elddis odyssey 482 - bowing sides

[johnathan_5040733]

We have, from new, an Elddis Odyssey 482. About six months ago we notice the floor was starting to creak in the centre of the van. A month ago we discovered a pool of water on the rear shelf of the bathroom. Our dealer has inspected the van and sent a report to Elddis which says the caravan has badly bowed sides (which the dealer is not prepared to repair and wants to send back to the factory). It also says that the rear wall has to be re-boarded and sill replaced.

Has anyone experienced a simlilar propblem with Elddis or any other manufacturer and what was the outcome. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Johnathon, It sounds as though you have a serious problem. You must first establish who is your supplier, If you have used a finance house then you must inform them and as they are technically the owners and are selling it to you. They also have a vested intrest in the value of the property. I strongly advise you seek proffesional advice from the CAB or a solicitor but I expect that you will be told:

DO NOT ACCEPT A REPAIR. Write to your supplier explian in detail the failures and faults you have experienced with the caravan. State that you reject the caravan for the above reasons, and you require a full refund as is your entiltment under the 1979 Sale of Goods act.

Your action is against the supplier not the manufacturer.

 

[Chris4]

Whether you can reject the caravan depends on how long you've had it. You don't state that. Up until about 18months ago you had only a matter of weeks following purchase to reject under consumer protection legislation. Case law changed all that following a legal action involving a boat. The buyer had ongoing problems with his

 

[tony_5041674]

Hi Jonathan

I don't envy you, but you may be interested to know that the consumer law changed recently in that the onus is now on the supplier to prove that the defect was NOT present at the time of delivery. from what you describe there must have been a fault in the manufacturing process/quality control etc. I recommend that you phone your local trading standards office to clarify what I understand and to get their advice. Good luck.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Thank you Sharon for the information. Fundamentally nothing has changed, the rights of the consumer still have to be honoured by the retailer, and the retailer still ahs to supply good fit for purpose. The new revisons to the act clarify the time period in which a consumer can reject goods, and now this seems to stand at about 6 months, where as previously it was variable from hours to a few weeks. Good news.

 

[Ron_5041484]

Hi Johnathon . I purchased a used Elddis hurricane 2000 it

was 3years old and seemed in good order . I took it in for a service and was told that there was water ingress on the rear offside corner the water was getting in through a scew hole that had no mastic

I was given a price of

 

[joanne_5040046]

We also have a problem with bowed sides on an Elddis.It is an Avante 505 .We purchased from new in 2001 and noticed the first problems after about a year....front bed slats falling through,gaps behind kitchen cupboards.We took it back to the dealer and said Elddis had recognised this as a manufacturing fault and affected caravans were being returned to them for repair.After several months this was carried out and we were happy to have returned to us our fixed caravan until the following summer problems have again occured and the dealer have said it is the same problem.Elddis have agreed the repair but seem to be dragging their feet as they now do not want the caravan returned to them but to go to another service centre(our original dealer has since lost the contract with Elddis, and although they still accept responsibility they are also rather slow to act).So here we are over 2 years since the original fault was discovered and 7 months since the latest problems were reported,still with an unrepaired caravan,which the repairer now says he can't guarantee will stay fixed even after the next repair.We have now sought advice from the legal helpline attached to the caravan club,the advised us to write to all parties concerned quoting relevant parts of the sale of goods act.We have had slightly more interest shown however from our supplier who came out to take photo's of the defects ,however it would seem the most we can still expect is a repair.We did not pay for the caravan with finance so this route is not an option.Anyway good luck and if you have any more luck than us please advise in a posting.