I am posting this message in the knowledge that we have no hope of getting any redress on our problem but just to inform others if they find themselves in a similar situation as to what they can expect if they find, through no fault of their own, that they fall foul of the rules regarding warranties on caravans.
We bought our caravan in November 2011 from a private individual who had only owned the caravan for three months. At the time we were living in France waiting for the sale of our house to go through before moving back to the UK. In January 2012 we moved back to the UK and left the caravan in France on a small private site with the intention of going back in the summer, spending some time there on holiday and returning at the end of August in time to have the first service. We did in fact go back in June 2012, but while there, my husband suffered a mild stroke and had to go into hospital. Some friends came out to us in France and bought us and the caravan back in October. Unfortunately, my husband could not drive again until March 2013 by which time it was too late to get the caravan serviced within the warranty deadline and, in any case, it was not high on our list of priorities as you can probably imagine.
I had a suspicion that at least two of the windows had begun to leak and, when we had the caravan serviced in February, the engineer confirmed it. I contacted Coachman and told them our predicament and they said if we took it to a Coachman dealer they could supply them with a report and they would give it their consideration. We took the caravan to our nearest dealer some 30 miles away and they confirmed that the windows were indeed leaking, their damp meter recording a reading of 50% in one section. The dealer supplied a report to Coachman and we then waited for their decision. After waiting a few days, we telephoned and were told that they were still considering the matter but gave the impression that the outcome was promising. However, after about 3 weeks, the dealer telephoned to say that Coachman had refused to carry out the repair because the terms of the warranty had not been met. Obviously we are very disappointed especially as the caravan is not yet 4 years old and feel that Coachman gave us hope that they were going to help when clearly this was never their intention.
So the moral of the story is, it doesn't matter what the circumstances are, don't expect any sympathy from Coachman, at the end of the day business is business!
We bought our caravan in November 2011 from a private individual who had only owned the caravan for three months. At the time we were living in France waiting for the sale of our house to go through before moving back to the UK. In January 2012 we moved back to the UK and left the caravan in France on a small private site with the intention of going back in the summer, spending some time there on holiday and returning at the end of August in time to have the first service. We did in fact go back in June 2012, but while there, my husband suffered a mild stroke and had to go into hospital. Some friends came out to us in France and bought us and the caravan back in October. Unfortunately, my husband could not drive again until March 2013 by which time it was too late to get the caravan serviced within the warranty deadline and, in any case, it was not high on our list of priorities as you can probably imagine.
I had a suspicion that at least two of the windows had begun to leak and, when we had the caravan serviced in February, the engineer confirmed it. I contacted Coachman and told them our predicament and they said if we took it to a Coachman dealer they could supply them with a report and they would give it their consideration. We took the caravan to our nearest dealer some 30 miles away and they confirmed that the windows were indeed leaking, their damp meter recording a reading of 50% in one section. The dealer supplied a report to Coachman and we then waited for their decision. After waiting a few days, we telephoned and were told that they were still considering the matter but gave the impression that the outcome was promising. However, after about 3 weeks, the dealer telephoned to say that Coachman had refused to carry out the repair because the terms of the warranty had not been met. Obviously we are very disappointed especially as the caravan is not yet 4 years old and feel that Coachman gave us hope that they were going to help when clearly this was never their intention.
So the moral of the story is, it doesn't matter what the circumstances are, don't expect any sympathy from Coachman, at the end of the day business is business!
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