Largest RV manufacturer has ‘no one to talk to about customer service issues.’ REALLY?

In this column, we summarize some of your emails and comments regarding RV service centers and repairs (we asked you to submit your stories here). We’ll tell you all: the best, the good, the bad and the ugly. At the end of this article, you’ll find a place to submit your own comments. I encourage you to do so.

Keep in mind, we typically only present one side of the story in most of these. Also, any remarks about service centers and mobile techs mentioned are the opinions of our readers and not necessarily RVtravel.com. 

Here’s what you had to say:

“If you’re not happy, I’m not happy” call line not helping

Patti W. wrote to us about their Thor Windsport, lack of service and expired warranty. “We purchased our Thor Windsport in March of 2023. Every time we took it out we had big problems and small issues. We have had large flooding, jacks not working, awning arm broken, sensors not working… about 38 issues in all. It has spent more time in the shop than it has with us. My warranty is now up and it has been sitting in the shop for the last 3 months. The Thor customer service rep promised he would stay on top of this and get it done. Ten days after telling me this, he still had not spoken to Camping World. Now he is not even answering my emails.

“Thor won’t let me speak to a supervisor and says, ‘It’s not protocol’. In fairness, Thor blames Camping World and Camping World blames Thor. I’ve called Marcus Lemonis’ line— ‘If you’re not happy, I’m not happy’—and they can’t help me; they have no way to speak to anyone at Thor. Really? I don’t believe that for one minute. I’m contemplating hiring an attorney.”

Barnes Collision Repair Center is awesome

Ken J. told us about an outstanding service center and repair tech. “My go-to repair shop is Barnes Collision Repair Center in Zebulon, NC. The technician, Nick, is awesome to work with. He has replaced four slide motors, replaced slide blocks, repaired coax cable problems, and repainted the entire right side after my class A was sideswiped while parked in an RV park. The entire staff at Barnes is conscientious and knowledgeable. I am very thankful for all the work they have done for me.”

Reader disagrees with calling this column “alarmist BS”

Bryan C. said that he doesn’t believe that this column is “alarmist BS”, as it was called in a previous column. He says, “I cannot disagree more with calling this column ‘alarmist BS!’ For anyone who has an RV and has had few to no problems with and excellent service from your dealer, that is awesome, and I am truly happy for you. However, there are too many people paying for horrible products and getting awful service. I call it for what it is—to me, this is the equivalent of the U.S. auto industry in the ’70s. Unfortunately, I don’t think we will have similar innovators come in to force improvement [in the RV industry].”

Quality, warranty, and service stories are real!

Robert H. confirms the view of many readers that the RV service issues are real. He wrote, “I’m surprised that anyone who has been around RVs feels that the quality/ warranty/ service stories aren’t real. I’ve seen and experienced how bad it is now with the big dealers (long story from several years ago) and know what it was like 20+ years ago. I’ll never deal with the major dealer groups ever again. For me, it’s the family-owned dealers who have been the best overall.

“If you happen to go to a factory service center, things will get fixed. We happened to be in Middlebury, IN, in the early 2000s and stopped at the Coachmen RV service center to have something looked at. They were amazing! They fixed the problem and found several other things we had not noticed and fixed them!”

Editor’s comment: We had a 2004 Coachmen and it was the least problematic motorhome we have ever had! Could get any issue fixed anywhere, anytime. A dealer even showed my husband how to fix the slide out and gave him the bolts to do it if it ever happened again. 

New RV and ended up fixing the issues myself

Fred G. bought a new RV and after three weeks, items were still not fixed correctly. He wrote, “I bought a brand-new Keystone Sprinter fifth wheel from Camping World in Portland, Oregon, in 2020. Did the walk-through and found many faults. Made a list, 3 weeks later finally finished. One of the issues was the shower pan was discolored and warped, so they replaced it, but they used the same wall plugs that, of course, broke when pulled out. Well, by the time I got home, 30 minutes away, there were a dozen of them lying on the floor pan. Just about every other repair was less than half-assed. I fixed everything myself.”

Bad engineering and workmanship

Jackie W. wrote that their RV sat for two months with nothing being done about the bad workmanship on it. “Bought a 2-year-old fifth wheel from Camping World in NC. We had a generator installed and was told everything worked. It did until our first trip out, when the front closet clothes rod fell. Bad engineering. Closet doors came off runners. Bad engineering. Then nightmares started. The slides wouldn’t work right. After a rip-off for a cash brake job, we took a trip to their major repair shop. The slides still didn’t work right (bad engineering and workmanship) and the slides were in worse shape than when they went there. Parts were left off the repair, which caused additional damage. The last straw was when it sat in their shop for two months and they did nothing. Just ask me if they can sell or service another RV for me!”

Editor’s note

Note from RVtravel.com: If hiring a mobile tech, a small or mega service center, make sure that they are experienced in the issue and have insurance in case something goes wrong. Also, check their warranty policy on the work they perform. Check reviews too and read between the lines—if the review sounds way too good to be true it might be. Compare with several reviews and not just the ones on their website.

Questions for you about RV service

We’ll continue to share stories of your RV service experiences. We want to know:

• Have you had good luck with great service or not so much?
• Did you get good service from knowledgeable technicians?
• Are you waiting to get into a service center or have a mobile tech come out?
• What has been the average time to get an appointment?
• Has your RV been in a service center for a while?
• Are you able to get any mobile techs to come out?
• Are the service centers able to get parts?
• When you do get the repairs done, is the price reasonable?

Please fill out the form below and tell us what your experiences have been like. It can be a horror story, an opinion about what’s going on, a positive experience, or anything else related to the topic. We want to know the great, the good, the bad, and the ugly!

Check back next week for more on RV service centers. See you then.

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