Teton Homes closing or just M.I.A.
I’ve heard a number of rumors concerning Casper, Wy. - based Teton Homes and that it is closing its RV division. According to the Casper Star Tribune newspaper that serves the company’s local area, Teton customers are being told by the company that it is out of the RV business. Read about it here.
The newspaper reports that the Massachusetts-based investment firm who owns a majority share of Teton Homes denys the company is shutting down.
A Casper dealer, Ray Stalkup of Stalkup’s RV Superstore says many of the Teton employees have contacted him looking to give him information and also to inquire about possible jobs.
Stalkup says Teton has lain off its warranty service department employees and that warranties on the company’s products are now void. He also says Teton laid off its dealer reps, sales coordinator and mechanical designer/engineer among others. Teton says it hasn’t laid anyone off when I recently called the company.
Stalkup says the company owes him an estimated $65,000 in rebates and he doubts he will ever see it. Other dealers may be in the same situation according to Stalkup.
I’ve personally have called Teton Homes numerous times and left messages with Tom Kim, who is reportedly now in charge of the company, but have not had any return phone calls.
One Teton employee who wished to remain anonymous confirmed that the company has received a “letter of intent to foreclose from Zion National Bank based out of Salt Lake City. He said that a rumor that the company will venture into producing oil field skid mounts is untrue, if a buyer is not found for that segment of the company’s business.
“I have Teton employees calling me. These people are standing in my office so when they tell the newspapers and journalists that they haven’t laid anybody off. It’s just not true,” Stalkup said. “I just wish they would be honest with us.”
I did briefly speak with minority interest holder, Tony Ingram, who told me that the company is in the middle of restructuring and that it will be a couple of weeks before Teton can respond.
I’m sure Tom Kim has a lot on his mind but my experience, if you want answers, he’s not going to return your call. Dealers and RV customers may be out of luck when it comes to parts and warranty. So I guess we’ll tag the company as “M.I.A.” until further notice but most likely, it’s closing its doors.
November 24th, 2011 at 2:11 am
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August 9th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
What is so God forsaken about wyoming ??? I am not sure that was nessary…….
Millions travel to Wyoming every year to see “God forrsaken”.
October 26th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Please keep me informed on the status of Teton Homes 5th wheel trailers. Thank you!
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:18 pm
First of all I would like to say that this publication is days late in reporting the demise of Teton. It’s been on the net for some time. Secondly, who’s surprised? The RV industry is just a reflection of the horror of what is happening on Wall Street. Today’s executives (if you really want to call them that) are more concerned with lining their pockets than operation a successful business, being it manufacturing or sales. This is especially true in the RV industry. I have watched over the years from FMC to Revcon to Hall to WRV to National to Alfa to whomever and the list goes on and on. They all whine and complain that the economy ruined their businesses. If they had the slightest ability and knowledge on how to monitor the economy and protect their businesses there would be many more still operating and selling RV’s at realistic prices. This industry was out to get what they could from the consumer
and now thak god they are paying for it.
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
They are indeed gone, no one is at the plant the only employees left are finishing up the oil skid housing units. They have blown off their customers and dealers alike many customers had deposits on units that were to be built. We had such high hopes when the Ingram’s finally were selling off as they could or would never step up and get Teton to the next level it should have been. Unfortunately they found someone even worse than the Ingram’s to run it. Chris Braun was the man selected my Webster capital to run Teton and run it he did right into the ground with bad decision after bad decision or lack of any decision. Marion Johnson was the real heart and soul of Teton until he passed away and the new engineering nitwits came in and could not engineer themselves out of a cardboard box. Good riddance to all of them and maybe someday someone will revive the Teton name and make it somewhere other than god forsaken Wyoming.