Poor Quality Build 2022 Coachman VIP575 and lack of response by coachman.

[Gary Dutton]

We have spent months trying to get our caravan repaired via our dealer under warranty. To date the van has had poor trim issues with regards shelves above the bed, two leaking windows, seal issues around front locker. The towel ring fell off the door. We have been without our van since January. Though the issues Started in May and the damp issues in Sept.

Repairs are underway, and we hope to have it back soon, but we have asked coachman why the van quality is so bad. They have not even acknowledged the email, nor have they responded to calls, despite ringing and being promised the care dept would ring back

Is anyone else having problems with coachman at the momment?

frustrated

Gary

 

[Parksy]

We have spent months trying to get our caravan repaired via our dealer under warranty. To date the van has had poor trim issues with regards shelves above the bed, two leaking windows, seal issues around front locker. The towel ring fell off the door. We have been without our van since January. Though the issues Started in May and the damp issues in Sept.

Repairs are underway, and we hope to have it back soon, but we have asked coachman why the van quality is so bad. They have not even acknowledged the email, nor have they responded to calls, despite ringing and being promised the care dept would ring back

Is anyone else having problems with coachman at the momment?

frustrated

Gary

The contract of sale is between you (the purchaser) and the dealership that you bought your caravan from.
Whilst it would be highly desirable for manufacturers to answer to the end purchaser for poor quality goods, they have no legal obligation to do so.

 

[Hutch]

Looking at Coachman Owners " forum" on Facebook, there are many people annoyed with build quality at the moment, but at the same time there are a lot of people NOT complaining.
You just can't win.

 

[Gary Dutton]

The contract of sale is between you (the purchaser) and the dealership that you bought your caravan from.
Whilst it would be highly desirable for manufacturers to answer to the end purchaser for poor quality goods, they have no legal obligation to do so.

I understand that. But even the dealer who has not been impressive suggested I contact them in a two pronged way to get things moving. All I want is an explanation as to why their van was in such bad build.

 

[otherclive]

I understand that. But even the dealer who has not been impressive suggested I contact them in a two pronged way to get things moving. All I want is an explanation as to why their van was in such bad build.

Surely you want more than an explanation. You want it repaired. Look at the Citizens Advice website and read up on your consumer rights under CRA2015. If you want a “ hard hitting” letter look at the Which website it generates a suitable letter after you input the details. Don’t pussyfoot around with the dealer. Explain clearly how you intend to proceed via a discussion with them. If you don’t get any joy then send them a letter giving 10 working days for a response.

 

[Buckman]

I understand that. But even the dealer who has not been impressive suggested I contact them in a two pronged way to get things moving. All I want is an explanation as to why their van was in such bad build.

No manufacture of any commodity is going to admit to making a "bad" product so I guess that is off the table at present. Why not reject the caravan if the build is that bad? You seem to have enough grounds to do that if it is as bad as you make it out to be. We rejected our caravan at 11 months and some people have rejected theirs at a later stage.

 

[Guzzilazz]

A friend of ours has a 2020(?) Coachman which had a front leak. Coachman accepted liability and the van was arranged for return. He dropped off at the dealer at the beginning of Feb and it then took 3 weeks to be picked up. Coachman didn't answer or return calls for a lot of that time, and he was eventually told "the department was moving over that period" - what? with no recorded message or auto email reply? The dealer wasn't even told. Unbelievable!

 

[Raywood]

If it is of any consolation Coachman are consistently top of the magazines annual customer satisfaction survey. From what you can see the others are considerably worse. It is no excuse though and it is about time the UK manufacturers got their act together.

 

[Gary Dutton]

No manufacture of any commodity is going to admit to making a "bad" product so I guess that is off the table at present. Why not reject the caravan if the build is that bad? You seem to have enough grounds to do that if it is as bad as you make it out to be. We rejected our caravan at 11 months and some people have rejected theirs at a later stage.

The van is now undergoing repairs. Taken months to get there. I wonder if asking about return has jogged them into action. Coachman gave also got back finally, stating its clearly unacceptable and are liaising to get it sorted ASAP.

 

[Buckman]

The van is now undergoing repairs. Taken months to get there. I wonder if asking about return has jogged them into action. Coachman gave also got back finally, stating its clearly unacceptable and are liaising to get it sorted ASAP.

It is not unknown for a dealer to blame the manufacturer, but the dealer has not even contacted the manufacturer. We came across this with our Lunar as we were wondering why it was taking so long for spares to arrive. Turned out that the dealer was telling porkies and had not even notified the manufacturer of the warranty claim and had not order spares.

 

[ProfJohnL]

For a century the British (and possibly other nationalities) have become accustomed to receiving caravans which have multiple faults.

Recent surveys, have concluded that up to 20% of new caravans have faults which the customer feels needed to be rectified under warranty, but with my comment above I'll bet the real number of caravans with issues that legally could be deemed in breach of contract is actually much higher, but customers have become desensitised and they either ignore the fault, or fix it themselves.

Just be reminded of the UK car industry when we had one of our own. , where similar issues occured, and how the failure of the industry was down to poor quality control, and how the British people saw how the Japanese products were so much better. The UK industry was too slow to react and improve too little too late, and it was washed down the drain as imports poured in.

Notably other European car makers saw the light and did make changes to improve quality, and they are reaped the benefits of getting on the Quality Assurance QA train.

Some people say you can't use the motor trade as a role model for caravans, I totally disagree, granted it's a smaller scale of production, but the core principles of QA are not determined by size but by an ethos, which looks beyond the number of product off the production line, to the number of good product reaching the end user. Profitability in the normal commercial ( i.e. not the essential supplies) world is driven by happy customers.

