Entegra ??

[Misty123]

I think we're being sold a bill of goods by the present Jayco management. There were a couple hundred people at the NIRVC open house this past weekend. We were told Derald Bontrager and his new pick to run Jayco/ Entegra, Matt Thompson were coming in Saturday afternoon. We were having a great time, and on Saturday around noon they showed up. . They promptly retreated to an office where they had about a 2 hour meeting with Brett and the management team from NIRVC. That was more than understandable, they needed to get to know Brett and he needed to get to know them. After the meeting with them, they had a short meeting with Pat Bauer, who is the President of our owners association, ECOA. That made us feel good as we knew that Pat would convey our concerns and get feedback and hopefully support from Derald and Matt.
This would have been an excellent opportunity to allay the fears and concerns of the owners due to the recent restructuring or whatever you want to call it. What do they do, after the meetings with NIRVC and Pat, walk up on stage when introduced, Derald said a couple of words walked off stage talked to a couple of people and left. Not a word about what direction the company is going, not a word of why they think all reports to Matt Thompson should be from towable. Really, not a single previous Entegra manager is reporting to Thompson. That is cronyism at its best, but not reassuring for the owners or employees that have put together an outstanding company over the last three years.
I guess you sell out, get your money and no longer care about the owners. Looks like the Bontrager promise has become an albatross around our neck. No matter how much smoke they blow, Entegra as we've known it is gone and unless someone intervenes quickly it will be gone forever.
It's sad a Johnny come lately can come in and inside of a month tear down all the advances Entegra has made in the last three years.

The present Entegra management should take a page from NIRVC play book, as several on here have stated they are the only bright spot we have, at present, as the best dealer Entegra has.
However, with the draconian decisions they've made so far I fear Mr. Thompson will find a way to screw that up also.

[DSL417]

Wasn't in Atlanta; don't know the specific words stated from the platform...look forward to Pat's report of his meeting and what changes have occurred since his phone call several weeks ago from herald Bontrager. Several questions do come from your post:

1) Did something change; thought it was announced that Chuck Lasley, VP now for Entegra, is reporting toThompson?
2) If the company (Bontrager) has stated publicly no direction is changing after the acquisition, what happened to change that Atalanta other than not giving a long speech at Atlanta (in all honesty, I never thought Derald that witty, expansive, or personable at previous events)? Was Chuck Lasley there, and did he address the audience? If so, what did he say?
3) Not sure what part of the company "owners built"; I know that several of us have spent a lot of time, when it was given, offering our perspective about various topics and issues with Entegra management. BTW, the company has been established since around 2009.
4) Other than Tadd's personability, not sure what is gone forever; there have been some slight changes that seem to be on the horizon WRT service at Middlebury associated with volume of service (3000 coaches versus 300 over the last 3 years 10 months). Joyce says that will be announced soon. Several have posted about how helpful CS has been recently with both warrantee and past warrantee (at no cost) support from CS.
5) Thompson comes with a multi-year background in the RV industry and has been with Jayco for two of those three years mentioned.
6) Not sure what is "draconian" decisions - management change decisions; are there other decisions briefed in Atlanta that we're not aware of? Flattening management is a management and business approach prevalent across multiple industries over the past 20-30 years with no impact to the quality of other company products.

You know, it is interesting. I had a discussion with Tadd a year or so ago. I have worked in companies where management, process, and other changes had to be made for the company to grow to the next level...my experience with companies that had achieved hundreds of millions of sales but wanted to grow to be billion dollar companies. The things that made these companies successful up to that point weren't going to work to transition to the next level. And in the end, growth in sales, market share, product quality, profitability, etc are at the center of changes like we've seen occur. Don't get me wrong, I like Tadd; we had some great discussions, didn't always agree (sometimes significant disagreements), and I have not had similar interactions with Thompson. If I was Jayco's PR person, I wouldn't put Thompson on the stage right now to have Entegra owners tell him how he wasn't, nor could he be, Tadd. But I'm still willing to give Entegra a chance, and I'm also not ready to trade for another brand coach and take a 30% depreciation hit in two years. JMHO.

[classicalgas]

It's too early to get too "excited" or upset about the Entegra management situation. Our RV experience may be changing with respect to being owners, but regardless of future developments I think my choice of purchasing a 2016 Entegra Coach was a good one.

