XPCamper goes out of business, files for bankruptcy?

[Pinnacle Campers]

Potentially a lack of skilled employees. Marc, although talented, cant build them all.
Would explain the long delays.
Sorry to hear about this.

 

[vintageracer]

So what happened to all the "Deposits" on the books and the people who paid em???

 

[pugslyyy]

If he was charging plenty and there were plenty of customers, why did it fail?

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I've known Marc for many years, and a lot of small businesses struggle with cash flow, growth, etc. It's a pretty normal thing.

When Marc came back from Expo West 2018 he found that his wife and business partner of many years had left him and cut off all contact. No relationship is perfect, but the abruptness of her departure and lack of closure really tore him up, and made it very hard for him to give the business the focus it needed. If you know Marc, you know he wears his emotions on his sleeve and can imagine the impact.

If I were to point to one event that caused the eventual shutdown of the business, that would probably be it. As others have pointed out, Marc lost a lot - his business, his money, his house, etc. Just a sad story for a lot of folks.

The people who are driving the asset sale are XPCamper V1 owners that full time, so they believe in the product and the vision. They are purposely doing it as a bulk sale in the hopes that somewhere down the road Marc's vision of a camper has a chance to live on, instead of all the pieces of equipment just being sold off to a bunch of different people lot by lot.

 

[adam88]

If he was charging plenty and there were plenty of customers, why did it fail?

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Not all businesses fail because of lack of demand or lack of money. I can tell you right now that finding good labour probably played a huge role in the decision. Finding employees to work and retaining them is a very exhaustive thing to do. If employees don't show up for work, or call in sick, what do you do? It's not easy to replace a welder and re-train them how to do everything. And any welder who is jobless is probably jobless for a reason (e.g. they got fired or quit their last job). I know businesses that have shut down literally because they couldn't find good employees even though their business was fiscally sound.

 

[AbleGuy]

The people who are driving the asset sale are XPCamper V1 owners that full time, so they believe in the product and the vision. They are purposely doing it as a bulk sale in the hopes that somewhere down the road Marc's vision of a camper has a chance to live on, instead of all the pieces of equipment just being sold off to a bunch of different people lot by lot.

It almost sounds like the same amount of effort being expended to do that could also be put to use raising funds and getting new investors on board so that they could keep the business viable

 

[craig333]

I remember when he brought the first prototype to a WTW gathering on Green Creek. How excited he was. Sad to this this day come.

 

[adam88]

I remember when he brought the first prototype to a WTW gathering on Green Creek. How excited he was. Sad to this this day come.

Marc was always passionate about these things. It was fun to talk to him. I once spoke to him on the phone for an hour and he just went on and on, he loved talking about campers. I hope he managed to keep one for himself and can go out and enjoy it. I hope someone is able to continue building XP campers. If I had the money and knowledge, I would buy the assets and simplify the business enormously. I would cut out production of the V2 and any custom work (cubes etc) and focus solely on the V1. I would also outsource the flatbed and suspension mods to other companies. Marc's flatbed is an amazing product but you're either in the camper business or the flatbed business, that's my two cents. I want 100% of my focus to go towards campers. If I am being pulled aside all the time to deal with problems in the flatbed factory then I can't give my all to the camper side of it.

 

[adam88]

Apparently XP Campers was successfully acquired by a group of investors (some are XP owners) and they have retained key staff and will be resuming operations soon.

 

[muffy123]

Apparently XP Campers was successfully acquired by a group of investors (some are XP owners) and they have retained key staff and will be resuming operations soon.

 

[muffy123]

That would be great if true. Are you able to elaborate?

 

[BackBeyond]

That's correct. They have rented a facility in Colfax, not far from the original XP location in Grass Valley, and have begun hiring some of the former key employees. They've already moved the manufacturing equipment aquired in the auction over there. I think they'll be up and operating by late Oct but that's just my guess.

 

[TedH]

I am one of the depositors for an XP camper that got surprised by the asset sale. My deposit was not a small amount of money. Technically, XP Camper is not bankrupt, at least not filed yet.
I am excited to read there is hope still! I have attempted to determine who purchased the assets so I can talk to them but have not been able to get a response from the Auction company or attorney.
If it is possible to share a contact, I would appreciate it very much.

 

[tacomabill]

I am one of the depositors for an XP camper that got surprised by the asset sale. My deposit was not a small amount of money. Technically, XP Camper is not bankrupt, at least not filed yet.
I am excited to read there is hope still! I have attempted to determine who purchased the assets so I can talk to them but have not been able to get a response from the Auction company or attorney.
If it is possible to share a contact, I would appreciate it very much.

In case of bankruptcy, their attorney is required by law to notify all parties having a financial interest along with the process to follow to file a claim. Been there, done that with another unrelelated company, but it was in California and I never got my money back because I was too low on the creditors totem pole. The process ranks everyone and I do not know how they go about it. they went through all the funds and assets before they got to me.

 

[TedH]

Thanks. I was notified about the auction of assets. No notification (yet) about filing a claim. I did my own homework through an attorney and the amount I am entitled to if bankruptcy is ultimately filed is peanuts. A far better option is that the company resumes. The assets were nothing impressive other than the camper molds if somebody wanted to continue producing the product. The other posts indicate that may be In the works. I am wanting to make contact with the new owners if it is real.

 

[hermz]

So what happened to all the "Deposits" on the books and the people who paid em???

We all got absolutely screwed. From my understanding Marc took close to a million dollars from 15 people with no clear plan to perform. Robbing Peter to pay (or in this case) build a camper for Paul. One of the guys screwed over lost his entire inheritance from his mom who died from cancer. She wanted him to buy a house but knew he never would stay in one place so encouraged him to use the money to get a camper. Don't feel sorry for Marc. I loved the product but that man had no business running a company.