4 months ago my wife and i purcahsed a 1998 abbey gts vogue 212 for £2850 from a reputable caravan dealers. As 1st time caravannners we bought it in good faith and belived we were getting a real bargain and were happy with the service we recieved. we have now established we have 4 different areas of damp in the caravan and as you can imagine are devastated by this news.the warranty we recieved is for 6 months and does not cover water ingress. i appreciate this is due to the van being 10 years old.what can i do? Surely they will have tested for damp before selling the van. Should we have been told?. Are we within our rights allowed to argue that we have been sold unsatisfactory goods? I dont know what to do and fear we have wasted the best part of 3ooo pounds. Any advice would be great. thankyou Chris.
help please, advice needed.
- Thread starter chris_374361258
- Start date
I presume the dealer is not helping; they of course are your initial point of redress.
If they are not sympathetic in a financial way then immediately call your local Trading Standards office and talk to them.
If they are not sympathetic in a financial way then immediately call your local Trading Standards office and talk to them.
Hello Chris,
Have you told the dealer about your problems? or are you assuming that they wont help. If they are a reputable dealer it is in their interests to keep customers happy.
With all secondhand purchases even from dealers the phrase Caveat emptor (Buyer beware) still holds true. In essesnce what this means is that as the buyer, it is up to you to ask all relevant questions about the item before you buy.
If you ask a question you should be able to rely on the answer as being accurate and honest, unfortunately with a private transaction it is often difficult to hold the seller to book, but at least with a trader you have some advantage, as they are bound by trades descriptions, and have a trading address.
Now this is important, because if you asked the trader about the condition of the caravan and they indicated it was dry or free from water ingress, then you may have a claim regardless of their rider in the guarantee. It is difficult to see how a caravan at age 10 Years could be dry yet at 10Y4M is wet.
You may also have some leverage if you told the dealer when you started looking at caravans you were new to caravan ownership and you asked the dealer to advise you. By doing so you are placing yourselves in his/her hands and are relying on them to use their expert knowledge to guide you.
As an expert, they should be aware of the increasing chance of water ingress problems with the age of the caravan, and they should have brought this to your attention so you could make an informed decision. If they failed to do this it might be construed as incompetence, or worse a deliberate act to conceal the truth (fraud).
Before deciding to take any further action, I strongly advise you to seek professional legal advice.
A letter from your solicitor may be enough to stir some action, but if it does go to court, the age of the caravan will certainly be major factor in any judgement as will the fairly well publicised issue of water ingress in older caravans, it could be argued you should have know or expected damp issues.
Have you told the dealer about your problems? or are you assuming that they wont help. If they are a reputable dealer it is in their interests to keep customers happy.
With all secondhand purchases even from dealers the phrase Caveat emptor (Buyer beware) still holds true. In essesnce what this means is that as the buyer, it is up to you to ask all relevant questions about the item before you buy.
If you ask a question you should be able to rely on the answer as being accurate and honest, unfortunately with a private transaction it is often difficult to hold the seller to book, but at least with a trader you have some advantage, as they are bound by trades descriptions, and have a trading address.
Now this is important, because if you asked the trader about the condition of the caravan and they indicated it was dry or free from water ingress, then you may have a claim regardless of their rider in the guarantee. It is difficult to see how a caravan at age 10 Years could be dry yet at 10Y4M is wet.
You may also have some leverage if you told the dealer when you started looking at caravans you were new to caravan ownership and you asked the dealer to advise you. By doing so you are placing yourselves in his/her hands and are relying on them to use their expert knowledge to guide you.
As an expert, they should be aware of the increasing chance of water ingress problems with the age of the caravan, and they should have brought this to your attention so you could make an informed decision. If they failed to do this it might be construed as incompetence, or worse a deliberate act to conceal the truth (fraud).
Before deciding to take any further action, I strongly advise you to seek professional legal advice.
A letter from your solicitor may be enough to stir some action, but if it does go to court, the age of the caravan will certainly be major factor in any judgement as will the fairly well publicised issue of water ingress in older caravans, it could be argued you should have know or expected damp issues.
Hi Chris, I had the same problem with an even older van At the time of buying I did ask if there was any problems with the van & was told all was OK (I did not receive any warranty at all)I later foud that there was indeed dampness in several areas> I used the legal services that came with my house insureance & finaly got my money back on the grounds that the van was not of merchantable quality
Chris
Your post reminds me of the many times that we have read about a P/X value being reduced because the dealer had found severe damp in a caravan.
The seller then takes the lower price for his/her old van because of the damp it needs several hundred pounds spending on it to be repaired.
