Hi I'm new to this forum although, I have read a few of the comments. I'm here for a little advice. I have an avante 554 2 years a go I noticed the rivets that secure the bulkhead to the side wall had sheared leaving the heads lying around. I went back to the dealer who arranged the warranty repair. We had the pandemic and so the caravan was used once since . On returning from our last outing I noticed a creaking noise from the offside of the front of the caravan. On inspection the rivets had sheared off. On a detailed inspection I found I could see daylight in the join from the floor to the wall. Whilst I made the first claim I expressed the fact I thought the wall was moving this was addressed by a beed of glue. I have sent several emails to elddiss and the dealer, Elddis say the front panel is not covered after 1 year. My argument the the body integrity has failed seems to be ignored. Has anyone else come across this.
Elddis horror
- Thread starter Disgruntled 554
- Start date
Hi, welcome to the forum and we will try and help as much possible. Your contract is with the dealer and not the manufacturer unless the caravan is on Hire purchase. If it is on HP then the contract is with the HP company and they need to resolve the issues.
How old was the Elddis at point of first warranty repairs?
Is the current problem a failure of the repairs ? If so Id’ be looking an inherent latent defect and quote the CRA . The Dealer as said by Buckman is your first port of call.
Is the current problem a failure of the repairs ? If so Id’ be looking an inherent latent defect and quote the CRA . The Dealer as said by Buckman is your first port of call.
So far the repairs wok carried out for you has been done under the terms of the Manufacture's warranty which is usually a very specifically limited warranty offered by the manufacturer as a "gift" to the purchaser. It's a gift because the manufacture is not obliged to offer any warranty to the end user, but it has become common for manufacturers to offer one, and customers might see it as a negative if one wasn't offered. Because its not legally required, there is no "standard" or required wording or effect, so the manufacture can offer as much or as little as they wish to. You have to read the details of the manufacturers warranty to know what is and what isn't covered.
The other previous replies are based on a piece of consumer legislation the Consumer Rights ACt 2015. This is a totally separate scheme to the Manufacturers warranty and very importantly the manufacturer has no jurisdiction and cannot prejudice in any way over a claim made under the CRA
This is becasue the CRA automatically comes into effect when you make a retail purchase. Your contract is with the seller, and its the seller that has to stand the risk of having to fund product repairs or refunds under the CRA.
I strongly suggest you read up about the way to use the CRA, and one good source would be the Consumer's Association (Which? magazine) or Money saving Expert, both of which are reputable and reliable sources of wisdom.
The other previous replies are based on a piece of consumer legislation the Consumer Rights ACt 2015. This is a totally separate scheme to the Manufacturers warranty and very importantly the manufacturer has no jurisdiction and cannot prejudice in any way over a claim made under the CRA
This is becasue the CRA automatically comes into effect when you make a retail purchase. Your contract is with the seller, and its the seller that has to stand the risk of having to fund product repairs or refunds under the CRA.
I strongly suggest you read up about the way to use the CRA, and one good source would be the Consumer's Association (Which? magazine) or Money saving Expert, both of which are reputable and reliable sources of wisdom.
Here is the link to the Consumers Rights Act 2015. Take note of sections, 9, 10 and 11 and then also 19 & 20 and 22, 23 and 24. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/contents/enacted
Thank you Prof John for your informative insight. My reason for the moan or search for advice is based on Elddis offer a 10 year water ingress and body integrity warranty. My argument with Elddis is that the body integrity has failed. This evident with daylight shining through the joint between the wall and floor. The bracket that secures the bulkhead to wall has a 3mm gap, Elddis do not seem or want to recognise this has happened. They keep repeating the fact that the rivets are only covered with a 3 year warranty. Surely if something is sold with a warranty then that should be honoured legally. I have been through the dealer who said I might have more luck if I went direct as they have had no success. Many emails down the road with Elddis getting the wrong names I went to black horse finance who have 2 weeks later told me they are unable to help me ascthe caravan is 5 years old. They can only step in up to the first 6 months of ownership. Is there anything I can do
You do not have any contract with the manufacturer so ther eis no obligation for them to answer any emails. generally you are wasting your time pursuing anything with them.
