Hello WeeRoll Owners & Fans,
On November 1st, 2022, my company purchased the WeeRoll brand, tools, and inventory. Over the past 58 days we’ve listened to countless customers share stories about their experiences with WeeRoll. I’m writing this letter today to share what we’ve learned from these conversations and to explain what we intend to do to become a better company.
I tried to buy WeeRoll from the WeeRoll founder, Tom Cafaro, several times over the past few years. My company rents space in the same building as WeeRoll so I got to know Tom and many of his employees. I was always impressed by the amount of enthusiasm around the brand. I tried to help Tom understand what needed to change so the quality could match the excitement. Tom meant well but he struggled to handle the growth of his business. I wish I could have purchased WeeRoll sooner, but the negotiations always broke down when the topic of customer deposits came up. I had a feeling there were a bunch of people out there who had placed a deposit but never received a trailer. When we couldn’t reach a deal that we were both comfortable with, Tom sold off the assets of the company to Russell Barlow back in April of 2022. Tom is no longer involved with WeeRoll in any capacity.
Russell and his team made a lot of improvements during the seven months he owned the company. They also refunded over a hundred customer deposits. In the end, I think Russell decided his heart wasn’t in the trailer manufacturing business and frankly, I think he was tired of writing checks. Russell is an experienced business guy but he didn’t have experience running a direct-to-consumer manufacturing business. I took him out for breakfast in early October and brought him a check the next day.
WeeRoll is a great fit for our company. We have a lot of experience in this type of manufacturing, and we have a lot of experience fixing the types of problems WeeRoll struggles with. To be clear, we are not a ‘buy it to flip it’ company. We buy businesses that have a strong brand, improve the operations, and own them forever. We don’t have investors, partners, or a board of directors. Just like Harry Truman liked to say, the buck stops here.
I’d like to tell you a little bit about my background. After earning an accounting degree at the University of Florida I had the privilege of serving in the United States Marine Corps. Next, with my DD-214 and an honorable discharge in hand, I went to work as a controller at a manufacturing company. It didn’t take long for me to realize I liked manufacturing a lot more than I liked accounting. A dozen years later I had an MBA and an opportunity to take over a failing manufacturing business. That business faced many of the same problems that WeeRoll has now. Today, Extreme Manufacturing serves customers all over the world and we’ve earned a reputation for quality, dependability, and always doing the right thing for our customers, vendors, and employees.
So now what?
For starters, I want to personally apologize for any quality defects that you may have experienced with your WeeRoll. We take full responsibility for these issues and are taking steps to ensure that they do not happen again in the future. To that end, we have implemented several processes to identify and address quality issues before they arise.
First, we have implemented a comprehensive training program for all our employees to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge necessary to produce the quality our customers expect. Each phase of production has a clearly defined work standard and a written checklist that is signed by the stage leader before a trailer moves on to the next process. Second, we have increased the frequency of our quality control inspections at all stages of production, from the initial sales documentation to the final delivery and acceptance. Finally, we are implementing a system for collecting and analyzing customer feedback, so that we can continuously improve our products and identify any potential issues that warrant a change in the design or the production process.
If you have a concern about the quality of your WeeRoll, please send an email to [email protected]. Please include at least one picture and a specific description of the problem. I can’t promise that we will be able to fix every problem, but we will try to find a solution that works for all of us.
To get more customer feedback, we will hold a monthly raffle for every WeeRoll owner who submits a picture or video of their WeeRoll on social media. Please write something you love about it and something you would like to see improved. Prizes will range from a $50 Visa gift card to a brand new WeeRoll next Christmas. Stay tuned for more information. Please post the pictures or videos on our Facebook page.
We are committed to building a quality product that we are all proud of. We know we have a lot of work to do, and we appreciate your continued support for our brand. If you have any further concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at (352) 559-0950 or [email protected].
Sincerely,
Kevin Reed
President, Extreme Manufacturing LLC