Only to pass the dealer a few days later to see their old van on sale with a huge mark up.
Maybe the damp had dried up over-night??????
Al
Your post reminds me of the many times that we have read about a P/X value being reduced because the dealer had found severe damp in a caravan.
The seller then takes the lower price for his/her old van because of the damp it needs several hundred pounds spending on it to be repaired.
Only to pass the dealer a few days later to see their old van on sale with a huge mark up.
Maybe the damp had dried up over-night??????
Al
Just an update really for anyone interested. Thanks for the the responses. Spoke to citizens advice regarding the matter and was told that if my independent servicer is prepared to state that in his opinion the caravan has damp which will have been there long before we purchased it we may be entitled to repair/compensatation or replacement under the sale of goods act. I went back to the dealer, explained the situation and they have told me to take the van back to them on monday and they will look at the problem. I asked the manager what his policy on this matter is and he told me that they "do not want to see customers unhappy". So far they seem to be helpful and i hope we may resolve the matter. Im sure they want to uphold their excellent reputation so may repair the problem. I will let you know the outcome.
Heres hoping for some good news, chris
Just an update really for anyone interested. Thanks for the the responses. Spoke to citizens advice regarding the matter and was told that if my independent servicer is prepared to state that in his opinion the caravan has damp which will have been there long before we purchased it we may be entitled to repair/compensatation or replacement under the sale of goods act. I went back to the dealer, explained the situation and they have told me to take the van back to them on monday and they will look at the problem. I asked the manager what his policy on this matter is and he told me that they "do not want to see customers unhappy". So far they seem to be helpful and i hope we may resolve the matter. Im sure they want to uphold their excellent reputation so may repair the problem. I will let you know the outcome.
Heres hoping for some good news, chris
Heres hoping for some good news, chris
A friend in the trade once told me that most 'vans they took in partx were "soaking wet".
If damp isn't obvious when viewing the does it really matter that much.
What actually happens in the long run to a caravan that is damp?
If damp isn't obvious when viewing the does it really matter that much.
What actually happens in the long run to a caravan that is damp?
Hello Tram,
Me thinks your friend in the trade is making a mountain out of a mole hill.
However, when a caravan suffers with damp, if the internal wooden structure is affected rot sets in, and the structure becomes weaker and will eventually fail.
Me thinks your friend in the trade is making a mountain out of a mole hill.
However, when a caravan suffers with damp, if the internal wooden structure is affected rot sets in, and the structure becomes weaker and will eventually fail.
hi guys, an update on the situation. after months of getting nowhere with the repair , being told by the man dealing with it that he was "chasing parts up" the damp was getting much worse. my father in Law eventually went to the dealership asking for a refund as he felt we were sold an insufficient caravan and it should not have taken nearly 5 months to fix. The manager was not prepared to offer a refund but said he would do an exchange. He took our damp 1998 abbey GTS Vogue off our hands which we paid 2800 for and gave us a 2003 Bailey Ranger 2 berth which he was selling on the forecourt for 6700. we are obviously delighted with this and are happy with the outcome. I suppose the lesson is that if you are not happy with a purchase go straight to the top. we have come out of this whole stressful mess happy with our replacement and hopefully can get back to enjoying using our new van.
Chris
Chris
Hi Chris,
I wonder what the dealer will do with the Abbey.
I wouldn't be surprised if it is back on the dealers forecourt for sale ASAP.
The next buyer may not be as lucky as you.
We had a similar experienc and the old caravan was sold within a week of us taking it back - the problem with the damp could not have possibly been repaired in that length of time....do you think??
Ron.
I wonder what the dealer will do with the Abbey.
I wouldn't be surprised if it is back on the dealers forecourt for sale ASAP.
The next buyer may not be as lucky as you.
We had a similar experienc and the old caravan was sold within a week of us taking it back - the problem with the damp could not have possibly been repaired in that length of time....do you think??
Ron.
Hi Ron, I too am concerned as to what the dealership will do with the Abbey now. There is no way anyone will buy it without noticing the damp as it had become a real problem. the issue with the dealership we had was that for five months we were not contacted with a date or time for it to be booked in.It would have been nice to have been contacted by them to put our minds at rest and give us an idea. With regards the length of time the repair may take I was told by them it would have been a weeks work.Thankfully we appear to have come out of the whole debacle with a five year younger van worth at least 4000 less than we paid for the original.This to us is like getting a brand new caravan! As you can imagine we are delighted with it. Heres hoping everything goes well in the future.
Chris
Chris
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