Although Elddis may offer a warranty on the caravan, only the dealership can claim warranty repairs and not the consumer so in essence the warranty is between the dealer and the manufacturer.
If the manufacturer rejects the warranty claim for whatever reason, the dealer or finance house is still legally responsible to resolve the issue. Don't let a dealer fob you off!
You will find this thread very informative. At least you will know you are not alone in these battles!
forums.practicalcaravan.com
Crack in panel!
Our caravan is currently at the dealer for a damp issue of 40% internally around the off side battery box. We had an email dated 9th March from Elddis stating that the warranty work has been approved and that parts have been ordered. However apparently they inspected the caravan last week and...
Not only has dealer fobbed me off the finance have too because its age. Being 5 years old the finance company don't want to know.
Dealers often try to fob you off but that does not mean you should accept it. As I see it you have a perfectly good claim against the dealer under the CRA as suggested by the Prof and you should write to the dealer quoting the Act and threatening proceedings if they do not sort the problem out. It may mean that you will have to get a quote from a different repairer to confirm the amount of the claim though. I would also take photos of the problem to back up your claim.
Basically you have six years from when you could reasonably have become aware of the problem to commence proceedings which should be when you found the repair had failed. I would not wait that long though.
Basically you have six years from when you could reasonably have become aware of the problem to commence proceedings which should be when you found the repair had failed. I would not wait that long though.
I do agree with your feeling about how manufacturers warranties should work, but the reality is they are not regulated like the CRA and they are written by the manufacture as much as anything to protect the manufacturer. The devil is in the detail within the terms and conditions.
If you are offered a manufacturers warranty and you accept it then yes, it does have the effect of a binding contract, BUT and its a big but, the manufacture who set the T&C's usually retains the right to accept or reject a claim and to be the final arbiter of a claim on the manufacturer's warranty, in the event of a dispute for example like yours.
If the manufacturer tells its no longer covered becasue the warranty has expired, and the dates agree, then it's very unlikely you be able to change that decision. Sadly it's a reflection on the state of the industry of how manufacturers can get away with such intricate and customer unfriendly warranties.
But the manufacturer's warranty is not the only string to the consumers bow. In the UK we do have the CRA which only has effect between the buyer and the seller, so in the case of a caravan that means you and the dealer/finance house.
In your comment you mention the fact the caravan is over five years old. Depending on where you purchased the caravan in the UK, the CRA cannot be used if its more than 6 years since the date of purchase (only 5 years in Scotland) the location of purchase should define which limit applies.
The CRA is there to be fair to both consumer and seller, Its underlying principle is that retail goods should be as described, of good quality, free from design, material and workmanship defects, and fit for purpose. It is the parties to the contract of sale who are responsible for ensure the criteria are met. This is why if goods are faulty it is legally the retailers and as far as the customer is concerned not the manufacturers legal responsibility,
Even though we all know the real fault lies with the maker, but as they are not a party to the purchase contract, they cannot be in the customer firing line.
If you can get one of the consumer programmes to get involved, you might be able to get a better moralistic response from the manufacturer.
Sounds about right both fobbing you off however age of the caravan could be a factor. I would strongly suggest that you get in touch with Which Legal services for advice.
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I am sorry I have given you incorrect advice as I did not realise the age of the caravan. Too late to reject.
Unfortunately yes it's to old to reject. But my argument is if you advertise 10 year warranty for water ingress and body integrity. Then legally that should be honoured, with some restrictions obviously. If you hit a lamp post and rip a hole in the side then that's down to you. But if the floor is parting company with the wall then that's body integrity. I have a meeting with the dealer he now wants to see the caravan. Hopefully we can move forward 🤞
Caravan is 5 years old and it should still be covered by the Consumer Rights Act 2015. You will need to prove that the fault was there from day one, but took 5 years to manifest itself.
