Dave
First and foremost your problem is not with coachman but the dealer, that is who you had a contract with not the manufacturer. Lets put it this way, if you buy a pint off beer and its off who do you complain to the publican or the brewery?
Its the dealer who is your first port of call who should abide by the consumer law.
Your other point is why there is nothing being done by the mags and clubs? Answer....money, remember these companies advertise big time and no-one is going to upset the applecart.
I have not been able to monitor the site as thoroughly as usual over the last few days, I am sorry but family comes first. We had the rather pleasant duty of watching my son graduate with a First class with honours degree from Liverpool.
Having returned and looked at a few of the threads, I am rather disappointed to find that some correspondents are allowing their postings to contain language that I find offensive. It is all to easy to hide behind the veil of anonymity afforded by the use of nicknames, but I believe there should be a level of decorum and contributors should only use language that they would be happy to use face to face.
I venture to suggest that should by some deed fair or foul, the real identities of some of the correspondents become known, they could be more than embarrassed by what they have written, and as it is written, who knows action could be taken by the target of their scribblings.
Rant over.
Complaints to business are a very rich source of information about what's not so good about their products. Those that choose to ignore them loose track of what their customers wants and needs are, and ultimately customers will drift away to other manufactures products that better understand the end users.
When reading a forum (and others)such as this, it has to be remembered it will always be top heavy with complaints. It is not in human nature to broadcast praise for job well done, but if something goes wrong, then we tend to shout about it. There is a customer service adage that suggests that a complaint will spread a hundred times faster than the benefit of a good job well done.
Most businesses do not respond to anonymous complaints, as they might be a hoax or designed to cause commercial damage. This forum is anonymous, and so specific complaints are not likely to be handled in the full public glare, but as Swift are now doing, they invite the complainant to contact them directly.
Dave & Dee have two issues, firstly is the failure of their product, and their report that the dealer is being unhelpful, and secondly that that the manufacture is not corresponding on the forum.
What goes on between them and the dealer is a private matter, and the SoGA should help them in that regard,
But just in the same way that as a contributor to the forum Dave & Dee have the choice whether to post or not , so does the manufacturer. Whilst I do not agree with conclusions the manufacture draws about their ability to understand customers by relying on dealership intervention, it is their choice.
Having returned and looked at a few of the threads, I am rather disappointed to find that some correspondents are allowing their postings to contain language that I find offensive. It is all to easy to hide behind the veil of anonymity afforded by the use of nicknames, but I believe there should be a level of decorum and contributors should only use language that they would be happy to use face to face.
I venture to suggest that should by some deed fair or foul, the real identities of some of the correspondents become known, they could be more than embarrassed by what they have written, and as it is written, who knows action could be taken by the target of their scribblings.
Rant over.
Complaints to business are a very rich source of information about what's not so good about their products. Those that choose to ignore them loose track of what their customers wants and needs are, and ultimately customers will drift away to other manufactures products that better understand the end users.
When reading a forum (and others)such as this, it has to be remembered it will always be top heavy with complaints. It is not in human nature to broadcast praise for job well done, but if something goes wrong, then we tend to shout about it. There is a customer service adage that suggests that a complaint will spread a hundred times faster than the benefit of a good job well done.
Most businesses do not respond to anonymous complaints, as they might be a hoax or designed to cause commercial damage. This forum is anonymous, and so specific complaints are not likely to be handled in the full public glare, but as Swift are now doing, they invite the complainant to contact them directly.
Dave & Dee have two issues, firstly is the failure of their product, and their report that the dealer is being unhelpful, and secondly that that the manufacture is not corresponding on the forum.
What goes on between them and the dealer is a private matter, and the SoGA should help them in that regard,
But just in the same way that as a contributor to the forum Dave & Dee have the choice whether to post or not , so does the manufacturer. Whilst I do not agree with conclusions the manufacture draws about their ability to understand customers by relying on dealership intervention, it is their choice.
I suggest that Val copies and pastes this whole thread and emails it back to the backward management/customer service at Coachman.
To be frank I would not by from either Coachman or Swift Group. Swift are very good at monitoring problems posted here and dealing with them probably but I've seen to many problems reported here. Swift should not need to monitor the forum they should market products that do not need repeat trips back to dealers and a simple call to a dealer should result in promt remedial action.
Dealership response and caravan build quality should not be a lottery. Build QUALITY should be to a consistent quality across a campanies range and all dealers and there staff should offer a caring understanding prompt response or sell something else.
