Winnebago acquires Newmar

[rlott2k]

Originally Posted by tom chelbana

About 2 or 3 years ago Winnebago purchased the Country Coach factory and name and were going to turn to the Oregon location for there diesel manufacturing and bring back the Country Coach name. I read in a RV magazine they spent a lot of money redoing the plant and even started building Winnebago diesel motor homes for a couple months and then shut the plant down, let the employees go and now it's closed. Winnebago talks about Chris Craft and Grand Design but what about Country Coach? Maybe there isn't anything but since they purchased Country Coach a top name diesel Class A coach builder what happened?
Newmar Man

In reality Country Coach was a bankrupt company. Original owner reopened , 1st as a repair shop for existing customers, then he built 1 lone coach , which I believe he owns. Then he sold the works to WGO.
Very different situation from Newmar.

[rlott2k]

Originally Posted by FLJOE

So waiting 7 or 8 weeks for a warranty appointment at the factory is now horrible customer service? Does he expect them to move everyone else's appointments up so they can squeeze him in? I assume his selling dealer can't fix anything?

According to many, the greatest builder of all time made me, I have a few defects and it takes months to get in for repairs, 1 which will ever get fixed.

[RKins]

Originally Posted by ewlee

I don't know if this is indicative of what is to come but>>>>>>>
I have a friend that just bought a Newmar coach. The coach is less than a month old. He has had step issues, slide issues, and a cracked windshield. Has been to several repair facilities and still having slide issues and driving with a cracked windshield. The earliest he can get into Nappanee is Nov 1st. His sentiment is Newmar can have it back. Yes, I expect problems with new coach, but Newmar should step up and fix it now rather than later. Is this shades of what is to come.

Is your friend saying that Newmar is responsible for the windshield being cracked? Was it cracked when it was delivered? Isn't that an insurance thing?

[mre]

Why doesn't he take it back to the dealer? The only reason I went to Nappanee was the dealer couldn't fully resolve one issue. Nappanee couldn't either.

[lce3]

Originally Posted by mre

Why doesn't he take it back to the dealer? The only reason I went to Nappanee was the dealer couldn't fully resolve one issue. Nappanee couldn't either.

Curious as to what the issue was (is) and why Newmar Nappanee couldn't resolve it.

[LagunaJim]

I picked up my 2019 Mountain Aire in June. I have had zero problems of any significance. Zero.

As long as I can still reach out to Mike as my service rep and Derek as the parts supervisor I'm all good.

I could not believe it the first time I spoke with Mike briefly on a SUNDAY AFTERNOON when I had a question.

[I've also spoken to a real person at Spartan Chassis on a weekend! The guy saw that I had called on their Caller ID (I chose not to leave a voicemail) and he called me back anyway just to make sure I was ok]

Folks, don't assume that Winnebago is dumb enough to screw with the success story that is Newmar. It is widely believed the Winnie didn't screw up Grand Design - they're probably smart enough not to screw up Newmar either.

And if you want a Tiffin, with their loose wires hanging down all over your basement -- buy that instead since it comes from a family-owned company

[photo is Dorset, Vermont - September 2019]

[specmga1]

Even with the problems that Newmar has, it definitely would be wise for Winnebago not to screw with the success story of Newmar because everything they build under their own name is pure junk! Hopefully they will leave well enough alone!

Camping World = Winnebago - that should tell you everything you need to know - TWO PILLARS OF INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE!

[Dan McMartin]

We've had our rep at Newmar, Steve, call us back on a Saturday and he dispatched a mobile tech to us first thing Monday.

If you think that kind of thing is bad service, let me tell you a little story. We lost our mobile broadband connection on our AT&T hot spot. I called and spoke to someone who then shuffled me off to someone in customer support who then passed me off to someone in tech support who then transferred me to some other guy in tech support. He, at least, seemed to understand what I was telling him. He put me on hold a couple of times and he seemed to tracking down the problem and it was on their end. Then we got cut off. I only had a first name.

I called back and spoke to some random guy again (BTW, only the last guy sounded as if he lived and worked in the US, but I could be wrong). I asked to reconnected to the last guy I was speaking to. He couldn't do it. They had zero record of my call, who I was transferred to or what my issue was. Fortunately, as I was sitting there slack-jawed at the lack of customer service, my broadband reconnected. Whether it was coincidence or the gentleman who I was speaking to when the call was disconnected actually did his job and fixed the problem, I'm not sure.

In any case, that's bad customer service. Getting called back on a weekend, having Newmar overnight parts or even cover a repair for a mothorhome ten years out of warranty, sending out a mobile tech, calling a competing dealer to set up a service appointment or building a new customer service center with 50+ bays and a place to stay while customers are there IS NOT bad service.

[mre]

Originally Posted by specmga1

Even with the problems that Newmar has, it definitely would be wise for Winnebago not to screw with the success story of Newmar because everything they build under their own name is pure junk! Hopefully they will leave well enough alone!

Camping World is a huge Winnebago dealer - that should tell you everything you need to know - TWO PILLARS OF INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE!

