From Wirral Caravans - if anoyone else has used them I'd like to hear from you.
we had spent a few weeks looking around various dealers, in caravans of all sizes and all price ranges to work out what we wanted.
We settled on a Swift Challenger 400SE, it had everything we wanted at a price we could afford and appeared to be in good condition.
The salesman told us the main thing to look for in caravans of this age (1995) is damp, and that all their vans are free from damp as they are checked before purchase. He went on to tell us about the caravans features and finished by telling us that the van would be fully serviced before delivery and comes with a 6 month warranty.
We went away thought about it, had another look at it and put a deposit down. Pick up date was agreed.
When we went to pick the van up it had not been cleaned, wich we were a little dissappointed about. He showed us how to work everything. Gave us a mains hook up lead, water containers, a new 7kg gas bottle, a step and a new battery. When I asked where the spare wheel was he told me it was under the van, so I had a look, not there. He dissapeared round the back and returned with an old looking 145R13 wheel, the van is fitted with 165R13 wheels. I accepted the wheel as it was better than nothing.
Hitched up and took it home, on the drive home we felt and heard the van hitting the back of the car violently every time I touched the brakes, even when braking very lightly. when unhitiching the van I noticed the cupling head remained fully compressed and was very easily pushed in and out. I phoned the dealer about this problem to be told it was normal, I would not accept this and he then agreed to send the fitter out to look at it the next weekend.
When the fitter arrived he agreed that the coupling damper had failed and it would need to be replaced, he said he did not service this van as he was on holiday the week it went out, and that this should have been picked up on the service. The damper was replaced and I thought that would be the end of our problems.
Before taking the van out for the first time I checked the tyre pressures, 30psi, they should have been 42psi which I corrected them to. I was starting to wonder now if it had been serviced at all.
We then had a weekend away in it before easter with no problems, as well as a long weekend at easter, although we did notice the floor was starting to delaminate towards the rear end of the van.
Last weekend I pulled down the blind on the kitchen window, and the whole blind decided to come away from the wall, not too much of a problem I tought, just needs some bigger screws. Then I noticed rusty marks on the wall where the screws had been, looking at the screws they were rusty, feeling the wall, it was soft and damp. I pulled up the window seal a little to see the window frame is black and soft. I managed to get hold of a damp meter and checked around the window readings of 100% damp working further out from the window I found its not actually the window seal at fault, as it reads 80 - 100% damp accross the full width of the back wall, this reduces as you go down the wall to about 50 - 60% near the bottom. I have put this down to the joint between the roof and the back panel.
I phoned the dealer last weekend to inform him of these problems, he said they would get it in as soon as possible to have the damaged timbers and wall boards replaced and they would re seal the van. Also repair the floor at the same time. I was reasonably happy with this. We arranged to take it in today to have the work carried out through this week and to pick it up next weekend. I phoned friday to confirm that I was bringing it in today to be told they don't have room for it and I will now have to wait till next weekend.
I am not happy about this and will not buy another van from them in the future.
we had spent a few weeks looking around various dealers, in caravans of all sizes and all price ranges to work out what we wanted.
We settled on a Swift Challenger 400SE, it had everything we wanted at a price we could afford and appeared to be in good condition.
The salesman told us the main thing to look for in caravans of this age (1995) is damp, and that all their vans are free from damp as they are checked before purchase. He went on to tell us about the caravans features and finished by telling us that the van would be fully serviced before delivery and comes with a 6 month warranty.
We went away thought about it, had another look at it and put a deposit down. Pick up date was agreed.
When we went to pick the van up it had not been cleaned, wich we were a little dissappointed about. He showed us how to work everything. Gave us a mains hook up lead, water containers, a new 7kg gas bottle, a step and a new battery. When I asked where the spare wheel was he told me it was under the van, so I had a look, not there. He dissapeared round the back and returned with an old looking 145R13 wheel, the van is fitted with 165R13 wheels. I accepted the wheel as it was better than nothing.
Hitched up and took it home, on the drive home we felt and heard the van hitting the back of the car violently every time I touched the brakes, even when braking very lightly. when unhitiching the van I noticed the cupling head remained fully compressed and was very easily pushed in and out. I phoned the dealer about this problem to be told it was normal, I would not accept this and he then agreed to send the fitter out to look at it the next weekend.
When the fitter arrived he agreed that the coupling damper had failed and it would need to be replaced, he said he did not service this van as he was on holiday the week it went out, and that this should have been picked up on the service. The damper was replaced and I thought that would be the end of our problems.
Before taking the van out for the first time I checked the tyre pressures, 30psi, they should have been 42psi which I corrected them to. I was starting to wonder now if it had been serviced at all.
We then had a weekend away in it before easter with no problems, as well as a long weekend at easter, although we did notice the floor was starting to delaminate towards the rear end of the van.
Last weekend I pulled down the blind on the kitchen window, and the whole blind decided to come away from the wall, not too much of a problem I tought, just needs some bigger screws. Then I noticed rusty marks on the wall where the screws had been, looking at the screws they were rusty, feeling the wall, it was soft and damp. I pulled up the window seal a little to see the window frame is black and soft. I managed to get hold of a damp meter and checked around the window readings of 100% damp working further out from the window I found its not actually the window seal at fault, as it reads 80 - 100% damp accross the full width of the back wall, this reduces as you go down the wall to about 50 - 60% near the bottom. I have put this down to the joint between the roof and the back panel.
I phoned the dealer last weekend to inform him of these problems, he said they would get it in as soon as possible to have the damaged timbers and wall boards replaced and they would re seal the van. Also repair the floor at the same time. I was reasonably happy with this. We arranged to take it in today to have the work carried out through this week and to pick it up next weekend. I phoned friday to confirm that I was bringing it in today to be told they don't have room for it and I will now have to wait till next weekend.
I am not happy about this and will not buy another van from them in the future.
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