Confirming Dutchmen becoming Keystone

I think I am the OP on this. Since my post I gave up on Kodiak in disgust. A weld broke loose and the livingroom slide wouldn't move. The decals were peeling off, the interior finish was horrid. My dealer did endless warrantee repairs. It was only 7 months old! We traded it for a Bighorn 5th wheel. There are some small issues with the Bighorn, but nothing very hard to get corrected. Heartland, who makes Bighorn is also a Thor company. Dealing with Heartland is a pleasure. I don't think Thor is the problem. Each of their purchases live or die on the merits of their individual managers.

I think the reason Kodiak is gone (brand name belongs to Keystone) is that they didn't sell enough trailers. After our experience, I can see why.

There's Berkshire-Hathaway and Thor. Who is the third going to be?

tim and amy wrote:
I will tell you that for me, owning a Kodiak and dealing with Warranty repairs and their customer service, it was not stellar by any means.

When our Slide destroyed our bunk house door with in hours of picking up our trailer, it took three months to get a new door.

When our kitchen slide roller ate through the bottom of the slide, it took two months for parts to come in for our trailer. This is after I gave them a six month heads up I was taking it in and had pre-approval for the repair.

I love that Kodiak trailer, but sometimes the customer service is lacking. The way I look at it, if I had a major part failure, Kodiak would still take their sweet time sending a part. I can only say, that I hope under Keystone Management, that changes.

I found the opposite, Kodiak had excellent customer service, and even when I contacted them last April (when they where then ran by Keystone) to replace the peeling front stickers, for the second time, and out of warranty. The stickers arrived, no charge, in about a week after I called by UPS, and to Canada no less.

Back when it was Kodiak/Dutchmen on my hybrid, they replaced my tires when I had problems with them blowing for only $30 each that were out of warranty, and they dealt with my dealer who was taking 3 months to replace the tent ends on the trailer and tried to charge me storage for it sitting there. I emailed Dutchmen and they emailed the dealer with me in copy giving them heck for taking so long and charging me and said they would pay...

I guess everybody's experience is different??

Anywho, I'm sure trailer manufacturers will keep buy each other up until there is only like the "big 3" left...

The trailer mergers are one in a line of several corporate mergers. Most of your kitchen appliances come from one of three sources, regardless of the name plate. Just how much difference was there between a Ford and a Mercury when they finally drop the line.

Some mergers are good, providing an influx of cash and improved manufacturing systems; others result in cookie cutter duplicate under the different brand name.

Only time will tell and I suspect the dealers will be part of the sorting process. The fact is that the RV industry is pretty well inbred already. Most companies use the same parts suppliers and similar technologies. While the RV market is strong there probably will not be too much change, it remains to be seen what happens when the market weakens.

Good grief! Holding companies, mergers, acquisitions and buy-outs!!! Quite confusing! Make me wonder if the names on our TTs really mean anything.

tim and amy wrote:
I will tell you that for me, owning a Kodiak and dealing with Warranty repairs and their customer service, it was not stellar by any means.

Dealing with Keystone's Customer No-Service is going to be no great sakes either. Their's is the worst I have ever seen.

I will tell you that for me, owning a Kodiak and dealing with Warranty repairs and their customer service, it was not stellar by any means.

When our Slide destroyed our bunk house door with in hours of picking up our trailer, it took three months to get a new door.

When our kitchen slide roller ate through the bottom of the slide, it took two months for parts to come in for our trailer. This is after I gave them a six month heads up I was taking it in and had pre-approval for the repair.

I love that Kodiak trailer, but sometimes the customer service is lacking. The way I look at it, if I had a major part failure, Kodiak would still take their sweet time sending a part. I can only say, that I hope under Keystone Management, that changes.

From the south bend newspaper
Thor announces leadership shifts
March 21, 2013

Share on emailShare on printShare on redditMore Sharing Services
GOSHEN -- Thor Industries Inc. has made a series of organizational changes at its Dutchmen RV Co. subsidiary in Goshen in an effort to improve operating efficiencies, product quality and customer support.

Matt Zimmerman, president of Keystone RV Co., another Thor subsidiary, will take on the additional responsibilities of overseeing Dutchmen. Aram Koltookian, formerly a general manager at Keystone, will become executive vice president of Dutchmen.

"Matt and Aram have played a major role in Keystone RV's success over the past 14 years," said Bob Martin, president and chief operating officer at Thor Industries. "We plan to draw on their ability to lead a well-managed, customer-focused organization as we focus on accelerating Dutchmen's growth."

Dutchmen, which was established in 1988, manufactures towable recreational vehicles. The company will remain independent and continue to develop and market new Dutchmen-branded products, which include the brands Aspen Trail, Coleman, Denali, Infinity, Kodiak, Komfort and Voltage.

They also purchased LivinLite in 2013.

301TBS wrote:
And both owned by Thor. Along with Heartland, Crossroads, Airstream and others. Maybe they will all be from the same office at some point.

Thor is a holding company like Berkshire Hathaway. They would only consolidate because a holding is in trouble. I suspect that Dutchmen was having financial problems.