There are few moving parts in a caravan and it should be faultless when nailed together.
To be frank I would not by from either Coachman or Swift Group. Swift are very good at monitoring problems posted here and dealing with them probably but I've seen to many problems reported here. Swift should not need to monitor the forum they should market products that do not need repeat trips back to dealers and a simple call to a dealer should result in promt remedial action.
Dealership response and caravan build quality should not be a lottery. Build QUALITY should be to a consistent quality across a campanies range and all dealers and there staff should offer a caring understanding prompt response or sell something else.
There are few moving parts in a caravan and it should be faultless when nailed together.
Well said Euro.
The manufacturers and dealers who pay close attention to quality control, customer desires, and always deliver the goods will undoubtedly survive any recession we are or may suffer over the next few years.
Those who remain silent, a don't care attitude, will not last the course.
Please Mr Dealer and Mr manufacturer, remember we customers are the sole most important aspect of your business.
As far as Swift go , I agree there seem to have been a large number of disgruntled customers but equally I hope with Kath's intervention all the problems have been resolved and going forward the Swift factory will improve on their quality control.
My Baileys have all been excellent but then as we know someone else will say otherwise.
Cheers
Alan
The manufacturers and dealers who pay close attention to quality control, customer desires, and always deliver the goods will undoubtedly survive any recession we are or may suffer over the next few years.
Those who remain silent, a don't care attitude, will not last the course.
Please Mr Dealer and Mr manufacturer, remember we customers are the sole most important aspect of your business.
As far as Swift go , I agree there seem to have been a large number of disgruntled customers but equally I hope with Kath's intervention all the problems have been resolved and going forward the Swift factory will improve on their quality control.
My Baileys have all been excellent but then as we know someone else will say otherwise.
Cheers
Alan
Dear All
With regard to the specific query about the Caravan Survey, the results of this have yet to be collated, but rest assured that this fascinating data will not be wasted. We will be getting the numbers crunched to spot trends, highlight specific failings but also to reward good performers.
Needless to say, that amount of information takes a lot of pulling together and we can't generate a meaningful report on the results until the statistical work is completed. Depending on how well the results are recieved, we are also planning to make the survey a regular occurrence.
We are planning to have the report completed for the Awards issue, publishing in October.
Regards
Nigel Donnelly
Editor
Practical Caravan
With regard to the specific query about the Caravan Survey, the results of this have yet to be collated, but rest assured that this fascinating data will not be wasted. We will be getting the numbers crunched to spot trends, highlight specific failings but also to reward good performers.
Needless to say, that amount of information takes a lot of pulling together and we can't generate a meaningful report on the results until the statistical work is completed. Depending on how well the results are recieved, we are also planning to make the survey a regular occurrence.
We are planning to have the report completed for the Awards issue, publishing in October.
Regards
Nigel Donnelly
Editor
Practical Caravan
Parksy
Moderator
Not a helpful post unfortunately Stephen.
One man's meat is another man's poison and your comment is a generalisation which other Coachman owners might take issue with.
What an absolute load of rubbish, if your not getting replies from coachman your not contacting the right people, i have very little need to contact coachman since the 5 vans i have owned have never and i mean never given me any cause to complain (apart from the hartal door lock which everyone is having problems with)but when i have contacted them for advice trevor baxter the customer service manager has allways got back to me the same day and has been very polite and open, when we had an issue with stability on our pastiche 520/4 he even took one out to see what i meant it turned out to be my car causing the problem not the van (lr discovery).
From what i have read on these forums valerie has complained about one thing or another since the day she collected the van and others are just jumping on the bandwagon as we have never heard any complaints in the past from them but all of a sudden the vans a pile of poop, some people just can not be pleased.
Coachman build vans to a very high standard which is echoed by all the magazine tests including both clubs, the caravan club did a recent test on a pastiche and proclaimed that despite looking very hard indeed they could not find one single fault which echoes my experiance along with my parents and friends who are all now converted to hassle free coachman owner ship.
I have been posting on this forum for a very long time allmost from the days of inseption and i dont hold back from complaining if a complaint is genuine which most will remember from my posts regarding the swift van i owned for a short while and lookers garage after they screwed up my alhambra but you will not find one single post of complaint regarding my coachman vans (apart from the door lock)becouse they have been totally fault free.
