad and they still exist there are ten I can name for every one of those that has gone belly up, or had to restructure or gone into bankruptcy.

Look at what the CW stores face: HUGE monthly payments just in flooring interest alone for all those motorhomes plus their other variable overhead costs, Utilities, labor, insuranc etc etc...They MUST generate huge amounts of cashflow each month to sustain this. Unhappy customers do not generate cashflow.

Just pretending that everything is OK and everyone is happy is the surest way to see CW go bust. (they are well funded and just received a big chunk of money from a financial restructure that has provided them with the cash to open more outlets. This will be key to their eventual success IF they can manage to grow all their other systems to handle the increases and keep customers happy)

In CW's favor is this: The hump of the baby boomers are now starting to retire. The largest number of people leaving the workforce en masse in history. Generally they have a lot of money to spend and CW is poised to benefit from this. But they must be able to follow through with GREAT customer service at all levels consistently to keep the gains they will see.

I do not agree with you because:

We only see complaints from a very small number of posters. This means there are thousands of happy customers out there patronizing CW every week.

If you have the expierence you write about, you know there are a certain number of customers you will never make happy. If you spend all your time trying to make them happy, you will neglect your "good" customers.

Just observe any CW and you will find none are hurting for business. I don't think they will be closing doors anytime soon. The few complainers will drive off into the sunset, looking for someone else to bother and the "happy" customers will continue to visit the many CW stores and centers.

Comcast, Direct TV, Bank of America, these are just a few with the "worst" Customer Service, and they are not going under.

Thanks for the update. This is exactly what is needed on here. A more fully rounded story.

This is Spring. And yes there is a "Camping Season". I assume CW IT Dept has a calendar. It seems that they were just not prepared for the volume they are getting this year at this time of year.

But for those of you who are saying this is whining by the OP...That is just plain hogwash.

I have been a CEO of a fairly large Corp. and have been in upper management of those Corps, I have also owned my own businesses and I can tell you with surety that planning for the future and ramping up for busy times and seasons is part of the job for both managers and the CEO. This kind of thing represents a failure at the highest level of management whose job it is to PLAN for not only the best case scenario but also the worst case scenario...and in this case they seem to be one and the same.

All companies struggle through some difficult times. Many do very well others founder and are ill prepared. CW seems to be in the latter category at this stage but it may be too soon to tell.

What they need to do now is realize they not only have an order system/delivery problem but also a Public Relations problem and they need to get out in front of this. They seem from this vantage point to be compounding failure upon failure.

So please spare me the apologist view of the poor big company being picked on by it's understandably angry and frustrated customers. It just doesn't wash in the real world.

lanerd wrote:
Boy, you guys are tough. We always want to hear "the rest of the story" but seldom (if ever) do. Here is a person who is trying (even with a small detail) to keep us informed of his on going problem with CW. Give the guy a break! Sheesh!:R

Ron

X2

I do too, but it's not often I can legitimately beat up CW. If that's really the reason, I can say for sure if that happened in my business I'd be living in the RV. Not by choice..

Boy, you guys are tough. We always want to hear "the rest of the story" but seldom (if ever) do. Here is a person who is trying (even with a small detail) to keep us informed of his on going problem with CW. Give the guy a break! Sheesh!:R

Ron

"Camping" isn't a season, so that isn't a valid reason on the OP's part. What is ridiculous if this is the real story, that anyone would forklift an inventory ordering system without the replacement servers shadowing the system it's replacing until ready to go live.

Something doesn't add up..

thecoles wrote:
As suggested by Rudy I PM'ed him and received a call from someone don't recall the name. His question was do I want to cancel my orders I told him no not at this time but I would appreciate if he could check on my orders and let me know what the actual status is. He assured me that he would and would get back to me via e-mail. Another day has passed and still no word. Not sure if this was customer service or lip-service, time will tell. He said the warehouse is in arrears 5,000 orders plus and are receiving upwards of 6,000 orders per day. He did say they are doing what they can even added another shift to ship orders but had no idea how long it would take to catch up. Still can't believe management chose this time of year for their computer upgrade.

Exactly how is this an "update". They said they'd get back to you 'soon'. That was like what? yesterday?

"He did say they are doing what they can even added another shift to ship orders but had no idea how long it would take to catch up." Perhaps you should call him back or send him an email to ask him when he expects an answer. THEN come back with an "update".

IMO..This is just more whining....Dennis

I appreciate seeing the updates. Thanks

I have found that just about anything I can get at CW, I can get at Amazon for less price and quicker shipping. Not everything...but close to it.

Ron