Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #75 – September 27, 2013, 08:25:47 am Good post Neal, lots of great points. There are nice folks here at the GranVention and you can tell they are worried about the declining membership numbers and the declining participation in the motorcade events. The "ask Foretravel" session yesterday had a large number of questions that centered on the sales and advertising efforts at FT stressing the club as an ownership benefit to prospective FT owners.We all try to do our bit by encouraging new to FT owners to get to Beverly Koonce and register for their free one year membership. Actually I find the club dues quite attractive over the 7+ years I am a member since I almost always spend $1500 - $3000 a year in maintenance and parts at a dealer that honors the 10% Motorcade discount, saving me anywhere from $150 and up on my $75 investment. Plus I do read the magazine, although this is my first GV and second Motorcade event overall.Just like Newspapers, Magazines, Musicians and TV/MOvies are having to re-invent themselves in the digital age, so will man of these affinity clubs. Greg Amy's also noted that FT has a sponsorship to a certain degree of the Country Coach club (FT gives away a CC membership with each new coach sold, or at least that is what I thought was said yesterday) since CC does not have any "factory" to affiliate with and the thought was this was a good way to expose CC owners to the benefits of FT. I hope that one works out for FT, the more the merrier.FWIW, the maximum number of coaches that FT ever made in a year was stated to be 220, but I cant remember where I heard that over the last few days. Greg Amy's said it was difficult to compete in the $400K market with the FT chassis costs being what they are today. If they used a SPartan of Freightliner DP chassis, they would have to compete with factories that are turning out 15 coaches a day, with much higher automation (lower labor content) and 10 - 20% lower material costs, which is why FT is not trying to move down market pricing wise.Anyway, thanks for the input back, and my post was more my personal observation being at the event - a lot of us with "first timer" GV badges are on FoFums, but there are a fair amount of folks here with Multiple GV attendance that are by there choice not engaged in the digital age and virtual social communities.Good event, lots of nice people. Would like a coach open house time, have shown my residential refrigerator to a few members, along with the resonator. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #76 – September 27, 2013, 08:39:03 am I have a Phenix and have thought about how it would be nice to see more discussion on the newer coaches on this Forum. Seems this board is dominated by older coach owners that do not contain items that mine and newer coaches do. Therefore other than interested reading, not always relevant to my coach.As far as GV attendance. It is simple with me, still in my working years so can't take the time to attend. How about trying to do a Motorcade event over a weekend? That would allow us owners juggling work hours to attend. And make it more kid friendly too, as I have kids at home still.Quote from: John S – September 27, 2013, 06:20:27 amInterest thought Ed. I had the comment that we don't discuss the IH much. He said he did not want to post problems with it either. I said that is why we don't talk about it much since owners are not posting. So, if you are an owner of one of the new IH coaches, many of the systems and manufacture items are the same as the Phenix and Nimbus. We do post on those so jump on, the water is warm. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #77 – September 27, 2013, 08:55:38 am Great point, this is my first GV since always working up till now. Tuesday - Friday makes it easier to get space for the event in the RV park, but kept me from going until this year. GV a good experience overall.I too would love to see more on the ewer coaches, but there are so many of the older ones, and relatively fewer of the newer ones, it becomes an issue. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #78 – September 27, 2013, 10:18:18 am As one member here stated in their post: "The financial wherewithal dynamic is particularly important because the newer model year coach owners tend to be the most influential in determining the content, scope and cost of motorcades, events and rallies" I felt that as a new owner of a new Foretravel slightly offended. The owners of the newer coaches make no demands directly on the content, scope, and cost or motorcades and rallies. This is done exclusively by the management of Foretravel. Lets all remember, this is a company who business is making RV motorhomes. They (Foretravel) cannot subsidize these events referred here simply to please their customers. We should be grateful the company does go through the effort and time putting on these events; knowing they also could discontinue them at any time due to the economic times we are in currently. Maybe we should look at member generated events; events that could be held at Foretravel or the immediate area. Would it not be great to invite for once the technical staff of Foretravel to an event where there would no cost to the company? Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #79 – September 27, 2013, 01:50:17 pm Anny, Along your line of thought- I think it will be an idea to consider a gathering of FT owners of all ages of coaches, and whether [financed by members or the Factory], to have Techs from the Factory assigned to meet with members who own coaches built before the Nimbus,Phenix and IH and another set of techs for those that have the later coaches. Then I think many more "meaningful" topics with Q and A can be brought out. Whatever statements were made re. coach model and age I'm pretty sure was not meant to hurt anyone's feelings. We're just so fortunate to own such a well built house on wheels. In spite of our issues- when we hear the problems of other Brands of coaches- we're really doing well!Ed Pan Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #80 – September 27, 2013, 02:45:42 pm Well we have James T here and he covers all the coaches. In resort areas it is harder to get 100 spots near peak time on weekends. The samboree was here before us and they left over the weekend too. Our chapter events are shorter and done Thursday evening thru Sunday morning. One thing that Foretravel is aware of is that there are many repeat buyers in the club. Some have owned as many as 14 coaches. I know I am on my third and was thinking how I would design a fourth. The issue is still finding good techs. