2015 Anthem

[MRUSA14]

#1. Their role is to interface with dealers, not customers. If Enterga salespeople are going to handle the customers, why have dealers?

2. This is a huge industry-wide problem. The drivers need to be paid better, which will cost US in the end, but it needs to happen.

3. No doubt some issues have been caused by doubling their output in a year. The stress cracks are showing. You can double the floor spece a lot easier than you can double your skilled staff.

4. RIGHT ON. But the dealers are not used to being held accountable. This will not be easy. Kind of like trying to straighten out a teenager who was spolied as a child. Most dealers sell multiple brands. If one factory turns the screws to them, they will sell the other brands first.

5. It is more complicated than it looks. We are looking at the customer's viewpoint, but none of us really knows all the factors involved in running a complex luxury RV manfacturing business.

[DSL417]

Marc, the post I took off sounded like I was defending Entegra too much and i removed it.

The point I was trying to make in the post I removed and tried to restate, to which you have elaborated further...the dealer is the customer interface. It is beyond me why they treat people that are bringing in thousands of dollars of margin into their dealerships with so much disdain. I guess I just don't buy in to ranting at Entegra when the dealer is in the center of the communications problem.

That said, I don't care what the business, when a company wanst to grow by an order of magnitude in output, sales, revenue, or whatever the marker of growth...just my experience...the key managers and leaders, and the processes they put in place, must change significantly. Slow evolution results in the kinds of growing pains I think we're seeing. That's not a criticism, that is a fact of life in exponential growth of a business. Entegra made less than 200 coaches from 2008-2012. From that point they increased production to over 900 coaches in the next two years, expanded their production facility by 20,000 sq ft. I don't sit in this boardroom, but I can look at a problem from something other than a "customer's viewpoint". JMHO

[Whitewater18]

Originally Posted by MRUSA14

#1. Their role is to interface with dealers, not customers. If Enterga salespeople are going to handle the customers, why have dealers?

2. This is a huge industry-wide problem. The drivers need to be paid better, which will cost US in the end, but it needs to happen.

3. No doubt some issues have been caused by doubling their output in a year. The stress cracks are showing. You can double the floor spece a lot easier than you can double your skilled staff.

4. RIGHT ON. But the dealers are not used to being held accountable. This will not be easy. Kind of like trying to straighten out a teenager who was spolied as a child. Most dealers sell multiple brands. If one factory turns the screws to them, they will sell the other brands first.

5. It is more complicated than it looks. We are looking at the customer's viewpoint, but none of us really knows all the factors involved in running a complex luxury RV manfacturing business.

I'm going to respond to Dave & Mark's posts with some observations.

1. I was initially told by 2 Entegra sales staff to direct questions through the dealer sales rep. In my conversation with the Entegra sales rep today, he stated that I had been mis-informed. Entegra welcomes contact from their clients and that only delivery date inquiries should be directed to the dealer.
I believe my Entegra rep valued my e-mail and acknowledged everything I pointed out. He did thank me for my candor to help correct the problem. Just not sure if they know how to improve their system.

2. While driver indeed need to be paid more, my MH situation is rooted in the complete lack of checks & balances in the transportation department. Entegra turns the MH over to the transport company and forgets about it. The transport company turns it over to a driver and then forgets about it. How else could you explain why my MH sat in the yard for 5-6-7 days without anyone noticing that the assigned driver never drove off with it.
Simple company cell phones with check-in apps, and simple procedures would solve this problem. This problem is a sign of growing too fast without the infrastructure expanding.

3. Growth is good for any company! That's a good statement as long as they have a plan to grow, have management that understands the concept of "span & control", and know how to establish basic guideline job duties. Jayco's business model probably works great for their other brands, but doesn't properly address the needs of a luxury motor coach operation.

