Is Parkliner still in business?

[neparker]

I am a happy Parkliner owner. After reading the original post I managed to reach Chandler, who owns the business. He reported that last year was the best ever, but he has reduced production to keep quality high and make sure the company stays in the black. He admitted being hard to reach with phone calls from potential suppliers and potential customers being a little overwhelming. At this point, he is looking for a business-side partner, so he can focus on the engineering, QA, and design. If you're interested, production is 3 months out, and the best way to contact him is via email: chandler@parkliner.com.

It's a great trailer, but it's not an established company. That's the risk, which I'm quite frankly comfortable with. (Yikes, trailing preposition!). Feel free to PM me.

Also talked to Tom. He is no longer affiliated, but still loves his trailer.
-- Anne

[Pat in Michigan]

Anne, I am so glad to hear that, I think the Parkliner is such a wonderful trailer and would hate to see them go out of business. Thanks so much for the update…..

[David Tilston]

In business, you can have great quality, great price, and great service. Pick any two. You can't have all three. Parkliner has sacrificed service for the other two. I think that they will do fine.

[Gail H]

Wow, thank you everyone. Especially Anne. I'm so glad they're still in business. But I can see why potential customers took their business elsewhere. I'll have to think about this.........do I want to involve myself with this kind of company? Hmmmm.

BTW, this is the greatest website! Everyone is sooooo helpful!

[Montana Patrick]

I was in Gibsonville on April 27. No lights on at Parkliner. Nobody working. One 2012 model on site for sale for 15k. Tried to contact Chandler for three months prior to put an order in or flat out buy one. No answers. Ended up going to Lake Wales to buy Tim and Ritas old Parkliner. Towed her back to Montana.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by David Tilston

In business, you can have great quality, great price, and great service. Pick any two. You can't have all three. Parkliner has sacrificed service for the other two. I think that they will do fine.

David I would love to hear you try and sell that to a room full of MBA grads!

The fact the company can't even afford to pay someone min. wage to answer their phones, emails and maintain their web presents says a lot about just how well they are not doing.

[Sid]

All
I'm currently at Bryce Canyon so my access to this thread will be quite limited for awhile but I wanted to throw in what I know....
A bit ago I talked withTom Bass and then Chandler called for a follow up discussion. No one said it was confidential so I have been contacting PL owners I knew with these details, forgive me it it has already been posted.
During peek production last year a deal Tom had been putting together with a larger manufacturer was coming to a close which would of course diminish Chandlers interaction with the company. At the 11th hour Chandler backed out. He just could not let go. Frustrated Tom walked away from the company but remains on speaking terms with Chandler. Tom stated that all who purchased a unit during his time at PL he would assist in dealings with the company.
I know many will doubt that last point but In my dealings Tom was truthful.
Chandler stated he has cut a deal with a boat manufacturer and that is where the molds are. They will produce the shells, Chandler and an employee will finish them out. Production will go from one a week down to about one a month.
That's about it. I'm sure communication will not improve. All I can say is I still love mine. My dealings with PL even involve a third party inspection I requested when Frank was going thru his issues with wheel wells. I stated my concern and Chandler told me my model had the enlarged wells but if I wanted he would pay for any Third party inspection.I did and he did. The shop even commented on the quality of the construction. The inspector offered to buy it if I ever wanted to sell!
I still have no regrets it is everything Vic and I hoped it would be!
Sid

[frank_a]

Originally Posted by Sid

All
I'm currently at Bryce Canyon....

I know many will doubt that last point but In my dealings Tom was truthful.

Couple of things Sid. First, whenever I hear of Bryce Canyon, I think of Edward Abbey.

Thanks for the update on Parkliner. Very interesting. Contracting out the 'glass work will increase Chandler's costs per unit. It will be interesting to see how that works out. Or doesn't.

I wish I had not deleted all my emails with Tom, as he quite clearly lied to me about what was going to get taken care of if I could just get our Parkliner to the plant. The little bit of work they actually did (moving the batteries) was done very poorly, and seemd like a rush job when they had a whole week to do all this stuff Tom said they would do with our egg. That is the last I ever communicated with either Tom or Chandler.

Oh well. We do love our egg, that's the funny thing!

Enjoy Bryce Canyon Sid. I'm envious!

Frank

[Ice-breaker]

Originally Posted by Sid

...Chandler stated he has cut a deal with a boat manufacturer and that is where the molds are. They will produce the shells, Chandler and an employee will finish them out. Production will go from one a week down to about one a month...

Looks to me as if Parkliner is in a death spiral.

[deryk]

ParkLiner makes a great product, but their customer support has always been lacking...and that can leed to their downfall.

