In praise of a dealer-positive post warning!

[JezzerB]

Ok lots of negativity surrounds the web and social media about dealers and caravan. We have always dealt with a local firm and thought I ought to redress the balance.
For a start-we really weren't going to buy a caravan; we have a perfectly good 2 year old. HOWEVER we had uprated our tow car and could tow more; SWBO was suddenly on a mission. After looking at most of the twin axles available-sorry Lunar-you weren't in full production at the time, we decided on what suited us-nearly a whole afternoon spent with a super salesman-nothing was too much trouble as (we) changed our minds a few times. We then visited the lawns and managed to negotiate an even better deal, paying a few pounds more to remain with the dealer we trusted.
An eta for the van was given us and contrary to many posts, we received a call the week that had been stated originally to say our van had arrived. They were really busy so pick up was arranged the week after to suit us-and so we did. On arrival the van was plugged in lights on heating on, water attached and music on! What a delight to sit in a warm van in the pouring rain and have EVERYTHING demonstrated to us. The TV brackets we'd been offered to clinch the deal were then fitted at a height/ situation to our preference .We then went in to the dealers, had a coffee, made the payments, were even shown the commission they had been given for arranging the finance-is this normal-seemed VERY honest to me, and after they work they had done for us worth it! The handover man then stopped the traffic for my wife (yes she has to tow at the mo as have a broken foot) so she could pull out towing for the first time-a twin axle too, onto the road without worrying about oncoming vehicles. We;re fussy and our trip away in the new van revealed, NOTHING- a beautiful van without a scratch mark or even bubbled vinyl screw head cover, not a blob of sealant out of place. LOVELY. Needless to say so far we are VERY happy customers-happy to name van make and dealer but not sure forum rules allow! Let's hope the ownership experience continues along these lines. We're just fed up we can't get away in it enough!

 

[Raywood]

Wow, that is the best sales effort I have come across. We bought our caravan last year and I could not criticise the handover, they parked our old and new ones next to each other and we were able to move everything across, which was a new one on me but you did far better.

 

[Parksy]

It makes a nice change to see a positive post about a caravan purchase, here's hoping that you have many happy times away with your caravan.
There's no reason for you not to give the name of this dealer who gave such a good handover, it's not against the rules.
I hope that their service department are as helpful as their sales staff if you are ever unlucky enough to make a warranty claim.

 

[ProfJohnL]

It's really refreshing and good to read a positive report about a caravan purchase. May yours be long lived and healthy for many years to come.

Your experience is great news, and it shows with the proper care and attention it can be done, That is what the CRA tells us is the consumers rights and should be their expectation. So the big question is why can't it be like that for every purchase?

 

[otherclive]

Forum rules dont preclude naming the make/model of the caravan.

 

[DaveA1]

Forum rules dont preclude naming the make/model of the caravan.

And the Dealer,

 

[otherclive]

Forum rules dont preclude naming the make/model of the caravan.

And the Dealer,

Already said by Parksy above.
"There's no reason for you not to give the name of this dealer who gave such a good handover, it's not against the rules."

 

[JezzerB]

Ok Robinson's of Worksop were the dealer and the van is a Bucaneer Cruiser.Praise where due and all that. We had our Bailey of them prior to this but this handover was exceptional. We did pay a few pounds more to buy from Robinsons simply because of the way they dealt with handover and the very minor couple of warranty issues on our first caravan we had off them. Service dept did a brilliant job on it both times it was serviced too. You could actually tell it was serviced and the engineer came out to talk to us about what he had done! Let's hope this continues!

 

[Woodentop]

Ok Robinson's of Worksop were the dealer and the van is a Bucaneer Cruiser.Praise where due and all that. We had our Bailey of them prior to this but this handover was exceptional. We did pay a few pounds more to buy from Robinsons simply because of the way they dealt with handover and the very minor couple of warranty issues on our first caravan we had off them. Service dept did a brilliant job on it both times it was serviced too. You could actually tell it was serviced and the engineer came out to talk to us about what he had done! Let's hope this continues!

Robinsons have been around - as a family owned business - for decades. However they were taken over by Saalbach Equities in May last year. Whether that has had any effect I don't know.

 

[Raywood]

To my mind it is worth paying a bit extra when buying the caravan to get a good local dealer who will look after you. Pity they are not up here.

 

[BryonySymes]

Wow, sounds like a great experience! I hope you're enjoying the new van, too. Any plans to get away in it soon?

Keep an eye out for our next Owner Satisfaction Survey in the Spring and you can tell us all about it to make sure they get the recognition that they clearly deserve!

 

[Dustydog]

Back in the distant past I seem to recall Robinson’s were voted PCv Dealer of the year :cheer:

 

[JezzerB]

Wow, sounds like a great experience! I hope you're enjoying the new van, too. Any plans to get away in it soon?

Keep an eye out for our next Owner Satisfaction Survey in the Spring and you can tell us all about it to make sure they get the recognition that they clearly deserve!

Yes we always do the survey-hopefully we'll still be as postive about it as we are now-itching to get away-we have a full week booked over new year-can't wait!

 

[Raywood]

I think the problem with the inclusion of dealers in the survey is that the smaller ones simply do not get the numbers needed to show up, whatever service they provide. Basically if your dealer is not there then you do not know if they failed to get in due to lack of numbers or were just not good enough.