That is strange.  I posted the question yesterday and came back today to see if anyone had replied.  Guess it was not a worthy question.

Thanks

My friends had Ponderosa's.  They seemed to like them but both upgraded from the stock type to enclosed trailers due to the bad weather we have up here in Ohio. One went to an Exiss GN with a WKender package and my other friend bought a used Diamond D enclosed.

  Again, the question of the open sides when it is cold comes up... and they decided that they liked the options of an enclosed trailer better.

The Ponderosa trailers worked fine for them.. for the price.  They aren't rust proof, but they seemed to haul well and neither one paid a fortune for theirs.  And got a pretty good resale out of them.

Jbsny

Barry

You must have missed the post and my point

Twice when forum members gave their not so good opinions about Ponderosa trailers the post(s) got deleted.. and you say that they advertise on here too...Hmmmmm

DELETED

Sounds like good business dealings to me.  I imagine that there are large costs associated with maintaining a website like this.  Those who have ever been in business know that the bottom line gets tighter and tighter.  There is a difference in bashing a brand and offering input.  There are those on here that are quick to bash when they could just simply state the facts.  If I was running a business, I would want to make sure that I protected my investment.  This is a business in a round about way.  It is the businesses(trailer companies, conversion companies) that make this website profitable, which, in turn allow us to have these discussion boards. 

robdnorm

I guess your saying its ok to keep potential buyers ( like US!) in the dark about common problems with certin brands of trailers, just so one might make a few bucks by advertising for them!!!

Nobody "Bashed" Ponderosa,in fact almost all the complaints were over the lousy paint job that comes on this brand trailer.

Wanna bet this very informative forum also generates alot of business for this site!??

I'm sure it does generate for the site. 

However there is a difference is stating that their paint does not hold up and stating they they are the bottom end of the trailers on the market.  I am sure that for everyone that thinks they purchased a trailer and got it home only to find out it was not the quality they thought they had, that they think it is the worst trailer out there.  In reality, there might be another person who has a bigger lemon than what you had.  It is unfair to say what is the worst trailer.  We are not able to compare all the different manufacturers products from across the country. 

Being able to use this forum is a privilege.  When this privilege is being misused, there are those who have to look after the interests of their business(this website) and make sure they will be able to keep potential advertisers willing to invest to make this available for years to come. 

Some clarification is in order.

1.  This site is heavily committed to buyers.  That's what brings in the people with trailers to sell.  Period.  Buyers want as many choices as possible without having to search all over the internet.  No matter how you want to slice it . . . horse trailer dealers have a lot of horse trailers to sell.

2.  Some dealers do relist their trailers as "new" on the database after a month or so.  But there are NO duplicates. They do this in an attempt to appear briefly on the home page as a new listing but they are limited to only four that appear there at any one time.  According to our click statistics, most buyers go directly to the search engine for their search anyway.  But everyone looks for an edge.  Can you blame them?  It's their business and they have families to feed.

3.  As for comparing hits with other sites.  We have more traffic than any other trailer site on the internet.  There are ways to learn this.  But we also have more trailers to choose from than any other site on the internet.  (less clicks per trailer)  You only need one buyer. 

4.  Yes I do protect my advertisers from criticism.  I've seen it all, and there is not one trailer company that has never had an unhappy customer.  But there are ways to offer information about a trailer's painting processes, for instance, as it relates to it's cost.  Don't expect to get a Cadillac on your Chevy budget than trash your result as crappy or bottom of the line.   All trailers (and cars) are NOT made a like - and most reflect the cost in what they offer.

5.  With point number 4 in mind - I deleted the thread in question because I don't personally think ANYONE wants their career work to be called "Crappy".  Do you?  I've been in personal touch with most trailer companies and they are happy to defend their value to quality ratio with anyone and defend what they have to offer and the market they serve. . . . proudly.  Warranties usually reflect their sincerity with their reality . . . and if it doesn't, they should look to this board for some good information provided by readers like yourself.

Thanks for posting.  You all . . . make this site a valuable asset to many, and I want to keep it that way.

Dave Mattern - Owner
Horse Trailer World

.  "With point number 4 in mind - I deleted the thread in question because I don't personally think ANYONE wants their career work to be called "Crappy".  Do you?  I've been in personal touch with most trailer companies and they are happy to defend their value to quality ratio with anyone and defend what they have to offer and the market they serve. . . . proudly.  Warranties usually reflect their sincerity with their reality . . . and if it doesn't, they should look to this board for some good information provided by readers like yourself."

