Camping World Service Work

[Steve H]

As an addendum to the other CW post I have a question regarding any experience you may have with CW service work.

I made the mistake of mentioning on another forum that I was having CW install my new tires and also doing wheel bearings while they had things apart. Well...that opened a can of worms! Basically I was told run, not walk away from that situation. No real reasons other than the consensus was they do poor quality work on everything.

Now...I can't cancel the tire install, I had to pay that upfront as they needed to "special order" the GY 614's. But I can still walk...I mean run, from the bearing repack. There are certain things I would never consider letting CW do but tires and bearings are not rocket science. It was a time factor that kept me from doing bearings myself hence CW.

What say you?

Thanks!

 

[LEN]

I would think also that they should be able to handle the bearings. The problem lies in if they find other problems and want to fix them also, like brakes. I just replaced the brakes on two wheels because of an over grease issue. My fault! But if you have other problems their bid will be way high. So just watch yourself and you should be good to go. If you can watch them do the work all the better. Like make sure the bearings are adjusted correctly, not hard to do later but should be right the first time. Trouble with CW is each shop is different and so is the training or experience level, some good some not so good.

LEN

 

[Steve H]

UPDATE

OK...I had the work done (tire installation/bearing repack) at Camping World in Burlington, WA. I think they did a good job albeit not without issue.

My service appointment was for 8:00 am. Doors didn't open until 8:10 got checked in without incident. I was surprised that the service manager said it was scheduled for 11:00 am. That 3 hours could have been better used since I was driving some 40+ miles to get there.

Our rig was jacked at the frame and the work began. For whatever reason, they do not have proper equipment to mount tires (per the service manager) so when we returned just after 2:00 pm, tires were still not mounted. It took two techs 30 minutes to do one tire/wheel. I guess they were doing it by hand, so I was told.

Anyway...on to the bearings. Removing the drums displayed loose magnets. Apparently previous owner had wrong retainer clips installed and they failed. No parts available for a rig this old so I agreed to using a cotter key to hold the magnet while the drums were installed. That should work since once the magnets are in place and the wheel on, the clip really doesn't do anything anyway.

By 4:30 pm the work was complete and we were off to camp in Anacortes. I did notice the trailer brakes were not adjusted well and I now require the controller to be maxed out to get enough braking action. I will adjust them myself rather than drive back to the shop.

So...I found CW no better or no worse than other service departments I have used. I hung around the bay and watched the work. I saw nothing that alarmed me and found the tech willing to answer my questions throughout the process.

The estimate was within $40 of the actual cost even with the "magnet clip" issue.

Was the experience "stellar"...no. It would have been nice to have the brakes work as well as they did before the service but...I certainly don't feel the need to degrade CW of Burlington as I think overall they did a good job. I also think their staff was courteous and accommodating.

I do think their store manager should invest in proper equipment (tire changer) for the techs if they are going to sell and install tires. A good Ranger Changer can be had anywhere from 2K up!