I guess most of us don't think about how hard it is for a very tiny company to keep their head above water in today's day and age. ParkLiner is struggling and it is kind of sad because they do make a good product, but to be successful besides a good product they need to get back to customer's in a timely manner, keep a presence online, hit some rv show's to show off what they do and meet deadlines.

I wish them the best, but many companies that offered good products at a good price have also gone out of business. Hopefully they will work past this.

[Sid]

[QUOTE

Enjoy Bryce Canyon Sid. I'm envious!

Frank[/QUOTE]



Thanks frank


Sent from my iPhone using Fiberglass RV

[deryk]

Ugh! Snow! lol

Looks like someone is having fun!

[Bob Miller]

Just an observation, from an observer without an MBA.


Unless it's going to be run as a "Hobby Business" I don't see any way in heck that a company with a building, fixed expenses and two employees can survived very long building one unit a month.


But that sorta explains Chandlers comments reported in Post #21.

[Sid]

Struggling to me denotes striving to achieve or attain something.
Chandler had an opportunity to make PL into a larger more efficient company. He declined. He has exactly what he wants, it's his choice. He chose to be a boutique instead of large scale.

[frank_a]

I may very well be wrong Bob, but I believe Chandler is not hurting for cash. I think he provided the seed money for the company to begin with, and is probably not worried about buying groceries. So if he doesn't need to get paid, maybe it will work.

It is truly sad to see such a well designed trailer go down the tubes all because of a lack of attention to existing and new customers. Sheesh!

Frank

[David Tilston]

Originally Posted by Carol H

David I would love to hear you try and sell that to a room full of MBA grads!

The fact the company can't even afford to pay someone min. wage to answer their phones, emails and maintain their web presents says a lot about just how well they are not doing.

Well Carole, I don't hang with MBA grads, but I would say it is self explanatory. If you provide great customer service, and a high quality product, then you cost will be high. You must sacrifice at least one of these three. Not being an MBA grad, I could be wrong. But it seems pretty basic to me. Perhaps one of your MBA grad friends could explain it to me.

[LindaK]

Originally Posted by frank_a

I may very well be wrong Bob, but I believe Chandler is not hurting for cash. I think he provided the seed money for the company to begin with, and is probably not worried about buying groceries. So if he doesn't need to get paid, maybe it will work.

It is truly sad to see such a well designed trailer go down the tubes all because of a lack of attention to existing and new customers. Sheesh!

Frank

I was told by Chandler a couple of years ago that he had a financial backer that caused him to have less control than he would have liked. Perhaps he has finally paid back that debt and can now run his company as he wants. There are other molded fiberglass companies that have been successful without mass production. It will be interesting to watch what happens with ParkLiner.
I personally could not (we owned a ParkLiner...which was NOT a prototype... for a short period of time) and would not support a company that treats its customers as ParkLiner has and does. But those who know this situation up-front and are willing to risk the issues they will most likely have, obviously are willing to overlook this reality of the company. I wish them luck.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by David Tilston

Well Carole, I don't hang with MBA grads, but I would say it is self explanatory. If you provide great customer service, and a high quality product, then you cost will be high. You must sacrifice at least one of these three. Not being an MBA grad, I could be wrong. But it seems pretty basic to me. Perhaps one of your MBA grad friends could explain it to me.

All three of your stated criteria are subjective, therefore I can say that there are many companies out there who offer high quality products at competitive prices while still giving great customer service.
Scamp is a good example of such.

It was once said pertaining to custom cars... (I paraphrase)..."You can have one unit for a million dollars or a million units for a dollar each."

There is a minimum production number which must be reached to achieve critical mass, and certain efficiencies in management required if a business is to survive. Common sense and diligence will out perform a diploma every time.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by David Tilston

In business, you can have great quality, great price, and great service. Pick any two. You can't have all three. Parkliner has sacrificed service for the other two. I think that they will do fine.

I truly believe that Escape has a great balance of the three. The first two items are a balance of value. If the quality received is worth the price asked, a proper balance is achieved, and Escape meets this goal. As far as service goes, ask any of the now well over 1,000 Escape purchasers, and you will hear that folks are extremely happy with the service they receive.

Have you ever heard of an unresolved issue with Escape, or at least one they are not trying to deal with?

There is a good reason that Escape owners are thrilled with their purchase, and are ready in a heartbeat to tout it's merits. Sure, there are other great trailers out there, but none that match this balance as well as Escape.

My belief with Parkliner, who I do think makes a great product, is that even if they did not produce near as many trailers for a bit, and focused more on the service end of things, that in short order they would become a more popular company to deal with, resulting in a long term gain.

[David Tilston]

Jim, I think you make my point. The balance that you refer to, many call expensive. I don't mean to say that Escape trailers are not worth the cost, but they provide a high quality product, with great customer service, consequently the cost is high.