NEC show Oct 17 - Disappointed
Hi All, we were very excited to be going to our first caravan show and choose the last day Sunday!
We were hoping to buy some bits for our caravan, but did not manage to buy anything.
Our thoughts of the show compared with other types of show are below;
1. Motorhome's dominated the show.
2. ALKO stand - was hoping to arrange to book in our van to have ATC fitted, and perhaps some show discount. Was told that they no longer do this fitting and told me to go to see a dealer and that I would pay between £500 to £1000. He was very dismissive as if I was wasting his time. Did not even get a list of approved fitters.
3. Fiamma stand - very helpful staff. We wanted to buy a safe door lock, even with their show discount this was still more than Amazon which includes free delivery!
4. The Motorhome and Caravan club stand must have won the most boring stand competition, however the Camping and Caravan club stand was very good.
5. There was only a few stands selling accessories, with no noticeable discounts.
We got the opinion that everybody in this leisure industry is doing really well so did not need to make much of an effort.
Did we expect to much?
Cheers
Derek and Sandra
Comments
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We went on the Wednesday - glad that we did. We found that a slight change from the seat height of 2017 Lunar Clubman ES meant that we could now buy. Did not buy at show but from our present dealer, Leisure Sales near Holmes Chapel. We would probably not have gone but I won two tickets on Caravantalk Forum.
We last went about 7 years ago when a neighbour gave us free tickets. Can you see a pattern?
One thing that we noted on both visits was a lack of seating to rest on. Also a lack of seats available to buy a snack at lunchtime. About 1.15 we bought a sandwich and a drink from a sandwich/coffee bar and found room on CC area to sit on the end of a bench to eat. Only the room for two available. We spent 2 hours looking at motorhomes and probably the same looking at caravans
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It seems to be the way all such 'Shows' are going. Only worth going to if you are actually in the market for a brand-new caravan/boat/car/whatever........... or like EasyT have free tickets, live close, and just fancy a day out.
I bet there were plenty of totally unrelated stands
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After last year's experience I didn't bother. I made the mistake of going in through the wrong door and wasted a lot of time trying to get away from the motorhomes. I was interested in accessories and one caravan manufacturer but always enjoy the trailer tent and micro caravan section.
i couldn't face it this year.
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We went on Thursday and like Del Sandy we thought it was far too dominated with motorhomes! We wanted to speak to Dometic as we are not really happy with the performance of our RMD8551 fridge; they were very helpful but we've yet to see if it performs in hot weather. We have a name to contact now though. We had a list of items for our new caravan but didn't get any of them as what we did see were cheaper elsewhere, or they didn't have anything available. The Cadac we were interested in was £20 more there than online. So yes we were also disappointed in our day out and may not bother again for a few years. Also the motorway traffic in the area is horrendous, both in the morning and late afternoon - never want to live near Birmingham, that's for sure!
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Well we are totally the opposite to everyone else
We always enjoy the NEC show.we arrived on the Monday and left on the Thursday staying on the CMC temp site.We bought a Kampa Rally Pro 390 XL Air awning.We just treat it as a break and enjoy it.Brian & Jo
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We went to the NEC Show four years ago and were disappointed in how few Motorhomes were displayed, just one Hall of Motorhomes and all the other Halls with Caravans, and left after a few hours.
It seems like there's been a complete turn around of choice of vehicles on offer – not sure if that's good or bad.
There were certainly no 'bargains' on offer and the Accessory stalls seemed to be selling 'hi-tech' equipment rather than the nuts and bolts of camping life and everything was very expensive.
Shows that we went to at Newark, Lincoln and Peterborough were far more impressive with accessory stalls having reasonable prices and some decent bargains, we bought a second hand Pilote from a Dealer at the Lincoln Show, and all the outside shows were very well attended.
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We go every year and can’t say I noticed much difference. Duvalay were offering 20% discount which was helpful. We were a bit disappointed with the accessory stands - no Corelle kitchenware this year - but otherwise it was the usual suspects. OH tried 10 pairs of Craghoppers on (I kid you not), bought two but one she picked up by mistake and was the wrong size!
Yes, there were many foreign motorhomes - van conversions in particular. I think this just reflects the increasing popularity.
Free WiFi these days which is nice.
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We went on Friday, used the discount voucher from C&CC for "friendly" Friday. Yes, there were more motorhomes, but then it was The Motorhome & Caravan Show. We aren't interested in MHs but we did look at the 2018 Lunar Ariva. Very tempted, but the credit card stayed in the wallet. Vango were there, and we had a very constructive discussion with their sales manager about the problems we have with our Verkala. He was very helpful and restored our faith in their customer services. And we enjoyed a 2 night break in a very nice hotel. And as I originally came from the Black Country, I was able to catch up with an old school friend as well.
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Hi, we attended the Show on Thursday and thought there were not so many people as in previous years. We really wanted to look around one or two motorhomes to see whether we could find one to better suit our needs. On one of the stands, we asked the rep if they had a particular type of motorhome which he took us to and then promptly cleared off! Obviously not interested in any potential sales!! On most of the stands the sales people seemed more interested in plugging the more upmarket models.
Like a previous blogger, we found there was little designated space to sit down.
Altogether disappointing and think we will try one of the more local shows next time.
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We went for 3 reasons: to try towing a caravan (looking to switch from motorhome to a caravan but I've never towed); to see if we could get a Cadac Safari Chef on special offer and; to look at small caravan layouts (although we will be looking to buy used). I forgot my driving licence so couldn't do the towing, the Cadac was same price online so we will wait, but we did look round the caravans. We went on the Sunday and found plenty of seating for rests. Two sales reps (from different companies) showed us new vans. They were really helpful when they realised we'd be burying used, saying they had stock they would email me about...haven't heard from either yet though! Was nice day out though and a good price with club discount.
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Before we go to any kind of show, we usually consult the list of exhibitors to make sure it is of interest to us. That way we don't waste a day!
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we went on the wednesday and our first ever show. stopped on the c&cc site Drayton Manor 20mins away. lovely site and friendly. we also won the tickets from a very well know vlogger on youtube, Dan Trudgeon. i bought the tyre pilot for a twin axle (4 sensors) for £119.99 which was a great price as these sell for about £179 on e-bay. very pleased. would i go again. probably not.
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