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country coach closed????

Yahoo Message Number: 42331
Today I heard, through the grapevine, that Country Coach has gone out of business.

Can anyone verify, true or not?

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42332
Not true! We were just there on Friday. All is well...in fact Mike over on 6th street said they have sales of 11 new coaches. So for this economy they are doing as well as they can all things considered. I can't imagine how or where these kind of rumors get started.
Hollicks #6767

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42333
I was talking to them on Friday... and our coach is supposed to come off-line this Friday, November 7. Don't listen to rumors!

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42334
Good news, thanks Candy, see you next summer at Coast Marina. We are at Happy Trails and heard that rumor from some friends who got here today

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42338
Kim and I are in the parking lot right now. There are 4 other coaches here in the process of being worked on. I will be meeting with JD in the morning as he has already started making the cabinets to replace the ones that were just destroyed by vandals and thieves. My insurance agent was in contact with JD on this past Friday to authorize the repairs. I believe that your information may not be correct. On Friday, JD told me that they were doing better than expected, given the economic conditions that are befalling our great country. I am sending all insurance work that I can to CC to support them, and they appreciate it.

Jim Hill

2008 Tribute 260
81138

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42341
Well, they were still in business last week as they shipped parts to Creative Coach needed to replace the seals on my slideout. The parts were shipped quickly and arrived the day after I arrived at Creative Coach. Sounds like someone with an axe to grind is trying to stir up the natives.

BTW, I received excellent service from Creative Coach. Very nice people to do business with.
Ray

2000 Intrigue 11040

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42369
If you have a new coach still in warranty they may be still "open" but if your coach is no longer in production forget it, they might as well be closed and out of business. If you get in a fender bender and need any body parts or need any part that is unique to your coach you are out of luck. They don't stock any of this stuff and they won't work with you to order it. I've been trying to get price and availability on a bay door for my '02 Allure for more than 1 month.
I've been working through Guarantee RV and they say they are just as frustrated and after spending so much time on it don't want to work on it any longer. Country Coach doesn't have the parts, they won't give Guaranty any prices, and they won't tell us who makes them so we can go have them made ourselves.

Also, I spent 3 weeks in Junction City having various remodeling work done on my coach and the people that did my work (they do awesome work by the way!) have been doing warranty work for CCI for years but because they haven't been paid for their work for 6 months or more they won't do any more work for CCI

Based on the this, I would have great difficulty recommending in good conscious that anyone buy a previously owned Country Coach unless they are comfortable with owning an orphan. Country Coach has abandoned all their customers except those that buy a new coach. Those of us with coaches more than about 3 years old own orphans for all practical purposes.

Before those of you with unquestioning loyalty to CCI flame me I want you to call up and get price and availability for the Hydro-Hot bay door on an '02 Allure (or your own coach for that matter). I won't respond to flames on this because this is my actual experience not some second or third hand rumor so anyone trying to argue it's not true can just call Guaranty and speak to Shawn in parts and he'll tell you the whole story.

I also want to add that I post this only to inform - which is what this forum is all about. Folks need to know the real status. Yes Country Coach is still in business - as long as you own a new coach.
Otherwise, you are on your own. One of the reasons I bought a Country Coach was for the legendary support. Now there is none - very frustrating.

Ron Curry

'02 Allure 30803

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42373
Ron,

Thanks for your story, from an SOB [Yahoo CCO term, not mine] that has been thinking of upgrading to a Country Coach someday.

Tom Bernardi, Odessa FL

'07 National RV TropiCal LX 35'

....One of the reasons I bought a Country Coach was for the legendary support. Now there is none - very frustrating.

Ron Curry

'02 Allure 30803

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42376
The same thing happened to me with our 06 Inspire in Alaska.- 4 months out of warranty.
No help. nothing. Claimed there was no problem with CC radiators.
How many of you had a problem?

Now try it in Alaska.

CC has no customer support.
jw

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #11 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42377
This is not totally true. I have my 2008 Tribute 260 in the shop now for warranty work, as well as repair for a break-in. I was in their shop parts room, and it is large, and well stocked. There are other coaches, older and out of warranty that are being worked on in the shop as well. Not too sure where some of these rumors come from, but I am there, on the spot. Also in talking with a sub vendor, he said that CC had received some influx of monies lately that should help them through this economic struggle. CC had sales of 20 some last month (may have been Sept.) and now are showing 11 sales, while not a lot, it seems to be working. Everyone working was at least upbeat, while at the same time, sad for their friends and fellow workers that are laid off.

