Camping World review: RV sales and service

Marcus Lemonis CEO
Camping World
[protected]@campingworld.com

Dear Mr. Lemonis,

This is Dave and Carol Messner and we have been working with various Camping World’s since last April (2024) on our first ever purchase of a RV for traveling the Eastern Portion of the USA for the next 3+ years.
This letter will explain our Stress, Frustration, and disappointment's we have had since April and are still having? We started this Journey in Monticello MN at our local Camping World when we purchased a new 2023 Cougar 5th wheel RV made by Keystone. We wanted to purchase a newer RV that would give us little or no problems. We even purchased your Good Sam Elite warranty to help us with any repairs not covered by the factory warranty. As it turned out we had purchased a lemon RV with many issues.
If I could start all over it would not include purchasing a RV from Camping World. The reasons are many but include too expensive, lack of support during the whole process, the dealer prep money I paid them was for nothing, warranty work after purchase took way to long and we had to start our 3 yr travels with most issues still open.
As a result, we had to battle Camping Worlds Sales, Parts, and Service departments from Minnesota and throughout our whole trip into Florida. We had warranty and shipping issues and we would have to travel out our way to get to a dealership for this warranty work. This cost us money, stress, and time. We had already paid for our RV parks and ended up in a Motel for a couple of days multiple times. And the additional cost for fuel was also expensive.
When we got to Summerfield, FL. In early September I finally was fed up and told this dealership I did not want this RV any longer and we started to look for something else.
They had a 2021 Keystone Raptor Toy Hauler that we decided to trade our Cougar in on. After much negotiations we purchased it and had to pay extra even thou we were buying something two years older. There were many issues and they had agreed to fix most. I asked how all these items could be bad when I paid them a lot of money for what should be a clean and functional RV. I even brought up the additional cost for dealer prep which should have caught most of these problems? They started fixing these items, some at their expense and many more with my Good Sam Elite Warranty I paid for on this unit also. The Warranty company even asked me if Camping World had done their job in the first place. I told them I believe so but soon realized they had not. We were only 4 days into the sale and the paperwork was not complete or processed. My wife and I had transferred all of our personal items from one RV to another at their shop while they were still working on issues. I again was so upset that I told them to take this unit back and we started to look for another RV.
We did find another Toy Hauler, a 2021 Forest River Rogue Model Toy Hauler. Again, I had to argue about trade-in and sell pricing. Still Used and two years older and we had to again add money to this purchase? At this point I was so far in the hole and it was difficult to realize how much we had spent and what we could show for it. We again had to transfer all our personal items from one unit to another We just wanted to enjoy our RV travels without any major issues. I again purchased the Elite warranty coverage which they used to fix many of these items that were bad. These items again should have been repaired before selling.
I asked for a meeting with the store manager to review everything I mentioned above. He came on like a jerk until I told him to stop and act civil while we try to make things right. He even told me he lost money each time we switched RV’s. I told him that was [censored] and the only one who took it in the BUTT was me. The only one who came out OK on these three purchases was Camping World and Good Sam. During our Travels and talking with other campers most all say to stay away from Camping World. I do not believe that. I believe that I just got some lemon RVs along with two Camping Worlds that did not take care of us as well as they should have?
We sold our home in Minnesota to become full time RVers so we had no other options but to try and make this right by hoping to get a RV that would work well for us. So here we are with a 2021 Forest River Toy Hauler with many issues That we ended up spending $140,000 for and is worth only $50,000. I have purchased three 5th wheels during the last eleven months and all we have to show for it is this unit. I will include a spreadsheet showing all my money spent and what this unit is worth. We even had our 2020 F450 Truck breakdown about 30 miles from Tallahassee FL on January 1st 2025. I called our Good Sam coverage number eleven times while trying to get a tow.
I had even found a towing company but my Good Sam coverage would not use them? This all started about 1PM and i finally Hired this company to tow my truck and RV, so much for my very expensive coverage? This was very dangerous and I had to send my wife and two dogs to a motel using an expensive Uber ride. While I waited for a tow, 8 hours later. This whole ordeal was very dangerous and stressful.
I am 76 yrs old with many health issues that are only giving me the next 4-5 yrs to take this journey with my wife. My 73 year old Wife also has some major health issues and now is the time for her also. We are first time RVers and just want to be able to enjoy our travels, instead of our problems so far. I really feel we were taken advantage of while thinking they were trying to treat us right. Boy, was I wrong and have paid $$$ for it.
I am asking Camping World, Keystone and Good Sam to help make this right by taking back this RV and replacing it with a newer RV with no issues, it would not have to be a 5th wheel! We wanted to by something better but had a budget to maintain. As it turned out we spent enough to buy that Class A Toy Hauler I wanted but could not afford!

Regards,
David

CC: Better Business Bureau