Dave How can the "Proud" makers of horse trailer look to this site and get honest feedback on their "Career Work" if you keep deleting posts that don't praise their product. Also Dave if I invest several thousand dollars on a trailer and have the paint chip off, THATS CRAP!!! And Dave WE ARE THE MARKET THEY SERVE, yet YOU don't think we as the buyers of CRAP should say anything bad about these PROUD Builders who try and compare themselves with the better trailer builders out there.Your reasoning doesn't hold water and I won't be apart of this. To everyone else here , Its been fun and take care.

To Bill - I don't know whose thread you just read, but you seem to enjoy coming to your own conclusions.  These manufacturers ARE proud of their product.  They DON"T like to be called "bottom of the barrel" and "crap".    If you paid several thousand dollars for a trailer and some of the paint chipped off . . . did you write the manufacturer?  What did they say?  Was there a warranty?  Was their trailers available with better paint jobs for the same money?  For more money?  Did you look into aluminum trailers? (they cost more than several thousand dollars.)

This is the first thread I've deleted in about a year.  It's been a great site for information to many.   And it's just plain rude to mock people for being proud of their business.  

OK, my turn, you know how I love to be in a controversy. We delete very few posts. It's difficult to try to make everyone happy. The majority of negative posts and personal attacks have stayed, probably more than should. We want input and open discussion. As I posted a couple of weeks ago, we need to get along and stop the negative attacks on each other. It's too easy to get on this forum and carry out personal vendetta's. We have thousands of folks that follow the forum and don't post. Some because of the fear of someone criticizing them. We have great advice offered from members of this forum, I haven't seen a forum on horse trailers with this much info and help. That's what we are all looking for, help in our research and search for the right trailer and towing advice.

We appreciate the input from veterans whom have been with us for years and answered endless questions. Please don't judge this forum by a few negative posts. I see allot of the upset posts are also some of the new folks whom just started with us or just started posting. This is good as new folks are joining us daily. But the folks just joining us haven't experienced our evolutionary process, a few years ago when bashing was rampant and personal attacks happened daily, it was harder to get important questions answered. So though we're still not perfect, we have improved and for myself, am thankful to Mr. Mattern that this forum exists and continues to improve and provide a valuable service. If you want to stop sleeping and seeing your family, just build some websites and forums and your free time will disappear. It is a tough job.

It's Christmas, I'm taking the grand kids to see all the lights tonight, Saturday taking the grand kids horseback riding, then Sunday I break the diet for the last time. You all have a Merry Merry Christmas, my youngest son is back from the Army for Christmas, we're all together, it's a blessed year. Enjoy your families, share a carrot with your 4 legged friends. We'll continue the debate after Christmas.

And thanks to you Kent for your efforts and hard work  . . . Merry Christmas.  I'll bet you're a proud Army dad.  I would be.

I'm taking the family (two teens, wife and a couple of cattle dogs) to Minnesota for the weekend for Christmas.  Lutheran style.  But you can bet I'll have my laptop with me . . . God's blessings to everyone on here - on our Savior's Birthday.

Dave
HTW

I agree with Mr Mattern.  I am a webmaster and it not only requires a lot of time but a lot of money to run a site like this. 

I really appreciate the time the webmasters put into keeping this site viable and available. 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.  I, for one, truly appreciate the time/effort you put into maintaining Horse Trailer World.  I visit it every day.

Jbsny

Dealers don't place ads one at a time with the swipe of a credit card.  They have to register with us and provide information and actually exist.  Single trailer ads (for convenience to the seller) can be placed online immediately and automatically by anyone.  And that what the con artist does.  They use false trailer information and stolen credit cards, (yes we absorb that), and then try to bait you to buy their trailer. 

We delete most as soon as we see them.  But it's always "buyer beware" because the scam artist invariably gives the reader a deal too good to resist.  Who doesn't want a 2005 4 horse living quarter trailer for $12,000?

Still, people were getting sucked in.  You would be surprised how many people would put down $3,000 on a trailer that was promised to be shipped from Spain by a person who could barely type correctly.  It happened.  And you would be surprised how many potential buyers had NO IDEA of the scam technique. 

So we posted a warning.  Which no one read.

So we finally were forced to post a warning right in the body of the ad itself or we would have to screen every single person who wanted to place an ad to see if they were legitimate or not.  Welcome to the new world of cyber terrorism.  Like the airport, you still have to be searched, even if you don't fit the terrorist profile.

It stinks.