Sterling 510 Repair problem

[PaulKinchin_5039747]

We bought a new Sterling Vitesse 510 Caravan, which had its first service in April of this year. It was discovered on this service that there were leaks at more than one place in the roof. This showed up through the damp test as quite a few places were wet inside the walls. The dealer arranged for the van to be sent back to the factory at the end of the season, for them to strip out the inside fix the leaks and put back together. This has now taken place but when the van got back to the dealer it had been damaged in transit externally, so he sent it back to the factory again for them to repair it. Obviously I am very unhappy about this whole situation and wonder if anyone has any advice, about what I can do now.

 

[Surfer]

I would refuse to have the goods back and demand either a refund or a new caravan under the Sale of goods Act. Your first port of call should be the Trading Standards and remember your problem is with the deale and not the manufacturer

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Paul.

You have two separate issues, Firstly the failure of the roof in the caravan, which resulted in you accepting a repair, carried out by the manufacture. The second is the damage during transit. I assume that the dealer arranged to have the returned to the manufacturer in which case they have a responsibility to protect your property from loss or deterioration whilst in their care this would include any subcontractor used for transport and indeed the manufacture who in this case would be subcontract repairer. If this is true then your claim is against the dealer, and they in turn will have to claim against their transport service. It would seem that the first issue has been resolved by the manufactures repair, but the second issue is still open. You are only entitled to claim for material loss, in this case the cost of the repair of the damage. You would have to be able to prove any consequential loss to be able to bring a successful claim. You may be better seeking a goodwill compensation from the dealer or manufacture. I would certainly press for a replacement warranty on the caravan as if it were a new van, indemnifying the material in the van against premature deterioration resulting from the roof leak. If the process starts to get at all messy consult a soliciter.

 

[audiorob]

I don't know how polite you feel, but refusing to accept it back politely is always better than raging! Seriously - the van should not have needed to be rebuilt while still essentially new, and then to deliver it back with further damage... thanks but NO thanks! If the job has been sone well the dealer can sell it on as second hand while you drive away with a new replacment model!