Coachman are in a different class to swift, bailey, explorer, they are made far stronger with thicker walls and solid interiors they are heavier becouse of this but they will last, a poster on another thread is complaining about lunar not being able to deliver her new van in time since she wants a/c fitting and the roof needs strengthening, coachman are built strong enough to take the a/c unit without modification so maybee she should be looking at this brand if in such a hurry. I will never change from coachman as i know ive bought a extremely well built hard wearing product that i can totally rely on even with the heavy use i give it.
Val if you really do wish to contact coachman ask for trevor direct and i can assure you if the complaint is genuine he will sort it out for you.
Dave @ dee can i achoe john l and ask that you keep the language to yourself, its not wanted on this forum.
From what i have read on these forums valerie has complained about one thing or another since the day she collected the van and others are just jumping on the bandwagon as we have never heard any complaints in the past from them but all of a sudden the vans a pile of poop, some people just can not be pleased.
Coachman build vans to a very high standard which is echoed by all the magazine tests including both clubs, the caravan club did a recent test on a pastiche and proclaimed that despite looking very hard indeed they could not find one single fault which echoes my experiance along with my parents and friends who are all now converted to hassle free coachman owner ship.
I have been posting on this forum for a very long time allmost from the days of inseption and i dont hold back from complaining if a complaint is genuine which most will remember from my posts regarding the swift van i owned for a short while and lookers garage after they screwed up my alhambra but you will not find one single post of complaint regarding my coachman vans (apart from the door lock)becouse they have been totally fault free.
Coachman are in a different class to swift, bailey, explorer, they are made far stronger with thicker walls and solid interiors they are heavier becouse of this but they will last, a poster on another thread is complaining about lunar not being able to deliver her new van in time since she wants a/c fitting and the roof needs strengthening, coachman are built strong enough to take the a/c unit without modification so maybee she should be looking at this brand if in such a hurry. I will never change from coachman as i know ive bought a extremely well built hard wearing product that i can totally rely on even with the heavy use i give it.
Val if you really do wish to contact coachman ask for trevor direct and i can assure you if the complaint is genuine he will sort it out for you.
Dave @ dee can i achoe john l and ask that you keep the language to yourself, its not wanted on this forum.
Hi JohnL.
Firstly I offer my apologies.I'm sorry if the language in my reply to Val's initial post offended you,that was not my intention.
However,John,anonymity is not a tool I would consciously use.
I would be happy for Coachman to have my details;name,address,phone number,even inside leg measurement if it would get a response from them.
I never have said,and never will say anything 'behind someone's back' that I would not be prepared to say to their face.I would face the legal,or otherwise, consequenses and try to turn them to my advantage.At least it would bring the subject out into the open.
I respect your opipion John - it's been welcome in the past - and apologise again for any offence.
Dave
Firstly I offer my apologies.I'm sorry if the language in my reply to Val's initial post offended you,that was not my intention.
However,John,anonymity is not a tool I would consciously use.
I would be happy for Coachman to have my details;name,address,phone number,even inside leg measurement if it would get a response from them.
I never have said,and never will say anything 'behind someone's back' that I would not be prepared to say to their face.I would face the legal,or otherwise, consequenses and try to turn them to my advantage.At least it would bring the subject out into the open.
I respect your opipion John - it's been welcome in the past - and apologise again for any offence.
Dave
Hello Icemaker.
Are you one of those wind-up merchants we seem to be getting lately?
No-one could be that naive.
Dave
Are you one of those wind-up merchants we seem to be getting lately?
No-one could be that naive.
Dave
Now then dave & dee if you can point out the bit that you think may be a wind up it would be helpfull, but i cant see anything that could be seen in this way ?.
All of my post is based on observation and experiance, can i point out that there is only val and yourself that has a concious complaint with coachman in this thread all the others are just jumping up and down on the soap box, stephen for example "coachman everyone knows theire rubish" do they? once again i point you to the reviews in all the magazines and the reliabilty surveys, coachman caravans have one of the highest residule values of all manufacturers simply due to the high quality of the product stephen is just a muppet with nothing valid to say other thean something a 5 year old would post, euro points out that he would not buy either swift or coachman having read so many complaints but does not say which manufacturer he has read most about, its not coachman a simple search of the forum and web proves that, the other posters are more interested in a survey and have no complaint.
