Complaint Review: Camping World - St. Augustine Florida

We were on our way to Florida in our RV when the refrigerator stopped working.  We called several Camping World's along our route to find one that could fix our refrigerator.  Our extended warranty was purhased through Camping World so we thought it was best to use them for the repair.  We fetoured our route to go to St Augustine Florida Camping World because they could get it right in to be looked at, which they did.  

The refrigerator was still under an extended warranty and they said that they had a great relationship with the company and the most likely outcome would be a new refrigerator but they wouldn't know until the next morning.  We could not stay there so we took found a campground about 10 miles away until the next day.  The next day was Friday, and after waiting at the CW all day we were told that they didn't have any answers and probably wouldn't until the next week. There were no campsites available in that area and we ended-up going over 100 miles away.  

The next week we were told that the insurance company only ok'ed the repairs, so they had ordered the parts.  The parts were promised to be there by the end of the week.  That didn't happen.  Many phone calls later and about 3 weeks of badgering them the parts that were needed were there.  Oh by the way during this time we learned that just because you go to one Camping World doesn't mean that other CW's reciprocate as we had a CW less than a mile from us and the work couldn't be done there.  So we drove back to Camping World St Augustine, the parts were replaced and another day and night was spent there before we were told that everything was supposedly good.  

So after being given the ok to leave we headed back south to the campground.  By the time we got there the refrigerator was about 140 degrees!  The inside plastic had warped and we immediately turned the refrigerator off.  We called St Augustine and they said they must have received a bad coil unit but fortunately they had another one.  The next day we drove back up to Camping World, St Augustine and had that replaced.  Once again another day and night and everything seemed fine and CW checked it out and sent us back south.  

The following day we realized that ice maker wasn't working.  We called them back multiple times and finally got someone to return our call and made another appointment.  We were now 5 weeks without a fully operational refrigerator/freezer and my husband was about at the end of his rope dealing with these people, who not only wouldn't return telephone calls, but were incompetent with the repair.  It had become obvious to us that they really only wanted to put in a new refrigerator and when that didn't happen they really didn't care about the repairs.  So the repairs cost the insurance company almost $3000 and although we only had a $50 deductible Camping World charged us an additional $400 plus dollars as shipping charges on the parts.   RIP-OFF!  

So between the insurance company and us Camping World had received nearly $3500, we had driven over 500 miles having it serviced and it still wasn't fixed!

Back to the saga.  The freezer was still not working, we got an appointment for the following week.  In the meantime and while waiting for our appointment day, my husband started doing some research on the ice maker and what could possibly make it not work.  After trouble shooting it, he and a fellow RV'er who just happened to be a master electrician discovered that it was the switch in the ice maker unit itself.  At this point we are due to take our motorhome back to St Augustine in two days so my husband then called Camping World to make sure that they had either the ice maker unit or the parts needed to fix it, He had the part numbers etc., upon calling and he found out from the parts department that they didn't have the ice maker or the parts, but the service manager insisted that we drive back up there for our appointment so they could confirm that was the problem, and if it was it would be approximately $250 for the replacement ice maker and labor cost.  Needless to say we weren't driving another 250 miles or so roundtrip when we all ready knew they didn't have what was needed to fix it.  So my husband and the other RV'er called a local RV repair shop and were told to go to Home Depot and buy the entire ice maker unit for $99, which they did and which fixed the ice maker for $115 with tax and about 15 minutes of labor.

By now it was time to head north.  Upon disconnecting the refrigerator from 110 power we realize that Camping World must have either put in an incorrect switch or a defective switch because our refrigerator no longer automatically switches from 110 to 12 volt or to lp gas as it had before this fiasco with Camping World.  Fortunately it does work manually and we will have that fixed, but NOT by Camping World.

This was our third experience with Camping World, and I highly recommend to anyone and everyone STEER CLEAR, as we have never had a satisfactory experience with Camping World.