Jim Hill

2008 Tribute 260
81138

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #12 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42381
I want to add to my previous post that I still strongly believe that Country Coaches are still some of the best engineered and built on the planet and I love mine however, it's just very, very frustrating not to be able to buy CCI manufactured parts. Maybe this will be corrected at some point when CCI's financial situation get's better but in the meantime it is what it is.

Ron Curry

'02 Allure 30803

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #13 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42389
Jim,

I'm sorry to hear about your break-in, I was wondering has anyone in this group installed a good security system that will protect the coach while you are away and also while you sleep?

Paul Resnick

98 Intrigue #10487

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #14 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42637
Have you called the factory and asked to speak to Terry Holland? She is in charge of the parts department.
TWI 2004 Intrigue 11731

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #15 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42638
Quote from: Tom "
Have you called the factory and asked to speak to Terry Holland?
She is in charge of the parts department.
TWI 2004 Intrigue 11731 >
Yes, as a matter of fact I have and the answer is: "Sorry, we don't sell parts directly to customers any more. You'll have to contact Guaranty or another dealer".

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #16 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42639
I am having trouble equating the fact that Country Coach only sells parts now through dealers, something most of the industry has always done, with saying they have done the equivalent of closing their doors.
I am not flaming, I expressing a logic problem. When they announce they are at 50% the production rate of before the downturn that says they have reorganized. The reorganization also came with some pretty big changes in their business model but Tech Support gets back to me almost immediately and folks posting here say Guaranty is not marking up parts unusually. I have a request into Guaranty for some parts and am waiting to see how it works out.
And I have what is now an older coach. I don't feel abandoned - yet.

Bob Handren

'05 Country Coach Inspire 51178
'00 JGCL

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #17 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42641
Hi Bob. I agree with your comments. A strong dealer network has to be in the survival mix.

I suppose the "abandoned" feeling comes from past owner experiences of frequent and relatively poor service and expensive pricing from many dealers and the assumption that only the best service and part pricing is at the factory. Apparently that is not totally true as a number of dealers have been noted as good locations for fine work and competitive pricing. Also, if a number of dealers are doing it right and fairly, it has to be attractive for the large percentage of CC owners that live a long way from the factory.

So yes, I can see/understated that those coach owners in the sweet spot (living not too far from the factory) would feel abandoned (though Guaranty is right there) but to the majority of us spread around the country, the service/parts situation has the potential to be better.
Lee

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #18 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42646
Hi Bob, On one hand ... being a coach dealer with support after the sale offers good opportunity to build a relationship with the customer.
Having the option to buy parts direct from the factory, after spending thousands on floor plan probably does not set well with some dealer owners. Then giving a discount on the part says call me (factory) first. We can also point out that the knowledge and expertise of factory parts people in a lot of cases was superior to the average dealer parts person. Unfortunately the industry has changed and by the own words of the president of CC states.."we are not paying our bills". The president of CC unknowingly by doing this public announcement just confirmed all rumors of big problems at CC. For what ever reason why he decided at a owners-rally meeting to state this is frightening. No wonder orders for coaches have dropped.
Calling the selling dealer parts department that 30 to 40% of parts orders from the CC factory are back ordered. Suppliers are not going to continue to ship parts to the factory when you have 90 day open invoices. Country coach looks at spare parts as a drain on operating cash. Now management asked, "what do we do " oh, just close the parts dept. ...end of problem. Looking back at the events I believe CC was in trouble 4-6 months prior to all the emails on this sight. Remember, these are the guys that decided to build a million dollar coach from scratch (Rhapsody) that appeals to 1% of the buyers.
In my opinion the ending of factory parts support was a idiotic mistake for customer service, loyalty to the brand, comfort in after the sale and any future buyers of new and used CC. Spend $50 dollars to get the customer and send him away to save $5.
AL

00 affinity #5851

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #19 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42656
I don't know whether this has anything to do with "Just In Time Inventory' that many in the industry started adapting about ten years ago. Many suppliers drop-ship items direct to the customer in response to, say a coach manufacturer. This cost reduction concept has worked for the Air Force and many other DoD agencies, and larg companies like Boeing and Lockheed. JITI reduces the costs for the coach manufacturers in this case. Why buy all that inventory when JITI has proven to work just as well?