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #81 – September 27, 2013, 03:15:57 pm The reports of the Tennessee GV remind me of our experiences at FT regional rallies.We have not attended a GV. We have attended three Mid-South rallies. We especially enjoyed our first meeting. It exceed my expectations for fun, fellowship, and education. We've returned for more fun, fellowship, education, and opportunities to share experience. As a result of some conversations at our last rally, we have signed up the Motorcade North to Alaska 2014.I observed lots of interaction among people who had coaches of all sizes and ages. Many interests, and a uniformly good attitude, prevailed among the attendees. IH-45, Phenix, Nimbus, Unihome, Unicoach, ORED, OREG, etc., are all interesting and most owners share an adventurous spirit.Join Motorcade if you can. Go a FT rallies as an owner or a wannabe. A buddy rally for a wannabe is possibly the best introduction to FT ownership and possibilities. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #82 – September 27, 2013, 04:09:42 pm It concerns me that some owners do not want to post questions on their newer coach 's, the problem trying to separate / drive a wedge between the "Haves from the Have nots" , Am guessing the Haves will be a very lonely following considering the numbers of coach's.So why not just post your concerns, there just might be a bright bulb with a have not coach that can lead you to happiness. Even the Provost owners fess up to having problems and ask for help, So don't be bashful.JMDAO Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #83 – September 27, 2013, 04:22:45 pm Quote from: Dave M – September 27, 2013, 04:09:42 pmIt concerns me that some owners do not want to post questions on their newer coach 's, the problem trying to separate / drive a wedge between the "Haves from the Have nots" , Am guessing the Haves will be a very lonely following considering the numbers of coach's.So why not just post your concerns, there just might be a bright bulb with a have not coach that can lead you to happiness. Even the Provost owners fess up to having problems and ask for help, So don't be bashful.JMDAOI would say as a new owner, that if there was a question I needed to ask, I would. I see many topics here about older coaches and how to save money repairing them. Well, right now we do not repair ours, have no need to consider using any service other than FT. I do appreciate the small details like one member mentioning using GasBuddy for fuel prices. This was great and now I use it too. I also sense a slight rumble at times about the pathway Foretravel new owners have gone. Well, I feel that in 2005 Foretravel itself suffered a cardiac arrest. If it was not for the new owners performing CPR on the company, then the patient would be dead and buried. Now, since the patient (Foretravel) is recovering, certain changes do have to come for its health. So, lets all support our FT and speak high praises for new and old FT alike. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #84 – September 27, 2013, 04:34:22 pm I wonder if the coaches under warranty will not bother with posting. Longer term owners are more likely to want to participate with the group advice.However it would be interesting to see some of their concerns on the forum. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #85 – September 27, 2013, 04:50:50 pm There is a saying you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink. Some folks are just plain not into social networking including online forums. Others are not inclined to do repairs on their own. I know that I myself pestered James Triana for two years prior to learning about this forum. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #86 – September 27, 2013, 05:16:23 pm Maybe a change is necessary. I see everyone posts their year of coach below their name. Maybe we need to stop doing this so everyone feels equal here. When I look at the forum, I see what appears to me about 90% of the participants with coaches from 1988 to 2005. Maybe, by stating the age of our coach, we are sending a message that this forum is really for older (still great) coaches. Just a thought! Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #87 – September 27, 2013, 05:21:42 pm Quote from: anny – September 27, 2013, 05:16:23 pmMaybe a change is necessary. I see everyone posts their year of coach below their name. Maybe we need to stop doing this so everyone feels equal here. When I look at the forum, I see what appears to me about 90% of the participants with coaches from 1988 to 2005. Maybe, by stating the age of our coach, we are sending a message that this forum is really for older (still great) coaches. Just a thought!No. Posting year and model helps us give answers relevant to their coach. Without that information, many technical answers will not be possible or accurate. Brett Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #88 – September 27, 2013, 05:24:06 pm Amen Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #89 – September 27, 2013, 05:29:50 pm Thanks guys, you helped me prove my point. If change is suggested, there is a negative reaction to it here in this forum. Lets leave this forum as is since it is really more about technical issues and several wonderful people who know as much about Foretravels as there is to know. Who knows, if we see the company go out of business one day, we will need these technical people to repair our coaches. Time to get back into the closet and get quite. Sure glad we have slide outs in our coach, many more places to hide! Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #90 – September 27, 2013, 05:47:09 pm I think Brett and Tim's point was about information - the more the better. This forum can and should be all things FT related - see the "mission statement" on the welcome page. This is not about either/or - let's head down the path of inclusion. That path is the one this forum needs to continue to choose and it is the path that the Motorcade needs to start down. Just one more opinion. