would you ever consider buying a new van

[TonySharon]

After collecting my series 6 Wyoming from my dealer this march,i have nothing but problems with it.

My trip to the dealer is 70 miles thats there and back which its been there about 4 times, and when you go on site you still got the same problem they supposed to have fixed plus others.

like intermitent fault on the toilet sometimes it work sometimes it dont work.Lowdham say if it works when they test it they cannot replace any parts.

if it does not work then they will replace any part, do they no what intermitant means..

so do i call them when on site and demand that they come out?

all they will say is bring it in and we will have a look.

Next item is the matress which is come un stitched at the seam and they want me to take my matress to them which is 70 miles all round trip.

The repair would be carried out by a company in Ilkeston in Derbyshire, this is 10 miles from where i live.and easy to get to, but Lowdham say its got to go to them.

When i purchased this van it was £400 cheaper than my local dealer thats why i brought it, but now with all the trips going there and back its cost me that in fuel and my time.

Has anybody else got these sort of problems????

WITH ALL THE PROBLEMS IHAVE HAD I WOULD NOT BUY NEW AGAIN ITS NOT WORTH THE TROUBLE.

 

[Damian]

Anthony, whilst I appreciate your frustration with your van, you also have to consider this.

If as you say a fault is intermittent, and when tested it works with no problem, what can the dealer actually do?

Unless the fault is present at the time of testing, there is nothing anyone can do.

As for the having to take the van back to the dealer, that is clearly written in just about every contract with every dealer, and whilst the van is under warranty, it is ONLY the dealer from whom you bought the van from who can carry out repairs, unless in some circumstances they agree to a third party engineer doing small repairs to allow an owner to continue their holiday.

As for the mattress, yes the factory where the repair may be done could be close to you, but your contract is with the Dealer, not the factory.

At the end of the day, saving

 

[ScouseIan]

Wow! Damien, no offence intended, but have you had a bad day at work?

Your response to Anthony could almost have been verbatim from the dealer. All of your answers were almost as though it was a court case and you hold all the aces.

Just consider the 2 problems Anthony has stated.

The first one, re: the toilet. Because the fault is intermittent, "what can they do?" Its simple, listen to the customer and believe him. They should not just shrug as though the problem doesn't exist, they should consider the issue and do everything they can to help. Why not just replace the toilet? I assume the manufacturer will pay for this anyway.

As for the mattress. In what strange world does it make sense to transport the mattress 70 miles to the dealer and then another 60 miles back the other way? Quoting contracts should be left to the point where a problem is unresolvable. Just think of the common sense aspect.

Anthony

I can't believe that the dealer is happy with this situation. You must have paid 15, 16 or 17k for this caravan I estimate, and its obvious you would never go back to them. I just don't understand them.

Not all new vans can be like this surely. I've only just bought my first van and I decided to buy new. I don't seem to have had any major problems with mine at all. The bunk side pieces as supplied were obviously for a different model and didn't fit. I phoned the dealer and he ordered and sent out the new pieces. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Ian

 

[Allyson]

Anthony

Even though you bought your van 35 miles away, because the van is under warrenty you can go to any caravan approved dealer who is a Bailey approved service centre.

Bought ours from Chipping Sodbury around 60 miles 120 all round away warrenty worked carried out in Discover Leisure formly Mendip Caravans Newport.

Problem solved for us, firstly the cooker was fixed and secondly no need to travel that extra distance and occur the Seven Bridge Toll.

Is there a Discover Leisure near you, if there is give them ago.

P.S. Our van is 2 years old now in December and we are on our sencond service with them, and this year they have reduced the price to

 

[Allyson]

Wow! Damien, no offence intended, but have you had a bad day at work?

Your response to Anthony could almost have been verbatim from the dealer. All of your answers were almost as though it was a court case and you hold all the aces.

Just consider the 2 problems Anthony has stated.

The first one, re: the toilet. Because the fault is intermittent, "what can they do?" Its simple, listen to the customer and believe him. They should not just shrug as though the problem doesn't exist, they should consider the issue and do everything they can to help. Why not just replace the toilet? I assume the manufacturer will pay for this anyway.

