Camping World refuses to honor Replacment Plan

[jcthorne]

I just spent the last 3 hours dealing with a very frustrating situation at the Camping World Katy, TX location and a refusal to honor a CW Replacement Plan on a GPS unit I purchased.

Sept of last year (2012) I purchased a Rand McNally RVND 7710 GPS unit from the Camping World store in Nashville TN while I was on vacation there. The unit was on sale for a good price and I had wanted one for some time. Was suggested to purchase the 3 year replacement plan so that if the unit failed, CW would replace it at any CW store. Good story and sales pitch if it were true.

I went online when I got home from the trip about 2 weeks later and registered the warranty.

Last weekend the 7710 locked up and died. Will not restart. Completely dead.

Today I drove out to Katy to exchange it. Figured I could do this on my lunch hour and would be an easy exchange. Not to be.

Upon arrival, they informed me they had to 'process the claim with the warranty group' and it would take a while. After several minutes, the associate handed the phone to me. The claims agent had no record of the sales receipt. I had the receipt and the registration confirmation as well as the contract printed online with me. Store had to fax the receipt in. After an hour of waiting and discussion, it was determined the Katy store did not have a unit to replace mine with. The 7710 had been discontinued. I told the clerk that either the current model 7720 or the similar Magellan 7" unit would be acceptable, which ever they had.

I was informed that since the current retail price of the 7720 was more than I paid on sale, I would have to pay the difference and the current cost of the new warranty and $15 shipping to send it to me. I was sort of ok with the replacement warranty cost and the shipping but not the $105 for the replacement. The warranty terms clearly spell out the unit is to be replaced with a current unit of similar features at CWs discretion. The associate refused to honor the terms. No manager was available so she called the store manager who also refused to honor the replacement plan. He told the clerk to issue me a CW gift card for my original purchase price less the warranty cost.

I declined and stated that if CW had no intention of honoring the replacement plan, I had not intention of purchasing a replacement from CW. After another 15 minutes of debate, the manager was again called and told the clerk to refund the original purchase price less warranty cost to my credit card.

I again said this was not the terms of the warranty and tried to point out the terms in the contract. I was informed that it did not matter what the paperwork says, they will only refund my credit card the amount paid, less cost of the warranty which is not refundable.

As this had gone on for 2.5 hours at this point and I needed to get back to work, I allowed them to process the refund and said I would take it up with the corporate office.

This was not at all the way I was expecting a long time member to be treated nor they type of mismanagement I expected to see.

I hope someone in CW management takes this up and makes it right.

[focker]

redavis wrote:
While it sounds like the OP has resolved the issue (to some degree), there are a couple of points that all should be aware of on CW's extended warranty. From their web site:

1) Replacement Plan: If You purchased a Replacement Plan, in the event of a claim, We will replace the product with a new, rebuilt or refurbished product of equal or similar features and functionality or, at Our sole discretion, reimburse You for replacement of the product. Upon replacement of a product, We will have no further obligation to replace the product and You will not be entitled to make any further claims for its replacement.

This seems to state clearly that they have the option of refunding the purchase price of the item. Also from their web site:

>>>>1. Replacement Plan: This Service Agreement shall commence immediately upon expiration of the shortest portion of the manufacturer's original written warranty. If for example, the manufacturer provides a split warranty coverage program wherein the term durations are unequal for parts and labor (e.g., three months of labor and twelve months of parts coverage), and You have purchased a 12 month (365 days) extended service agreement, this plan shall commence on day 91 when the shortest portion of the manufacturer's warranty ends and will provide labor coverage through day 455. The product manufacturer has primary responsibility for replacement or repair of the covered product during the manufacturer's warranty period. This Service Agreement shall terminate completely upon replacement of Your product or at the end of the term specified in the sales documentation provided to You with Your purchase of the product and this replacement plan, whichever occurs first. All products replaced under this plan are the property of US in their entirety.<<<<<

Randy

Regarding the Plan... we purchased a Road Trip Grill about 6 months ago along with the Protection Plan (the first time I have ever purchased one of these Plans) and last week the ignitor stopped working. I called my local CW and they just bring it in, don't even worry about cleaning it and we will exchange it for you. When I came in the store a friendly staff member called the Protection Plan and they said "the grill has a 5 year warranty so our plan does not start until after that, tell the customer he needs to deal with Coleman". I remained calm and spoke with the store manager because when we purchased this I was told "any problem with the grill at all you can bring it back with no questions asked for a new one". The store manager made some calls and sorted everything out but I would never buy one of these plans again knowing now that normally the two year plan doesn't kick until after the warranty period (in this case 5 years and I am sure I will want a newer model by then no matter what). I will say it was great for the manager to take care of it for us.