 

[Buckman]

Up to about mid 1970 in South Africa most of us paid a premium price for British tools or machinery as they were far superior to locally made or tools imported from other countries. then the goods started becoming unreliable and huge delays for spares.

Quality systems were then introduced into many SA manufacturing plants. I think it was the ISO system and standard and quality of goods improved tremendously. It became cheaper to buy spares made in SA for the British machinery as the quality was as good if not better than the original.

 

[otherclive]

For a century the British (and possibly other nationalities) have become accustomed to receiving caravans which have multiple faults.

Recent surveys, have concluded that up to 20% of new caravans have faults which the customer feels needed to be rectified under warranty, but with my comment above I'll bet the real number of caravans with issues that legally could be deemed in breach of contract is actually much higher, but customers have become desensitised and they either ignore the fault, or fix it themselves.

Just be reminded of the UK car industry when we had one of our own. , where similar issues occured, and how the failure of the industry was down to poor quality control, and how the British people saw how the Japanese products were so much better. The UK industry was too slow to react and improve too little too late, and it was washed down the drain as imports poured in.

Notably other European car makers saw the light and did make changes to improve quality, and they are reaped the benefits of getting on the Quality Assurance QA train.

Some people say you can't use the motor trade as a role model for caravans, I totally disagree, granted it's a smaller scale of production, but the core principles of QA are not determined by size but by an ethos, which looks beyond the number of product off the production line, to the number of good product reaching the end user. Profitability in the normal commercial ( i.e. not the essential supplies) world is driven by happy customers.

I had a work colleague who bought a brand new VW Golf when they first came into the country. It was so unreliable that after its pistons chewed its valves he had it repaired under warranty and traded it in. He then bought a new Datsun Cherry which were relatively new in this country. Looking at the Datsuns engine bay it was clear that it had been given considerable thought and quality to to layout and routing of wiring, trunking, pipes etc. The Datsun was miles ahead of the Golf in reliability, but still corroded at the same rate as British and Europe cars.

My father was involved in the early days of a price guide for private motorists. It was called “ Motorists Guide” the equivalent of Glass’guide. I remember him telling me that the warranty allowance per vehicle for Datsun was many times less than that for British or European cars. Quality pays.

Motorists' Guide magazine from the 1960s & 1970s.

Three copies of this once-popular monthly motoring magazine.

www.oldclassiccar.co.uk

 

[Buckman]

I had a work colleague who bought a brand new VW Golf when they first came into the country. It was so unreliable that after its pistons chewed its valves he had it repaired under warranty and traded it in. He then bought a new Datsun Cherry which were relatively new in this country. Looking at the Datsuns engine bay it was clear that it had been given considerable thought and quality to to layout and routing of wiring, trunking, pipes etc. The Datsun was miles ahead of the Golf in reliability, but still corroded at the same rate as British and Europe cars.

My father was involved in the early days of a price guide for private motorists. It was called “ Motorists Guide” the equivalent of Glass’guide. I remember him telling me that the warranty allowance per vehicle for Datsun was many times less than that for British or European cars. Quality pays.

Motorists' Guide magazine from the 1960s & 1970s.

Three copies of this once-popular monthly motoring magazine.

www.oldclassiccar.co.uk

It was rumoured that the engine in the Datsun 120Y was basically a Mercedes design, but because it was too small for that era the design was sold to Nissan. The 120Y and the Cherry from the seventies were one of the most reliable cars we have ever owned. The other is of course Toyota.

 

[Raywood]

It is not unknown for a dealer to blame the manufacturer, but the dealer has not even contacted the manufacturer. We came across this with our Lunar as we were wondering why it was taking so long for spares to arrive. Turned out that the dealer was telling porkies and had not even notified the manufacturer of the warranty claim and had not order spares.

Sorry to hear that. Our Lunar dealer acted in an exemplary fashion when we had damp and we can have no complaints. It possibly helped that they got the parts late November when the workshop was quiet. It did leak again in a different place the following year and they took it, in part exchange for a new caravan and dealt with the warranty claim and we took away the new van.

 

[Dustydog]

The real truth about caravan manufacturers dismal quality performance is well documented in their audited sets of accounts deposited at HMG Companies House.
Eg one well known name paid out £1.64 million on warranty claims. As the Prof points out these will be the ones we know about' not the ones that were self fixed, dealt with by the Dealer, not bothered with or declined. Nearly £4 million remains as a provision against future claims. And all this only relates to caravans and motor homes made six or less years ago.
I‘ve also noticed a new “parent “ company has appeared as the sole owner
of the trading Company. The sets of accounts are almost identical although the holding Directors are very slightly different.

 

[Buckman]

The real truth about caravan manufacturers dismal quality performance is well documented in their audited sets of accounts deposited at HMG Companies House.
Eg one well known name paid out £1.64 million on warranty claims. As the Prof points out these will be the ones we know about' not the ones that were self fixed, dealt with by the Dealer, not bothered with or declined. Nearly £4 million remains as a provision against future claims. And all this only relates to caravans and motor homes made six or less years ago.
I‘ve also noticed a new “parent “ company has appeared as the sole owner
of the trading Company. The sets of accounts are almost identical although the holding Directors are very slightly different.

No wonder the bean counters are at work and the manufacturer is fitting cheaper and cheaper parts and removing some upgrades that were done on previous caravans i.e. downgrading to a reactive Tracker instead of the proactive Tracker fitte din earlier caravans..

 

[Dustydog]

Most new caravans don’t have the Omnivent above the cooker🤬