Dealer Behaviour

May 21, 2008
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My In-laws who are both disabled traded in their Charisma for a Baily Scorpio Loire with a local dealership. The deal was supposed to include a full service on the Bailey and 12 months warrantee. So far I've found the following faults. The cassette loo needed a new tank gasket, the door rubber needs replacing, The cassette outside door lock was broken, Both tyres were perished, the middle front window leaks, the agreed repairs to wood trim have not been done,the awning included with the van has a pole missing and two others damaged. All the dealer has done so far is offered to pay for the cassette parts and send a new door rubber for us to fit. Now bearing in mind that my In-laws have to carry two battery buggies in their car to get around and it is very obvious that they are both disabled I think if the saleman thought he was showing duty of care to his customer he was taking the micheal. I wonder if a name and shame policy should be adopted to shake the industry up, as it seems sales figures are king and customer is the joker. What has happened to honesty and making the customer happy so he will return. Perhaps now ther are hundreds of thousands of potential customers every year entering this ever growing pastime, the dealers think that sales flow is one way!! I've been caravanning for twenty five years and quite frankly could of got a better van at auction. But the in-laws thought they were safe with the dealer and swallowed the sales patter "hook, line and sinker". To cap it all, the van was advertised as 14ft 6ins internal (actually 16ft 6ins) and a weight of 950 Kgs (after crawling under the van I found the plate 22.6 CWT max weight or 1150 KGS in the new money)this all added up to a van top weight for their car, and too long to store on our garden. What can we both joe public and the media do to raise the standard of these so called sales professionals to give people some degree of assurance that they are getting value for money and the goods are as discribed and safe to use (tow with the car). After all you just try to hire a car without your driving license and see how far you get! Comments gratefully recieved (Queens english please, I've had to bite my lip too you know)
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Sincere sympathies to you & yours Steve. All too often there are similar postings to yours with oft quoted tales of woe on both new & used vans. I'd try taking your case to the CAB as clearly your inlaws were sold something completely miss-represented to them. I too had similar dealings with a firm from whom I had bought no less than 3 new vans over a period of 6 years, the last one was serviced by the same Dealer and when I went to sell it 5 years later it was full of damp and virtually worthless. Needless to say he didn't want to know. We've now bought our 4th new van, not from him of course, and it's made in France as I don't see any postings relating to foreign van faults. All we can do is vote with our feet, but the whole industry does need to get its act together on Customer Service & quality issues. The trouble with us Brits is we're not very good at complaining are we?
 
Mar 14, 2005
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What a tale of woe! I most sincerly hope that the trade-in-deal was written down, specifying all the points that you say were agreed. If they were, then quite simply the dealers has failed in thier part of the contract and your relatives would have evry right to take the dealer to the cleaners. There are some factual errors of weight and length. If the weight is too much for thier tow car, then the dealer (who by thier business is claiming to be expert) has failed to give sound advice, and has taken unfair advantage of this particular customer. The length is longer than stated, and thus again the product is not as stated and is not fit for the purpose for which it is intended (caravans must be stored). I strongly suggest you contact your local CAB and Trading Standrds office and see what they can do to help this unfortunate couple. Best of luck.Keep us informed.
 

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