Swindlers.
I will regret for the rest of my life the day I visited Tom's Camperland. I hope you will spare yourself the grief.
I visited the Surprise location while passing through town because they happened to have something in stock that was on backorder at most dealerships around the country. The purpose...
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Swindlers.
I will regret for the rest of my life the day I visited Tom's Camperland. I hope you will spare yourself the grief.
I visited the Surprise location while passing through town because they happened to have something in stock that was on backorder at most dealerships around the country. The purpose of my visit was mostly fact-finding, but given the supply chain issues at the time, I was in a position to make a purchase *IF* it fit my needs. Well, Matt Duncan made sure that I heard everything that I wanted to hear to make that purchase, even if he had to lie. I'm not sure how he managed to sit so still for hours answering my questions with his pants on fire like that.
What I'm calling "lies" weren't standard salesmanship, but provably false, or so wildly unrealistic that no industry insider would believe it. After taking my keys to "inspect" my truck's engine and load capacity, Tom's Camperland sold me a bill of goods in the form of a camper that exceeded my truck's legal load capacity by at least 25% BEFORE factoring in the weight of belongings and passengers.
Besides being illegal to operate the load, my truck also couldn't maintain safe speeds, and its brakes, suspension, tires, transmission, and other crucial parts were so overloaded that they could fail at any time. This was far from the safety that Duncan had assured me in our hours-long conversation when I asked specifically about many aspects of safety and performance and he responded with dozens of claims that proved false in retrospect. If he had represented the performance I could expect more realistically, or warned me of the potential risks, I never would have made the purchase. But then again, he probably knew that at the time. I know he knew about the undersized engine, because I have a recording of him interrupting me 3x to say he knew I had a V6 engine at the time of sale.
Less than 24 hours after leaving the lot, I called Tom's Camperland to let them know that it was obvious that my truck was inoperable with the camper installed, that it was a safety hazard, and requesting terms for return. They stalled and stonewalled me, saying the financing terms prohibited it (untrue, according to the lenders), and then using the fact that I'd left the area as an excuse to refuse the return. I repeatedly said that I would take responsibility for returning the unit at my own risk and expense, but when after 3 days I finally succeeded in getting Heath (the manager on duty) on the phone, he told me unequivocally, "The camper is yours."
Unable to exceed 50mph on a flat road, slowed to 35mph on the interstate on an incline, with a truck so overloaded that it was illegal to operate, a warning from the vehicle manufacturer that my engine could overheat at any time, and stranded almost 1000 miles from home, my problem was not just buyer's remorse. After explaining what recourse I intended to take, Duncan did eventually offer to SELL the camper for me on consignment. A consignment sale would have netted me a roughly $10,000 loss for something that was not what I was told I was buying, and that I owned for less than 24h. On the other hand, Tom's Camperland would have netted TWO commissions from selling my camper. Uh, no.
Instead, I disputed the transaction with my credit card company and filed a fraud complaint with the state attorney general. The credit card company found in my favor and returned my downpayment, which Tom's Camperland then represented to legal authorities as "theft" and "fraud" (spurious claims that went nowhere). They continued to misrepresent facts when responding to my consumer fraud complaint, making whatever claims would fit their narrative, even when there was extensive documentation to prove otherwise. E.g. TC: "The customer made no attempt to return the vehicle." Me: "Here are 4 times when I offered to return it IN WRITING."
While I have recovered some money from the downpayment, it has done little to offset the roughly $50,000 in extra expenses that this mess has cost me. It is no exaggeration to say that Tom's Camperland's dishonest sales tactics have ruined my financial health, put my and others' lives in danger, and have had a significant negative impact on my life and health overall. I hope you never have the misfortune of being the target of such unscrupulous dishonesty.
Side note to give you a sense of how these people operate: When I picked up the camper, I left my tailgate and camper shell on the lot, ostensibly to be destroyed. I noticed after leaving that they had taken the camper shell key off my key ring without telling me, which is strange if they really intended to destroy it. When I called back the following day, one of my first questions was whether I could get my property back. They eventually agreed to let me pick them up, and when I drove back to Surprise (all the way from San Francisco) a week later to pick them up, I was not surprised to see my camper shell was cleaned and marked for sale.
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