RV Value Mart — Local services in West Cornwall Township

We purchased our Crusader 5th wheel in April of 2024.  We were happy with the purchase price we were able to negotiate with the dealership.  The purchasing process was quick and efficient.

Hours after leaving the dealership we discovered a leak under the kitchen sink.  I looked at the drain pipe under the sink, it had a section of PVC pipe seamed with JB Weld.  We called RV Mart and said we were bringing it back the next day. We did, left it for the day and picked it up.  Got back to the RV park, turned on the water and it was still leaking. Called RV Value Mart service, they said, bring it back tomorrow.  We came back with it on day 2, the tech said, "we are a small shop, I don't have the parts on hand, I'll just cut it out of one of the other RV's in our lot and replace into your unit."  They did, we left, and it did not leak after that.

Day 2 of ownership we discovered a crack in one of the tinted windows.  Missed during our 1 hour walk through. An email went immediately to Kristin, who replied back, "don't worry about it, it's under warranty for a year, bring it back to us and we will submit a warranty claim."  Six months later I reached out to Kristen to schedule that repair. She responded back, CSI denied the warranty repair and recommends you report to your insurance company."  I emailed Kristin and said, "this is really unacceptable, please reach out to your boss or the owner of RV Value Mart and tell them this needs to be absorbed by the dealership then, it's just good customer service.  Kirstin never responded back.  I called my salesman Tony, left him a voicemail message asking for help, Tony never returned my call.

We soon discovered all four RV tires had such little clearance and were rubbing the RV's underbelly.  The sealed underbelly (four season model) had been worn away above each tire from the rubbing, exposing the raw plywood floor above.  This was a design error and huge safety issue.  We only had a half inch of clearance.  This was never caught at the dealership before releasing it to us.  We chose to work directly with Forest River and had the unit repaired to our satisfaction, not at the dealership, in our driveway. Forest River and Lippert were both AMAZING.  I immediately gave Forest River a five star Google Review for their excellent customer service.

While Lippert was at our home and the tech was under the unit, he  asked if we had work done to the rear stabilizer.  I said no, why?  He showed me the rear driver's side was bent and had been welded very poorly, not a Lippert factory job. He also pointed out the frame was bent as a result of whatever trauma had been done to initially break the stabilizer.  This was not disclosed to me at the time we purchased the unit.  How do I know the repair was done at Value Mart prior to our purchase? Forest River told me a warranty claim was put in by the dealership the day after I purchased it.  It's in the computer.  It was already in my possession, no one ever disclosed the issue to me and they were requesting warranty work, i'll let you draw your own conclusions.

A few months after taking ownership I decided to take off the spare tire cover to see what brand tire I had and to make sure it was inflated.  There was a used tire mounted, with rocks in the treads with scratched tire rims that did not match my other four rims?    I have brought this to Kristin's attention in two different emails, she has never responded to the specifics of the used tire.

Lastly, our unit came with a Lippert Tire Pressure Monitoring System.  I attempted to hook it up while at the dealership, unsuccessfully.  I asked the tech to please show me how to use it.  He spent about 15 minutes trying to get it to work, ultimately could not.  His explanation to me was, "these never work, there is a component inside the tire on the rim which has a battery.  The batteries always die, you need to remove the tires and replace the battery.  Did he offer to do that? No.

This was...

We bought a new travel trailer here for a great price and had wonderful service. Matt was our sales person and he answered so many questions that we texted repeatedly always available on his cell. Ryan was the service tech who did our washer/dryer and TV install. He was very detail oriented allowing us the option of a discount or replacement when our dryer was shipped damaged. Rose did our walk through when we picked up our camper and was incredibly patient as I took notes on every feature. All in all we would definitely buy through RV Value Mart again.

Update: We had multiple issues with the camper after getting home. One of the leveler jacks was taped up so it didn't lower. When we took off the tape it was broken. We're not sure if they knew about it or not but thought the fact it was taped up was fishy. They refused to send someone out since we lived too far away. Kristen told me to call Forest River and ask if they could send someone to which I replied that I thought they should be doing that not me. She did so and called me back with a mobile tech in my area who handled everything so that was good.

Then after spending $4000 to have the washer/dryer installed as soon as we turned on the water to the camper it started leaking out of the back of the washer. It was extremely difficult to get in there to shut off the valves and try to troubleshoot the issue. After my husband looked at the manual he realized the hoses were installed improperly. I called service repeatedly and nobody picked up. After some angry texts to my salesperson the manager called me. I asked for a partial refund and was denied. My husband ended up fixing it.

Next up was an issue with the theater chair recliner. It would not come back up into position. The mobile tech was kind enough to fix that for us too. I highly suggested testing it before you leave the lot. The service manager kind of blamed us for not testing it out on the lot.

Another issue was the hot water heater did not work while on electricity only on propane despite there being a switch for both. The mobile tech handled that too. I was so glad it took a week to get an appointment with him because it gave us time to discover all these issues.

The last remaining issues we are dealing with are the door not closing since the latch won't click into the strike plate and the refrigerator sweating on low #1 setting. If we increase temp to a 2 or 3 setting the sweat freezes creating ice in the fridge. The mobile tech said this is known issue with GE fridges in RVs. He suggested swapping it for another brand which we did not appreciate after buying this camper brand new.

All in all some of the issues are Coachmen and not RV Value Mart but my main issue with the dealer is that nobody ever picks up the service line. Even when we were buying the camper our sales rep could not get them on the phone when we had questions and we had to drive down there to get someone to answer them. That should have been a red flag for me before even buying. Based on that I'm not sure I would buy from them again now that we're three weeks in to owning this camper. Never write a review when they ask you...

We purchased a used 2021 Palomino Puma from the Manheim store. It was a former rental unit.

The good: The salesman I worked with was friendly, showed me the camper, seemed mostly knowledgeable about the features and how to use it, and was generally responsive when I emailed questions. Good selection of RV's to choose from. Nice property with a good sized service center and lots of supplies you would need. The lady that did our walk through was also nice and took time to explain the features. She was a camper herself and had an RV, so there was some deep knowledge there we could pull from.

The bad: Buyer beware: THERE IS NO WARRANTY. Once you drive it off the lot, it could fall to pieces on the road outside the lot and they will do nothing for you.

And, they do not check for problems before they sell you a used RV. If you buy from this place, you need to expect that you will find significant issues on your RV when you start using it, and they will be yours to pay for and fix (or have serviced). They charge $400 as a 'pre delivery service' where they claim to review all the functional parts. If they do, they dont do a thorough job. We even requested a walk through with all features demonstrated, and we got just enough of a tour to hide the parts that weren't functioning. I can't prove that it was malice, but the fact is many parts were broken that I needed to fix. It was either on purpose or gross negligence.

Issues that I had to solve on my own: water heater electric element was burnt out and did not work water heater tank bypass valve had a leak and needed to be replaced Toilet inlet that connects the water pipe to the outlet on the toilet had a leak when flushing. I used a small rubber washer to seal it but I had to take the entire toilet out Inside of toilet below the gasket was full of stains (gross) Black tank was not clean (very gross) Roof had some minor tears along the edges I needed to patch Refrigerator and freezer doors did not seal to the fridge (yes you read that right). I had to put weather stripping all along the edges.

This was a one year old unit and it had all these problems. YMMV but i can't imagine what issues older units would have.

Bottom line: your shopping experience will be enjoyable. Your ownership experience is likely to disappoint you initially. If you buy from this place, budget in an extra $1000 or more for repairs you will make on your own.

I will not be buying...