I recently sent an email to CC for some parts and they made the arragements for drop shipping direct to me from another source (other than CC). No problem, I got my parts in a reasonable time and everyone was happy. The fact that CC didn't have the parts on the shelf was totally transparent to me and was no impact at all. CC probably didn't make a concious effort to adopt JITI, but the the old way of doing things (stocking expensive parts on the shelf) was too costly and by default, drove them to the JITI concept. Which BTW, much of the industry has been using for over 10 years. I'm with a DoD logistics agency and it seems to work better than the old way.
Actually, I think WallMart started this (JITI) before DoD?

Larry 03 Allure 30856

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #20 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42680
I am not sure what it means versus our concerns about the loss of CC factory parts support but the Guaranty parts guy got back to me today. The same driver's side window I bought for about $350 two years ago is now $1,200 plus $400 freight! I have no way of knowing where this horrendous increase is coming from but it appears to be Se-Gi as Guaranty is not known for large markups. I am sure CC not paying their bills isn't helping. The fact Se-Gi has made C--- products makes me wonder what THEY are thinking with these rediculous prices.
Having it fixed is now about 1/5 the cost of replacement - something wrong with that.
As has been said, it's a new world for us as owners and not as nice. I cannot however blame CC as they must do what they must do. Maybe Se-Gi is in the same place; I just know it is doubtful I'll do business with them directly (not even an option) or indirectly if I can help it.

Bob Handren

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #21 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42686
Does anyone know if the rubber trim seals for SE-GI windows are available? The window double pane seals (the seals inside the panes) are replaceable by Suncoast Design in Hudson, FL. but they do not have a source for the external rubber seals so they reuse the existing ones. I would rather replace those since with time they become a bit weather worn. The cost of the new windows far exceeds what the rebuilder charge so it is in our best interest, as cC coach owners, to get access to as many parts as possible and pass that info on to the after market window rebuilders.

Ray

2000 Intrigue 11040

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #22 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42689
How long did it actually take CC to build your coach? I know you experienced several delays.
Bob

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #23 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42691
The "Subject line" of this email keeps scaring me to death every time I open my mailbox, and I don't even own a Country Coach [would like to someday], shouldn't we stop using it / change it? Doesn't seem to fit some of the current discussions underneath it.

Tom (and Sally) Bernardi, Odessa FL '07 National RV TropiCal LX 35' / Freightliner Chassis / 350HP Caterpillar® C7 turbo / '06 Honda CRV SE A/T
www.bernardihome.com/Home.htm

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #24 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42695
If you are directing this at me, I didn't start this thread or the title and I never said they are closing their doors. However, I have said that for older coaches they might as well be closed because they won't respond to dealer requests for body parts and other parts unique to coaches that are out of production now.
You '05 isn't that old (actually, I don't think my '02 is very old for a vehicle that cost $300k+ and is as well built as it is). If they still have parts for your '05 good on you but I can tell you from personal experience they don't have parts for an '02 - at least not anything that is unique for an '02/'03 - like any body parts.

All that aside, I guess I can see why you don't feel abandoned yet.
Based on your post, you haven't tried to order anything unique to your coach and not been able to get it. Try asking for price and deliver of a bay door for your coach. If you get a delivery date then lucky you, you are still supported. As for us '02/'03 owners forget it. I just got a call from Shawn at Guaranty and he said he'd send me copies of the parts pages because he has made no progress getting answers from CCI after two months and many phone calls to them. I think I get the message - I'm on my own.

On the other hand I ordered some interior trim I saw on an '08 Allure that I plan to modify to fit my '02 and it was immediately available.
So I stand by my original statement based on actual experience - it appears you can get parts for new or nearly new coaches but anything
4-5 years old or more you are out of luck and might as well own an
orphan coach. Their new on-line system confirms that - could find nothing for my '02 or my friends '03 Allure's except standard stuff they still use on newer coaches.

Folks can argue all they want but Country Coach's unwillingness to help in any way - provide specs, part numbers, vendor names, not to mention even selling the parts is not consistent with "The worlds best motorcoaches". These are not Fleetwood Bounders. These coaches last many years and the purchase price reflects that. To sell a motorcoach for $300k-$700k and then to not support it after it is q few years old is definitely not "The worlds best motorcoaches".