4. Our sales rep at Lazydays has been great. He has mostly kept on Entegra for information during this situation. He promptly relayed all the info he received from Entegra and even called the transport company directly. However, poor communication from Entegra made for a lack of info from him. Maybe he could have asked better questions, but he wasn't in Middlebury and could not see the situation. Saying that the dealers needs to take more responsibility doesn't work here. This was entirely beyond the dealer's control.

5. All businesses will have 4 basic components to it. Some of these components maybe larger or smaller depending on the nature of the product or service. Knowing how and when to expand the infrastructure for each component is the key. While I have only seen a small part of the sales/planning component, it looks like some growing pains, with a lack of recognizing what duties are needed is an issue. My opinion after talking to my Entegra sales rep is that they are very interested in correcting these problems.

I could go on and on and on.......
None of us needs to have a luxury coach, we could all buy vacation properties instead. Entegra & others in this industry need us to buy their product. And while we are spending a large chunk of change on something we all don't need, Entegra damn sure better pay attention to their clients.

JMHO

[DSL417]

Well stated, Joe...just sorry your having the trouble.

At least they answered your email...like I said, I'm still waiting for a response to four emails (and Joyce has mentioned it to that group twice)....:(

[MRUSA14]

Getting back to the delivery problem, of course you are right about controls being needed. I think that this is now very apparent to Entegra, and they will certainly strive to do better in the future. Not going to help you right now, Joe, but should improve the process going forward. I'm notNot to make excuses, making excuses, but they may never have had a problem like this before and therefore didn't see the vulnerability.

We are in the midst of a delivery driver shortage that is unprecedented in the industry, so they are probably having to hire fringe people they they might not have hired before, in order to move the merchandise. I have read numerous articles on this subject and it is clear to me that the drivers are not being paid enough to keep them interested, which will have to change. In the meantime I have confidence that Entegra being a well-run company will react to this situation in a positive manner.

[Ourrvtrip]

I've had mine all of 4 months (2014 Anthem) and this is just a few of the changes I see in those 4 pcitures of the 2015: Side security lights changed from large oval to rectangular LED, rear white lights changed from round HED to rectangular LED, and the wipers are totally different in that they are outboard mounted and cross (mine are both left mounted like on a car and go same direction). I didn't even hear about any of those changes coming. Always upgrading Entegra!

[Whitewater18]

I hope Entegra learns from this. We will see going forward if they take my input and seek additional input to make improvements. Its in all our best interests to see them grow stronger. They sure have a large enough customer base that has plenty of real world experience that would probably be willing to help them with constructive dialog.

Has far as our situation, it will all work out eventually. We've only rearranged our schedule about a dozen times so far, however now, delivery will have to take place within our schedule. Only bummer was canceling Summerfest to meet a lot of you inmates and having Dave chase my Harley up the California coast!

[Finally]

Congrats! Looking good!

[Whitewater18]

Got a call today from the Entegra sales rep that the coach was leaving for the drive down to Tucson. He stated that it will be there on Monday.
Oh well…. we will not have time to go down and pick it up and do all that we want to do to it and get back to Steamboat to prepare for our May 31st raft trip, so we will not take delivery until June 9th. That should give Lazydays plenty of time to do the PDI, test all the systems, and make sure its in great shape for us!
Still bummed about missing Summerfest….

[brobox]

Joe, Having spent the last week at Entegra trying to take delivery of my own coach.......I have to agree, there is some serious communication skills that have been lacking at Entegra. I will do my own post regarding my communications with upper engagement today, but you are correct, communication between departments at Entegra have been non- existent. I am here as "living proof".

As the Gipper would say, "only calling them as I see them".

[DSL417]

I'm going to save a bottle of pinot for our first latch up on those Harleys.

[Whitewater18]

Our coach finally arrived at LD Tucson on Monday. They will have some time to do the PDI while we are rafting in Dinosaur National monument before we go down there on the 9th.

[hogdriver]

Snap some pics of what the 2015s look like!

[Whitewater18]

Originally Posted by hogdriver

Snap some pics of what the 2015s look like!

Hey Dave,

Check out the photos AT&T the first of the thread.