Camping World is facing serious backlash after a TV exposé revealed troubling stories from customers of its North Charleston, South Carolina, dealership. The report details the experiences of several RV buyers, including a senior citizen and a young couple, who encountered defective RVs, poor customer service, and unsatisfactory repairs. With numerous lawsuits filed and a disappointing “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau, Camping World’s reputation is taking a major hit.
Three customers’ Camping World rip-off experiences detailed in exposé
WCSC-TV, also known as Live 5 News, is based in Charleston, South Carolina. 267,000 viewers tune in each week, and some 2.1 million folks visit its website. So when the station ran an exposé on Camping World practices, Marcus Lemonis, the company’s CEO, must have felt a bit of a pinch. The real-life experiences of unhappy customers may well warn potential buyers to be more than beware. Instead, “Be running the other way.”
Live 5 News spotlighted the experiences of three RV buyers who claim that Camping World’s North Charleston, South Carolina, outlet ripped them off in a big way. A senior citizen, Dorothy Simms, saved up all her money to buy an RV to start the full-time RV lifestyle last November. She says Camping World sold her a bill of goods—an RV full of cracks, leaks, holes, and rust. After she complained, the dealership “repaired” her rig, returning it with “everything back in working condition.”
It was in “working condition,” provided Dorothy didn’t mind the leaking shower that flooded the bedroom, producing enough vapor to grow mold on her brand-new mattress. The TV station reported, “‘I could see spots of mold already forming on the brand-new mattress, brand-new out the box; this has been less than a month,’ Simms’ daughter, Shanna Brogdon, said.”
Back to the dealership again. Staff wouldn’t acknowledge the mold on the mattress. The company evidently bought back the rig—but not for the full price she paid. If it weren’t for Shanna, Dorothy’s daughter, the full-time RVer wannabe would have no place to live.
Young couple’s dream dashed
But the Camping World rip-off saga doesn’t just affect older customers. A young couple, Jason and Carol Santore, had big plans for their future. They sold what they could, and bought land to develop Airbnb rentals. They bought an RV from the North Charleston dealership to live in.
Speaking of their dream, Carol told the news station, “‘It got abruptly destroyed, stopped in its tracks because of owning this camper. It was either we lived in a broken camper or we had a roof over our head.’” The Santores took their rig back to Camping World because of a seemingly endless series of problems. The slide-out quit working. The shower developed a crack. Interior molding fell off. The entry door refused to work.
The young couple tried working with Camping World, but described they got nothing in return but a series of empty promises and failed communication. “‘We were the ones that got screwed in the end, but all we wanted was our money back for what we paid for,’” Carol Santore told the station’s reporter.
“Screwed,” indeed. When the couple returned the failing RV, Camping World gave back little of what the Santores paid for it. Is it a Camping World rip-off?
Lawsuits, and an “F” rating
Live 5 News interviewed an attorney, Josh Salvin, for the exposé. Salvin’s clients include more than half a dozen North Charleston Camping World clients. He told the station that Dorothy Simms’ experience isn’t unusual. “‘It falls into the same repeating trends of unsafe campers, then repairs that take far too long,” Salvin said in the interview. “‘Oftentimes, the campers are returned to the client still having problems and the customer has to go back again.’”
More than a dozen lawsuits against Camping World have been filed in Charleston County, South Carolina. Many claim the company knew about defects before the customer ever signed on the dotted line. The Better Business Bureau that serves the area reports that the North Charleston Camping World has an F rating with 1,228 complaints filed against the business. It’s a symptom of a Camping World rip-off.
When the TV station made a personal visit to the dealership to make inquiries, reporters were told they’d need to schedule an interview to get comments. Later, reporters were told by phone that the company has no comment.
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##RVT1201b
There needs to be more reports like this done and not just on Camping World. Camping World has very high numbers of complaints, but they also have the highest volume. These reports need to go deeper and determine if it was Camping World’s fault or did it begin with the manufacturer of the RVs.
Other dealers are just as bad if not worse. In my area, the number of complaints and law suits were so high against a dealership that they actually changed their name. I can only imagine it was an attempt to move away from their previous name that was in the papers a lot and under Attorney General investigations.
I don’t see anything changing until there are codes for building these RVs.
Codes you will not see.. RV manufacurers are only interested in one thing. Money. Take the BS from Alliance, the new darling of the industry 3 years ago.. they have many issues from the plant.. I even believe customer service that seemed to be ok at first is waning.. Now the new darling is Brinkley.. I have been in a few that owners let me peek at.. I would not be buying
Jim, I agree on your two examples. We looked at a new Alliance 5ver and the roof looked like some kind of wrinkled up canvas. In decades of owning RVs, I’ve never seen a roof like that!