Don't get me wrong, the coaches are great - at least mine is. The workmanship and design is very good but it's clear the "legendary" Country Coach support that was once one of the major selling points of their product is no more. We'll have to accept that the higher price we paid for these coaches vs. competing brands doesn't include support from Country Coach much beyond the warranty period - even if one is willing to pay for it.

I'm not angry or upset about this situation nor do I feel animosity towards CCI employees. This is a management policy issues. It can be a bit frustrating though when you can't even get a vendor name from them for a part but I'm resourceful and I'll find a way to get one from a salvage yard or have one made. I'm pragmatic and believe one has to treat it as just a fact and accept the situation and move on. We all need to be aware of the facts and behave pragmatically. As long as your new coach is supported you can relish in that fact and buy spare parts!

Ron Curry
02 Allure

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #26 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42698
<snip>is not consistent with "The worlds best motorcoaches" .
 Of course we all know that the phrase is just marketing hype. To get serious about it I would have to see the judgment criteria or at least someone other than themselves qualified to make that judgment. Maybe there is someone, who knows.
BTW, somewhere in the depths of my aging memory, I believe that Crossroads RV in Middleboro, MA mentioned something about now having the ability to fabricate coach bay doors. Of course I wasn't in need of one at the time so I really didn't pay much attention to what they were saying. I could be all wet on it.
They were, up until 2 years ago, a Country Coach dealership but they stopped ordering them when the cash crunch came along and CCs were just to rich for their budget. They still do a lot of work on CC and I have had very good luck with them.
Don Seager
2004 Allure 31046

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #28 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42700
Ron, I'll sure give you credit. When you decide to make a point you will never let it go. You make the point clearly and frequently.

George in Birmingham
'04 Allure 31038
George in Birmingham
2003 Magna 6298

Re: country coach Is Open For Business

Reply #29 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42704
Thanks, Mike,
Now we just need everyone to start using it! [grin]
Tom (and Sally) Bernardi, Odessa FL '07 National RV TropiCal LX 35' / Freightliner Chassis / 350HP Caterpillar® C7 turbo / '06 Honda CRV SE A/T www.bernardihome.com/Home.htm

Window seals

Reply #30 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42706
ray,

I changed the subject.

If you are talking about the black sticky tape used between the window frame and body this is a standard material the I THINK is referred to a butyl rubber. When I had mine replaced two years ago even Se-Gi did not provide this material but the facility I used had no problem getting some.
Sorry, I do not know the exact name and description but will ask CC tech and see what they say.

Bob Handren

'05 Country Coach Inspire 51178
'00 JGCL

Re: country coach closed????

Reply #31 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42707
Try getting a radiator to replace a defective radiator 4 months out of warranty while stuck in Alaska.

Answer: we can't help you.

jw 06 Inspire 51544

Re: Window seals

Reply #32 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42709
Bob,

Thanks. I was referring to the rubber seals that go around the edges of the frame, next to the glass, and inside the coach covering the screws that hold the windows to the coach. My installer didn't put new rubber butyl tape on mine, he said the existing tape was still good. I wasn't thrilled about that but not sure now if he was right or not.

Ray

2000 Intrigue 11040

Re: Window seals

Reply #33 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42724
I thought the material covering the screws would be reusable? But I recall that, probably, the replacement windows we got from Se-Gi two years ago included this. But, tht said, it was installed in the frame and had to be removed to install the windows. Regardless, the replacement windows came with nothing extra, only what was attached/installed together with the window.
If replacing the screw cover stripping is necessary it would be helpful to know waht it is and where it can be gotten.

Anyone?

Bob Handren

'05 Country Coach Inspire 51178
'00 JGCL

Country Coach Closed

Reply #34 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42365
Just a thought. Whenever you hear that a company that you do business with is closing, why not call their phone number and check instead of getting a lot of people worried. It takes a lot less time then sending a message to a group site.
John and Merilee Flynn
05 Allure 31143

Re: Country Coach Closed

Reply #35 –
Yahoo Message Number: 42368
Thanks for adding some logic to some that don't take time to confirm rumors before they post. This site is getting more positive all the time.

Thanks, Jerry O #60473