ALL CARAVAN OWNERS - READ THIS....

[Julie_5081178]

We bought a new Lunar Lexon EB a few weeks ago. On checking another fault we discovered that the wheel had worn away the inside of the wheel arch of the caravan and the tyre was visible from inside the wardrobe / shelves cupboard. Since discovering this we have spoken to a few other Lunar & Bailey owners who have had the same thing happen to them - and they had spoken to even more owners!

The worrying thing about this is that its out of sight and can (and has by a friend of ours) go unnoticed. Our dealer also told us about one where the baking tray from the bottom of the cooker had been worn away and burst the tyre causing a blow out during towing.... this could of easily been a fatality.

Because of the water leak and numerous other problems we have asked for our caravan to be replaced, but our dealer is unwilling to do so saying that they will be left with a damaged van on their hands and to take it up with Lunar (who are very reluctant to return our calls).

We would like everyone who has had this problem to contact Lunar and their dealers so Lunar will alter what is obviously a build fault (some of the vans were 3 years old).

Please reply to this message if you have had simalar problems as we are interested in what types of caravans and how many this has happened to .... and if you haven't - then check it frequently!!

We have been told by our Lunar & Bailey dealers that they have had the problem on both makes of caravan and we are interested to see how many and if there are other makes of van with the same problem.

 

[mauron]

Hi Julie,

Your situation sounds horrific but the respose from Lunar doesn't surprise me. We had a 3 year old Lunar Stellar that was full of damp. Would have cost at least

 

[ThePlotter]

This van is clearly not of merchantible quality and should be rejected it is the responsibility of the dealer to sort with the manufacturer.With luck you will have taken out finance via the dealer in which case the finance company becomes liable under the consumer credit act 1983 (this will not apply if arranged via bank etc)if via dealer contact them and insist on replacement that is correctly built (but do not stop making your payments because this will put you on the wrong side of the law)It is a good point for all to remember the finace may sometimes be higher via the dealer but it puts you in a very strong position if you have a problem.

 

[ThePlotter]

This van is clearly not of merchantible quality and should be rejected it is the responsibility of the dealer to sort with the manufacturer.With luck you will have taken out finance via the dealer in which case the finance company becomes liable under the consumer credit act 1983 (this will not apply if arranged via bank etc)if via dealer contact them and insist on replacement that is correctly built (but do not stop making your payments because this will put you on the wrong side of the law)It is a good point for all to remember the finace may sometimes be higher via the dealer but it puts you in a very strong position if you have a problem.

Forgot to say I spent a few years as caravan manager for a large finance company dealing in caravan finance he company was .............part of .............H.............s..........b?

 

[Moderator3]

Julie

Please do not cross post the same message across the board.

 

[Rioja]

The main part of this reply was copied from a previous submission I made. I would hazard a guess you had a similar problem as I had on my 2002 Clubman. The dealer initially tried to rectify the problem by fitting new wheel boxes( ie arches)Of course this did not cure anything, merely increased the space between tyre and wheel arch, The suspension continued to give so I was soon back to where I started. I was "lucky" that the wheel had not come through the floor. I noticed the problem as I could no longer fit my wheel clamp.There was an identical van in for service with the same problem, but undetected by it's owner. The dealer tried to suggest that there was not a problem with mine as they were all the same !

I had big problems with my suspension as all the weight was on one side of the van, all the latter plus the battery, fridge (and contents) crockery and cooking stuff, oven, heavy shower cubicle, charger, water heater, microwave plus whatever bits in the overhead lockers.

On the other side we store the bedding,some food and drink and in the rear, the wardrobe.

Result offside suspension sank.

Despite the van being in warrenty, I ended up paying...it's a long story.

However, I did check the overall weight and weighed everything individually. In my opinion it was extremely difficult to achieve balanced target weights, especially nose weight even carrying the minimum of equipment.

I visited a dealer on the pretence of knowing nothing about vans and admired the front locker with room for two gas bottles and a spare tyre provided.Yes, no need to run out of gas he said! When I came clean and told him I had problems with the same make and model of van he told me that of course, he always emptied his hot water tank and moved all the contents of his front locker into the car for travel purposes . Er, what !

Come on manufacturers get it right, you want to sell vans full of goodies but then put them on chassis that are not built to take the weight.It's not that they are not available.

Dealers must think we are totally gullible if we think that the excuses they give are justifable.Or maybe we are.

Should we really have to sit down with a dealer and go through every eventuality about what we can or cannot do? I accept that a certain amount of common sense has to prevail but come on.

Maybe it's time the manufacturers gave three weights,

1)Empty weight

2)Empty weight plus two full gas tanks, one battery, full water heater, full loo flush tank, spare wheel.

3)Max permissable weight.

