Redwood Owners Club

[0nTheRoad-REDW]

Please forgive my late posting, I left the Rally last Monday and have been on the road with friends since o this is the first time I've had the opportunity to get any time on the computer.

On Thursday evening we had a wonderful dessert social where the Coopers made several general announcements and I was asked to spend a few minutes discussing starting an owners club for Redwood. After a brief discussion we decided to host an informal meeting on Friday morning prior to the start of the rally. Here is a summary of the meeting and follow-up meeting with Andy Crisp, Crossroads President and Jim Lazzarino, Redwood General Manager. Andy [Oriana] and I represented the owners.

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We started with a general discussion of what people wanted/expected an owners club to be. The group discussed many topics; here is a summary of the highlights…
ο Work with OEM [Redwood/Crossroads]
ο Two-way dialogue with OEM Executives
ο Important to have Redwood/Crossroads management involved
ο OEM contacts page [updated]
ο OEM staff tree
ο Dealer relations
ο Initially national [US & Canada] group, individual [region] groups after growth
ο Communications, e.g. newsletters, welcome letter to existing owners
ο Welcome letter to new owners introducing club, possible one year membership
ο Education
ο Software instructions [how-to videos]
ο Technical resources
ο Seminars/webinars
ο Troubleshooting/FAQ
ο Owners welcome package
ο Rallies
ο Rally planning
ο Develop club for expansion into other areas, e.g. technical, social

Additional discussion on a variety of topics…
ο Forums- questions why we have two forums, overall desire to consolidate to a single forum, part of the owners club.
ο Desire to have Redwood/Crossroads management involved with the club… most in attendance wanted Redwood/Crossroads involved but if they were unwilling the group felt we should proceed anyway without them.

Discussion on forming a committee to further explore/develop, a list was passed around. General consensus was to have a small group [3-5 people] to work this.

Andy [Oriana] and Chuck [0nTheRoad] are going to request a meeting with Jim Lazzarino [Redwood General Manager] and Andy Cripe [Crossroads President] who are at the rally, to explore whether they are supportive.

After the meeting Chuck and Andy met with Jim L & Andy C to discuss the owners group. Both Jim and Andy were interested and were inquisitive as to the meeting we held with the owners. We briefed them on the content and both were excited with the possibilities. They asked several questions and stated that they needed to explore the financial implications and check with some of the other owner clubs, especially the ones in the Thor family. Andy said he would get copies of some of the other clubs by-laws, rules, etc. They asked a couple of pointed question s asking whether we intended to include the entire Redwood family [Cypress, Sequoia and Redwood] or just Redwood, we indicated that we thought the entire family should be included. They also asked whether we wanted management involved, we said yes.

Our meeting was both very positive and encouraging and we agreed to continue to explore the possibilities and would get back together via phone when we had more information.
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I'd love to hear the thoughts of all the owners, at least those on the two forums for now before we proceed further so lets hear what you have to say???

 

[ksaltman]

I think an Redwood Owners club is a good idea and will help build a strong following for the brand.

I'd like to see both a large annual rally near the factory as well as smaller regional rallies during the year so people who can not get to the main rally can still meet other owners. This I think is something the club could facilitate. I also think a club could organize other destination journeys to places like Oshkosh, Wine & Food Festivals and anything else people are interested in.

Overall I don't see any downsides unless it deteriorates into a power-play/political thing that ends up just serving a few rather than the entire Redwood community.

 

[dave and ginny]

The 2 forums are each owned by individuals and although not everyone follows both forums I don't see the harm. Redwood told me last year that they weren't in the forum business and that's why they sold it off. This also helped Redwood because they were getting complaints from the dealers about what was being posted. I think if a club is started, they can use the forums to gather people and get information out.

In my opinion.......the owners club is a great idea and we've visited this several times over the last 3 years. However each time money was brought up, things tended to unravel. At one time Colonel John was kind of ear-marked to help launch this until things fell apart due to the money conversation.

I will be a member of the club and pay any dues that are asked but I don't want to be any more involved than that at this time. There are a lot of great folks in this group that can handle this. I've served on boards and right now I just enjoy helping people in an informal way.

 

[DLRAKOWITZ]

Hey Dave,

I am with you on that as well, this forum alone was very helpful for me as well and I don't have an issue on paying dues to a club to keep this live and helping out other people who have questions and concerns a I have asked before.

 

[COLJDM60]

Dave, as you know I tried to get the club going for a couple of years but hit a stonewall due to the cost of annual dues. Annual dues were nothing more than a small donation to be used at our annual rally to support a dinner for the group. In order to have a voice strong enough to be heard and recognized by the manufacturer, you must have unity of the members and group consensus on goals, topics and recommended product enhancements. Team cohesiveness and positive effort will provide the best platform on which to inform Redwood of changes we feel are necessary to reinforce customer comfort,, loyalty, ensure repeat business and market the brand to potential customers. A functional organized Redwood Owners Club will do just that. I would gladly get involved if required.

 

[Rob_Fla]

I think a Owners Club would be great, we like to see more regional rally's, interaction with other owners and with the manufacturer.
I do not have a problem with annual dues, most owners clubs that work well have them.
Even though we are RW newbies, we would get involved as much as we could, but since we currently still work and travel fulltime, our availability is somewhat limited.

 

[arcticman1957]

I would also like to see the owners club start. If it would mean regional rallies, I live close to Elkhart, but I am always out on work assignment when the have to rally. Dues would not be an issues as every other club I have ever belong to I have had to pay dues.

 

[Redwoodrebelyyc]

I am all for the club and no problem with dues. Would also like some regional rallies out west.would also be willing to help out as time permitted.

 

[Elliott & Vicky]

Ditto. (typig with wrong hand after surgery)

 

[TNTBaker]

We're in too, for sure. YES rallies in other parts of the country would be great. Yes, we would miss the factory tour, but we can do that another time. More important to get together with MORE RW Folks.

 

[dave and ginny]

Dave, as you know I tried to get the club going for a couple of years but hit a stonewall due to the cost of annual dues. Annual dues were nothing more than a small donation to be used at our annual rally to support a dinner for the group. In order to have a voice strong enough to be heard and recognized by the manufacturer, you must have unity of the members and group consensus on goals, topics and recommended product enhancements. Team cohesiveness and positive effort will provide the best platform on which to inform Redwood of changes we feel are necessary to reinforce customer comfort,, loyalty, ensure repeat business and market the brand to potential customers. A functional organized Redwood Owners Club will do just that. I would gladly get involved if required.

John, that's why I brought this up. It floored me the last time the idea of a club was brought up and people in these nice RVs were complaining about some sort of SMALL due structure.