If it could go wrong !!!!
Are you ready for a long read?
First of all, 'motor-homing' is an alien world to me, it's something we've, (me & wife), have talked about for a long time but never got around to doing anything about it.
We finally took the plunge in May 2024, but not too deep a plunge. We didn't want to go over the top with the price when buying, just in case we didn't take to 'it' and a fortune doesn't get wasted. We eventually spent £20,000 on a 2044 Peugeot Autocruise Star Spirit. Internally it's like brand new & the outside looks pretty good for its age. So we were happy with our purchase.....So now to put it to the test!!!!
This is where the 'sods law' comes in to play. It feels like a case of ''if it can go wrong then it will''. At the point of purchase, as my wife was finishing dealing with & signing all the paperwork etc. etc., I noticed on the latest MOT certificate hat it mentioned an 'urgent advisory', regarding a rusty crossmember. I mentioned this to the sales, & I was reassured that it wasn't as serious as it seemed, (alarm bells !!!).
As part of the deal we we're offered a free 2 nights stay at the 'park' where the van was purchased,’ namely Bardsea Leisure of Ulverston’. Very kind of them, & so we took them up on their offer. But due to ill health & other issues, this wasn't done for a couple of weeks. When we did finally stay, I/we were shown how everything worked, & how to operate/use all the items/gadgets etc. etc. Looking back, I now feel that this area of sales service was done very quickly & feel as though things were rushed through.
Anyways, we finally get the van home, & the first thing I wanted to check further, (just for peace of mind), was that the van was 'sound' underneath. I took it to a local garage, who said they would clean underneath the van & then recoat/seal with a new type of synthetic sealant, check the spare tyre, & at the same time check the general condition & for any possible faults.
I parked the van outside of the service garage at about 09:30 a.m., & waited for them to contact me later in the day. I received a phone call at approx. 11:00 a.m., but it wasn’t to tell me that the work was compete.
To get the van into the garage, ’they’, (the garage), had to move two other vehicles out, but they could only park them where the van was parked. They firstly had to move the van into a side street, then moved the two vehicles out, & then move the van inside. During the few minutes that this movement took place, some a**eh**e crashed into the van & drove off. The police were contacted, but because nobody was injured, (it’s just an insurance job !!), any CCTV/ doorbell camera we’re checked, but the identity of the driver/vehicle remains a mystery. The ‘garages’ insurance company weren’t going accept liability because ‘nobody’, (the insured), was actually driving it at the time. They wanted me to claim against my insurance, I stated that it was ‘the garage’ that moved the van, so they are responsible. They finally agreed to cover the costs, but then almost changed their minds again when the estimated bill was given to them…£11,000….
9 weeks later we finally get the van home, so we are talking sometime in August I think, (there’s still one part that’s awaiting to be completed). & then this is where life gets in the way. This is where health issues take over. Recovering from a 2nd knee replacement, (the wife), puts ‘motor-homing’ on the back burner for quite a while, plus the fact that I had a major health scare which took a few weeks to get over didn’t help matters, (I actually died for 9 minutes). Whilst all this was going on, & even though the van didn’t move at all, I did spend some time trying familiarise myself with how things worked etc. etc.
Again I should have listened to those alarm bells of earlier, but hey-ho !!, that’ll teach me. I found out that the radio required a code to activate it, so I now contact the people I purchased from, 10 weeks earlier, (& they’re really keen to help). I get told to go to nearest Peugeot dealership & that they’ll soon give me the code, all I have to do is provide the vans registration. What the people at the place of purchase failed to say was that the ‘Peugeot garage’ will want £28 & there’s no guarantee that it’ll work.
I finally persuaded ‘Bardsea’ to sort the issue, but it was going to take at least a month due to holiday & staff shortages, (it’s at this point that I really felt that I’d been duped & that they couldn’t be bothered anymore despite being told that customer care was a priority).
Anyways, eventually the radio code was resolved, only for another problem to rear its ugly head insomuch as the ‘diesel heater’ control wasn’t displaying correctly, (not something you look at unless you’re actually using it).
I decided to replace the faulty control myself, which I did, but I as found out, (I’m guessing others have had the same problem), the user instructions are in very badly translated ‘Chinese’ & are virtually impossible to follow. This issue is still on going, so if anybody has any hints/help they can provide, I’d be very thankful.
After all that has happened, we finally get to booking a few days away, (3 day/2 nights), at Woodclose Park, near Kirkby Lonsdale. Looks a love place but sadly after all that we’ve been through in the last few months it wasn’t to be.
We set-off on Thursday 7th, (2 days ago), & hey-ho the van breaks down about 8 miles into our first trip out.
‘Bardsea’ don’t want anything to do with me now because the 3 months warranty has expired. Which under normal circumstances that’s fair enough, but I haven’t even driven 50 miles since I bought it, (it was off the road for 9 weeks), but they’re not interested. The van is now in the garage, (same one as earlier), it’s having something done on/to the clutch.
I’m sure that one day all will be ok with the van & we’ll get some happy miles under our belt, it’s just been a very eventful first few months that if it could go wrong it can/did
Hope this hasn’t been too much of a boring read & you’ve managed to have a laugh about it. I certainly have.
The moral of the story is this…
Make sure you read the small print, never trust a car salesman 😊 & never ever purchase or deal with..
BARDSEA LEISURE PARK of Ulverston
PS. Contrast dye, (during MRI scan), can be fatal !!!! ☹