Now if we look at other manufacturers we find thread after thread after thread of discruntled customers and i would suggest that one of the main reason cath now posts on here from swift is due to the large amount of complaints on the forum being brought to her attention as with bailey due to the amount of negative press regarding the new range and the front panels that seem to crack if you wash the van with caravan specific shampoo. Personally i would rather deal direct as coachman prefer, after reading the thread today regarding the hartal door lock i rang coachman to discuss replacing mine again and guess what i got straight through and the new lock is on its way to the dealer, 5 minuits it took and no hassle but then again im a good customer without a reputation as a complainer at every turn of the corner.
Naive ? absolutely not, carefull in what i buy ? yes and in coachman i would continue to recomend the brand to all.
Earlier on this year dave when you first started posting i seem to remember you being more than happy with your van and the dealer so what has changed that makes the van your new worst enemy ?.
I think we all need to remember that just becouse one person has a problem or even 2 in this case it does not make all those that never have a problem nieve as dave has posted, it just shows to me that as far as statistics are concerned 2 complaints make for a 98% success rate. now all those other manufacturers on here with many complaints are a different story.
All of my post is based on observation and experiance, can i point out that there is only val and yourself that has a concious complaint with coachman in this thread all the others are just jumping up and down on the soap box, stephen for example "coachman everyone knows theire rubish" do they? once again i point you to the reviews in all the magazines and the reliabilty surveys, coachman caravans have one of the highest residule values of all manufacturers simply due to the high quality of the product stephen is just a muppet with nothing valid to say other thean something a 5 year old would post, euro points out that he would not buy either swift or coachman having read so many complaints but does not say which manufacturer he has read most about, its not coachman a simple search of the forum and web proves that, the other posters are more interested in a survey and have no complaint.
Now if we look at other manufacturers we find thread after thread after thread of discruntled customers and i would suggest that one of the main reason cath now posts on here from swift is due to the large amount of complaints on the forum being brought to her attention as with bailey due to the amount of negative press regarding the new range and the front panels that seem to crack if you wash the van with caravan specific shampoo. Personally i would rather deal direct as coachman prefer, after reading the thread today regarding the hartal door lock i rang coachman to discuss replacing mine again and guess what i got straight through and the new lock is on its way to the dealer, 5 minuits it took and no hassle but then again im a good customer without a reputation as a complainer at every turn of the corner.
Naive ? absolutely not, carefull in what i buy ? yes and in coachman i would continue to recomend the brand to all.
Earlier on this year dave when you first started posting i seem to remember you being more than happy with your van and the dealer so what has changed that makes the van your new worst enemy ?.
I think we all need to remember that just becouse one person has a problem or even 2 in this case it does not make all those that never have a problem nieve as dave has posted, it just shows to me that as far as statistics are concerned 2 complaints make for a 98% success rate. now all those other manufacturers on here with many complaints are a different story.
Hi all
I have watched this thread with interest as I bought a Coachman Laser at the NEC last November. While the dealer is some 250 miles (one way) away I was comforted by a) "that Coachman are one of the best built caravans made today" and b) "every one is extensively tested before it is released from the factory" and c) "of course you can have any problems sorted out at a Coachman dealer nearer your home". These of course are quotes from the salesman - gullible or what? - but in my defense I had done a fair bit of research and believed that Coachman caravans were as reliable as the salesman had said.
When we picked up the Caravan in March, the first night we used the caravan there were a number of niggling faults (that we shouldn't have had if Coachman had "extensively tested the caravan" or indeed had the dealer undertaken the PDI properly) (the worst was the plastic sheeting covering the floor (not the carpets which were still rolled up and under one of the beds) was still there and believe me this was a nightmare to get up). We also discovered that the spring on one of the legs of the table was broken.
We went back to the dealer and they gave us another table but it was the wrong one so another visit back to the dealer to be told that they did not have the same table but they would arrange for a replacement to be sent from their service centre.
On the second night I got up to go to the loo (as you do - well you do at my age!!) only to find the end washroom carpet soaking wet and the carpet between the two beds (we have the model with twin single fixed beds) also wet (but not as bad as the washroom carpet). Fortunately we were still at a caravan site nearby the dealer where we had bought the caravan so we went back to the dealer to be told to go to their service centre which although reasonably close by was still an inconvenience as we had arranged to go elswhere to pick something up before heading back to Scotland. We were also told to mention the table while we were there.