[Misty123]

You are correct Dave, you weren't there.
You call it flattening management, I call it smoke.
Never said anything about CS not being helpful.
All I would say to you call Mr. Thompson as a coach owner with a problem and see where you get.
You ask what part of the company owners built, I would say all of it. Without us there would be no Entegra, although I think that's been forgotten.

[lowejug]

I just don't get all this constant worrying talk.? The last I checked Entegra still answers the phone if you have a problem with your coach and does everything in there Power to get it right.. they still honor a 2 year warranty from top to bottom.. they still offer all qualified owners a chance to bring your coach back to the factory in 2 years and fix everything that's wrong with it and last but not least they started out building top quality coaches years ago and still build the best quality coach for the money today..so

What does it matter who there CEO is?
What does it matter that the bontrager family did not stand up and say some words at some motorhome grand opening?
What does nirvc do for 80 % of Entegra owners? Probably nothing ..
These are great motorhomes period and thus far Entegra hasn't changed that one bit by any of there decisions in the past..
I personally love my Entegra and what and how the owners decide to run it is there business not mine.. I'll just enjoy there great product and service... jmo

[edgray]

Originally Posted by DSL417

Wasn't in Atlanta; don't know the specific words stated from the platform...look forward to Pat's report of his meeting and what changes have occurred since his phone call several weeks ago from herald Bontrager. Several questions do come from your post:

1) Did something change; thought it was announced that Chuck Lasley, VP now for Entegra, is reporting toThompson?
2) If the company (Bontrager) has stated publicly no direction is changing after the acquisition, what happened to change that Atalanta other than not giving a long speech at Atlanta (in all honesty, I never thought Derald that witty, expansive, or personable at previous events)? Was Chuck Lasley there, and did he address the audience? If so, what did he say?.........

Chuck Lasley and Shaun Huxford were both there for the duration of the Grand Opening. They spent most of their time talking with and socializing with many of the owners present. I had a pleasant conversation with them together and separately. They are painfully aware of the negative comments here about them in the wake of Tadd's departure, and they obviously keep an eye on these forum threads. Chuck did not hand out his business card, so I'm uncertain of his title, but I seem to remember he said he had been head over all motorized Jayco products. Shaun Huxford, who I believe HAD been over EC Warranty, is now "Division Manager" (I think). He gave me his new card, but I've left it in the coach, so am not positive of his correct title.

[DSL417]

"You are correct Dave, you weren't there."

Tadd,

I have had a lot of conversations with the players in all of these senior position since what you call the beginning, 2013. They have been up front and open; in some cases they flat told me that I was out of line with my questions/approach on issues. But at the end of the day, I had my say so, they had theirs, and we tried to find common ground. "Flattening" is a common tern to describe reorganizations; "smoke" as you call it is your feeling or observation. When it is associated with factual information (such as. "... I tried to discuss some issues with my coach and I found Mr. Thompson stoic and uncaring...") While this could be viewed as a bit of an emotional comment, there was an action that was counter to what I experienced with previous managers at Entegra.

Got a couple PMs from friends that further explained (as suggested above) what they saw/felt at Atlanta. I get it. Just looking for information/factual anecdotes. I acknowledged that I wasn't there; didn't question how you feel. I am sorry you seem offended by my questions.

[DSL417]

Thanks, Ed...again, more info that is good for those of us who were not their.

[DSL417]

Thought about this and the other "Changes at Jayco" thread all afternoon. So I'll offer my thought on what this all means.

I wonder if we will see a decrease of Entegra direct participation in so many owner events. Hope not, but there are certainly disgruntled other dealers that feel Entegra has treated NIRVC more favorably than the others (please, I am not suggesting I believe this, so don't spit back about how true or untrue this is). But if the other dealers are expressing this to the new "president", my way of dealing with this would be to scale back direct involvement, and incentivize all dealers to hold similar events to Atlanta and the seasonal based Fests. That way they are supporting but not favoring. Then if the other dealers don't do similar...well that is the dealers, and they have nothing to complain about.

I know that at least two dealers I have talked with have complained that they felt Entegra was favoring certain dealers...and if they would say this to me...well you know they have expressed it to the new Entegra leadership.