[DocknessMonster]

jcthorne wrote:
I just spent the last 3 hours dealing with a very frustrating situation at the Camping World Katy, TX location and a refusal to honor a CW Replacement Plan on a GPS unit I purchased.

Sept of last year (2012) I purchased a Rand McNally RVND 7710 GPS unit from the Camping World store in Nashville TN while I was on vacation there. The unit was on sale for a good price and I had wanted one for some time. Was suggested to purchase the 3 year replacement plan so that if the unit failed, CW would replace it at any CW store. Good story and sales pitch if it were true.

I went online when I got home from the trip about 2 weeks later and registered the warranty.

Last weekend the 7710 locked up and died. Will not restart. Completely dead.

Today I drove out to Katy to exchange it. Figured I could do this on my lunch hour and would be an easy exchange. Not to be.

Upon arrival, they informed me they had to 'process the claim with the warranty group' and it would take a while. After several minutes, the associate handed the phone to me. The claims agent had no record of the sales receipt. I had the receipt and the registration confirmation as well as the contract printed online with me. Store had to fax the receipt in. After an hour of waiting and discussion, it was determined the Katy store did not have a unit to replace mine with. The 7710 had been discontinued. I told the clerk that either the current model 7720 or the similar Magellan 7" unit would be acceptable, which ever they had.

I was informed that since the current retail price of the 7720 was more than I paid on sale, I would have to pay the difference and the current cost of the new warranty and $15 shipping to send it to me. I was sort of ok with the replacement warranty cost and the shipping but not the $105 for the replacement. The warranty terms clearly spell out the unit is to be replaced with a current unit of similar features at CWs discretion. The associate refused to honor the terms. No manager was available so she called the store manager who also refused to honor the replacement plan. He told the clerk to issue me a CW gift card for my original purchase price less the warranty cost.

I declined and stated that if CW had no intention of honoring the replacement plan, I had not intention of purchasing a replacement from CW. After another 15 minutes of debate, the manager was again called and told the clerk to refund the original purchase price less warranty cost to my credit card.

I again said this was not the terms of the warranty and tried to point out the terms in the contract. I was informed that it did not matter what the paperwork says, they will only refund my credit card the amount paid, less cost of the warranty which is not refundable.

As this had gone on for 2.5 hours at this point and I needed to get back to work, I allowed them to process the refund and said I would take it up with the corporate office.

This was not at all the way I was expecting a long time member to be treated nor they type of mismanagement I expected to see.

I hope someone in CW management takes this up and makes it right.

Sound to me that someone needs to make it right.

[jcthorne]

Good Sam Care Team wrote:
Hello All,

I am not sure what happened here so I am re-escalating this to the Regional Management team for further investigation, and so a follow up can take place as well.

Wes Robinson
Marcus' Rapid Response Team
goodsamcs@goodsamfamily.com

If your interest in this is to learn from it and improve future response, that is great and noble.

There really is nothing further CW can do for me as I have purchased a replacement product at my own expense from a competitor.

I tried to resolve this and CW, its stores and management did nothing but pay lip service to the problem. Nothing was done, no one followed through. I grew tired of wasting my time trying to recover money down the drain.

[jcthorne]

redavis wrote:
While it sounds like the OP has resolved the issue (to some degree), there are a couple of points that all should be aware of on CW's extended warranty. From their web site:

1) Replacement Plan: If You purchased a Replacement Plan, in the event of a claim, We will replace the product with a new, rebuilt or refurbished product of equal or similar features and functionality or, at Our sole discretion, reimburse You for replacement of the product. Upon replacement of a product, We will have no further obligation to replace the product and You will not be entitled to make any further claims for its replacement.

This seems to state clearly that they have the option of refunding the purchase price of the item. Also from their web site:

1. Replacement Plan: This Service Agreement shall commence immediately upon expiration of the shortest portion of the manufacturer's original written warranty. If for example, the manufacturer provides a split warranty coverage program wherein the term durations are unequal for parts and labor (e.g., three months of labor and twelve months of parts coverage), and You have purchased a 12 month (365 days) extended service agreement, this plan shall commence on day 91 when the shortest portion of the manufacturer's warranty ends and will provide labor coverage through day 455. The product manufacturer has primary responsibility for replacement or repair of the covered product during the manufacturer's warranty period. This Service Agreement shall terminate completely upon replacement of Your product or at the end of the term specified in the sales documentation provided to You with Your purchase of the product and this replacement plan, whichever occurs first. All products replaced under this plan are the property of US in their entirety.

Since I believe Rand McNally's factory warranty is 1 year and the OP only purchased this unit in September of 2012, the extended warranty wouldn't even have kicked in yet as the manufacturer's warranty was still in effect. Since the year is not up yet, I would contact Rand McNally about having the unit repaired or replaced under the factory warranty.

