Sad Times.......maybe?

[Slinger]

The news appears correct:- Avondale cease trading. Discover Leisure (the biggest retailer in the UK) shares drop from 22p to 1.5p within a year and all their staff stating that they are unhappy. Brownhills the biggest retailer of Motorhomes went into voluntary adminsration and refinanced in April.

With what we see and read in the media it would start a wild panic. It is strange that in these changing times, there is some good news. There appears cheaper vans for us to buy! Maybe one mans bad news is another mans good news.

 

[ajmacintosh]

You are right Slinger, very grim times.

Shares in Discover Leisure were at a high (

 

[RogerP]

cant say I'm surprised by either Discover or Brownhills demise.

Having had the (mis)fortune of buying a motorhome from Brownhills Cannock and , trying to get some very minor problems sorted to no avail. Their demise will not gain any sympathy from me. Even selling the branch to Discover didn't seem to make any difference.

Big companies who rode the crest of a wave with little regard to their customer base in my view.

The little guy who takes an interest in keeping their customers for the long term will be the winners.

 

[emmerson2]

Andrew, I'm not surprised that you haven't heard from Discover (Newport). I recently took my 1979 Royale in for an insurance eastimate, but the body shop foreman/manager, dismissed it without even looking at it as "too old" for them to work on. Whwn I pointed out that I had given its age and make when I booked the appointment, he grudgingly came out to see it, but still insisting it was too old to bother with. His attitude was appalling, until I pointed out that the van is a unique classic, on agreed value insurance, and was probably insured for more than the modern vans in his workshop. His attitude changed immediately, to almost grovelling! Needless to say, the work is going elsewhere, and I will never darken Discover's door again.

 

[colin(bridgend)]

Andrew - you do not have to take your van back to Discover for warrenty work. It is possible to take your van to ANY registered service company for either body or mechanical work as long as they are registered with the Caravan Council. We have a Bailey van just over 12 months old and we have the servicing and all other work done at Caravanmaster South Wales in Pontyclun. They offer a first class service and not so far to tow the van. Workshop on new development just before getting to L'Oriel factory from Llanharen. Tel: (01443) 449973 - Byron Port. They were recommended to us and apart from being a satisfied customer we have no interest in the business at all. Good luck with your endevours.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

I see from advertising that Discover Newport (ex Mendip) now have competition from a new company just down the road from them, Newport Caravans. It has been set up by 2 ex-Mendip managers!! Checkout their website, they do servicing, but not sure if they are Council approved yet.