X2. I hope your right. Beside being a quality build when compared to the rest of the industry, Newmar's commitment to service is what sold me. After 17 months of ownership, while not perfect, far better than I received before.

I had a 2016 WGO that was in the shop a total of 19 months, 24 days of it at the factory. It proved to be a disappointment I could not have imaged before taking purchase.

[Dav L]

When people diss Winnebago as "pure junk"....what are they comparing to? A Newmar? A Prevost? And how many multiples of $s is that comparison?

I always looked at Winnebago as value. And that does not mean highest quality.
I don't look at Newmar as highest quality either. But a definate notch further. Because of the price point they are aiming at.

But that doesn't mean Winnegago doesn't know how to make money on Newmar Brand or Vehicles. Just means they are good at giving people what they want to pay for.

Same thing with customer service and service / parts....if you pay little, you get little TLC. Newmar's posted service prices are not cheap at all. So yes, they do coddle you (as they should).

[Dan McMartin]

Originally Posted by Dav L

When people diss Winnebago as "pure junk"....what are they comparing to? A Newmar? A Prevost? And how many multiples of $s is that comparison?

I always looked at Winnebago as value. And that does not mean highest quality.
I don't look at Newmar as highest quality either. But a definate notch further. Because of the price point they are aiming at.

But that doesn't mean Winnegago doesn't know how to make money on Newmar Brand or Vehicles. Just means they are good at giving people what they want to pay for.

Same thing with customer service and service / parts....if you pay little, you get little TLC. Newmar's posted service prices are not cheap at all. So yes, they do coddle you (as they should).

Do a search for "best motorhome" or similar on this forum and you'll find any number of threads full opinions. I've read a lot of them and the general consensus is always Newmar/Tiffin/Winnebago or Tiffin/Newmar/Winnebago in that order.

Yet now, everyone and their brother are telling us Winnie is junk/sucks/garbage/etc. Almost always ranked below Newmar and Tiffin but almost always ranked well above Thor, FR and REV. Hmm?

We looked hard at Winnebagos and Tiffins. We didn't like the floor plans and they were out of our price range, respectively. We chose Newmar partly due to quality and service but partly because we found a floor plan we loved at a price we could afford. If Winnie or Tiffin had that combo, things might have been different.

[joes2901]

Originally Posted by JpalmerCass

Well yeah, it is horrible customer service. And yeah, his selling dealer probably can't fix anything. You're blaming the victim.

Look here: the way the system works is the dealers are often inept and take a very long time even when they do fix things properly. The RV makers tolerate this situation and so customers take their purchases to the manufacturers to get things fixed.

Given this situation good customer service would consist of the manufacturers forcing the dealers to fix things in a timely and proper manner. Failing that then if people must go to the manufacturer than the manufacturer should have facilities to fix things in a timely manner.

And that would be good customer service. Better yet would be making products that don't need customer service; not needing customer service is the best customer service.

Looking at this from a business perspective, Newmar benefits from having new coaches out of service for as long as possible. It reduces the amount of things that break while still under the 12 month warranty and costs Newmar money to fix. Installing the cheapest and sometimes bad batches of parts (lipstick on a pig for sale) to minimize the cost of goods sold you can maximize the margin in a short run to look good to prospective investors. (For example, older model radios, TVs, electronics, washing machines, MCD shades, LEDs, etc.) Anything that hides or delays the increasing warranty costs is good for the business up for sale.

If you figure the probabilities, extending the time to get warranty service delays recording the increasing warranty costs and you come out ahead when selling the business. Remember, Ford calculated it was cheaper to pay Pinto death claims than to fix the exploding gas tanks. WBO's acquisition announcement objectives included increasing margins along with adding Newmars revenue to the conglomerate's future financial statements. It also mentioned the dealer network as an asset. But, it did not mention Newmar's Legions of loyal repeat buying customers as anything of value. Maybe that is why we feel "Jilted".

I respect the quality in the Bay Star built for me when they were building 3 a day. I admired the Amish workers with a work ethic. (Got to know some who do custom work from their home business.) I tried to overlook the fact that Newmar considered the dealers its customers because the dealers are not buying coaches as decorations for their lots. I planned to buy another new Newmar coach if I can bring myself to part with a big wad of bucks. The hurdle has increased because I still want a family owned company whose goals are building the highest quality affordable motorhome. The kind of coach I would custom build for myself.

[Turbo38sfi]

The price of used Newmar's just went up. Nothing about this would want to make me trade my 2011 for a new one now! :(. Gonna go to [Mod Edit] for sure.

[JMonroe]

I skipped over the last few dozens of pages, the thread is just going around in circles.

Bottom line, I am optimistic. Will the merger bring on positive or negative changes? I don't know, no one knows, but it's of little consequence to us now. The "truck" part of the coach is and will remain Spartan, Newmar's never had any influence there, other than to offer it as an option. The house part is now off warranty yet our excellent dealer (Midway) continues to take good care of us. 90% of it is just an assembly of parts common across the industry anyway. As for those contemplating a future purchase, do your homework, as you would do anyway.

There are a lot of other things on my list of possible things to be worried about. This doesn't make the top 100.