Hi. Purchased Eldiss Affinity caravan August 2020. Used 6 times. Miss first service mainly due to Covid. Booked in service today and told it has failed in ingress damp test beneath shower tray. Told it will cost approximately £3500 as we did not do first service. Surely our rights are that if it was not fit for purpose in the first place as only used 6 times since purchase. Apparently Eldiss (all be it I have yet to phone them) are not taking into account Covid. However, aside from that surely it would be deemed as not fit for purpose after such a short time period. Please can you give us some advice. Due to go away soon!! So stressed!!! Thanks
I'm sorry to read of your problem, and due to teh situation you have reported to us, I suspect there isn't going to be a simple resolution.
There is often a misunderstanding about the effect of a manufacturers warranty, and this is a case in point.
Its worth just clarifying another point first. Whenever you make a retail purchase like a caravan or even a bunch of bananas, you enter a contract with the seller (The "seller" will also include a finance house if you use a finance scheme). This is important becasue your statutory legal rights rest on the contract with the "seller"- not the manufacturer.
The Consumer Rights Act applies to the contract between you and the seller, and as you did not buy from the manufacturer the CRA does not apply to manufacturer. That's the way UK law is set out
Because there is no legislation that says a manufacturer has to provide a warranty to the end user. The fact that most manufacturers do provide one is principally to keep up with the competition.
Because there is no legal requirement for the manufacturer to provide a warranty, they can basically pick and choose whatever features they wish to cover, and for whatever time period they decide. In addition they can make their warranty offer conditional on the owner performing certain stipulated tasks such as having the caravan serviced and inspected at specific timed intervals. When you accept their warranty policy, ( and you are not obliged to accept it but it very unlikely you'd be able to negotiate different terms) you are agreeing to their terms and conditions and a contract is formed.
If you fail to abide by the T&C's and as you openly admit you did not have the caravan serviced or inspected at the specified time you have broken the warranty contract. To be fair most caravan manufacturers did issue guidance on how to deal scheduled servicing/inspections falling due within the Covid pandemic situation, and if you had followed their advice your warranty policy would still be fully honoured.
There is nothing stopping you from trying to negotiate with the manufacturer, but in most cases such appeals are rejected, especially when damage has already occured.
However, As Otherclive has suggested you may still have options under your Consumer statutory rights with the seller. The big problem you do have is to be able to show that the failure is due to either poor design, poor workmanship or poor materials making it insufficiently durable and therefore not fit for purpose. and not due to lack of care or it being damaged by some other cause.
Do research the Consumer Rights Act, If you take take the magazine Which? published by the Consumer Association, then you can access advice of pay for more detailed legal advice.