Quote:
Originally Posted by aslag54
I'm pretty sure Bob owns the building and I do recall reading he received some grant money from the local government for relocating in Hartington...Having worked for a failing company all these sound like they are having money problems.
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Bob owns the building under the company name of CORAE, INC (Children of Robert A. Eickhoff). He bought the building in 2007 - years before he bought Trailmanor in 2011. He originally bought the building to flip it (after installing a white picket fence and planting a few trees) for 1 million (later reduced to $800K in 2012; now appraised at 375K), but when that didn't work out he tried to rent it. When that didn't work out he finally relocated Trailmanor there in 2015 because it still wouldn't sell. But Bob states,
"To serve our customers better and maximize production we have moved all production to our facility in Hartington, Nebraska. The Nebraska facility is larger and better suited to handle the production of present and future TrailManor products." Was that the real reason? How did the relocation work out? There was a reason why Leprino Foods shut down, auctioned off, and sold its cheese plant in Hartington, NE in 2003. And it was the same reason why nobody wanted to buy the facility from Bob the flipper and start a new business in it. And then with an unproductive building Bob couldn't rent or sell, he made another decision - a decision which could end Trailmanor.
Yes, Bob did receive a significant amount of money from the local government and several other sources to relocate Trailmanor to NE (mostly loans along with a relatively small grant). And some in the government are not too happy with the way Bob has managed that money and Trailmanor's slow move into the facility and lack of operations. In 2010/11, Bob was loaned a lot of money because his proposed plan was to use the building in Hartington for Trailmanor and create 20 jobs. Yet, the building was advertised for sale in 2012/13! And when Trailmanor hadn't moved in and had operations in the building by 2012, questions were being asked and threats were made of calling some loans. I posted links to all this public information in this very thread (without commentary BTW so that the reader could connect the dots), but it was deleted by our moderator.
Bob is having money problems. A private letter written by Bob to the Trailblazers last summer admitting that he was out of cash and requesting financial help was posted here. But that letter was deleted by our moderator.
I have a TM that's 9 years old now. I love it! I would like to upgrade to a newer model one day. Obviously, if Trailmanor goes out of business then that won't happen. Therefore, I want nothing more than for Trailmanor to succeed. But with the condition Bob has put Trailmanor in today, I would never give him a penny of my money for a new TM or a loan unless I saw major changes in his decision making, business management, customer service, and product quality. And it seems I'm not the only one. No major investor has come forward to save Trailmanor. Gotta ask, why not? Considering Bob's past performance and Trailmanor's current business location, one has to ask why should they invest their present money for Trailmanor's future.
Sorry about your frustrating experience, aslag54. I took the time to post links to factual information so people here could make a more informed decision about purchasing a new TM or loaning Bob cash money or having a general knowledge about how Trailmanor is doing, but it wasn't considered PC by our moderator. According to him, none of us has any information or any expertise in the business aspects of the new company and therefore shouldn't engage in speculation, Monday morning quarterbacking, and rumor mongering. I find that comment insulting. If I'm going to spend 35K for a Travel Trailer, I absolutely am willing and able to research a company before I give them my hard earned money and absolutely will make no apology for doing so. All the links I posted were knowledge and facts and not speculation, Monday morning quarterbacking, and rumor mongering. It's time consuming to find public information on a private company. But what public information there is doesn't paint a very good picture of Trailmanor's business decisions of late. Deleting that public, factual information because it paints a picture we don't personally like and then labeling it slander, speculation, rumors, etc. doesn't help or inform anyone, Bill. It's censorship (and I'm not too happy that you didn't even discuss the post with me first before deleting it). And we have forum members here who have already suffered needlessly because of a lack of factual information. And having Bob give the silent treatment or excuses to his customers and dealers isn't helping the situation either. Trailmanor's last newsletter was Fall 2014. There is nothing from Trailmanor in the latest edition of The Tidings. And Trailmanor's active Facebook page tells a story because of the content that isn't posted there - Trailmanors being build and purchased by customers and displayed at RV shows. Since Bob and Cleo won't talk - people have to look at the available public information, see the picture it paints, and make their decisions. There is nothing wrong with that.
If anyone finds anything in this post that is not factual, then prove it and I'll edit it. I'm not interested in emotionally fueled, irrational reactions. If you decide to delete this post, Bill, then you can also delete my membership while your at it because I'm also not interested in subjective censorship that harms the very people I'm trying to help. I joined this forum to give and receive ideas and information about Trailmanor travel trailers, not to be apart of a travel trailer cult that censors reality that it can't handle. Trailmanor is not my idol and Bob Eickhoff is not Jesus Christ.