As for the mattress. In what strange world does it make sense to transport the mattress 70 miles to the dealer and then another 60 miles back the other way? Quoting contracts should be left to the point where a problem is unresolvable. Just think of the common sense aspect.

Anthony

I can't believe that the dealer is happy with this situation. You must have paid 15, 16 or 17k for this caravan I estimate, and its obvious you would never go back to them. I just don't understand them.

Not all new vans can be like this surely. I've only just bought my first van and I decided to buy new. I don't seem to have had any major problems with mine at all. The bunk side pieces as supplied were obviously for a different model and didn't fit. I phoned the dealer and he ordered and sent out the new pieces. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Ian

I noticed that Damien was on tonight but he did not respond to your posting Scouse Ian?

Allyson

 

[Damian]

Ian, I fully agree with your views actually, and Anthony doesw indeed have a pefect right to be unhappy, but it seems to be a very well documented case that Bailey have been pushing out , shall we say, not too good quality vans lately, and having looked at some when I changed my van in September, would not touch one.

But, back to the problem withthe toilet, if a fault cannot be replicated not a lot can be done.

Why not change the toilet, well, simply because Bailey would not pay the cost of a whole toilet if it was something as simple as a bad wiring connection, and I am guessing that Dealers are , like everyone else, feeling the pinch in todays climate.

As for the mattress, yes it does seem silly to cart it round a lot of miles, but again it is due to contracts with manufacturers and how they operate.

At the end of the day a buyer only has a contract with his supplying dealer, no one else has to get involved, even if it does cause problems, unless the dealer is prepared to try and resolve things to suit the customer, which does not seem likely in this case.

As for having work done at any Bailey Approved workshop, which in essence means any of the Approved Workshop scheme places, that is certainly ok for annual servicing, but trying to get another dealer to carry out the kind of work indicated is difficult, they did not sell the van, and generally are reluctant to take over another dealers responsibility.

It is a shame that the caravan industry does not have the same setup as most cars, in that buy a car anywhere and your local workshop honours the warranty work, without having to travel up to hundreds of miles back to the supplying dealer.

The way it appears at the moment,the British caravan industry is doing itself more harm than good, and even with announcements such as the figures released I believe by Bailey from the show that they had orders worth 20 million, what good is that if they produce shoddy goods.

Having read the report in one of the magazines about the Bailey production line and that they are allowed 8 minutes to fit all the Gas, Water and Electrics, it is no surprise to read of the ensuing faults.

 

[ScouseIan]

I noticed that Damien was on tonight but he did not respond to your posting Scouse Ian?

Allyson

Hi Allyson

I must have been right, he went to bed early.

 

[ScouseIan]

Ian, I fully agree with your views actually, and Anthony doesw indeed have a pefect right to be unhappy, but it seems to be a very well documented case that Bailey have been pushing out , shall we say, not too good quality vans lately, and having looked at some when I changed my van in September, would not touch one.

But, back to the problem withthe toilet, if a fault cannot be replicated not a lot can be done.

Why not change the toilet, well, simply because Bailey would not pay the cost of a whole toilet if it was something as simple as a bad wiring connection, and I am guessing that Dealers are , like everyone else, feeling the pinch in todays climate.

As for the mattress, yes it does seem silly to cart it round a lot of miles, but again it is due to contracts with manufacturers and how they operate.

At the end of the day a buyer only has a contract with his supplying dealer, no one else has to get involved, even if it does cause problems, unless the dealer is prepared to try and resolve things to suit the customer, which does not seem likely in this case.

As for having work done at any Bailey Approved workshop, which in essence means any of the Approved Workshop scheme places, that is certainly ok for annual servicing, but trying to get another dealer to carry out the kind of work indicated is difficult, they did not sell the van, and generally are reluctant to take over another dealers responsibility.

It is a shame that the caravan industry does not have the same setup as most cars, in that buy a car anywhere and your local workshop honours the warranty work, without having to travel up to hundreds of miles back to the supplying dealer.

The way it appears at the moment,the British caravan industry is doing itself more harm than good, and even with announcements such as the figures released I believe by Bailey from the show that they had orders worth 20 million, what good is that if they produce shoddy goods.

Having read the report in one of the magazines about the Bailey production line and that they are allowed 8 minutes to fit all the Gas, Water and Electrics, it is no surprise to read of the ensuing faults.

