Continuing conversations about losing Christian and possible participation from LL

[djsamuel]

Thanks Sean.  This is really bothersome.  Glad my 21BHS is a 2013!  Feel bad for Christian and frustrated with LivinLite/Thor.  Thor seems to have taken a company with great potential and squandered it.  I've stopped being the LivinLite salesman on other forums such as GoodSams.  There is too much uncertainty to recommend.

Thanks again.

Doug

[admin]

I created a publicly accessible thread for this topic since the 'Updates' thread was locked to staff only.

-Sean

[david]

I can't imaging what Thor is thinking. In the middle of a redesign of the LL models which has caused a lot of controversy on this forum, they remove the factory liaison to this forum with no replacement in sight. That tells me that they don't want to hear any bellyaching from LL owners. That of course destroys any customer loyalty which is the lifeblood of any brand.

What are they thinking?

David

[charliem]

I can't imaging what Thor is thinking. In the middle of a redesign of the LL models which has caused a lot of controversy on this forum, they remove the factory liaison to this forum with no replacement in sight. That tells me that they don't want to hear any bellyaching from LL owners. That of course destroys any customer loyalty which is the lifeblood of any brand.

What are they thinking?

David

[font size="3"]From my standpoint it drives prospective buyers to Lance or ATC. Apparently ~900 users don't matter. RIP LL  [/font]

[charliem]

[font size="3"]How KZ does things today:

[a href="http://www.kz-rv.com/products/spree-travel-trailers/features.html"]http://www.kz-rv.com/products/spree-travel-trailers/features.html[/a]

[a href="http://www.kz-rv.com/products/spree-connect-travel-trailers/features.html"]http://www.kz-rv.com/products/spree-connect-travel-trailers/features.html[/a]
[/font]

[billmoore]

[font size="3"]How KZ does things today:

[a href="http://www.kz-rv.com/products/spree-travel-trailers/features.html"]http://www.kz-rv.com/products/spree-travel-trailers/features.html[/a]

[a href="http://www.kz-rv.com/products/spree-connect-travel-trailers/features.html"]http://www.kz-rv.com/products/spree-connect-travel-trailers/features.html[/a]
[/font]

Lots of potential for rot and rust there... 

[montedtrotter1]

Unfortunately, its the world we live in today. Big business buys small pain the ass competitors and shuts them down or integrates them into other divisions and cuts costs but most importantly removes competition. It's now obvious why CL LL was not at the Minnesota or Atlanta RV shows. Let's hope our trailers increase in value versus depreciate as they are a different product produced in a very short window of time.

[pinstriper]

Nice thought, Monte, but CL wasn't "a thing" long enough to be anything more than a footnote, or asterisk. A short run of modest production, that just didn't survive.

[spot1]

Used to pick up LL brochures at dealers and give them out to curious people around the nation at campgrounds, interstate rest areas, and supermarket parking lots. Last camping trip (last week) four folks visited for an hour asking questions about the Mighty 11.

I'm proud to say our 2010 Mighty 11 was one of the first 10 travel trailers built by LL. Even though I made modifications, the camper can be returned to it's original configuration in a day. It may take a while, but believe our units will eventually appreciate and will be sought after. After all, they will will last more than a lifetime. LL used to say in some of the early travel trailer advertisements that the unit will last long enough to pass on to family members.

For me it's bittersweet since I was planning on buying a LL toy Hauler, now it will be ATC, but will keep the Mighty 11, too!

One of our fist camping trips with the Mighty 11 towing with a 1987 Toyota Pickup with R-22 engine!



 

[peislander]

[quote source="/post/19379/thread" timestamp="1457577555" author="@pinstriper"]CL wasn't "a thing" long enough to be anything more than a footnote, or asterisk. A short run of modest production, that just didn't survive.

[/quote]Let's hope that thought is premature. I understand the pessimism but they aren't out of business yet. Who knows, K-Z management might have big plans??

[rab0325]

Personally, I really like the mighty 11 design. (Didn't know the name until now). I've never seen one, but I look for them. We're a fortunate "before the cash" 2013 owner, and I too hope our value increases and our camper is sought after. Think early Airstream without the wood!

[chuck893]

I smile because I don't know what's going on... But it sounds disturbing (at minimum). Since we bought our Quicksilver 8.1 in 2010 we too have carried Quicksilver brochures to hand out to the curious. It sounds as if we should quit doing that. I don't know if there has been any new news on the Quicksilver line, but I think even before LL appears to have (basically) "sold out," they were already building Quicksilvers for Coleman (which I am not sure was good or bad). We absolutely adore our tiny trailer and at our age do not ever contemplate an upgrade (so the Camplites do not interest us), but now I worry that when Rosie's tent inevitably wears out and starts to leak, will we be able to order a replacement or will we have to have to have a tent custom made, which we're pretty sure we would not be able to afford (there is after all a reason why we are in a tiny Q$ in the first place).

We know everything changes (we got too soon old didn't we?), but when we bought Rose in 2010 we naively imagined that Livin' Lite would always be owned by Scott and the factory would always be in Wakarusa and the nice folks there would always be there. We actually drove to Wakarusa to pick Rosie up, where we got personal coaching on setup and takedown from Mike (forgot last name). That sort of thing will never happen again. Scott (we now understand) could not possibly have run the place forever. He got a handsome settlement and moved on. Things change (but we don't have to like it), but one major reason we bought a Quicksilver, even though it was arguably overpriced (!) was that it was built by a tiny outfit that cared about the product (except for the ubiquitous curly aluminum shavings). When a company is sold out to the Corporate Interests we can pretty much expect that everything will change, and often not for the better. Now it sounds as if this complicated takeover dance will mean the loss of some or (eventually) all of the aluminum in the products (we especially love the pretty-much-total lack of need for maintenance on a Quicksilver, never worry about rust or rot or mold...), and maybe the loss of the Quicksilvers altogether! 

I know this is a pretty negative outlook, but the fact that they seem to have dumped Christian without warning is, to me, a very big red flag. 

[admin]

Luckily I think the QS line has been a relatively low priority for any changes. There isn't much to change and most of the products in it are already done in a very cost effective way. I'm guessing the QS's will be left alone unless they reach a point where they are dropped all together. In other words I'm thinking they are an all or thing line.

[spot1]

Since we bought our Quicksilver 8.1 in 2010 we too have carried Quicksilver brochures to hand out to the curious. It sounds as if we should quit doing that. 

Gave out my last brochure last summer at a rest stop on I90 in Wyoming. Now I tell folks LL made changes to current travel trailers and they are no longer built like our camper.

Posted this photo before, here's another curious fellow, Jack Hanna, with Debbie at Glacier NP MT last summer. He was interested in a Toy Hauler. Gave him a brochure, too.

http://www.jackhanna.com/

[a href="http://s657.photobucket.com/user/vstromklr/media/2015%20Camping%20Trip/IMG_8551_zps146clvrw.jpg.html"]
[img style="max-width:100%;" src="http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu299/vstromklr/2015%20Camping%20Trip/IMG_8551_zps146clvrw.jpg"][/a]

[charleschapman]

Chuck,

I have a QS 6.0 and I believe that the canvas tent is sub contracted out to Veada Industries in New Paris, IN, not positive - but the Warranty paper work for the tent portion of our QS is from them.  

http://veada.com/camper-canvas.html