Randy

First, the terms state reimbursement for replacement of the product, not refund of the original purchase price. Two very different things in this case.

Second, kind of hard to seek replacement from the manufacture when CW has the dead unit and they agreed to order the current model as a replacement and did not.

My only point was that after all the discussions, follow up and effort on my part to get resolved, CW never did meet the obligations of the extended warranty they sold. I have spent WAY too much time on this and moved on. My time is worth money so I have lost far more value in trying to rectify this than will ever be recovered.

[Good_Sam_Care_T]

Hello All,

I am not sure what happened here so I am re-escalating this to the Regional Management team for further investigation, and so a follow up can take place as well.

Wes Robinson
Marcus' Rapid Response Team
goodsamcs@goodsamfamily.com

[redavis]

While it sounds like the OP has resolved the issue (to some degree), there are a couple of points that all should be aware of on CW's extended warranty. From their web site:

1) Replacement Plan: If You purchased a Replacement Plan, in the event of a claim, We will replace the product with a new, rebuilt or refurbished product of equal or similar features and functionality or, at Our sole discretion, reimburse You for replacement of the product. Upon replacement of a product, We will have no further obligation to replace the product and You will not be entitled to make any further claims for its replacement.

This seems to state clearly that they have the option of refunding the purchase price of the item. Also from their web site:

1. Replacement Plan: This Service Agreement shall commence immediately upon expiration of the shortest portion of the manufacturer's original written warranty. If for example, the manufacturer provides a split warranty coverage program wherein the term durations are unequal for parts and labor (e.g., three months of labor and twelve months of parts coverage), and You have purchased a 12 month (365 days) extended service agreement, this plan shall commence on day 91 when the shortest portion of the manufacturer's warranty ends and will provide labor coverage through day 455. The product manufacturer has primary responsibility for replacement or repair of the covered product during the manufacturer's warranty period. This Service Agreement shall terminate completely upon replacement of Your product or at the end of the term specified in the sales documentation provided to You with Your purchase of the product and this replacement plan, whichever occurs first. All products replaced under this plan are the property of US in their entirety.

Since I believe Rand McNally's factory warranty is 1 year and the OP only purchased this unit in September of 2012, the extended warranty wouldn't even have kicked in yet as the manufacturer's warranty was still in effect. Since the year is not up yet, I would contact Rand McNally about having the unit repaired or replaced under the factory warranty.

Randy

[Pangaea_Ron]

I think that I will print this out and hand it to the clerk when he/she asks if I want the extended warrantee?

No thanks.

[Chiefcpo]

Sorry for your trouble but was told to send mine back in to CW or go to the nearest store and IF they were out of stock they would order me one and ship it to my home. . CW seems to be diffrent at each store. I still have good luck with them. NOTE::: My 7720 stopped working and had vertical lines with a lot of color to look at but would not go to the map ot program mode.

[jcthorne]

Final followup to let folks know where this saga ended.

Camping World Katy never did get in any more 7720s nor follow up with me or provide any way to honor the extended warranty.

I purchased a much improved Garmin 7" unit with Bluetooth data access from my cell phone and lifetime maps and traffic for less than the amount refunded from my original 7710 purchase. Purchased through Amazon along with a 3yr protection plan. Lesson learned.

[jcthorne]

My understanding is that the gentleman I spoke to today was a different person than was on the other end of the phone with the clerk yesterday. Manager today, asst. yesterday but I cannot be sure.

There was little explanation. He asked what I thought should be done. I told him I thought they should replace my defective unit with the current model. He agreed and stated they were currently out of stock and would order and let me know when it was in. It was a pretty short conversation.

[RVhiker]

jcthorne wrote:
A follow up.

The local store manager called. We discussed. He told me he will order a 7720 for me and will call when it comes it. He told me they are currently out of stock.

Did the store manager explain his decision process in dealing with your issue? Why did he think his initial decision was correct? Does it seem that publicity is required to make CW adhere to its commitments?

[jcthorne]

A follow up.

The local store manager called. We discussed. He told me he will order a 7720 for me and will call when it comes it. He told me they are currently out of stock.

I will let the folks here know when he follows up and the replacement is made available.

Good to see this seems to be headed in the right direction.

[Rollnhome]

Good luck. Like Nixon said. Once you've got 'em buy the testicals their hearts and minds will follow. 🙂

[jcthorne]

Rollnhome wrote:
Replacement Plan: If You purchased a Replacement Plan, in the event of a claim, We will replace the product with a new, rebuilt or refurbished product of equal or similar features and functionality or, at Our sole discretion, reimburse You for replacement of the product. Upon replacement of a product, We will have no further obligation to replace the product and You will not be entitled to make any further claims for its replacement.

Thank you for typing that in. That is exactly the terms of the plan I purchased.