The responses below are from two RV industry leaders in response to RVtravel.com editor Chuck Woodbury’s editorial in issue 752 of the RV Travel Newsletter.
From Paul Bambei, President of the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC)
There’s no doubt campgrounds are filling fast across the US due to the enormous popularity of camping in the great outdoors and to find the ones that match up to a travelers specific amenity wish-list can be a difficult process. ARVC, the trade association that represents over 3000 mostly-private member parks, recommends using our exclusive consumer website www.gocampingamerica.com to make life a little easier. It’s a proprietary website that includes only ARVC member park profiles, the cream of the crop in this country IMHO, that lets visitors search by location and the amenities they’re looking for, allowing them to hone in on exactly the kind of park that suits them best. Give it a try!
From Frank Hugelmeyer, president of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA
Thanks for your note, we appreciate all you do to provide RVers with the latest news, information and travel advice. The issue of product quality and customer service is top of mind in the RV industry, and there is significant attention and investment being given to these important areas. As in every industry, quality is both a competitive issue and a subjective one – it differs by customer and it differs by producer – but no industry can afford to understate its importance.
The RV industry is especially interested in keeping up with consumer sentiment on the areas of product satisfaction and experience. We recently commissioned the “Go RVing Communications Planning Study” with Nielsen, the largest consumer perception research we’ve conducted in over 10 years. We queried more than 2,500 current and prospective RVers with specific questions related to these subjects. While we plan to release the findings in the coming months, I would like to share some top-line data.
When current RVers were asked to rate their overall experience with their RVs, 88% responded good, very good, or excellent, with 10% saying fair and 2% responding poor. Additionally, when asked to rate how their actual experience of owning their current RV compared with what they expected when they acquired the vehicle, 33% said their actual experience exceeded expectations, 61% said it met them, and only 6% said their expectations were not met.
While these numbers are positive, we know the industry faces some issues on quality and customer service, and that is why everyone across the board – manufacturers, suppliers, dealers and campgrounds – is working hard to create the best consumer experience possible. Together, our mission is to build value for the customer, and to constantly better our efforts in order to ensure that future generations continue to pursue and enjoy the RV lifestyle.
Thank you for the opportunity to weigh in on these key topics.
I am a nobody, no professional experience in polling people. But I do know you can get any type response you want depending on what and how the questions were asked.
As for my listening to poll results at maybe 50%.
Let me lift out two quotes from Mr. Bambei’s reply above.
“overall experience with their RVs, 88% responded good, very good, or excellent”
” we know the industry faces some issues on quality”
These two responses are diametrically opposed. It calls into question the credibility of the response.
The bottom line as long as customers are going to buy new RV’s in record numbers despite the shoddy workmanship nothing will change. The only pressure comes from the pocketbook.
I have yet to read someone moan about quality and end by saying I decided the RV lifestyle is not for me so therefore I will not buy one. People moan but they still buy and as long as that occurs nothing will change.
Managing an rv park in Arizona, people tell me each year how cheap the rvs are that are being built.
Thor’s name comes up A LOT!!
The alleged comments about user satisfaction is not what I am hearing from fellow-RV’ers and it is certainly not something that I have experienced. As soon as Mike Thompson RV in Colton, California got me off the lot, they could care less about me or my coach. For the first year I could not use the coach for over 6 months. Mike Thompson was unsympathetic and incompetent. Do not purchase ANYTHING from Mike Thompson RV in Colton, California.
RVTravel.com : Keep your editorials coming. Whatever pressure you can bring upon the manufacturers (especially) and Parks, as well as other RV suppliers will help over the long haul until the RV public gets its own superman such as the automobile public has in the NATSB (auto safety recalls). The two industry responses you received are not worth much since they are paid by their members who are not the buying public. I am on my third RV and have experienced all that your readers have, truly the large majority of the manufacturers and Park owners don’t care. Public power is great, but it has to be channeled and I don’t no how that can be done except through voices like yours and organizations like RV Reviews. RV Reviews works well for those who stay at a Park then send in a sound, detailed review after their stay. It has worked very well for me. I have to believe that Park owners concerned about their Park will, over time, make changes. We need something like that to let the public and manufacturers know about the problems with their products.