This will require a report from an expert. If the report indicates poor quality workmanship, substandard screws etc and you eventually win, you should get back all your costs for the report etc.
I have no faith in the 10 year damp ingress and body integrity warranty by any manufacturer as it is not worth the paper it is written on. They do not even want to honour the warranty on a caravan just over 4 years old as we recently found out and it took an uphill battle to get them to honour the warranty. We used Which Legal Services for legal advice.
Just to add their favourite get out clause is "accidental damage" due to hitting potholes etc. At which point you put in a claim with your insurance company and they send an assessor.
The assessor will obviously state it is not pot hole damage etc and this is a strong argument against the finance company and or dealer.
If you are successful with a CRA claim, you should be aware that the act only sets out the level of remedy is to restore a product to the level of condition commensurate with product of the same age and wear that has not suffered the failure. This means that if its not settled by constructive negotiation with teh dealer and you decide to escalate it to court action, the age of the caravan will be taken into account and the judgment may not be as large as for a younger product.
The original problem was “ dealt “ with two years ago . The OP hardly used the Elddis because of Lockdown. It appears the same or similar failure has recurred.
Thus are we dealing with an Inherent Latent Defect or shoddy repairs?
Thus are we dealing with an Inherent Latent Defect or shoddy repairs?
The idea of six years from purchase for a claim is wrong. The time runs from when you could reasonably be aware of the problem which is normally when the problem becomes apparent. At the same time parts do have a finite life, so you would have to show that the failure occurred within a time that it should reasonably be expected to last for faults showing up[ate. In this case we are talking about rivets that failed and I think the time involved is certainly within the reasonable expected life, as they should last almost indefinitely.
Taking into consideration the price paid for the caravan one would expect the caravan to last a lot longer than 10 years so at 5 years it is still in its infancy. After all you can buy a car for probably less than the caravan and the car could still be running in 20 years time i.e. our 1996 Corolla.
I get ware and tear but I did flag this concern 2 years previously but was assured that it was repaired. I have noticed another on this forum who notice rivets that had sheared on the bulkhead wall.
I would check other forums as if you find others with the same problem this can strengthen both yours and their claims by showing a recurring defect.
This was a problem many years ago as twin wheelers became more popular, yours's is a single so should not have been a problem, unless you go offroading
a lot of the bigger tow cars had leaf springs at the rear, some pick up trucks still do, as in my Hilux, they where too firm for the vans, so the floor to the front panel started to flex, a major repair job. What do you tow it with? I would have thought that this type of damage would be a thing of history, I know how you feel I had this on our new Schooner in 1990, bonne chance.
a lot of the bigger tow cars had leaf springs at the rear, some pick up trucks still do, as in my Hilux, they where too firm for the vans, so the floor to the front panel started to flex, a major repair job. What do you tow it with? I would have thought that this type of damage would be a thing of history, I know how you feel I had this on our new Schooner in 1990, bonne chance.Interesting thread, we have a 2020 Camino and one of the rivets on the bathroom wall has sheared and the remaining brackets are twisted as the side wall seems to have moved, also signs of movement on the front bulkhead.
Our dealer (who is very apologetic) has made a claim with Eldiss on the basis that the entire side of the van is on the move and we await their response. Meanwhile we are assured that we can use the van as normal.
Anyone else seen this in an Eldiss made van?
Our dealer (who is very apologetic) has made a claim with Eldiss on the basis that the entire side of the van is on the move and we await their response. Meanwhile we are assured that we can use the van as normal.
Anyone else seen this in an Eldiss made van?
Hi Mandarin I am awaiting an inspection by the dealer. I believe I have a similar problem with a 2017 Elddis 554. The "solid"joint in the floor appears to have failed showing daylight through the joint.
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