Caravan Quality Moan.

[Chris4]

I don't think any caravan retailer/manufacturer should make/sell caravans in the full knowledge that they have built-in defects. I question the legality of it. I posted a query about my brand new Exporer Rallye 635 a while back. My friend and I have the same van and they both have the same defects. Another person has responded again with the same problems. If anyone else has experienced similar defects on this caravan perhaps they could post thier comments here or email me on cjwillans@hotmail.com. Perhaps there needs to be set up a pressure group that can collate individual problems with particular caravans so that manufacturers can nolonger get away with it. The caravan club does it's bit but can not be model specific enough. I wouldn't expect PC to do anything - they do a good job - but they do have a living to make!!

 

[Mike_5041089]

Chris - the only way is to vote with your feet. Insist on a replacement van/refund, do not accept "goods which are not of merchantable quality or fit for purpose" You'll probably have to wade in with the local Trading Standards Office behind you as some Dealers are notoriously bad at after sales service. Buy a foreign made van - we've just bought our 4th van last year - a Caravelair made in France, our other 3 were UK made and all had varying niggling faults which should have been sorted at the factory. The Caravelair has been faultless, and everything did and still does work and we've had superb after sales service from the dealer too - Highbridge Caravans in Somerset. Hope you get things resolved satisfactorily.

 

[Jayne Simpson]

Hi Chris we bought a Explorer group product in Sept 03 a brand new elddis our first ever van,it looked great but it was rubbish.It was vastly heavier than the weight stated on the plate,damp area in the bathroom,bed slats which colapsed so often we were frightened to turn over in bed, they were to short in the length.The majority of the plasticsin the bathroom were split and cracked,one particular crack was 245mm long when we got rid of the van.carpets were frayed, chipped mirror,I gave up trying to open the front locker with a key,it just went round and round. Internallocker handles were tarnished and chipped,and the wood veneer was peeling in a number of places.My daughter was unlucky enough to find the points of a couple of over long screws coming through the bathroom wall in through the wardrobe putting a nasty cut on the back of her hand.Elddis didn't want to know and put it down to our vivid imagination all be it our van was weighed at weigh bridge used by our local trading standards to calibrate other loacal weigh bridges with trad stds present and giving us a written report.After many months our dealer did manage to get us all together for a meeting a many gifts were given and promises made,most things neede they said would be in stock,2 weeks and they would be able to start to rectify the faults. Three months later (and i'm being generous)we made a call to the dealer who were embarrassed to tell us that they had been sent the wrong bathroom by elddis (they were totally replacing it)In June 2003 I think then even the dealer was fed up with things and made us an offer we couldn't refuse and we be came the owners of a new Coachman which is brilliant and gives us no problems at all.Thank you Mr Coachman and Mr Explorer regardless how much you may have improved your products (maybe)I'm afraid I could never encourage any one to buy one based on our experiences.So dont give in Chris it was your hard earned money which purchassed your van, take no prisoners !!.Are you a member of the Compass owners club? we put a note in the Elddis club book and had lots of other owners reply to us .strength in numbers, hope it goes well. peterw

 

[Jayne Simpson]

Hi Chris we bought a Explorer group product in Sept 03 a brand new elddis our first ever van,it looked great but it was rubbish.It was vastly heavier than the weight stated on the plate,damp area in the bathroom,bed slats which colapsed so often we were frightened to turn over in bed, they were to short in the length.The majority of the plasticsin the bathroom were split and cracked,one particular crack was 245mm long when we got rid of the van.carpets were frayed, chipped mirror,I gave up trying to open the front locker with a key,it just went round and round. Internallocker handles were tarnished and chipped,and the wood veneer was peeling in a number of places.My daughter was unlucky enough to find the points of a couple of over long screws coming through the bathroom wall in through the wardrobe putting a nasty cut on the back of her hand.Elddis didn't want to know and put it down to our vivid imagination all be it our van was weighed at weigh bridge used by our local trading standards to calibrate other loacal weigh bridges with trad stds present and giving us a written report.After many months our dealer did manage to get us all together for a meeting a many gifts were given and promises made,most things neede they said would be in stock,2 weeks and they would be able to start to rectify the faults. Three months later (and i'm being generous)we made a call to the dealer who were embarrassed to tell us that they had been sent the wrong bathroom by elddis (they were totally replacing it)In June 2003 I think then even the dealer was fed up with things and made us an offer we couldn't refuse and we be came the owners of a new Coachman which is brilliant and gives us no problems at all.Thank you Mr Coachman and Mr Explorer regardless how much you may have improved your products (maybe)I'm afraid I could never encourage any one to buy one based on our experiences.So dont give in Chris it was your hard earned money which purchassed your van, take no prisoners !!.Are you a member of the Compass owners club? we put a note in the Elddis club book and had lots of other owners reply to us .strength in numbers, hope it goes well. peterw

oops !! Septemer 03 should read September 01. Must take more water with it

 

[ProfJohnL]

To Chris, Mike & Peter (Brierly bonk)

You probably already know this but check out the DTI web page below:

http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/facts/salegoodsact.htm

 

[MONKEY1]

My advice - Buy a German Caravan!

 

[Jerry_5078423]

My advice - Buy a German Caravan!

We purchased our first caravan, a new Elddis Cursader Typhoon in May 2004. Soon after taking delivery we lifted the carpets and to our horror found that the 'wood effect' vinyl floor had some unsightly scratches in it. I reported it to the supplier, Colins Leasureworld, near Reading. They arranged for Explorer to inspect the damage. The Explorer rep's words to me were "not again" and off the record he agreed that the marks were almost certanly caused by the boots of the assembly workers. Two weeks later I received a letter from Explorer saying "they were not prepared to do anything obout the scratches, and said that they beleived they the scratches would take away any of the enjoyment of owning an Elddis caravan"!!!!

Since then the caravan has suffered with poor bathroom door alignment (a square door that would not fit a pis**d door opening), leaking shower, water ingress into bathroom ceiling, water ingress into front parcel shelf, tv booster fault, broken draw front, faulty toilet flush, vineer peeling, broken vanity door, faulty kitchen sink gasket, and more.

In December 2004 I lost my temper with the suppliers when spare parts were still not in to rectify faults reported 5 months earlier. In frustration I told them that I might as well sell the van!. In March 2005 when I enquired again about the parts they told me that the orders had been cancelled because I was selling! I won't repeat my reply. The problems have now all be solved.

To say that our first experience of caravan owning, dealers & manufactures has been frought would be an under statement.

There will be a very cheap 18 month old Elddis up for sale soon and it is guaranteed that the next van we purchase will not have been be thrown together by casual labour in the UK.

Be warned!!!!

Jerry & Lesley Hodge