Explanation Of Counter Below
Well we are finally on the road again after almost a 3 month layover in New Hampshire. We arrived in N.H. on May 13th and finally got back on the road on August, 9th (we had planned to leave in early July). Why so long you might ask. Well, let me tell you.
I am nearly 70 years old and have bought a lot of cars, trucks, boats and RV's over the years but dealing with Campers Inn RV in Merrimack, NH was the single worst customer service experience I have ever had - there is not a close second. We purchased a new Grand Design 337RLS from them on May 19th, 2017. From that date to August 9th, when we got the camper back - a total of 81 days, we had possession of it for a total of 12 days. Here is a brief chronology of what transpired.
- Purchased camper on May 19th
- Not able to take possession of it until June 9th (three weeks) - they were busy and that was the soonest they could schedule the dealer prep and our orientation - dealer prep takes just a few hours and our orientation took 45 minutes
- June 9th to June 20th - took a 10 day trip to a campground in Maine and to Acadia National Park (see previous post) - during this trip we discovered a problem with the convection oven and the wheel bearing seals.
- On our way back to NH from Maine on June 20th we called Campers Inn to see if we could drop the camper off for warranty repair to save unhooking it and re-hooking it at our storage facility - were told Campers Inn was too busy and had no room - we were told to bring it in on June 23rd.
- June 23rd to July 13th - At Campers Inn for warranty repairs - during this period we called many times and left 20+ messages for them to call us back so we could find out the status of the warranty work - not once, let me repeat - NOT ONCE DID THEY RETURN OUR CALLS. On the rare occasion when we got through to somebody we would get some vague answer of what was going on - the best we could find out was that the replacement convection oven was back ordered but they didn't know if it would be weeks or months before it would be available. We also found out that the bearing seals leaked so bad that they would also have to replace the brakes as they had been contaminated. The wheel bearing work was finally done on July 12th and 13th - we decided we would deal with the convection oven at a later date since we couldn't get an answer on it.
- July 13th - we called them (note - they didn't call us) and were told our RV was ready for pickup - we arrived in the afternoon to pick it up with the plan to get on the road again within a day or 2. Can you believe that when we went to pick it up, it had gouges down the side on the left rear and a damaged window - they didn't tell us about this - we had to discover it on our own - yet two of their techs told us they noticed the damage that morning. After a discussion with the service manager, he made arrangements with an RV body shop in the next town to make the repairs which included repainting one side of the RV, replacing all the decals on that side and replacing a window.
- July 19th - wrote and mailed a 4 page complaint letter to the General Manager of Campers Inn of Merrimack, NH with copies (mailed in separate envelopes) to the Sales Manager and the Service Manager (it is similar to this post with more detail - the story is actually a little worse than I am painting it here).
- August 8th - body work is finally done and the Convection oven magically showed up on the last day and was replaced.
- August 9 - Picked up RV at body shop and left directly from there for New York (The body shop was great by the way - highly recommended - Baileys Truck & RV Body Shop, Amherst, NH). Campers Inn could learn something about customer service from them.
NOTE: I HAVE YET TO GET A RESPONSE FROM ANYONE FROM THE 4 PAGE LETTER - NOT EVEN A SORRY FOR YOUR TROUBLE - NOTHING!
We are not new to RVing and we expect to have some issues with a new RV - it is expected and not a surprise - we are not upset about this. The Grand Design, Reflection 337RLS seems to be a decent RV although we haven't had much experience with it yet. What we are upset about is the time it takes to get anything done at Campers Inn and the unbelievable poor communication and non-existent customer service.
So, that is how we got from May 19 to August 9th - there were many other issues but this was the gist of it.
The counter at the top of the page is from the date I mailed the complaint letter to Campers Inn - I might put it at the top of every blog post for the immediate future until I get tired of it.
All I will say is that if you know someone wanting to buy an RV - make sure they do their homework before they go to any Campers Inn - I didn't and paid the price for it. They do have a lot of negative reviews on many forums including the Better Business Bureau which gives them a D- (1.2 Stars) rating. Their own Facebook page, on which there are many horror stories, only gives them a 2.9 star rating - yet they rate themselves as a 5 Star organization (see 2nd image below).
From the BBB Web Site (8/12/2017 snapshot)
Their Own Facebook Page - 2.9 Stars (8/12/2017 snapshot)
Large Sign Over Their Service Desk - talk about a management pipedream
At this point I am just happy we have our RV back and have put several hundred miles between us and Campers Inn of Merrimack, New Hampshire.
I will post an update of our travels in a couple days - in a nutshell we left New Hampshire on the 9th and spent one night at the Saratoga Springs Casino (free overnight RV parking) in Saratoga Springs, New York. We then spent one night at Tioga Downs Casino in Nichols, NY (also free overnight RV parking). We are now at Ives Run Campground, a very nice Army Corps Of Engineers Campground in Tioga, Pennsylvania for eight days and will be heading to Ohio, Michigan, and the Michigan Upper Peninsula after that.
