Timberland Motorhomes Going Bust! (1 Viewer)

[Jim]

It seems some people have the wrong end of the stick here. Timberland went bust; when a company goes bust, people do lose out, That does not make them criminals. Its easy to go bust in our country, and long may it remain so. We do not penalise business failure which is one of the reasons why we are a nation of entrepreneurs and small businesses.

I am not privy to what as gone on with Timberlands Motorhomes, but will outline what happens in cases where companies go under.

The banks for whatever reason want their £2,000,000 back, maybe they lose confidence in the company, or maybe they are just skint, but they want it back. The owner cannot find that sum to repay them, so they essentially go bust. From then on what happens is almost entirely in the hands of the Receiver.

The Receivers job is to find as much money from the assets of the company as possible, the receiver will sell anything and everything to do so. More often than not, the sale of the debt free company can realise much more money than selling everything piecemeal, so this has to be an option.

A management buy out from the receiver and the rise of a phoenix company helps the receivers raise more money and the suppliers get more pence in every pound owed to them than they would of without the buy out. I do not think anyone is suggesting that Timberland are like these companies on watchdog that start companies with the intention of going bust and fleecing suppliers. They are crooks; Timberland are a business. I don't know the details but I imagine Timberland suppliers got a lot more of their debts back than they would have if there was no phoenix.

Most of us deal with phoenix companies every day, there are thousands of them, they include banks, high streets stores, pubs, cinemas, ferry companies, car makers etc. That phoenix companies are allowed in this country is a good thing.

I wish the new Timberland the best of luck.

 

[Judge Mental]

Proper:Sad: and much larger motorhome manufacturers then the likes of Timberland have gone bust/into receivership, and they are still limping along....... Two that I can think of are, last year Knaus and this year Westfalia..... any more?:Sad:

 

[reeventu]

I am amazed by some of the comments here. I agree I know nothing of the detail regarding Timberland but you must consider the companies that have lost money because of their liquidation.

Many small companies find themselves in a catch 22 situation , if they do not supply they could lose the account meaning that they never get paid as the replacement supplier will get preference.

If they do supply they run the risk of getting deeper with the customer.

I accept banks are very often the main culprit by reducing previously agreed overdrafts and demanding that this be done in a unreasonable or impossible timescale.

However the point I simply make is that the company owe money that they cannot pay, there may have been some ' adjustment' to balance sheets reflecting stocks , capital equipment etc , etc and in my experience these are not unusual.

I make no comment or on Timberland or its management simply the problem with the UK system of allowing the previous owners to take over the failed company often regardless of the past history.

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[Terry]

While I agree with what Jim says to a point,it needs for people to be aware that after the phoenix are Timberland honouring any warranties on the existing vans ? or just keeping the good name from Timberland ?I have no doubt that they will have changed there name slightly but you have to ask yourself what went wrong in the first place.
Yes Jim the people owed money will get some back but nowhere near what is owed, it may be as little as 5p in the £ after the receivers have had / got there bit.I remember one such co that I dealt with doing that very thing and the owner was in tears at going bust,but it did not take long before he knew he was still getting paid by the receivers while it wrote off all his 2 mill plus debt only for him to buy his now debt free co back and carry on as before
terry

 

[weejocky]

I am amazed by some of the comments here.
.......

however the point I simply make is that the company owe money that they cannot pay, there may have been some ' adjustment' to balance sheets reflecting stocks , capital equipment etc , etc and in my experience these are not unusual.
.

I'm amazed too. Timberland go bust owing millions, now they are trading again with a clean sheet.. As far as I'm concerned this is disgusting practice hat should be illegal.

I would hope that anyone dealing with Timberland has the good sense to pay with a credit card, at least then if they do this again you will be covered:Angry::Angry::Angry::Angry:

 

[Jaws]

Wellllllllllllllllllllllll

Do not wish to comment on the rights and wrongs but I would say that Timberland must have REALLY ripped someone off with their shinanigans..

What makes me say this ?
One of the most expensive units that had on show was a tag 747 - 2

We looked at it on Friday and went for a 2nd look Saturday

Sorry sir, you cannot go in there..

Oh ?

Turned out someone had decided to pee in the sink ( and possibly other places !! 0

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[dazzer]

Tricky one this.

Are you saying that a company that has hit hard times should shut the doors, sack all the staff and leave the directors with no way of making a living or paying their mortgage??

How is that going to help anyone involved??

Companies fail for a whole host of reasons be it banks, change in technology, shrinking customer base, poor managment etc etc.

But to say that the owners of the business should be penalised or persecuted is ridiculous.

Phoenix companies are a fact of life and long may it stay that way, because the other option is more unemployment, more house repos, shrinking business base in the UK and more work going overseas.

The suppliers involved have an option to protect their interests by ways of factoring or insuring against business failure, if they choose not to do so they run the risk of loosing out but if the owners of the failed business are not allowed to try again that is another source of income for the suppliers that ends and the long slippery slope just gets steeper.

Let us not forget that in most cases where a phoneix company starts again the biggest looser is the Government in terms of lost tax revenues and the banks. The receivers get paid a huge amount of money for doing what amounts to very little and they get preference over ALL other creditors. I have seen the huge sums receivers charge and it is truly outrageous amounting to millions of pounds in the cases of larger companies.

Good luck to Timberland for having the guts to have another stab at it and for honoring any warranties etc. If the owner was not permitted to try again how many more people would be on the dole??

 

[Terry]

Again agree with most of what you are saying Dazzer BUT are they agreeing to honour warranties ? or is it a case of we are a new co and although all the staff are the same the existing warranties are gone Joe bloggs looses out
As you say co's can insure for bad debt etc and I would be surprised if they are still being supplied by the same suppliers even though they may have lost money they tend to think that if they do not supply the company someone else will, hence they make some money from still supplying them all be it at a ( probably ) reduced rate
terry

 

[weejocky]

Wellllllllllllllllllllllll

Do not wish to comment on the rights and wrongs but I would say that Timberland must have REALLY ripped someone off with their shinanigans..

