Good Sam in Trouble - RV-Dreams Community Forum

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

Good Sam in Trouble

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well, that could be bad news indeed!

Speedhitch · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well I am up for a renewal??? I don't want to do that with this pending problem facing them...I guess I will steer in a different direction. Anyone got any ideas???

Speedy

RVDude · RV-Dreams Family Member

How's Coach-net doing? I know Spartan uses them for their warranty towing. I've had them all along since a couple RVs ago and never needed them, yet!

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

GS just sent me my lifetime membership application...glad I didn't send it in yet. I'm going to talk to the CG managers here tomorrow about this, we sell several GS memberships everyday to campers. It does pay for itself if they stay a week, but I wonder if they would have spent the $12 if they thought GS was going under...or if the membership would be worthless in the near future.

Judy · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have been attending "The Rally" here this wk while in Albuquerque at the balloon fiesta field. It is put on by Affinity and today was Good Sams Day. While here we heard nothing of this and they are having "The Rally" next year in Louisville, Kentucky. I did hear the Affinity Group has had its share of troubles from other RV'ers here at "The Rally".
southwestjudy

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have dropped all contact with any portion of Affinity Group. There are far better ways to get what they provide WITHOUT all the JUNK they send you. We have tried all the "opt out" methods to stop this stuff, and it just keeps rolling in. Every mail we get has at least 2 Affinity related pieces in it - other than legit items that we had signed up for.

Plus, Trailer Life is about as useless a magazine as you could get, and the Good Sam Club Magazine is just as bad, IMO. So we are saving the $24+ a year and hopefully one day the mailings will stop (wishful thinking). I refuse to reward a company that will not respect my wishes....

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

Jack,

What do you use for ERS?

wmalefyt · RV-Dreams Family Member

When we had our Class A motorhome I had to have Coach-Net tow us twice. We received excellent service and would highly recommend them. However, it's been about 3 years since we were members so things may have changed. Here's a link to their website:

http://coachnet.coach-net.com/cnet/mbr/clients-retail-program.htm

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have also been trying to disassosiate ourselves from The good Spam Club.Also did not renew Trailer Life Mag as, like Jack said ,it was a useless mag.I had a SPECIAL hotmail address I used for Companys I did not want to have access to my Real e-mail.Tried opting out of the junk and it didn't work so I just dropped that address and only use new one for people I need to stay in touch with. For the most part our AAA discount was just as good as Good Sam. We have coach net now on our new 5ver . Will try that for now.

Judy · RV-Dreams Family Member

I might add that we have not belonged to Good Sams for over a year now.
southwestjudy

phyllen · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have the Affinity roadside service. As we have a fiver, would Coach Net insure us? We love AAA for the car but realize they are not equiped to handle a fifth wheel.

mailman01 · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have AAA "Plus RV" towing service, never used it and have a TT. I think it is about $35 a year more roughly than regular AAA. I have used AAA for auto service and have been very satisfied, as far as RV service?? Hope I never have to find out. I do not know if they make a distinction between a TT and a 5er. Marty

phyllen · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks. I will check into it again. I asked once and was told they do not cover RV's. Maybe it is just a regional thing?

flyone · RV-Dreams Family Member

Marty, I have AAA "plus RV" I did have to use them once, They did a great job--towed the truck with one tow truck and the TT with a second tow truck. Saved me a ton of money. Towed the truck to a shop and towed the TT to the storage yard and then gave me a ride home. They didn't know I was close to home, they ask If I wanted towed to a local campground, my tow was approx 35 miles.

Flyone

Roz · RV-Dreams Family Member

In four years of having Good Sam ERS, only had one call to the MH. They came, and ended up I suggested they check a loose wire as we had been over a very rough section of Interstate. That was the problem.

This same coverage covers family autos also, not just a toad. When Ethel was stranded for a dead battery, they came promptly, but she would not ride with the person they sent.

