Tom Raper RV's/ Camping World

camperforlife wrote:
f so, Marcus scored three very large-fairly well respected dealerships.

Lets just see how well they are respected 2 years from now!

Camping World Inc. is Acquiring Tom Raper RV

January 5, 2015 by RVBusiness Leave a Comment

Camping World Inc. and Good Sam Enterprises LLC announced that an agreement has been signed to acquire the existing dealership locations of Tom Raper RV in Richmond, Ind., and Fairfield and London, Ohio.

Over the next several months, plans are for the locations to undergo renovation to feature additional service bays, a Camping World retail store and state-of-the-art collision centers preparing the dealerships to join over 100 other Camping World SuperCenter locations across the U.S.

“Under David Bane’s leadership, Tom Raper RV has established itself as one of the most successful and well-known RV dealerships in the nation,” said Marcus Lemonis, chairman and CEO of Camping World and Good Sam. “We are pleased to begin the acquisition of their three dealerships and continue our market share expansion throughout the greater Midwest area.”

The acquisition of the Tom Raper RV dealerships are in line with Camping World’s future growth plans and the company expects to soon announce several additional markets of expansion throughout the country in 2015

I'm sorry, but Tom Raper RV lost my respect about 6 or 7 years ago. Whoever they've sold out to can't be any worse.

I've had decent Camping World experiences in Myrtle Beach and in NJ although in both cases I had to reach out to Marcus or his staff to make it happen...one just has to keep the eye on the ball 100% and not be afraid to escalate if a ball is dropped. The secret is not dropping the ball, something that some places have learned...and other places have not.

I used to live 25 miles from the Richmond, IN flagship store and would have never bought or get service from them. The parts dept was pretty good though.

I have a friend who lives a few miles from the Raper in London, Ohio and he said he would never take anything to them. Hearing that I was tickled to take mine back to the factory for repair.

I bought mine from the London store and have taken it back for repairs as well. To me they were no different then any other dealer/service center I have bought from and done business with in the past.

Sounds like Tom Raper isn't thought of very highly.

I guess this is great news then, because I've never heard of anyone being unhappy with Camping World sales or service. :W

"I've never heard of anyone being unhappy with Camping World sales or service."

Say what? Are you just kidding?

Raymon wrote:
"I've never heard of anyone being unhappy with Camping World sales or service."

Say what? Are you just kidding?

Notice the Winky! :W

Looks like Marcus wants to take over the RV sales business nation wide. Upside would be service across the country from the same company. Sort of like buying tires from Discount/Amercia's Tire, vs your local one store shop.

Now the challenge becomes to manage sales, parts and service at a level that satisfies your customers! Chris