No surprises here from Coachman!!!

[davedee]

Good morning Slowcoach.

Let me first say that if you're thinking of buying a Coachman,don't let our experience or indeed our gripes put you off.They are without doubt a super van,but get the best dealer you can and tie him down.

The thing with picking the best dealer is,once you've identified him,is he with reach of your area - for warranty work,servicing etc.

The point about finding faults at handover; when we went to collect the van they were extremely busy. We,in an effort to be accomodating,made do with a 10 minute tops handover and so, missed the more obvious faults.The gas leak wasn't picked up before a 'trial' weekend.They had it back for repair immediately after, but actually had made it worse (dealer fault,I agree,but it shouldn't have left the factory with a gas leak).

All the other faults have cropped up since then.

Coachman must be aware of all the faults on our van as they have to sanction the warranty work with the dealer.

So,to summarise,from our experience the vans are super,a league above most others.But the dealers can be lackadaisical and don't expect too much involvement from the manufacturer.

Dave

 

[Dustydog]

Dave

Going forward I think I would like to know more about the manufacturers Quality Control system. Maybe Nigel at PC could do an article covering say 6 manufacturers QA process. This may help us and them to understand why so many units seem to be released with problems.

Cheers

Alan

 

[Auvergne]

I echo Dave's post.

Also, don't rely on Coachman's written spec either, our first issue was with the microwave which was not fitted and needed to be lifted out and stowed after each use. It was in situ in the showroom and we did not realise this to be the case until we collected the van and it was in a box under the bed. The literature clearly states "NEW microwave in NEW dedicated cupboard with vent and tambour door". A sticker underneath the microwave stated it had to be removed each time for transit but obviously could not be seen in the showroom.

Its things like this that get my goat, I rang Coachman and they were "all out", wrote to them and I won't bore you with the detail its well documented on this forum but no joy. Took legal advice, wrote to dealers outlining our legal position and they sorted the problem by making a first class job of fitting the microwave for us. A different dealer refused to do the same for another forum user and apparently Coachman said it would make their warranty null and void. We've since had works done under warranty because we have an excellent dealer. Also heard through the grapevine that Coachman are now listening re the microwave as it has caused a few ripples.... watch out for next year's model!

There you go, as you say Slowcoach, the Dealer is King. We have had a Bailey, Lunar and Coachman, the latter being in our opinion the best so far for build quality.

Val.