“Camping World hell”

            Well where do I start? I went to camping world to find out about upgrading my trailers electrical system, charger, and converter on March 1^st.  It is an older trailer, and the unit that is in it is old, and parts are not available for it. My trailer will be available for work to be preformed for the month of March. When I arrived at camping world on 3/1/04 and waited in line for 20 min. I told the service writer this: “ I have an older trailer, that I would like to upgrade the converter/charger to a 7345 Parallax “ He told me that I must make an appointment for this work to be done, and I said ok, set me up for your first available appointment.

He set me up for an appointment on April 1^st.  Even though it was very inconvenient for me to bring it that day I was on time for my 10:00am appointment, (in fact I dropped the trailer off the night before) at 11:30 I asked when can you start on my trailer? He told me I needed to make an appointment. I told him I had one, and asked him what the tech found out. He then told me that the tech had looked at the trailer, and had advised him that the Parallax 7345 unit would fit, and was compatible with my wires. I questioned that the tech had looked inside of my trailer, because I had been in the trailer from 6am until 11:30 waiting for the tech. I asked the service writer when the tech had looked at it and he said, “the tech hooked up the trailer first thing this morning” (I did not tell him I was in the trailer). I said ok install it, and the service writer looked at me and asked when would you like to schedule an appointment to have this installed I told him I am here for an appointment to have it installed right now, install it! He told me they do not have the part in stock, and he added the part I need is nationally back ordered, and I can’t get it till June. I then was very frustrated, and I went home and called parallax. Parallax told me that the 7300RU was back ordered in January, but the 7345 unit I need is readily available.

 I called 4 other places in the Denver area all of which said they could get one installed within the next week, and one could even do it that day. So now I called Camping World back and asked why this part is not available? The service writer had been quick to tell me that the 7345 unit was back ordered. (He thought that 7345, and 7300RU are the same), the 7300RU is the guts of the 7345. The 7345 has the AC/DC panel boards attached, the 7300RU is a replacement Unit.

Well now that that is done, I tell camping world to order it on 4/1 and they said it would be here on 4/5. On 4/7 at 4:30pm I get a call that the “Parallax7300 inverter/charger unit” I ordered is in. (I ordered the 7345 converter/charger).

On 4/8 I went to camping world to pick up the part and install it my self. I am short on time and because Camping World could not call me back with a cost to install this unit, I must do it myself. When I got there I let the service writer know I was un-happy, and he gave me $30 off an already very inflated price of $289.

So now why was that so hard, you ask? Well, I take the product home to install. I have paid an electrical contractor (six Pack) to be on site while I install (so I don’t zap myself). We remove the old unit from the trailer, prepare all the wires, for the new unit. When I take the unit out of the box, it has a huge dent in the chassis, of the unit. Also the box had an invoice attached to the outside, that said it was ordered on 4/5 (the date I was promised to receive). So now I am back into the car to drive 20 miles to Camping World, when I arrive, a cashier barks at me for coming through the wrong door, with large heavy box. Then I go to the service line where I sit for almost 10 minutes while 3 different service writers are looking at what I thought were catalogs, but at a closer look,2 of them were looking at magazines. At this point the line is growing, so I asked when break time was up. I got a very young man who did not know the difference between AC inverters and DC converters, so I waited until the service writer that had helped me earlier was done with his break, retuned the dented converter. When the manager asked why I was returning the unit, I told him everything I have told here, and he thanked me, for bring this to his attention, and walked away. 

4/10/04 Today I received a new 7345 converter/charger, it took me just under 1 hour to uninstall the old converter/charger, and install the new one, as well as install an inverter with a hardwired ac outlet. Camping World said it would take them 2+ hours to install the inverter.

4/10/04 Called Camping World to see if they would sell me an 80amp fuse and holder for an inverter installation, the awnser I got was "I don't need to fuse the inverter because it has a fuse inside it." When I told him that "ALL hardwired accessories from the battery must have a fuse within 18 inches of the battery" he said "let me ask some one who knows" That person said that "I would be fine to use a  110amp class "T" fuse for my inverter install" When I told him that the manufacter of the inverter suggest a max of 80amp fuse, he said "110amp fuse will be fine in there"