Ditto, some good points Damien.

I wasn't so aware of the reports about shoddy quality coming from Bailey. Although I have very limited experience, it certainly isn't my experience. We only hear about these things when something goes wrong.

My 'gripe' was to do with customer service. Not just in caravans but all anybody wants to do is point to small print about why they 'can't' do anything. They obviously could if they want to. Too many people have their jobs on a plate and can not see that their actions will ultimately affect their jobs. I wonder just how many people who work at the Bailey factory have been there for years, don't think they need to change and improve their customer service. Its a bit like SOME council workers or government employees, how well you look after your customers does not really affect how much you will get paid at the end of the month. Sorry, bit of a generalisation there, but hopefully you will get my point.

I'm really dreading something going wrong with my Bailey now. There could even be problems with it now if I knew what I was looking at.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Anthony,

I am sorry to read of your experiences, Sadly you have found out the hard way that best value is not always simply the lowest cost option, however you do have rights under the Sale Of Goods Act, and regardless of the financial situation, these rights rest on the parties to the contract of sale.

You will note that I refer to the seller, not the 'dealer' . Who is your seller?, it is the person or organisation that takes your money, so if, but if you have used a finance deal, the seller may be the finance house.

You did not contract to purchase faulty goods, so where faults exists the seller is obliged to repair or replace. Where significantly serious faults or multiple faults occur you might have a case for rejection, but based on your reports so far I don't think this is a reasonable option.

Intermittent faults are by their very nature difficult to identify especially if the fault refuses to demonstrate its self to the engineer. Damian makes the point that the caravan manufacture may not pay for the investigation or repair, BUT, that is not your concern. Your contract is with the seller, not the manufacturer, so in fact the manufactures position has no bearing on your rights to receive proper service from your seller.

The cusion problem is more straight forward, but it still nees to be resolved through the proper channels.

I think you should write to your seller describing the, symptoms of the fault in detail, noting times and the alternative actions you have had to take to circumvent the fault. Send this to your seller and ask them to arrange to investigate and repair the fault within a reasonable time as required under the Sale of Goods Act. In the context of a caravan 14 days would be a reasonable limit for such work to be slotted into their work schedules and to be completed.

If they refuse, or are unreasonable about the time scale to do this, then I strongly suggest you contact a solicitor who will advise you further.

Look at :-

http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38311.html

 

[Happy-Lappy]

Damian,

The reason some Dealers are reluctant to carry out warranty issues for other dealers, is because the costs of the warrant work is payed for by the manufacture of the van.

Servicing work is different, as the dealer who carries out this will keep all profits to himself,

best regards, Martin

 

[anthonysharon]

thanks for the reply ,

i have already taken it to my local dealer and they will not do the work they will only carry out new work if the caravan is to be serviced by them, any outstanding work will not be worked on because its already done by Lowdham,

 

[herb]

hi antony i am on second new van and not any proplems

so yes would buy new again. bye the way both my vans

are adria

 

[RogerP]

I hope I'm not teaching granny to suck eggs , but when you say the dealer cant get the fault to replicate , is this because its they way either you are setting up / using the toilet or equally the way they are.

You need to replicate what you do to try and get the fault to occur so I'd suggest the next time you take the van in you go through your set up of the van as if it were on site , use all your gear etc etc and do the same processes you would normally do.

Also , as you only saved

 

[PickledOnion]

Hello Anthony,

I am sorry to read of your experiences, Sadly you have found out the hard way that best value is not always simply the lowest cost option, however you do have rights under the Sale Of Goods Act, and regardless of the financial situation, these rights rest on the parties to the contract of sale.

You will note that I refer to the seller, not the 'dealer' . Who is your seller?, it is the person or organisation that takes your money, so if, but if you have used a finance deal, the seller may be the finance house.

You did not contract to purchase faulty goods, so where faults exists the seller is obliged to repair or replace. Where significantly serious faults or multiple faults occur you might have a case for rejection, but based on your reports so far I don't think this is a reasonable option.

