Community Forums

nothermark · 09-01-2015, 07:08 PM

We had a slide problem a couple of weeks ago so I called the Rochester Camping World. That is where we live and who we bought the last camper from. Left a message and they never returned the call. Called Syracuse Camping World. Same response. Called Camping World in Bath, NY. They answer the phone and gave us an appointment 2 weeks out. Dropped off the MH on Friday, they had it diagnosed before noon but needed to clear parts with the Good Sam extended warranty and order parts so we headed back home. Did a bit of back and forth on the phone during the week. Parts were in the next Friday and we had a call Monday AM that it was done. Picked it up Monday afternoon. 2 new motors and a controller for a Schwintek system. Good job. Folks who seem to know what they are doing and get it done. Service writer was good at his job. Communications back to us was reasonable. I could wish for faster service but I have been on that side of the counter and will say given the paper work and no stock parts they did a decent job at 6 working days.

While we were there they told us that they were going back to Meyers instead of Camping World. Evidently they did the franchise route not the sellout. Somebody else posted that CW was trying to eliminate the franchises so it will be interesting to watch. I know Rochester and Bath are Meyers, not sure about Buffalo or Syracuse. I recall they were expanding out of Caledonia when they turned into CW.

Bottom line is if you are a WNY resident there is at one dealer location that wants business and does a good job. If you are a Finger Lakes visitor that is where I would be looking if I was unlucky enough to need service or wanted something CW sells. They are handy to the south end of the Finger Lakes region. Easy area to kill a few days. Also a good CW story for a change. ;-)

SarahW · 09-01-2015, 11:37 PM

Thanks for the info!

wnytaxman · 09-02-2015, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nothermark

We had a slide problem a couple of weeks ago so I called the Rochester Camping World. That is where we live and who we bought the last camper from. Left a message and they never returned the call. Called Syracuse Camping World. Same response. Called Camping World in Bath, NY. They answer the phone and gave us an appointment 2 weeks out. Dropped off the MH on Friday, they had it diagnosed before noon but needed to clear parts with the Good Sam extended warranty and order parts so we headed back home. Did a bit of back and forth on the phone during the week. Parts were in the next Friday and we had a call Monday AM that it was done. Picked it up Monday afternoon. 2 new motors and a controller for a Schwintek system. Good job. Folks who seem to know what they are doing and get it done. Service writer was good at his job. Communications back to us was reasonable. I could wish for faster service but I have been on that side of the counter and will say given the paper work and no stock parts they did a decent job at 6 working days.

While we were there they told us that they were going back to Meyers instead of Camping World. Evidently they did the franchise route not the sellout. Somebody else posted that CW was trying to eliminate the franchises so it will be interesting to watch. I know Rochester and Bath are Meyers, not sure about Buffalo or Syracuse. I recall they were expanding out of Caledonia when they turned into CW.

Bottom line is if you are a WNY resident there is at one dealer location that wants business and does a good job. If you are a Finger Lakes visitor that is where I would be looking if I was unlucky enough to need service or wanted something CW sells. They are handy to the south end of the Finger Lakes region. Easy area to kill a few days. Also a good CW story for a change. ;-)

That may be why I saw a sign in the Buffalo Camping World that said "Under New Management." The Buffalo market is pretty well saturated with Buffalo RV, Colton, and a couple of others that have moved in from the Rochester and Syracuse area. It could make for some very interesting price wars. Now if just ONE of them could actually provide service it would be a boon to the area.

smonagle · 09-02-2015, 07:38 AM

Wow! I was just in the Bath CW this past weekend. Had no idea it was changing back to Meyers.

wnytaxman · 09-02-2015, 09:17 AM

If Myers does take back the Camping World locations in Upstate I wonder what brands they will carry, at least in the Buffalo area. Colton has Tiffin, Buffalo RV has Winnebago, Newmar, and Entegra along with Thor and Forest River. That doesn't leave much in the motor home market.

nothermark · 09-03-2015, 06:29 AM

I cannot recall who they had before they joined CW. Off hand I cannot see CW building a new store so I assume they will still carry what they are now. It depends whether Marcus really wants to own or nothing or if the deal is to minimize the Camping World name where it has been poisoned.

FWIW in Wilkins has a store next to both Bath and Rochester/Churchville. They have Newmar and Forest River. It will be interesting to watch.

wnytaxman · 09-03-2015, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nothermark

I cannot recall who they had before they joined CW. Off hand I cannot see CW building a new store so I assume they will still carry what they are now. It depends whether Marcus really wants to own or nothing or if the deal is to minimize the Camping World name where it has been poisoned.