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #91 – September 27, 2013, 06:10:08 pm I would like to think we are all here for the same reason, the honest and open support we get from each other no matter what model or year our coach is or for a lot of folks what they would like to have. Like John said, many are on their second or third coach or more. If you own one and are thinking about a newer one, what better place to hear about experiences of newer coach owners. We bought our coach at 10 years old. When our coach is 15 years old we may decide to keep it for as long as we can or update to a newer 10 year old coach. At that point, a 2006 would be a Nimbus or Phenix (if my model years are right.) They are taller, longer, heavier, generally with more slides and more complex than what we have now. More posts from owners of newer model years would give us a feel for how well these are working out, if there are any common issues and other experiences. I pay attention to posts about 2005 and newer coaches because it gives me an idea of where I might go if it comes to that.Anny said the 90% of the posts were from owners of coaches from 1988 - 2005. Barry B. Will likely confirm that 90% of all Foretravels on the road today are in that age range. So this forum is a good cross section of all owners. We all experience problems and have questions. Different answers for different years and even models within the same years. So join in all of you Nimbus, Phenix and IH45 owners. We want to hear from you. Someday your coach will be 10 years old too.Roger Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #92 – September 27, 2013, 06:14:01 pm I would hope no one here would form an opinion of a member upon reading the year/model of coach folks put in their signature - the primary reason we encourage it relates to helping with technical answers. For example, if you ask an HWH question, the systems are somewhat different depending on whether you have a 1995, a 2002, or a late-model coach with Active Air. Slide mechanics are different even from 2001 to 2002 to 2003. Knowing the year and model of coach really helps when it comes to getting efficient and accurate response.All FTs are welcome here, as are folks considering FT of any year. Of course, there exist fewer newer coaches in these days of lower production volumes (on the order of maybe only 10-25% as many per year), so it's to be expected that there will be more questions about older coaches - there simply are many times more of them in existence.It makes the most sense that Motorcade activities are not being influenced by recent coach buyers but much more by those who are actually active in helping the club research, organize, run, and lead the activities. There's a core group that do this (you see their faces and names time and time again in the Motorcader magazine) and I know anytime we've been talking to them, even casual conversation, it's been very clear that they would welcome any and all help on that front. So if you think you have some great ideas - volunteer to help (and not just help make suggestions, but take on some portion of the work it takes to put on an organized activity ). That's a great way to help influence the club towards activities and events you'd personally enjoy participating in. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #93 – September 27, 2013, 09:27:30 pm And Mark attended Granvention. Inclusion is our goal, old or new, motorcade or not, I was just responding to the motorcade leadership wondering how we had 2500+ members vs. the current Motorcade membership Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #94 – September 27, 2013, 09:28:35 pm Another Amen! Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #95 – September 27, 2013, 10:35:24 pm Quote from: Tim Fiedler – September 27, 2013, 09:27:30 pmAnd Mark attended Granvention. Inclusion is our goal, old or new, motorcade or not, I was just responding to the motorcade leadership wondering how we had 2500+ members vs. the current Motorcade membershipI too was wondering how you could have 2500+ members. Did Foretravel since its conception build 2500 Motorhomes? Of course not. I am sure the membership here is like any other online forum. Many interested people will sign up to see what the forum is about. They might not even be interested in a class A motorhome but found the site through Google hits on another subject matter. I really do not think numbers in forums really tell the true membership base.On another angle what are you proposing when you compare your base membership to the member of the current Motorcade membership? Do you propose that the Motorcade be disbanded? Should we allow the membership of this forum be in control of future events of Foretravel since you have a bigger membership base? I am would like to understand more here. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #96 – September 27, 2013, 10:57:31 pm I think Foretravel has built well over 2000 coaches. Look at your build number and see. The new lian star are starting at one and they delivered 4 and have eight more on order. They built over 200 in a year some years. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #97 – September 27, 2013, 11:01:00 pm Talking with Erwin Sharp, he said they would have 75 coaches on the Alaska trip and sometimes run two groups a week apart. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #98 – September 27, 2013, 11:02:03 pm Anny,Thanks for the post, not sure anyone wants to be in control of anything. FT build numbers are in excess of 6000, so even at 2500+ we do not represent a majority of Foretravel owners, but we do come on the radar screen of the motorcade club that had 94 coaches represented out of the same number of total units produced.Actually, I was not suggesting anything, only offering an observation. Many people may not find the motorcade events cost effective. Others may not have the time to attend when scheduled. Others still are not "joiners". I for one would love to see every FT owner on the forum and ant the Grandvention. It would appear from my participation in both the Forum and at the GrandVention that the Forum is gaining traction and the Motorcade club/events are losing members and momentum. Motorcade leadership must of come to the same conclusion based on their interest in our membership. The leaders of Motorcade and the club are great folks and I admire their efforts and dedication.In the end, anything that advances the brand and ownership experience is in all of our best interest.Thanks for pos, we love to hear from late model coach owners. Quote Selected
Re: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27 Reply #99 – September 27, 2013, 11:07:48 pm And Anny, the member numbers come from the statistics on the home page of the Forum Quote Selected
Topic: Tennessee Grandvention, September 24-27