Intermittent faults are by their very nature difficult to identify especially if the fault refuses to demonstrate its self to the engineer. Damian makes the point that the caravan manufacture may not pay for the investigation or repair, BUT, that is not your concern. Your contract is with the seller, not the manufacturer, so in fact the manufactures position has no bearing on your rights to receive proper service from your seller.

The cusion problem is more straight forward, but it still nees to be resolved through the proper channels.

I think you should write to your seller describing the, symptoms of the fault in detail, noting times and the alternative actions you have had to take to circumvent the fault. Send this to your seller and ask them to arrange to investigate and repair the fault within a reasonable time as required under the Sale of Goods Act. In the context of a caravan 14 days would be a reasonable limit for such work to be slotted into their work schedules and to be completed.

If they refuse, or are unreasonable about the time scale to do this, then I strongly suggest you contact a solicitor who will advise you further.

Look at :-

http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38311.html

Excellent link John L, very informative and in plain language. I've printed a copy off for reference, just in case I ever need to check my rights should a problem arise in the future, thanks.

Dave.

 

[ThePlotter]

John L you are partly correct regarding the finance it comes under Section 56 of the Consumer Credit Act 1973 but the key is it only applies to finance arranged by the supplying dealer and not your bank for instance.Also if at least

 

[ProfJohnL]

John L you are partly correct regarding the finance it comes under Section 56 of the Consumer Credit Act 1973 but the key is it only applies to finance arranged by the supplying dealer and not your bank for instance.Also if at least

 

[Barking]

Anthony

Also bear in mind the following:

If the buyer requires the seller to repair or replace the goods, the seller must -

(a) repair or, as the case may be, replace the goods within a reasonable time but without causing significant inconvenience to the buyer;

(b) bear any necessary costs incurred in doing so (including in particular the cost of any labour, materials or postage).

Barking

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Anthony

I have bought a number of new caravans over the years and they all had "teething problems". Nothing of any note but in the aggregate you may say they were rubbish.

In truth I drive the 80 mile round trip to Chipping Sodbury who have always fixed everything quickly and efficiently.

It doesn't matter whose caravan you buy , they all contain numerous items supplied by an outside contractor.

I have said many times on this forum, what is missing is a good QC system. I'd be kicking the likes of Thetford( for example) and others if I was a Bailey supply chain purchaser.

The Thetford toilet in our Wyoming S6 is not in my view as good as the earlier model we had in the S5 Pageant Vendee.

Twice this year the "full" warning light has come on just after I've emptied and recharged it.I removed the waste tank and slid it back in. Then reworked the main valve on the outside of the toilet bowl. All is fine!! Must be the way I fitted it??

As for Lowdhams, they do have a good reputation. Why not bite the bullet and drop the mattress off to them. It is possible they may agree to have the new one delivered direct to your home??

Good luck and please don't let relatively minor issues ruin the pleasures of your caravanning.

Cheers

Alan

 

[Guest]

My only advice is to give Kelly a call at Bailey and explain the situation I am sure it will be sorted.

Customer Helpline either by e-mailing helpline@bailey-caravans.co.uk or by telephoning 0117-3052939.

 

[Guest]

My only advice is to give Kelly a call at Bailey and explain the situation I am sure it will be sorted.

Customer Helpline either by e-mailing helpline@bailey-caravans.co.uk or by telephoning 0117-3052939.

By the way I am on my second new Bailey caravan in 2 yrs, must have been lucky I have not had any poblem. any niggle was sorted by the dealer.

 

[v.meldrew2]

All

Despite my pen-name I can sometimes be quite positive! Have we been particularly fortunate in having good experiences with our caravan and our dealer? Reading these forums you would think all is doom and gloom in the caravan world! We got our S6 Indiana last January from a well-known dealer in Bradford. The van was immaculate and fault-free on delivery. In May the charger failed, but was fixed by the dealer quickly and efficiently. Last week I took it for first service where a couple of small faults were fixed without any quibble. Damp test was 100% dry. Cost of service was average - 150 quid. We remain satisfied customers of both Bailey and the dealership. I hope more readers of this forum share our experiences!

 

[Stephen_374341239]

Baileys on short working week.

 

[Stephen_374341239]

In the Caravan Club magazine Dec 2008. The Director general Trevor Watson reported the Swift group and Bailey were both working a reduced working week