Moving Tenn. service center to Nebraska

[kikeehn]

To all Forum Members,
Just in case you haven't heard.
They've moved the Tennessee Service Facility to the plant in Nebraska.
Contact information is;
402-316-7288
E-Mai; [email protected] or [email protected]
56251 highway 84
Harrington, NE, 68739
This could make things very interesting, the silver lining in the cloud might be more experienced personnel now in Nebraska.
I hope this all works out for the best, and it has convinced me to stay on the fence about my purchase.

[Padgett]

Did their senior people go also ?

[kikeehn]

Padgett,
Don't know. It was a Trailmanor Facebook post announcing the closing and moving of the Service Center to NE.
I can only assume that a lot of the Senior Employees and mayby all employees were given the opportunity to Relocate to NE.
I'm sure time will tell.
This Announcement was only released today, so a lot of facts still need to be released. That's all I know for now.

[funpilot]

That does not surprise me and sort of explains the body language I saw when I picked up my TM there. The smart thing for TM to do is to consolidate for now (IMHO) and get everything under control.

[Padgett]

Just know what happened when all of the assets of an innovative RV company moved from Michigan to Montana. Wasn't pretty.

[all4camping]

I'm wondering if any TM owners have used the Camping World in Robertsdale for any service or repair? My other option is the dealer in Albertville, AL. Has anyone used the Albertville location for service or repairs? I have the annual service done at the factory but I won't be driving to Nebraska! I'm a single lady that no longer has a person in my life that "knows what to do and when to do it" regarding the camper, so I will rely heavily on the TM Forum and a service center - somewhere. I live in Spanish Fort, Alabama. Any comments on experience at these 2 locations would be greatly appreciated.

Keep Calm and Camp On!

From my experience while having work done by a Trailmanor Service Center in Florida, the outlook seems bleak for TM. They had 2 remaining on their lot to sell and said that they would no longer carry TM. The quality is substandard and their parts department in NE is a shambles. Those experience Tennessee TM employees seemingly did not want to relocate to NE. Also, I recently saw a posting by TM asking TM owners to help with capital. It seems that the move from TN to NE has put a strain on their books. The TM web site has not been updated in a while and they still post references to 2014 models. For now, my wife and I are in a short holding pattern relative to where we go with our 2005 3124KS. We agreed to keep it maintained and in basically good working order to see if TM will survive. At some point, we may start looking around at a replacement.

If there are other TM owners that have heard otherwise regarding the financial outlook for TM, I am all ears.

[Padgett]

Been no word yea or nay for several months now. Also mgt no longer seems to reply to e-mails.

[BrucePerens]

Say the company went out of business. The design is still viable today, all of the patents are expired. The foam-core materials are commonly manufactured today and available off-the-shelf. The torsion bars are custom manufactured. You can get a pre-built chassis here. All of the soft goods (viny and rubber parts, fabrics) are within the range of small manufacturers. It seems to me that a mechanical engineer could spec it out in a few months.

[Padgett]

True, I have no doublt I could use the RVIA manual, develop suppliers, and duplicate a 2922KD for something between $100k and $150k. Wouldn't but could.

However would not have all of the developed institutional knowlege of what order the process must take not what parallel operations can take place or what the critical paths are.

At GM we had assembly manuals to use in setting up the assembly line, knowing what parts needed to be at each station, and what could be done at each station so it would not hold up the line or have people idle excessively.

And then there is the whole logistics train that needs to be in place so parts are available when needed and without excess inventory sitting around.

Years ago I remember it being said that you could assembe a complete new $3k Chevelle from the parts book but it would cost $30k.

Have said that there are a few people here who could make a success out of TM (or at least a hobby) but it would have been much easier in Tennessee. close to suppliers and would need all of the institutional knowlege.

Of course it is easy for me to sit here in my six way adjustable chair and say that but am concerned about the dumbing down that seems to be going on this century.

Am in the process of assembling a generator/AC test rig since it is something to do. Have a candidate Window AC (15kbtu) that would be simpler to use than a roof unit but it has a "feature" I need to understand: "Low Voltage Start-Up". So far after five phone calls including "you'd have to talk to an engineer but you cannot talk to an engineer..." I am still in the dark. Best guess so far is "something to do with Energy Star". Right.