We have had Coach Net ever since and they have much better calibre of tow services. However, as everyone attests to, we still get at least one pine tree worth of paper in the mail from Affinity although we have had no affiliation for three years and have requested it cease.

As Racerguy said, Coach Net will covered towed RVs.

Charles

Postalpair · RV-Dreams Family Member

Let me throw my two cents in as long as we are telling stories on Good Sam ERS. My husband and I have been fulltiming for 4 years. We HAD Good Sam up until a few months ago. We were going along and our pressure pro told us we had a tire going down on our 5'er. So we pull off and see what is going on. My husband was having some back issues so I decided to call Good Sam's. When their "so called" road service showed up I was scared to death. This old van pulls up along side our rig and the nastiest man I had ever seen jumped out. He looked like he hadn't shaved in years, smelled worse, had holes in his shorts that left nothing to the imagination and wanted to change our tire?????? I don't think so. I called 911 and had a sheriff dispatched immediately. I then called Good Sam back and explained what was going on. The "so called " road service guy jumped back into his van and was just about out of the parking lot when the sheriff stopped him. They chatted and the guy left. We were sent another road service with an actual tow truck and someone who had a way to change our tire. I really feared for my life....and I am not easily scared. In this day and age, I always go with my first impression.

gypsymaus · RV-Dreams Family Member

I really hope for the sake of "Good Sam" their issues will resolve.

We broke down on I-45 in downtown Houston, TX last New Years Eve at 3:30 p.m. We were pulling our 5th wheel with our Ford F-350 and the truck just shut down. We tried AAA and were told they would only haul our truck not the RV. We were sitting up against a barrier just to the left of the number one lane so that was unacceptable.

We called Good Sam and even though we did not have their towing service they found us a huge tow truck that would get us off the freeway. They also took the time to locate a Ford dealer with a diesel mechanic on duty.

The young man that answered our call was amazing. He stopped traffic and got us across 5 lines of traffic. He took the Ford to the Ford dealer in Clear Lake and unhooked the truck to leave it. He re-hooked the 5th wheel to his tow truck and took us to Dickinson, TX and put us in our reserved spot safe and sound. The price we paid was not unreasonable for all the service provided. I took every bit of cash I had in my purse and insisted he take it. We sent that young man home at 8:00 p.m. to hopefully take his family out for a nice dinner. He had an 85 mile drive to get home.

Good Sam even made a follow up call to make sure we made it safely.

lmcallis · RV-Dreams Family Member

I used Good Sam ERS just this week to come out and change a tire on my 5th wheel as we sat in a campground. No charge, and good service. Hope they can stay in business. My mail forwarding service must throw away all the "extra" mail as we never seem to get it.

Lance

Fluffykitty · RV-Dreams Community Member

Yikes! My husband and I are in the research phase.....I had looked into Good Sam because I see alot of stickers on the road. Wouldn't it be fabulous if companies delivered on their promises? Rhetorical, I know.

To have some weird dude pull up to help is one of my fears!

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Fluffykitty wrote:

Yikes! My husband and I are in the research phase.....I had looked into Good Sam because I see alot of stickers on the road. Wouldn't it be fabulous if companies delivered on their promises? Rhetorical, I know.

To have some weird dude pull up to help is one of my fears!

I suggest you look elsewhere and do more research on Good Sam. Some of the "forum threads" you have posted on are 2 years old, including this one. It may be that Good Sam has improved their conditions since the thread was originally started.

You can look in the box under your username to find the date that a thread or a post was made.

I've not done my research on the aspect of RV clubs yet as we won't be traveling for a few more years, so I can't speak to the strengths or weaknesses of any of them.

Terry

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

Racerguy wrote:
We have also been trying to disassosiate ourselves from The good Spam Club.