We can then be assured that the van has been designed to take what I consider necessities, and we then have a clearer idea of what we can actualy carry in addition.

Good luck in your quest, don't take no for an answer. Your sale contract is with the dealer and they should take it up with Lunar. However, mine was so pathetic I by-passed them and dealt direct with Lunar, ALKO and a non Lunar dealer to fix the problem. Although I ended up paying for the ALKO repair myself, had the Lunar dealer taken that course of action in the first place the chassis was still under it's 2 year warrenty. Lunar only offered a 12 month warrenty then.

Finally, I would say that I love my van depite everything and would probably buy another one... hopefully minus the problems !

 

[allie1]

This van is clearly not of merchantible quality and should be rejected it is the responsibility of the dealer to sort with the manufacturer.With luck you will have taken out finance via the dealer in which case the finance company becomes liable under the consumer credit act 1983 (this will not apply if arranged via bank etc)if via dealer contact them and insist on replacement that is correctly built (but do not stop making your payments because this will put you on the wrong side of the law)It is a good point for all to remember the finace may sometimes be higher via the dealer but it puts you in a very strong position if you have a problem.

Hi Julie

Unless I am mistaken the consumer regulations act 2002 means that any item with signicficant problems that is less than 6 months old can be rejected. The seller has to prove it is not faulty if it is under 6 months of age.

Also the Sale of Goods Act will also cover this van.

Deal only with the dealer as you have a contract with them and not the manufacturer.

Why do we have such problems with these vans ?

If more attention was paid to quality in manufacturing it would cost less in warranty and make the customers happy.

If you get a TV and it blows up at a few months old you take it back. If you get something from M & S and it truns out to be rubbish you take it back and no bother they apologise and return your money .

My experience with caravan dealers and manufacturers is they dont care at all

Stick to your guns. Reject it and send them a letter recorded delivery saying replace within 7 days or you will take action

Shirl

 

[Julie_5081178]

Re: our Lunar Lexon......

Had a phone call this morning to say it had been broken into in the dealers workshop over the week end.....

 

[Julie_5081178]

Julie

Please do not cross post the same message across the board.

Posted them because I felt this is a serious issue and something all caravanners should keep an eye on

 

[CliveV]

Never rains but it pours Julie.

Agree 100% with "The Plotters" comments above re finance and applying pressure.

But would add that pictures of the damage should be taken and taken to Trading Standards. ROSPA may be interested as well.

CAB is also very useful in that they have letters on file that you can use that cover all the points you need to obtain redress.

As for Lunar - will anyone want to buy the things if they are that badly built?

 

[Julie_5081178]

Sadly we paid cash for it so can't use HP pressure.....

 

[Bazz1]

Julie, sorry to hear of your problems with the Lunar. We bought an Compass in 2003, yes it was an ex-demonstration model but that still did not take away our writes in law. In about 2004 there was a change to the sale of goods act to include caravans and it was on one of PC' pages on the web. Look it up and print it off if its still there. It said that basically you would be within your writes to insist the van being replaced if less than 6 months old. Try CAB or your solicitor, and even the finance company. We instegated court proceedings and reported our dealer to the finance company and that seemed to focus there attention on the job in hand. Bazz.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Julie,

Very sorry to read of the fault.

Most of teh advice has been given, I must reiterate that under the Sale of Goods act the liability lies with the seller not the manufactuer (unless you purchased direct.

Check out this web site from the DTI

http://www.dti.gov.uk/administration/page13625.html

 

[Julie_5081178]

The dealer is refusing to replace our caravan - does anyone have any concrete info we can use? Read lots on the internet but its all very unclear...

Plus the bu'ers that broke into caravan didn't leave too much damage.... stole approx

 

[waffler]

The dealer is refusing to replace our caravan - does anyone have any concrete info we can use? Read lots on the internet but its all very unclear...

Plus the bu'ers that broke into caravan didn't leave too much damage.... stole approx

 

[allie1]

Julie, I think the Sale of goods Act applies. You may be able to get advice from one of the legal help line that comes with union membership and household insurance. I used this source in 2004 to claim

 

[Bazz1]

Julie are you members of the two main caravan clubs? If so they have a free legal help line to advse in these matters, Bazz.

 

[Julie_5081178]

Just to let you know that we still haven't heard from Lunar - and the burglary that happened while the Lexon was in the dealers workshop still hasn't been sorted out!!!!

It's as though we have gone invisable!!

 

[CliveV]

If you are not members of a club as Bazz suggests - check your credit cards etc - often they have a free legal help desk.

If you have not been down to your local CAB - I recommend you do so.

 

[Bazz1]

Julie, Lunar doo know about this type of fault, talking to a service technician the other day and he hinted that they had fitted the larger alloy wheels in the smaller diameter wheel arches!! Bazz.