The "leak" was traced to a hot water pipe that had not been fitted correctly (surely this should have been picked up at the "extensive testing" or the PDI??). Anyway this was sorted and then we asked about the table - nothing to do with them we were told so back to the sales premises, where the salesman mumbled about the service centre not being helpful as usual and we were told that they would order a replacement table direct from Coachman. Two months later and no table had arrived so as I was going down South and could have called in to collect a table if they had one I called the dealer to be told that the salesman wasn't there but he would call back the next day (you've guessed it no call) so I called again the next day (which was a Sunday) only to be told that I should contact the service centre but they were not open until the Monday by which time I would be back home. I called them and was told (in a condescending manner) that we did not need a new table and all we needed was a new set of legs which I could then replace on the table we have and that these would be ordered from Coachman. One month later and no legs (despite another follow up call). I will be calling again tomorrow and if there is no update I will be contacting Coachman direct.
When I bought the Coachman we traded in a Bailey Senator Wyoming which we had from new and apart from the front locker lock going (which was promptly dealt with by the dealer) we had no problems with it whatsoever.
Now my niggles may be small time but when you are buying what you believe to be a quality product small niggles are annoying especially when you are treated like we have been by the dealer. And if the dealer who got our money treats us like that I do not hold out much hope for a "dealer nearer home sorting out problems" for us.
Anyway I will let you knkow how I get on with Coachman should I have to call them.
Cheers
Richard
I have watched this thread with interest as I bought a Coachman Laser at the NEC last November. While the dealer is some 250 miles (one way) away I was comforted by a) "that Coachman are one of the best built caravans made today" and b) "every one is extensively tested before it is released from the factory" and c) "of course you can have any problems sorted out at a Coachman dealer nearer your home". These of course are quotes from the salesman - gullible or what? - but in my defense I had done a fair bit of research and believed that Coachman caravans were as reliable as the salesman had said.
When we picked up the Caravan in March, the first night we used the caravan there were a number of niggling faults (that we shouldn't have had if Coachman had "extensively tested the caravan" or indeed had the dealer undertaken the PDI properly) (the worst was the plastic sheeting covering the floor (not the carpets which were still rolled up and under one of the beds) was still there and believe me this was a nightmare to get up). We also discovered that the spring on one of the legs of the table was broken.
We went back to the dealer and they gave us another table but it was the wrong one so another visit back to the dealer to be told that they did not have the same table but they would arrange for a replacement to be sent from their service centre.
On the second night I got up to go to the loo (as you do - well you do at my age!!) only to find the end washroom carpet soaking wet and the carpet between the two beds (we have the model with twin single fixed beds) also wet (but not as bad as the washroom carpet). Fortunately we were still at a caravan site nearby the dealer where we had bought the caravan so we went back to the dealer to be told to go to their service centre which although reasonably close by was still an inconvenience as we had arranged to go elswhere to pick something up before heading back to Scotland. We were also told to mention the table while we were there.
The "leak" was traced to a hot water pipe that had not been fitted correctly (surely this should have been picked up at the "extensive testing" or the PDI??). Anyway this was sorted and then we asked about the table - nothing to do with them we were told so back to the sales premises, where the salesman mumbled about the service centre not being helpful as usual and we were told that they would order a replacement table direct from Coachman. Two months later and no table had arrived so as I was going down South and could have called in to collect a table if they had one I called the dealer to be told that the salesman wasn't there but he would call back the next day (you've guessed it no call) so I called again the next day (which was a Sunday) only to be told that I should contact the service centre but they were not open until the Monday by which time I would be back home. I called them and was told (in a condescending manner) that we did not need a new table and all we needed was a new set of legs which I could then replace on the table we have and that these would be ordered from Coachman. One month later and no legs (despite another follow up call). I will be calling again tomorrow and if there is no update I will be contacting Coachman direct.
When I bought the Coachman we traded in a Bailey Senator Wyoming which we had from new and apart from the front locker lock going (which was promptly dealt with by the dealer) we had no problems with it whatsoever.
Now my niggles may be small time but when you are buying what you believe to be a quality product small niggles are annoying especially when you are treated like we have been by the dealer. And if the dealer who got our money treats us like that I do not hold out much hope for a "dealer nearer home sorting out problems" for us.
Anyway I will let you knkow how I get on with Coachman should I have to call them.
Cheers
Richard
Dealers can be a right pain in the bum can't they rjc, the problems you mention should definately have shown up on the testing and if not certainly on the pdi at the dealers.
