Camping World RV Sales — Local services in French Camp

A dishonest and predatory experience. I wanted to document everything so others could be cautious and warned. Good luck!

Arrived on a Sunday looking for a used camper as our first RV. Went from 30k to Price finally agreed on was $22k out the door. They wanted us to put $7500 down. We were also told that we would have to wait a week because that was the only time they had available for their financing guy. We were scheduled to meet back there the following Saturday. We were told that there is a $3,000 “platinum inspection fee” to get our camper ready.

We Get a call on Wednesday that states their bank will only give us a $10k loan and we need to put down $4000 more cash for the sale which would be $11,500 now upfront. We say no thanks and are ok walking away. The store manager Larry then offers a $3k discount on the price. So the terms that I explicitly stated multiple times to understand correctly were $8500 cash down total and $10k loan. We had already paid $5k for them to start getting the camper ready. I spoke with store manager Larry on Friday to make sure we were all on the same page.

We show up Saturday at 2:30pm. We get there and are told that the weight distribution hitch that was promised wouldn’t be in until Tuesday and we could pick up trailer then but to do all the financing and pay now. I said no, I can come back in on Tuesday when it’s all ready to go and sign the deal. I also told them it was lousy they pulling this on us when he knew yesterday the trailer wasn’t ready. Then magically they find the right hitch sitting in the middle of their store floor and starts installing.

While the guy is installing the hitch, we are given a clip board to write down problems we see with the camper and then given a tour to go over everything inside and outside. We walk over to camper where locks aren’t locking, lights don’t work, stabilizer jack isn’t coming down, bathroom fan is broken. And that’s just the stuff we noticed and have no camper experience. But wait… we paid $3,000 for a “platinum inspection”. The floor wasn’t even swept. In all 7 things that caught our eye were written down. So nothing was done for this camper until we got there, don’t pay the “inspection fee”. They took $3k off the list price and pretended to insert this fee instead. All the money is going to the same place, they are just trying to make you feel justified when it’s just a tactic for them to keep $3k more.

From 2:30-3:30 was our inspection and the guy who walked through the camper with us was very helpful. 3:30 they sat us in a room with a bottle of water and some cookies. We waited and At 5pm I was now getting frustrated. They gave me excuse it was because we had changed our pickup time. At 5:30pm I told them that we were going home. Then the manager said that he would have the finance guy come talk to us now. As we are being walked to finance office we see a couple come out and heard the finance guy tell manger that they decided not to take it. So another dissatisfied customer.

We get in the room and he starts by saying “good news we got your loan approved for $14000 and it’s $220 a month for 15 years. That price includes our $4,000 top tier warranty which is good for 4 years.”

Huh

We get up and walk out.

The store manager comes out and asks what happened. I’m upfront with both guys and tell them that they tried to pull a bait and switch and that it’s dishonest. The finance guy is continuing to argue. Then he finally says “but i’ll do whatever the store manager says”. So the manager says “give it to them for the terms we agreed on”.

Now that everyone is on the same page and hands are shook to the agreement I decide to move forward. It’s now after 6:30pm. So we walk back into finance room and they have completed the paperwork wrong So we couldn’t even sign paperwork which means we couldn’t even take camper that day if we wanted to. I called...

We had a sales person named Fernanda she was rude and pushy always asking how much do you have to spend and when we finally told her to stop asking she kept it up until we forcefully told her to stop when she then went missing for 5 minutes and kept showing us trailers that had multiple items that needed fixing one trailer had a broken window that just flapped in the air if I was showing a trailer I would make sure It was fixed and in working condition. I feel that they were waiting for someone to buy it first then charge them for the repairs. After all of this my family and I were ready to leave then she showed us a trailer that fit us and was the right price so we decided to purchase the trailer. After we sat down and finally agreed on a price we signed some documents such as a purchase agreement ( which they said was all the paperwork needed for the trailer) so we paid them in full plus a 3000 fee to go over the trailer to make sure everything was un perfect working order and to have all the hookups included with that price that would be given to us upon picking up the trailer. Because they needed time to go over the trailer So we set up a pickup time for Wednesday at 1 (we purchased on Saturday) and they told us we had 3 days to change our mind (we were under the impression that was 3 business days) so Wednesday would be the last day if something happened. But when I showed up to pick it up they then said oh we have all of these other documents that need to be signed. But I could not sign alone as my mother and sister bought it with me but thankfully my sister and I gave our portion to our mother to then pay with one check which allowed us to just have my mother sign paperwork while I went over the trailer. But when my mother showed up the finance lady then started printing the paperwork we were like what is going on you all said the paperwork was finished already then we have what ended up being 4 more hours of paperwork so we then said ther is to much bate and switch here so we asked for our check back to which then one manager said ok let me get it for you then another manager came in and showed us the purchase agreement and stated that we were beyond out 48 hours notice to cancel well and we said no it's not your sales department told us we had until today to cancel and showed us that there was a Paige 2 to the purchase agreement that they hadn't showed us before but said that the document said to look on the back page when we looked there was nothing there but now ther was a page 2 that basically stated that if we backed out of the agreement we could be on the hook for 5 to 10 grand without the trailer so at this point we were stuck with purchasing the trailer. Then the paperwork wasn't completed correctly so it had to be corrected then signed. After all of this year then said we would have to purchase items for the rv such as the drain hose and tablets needed.

DO NOT BUY FROM THESE PEOPLE THEY ARE PREDATORS and they ran our credit without reason or permission but we had to sign the paperwork for it afterwards because they wouldn't release the trailer...

My wife and I purchased a Cougar from Pan Pacific about two and a half years ago. I write this poor review not because we purchased it for more than what it was advertised at another one of their store locations (the owner got involved and made it right) but because the service department installed the fifth wheel hitch rails on my truck without the spacers that has damaged my truck bed. I figured it out when I went to remove and repaint the rails that had developed some surface rust and noticed that the bolts were loose. Without the spacers the bolts cannot be torqued to 150 foot pounds that is called for in the manual. The incorrect installation put the hitch and fifth wheel very much at risk of coming detached from the truck. Without the spacers it will start to flatten the grooves in the bed, which it has done. After the botched installation, there is no way I would have Pan Pacific get anywhere near my rig. I contacted the manufacturer and they sent me the spacers. The installation is so straight forward, I don't understand how the spacers did not get installed. I am kicking myself for not realizing it sooner. In the reinstallation done by myself, I also noticed other incorrectly installed parts. Not having the hitch rails installed correctly could have been catastrophic. Like I had mentioned, the installation was two and a half years ago, so it is possible that the person that did the install no longer works there, but based on the other negative reviews regarding the service department, I would recommend steering clear!

Regarding the Cougar, we have had several issues, such as the bed coming detached from the slideout, a broken heater switch, an interior touch light that stopped working, drip edge along the gutters cracking in the first year, molding that fell off the ceiling, the frame that holds the drawers in the center island coming apart, and a leak in the sprinkler system for the black water tank. I have been able to fix everything myself so far except I haven't tackled the leak yet since it is just for the tank sprinklers. This is not our first unit and I know that they are slapped together using inexpensive parts because the manufacturers know that most people only take them out a few times a year. A word to the manufacturer, got glue? Just using staples isn't going to cut it. Bouncing down the highway, you know that things are bound to go wrong. However, don't let me discourage anyone from getting a Cougar, we still have had great experiences with ours....