All JMHO, and I'm not really looking for agreement or disagreement. It just explains things I seem to see happening and might explain some behaviors.

[Misty123]

All I can say about that Dave if you had a dozen children "God forbid" and one of them did everything to help, was always first to volunteer etc. while the others set around and complained wouldn't you be more inclined to call on the one you know would be front and center.

[DeeGee]

Heck, my local child (dealer) was so bad he was disowned (no longer an Entegra dealer).

[Gary.Jones]

Dave

You raise an issue that I didn't even know was an issue that mattered at all.... Wow !!

I am amazed that any dealer would be so short-sighted to whine about the fact that NiRVC is concerned about the relationship with their owners, and willing to sponsor owner events which promote good feelings and good business relationships with customers. That is amazing. Anyone who is jealous about NiRVC investing in their customer relationships need to get off their A** and start doing something other than simply pushing coaches off the display floor or front lot as fast as they can and praying to God that they never see the buyer again expecting to get any service from them. It is my understanding that Brett and the NiRVC people have a radical philosophy that is something like, "Building Customers for Life". What a radical idea !! Try sponsoring something and inviting people to attend, whether it is co-sponsored by Entegra or not. If you care about customers or think that acting like you care about customers will give you a sales advantage, then get doing something....

When I was a kid, we had a couple of childish sayings that come back to mind.... "Put up or shut up", and "Fish or Cut Bait". Both seem to grab the central concept to me.... if you feel like someone else is doing a better job than you are doing as a dealer, try doing something better/different than you have been doing. In my 4 years of motorcoaching, I have heard owners tell me stories about their experience with big time dealers that are absolutely mind boggling.... uncooperative, insulting, inconsiderate etc. etc. You would think that a dealer would look at a guy or girl with a half million bucks in their pocket who wants to buy into a concept as something other than an opportunity to make a quick $30,000 and never see them again.... rather than thinking that you might be able to make another quick $30,000 another two or three times before they buy the Park Model and become land-based. This all JMHO, but a strongly held MHO.

Gary

[Misty123]

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

Dave

You raise an issue that I didn't even know was an issue that mattered at all.... Wow !!

I am amazed that any dealer would be so short-sighted to whine about the fact that NiRVC is concerned about the relationship with their owners, and willing to sponsor owner events which promote good feelings and good business relationships with customers. That is amazing. Anyone who is jealous about NiRVC investing in their customer relationships need to get off their A** and start doing something other than simply pushing coaches off the display floor or front lot as fast as they can and praying to God that they never see the buyer again expecting to get any service from them. It is my understanding that Brett and the NiRVC people have a radical philosophy that is something like, "Building Customers for Life". What a radical idea !! Try sponsoring something and inviting people to attend, whether it is co-sponsored by Entegra or not. If you care about customers or think that acting like you care about customers will give you a sales advantage, then get doing something....

When I was a kid, we had a couple of childish sayings that come back to mind.... "Put up or shut up", and "Fish or Cut Bait". Both seem to grab the central concept to me.... if you feel like someone else is doing a better job than you are doing as a dealer, try doing something better/different than you have been doing. In my 4 years of motorcoaching, I have heard owners tell me stories about their experience with big time dealers that are absolutely mind boggling.... uncooperative, insulting, inconsiderate etc. etc. You would think that a dealer would look at a guy or girl with a half million bucks in their pocket who wants to buy into a concept as something other than an opportunity to make a quick $30,000 and never see them again.... rather than thinking that you might be able to make another quick $30,000 another two or three times before they buy the Park Model and become land-based. This all JMHO, but a strongly held MHO.

Gary

Gary, you hit the nail on the head, Entegra needs to tell the other dealers to quit whining and get with the program.

[Saltydog44]

I had heard the same thing - "NIRVC is hurting our business."



Maybe a step further is needed - most of those dealers have operating this way for so long they may well find the change a "A Bridge Too Far"

My suggestion is Entegra tell the dealers to get with the program or be gone - which might entail developing a network of "NIRVC-Like" dealers from scratch. I don't think NIRVC was developed from the 20th century model.

I have worked with 4 different dealers. Only one was satisfactory. One of the great things about the Entegra/NIRVC was that the relationship with me was seamless - I hope that kind of synergy will continue with both companies seeing their end customer as valuable - not as a piggy bank to be raided.