Reagarding dealers we allways used glossop as they are close to us and for the first 4 vans we where happy with what they did however they could not match the deal i got from cambells caravans on the new vip 530 so we purchased from cambells who did a very thorough handover and had the van ready with water and electric plus gas conected for our handover, we where shown everything despite being seasoned vanners and nothing was too much trouble, the only problem was a missing bed spread which was ordered and delivered within 14 days from coachman. All in all i am happy with the handover and the way cambells have treated us however if you read another recent thread you will find that a contributor has had the exact opposite experiance of cambells to us and she is rightly very annoyed, in your case i would think the dealer is the main one to let you down but the van is taking the brunt which is a shame.
in my family ive had 5 coachmans my parents are on theire 4th my sister is on her 4th and my friends are on theire 5th and none of us have had any faults other than the hartel door locks which i think is a testiment to the quality of the product.
Despite me buying the van from cambells glossop still carry out the service work for me too.
Reagarding dealers we allways used glossop as they are close to us and for the first 4 vans we where happy with what they did however they could not match the deal i got from cambells caravans on the new vip 530 so we purchased from cambells who did a very thorough handover and had the van ready with water and electric plus gas conected for our handover, we where shown everything despite being seasoned vanners and nothing was too much trouble, the only problem was a missing bed spread which was ordered and delivered within 14 days from coachman. All in all i am happy with the handover and the way cambells have treated us however if you read another recent thread you will find that a contributor has had the exact opposite experiance of cambells to us and she is rightly very annoyed, in your case i would think the dealer is the main one to let you down but the van is taking the brunt which is a shame.
in my family ive had 5 coachmans my parents are on theire 4th my sister is on her 4th and my friends are on theire 5th and none of us have had any faults other than the hartel door locks which i think is a testiment to the quality of the product.
Despite me buying the van from cambells glossop still carry out the service work for me too.
Hello Icemaker,
I have issue with the second para of your post and would comment as follows. Yes, I have complained, not about one thing or another here and there, but a comprehensive list of shortcomings with my new van. You admit posting re complaints about your swift van/lookers garage and say complaining about "genuine complaints" is OK.
In my opinion my complaints are genuine and therefore I too consider it OK to post about them. Nobody is jumping on the bandwagon, and nobody has said the van is a pipe of poop as you allege. You state you have never heard complaints in the past from posters re Coachman - I disagree. Your comment that "some people just cannot be pleased" is insulting and incorrect. After a 5 hr round trip to take the van to the dealers for the second time and the same to collect it I am now pleased to say the issues have been rectified. So there you are, I CAN be pleased... but I shouldn't need to do it.
I would make the point that if you have been posting since the forum began you obviously enjoy following the threads and do so conscientiously. This being the case you will have read that I still would not part with my Coachman, despite its shortcomings, and have praised the good points of the van i.e. rock solid in heavy winds, snug etc.
I have also on various occasions, praised the service I have had from Chichester Caravans who sold me the van. There is a recent post - Three Cheers for Chichester Caravans on here now. Without them we would have been up the creek without a paddle quite honestly because Coachman don't want to know.
I feel I give a balanced view of my experiences and make no apologies for exposing Coachman for their lack of customer service. I make no apologies either for stating fact about the issues I have had with my van.
I have not been dealing with Trevor from Coachman and am not prepared to name the person I have spoken to as I feel this wouldn't be appropriate in the circumstances.
P.S. ..after RJC's post its down to 97%!
Val.
I have issue with the second para of your post and would comment as follows. Yes, I have complained, not about one thing or another here and there, but a comprehensive list of shortcomings with my new van. You admit posting re complaints about your swift van/lookers garage and say complaining about "genuine complaints" is OK.
In my opinion my complaints are genuine and therefore I too consider it OK to post about them. Nobody is jumping on the bandwagon, and nobody has said the van is a pipe of poop as you allege. You state you have never heard complaints in the past from posters re Coachman - I disagree. Your comment that "some people just cannot be pleased" is insulting and incorrect. After a 5 hr round trip to take the van to the dealers for the second time and the same to collect it I am now pleased to say the issues have been rectified. So there you are, I CAN be pleased... but I shouldn't need to do it.
I would make the point that if you have been posting since the forum began you obviously enjoy following the threads and do so conscientiously. This being the case you will have read that I still would not part with my Coachman, despite its shortcomings, and have praised the good points of the van i.e. rock solid in heavy winds, snug etc.
