Hello Michael,
Firstly can I Thank Dusty for his blind faith in me, I'm not certain its totally justified but there you go!
I totally agree with you it is unacceptable, and I really feel for you.
I'm not certain what you would like to happen? On the one hand you like the caravan layout and style, but on the other you have lost confidence in the longevity of the product, and its value is depressed because of its history.
If you stick with the caravan and have it repaired again, who knows what may happen in the future, will more areas of damp occur - and ultimately these may no longer be covered by the manufactures guarantee, so the cost of future repairs falls on you, and the value of the caravan is further depressed.
If you change now, on the open market your caravan will have a depressed value because of its history, and as you point out it will cost you more to obtain a caravan that meets your desires.
Your stuck between the devil and the deep, or are you?
I assume because you mention "more time and money to take back" this means there is no suggestion the caravan has been mistreated or damaged and previous works have been carried out under the Manufacturer's guarantee.
If this is the case then you have already got some vital information that may help if you wish to pursue this further.
Im sorry if this is long winded but it's important to set out the context of what I'm going to move onto.
I hope you do know that whenever you make a retail purchase even though you are not usually told about it, the sale was governed by the Sale of Goods Act (SoGA). This is a piece of legislation that set out your rights as a consumer to expect goods supplied to you are:-
As described prior to sale.
Free from design, material and workmanship faults and inherent faults that can become apparent some time after the point of sale.
Of merchantable quality and sufficiently durable
Fit for purpose.
A retailer that fails in any of those respects is in breach of contract.
What can you do? - Well that depends on how long you have had the product. There are in essence three post purchase periods and different responses will apply depending on which period you are in.
The first and shortest period follows immediately after purchase. It has no prescribed duration , but is affected by the type of product you have purchased. It can be as short as a few hours to a few weeks as it might be in the case of a caravan. If any fault arises with a product within this initial period, you have the right to a replacement or a full refund.
The second period lasts for 6 months (except where the products life is less e.g. food items) During this period it is assumed that any fault arising was present at the point of sale but latent and the seller is required to either repair or replace the goods free of charge if the seller agrees they may refund the current fault free market value of the goods.
The third period takes you from 6 months up to a maximum of 6 years from the point of sale. Shorter periods apply where the normal life expectancy of a product is less (e.g. tyres or brakes). If a fault occurs with the goods, the seller can challenge the claim, and it is up to the consumer to provide sufficient evidence that the fault was present or latent at the point of sale. If you are successful then you can expect the seller to repair or possibly replace or refund but only to current fault free market value of the goods.
In the case of faulty goods the seller is liable to cover the cost of carriage of goods to and from the customer, or any tangible losses the customer incurred as a direct result of the failure of the goods.
I know this may seem a little unfair on the dealer, as the faults are not of his making. But hang on a minute. It should be the responsibility of every business to operate a quality management system to catch faults on product they receive and reject then back to their suppliers NOT pass them onto their customers. So the dealers quality systems have also failed by allowing customer to receive faulty products. That is a risk of business and it's up to them sort it out with their suppliers, not inconvenience or disadvantage their own customers. This is why SoGA relates to your contract with the seller not the manufacturer.
In your case you are in teh third period and already have strong evidence the caravan has had latent faults witnessed by the earlier repairs. Because of the nature of similar faults arising in different parts of the caravan you have no confidence in localised repairs when the whole structure is suspect. SoGA doe not state how many repairs may be attempted before the product can be deemed unsatisfactory but I suspect two prior attempts must be about the tipping point.
I think this gives you a strong case to challenge the dealer through SoGA to either replace your current caravan with another of the same model or value, or a refund of the current fault free value.
I state now, it's not a foregone conclusion that this approach will work, and I am not qualified to give legal advice so I suggest you seek professional advice or assistance.
It's important to also state that since Oct 2015 SoGA was replaced by the Consumer Rights Act which combines the best points of several pieces of consumer legislations and puts a much stronger framework in place.
I wish you luck.