sid b
50+ posts.... 3 wheels on my wagon!
Posts: 67
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Post by sid b on Jul 1, 2008 10:18:00 GMT
This is for information.
Freeborn in Southampton was one of the main Romahome dealerships in the UK and was home of The Romahome Centre. The Romahome manufacturing company on the Isle of Wight is itself owned by the Freeborn Group.
From 1st July there have been some changes however. From today the Southampton dealership has become Dolphin Motorhomes and it no longer sells new Romahomes! In fact it is now selling AutoSleeper Mezans! It isn't clear from the literature I've seen whether it is still even a part of the Freeborn Group - but I doubt it.
I don't know at the moment what is happening regarding the franchise for new Romahomes in the South. (Perhaps Ant knows something?) My guess is that Freeborn has simply relocated it to their other location in Godalming.
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sid b
50+ posts.... 3 wheels on my wagon!
Posts: 67
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Post by sid b on Jul 1, 2008 10:36:58 GMT
I can now add a bit more. The previous operation in Southampton was a joint venture between the Freeborn Group and the founder of Marquis Motorhomes, Dave Willis. That has now split away to become Dolphin Motorhomes and does not keep the Romahome franchise. The Romahome Centre has been retained by the Freeborn Group and relocated to new premises next to the Southampton football stadium. It would appear that they have also moved their servicing facilities there from the previous place in Hedge End.
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Post by Graham on Jul 1, 2008 12:07:52 GMT
Yes I've had a letter from Dolphin Motorhomes this morning, I haven't had time to read it and take it all in yet but it seems changes are a foot for Freebornes, I was surprised the new company were selling Mezans in direct competition to Romahome, haven't they read the threads on here from Mezan owners saying what a poor copy they are? ;D
Graham
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sid b
50+ posts.... 3 wheels on my wagon!
Posts: 67
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Post by sid b on Jul 1, 2008 12:31:20 GMT
Hello Graham, yes the letter only tells part of the story it doesn't mention what's happening to the Romahome side of things at all, but just says "our name may have changed but otherwise it's very much business as usual" - giving the impression that it's a change of name only! It isn't, it is a demerger and the Dolphin operation doesn't have the Romahome franchise. I imagine they didn't have any choice but to give it up, since Freeborn owns Romahome  I now have a small problem to sort out with them, as I had taken my Dimension in to the Hedge End service centre in May for some warranty work on the driver's seat. They said they would have to replace the runners and that they would order new bits from Romahome which would take a while to come. As I'm still waiting, I've been trying this morning to find out who is now dealing with it. Hey ho, the joys of motoring! |
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Post by Graham on Jul 1, 2008 14:42:56 GMT
Yes it will be interesting to see if Freeborns send us a letter saying where they stand, as we bought our Dimension from Freeborn I would imagine they would want to be in touch to keep our custom.
Graham
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Post by barry5933 on Jul 1, 2008 15:53:47 GMT
Yup, we have had the same letter having bought the HyLo from them last year.
Looking at the letter more closely, I see that the Romahome "panel" actually now says "Used Romahome Centre", with the word "used" in quite small print.
This leaves us also in a bit of a quandry, since consideration was being given by the management committee towards updating the HyLo to a newer version sometime in the future. Freeborn gave us excellent service, both at the time of purchase and subsequently in sorting out a warranty problem. Do we now go back to "Non franchised Dolphin" for a used more recent model, or do we chase the unknown franchised dealer, whoever and wherever they may be?
Methinks that "Sit and let the dust settle a bit" is the order of the day
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Post by Graham on Jul 1, 2008 16:59:24 GMT
Do we now go back to "Non franchised Dolphin" for a used more recent model, or do we chase the unknown franchised dealer, whoever and wherever they may be? As I understand it Freeborn are the Romahome dealer they are now based in Goldaming or you could try Ant at Avon Motors he is a Romahome dealer based in Bristol and gives excellent service. Graham |
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sid b
50+ posts.... 3 wheels on my wagon!
Posts: 67
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Post by sid b on Jul 1, 2008 18:21:59 GMT
Do we now go back to "Non franchised Dolphin" for a used more recent model, or do we chase the unknown franchised dealer, whoever and wherever they may be? As I understand it Freeborn are the Romahome dealer they are now based in Goldaming or you could try Ant at Avon Motors he is a Romahome dealer based in Bristol and gives excellent service. Graham Freeborn is still the Romahome dealer (and manufacturer). They are still in Southampton as well as Godalming - which the Dolphin letter didn't mention, probably to avoid any competition! Freeborn are now at different premises, next to Southampton football stadium. Their web site www.romahomecentre.com/ has all the details. |
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Post by Graham on Jul 1, 2008 19:35:44 GMT
Thanks for clearing that up Sid, I had looked up the normal Freeborn address and it said "page not found", so they've obviously changed their address.