I have also on various occasions, praised the service I have had from Chichester Caravans who sold me the van. There is a recent post - Three Cheers for Chichester Caravans on here now. Without them we would have been up the creek without a paddle quite honestly because Coachman don't want to know.
I feel I give a balanced view of my experiences and make no apologies for exposing Coachman for their lack of customer service. I make no apologies either for stating fact about the issues I have had with my van.
I have not been dealing with Trevor from Coachman and am not prepared to name the person I have spoken to as I feel this wouldn't be appropriate in the circumstances.
P.S. ..after RJC's post its down to 97%!
Val.
Hi val i never stated that i havent heard complaints about coachman on the forum my pot reads as follows, "others are just jumping on the bandwagon as we have never heard any complaints in the past from them" by others i mean the unhelpfull post by steven in particular amongst a few others who seem to claim they know what they are talking about but have never actually owned a coachman.
My reference to "the pile of poop" & "some people just cant be pleased" was intended to high light the fact that allthough some like yourself have had genuine faults like your door it seems to me that when we get a manufacturer with a problem on this forum we start to get those that have very few faults but love to shout out loud and proclaim "never again" only to be suporting the brand a few month down the line, this comment was not intended to offend any single person on the forum and you will see that there was a coma before the sentence to seperate it from the previous coment, maybee i should learn to be a bit more gramatical and i hold my hands up that my english and spelling is not the best so some of my comments can be read in the wrong light, for this i appologise to you.
On a sincere note val i really would in future just ask for trevor baxter direct as he is very helpfull, in fact im going to contact him myself with regard to this thread to get his opinion, im pleased that you are now happy with your van and im sure that just like me you will enjoy it for many years.
My reference to "the pile of poop" & "some people just cant be pleased" was intended to high light the fact that allthough some like yourself have had genuine faults like your door it seems to me that when we get a manufacturer with a problem on this forum we start to get those that have very few faults but love to shout out loud and proclaim "never again" only to be suporting the brand a few month down the line, this comment was not intended to offend any single person on the forum and you will see that there was a coma before the sentence to seperate it from the previous coment, maybee i should learn to be a bit more gramatical and i hold my hands up that my english and spelling is not the best so some of my comments can be read in the wrong light, for this i appologise to you.
On a sincere note val i really would in future just ask for trevor baxter direct as he is very helpfull, in fact im going to contact him myself with regard to this thread to get his opinion, im pleased that you are now happy with your van and im sure that just like me you will enjoy it for many years.
Parksy
Moderator
Glad that's all sorted out then!
Of couse there are as many different opinions and experiences as there are members of this forum and we all tell each other what we think of the caravans that we've owned in the past as well as our present caravans. While some comments are not particularly helpful and add nothing to the debate the purpose of any caravan forum is to share our collective knowledge with each other. Comments that praise any given manufacturer and those that condemn have equal validity on the forum.
We do best to simply ignore sweeping generalisations which are meaningless.
Of couse there are as many different opinions and experiences as there are members of this forum and we all tell each other what we think of the caravans that we've owned in the past as well as our present caravans. While some comments are not particularly helpful and add nothing to the debate the purpose of any caravan forum is to share our collective knowledge with each other. Comments that praise any given manufacturer and those that condemn have equal validity on the forum.
We do best to simply ignore sweeping generalisations which are meaningless.
Icemaker,
We looked at the 640/4 Laser last autumn. It appeared well built and the furnishings were up market. Overall and I speak from my own experiences I didn't feel it totally outshone the Swift Conqueror nor the Bailey Senator Wyoming. The front ABS panels all seem the same to me but perhaps the cooker unit looked better quality. We drew up a scoring matrix for the 3 makes. As we had a set budget the Coachman fell at the first hurdle but only because it cost
We looked at the 640/4 Laser last autumn. It appeared well built and the furnishings were up market. Overall and I speak from my own experiences I didn't feel it totally outshone the Swift Conqueror nor the Bailey Senator Wyoming. The front ABS panels all seem the same to me but perhaps the cooker unit looked better quality. We drew up a scoring matrix for the 3 makes. As we had a set budget the Coachman fell at the first hurdle but only because it cost
Hi Alan - and Icemaker if you still want to listen to another load of rubbish,heh heh.
