Sometimes I wonder about how businesses manage to stay in business with their poor customer service. I sent Holiday Rambler an email a few weeks ago asking them a few simple questions about their 2016 models. Sent a follow up email about a week ago and to date have never received so much as a simple response from them. I find this to be true with many companies nowadays. They all complain about how their sales are down, etc. and yet they don't respond to current owners of their product line who are looking maybe to purchase another one from them. I've since started looking at other Class A names but few offer the full length slide out on one side that we've really enjoyed in our current unit. I checked Monaco, the once sister company of HR, and found that they now offer only two models, neither of which is what we are looking for. Oh well, the search continues, I just felt like ranting a tad here on the forum today and perhaps get some input from others that may be experiencing the same thing we are...........? Regards, Bankshot
I think you're assuming a lot with respect to whether or not Holiday Rambler is still in business. HR wasn't a "sister company: of Monaco, it is a wholly owned brand name/subsidiary. In 2014 Monaco became part of Allied Recreation Group (the entity that owns Fleetwood) and it's not clear to me how much of the company still exists. Just because there's stuff on a website doesn't mean that the company is even still producing models with the HR name. Did you try calling them?
Hey Joel - We've checked HR's website and they not only list their 2016 models but we've also been inside one of them at a dealership so they are still in business, at least as of today they are. As for Monaco I believe when Navistar owned HR they also owned Monaco as several of each brand's models were almost identical with just minor differences such as logos and badging, etc. Even the interior fabrics and layouts were identical. Monaco is still operating also from what I've seen as they too have 2016 models on display at dealerships. It really pisses me off when companies don't respond to emails especially when the email is sent directly from their website which said to contact directly from their site them with any questions. Who knows, we'll just go to another HR dealer at some point and see if we can get some answers there. Let them get in touch with HR and find out for us, if they can?
On the website I believe the Admiral is designated as a 2016 model, the other three are labeled as 2015. From that you can't infer if the 2016 is real or if someone typed in the wrong number. Monaco has owned Holiday Rambler since 1996 when it was sold to it by Harley Davidson, which had purchased it ten years earlier. After Monaco's bankruptcy in the ~2008-09 timeframe many of HR's models were eliminated.
At some point I was under the impression and told by many others that Navistar owned both HR and Monaco and that a company called Allied Specialty Vehicles now owns HR. Not sure about what's happening with Monaco however. We had to have two holding tanks replaced last year and both I and the repair facility were on the phone with ASV trying to find out why they were unable to locate a grey tank we needed. They blamed it on a warehouse move and, that the mold had been lost, but that they were "looking for it" and would find it shortly. Anyway, I will try to find out more as to whether HR is still in business as now my curiosity is up. I appreciate all your input here, it's just aggravating when a company doesn't respond as is happening in this case. As to the HR website I did notice that the "Admiral" was the only one listed as being a 2016 model but it seems that dealers for HR are also advertising it as a 2016 model. We've been inside one and the factory invoice we were shown stated as such. There was even a sign on the windshield stating it was a 2016 model. Hmm, guess that really doesn't mean anything anymore perhaps?
Monaco owns the Holiday Rambler name and has since 1996 as I said in my previous post. Monaco was sold by Navistar in 2014 to Allied Specialty Vehicles which is the holding company that owns Fleetwood. Since Monaco's sales while with Navistar were small I think the issue of overall survivability is still up in the air.
The way I heard it when we first bought our HR was that Monaco did own the HR name and that Navistar bought both then sold it to ASV in 2014 as you indicated. I gathered that both the brand names were sold in this transaction and kept as separate entities under the new corporate umbrella. What's really going on or has gone on since that sale I haven't a clue and can only base what I've said on what I see on each brand's websites and what I was told by the dealer who sold us ours. I was amazed to find out how many names/brands/models, etc. are owned under the Fleetwood corporate banner. I got so confused one time trying to figure it all out I gave up and quite trying. All I know is that ASVr apparently still owns both names and has 2015 and 2016 models in dealer's lots. Monaco has two, HR has four. I can remember not too long ago that both names had at least 6 models in each of their respective lines with several being duplicated for the most part in each brand also. It's really become a moot point at this time however because we are now gravitating towards a Winnebago Adventurer. It does have a full slide on one side as well as one in the bedroom in back, which is what are looking for. And the search goes on..............
May i suggest you don't count on an email you may find on their website. I have worked for many companies where a website is created with contact email(s) on the page, then a few months or years later, the person leaves who was monitoring the mailbox or addresses change, and your correspondance goes into dead space.
Work Horse Chassis was also bought by Navistar at a fire sale price and screwed a lot of folks including me. We almost went off the side of a mountain on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I would be careful. It is not the old HR.
Fortunately our current HR has the Ford chassis and running gear and I wouldn't consider anything else but it for gas operation. Not ready to go the DP route just yet as we've been very happy with how the big V-10 Triton moves us down the road and up the hills, etc. Whatever we end up trading up to will have to have Ford power or we will switch over and go the DP route............
