New 2018 Coachman - Shocking Experience

[Marti23]

So we are new to caravanning and after much research opted to order a 2018 Coachman Vision 580. Arrived Feb 14th and picked up and used for a 2 day close by visit to get used to things. Caravan without any washing then went straight into storage. A few weeks later wnet to pick up caravan and the sealent on the back of caravan, some of the sides and rear brakelight had gone a brown colour.

I repeat that we had NEVER washed the caravan and after a huge amount of back and forth and coachman finally taking ownership, they said they would repair back at the factory. You never would have thought we had just paid over £20k for their product.

No apology, no email confirmation of work being undertaken, no updates and then get this - they returned the caravan just before the bank holiday, and the rear brakelight had not been repaired/missed!!!

They have now palmed us off to the dealership in a half attempted apology email - thing is they didn't even have courtesy to a)ring me and apologise and b) copy in the dealer so they knew they had been 'dumped on'.

So I would warn anyone against considering this brand, even dealers themselves that may be looking at becoming a new franchise for coachman, which my dealer has this year.

Still have some other items not right for a brand new caravan which I will have to take up with the dealer as well when they have receipt of the correct sealent.

To this day I don't know why the finish was so sub-standard, but Coachman seemed to have wiped their hands of things.

 

[otherclive]

Sorry to hear of your problems but don't forget that under UK consumer law your contract is with the dealer. They should be the contact for sorting out things that go wrong. If and I hope this is not the case you were to have to take an issue to court under CRA it won't be the manufacturer it will be the dealer. Also working via the dealer has the advantage that if they are conscientious they should be reporting faults back to the maker in order to improve ex works quality.
Not having seen how your sealant looks it is a fact of life that sealant very quickly does get grubby and neigh on impossible to clean back to new. Road muck especially building site mud, country stuff, and rock salt deposition does make the van seals mucky.
Work towards a good relationship with your dealer as I find that's the best approach, but study your rights under CRA and be firm when required

 

[Kevin2306]

Our swift is the same, thankfully there isn’t much visible sealant.

Kev

 

[ProfJohnL]

I do not condone the manufacturers response to your problem. But as we don't know how you exactly reported the problem and got them to do the work, we can only guess at what actually happened.

Otherclive beat me to important point about your rights under teh Consumer Rights Act 2015.

I suggest you look it up, as I think you could have a rightful call against your seller.

The seller may well be the dealer, but it might also be a finance house if you used a credit agreement or card to purchase the caravan.

 

[woodsieboy]

If you look at the Coachman brochure they claim all their vans are subject to rigorous testing before they leave the factory, and they claim they are not satisfied until the vans have passed their tests. In my view Coachman have managed to create an image of better build quality, that is no more justified than any other make. We are just about to trade in our 2011 Coachman, and will probably risk buying a Lunar, purely because the layout makes best use of space,and our Coachman has been our worst van we have had to date. As others have said you need to pursue your supplier, not Coachman, Good Luck with that.

 

[waffler]

I am sorry to hear of your experience. We are on our third coachman and can only praise them. Mastic has got dirty on occasion but we have washed the van with Fenwicks shampoo and rinsed it off. (we very occasionally use Fenwicks Bobby Dazzler in the rinse.) Then polish with Autoglym polish. I have then applied Autoglym extra polish, which is like a lacquer. Lasts at least a year. For the mat plastic bits and badly marked mastic i use Silky, washed off with stacks of water. My dealing with Coachman except for one item have always been through the dealer and have always been sorted.. On one occasion when I contacted them about a charging problem they put me in touch with their supplier who in turn came to the van and fixed the problem. (Apparently I had identified a problem that led to a recall.)

 

[Grey13]

My pennies worth. All the legal jargon aside, I would be disgusted if I bought a brand new van and the sealant discolored in a matter of weeks. I understand that to keep costs down manufacturers use "budget" materials and items, I know this is the case with the tyres from my own recent experience. Anyway also from my own "domestic" experience I know you can buy cheap silicone sealants that discolor and grow mold or a better one that stays white for years. I would expect more from a new £20K product myself. For what it's worth I will never buy a brand new car or van. Always a "nearly new" one and in the case of a van, make alterations to suit my needs.

 

[Raywood]

Basically Coachman were the best of the British makers in the last PC survey. This tells you a lot about the industry as a whole.
Given the advice already given I will not add my views as they would add nothing of use.