Camping World - NO MORE --- Happy Trails RV Repair - NO MORE --- Leisure Time RV - YES

I'm going to start by singing praises for Leisure Time RV of OKC!  What a world of difference in our experience with them versus Camping World of OKC.  As most of you know, we've been dealing with refrigerator problems for 6 months and it turns out there were several issues going on with it.  They started while we were in Texas with temperature swings that caused us to have to use a cooler at times.  In the course of diagnosing the problem, we found the hose to the ice maker had broken and the LP was not turning on when disconnected from power.  The company in Rockport, TX - Happy Trails RV Repair - was a disaster.  They replaced the door gaskets after we had already done that and they were all wrinkled - not smooth like they needed to be.  They looked at the other problems over the course of 3 visits to us and then just never came back or called.  They left parts out that John had to put back, so our confidence in them went down the tubes.  We were, frankly, glad they never returned.  We strongly encourage folks NOT to use this company.  Nice folks but completely inept at repairs.

Upon our return to Oklahoma in April we took the RV into Camping World of OKC, where we purchased the unit.  They had it a month!  Yep - They spent 1-2 days diagnosing and doing some other maintenance things we wanted but it took them nearly 3 1/2 weeks just to price parts, get what approvals they could from our extended service agreement folks and order parts.  During that month, they worked on the coach about a total of 3 days.  We could have taken it home while waiting on parts.  We weren't too upset with being out of it a month, because we were able to provide help to a friend that entire time to get her house ready to sell.  When we picked up the RV our ice maker was fixed, the propane valve was fixed and we had brand new doors, which we had to pay for ourselves.  So I have issues with the Good Sam Extended Warranty folks as well as they had no business telling us we needed to replace the door gaskets yet a 3rd time and the manufacturer of the refrigerator also said they wouldn't send more gaskets as the doors needed to be replaced.  Anyway, the unit worked great for 3 1/2 weeks and then crashed.  The temperature swings started in again only they were worse and the unit was not usable as food would spoil.  UGH!  

We are supposed to leave on a 10-week trip we have had planned for well over a year on June 20th.  After much prayer, we gave it all to the Lord to show us what to do.  We felt led to make an appointment with Leisure Time RV of OKC as they had good reviews and lots of new repair bays.  They had also treated us right by getting us an expensive part we needed that they weren't going to be installing and didn't mark it up.  Camping World wanted to mark it up $300!  They scheduled us for June 12th and told us they would do their very best to have us diagnosed and a plan in place in one day.  They were aware we were full-timers and of this trip.  Upon return to their business at 4 pm the day we dropped it off we were told what the problem was.  Because John was so familiar with the fridge and the fact that he spent a lot of time looking in the back of the unit through the outside panels, we knew immediately that Camping World had put the unit back into its slot incorrectly and that it was not a manufacturing error.  No heat is supposed to get down the sides of it so there is some structure that is supposed to be in the bay it slides into with insulation to keep this from happening.  All the hot air is to flow over the top of the unit and then out the back panels.  John had noticed when he had been looking in there this past week that he could see insulation that he had never seen before.  Well Camping World failed to put that structure back in there that the insulation sits behind so hot air was getting down the sides of the unit.  Additionally, they had put a new drainage hose on it and instead of cutting it short so it hangs down and out the vent they just left it long and coiled up so the water wasn't draining.  This also caused big temperature problems.  Needless to say, our cooling unit is now dying and that's a $2,500 fix!

It was late in the day so we decided to leave the RV there until the next day and before we could arrive at the place we were staying for the night, Leisure Time called us and informed us that they had gotten approval from Good Sam to pay for the repairs and the parts were ordered and would be in in 3-5 days!  WOW is all I can say.  One day to diagnose, get repair approval, price and order!!!  

We will pick up the RV and return to Sulphur until the parts arrive and then return for the 1-day repair.  We may still actually get started on this trip on time although we were perfectly willing to have to modify the trip and forego it altogether if that was the way the Lord seemed to be leading us.  

We do plan to let Camping World know what occurred and that we will no longer be using their facility but we have no intention of getting into any type of inappropriate exchange or ask them for anything.  We're sure they will deny any errors and will likely say that it must have been an manufacturing error.  HOWEVER, Leisure Time noticed immediately the parts were missing and if it was a manufacturing error, then Camping World should have noticed this as well and fixed it!  Either way, they were in the wrong.  If Camping World had put it back together correctly we wouldn't be having to get this fixed again as the original cooling problem we're fairly certain was the doors that weren't sealing tightly.  

John strongly encourages those with RVs to document all the areas of the unit that you can see or see into with pictures.  He has pictures of all kinds of things and has always tried to get pics if we've had to open up or uncover something to get to it.  If he had actually taken a picture of the back of the fridge he could have proven that it wasn't put back together properly.

We're so excited to hopefully have this refrigerator finally fixed although that still remains to be seen.  When we get it back and have had it for a month, I'll let you know if it really is working right.  

Thanks for reading.  Hope you are enjoying my posts.