Dodgy dealer

[John_374245568]

Hi

We bought our caravan from a dealer in April 2004.One of the main incentives to buy was that if you upgraded to a new van within 3 years they would allow you a part exchange of 85% of the purchase price against a new van at list price,a deal which we were happy to sign up to.We are now ready to upgrade our van so contacted them only to be told that the offer had been withdrawn sometime ago without notice due to market forces !Has anybody else had similar dealings with a company and if so what was outcome ?

Regards

John & Helen Bulmer

 

[VIP2006]

POST REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF THE ORIGINATOR

 

[John_374245568]

POST REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF THE ORIGINATOR

Hi

We have got a print off their website which we downloaded before the offer was withdrawn, they called it their unique pre-owned caravan CHARTER and unique it certainly turned out to be as in not worth the paper it was written on.Thanks for your interest anyway

 

[BigAl1]

The dealership is a sore point at the moment. It runs a H A P P E service which is free for the first year of buying a new van from them and is renewable at cost for future years. The promise is that they come out to home or site to carry out any repairs. I have had cause to call them out to site on two accasions.

On the first time out with my van in 2004, the awning skirt could not be fitted because there were no openings in the lower rail. H A P P E could not attend but came to my house some 2 weeks after.

Last August, we were attending a pre rally rally at Southampton for the weekend before sailing to Spain on the Sunday evening. The caravan had been serviced by H A P P E only a few weeks before so I was amazed when the pilot light on the fridge failed to light.

What a good job that I had paid for H A P P E, I thought because this was the exact scenario (that I was assured by their salesperson) that they would offer assistance.....WRONG!!!!!

I phoned them but would not be connected to H A P P E because apparantly the Caravan Council were inspecting them, I insisted that I speak to H A P P E and was eventually told that they could do nothing until the following Thursday. The fact that I was on a field with out mains elactric with a fridge full of food to take to Spain was ignored. The earliest they could sent one of their nationwide engineers to me would be on the following Thursday. How lucky I was that a fellow caravanner fixed it for me (Thanks Pete-if you are a forum member).

Needless to say, I was not impressed by the dealer or its H A P P E service.

Only last week I had reason to call H A P P E because a warranty issue that I had reported on the 1st service in June 2005 had still not been put right. Eventually they sent out an engineer to fit new parts but he had been given the wrong parts.

When attempting to phone H A P P E. I was told by the dealer that there was no-one to speak to me that day (Thursday) so I called again on Friday and was told the same.

Needless to say that I will not be renewing my membership to H A P P E when it expires.

 

[AndrewWimborne]

Hi

We have got a print off their website which we downloaded before the offer was withdrawn, they called it their unique pre-owned caravan CHARTER and unique it certainly turned out to be as in not worth the paper it was written on.Thanks for your interest anyway

Hi. Unless there is small print on the document stating that the offer could be withdrawn at any time you may well have a good case against them. I would imagine that several people in the area may have already fallen foul of this so a call to Trading Standards may be worthwhile.

 

[John_374245568]

The dealership is a sore point at the moment. It runs a H A P P E service which is free for the first year of buying a new van from them and is renewable at cost for future years. The promise is that they come out to home or site to carry out any repairs. I have had cause to call them out to site on two accasions.

On the first time out with my van in 2004, the awning skirt could not be fitted because there were no openings in the lower rail. H A P P E could not attend but came to my house some 2 weeks after.

Last August, we were attending a pre rally rally at Southampton for the weekend before sailing to Spain on the Sunday evening. The caravan had been serviced by H A P P E only a few weeks before so I was amazed when the pilot light on the fridge failed to light.

What a good job that I had paid for H A P P E, I thought because this was the exact scenario (that I was assured by their salesperson) that they would offer assistance.....WRONG!!!!!

I phoned them but would not be connected to H A P P E because apparantly the Caravan Council were inspecting them, I insisted that I speak to H A P P E and was eventually told that they could do nothing until the following Thursday. The fact that I was on a field with out mains elactric with a fridge full of food to take to Spain was ignored. The earliest they could sent one of their nationwide engineers to me would be on the following Thursday. How lucky I was that a fellow caravanner fixed it for me (Thanks Pete-if you are a forum member).

Needless to say, I was not impressed by the dealer or its H A P P E service.

Only last week I had reason to call H A P P E because a warranty issue that I had reported on the 1st service in June 2005 had still not been put right. Eventually they sent out an engineer to fit new parts but he had been given the wrong parts.

When attempting to phone H A P P E. I was told by the dealer that there was no-one to speak to me that day (Thursday) so I called again on Friday and was told the same.

Needless to say that I will not be renewing my membership to H A P P E when it expires.

Hi

We also had dealings with HAPPE on several occasions,when things went wrong with our van and they were always helpful but had to make three seperate visits to replace a broken tap which they broke whilst replacing a faulty sink (that took four visits).The problem seems to be that they never have the right parts in fact on one visit they suggested making up one tap out of two using the new internal components with our original external bits so that it would match to which we said no way,indeed how hard can it be to get the correct parts for a van which was only made in 2000.On another occasion we lost all mains power whilst on the CC site at Chatsworth and could not get any cover from HAPPE so we got in a local man recommended by the site warden who fixed the fault (a loose wire in the R.C.D.) the following day which we paid for but then claimed back from the dealership. What we found was that getting someone from the dealer to ring you back is an art form in itself maybe they should re-name the service UNHAPPE

which would be more accurate

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello John & Big Al.

It strikes me that trading standards should be told of your problems.

You were encouraged to purchase HAPPE cover on the basis that it would support you at short notice, and wherever you were in the UK.

Both your stories indicate that you have not received the service you contracted for, and the dealership have therefore taken your money under false pretences.

Talk to trading standards who will advise you.

 

[613613]

Hi, It is unfortunate that you have had a bad experience with your dealership as we also bought a van from them in 2004 and got the benefits of the HAPPE service. I have nothing but praise for the engineer that comes to my house to carry out the annual service. I have also had to call them out to fix problems under the warranty and they were very promp in coming all the way to Norfolk from the Base in South Cave. I am now waiting to take delivery of my new Van from another dealer and will now have to run back and forth to get my servicing and any other warranty repairs done. Unfortunately I am not now able to re-join HAPPE as I have purchased my new Van from another dealer.