LOL! You guys were right!

wbwood wrote:
Kind of why we liked purchasing from CW. There are over a hundred locations across the country and they are still growing.

Yeah, my BIL thought that, too, when they bought their 5th wheel from a CW dealer 'bout a year ago. They sold him on the fact that since it was sold by a Camping World dealer, he could take it to ANY Camping World dealer for warranty work and would not have any problems.

Well, last month they learned that this is NOT necessarily the case. Regardless whether a dealer has that 'Camping World' sign on their name or not, they can be just as independant and difficult to deal with when it comes to warranty work on units they did not sell as any other RV dealer.

They brought their 5er to a closer Camping World dealer for some warranty work with the paint fading/peeling. Dealer was about 2 hours away from the one they originally bought the RV from. Long story short, this dealer dragged their feet, took their time, tried to avoid doing it at all....you name it. It took them MONTHS to get their 5th wheel taken care of, and they (BIL and his wife) had to STAND on that dealership, calling them practically every other day to get the dealer moving and get it taken care of. I won't go into the details, but will just say it seemed pretty obvious that they were doing this because they were making little if any $$ off of a pretty big paint/decal repair job.

Bottom line: Doesn't matter if its CW dealers or not. Every RV dealer is independant, and its really up to the individual dealer how easy or difficult they will be about doing warranty work on a unit they did not sell. If you purchase a unit out of town and ask your local dealer to handle warranty work for you, don't set your expectations very high, regardless whether its CW dealers or not.

I like one local RV dealer here, and their policy toward warranty work: They have a huge, very nice service department that handles lots of service work, and have a good reputation for doing a great job. They have big signs up saying they accept and will gladly do ANY service work, warranty or not.

Only one catch: If its warranty work, and you did not buy from them, YOU will pay for all repairs/work done (using their regular labor rates). They will provide any/all paperwork you need to get the manufacturer to re-imburse what they'll pay on the work, but it is your responsibility to get reimbursement from the manufacturer. This way, when manufacturers cheap out on what they'll pay for a repair, the dealership doesn't have to 'eat' the difference for units they did not sell.

I think if I was running an RV dealership, given the way the RV industry is now, I'd probably adopt a policy similar to that.