Graham
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Post by moya on Jul 2, 2008 13:33:11 GMT
When we went to the Newbury show this year in May I did wonder why Romahome had it's own stand with all the new vehicles instead of them being at the usual Freeborne one. This explains it - it must have been in the pipeline then. The centre near St. Mary's stadium must be a new one.
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greynomad
15+ posts.... a Uni wheeler!
Posts: 25
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Post by greynomad on Jul 5, 2008 19:10:22 GMT
Mmmm! We too have had the info regarding change of name etc! Have just checked on the Romahome Centre site near St Marys looks as though Neville has moved there! Will contact him next week to check our contract is with them! We are nearly due our first habitation check. We paid up front for 3 years!! (Gosh! is it really a year since we picked Elsie up??!)
Seems odd no one has actually heard from the Freeborn Centre!!
Oh well will have to watch this space!
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greynomad
15+ posts.... a Uni wheeler!
Posts: 25
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Post by greynomad on Jul 7, 2008 12:46:43 GMT
Hi again!
Further to the above, we phoned Neville at the new Freeborn Romahome Centre today. Basically the changeover is in its early days, but as we understand it all those who bought new Romahomes from the old Freeborn at Bursledon and took out the 3 years habitation check these checks will now be with Dolphin. Neville is hoping to pop something on this forum. Interesting times!
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Post by andrew on Jul 7, 2008 16:31:25 GMT
Thought it best to update you myself as my Company is the Freeborn Group and owns the Freeborn Citroen dealership in Southampton which supplies the base vehicles we convert into Romahomes as well as Romahome itself and Freeborn Motorhomes.
I've followed this site since the beginning and have enjoyed the banter and marvelled at Ant's technical wizardry.
To update you properly,we are very close to 'demerging' the Freeborn Motorhome company and disposing of our interest in the Bursledon site and are expecting to complete in the next few days..at which stage we would have written to all our customers.
We have already transferred the Romahome Centre back to the Citroen site in Southampton opposite the football club and now offer new and used Romahome sales, mechanical service and habitation repairs all on one site. We welcome back Neville Peachey as our very own Mr Romahome (hope Ant doesn't mind me using that title!)and are delighted to be focussing 100% on Romahome again. Great to have Neville in the team at a time when we are investing heavily in the factory on the IOW as his experience in this market will be a great asset to Brian Bailey as we design and launch a succession of new models(sorry-you'll have to wait for more info on this)
The Bursledon site which as a Romahome dealer has been singing the praises of Romahome for the last five years has now been terminated as a dealer so they've decided to defect to selling the Autosleeper Mezan- a very different tune indeed! So dont be fooled by their attempts to persuade you to keep going there!! Your members various comments on poor Mezan quality constantly motivate to try and maintain high standards with our own production.
We've also retained our Freeborn Motorhomes site at Guildford and will continue with all makes Motorhomes there and, more especially, our second Romahome Centre under James Saint.
Exciting times for us and we look forward to many Romahome decades ahead of us.
Andrew Jones
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Post by Graham on Jul 7, 2008 19:05:03 GMT
Hi Andrew
Thanks for taking the time to come on here and putting the record straight regarding Freeborns and Dolphin Motorhomes, as you know we have a lot of people on here who are past customers (ourselves included) or potential future customers of Freeborns and its good that they know where they stand regarding this demerger.
Thanks again
Graham
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Post by andrew on Jul 8, 2008 9:03:59 GMT
Hi Graham
Perhaps you can ensure my response goes on the general discussion of Freeborn Motorhomes as I appear to have replied to you only.
And I thought I was computer literate!
Andy
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sid b
50+ posts.... 3 wheels on my wagon!
Posts: 67
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Post by sid b on Jul 8, 2008 9:56:09 GMT
Hi Graham Perhaps you can ensure my response goes on the general discussion of Freeborn Motorhomes as I appear to have replied to you only. And I thought I was computer literate! Andy Hello Andrew, I'm not Graham! So you can be sure that your post went in the right place and not just to him I'd also just like to add my thanks to you for letting us know 'from the horses mouth' what is happening in Southampton. Those of us who had bought our Romas from the Romahome Centre were a wee bit confused and concerned because Dolphin sent us all a circular to say that they had taken over from Freeborn in Southampton, and Freeborn would continue operating from the sales centre in Godalming - no mention at all of St Marys! Good to see that Neville and the Romahome Centre are still going strong. |
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Post by Graham on Jul 8, 2008 12:08:08 GMT
Hi Graham Perhaps you can ensure my response goes on the general discussion of Freeborn Motorhomes as I appear to have replied to you only. And I thought I was computer literate! Andy Hi Andrew As Sid says your post can be seen by everyone on the forum not just me. Graham |
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