I was recently astonished to find out that my 2004 Bailey Senator which I purchased new in March last year needed a NEW AXLE. This was repaired under warranty and I lost the use of the van for six weeks while the old axle was sent back to the manufacturer and a new one provided. The caravan now sits significantly higher than before. I've asked Bailey for a gesture of goodwill for the loss of use of the van and the inconvenience, however to date, they have been most unhelpful. Anyone with a 2004 Bailey should keep an eye on their axle, as I know of at leat one other Bailey with the same problem. Meanwhile has anyone out there ever received a gesture of goodwill from Bailey? They tell me it is not Company Policy to provide this - pretty mean and not customer friendly!
2004 Bailey Senator needed new axle
- Thread starter William_5041816
- Start date
Imagine (for instance) that you were committed to go to a wedding and had planned to stay in your caravan, and that you had been forced to use a hotel etc because your caravan was being repaired. It would then be fair for the manufacturer to reimburse your additional costs. But if you want some form of compensation for anything else, then I think you are asking too much.
Hello William, Sorry to read of your axle problem. Now to the nitty gritty - Under the current consumer laws you should be dealing with whoever sold you the caravan. In most cases this is a dealer. The commercial seller cannot avoid liability for the products they sell. If you have sufferd financial loss as a direct and unavoidable loss of use of the caravan you would havea case to claim this from the dealer. The fact that the manufacture has accepted liability for the faulty axle, still does not release teh dealer from thier responsibilities to you thier customer. Shoudl you maek a succesfull claim against a supplier, the supplier would then counter claim against thier supplier and so on back towards the manufacturer. The manufacture has no direct obligation to the end user Uless they sell direct), and that is why goodwill payments are not common from manufacturers. Badger your dealer, perhaps a free service?
Aside from the compensation issue William what actually was the fault and how did you become aware of it?
I am curious as a fellow Bailey owner you see.
I am curious as a fellow Bailey owner you see.
whilst i appreciate your plight William, why is it these days everyone seems to be embracing the 'compensation culture' with open arms? caravanners are portrayed as friendly souls in all 'van mags but when something goes wrong, our goodwill soon goes.i am as much to blame as anybody else, my new van was returned and i was jumping up and down for an eternity; but why? the people we usually have to deal with are very rarely the people our wrath should be aimed at. so perhaps we should take a deep breath and accept that mistakes do happen, before ruining someones day. lets try to be bit more tolerant and we might all end up with living and working in better places. less stress = even better trips away.
I understand where dave is coming from and agree in principal, but for far too long we have been ripped off my manufacturers and it is now time we stood up for ourselves. Why should we be out of pocket because of faulty goods? We worked long and hard to put the money in our pockets. Claim reasonable compensation but don't go overboard.
Dave, whilst I can see your point how bout the cases of people buying new caravans in which there are serious problems - recently where body sides had not been fixed correctly as well as numerous other faults - the dealer will have taken the money which includes a PDI and, when the customer complains is most obstructive to the point of trying to deny the customer his legal rights. If the customer remains meek and mild at all tims the 'sharks' will get bigger and bolder and the malaise will spread. Until we have a lvel playing field, i.e. the manufacturer / dealer doing right by the customer then it might spur the custome to do right by the manufacturer / dealer. On a wider front it was the lack of quality that dcimated the british car industry - the japanese built well thus ensuring quality and reliability. It would seem that some british manufacturers are emulating the british car industry.
Firstly let me be clear I lost the use of my van for a considerable period of time when I and my family had clear plans to use it. We had little use earlier in the year due to serious family illness so we thought we would take the opportunity when it arose. I am not looking for compensation as there is nothing that can be done to compensate for the lost weekend breaks at the end of last year.
The problem manifested itself when the van was in for some other unrelated minor warranty work. It appears the wheel boxes, those things which look like a rectangular wheel arch; showed evidence of friction marks. As I understand it the chassis did not hold the van where it should have, the van lowered and hence the friction marks. Fairly fundemental, and in legal terms not fit for purpose. Given this situation then repair under warranty is a must, however the gesture which I suggested - which could be a free service, is purely a sign of goodwill, a bit of an apology for the inconvenience caused by obvious errors in the supply chain. Anyway enough ranting keep an eye on those wheel boxes and if your caravan appear lower than you remember get straight back to your dealer.
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