trailmanor closed for reorginaztion

[mcgyver210]

Originally Posted by DavidP

I stopped by the Trailmanor factory about an hour ago and was told that the new owner was moving production about 5 miles up the road to Lafollette TN. They are in the midst of doing inventory before the move and the final transfer of ownership. Yes, the building has been sold to the utility company but no they are not planning on closing.
I was told the part I needed would be available after inventory was accepted.

Finally some first hand info from a true source....THANKS!!!!

Originally Posted by DavidP

I stopped by the Trailmanor factory about an hour ago and was told that the new owner was moving production about 5 miles up the road to Lafollette TN. They are in the midst of doing inventory before the move and the final transfer of ownership. Yes, the building has been sold to the utility company but no they are not planning on closing.
I was told the part I needed would be available after inventory was accepted.

I've been following this thread regularly and am sure relieved to hear about this. Come spring, I'm gonna need a couple of parts.... boy, was I beginning to worry!

Thanks for the info!

Bob

This is great news DavidP... Thanks for the report. Now maybe I can get a chair, I bet the shipping would kill me, my wife wants one so bad she sat in one last weekend with a fellow TM friend when we were camping and she just loved it.

I would love to know who the manufacture is, they may make other neat things for RV’s.


David P

Bob-after being such an a long time admirer pf TM's (and multiple owner), I'm sorry to hear that TM now leaves you with such a "bad taste" in your mouth. Sounds like you are very happy with your new RV and that's in the end what it is all about.

I'd suspect that we are all disappointed by the unraveling of the original TM company. And as I've said before I did not see it coming even when HiLo bit the dust, not that it happened for the same reasons. I suspect the "transition" was/is a complicated set of negotiations considering all of the factors involved-both personal and professional. Moving foreard-if it happens-will take time.

TM's still carve out a very solid niche in my opinion. I remain pleased with my 2009.5 2720. Not sure that I would have an RV if there were no TM as I greatly value being abale to store it in the garage at my house since I'm prohibited by development rules from any long term storage outside. That and the fact that I did not have to buy a new heavy duty TV.

Good to hear about the possible re-opening "down the road" in TN. That would make sense considering all of the skilled and experienced labor in the area.
In the meantime, we should all keep our bearings greased, the hitch tight and our best friend at our side.

[BOB_STRONG]

Since they are supposedly moving just up the road from Lake City, I sure hope that they will still have Ed Lytle as an employee. In my opinion, he knew the TrailManor inside and out. He was a very busy man and spread very thin at the end, but he always manged to get back to me when I had problems with the TrailManor. If I needed a part, he was the one that made sure that I received it ok and in a timely matter.With all of his knowledge of the TrailManor, he sure was a great asset for TrailManor. I sure hope that he will be with the new TrailManor since they will need someone like him.

Originally Posted by T and C

What I was told at the Pomona Show was that the big issue had been the ownership rights of the Hulsey family. They are middle aged people and had spent most or all of their working lives working in the family business. Being the owner's kids, the company had been generous.
Tom

In the world of small manufacturing companies, the family members working would be either DOB's or SOB's - Daughters of bosses or sons of bosses. They walk a hard road and many times, do not get paid any more than other employees. It the unusual case where they do earn more than others, this can cause hard feelings and difficulty when looking at transfer of ownership. Thus the case for employee owned small businesses!

[kempert]

Originally Posted by BOB_STRONG

Since they are supposedly moving just up the road from Lake City, I sure hope that they will still have Ed Lytle as an employee. In my opinion, he knew the TrailManor inside and out. He was a very busy man and spread very thin at the end, but he always manged to get back to me when I had problems with the TrailManor. If I needed a part, he was the one that made sure that I received it ok and in a timely matter.With all of his knowledge of the TrailManor, he sure was a great asset for TrailManor. I sure hope that he will be with the new TrailManor since they will need someone like him.

BOB - I completely agree with what you said. To me, Ed Lytle was, and hopefully still is, Trailmanor. I've lived in my TM for what amounts to the equivalent of 5 full years. This has been in temperatures from as low as 10 degrees to over 100 degrees. It's been in dusty and extremely windy (70+ mph) conditions and was in the middle of a 60 vehicle pile-up where it was written off by GMAC. Therefore, I've talked with Ed (on the phone and in person) several times and he was always a tremendous source of knowledge of how to keep my TM useable. If they lose him, they've lost a huge asset. I really don't see how anyone could come remotely close to doing for TM what he did on a daily basis. I would not still be using my TM if it wasn't for Ed!

Matt Thacker of Custom RV has confirmed to us that Ed Lytle in Customer Service and Ed in parts will be returning when TM resumes operations. They say no one is irreplaceable, but Ed Lytle comes close. We all have our favorite Ed Lytle stories. We should start a thread of them.

[tgpmd1]

Originally Posted by Shandysplace

Matt Thacker of Custom RV has confirmed to us that Ed Lytle in Customer Service and Ed in parts will be returning when TM resumes operations. They say no one is irreplaceable, but Ed Lytle comes close. We all have our favorite Ed Lytle stories. We should start a thread of them.

Yeah! Ed has been such a great employee, I'm so glad to hear that he will be returning.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Shandysplace

Matt Thacker of Custom RV has confirmed to us that Ed Lytle will be returning when TM resumes operations. They say no one is irreplaceable, but Ed Lytle comes close. We all have our favorite Ed Lytle stories.

Enthusiastic agreement here. I have certainly told my share of Ed Lytle stories. When the previous Customer Service rep (Jimmy Davis) left, I didn't think anyone could be as good. But Ed has more than stepped up to the challenge.

Bill