Good Spam Club... I love it! Count us in the anti-Affinity Group masses. We were members of Good Spam when we first bought a Class C years ago and we still get at least weekly mailings for their ERS or insurance, etc. In reality they're nothing but a massive marketing department. Camping world is about the same. I finally had to discontinue getting sales info via email from them because it was coming every single day. No President's Club membership this year. I can get the same discounts elsewhere without paying a membership fee.

LeslieW · RV-Dreams Family Member

Good Sam has saved us multiple times over the past three years. We wouldn't be without them. Courtesy of Good Sam: Our truck and 5th wheel were towed 125 miles along the Alaska Hwy to the nearest Ford dealer; we had a flat tire changed on our car in a small town in Colorado; when we lost a wheel off the 5th wheel (due to shoddy service at repair facility) in the middle of Texas, Good Sam sent help to get the 5th wheel safely to a campground and returned to repair the wheel the next morning. Four years ago, when we had a flat on the 5th wheel the service truck Good Sam sent initially didn't have a jack big enough for the job, but the repair people returned and solved the problem. For us Good Sam Emergency Road Service has always delivered exactly what they promise. For us, that the key to good service. I certainly don't care about the political persuasion of the repair person; that is his or her own business. I do wish that Good Sam didn't send so much unsolicited advertising, but that doesn't diminish the quality of the road side emergency service that we have received. I hope that Good Sam is able to weather the current economic difficulties. As an aside, we have been pretty successful in getting them to stop sending us unsolicited advertising.

-- Edited by LeslieW on Wednesday 23rd of March 2011 11:56:21 PM

Mallo · RV-Dreams Family Member

We just had as string of issues with the Serpintine Belt on our Ford that caused us to need our Roadside protection a couple of times in the last seven months or so and I have to say Good Sam was good to us. Including once towing the fifth wheel to our campground and the truck to the repair yard seperately.

I have no qualms reccomending them at this point.

Mallo

RickandJanice · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have had Good Sam ERS for 10 years. Have only needed it twice, most recently 2 weeks ago. Cannot say enough about how nice they are o work with! If they were ever in financial trouble, you certainly cannot tell it from their top notch service. We had a incident where we got our truck stuck at home, a whole other story. Called Good Sam and they sent out a tow service that did not have a cable long enough to reach our truck from solid ground. The operator called Good Sam and explained the situation. Good Sam then called us and let us set up local company that was only 10 minutes away but was recommended by the tow operator that was sent because they had a large truck with enough cable. Because the company we chose was not an authorized Good Sam provider, they explained that we would need to pay up front and then request reimbursement. Sent in the receipt and 3 days later the check is on the way, no further questions asked. We even got a call today apologizing for the first tow company not having the correct equipment!! WOW, you really have to look hard to find service like this anymore!!! We will continue to stay with Good Sam ERS for sure, great company and great service!!!!

Pat L · RV-Dreams Family Member

Does anyone have a warm fuzzy about GS Extended Service Plan? Also the GS ESP for your tow vehicle.

bonnie and clyde · RV-Dreams Family Member

We just returned from a trip to Florida and I had to use my Good Sam Emergency Service twice. The 1st time the door to our new 5th wheel locked behind me and I did not have keys on me.( I know-we now have an extra set available in an emergency). It took 3 hours and multiple phone calls until the situation was resolved. I found someone who would come out but not for Good Sams because they must accept a lesser amount. Finally GS found someone who would come out and they had us in "willie" in under a minute. Made for an exciting evening. The second event took place last week when I took a corner too short and ended up against a gasoline pump. The insurance co. found a towing service to come out but they would not come under GS because of how they pay. Finally they did find someone to come out and assist us. It both cases we had our problem resolved, but the indication I received is some service providers won't work with Good Sams.

Howard · Host

I've closed this thread as it was started a couple years ago and the posts have now gotten a bit off the original topic.

There are other threads regarding roadside assistance, or feel free to start a new topic about Good Sams Emergency Roadside Service or Good Sams Extended Service Plan.

Thanks!