Neither Val nor I have ever said that the vans are a pile of poop.Like Val we love our Laser650/4.Our complaint is that the van should not have left the factory with so many faults.Granted,the faults should have ultimately been remedied by the dealer on the pdi,but they weren't.
We've had ours back for warranty work four times now and it's only ten months old!
The list of faults in date order include;
Gas leak (twice). - No sealing washer in regulator outlet.
4cm dia.hole in kitchen worktop.
Damaged overhead locker surround.
Wardrobe interior light not working.
Sticking cutlery drawer.
Laminate coming away from top of another drawer.
Surge damper/pressure switch unit faulty - burned out the water pump while on holiday.
Kitchen tap coming adrift.
Pencil marks on the woodwork for hole positions.
Shower cubicle leaking.
Honestly folks,I could go on.
But the van is the van that we wanted.It does the job for us - when it's not in at the dealer's.
It's the service that's bad: When Val posted some time ago regarding the microwave and having to remove it everytime you travel, she was palmed off by Coachman who basically said it wasn't their problem.
When I emailed them in March about the same thing,I was promised the Operations Manager would contact me about it.I'm still waiting.
Val's dealer sorted her microwave modification out.Mine said that Coachman would not allow them to do the same for me.
I hope you're beginning to see where we're coming from,Icemaker.
The vans are basically good - that's why we spent the thick end of
Neither Val nor I have ever said that the vans are a pile of poop.Like Val we love our Laser650/4.Our complaint is that the van should not have left the factory with so many faults.Granted,the faults should have ultimately been remedied by the dealer on the pdi,but they weren't.
We've had ours back for warranty work four times now and it's only ten months old!
The list of faults in date order include;
Gas leak (twice). - No sealing washer in regulator outlet.
4cm dia.hole in kitchen worktop.
Damaged overhead locker surround.
Wardrobe interior light not working.
Sticking cutlery drawer.
Laminate coming away from top of another drawer.
Surge damper/pressure switch unit faulty - burned out the water pump while on holiday.
Kitchen tap coming adrift.
Pencil marks on the woodwork for hole positions.
Shower cubicle leaking.
Honestly folks,I could go on.
But the van is the van that we wanted.It does the job for us - when it's not in at the dealer's.
It's the service that's bad: When Val posted some time ago regarding the microwave and having to remove it everytime you travel, she was palmed off by Coachman who basically said it wasn't their problem.
When I emailed them in March about the same thing,I was promised the Operations Manager would contact me about it.I'm still waiting.
Val's dealer sorted her microwave modification out.Mine said that Coachman would not allow them to do the same for me.
I hope you're beginning to see where we're coming from,Icemaker.
The vans are basically good - that's why we spent the thick end of
Hi Val.Thanks,but I've just got back from the storage compound.Some jobs to do on the van - aren't there always.
Anyroad up, it's taken me ages to catch up with the thread.You lot have been busy little posters!
Dave
Anyroad up, it's taken me ages to catch up with the thread.You lot have been busy little posters!
Dave
I have followed this thread with intrest as I have considered buying a Coachman.
The conclusion that I have come to is the Dealer is king. Get a good one problems will disapear.
I have also noted that if I had been Dave I would have been pointing out a good few of his vans faults at the handover and would certainly not have taken the van unless they were sorted.
I do think that the manufacturers should be a bit more prepared to answer customers critisms and maybe learn from our experiences.
The one thing that I can say that I have noticed is that these vans must be good because even those with problems stick by them.
It so much makes a difference when the points can be evaluated rather than the Joanne type post I have rejected 2 buy a Bailey thats every where.
The conclusion that I have come to is the Dealer is king. Get a good one problems will disapear.
I have also noted that if I had been Dave I would have been pointing out a good few of his vans faults at the handover and would certainly not have taken the van unless they were sorted.
I do think that the manufacturers should be a bit more prepared to answer customers critisms and maybe learn from our experiences.
The one thing that I can say that I have noticed is that these vans must be good because even those with problems stick by them.
It so much makes a difference when the points can be evaluated rather than the Joanne type post I have rejected 2 buy a Bailey thats every where.
Hi Slowcoach
Regrettably for the caravan industry, and I suspect more so the dealer, Jo-anne's experience was real time and very scary. When you have parted with the thick end of
Regrettably for the caravan industry, and I suspect more so the dealer, Jo-anne's experience was real time and very scary. When you have parted with the thick end of
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