The thought of enjoying retirement by striking out on the open road would appeal to many people, but a central Arkansas woman said that dream turned into a nightmare. Drendia Travers located and purchased her home-on-the-go at Gander RV on August 30, a brand-new 2021 fifth-wheel trailer. And there it sat for five months.
Sales documents, reported KARK-TV, show that the new trailer cost $57,300. Other add-ons, like gap, paint protection, and so on, brought the total of her loan up to $72,156. She traded in her older RV, which had a value of $22,500, plus $7,041 in state fees. Altogether, the purchase exceeded $100,000. Five months after her purchase, Travers said the RV has only left a trail of memories – but not the good kind – and five $500 monthly payments.
“It’s never left the lot,” she explained. “I’ve never taken possession of the trailer. I don’t even have the keys.”
What happened? How did the ordeal end? Click the video to find out.
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Most states have lemon laws, and companies have 30 day return policies, don’t take possession of any purchase until all is ready to go to your satisfaction, if not demand your down payment back and cancel the deal! Remember you are the buyer and have control of the deal, put everything in writing. If sales guys don’t go for it, walk away, and buy elsewhere.
Never, never go to Camping World.
Wait, they charged her the value of her trade-in? Weren’t they supposed to deduct that from the sell price of the new rig?
That’s what I saw too. ???????
Maybe she still owed on the trade?
Imagine what would have happened if she took possession of the unit. The big question is what will happen to this RV? I would guess it will be repaired, (hopefully correctly) and resold, if it was titled it would then be considered a used RV unless Gander fudges the title. Lord help the next person that buys it and drives it off the lot!
Goes back to what I say, a dealership is just a place to buy it, don’t depend on them for anything else.
That’s why it is just as much “a crap shoot” to buy a used RV as it is a new one.
People say…”I buy used because the first buyer worked out the bugs”.
More like they dumped the lemon RV because it was so bad.
Gander is owned by Camping World. The worst people to by an RV from.
Hmmmm. Why the headline, “Woman’s new RV turns into a nightmare”? Would anyone have thought, “Man’s new RV turns into a nightmare” was eye catching? Was it a nightmare because a woman/man made the purchase…? I bet not. So how about “New RV purchase turns into a nightmare” instead, and stick to the pertinent topics of caveat emptor and dealership service standards, please. Thx.
Settle down snowflake.
👎👎👎👎
The news story reports that Gander RV did nothing wrong….well at least legally. It’s amazing, however, how their lack of after-the-sale customer care was remedied as soon as they got a black eye via the television news cast! Suddenly what was right to do became a priority.
While the buyer may decide to abandon her plans to RV after that experience, if she does go to buy another one I caution her to take a knowledgeable RV buyer/negotiator with her. $15,000 in worthless add-ons, like paint protection, etc? Her salesman laughed all the way to the bank! Too bad one of the add-ons wasn’t scammer protection!
Her first and biggest mistake was going to Gander/Camping World. These people are predators of the worst kind. Should be shut down.
The numbers in the article don’t appear to add up. The trade in value should have been deducted from the total, leaving a total in the $60k area, not $100k.
But then it’s not as sensational journalusm
I thought the same thing, too, though once they cancelled the loan, it still left her out the value of her trade-in which they couldn’t physically give back so they had to pay her the trade-in value. It still doesn’t exactly add up, but I get the concept.
And it probably wouldn’t have been a problem if they had put some attention to fixing the identified problems (which should have been done before a sale). If they had, she probably would have taken possession and the world would have moved on. But they didn’t do anything for six months after the sale. That’s ridiculous. And it doesn’t sound like they had any plans to do anything to make it road worthy. They ripped her off from start to finish, including selling her a bunch of crap add-ons and probably giving her a bad deal on her trade-in. The dealer and everyone associated with this – right up to LemonLord Lemonis should be ashamed.
Or charged with fraud
For all the doubting Thomas’s Gander is part of Marcus Lemonis’s companies.
Yup. The same guy who owns Camping World. Worst company to buy an RV from.
Still not sure why this is a story. She claimed she didn’t see the issues because she was legally blind at the time. Duh. That’s truly buying sight unseen. She as the buyer has the obligation of due diligence – buyer beware. She’s lucky her ignorance didn’t cause her to be stuck with problems. But I hesitate to blame the dealer.
Wow! With your low expectation of a new RV actually operating properly and your lack of compassion, I can only assume you’re an RV salesman.
Bingo!
????? Juls, Her old trade in was gone, she never got possession of the RV, not even the keys. Gander had her old and new RV, she had nothing but to pay monthly payments. It doesn’t make any difference what disabilities she may have. Gander had both of her “homes” and she was still paying loan payments. Sorry, I can see no other way than to blame the dealer.
So true
Legally blind? How did she find and get to the dealership?
You’ve obviously never had any dealings with Gander/Camping World. Every location is as crooked as the day is long. Yes, in this case, blame the dealer.
Corporate greed from the same companies which received the largest tax break ever in 2017.
Exactly Ron.
But so many will just yell…”Buyer beware”. “Customer’s fault”.
Not surprised, but until governments step in to regulate these manufacturers and the manufacturers are held responsible for the junk they keep rolling out, nothing will change.
When a person buys a new product, what ever it may be. There needs to be a minimum amount of time with no issues with the product, and if issues arrive in that time, there needs to be a maximum amount of time given to repair or replace the unit.
That will force the quality issues with the manufacturers and give us the assurance that what we buy and pay for has at least some legal guarantees that it will work like it should worry free for a stated period of time.
Too much junk being built, too expensive and no protection for consumers.
Government has a responsibility to protect it’s people from such things.
So sorry that she had a bad experience, but not really surprised. Many buyers have expressed their dissatisfaction & disappointment with the 2021 models from various RV manufacturers. I’m very happy to hear that she got a full refund!