New Bailey Caravns

[woodsieboy]

Yesterday we had some time to kill so called in at a Bailey dealer, it's years since we had a Bailey Senator, so we were looking forward to see the changes, and improvements. Came away absolutely underwhelmed. The initial impression on entering the vans was of light and open interiors, but look closer and oh dear, shortage of electrical sockets,cupboards that didn't open and shut properly, blinds and flyscreens broken or not working, and these were diplay vans that we thgought should have been pristine. One brand new Unicorn had both fridge vents missing, on asking why I was told they fell off on the way from the factory. the front chest has a pull out top, but when pulled out it forms a step with the top panel, so no point having it. there were bits missing from fridge doors, and catches missing from bathoom doors. The outsides were not clean, black streaks everywhere and build up of leaves around windows, the door thresholds were green where water had collected. All in all an experience we are in no hurry to repeat,it may be the dealer has staff shortages or the vans may have had parts 'robbed' because of supply shortages, but disappointed is an understatement.

 

[otherclive]

Unbelievable yet there are those who will buy their caravans from such dealers as they don’t “see” tge shortcomings because of inexperience or naivety. I once went to see a Volvo 245 estate from a specialist Volvo outlet near Taunton. I was greeted by a very friendly salesman, but the car was absolutely filthy and not ready to test drive despite my having an appointment to view. I was assured that if I purchased it then it would be ‘sparkling’. Needless to say we got back into the old Marina estate and drove home vowing not to return.

 

[woodsieboy]

Hi Other Clive
I have experienced the same when trying to buy cars, however I have also had the opposite, our previous Santa Fe was advertised in Auto Trader at a small Hyundai dealers in Torquay. I spoke to the salesperson on the phone and asked if it was as good as it looked in the photographs. He sent me a video of the car and pointed out a small scratch on the rear bumper which I struggled to see, so made an appointment to view the car. On arrival there was a Santa Fe the same colour as the one we were there to view on the front of the dealers, absolutely gleaming, we thought it could not be the one we had come to see, but we were wrong, it was immaculate inside and out, took it for a test drive and drove it home, sadly that dealer is no more as was swallowed up by larger dealer. I think it is a reflection of the times we live in , dealers in some cases have been able to sell anything without any effort due to demand, and we have all heard on this forum of the poor build quality of vans and follow up service, another fact of modern life I suppose, or are there dealers out there still prepared to make an effort and take pride in the products they sell ?

 

[Raywood]

Some of the points should not happen but display models do suffer from petty pilfering and over enthusiastic people checking doors and other moving parts. Possibly some of the problems were from people looking round although it still was not good enough.

 

[Hutch]

I went to White arches in Northamptonshire a few years ago, and almost all of the cooker Knobs had been removed, I never asked why but probably to stop petty pilfering.

 

[GaryB]

We went to the caravan exhibition at the NEC in February and while a lot of folks were impressed with the colours etc, I kept a close eye on the finish and fit of things, some were awful and looked as if they'd been built by someone with a grudge! From memory the best we saw (in terms of finish/build quality) was Adria.

 

[Raywood]

We did look at Hobbys which did seem better made but were less impressed with many layouts and the interior decor.