FWIW in Wilkins has a store next to both Bath and Rochester/Churchville. They have Newmar and Forest River. It will be interesting to watch.

I don't think Wilkins handles anything other than gassers from Newmar anymore. They used to do the Hershey Show and would barely sell five coaches. RVOne took over the Newmar end of Hershey and was selling 50 coaches during the show. The last time I checked Wilkins site they didn't show anything in the diesel line of Newmars.

vincee · 09-03-2015, 10:17 AM

I don't think Buffalo RV has any Winnebago product lines. They started carrying Newmar when they added the Tampa location which was a Newmar dealer under the previous dealership. Newmar puts enormous pressure on their dealers in the amount of money they will tie up in inventory. Ballard's RV in Hamburg, NY has been around a long time and they were the "official" WNY Newmar dealer around. However when the market went soft 5-7 years ago they didn't want to carry more than a couple Newmar's class A's on the lot so Newmar cut them as a dealership. As far as Camping World goes maybe its a sign if the franchises are reverting back to their original names that good ole Marcus isn't the RV wunderkind he thought he was.

nothermark · 09-03-2015, 10:41 AM

Don't forget Colton in Buffalo. It looks like they do have new DP's.

FWIW talking to the salesman in Churchville they hardly get any interest in DP's. Most of their marketing is directed toward young families. When we took the MH to Bath we stopped at Wilkins because they have a used Baystar 2901 we wanted to look at. Nice unit but not what we want. He said he has some used DP's he would be happy to sell. Given the economic state of the Rochester metro I wonder how much money is around for those toys. We plan on a run to Buffalo soon. ;-)

WDW · 09-03-2015, 06:40 PM

Buffalo RV took over Winnebago and Colton lost it. They were never enthusiastic about it and just wanted to sell Tiffins. However Buffalo RV
corporate wide dropped Thor. They have a huge blowout price for a Thor A in Albany on their website RVDirect.

Interesting though is that Colton is stocking a lot of Thor A's. You left out they are huge with Jayco and own the oldest Jayco dealership in the country in Iowa. CW Buffalo is now corporate owned and the inventory is huge compared to a year ago.

What's interesting is to compare the Winnebago prices between CW locations and a dealer in North East PA which is near Erie.

Taking in the sights ...where my Trolley travels. '15 Jayco Greyhawk 31FK.

vincee · 09-04-2015, 07:27 AM

WDW, thanks for the update on Buffalo RV and Winnebago. I think they were tired with the amount of warranty work they had to do on Thor's as are people that bought one. One poor soul bought a new Tuscanny for over 300K and Bflo RV had to have the front painted and the driver side glass replaced along with a bunch of other stuff.

wnytaxman · 09-04-2015, 07:34 AM

The addition of Winnebago to both Buffalo and Albany was very recent. I wasn't aware they had dropped Thor but it is not surprisiing. When you've got a Thor sitting next to a Dutch Star or an Anthem and the pricing is similar it is a hard sell to put it mildly.

I know the CW stores stocked very few motorhomes. I haven't seen any tag axles at any of their stores upstate. I wonder if it will be Myers taking the stores back or someone else taking over all the stores. Competition is good so bring it on and let the deals begin.

nothermark · 09-05-2015, 07:57 AM

From what they told us Meyers will continue to own the stores. I have been casually watching Meyers since the 1970's. It is my impression the family sold out some time ago to a group of local folks. They built built a store or took over a car dealer in Bergen then did the store in Churchville to get closer to Rochester. The Caledonia property is now the collision shop. The last I knew the Bergen building was a car dealer. It's been a while since I was through there. Somewhere around the Caledonia move they bought Bath. I also think they own one or two more locations but I do not know why I think that.

I'm waiting to see an official change in branding. I know what we were told relative to getting the work done before the name change (saved us $50). It will be interesting to keep an eye on their web and I will be down in southern NY the end of September. Maybe Marcus is backing off his sell out or go away move. Maybe the Meyers name gets big letters. ;-)

WDW · 09-05-2015, 08:53 AM

Another thought in the same region is that CW said the would open a store in Erie Pa in FY 15. Loosing Bath as a strategic location with Wilkins across the highway would not be a loss. Having a string of stores along I90 Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and Erie would be far more strategic.

Taking in the sights ...where my Trolley travels. '15 Jayco Greyhawk 31FK.