When did Good Sam Club take over RV.net?

rockhillmanor wrote:
The forum was originally owned by Affinity/AGI.

Until THIS happened:

Their financial history tells the story! Think bank failures, golden parachutes and the market crash. When all else fails just change your name to Good Sam.

On August 15, 2009, AGI failed to make a $6.2 million interest payment to bondholders, and Standard & Poors subsequently lowered AGI's credit rating to D.

Standard & Poor reported that they had taken this view because bondholders will be receiving less than par value for the notes and because of the company's highly leveraged financial profile, weak operating outlook, and limited liquidity given the near-term maturity of its senior credit facility.

In May 2011, AGI announced that it was changing the company's name to Good Sam Enterprises.

That financial note is from 8 years ago. For those with memory problems, that was in the middle of the financial crisis and many companies faced the same issues. Some failed, some merged with stronger institutions and some survived. AGI survived and subsequently changed their name. Companies change their names all the time to reflect many things. Sometimes the name is changed to reflect a change in business strategy. Sometimes it is changed to reflect a change in ownership. Sometimes it is changed because the old name either becomes outdated or stale. Sometimes it is changed to better define what the company is currently doing. I would think that would be the case here. The name Affinity Group had no market recognition as an RV company. Good Sam, regardless of how you feel about the company, it's logo, it's operations, does have some legacy connections to RVing. Do I like the name? NO. Do I like some of their marketing strategies? NO Do I think the name change was an attempt to hide from bill collectors? NO. The company has moved aggressively into RV sales, brokering financial products, brokering insurance other RV services. That appears to be a good decision, since sales and profits are increasing rapidly. Is the company over-leveraged to survive a severe downturn? Only time will tell. But it is currently a viable company and I wouldn't be too concerned their checks are going to bounce this week.