Have also looked at Brinkley. What we saw was cosmetic defects like warped wood or gaps between moldings. But if the builders don’t care about the little stuff, it makes me worry about what I can’t see.
My experiences with Camping World involve them telling me that the towing capacity of my tow vehicle should only be considered a guide and the manufacturers stated capacity is far lower than what the vehicle can tow. The salesman told me that the manufacturers do that so they can upsell to a more expensive tow vehicle. Needless to say, we walked out. We got a call from the sale manager a later in the day trying to convince us that we needed to come back. We said no as the salesman outright lied to us and we had no confidence we would be told the truth on any other aspects of a sale.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! How cool that the television station teported the level of “service” one can expect from the North Charleston CW! Have a great day and safe travels!
CW is good for some accessories. I like to shop the clearance items at CW. I’d never consider buying a RV from CW!
It’s good to see Camping World is getting recognition for what they deserve. Poor quality and ripping people off. If they changed their ways, they would have more business and make more money.
With a little research, any potential customer of Camping World could easily see that they are not a reputable company. Yet it seems thousands, maybe millions, continue to put money in Lemonis’ pocket. Why? The only way to keep them from swallowing up all their competitors is to buy from those competitors. Boycott Camping World. I won’t spend a dime there even though they are the closest dealer/store to me.
At some point you have to put this on the customers. I research the BBB, look at customer reviews and/or get referrals from people I know. Any of that kind of research on CW would raise all sorts of red flags
camping World, same old story with no solution
One time a long time ago I did enjoy a free night parking at their Burlington, Wa. dealership.
Someone left the compressor on and it started now and then, a wake -up for sure. But, Free, what the heck. I’m frugal or cheap…I do survive…..C/W? Never again.
Perhaps #47 should give Lemonis a cabinet job…he would fit right in.
So would you
That’s very rude.
I chuckled when I read this but we should keep political comments out and focus on the subject.
Make it co- vice president…..Where is the help from these convicted crooks?….They all need to be Keel hauled.
I purchased a Rockwood Ultra Lite 2606WS in 2018 from Camping World. Before I signed the paperwork, I informed the dealer that upon my inspection of the unit, if there were any defects the contract would be null and void. I brought along my inspector who went over it with a fine tooth comb. Everything was good.
After about 3 months, a ceiling exhaust fan went out. I contacted them and made an appointment to have it replaced. They checked it out and said that I would have to make another appointment as they didn’t have the part. I went to the manager and told him he had 30 minutes to find and replace the part. He did and fired the service rep. It was a 4 hour drive to them.
I agree with everything said in the comments. However, I really wish the article would also mention the poor quality of RV manufacturing, along with poor dealerships (like CW). Poor trailer and RV manufacturing is a scourge, and it needs to be exposed as well. It would have been a good addition to this article by the journalists from the news station, if they had done a little deeper research. In other words, there is a lot more going on than bad dealership customer service in the camping universe. It would be nice if, particularly, new customers were made aware.
There is a problem with the quality of the RV’s being made.
However, Camping World is still to blame for selling RV’s with known problems. And yes, they knew about the problems and should have addressed them before they were put on the sales lot.
Marcus’ mindset is to sell and then put the screws to the customer.
The dealers act this way because they are allowed to by the company.
CW bought out a great dealer (retired) near me and immediately replaced most of the staff so they could be trained HIS way.
I have seen trailers delivered to my privately owned dealer. The service manager does a preliminary visual inspection, then the trailer is put aside for a full inspection.
I agree with shoddiness of CW. Just wish they’d talk about shoddiness of the manufacturers too.
60 minutes use to expose unscrupulous manufacturing and dealers like CW. Now 60 minutes has lost it’s muck racking nerve and specializes in soft, non-offensive stories.
Since we all know how bad Camping world is, what is it that they do to continue to draw in customers? Are their prices better for new units? Something lets them continue to grow ever larger!
Here is my take on all of this
1- Everyone in the RV industry knows about Camping World and their very poor quality.
2- Everyone in the RV world also know that the units (from pull behinds to multimillion dollar Class A’s) are all made very poorly with absolutely zero quality oversight.
One solution that I discovered is not only what you purchase, but who you purchase it from. May I strongly suggest NIRVC (National Indoor RV Company). While they cannot dictate the quality coming from the manufacturers, they WILL make sure your coach is as error free as is humanly possible before you take possession. If something is discovered, they will correct it ASAP.
CW has been a big problem for a very long time. This area hit the news but how long will the expose last?
CW purchased the Lazy Days near me in TN. LD wasn’t the best as we tried to deal with them but their sales tactics were worse than a used car salesman. Now I expect the worst and probably won’t ever visit this dealer for anything. They can’t possibly last very long as their huge inventory is just sitting and getting older by the day.