Iowa RV dealer blasts Camping World tactics

While I am on my rant and my very infrequent posting, I am so tired of people piling on Camping World. Do the math, they have 140 stores that all have full service shops. Everyone screws up but I bet the percentage of complaints vs the number of service customers is way less than the average dealer. My experiences have all been excellent and when I have an issue, someone always steps up and makes it right, I know of half a dozen dealers I hope they buy. Every dealers hates them until they want to sell.

I hope you all read the disclaimer at the end before you jump to conclusions. It basically states the youtube video is made up. Just happens that this dealer in Iowa is getting their teeth kicked in by a Camping World store in Davenport. Can't compete then what do I do....fake news?

A case of caveat emptor for sure.

like any large business you will find good locations and some not so good.
also a lot of camping worlds are franchised so the local owner is putting his stamp on the business.

RognBon wrote:
I don't see what the big deal is. It's called capitalism. It's the buyers responsibility to do his homework before hand. If he doesn't like the price or the deal, walk away.

Of course you need to condone unethical business practices.

For those that don't know, here is a definition of ethics:

The branch of philosophy that deals with morality. Ethics is concerned with distinguishing between good and evil in the world, between right and wrong human actions, and between virtuous and nonvirtuous characteristics of people.

Camping World once had a good reputation. As someone else said,when they started to franchise dealerships their quality went down hill. We bough a unit from Camping World Harrisburg,Pa 2 years ago.They quoted us a price and told us it would be in by the end of August. It didn't come in until the beginning of October and that was after having to contact the manager twice. When it did come in we had an appointment to pick it up at 11am. When we got there,it wasn't ready until 1pm. Then when we went to finance, they told us we owed $29,000 which was more than they quoted us by thousands of dollars.Luckily I saved all the e-mails. So they said they would give it to us at their cost which was supposedly $3,000 over their cost.I was a loyal customer for many years and a lifetime Good Sam member but I won't do business with them anymore.

nicely put. you said it all.

tinstartrvlr wrote:
Wow. I can't believe I wasted 15 minutes of my life watching that video (I couldn't make it to the end).

IMHO that is probably the worst "infomercial" I have ever seen. Seems to me to be nothing more than a dealer trying to drum up business by blasting the competition. I'm no fan of CW and I am not defending them, but, again, WOW.

It sounded more rehearsed than infomercials I've seen on late night TV.

It's sales. It's all in writing. Read it. But the golden rule is, IMHO. don't trust anything the salesman tells you. Read the fine print.

They put out a bunch of BS and hope the buyer can't or doesn't see past it or question it.

"Buyer beware". Apparently that buyer wasn't too aware. Guess his wife was though.

Based on what I saw, I wouldn't give a dime to the Iowa dealer.

Gawd I hate BS.

Take a look at the Google reviews for "Cheyenne Camping Center"

4.5 stars and ownership responds personally to every low star review. Either the issue causing the low review is resolved or the reviewer is called out for posting an inaccurate review.

Then go take a look at Google reviews for Camping World. You have to enter them by location such as "Camping World Harrisburg" or "Camping World Columbus" etc. I just did 7 at random and good luck finding higher than 3.1 stars with very few responses from ownership / management.

Search for either Camping World or Cheyenne Camping Center at any RV related forum and read the results, including here on their sponsored forum LOL.



Granted it's the internet but all the negative reviews and comments directed at Camping World can not be wrong.


I know a few people on other forums who are local to and purchased at Cheyenne Camping Center, and all think highly of them.

I think the owner, by making that video, is doing a great service for the first time or unsuspecting buyer, or the stupid. If he can pick up some sales in the process so be it. When and if I'm in the market again, I would consider them despite being 750 miles away. But given the fact they are an exclusive Forest River dealer, and Forest River will never see a dime from me again, it's probably not in the cards.


Every tactic mentioned in that video was tried at Camping World's Harrisburg PA location on us while I had cash in hand. I walked out, drove an hour south the same day, and handed the cash over to Beckleys Camping Center for the same trailer with no BS and a lower price.

guidry wrote:
Different prices for financing and paying cash is illegal and unethical. No getting around that tactic.

Unethical absoulutely. Illegal... ? Unless it's deliberately undisclosed, its probably all legal and hidden in the fine print.

The fine print is the holy grail in the world of sales and it certainly isn't for the consumers benefit.

The older I get the more stubborn I get. Next time I buy a truck or some such thing, I will make the salesman or finance guy sit and wait while I read every single word in every single thing they present to me. I have finally learned to absolutely not trust anything they say.

Example. Not long ago I purchased a new truck. About 1700 dollars in rebates available. Decided for the first time ever to take the rebate to use for some accessories. Finance guy says "you don't want to do that; you'll get a 1099 and have to pay taxes on the rebate". Huh? Rather than argue, I just applied it to discount the price of the truck. No big deal at that moment.

But, after some research, I discovered that the IRS doesn't consider rebates income. And the state I bought the truck has no state income tax.

So exactly who would I pay the taxes to? No one. Called the state department of revenue and they also said "huh?"

Just a way for the dealer to put the rebate in their pocket.

Completely sleazy, unethical, and perhaps illegal. But I'll never know for sure.

Probably something in the ultra fine barely visible print that makes it all ok.

Like I said, I hate BS, and the sales world couldn't be any more full of it.

Different prices for financing and paying cash is illegal and unethical. No getting around that tactic.