What makes me say this ?
One of the most expensive units that had on show was a tag 747 - 2

We looked at it on Friday and went for a 2nd look Saturday

Sorry sir, you cannot go in there..

Oh ?

Turned out someone had decided to pee in the sink ( and possibly other places !! 0

Oh Dear, and no it was not me

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[TimberlandMotorhomes]

A statement by Kevin Cain, owner of Timberland Motorhomes

Timberland Motorhomes was started by me in 1999 with what I remember was a whole £500.

Over the past 10 years we have manufactured a brand that is much sought-after and regarded as one of the top vehicles of its type in the market. Our vehicles have won a number of Caravan Club awards.

We have always prided ourselves on customer care, but I will admit that over the past 12 months due to pressure from our bank we have turned ourselves into a small B……..H……. looking more often at numbers rather than our customers.

I have never been in business just for the money. I have had many years of dealing with nice customers, many of whom have become friends and others I regard as family.

I love my job and will say that other than this year I have woken up every day with a smile looking forward to a day’s work. It is known that some people work to live. I feel I live to work and in fact worry about the inevitable day I will retire.

So, to the matter in hand…

TRUE: The fact is that following a banking system-created recession the property the company owned had fallen in value.

TRUE: As a result our bankers wished to restructure the company facilities.

TRUE: The bank wished to increase the interest rate on my overdraft and mortgage from 1.875% to 5%.

TRUE: The bank also wanted to charge me a 1.5% set-up fee for the overdraft and mortgage which I already had in place.

TRUE: The bank also wanted to charge me a £1,000 per calendar month for a management fee just to look at my account.

In a nutshell, with the charges the bank wanted to impose on us it meant the company would be giving the bank a further £105,000 more profit per year.
I found this to be a bitter pill to swallow. As we all know it would have been a cost that in one way or other would have hurt the company, which we all know is the customer.

TRUE: As a result of the above and the bank imposing other demands in addition which the company could not agree to at the end of the discussions the bank demanded repayment of in excess of £2million.

Even though we tried to look for other funders in today’s market we found that to be an impossible task.

We therefore were presented with two options.

One option was to let my company, which I love and have worked so hard for, go into liquidation.

This would have cost 33 jobs in total

All Timberland customers would have lost their warranties

All suppliers would have lost even more money

The sale value of the Timberland brand would have been damaged

The second option was to invest personal funds in buying back Timberland Motorhomes from the Administrator.

This has saved 22 jobs

Saved all customers warranties

Suppliers if they choose can go forward and earn money from Timberland Motorhomes as they have done over the past 10 years

And the good name and reputation of Timberland can go forward with the knowledge of being one of the biggest motorhome dealers, if not always the best


I would like to reassure customers that Woodland Motorhomes Limited trading as Timberland Motorhomes that nothing has changed and we are now a stronger company.

All warranties on Timberland, Adria, Burstner, Autocruise and Auto-Trail will be honoured as will all warranties on any pre-owned units we have sold – and looked after in the same professional manner as we have always done.

All new customers of Timberland Motorhomes will receive the same high level of customer care that they should expect and deserve.

At no point have we benefitted from anyone’s loss, but have in fact saved England from losing an English manufacturer.

If any member of Motorhome Fun wishes to know more, my e-mail address is kevin.cain@timberlandmotorhomes.com

Kind regards,

Kevin Cain
Proprietor
Timberland Motorhomes

 

[geofliz]

Good Luck and best wishe for the future is what I say. :thumb::thumb:

 

[manu54]

Good luck Kevin.... THE BANKS ARE SCUM,
Treat them as they treat you.
This from an experienced company director !

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[Judge Mental]

A sign of the times, and the banks at it again!:Angry:

 

[mikel]

Honouring the warranty is the prime factor. That's very positive.

I lost mine with Knaus. That's negative.

 

[dazzer]

Well done Kevin.

Thanks for putting the records straight and reassuring all your customers of your honoring of warranties etc. People are all to keen to point the finger without any idea of how or why things have turned out the way they have.

Its a tough world we live in today and you should be congratulated for getting back on the horse and having another stab it it. :thumb::thumb:

Some people would have took the money and walked away riding off into the sunset of retirement leaving a trail of destruction behind them, you deserve a big pat on the back for getting back on the treadmill and slogging away....bloody well done :thumb:

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[Theonlysue]

Timberland Motorhomes

Hi,
I must whole heartedly agree with you - the banks got us into this mess completely, and its now the banks customer who have to support and fund their HUGE errors!!

How come the Bank of England interest rate is 1/2 %, yet the lending rate/credit card rate to customers has increased??? some as high as 30%????

No wonder they are making HUGE profits - a baby could with these arrangements.
NO WAY is this helping their customers - they are using us yet again to clear up their shoddy business practises.

Its only by my standing firm with a so called financial advisor and insisting on a 10 year fixed rate mortgage 4 years ago, that I still have my home. If I had gone with the 2 year fixed, I would have been under notice of redundancy (been made redundant twice in 2 years) when it needed remortgaging and I would have had no chance at all. No doubt, he wanted to do what was right for him and his commission and not what was right for his customer -me.

Sorry to go off topic, but these so called expert banks have caused a lot of todays mess and do not appear to have to answer to anyone:Angry::Angry::Angry:

Really angry now:Angry:
S

 

[Carol]

Kevin thank you for taking the time to post your side, it is very easy for people to jump to conclusions without knowing the facts good luck for the future, and lets all hope some where along the line some common sence will come back into the way banks operate.