Burning Kingsley

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

....what company insured the coach?-[just in case].....geof kaye

[Jerry Carlson]

In response to the continued attempts to sabotage Kingsley Coach recently by the person identified on this site as "Kingsley Owner", I feel I can no longer remain silent as I am privy to many of the facts and details that are being completely misrepresented by this individual, while he chooses to remain anonymous rather that put his name behind what he is saying.

My name is Jerry Carlson and I have been involved with Kingsley COach, Inc. since its inception. I am currently the head of production and am very proud of what we do and what we build. Normally I wouldn't take the time to respond to accusations like this but the truth has become so twisted, and with so many of you who are interested in truck conversions reading his postings, I feel I have no choice. If after reading this you have any questions or comments, you can reach me at 800-445-2918. I'll be happy to talk to any of you.

1. The person using the screen name "Kingsley Owner" is Marco Lanza from Wellington, Florida. His phone numbers are 561-762-6828 OR 561-791-9666.

2. Marco purchased a low budget, starter coach in a garage model from Kingsley in 1999. While similar in appearance and a great value, it is certainly not our top of the line custom coach.

3. Prior to his purchase, Marco visited our plant, viewed existing Kingsleys of similar construction, spoke to other owners and was in my opinion, very educated and well informed.

4. Immediately after Marco received his coach, he changed the entire interior, added a bedroom and made numerous electrical modifications to the coach himself.

5. Marco turned in a claim to his insurance company that, to my knowledge, conveniently paid him more that he paid us for the coach initially.

6. Never before or after has there been any other Kingsley Coach with a similar situation.

7. After receiving the insurance payment, Marco wanted another Kingsley.

8. Approximately last November, Marco called Kingsley and offered to come and work at Kingsley as part of the management team, in exchange for stock only. Kingsley was interested in exploring the possibility and invited Marco to come to our facility in Minnesota.

9. Over the next 3 months Marco spent some time, off & on, viewing production,studying financial records, becoming involved with customers and vendors etc...

10. Marco said he loved what we were doing, he loved our products and wanted to be involved. But instead of working for a minor stock position, he wanted to take over as CEO in exchange for travel, some expenses, a 20% profit share every year and 11 million shares of stock, which would be a controlling position. As if this were not enough, he also wanted a brand new, top of the line coach built for him, at our cost.

11. Negotiations deteriorated as he kept attempting to improve his position, simply for stepping in as CEO.

12. Kingsley told him that this woulod not be in the best interests of Kingsley or its shareholders. He became angry and left. For a couple of weeks, he wouldn't answer or return numerous calls from Kingsley Coach.

13. Marco then attempted to invoice kingsley for over $50,000.00 to pay for his negotiations. He billed for some of his expenses and wanted $2,000.00 per day for his time. Prior to this invoice, paying him for negotiations was never discussed. Kingsley offered to pay for some of his expenses, however, Kingsley would not pay his arbitrary $2,000.00 per day number so, he became angrier.

14. Now, in my opinion, he is making this anonymous attempt to slander and Libel Kingsley Coach, Inc. simply because he did not succeed in his attempt to take over.

As I stated above, normally I wouldn't take the time to respond to what I consider the rantings and ravings of a very disgruntled and misguided person but as you can see, there is a lot more to the story, so to speak.

Please feel free to call me if I can answer any questions for you about Kingsley Coach or stop by and take a look for yourselves. You are always welcome.

Jerry Carlson
800-445-2918

[40,000 mile TC user]

Well it is good to see that Jerry from Kingsley, who by the way is a very good competent guy and really the technical brains of the place, has chimed in.
I posted my information in the hopes that it would help others trying to make a decision on what coach to buy. I didn't think that personal information would have helped those discussions.

Jerry, your items 2,3,4,5,8,10,11,12,13,14 contain factual errors. Since you were not party to the discussions this is understandable.

I posted factual pictures, technical descriptions of only some of the problems that I had with the coach, and considering the loss I suffered only mild editorialization.

In your entire post, you did not dispute any of my factual information.

I however did make a mistake, the "studs in the wall are a much thicker .040 aluminum vrs. the .030 that I mentioned.
I will continue to post any factual information that other members request. But you can address those to Jerry as well.

[WERA]

LOL - Let me see if I can distill this down to the basics - you had a coach, it burned, you had so few issues wiht the manufacturer you wanted to work for them, you didn't get to be CEO so you posted the pix?

And that is after removing everything in his post that you noted had "factual errors" which as I read it are different than actual errors in the overall post he made.

I love the internet, sooner or later everyone gets called out when they're acting stupid

[40,000 mile TC user]

What I meant was factual errors vrs, different opinions. There is a big difference. I have taken my discussion back to Jerry in private, since those discussions won't help anybody make a better decision on what coach to buy.
The fire and what I learned are valuable to those considering what to buy. Buy from Kingsley, it is only important that you get what you think you are getting.
Make a better decision on smoke detectors, escape routes, agreed value insurance...
Check that the wiring has been done to a standard you are happy with.
Learn from other people's experiences, nobody has the time to make all the world's mistakes themselves.

[5erFool (John)]

Isn't it amazing how things change when identities are out in the open.
I have smelled sour grapes from the first post..
I did spend a couple of days in Mn. at the Kingsley plant last wk... the major difference I see in the Kingsley compared to the others that use square tubing framework is the much lower center of gravity.. the floor is MUCH heavier than the others and the side walls and roof are much lighter in weight... the connection between the original truck and coach is massive.. lots of steel used there.. I had Lonnie at Showhauler tell me that the connection cannot be made without a boot because there was no way to eliminate flexing and eventually cracking will occur at the joint.. I have seen how they are built and I must humbly disagree,.not just based on my view of the process but also after closely checking four older Kingsley coaches on the lot... a '96, '97, another '97 and a '98 (one belonged to LeAnn Rhimes) none of them showed the "expected" signs of fatigue from the joint...I wish I had taken more pictures of the process.
I am more concerned with the connection at the base of the wall and the floor... but as Bill mentioned my limited engineering ability is a poor match for the fact that three of those rigs I looked at were built that way and are holding up fine after 7 or 8 years all with 500HP engines.. there was another one that a hockey team (MUDBUGS) traded in on a new unit that was delivered while I was there..(new one sleeps 30)... the old one was being disassembled and rebuilt for resale... 750,000 miles since originally being built on a new chassis...

NO I still haven't bought one... I guess I am tooo picky.. or maybe I need electric hunting socks... my feet still get cold..

Thanks again to Ralph, Jerry, Tiffany and all the folks at Kingsley Coach.. My son and I were treated like Kings (pun intended) during our visit and everything possible was done to make our trip a success. I would not be at all reticent to buy one of them if finances would allow..

I posted some pics at my webshots page and will post a few more soon. The '99 Freightliner classic is still for sale as of today...99K miles only.. new tires being put on it too.
http://community.webshots.com/user/jwildrn

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

......I still didn't get my question answered....."who insured the coach"?....geof kaye

[Warpath]

Obviously there is more to this story than originally posted.

I really have to thank Jerry for coming on the site and posted information from their side of the story. They didn't have to do that, and most companies wouldn't do it. I think it takes a company that has pride in their product and reputation to do that.

I spoke to them today and I liked what I heard. They have alot of repeat buyers and if they where building junk that would not be happening.

In the end each individual has to make the ultimate decision if a company is a competent builder. There is no better way than visit that company and meet the people who build the product, view the build process and see the finished product.

I feel that this discussion has fully unfolded and do not see any further benefit in keeping it open.