Isabella Shadow Sun Canopy offer - BEWARE!
As an internet user you will doubtless have seen the pop up adverts or even direct emails from Isabella promoting a special offer on their Shadow Sun Canopy range. The offer being that if you buy a Shadow Sun Canopy you will receive a free front for it saving
you big bucks.
Having been attracted by this offer and having spent £4K on Isabella products in the past 3 years I went into my local dealer today. I purchased the 4mtr Shadow Sun Canopy and the dealer passed on proof of my purchase to Isabella UK, so they could send me
the free front section.
When I got home (14 miles away) I got a call from the dealer telling me he had a fax from Isabella to say they had sold out of fronts for the 4mtr Shadow Sun Canopy so I wouldn't now get one. When I questioned why Isabella were still running the adverts
they said because in the small print it says 'while stocks last'?
I then checked the Isabella website and sure enough, in the small print it dies say that. However, even tonight, their website is still showing the offer (including the 4mtr size). So before you get duped into travelling to your dealer and buying an Isabella
Shadow Sun Canopy, you may want go save your time and money and check they have sufficient stock of fronts in the size you want to ensure you get what they are offering.
If on the other hand you do buy one and get short changed on the free offer, don't bother wasting more of your time contacting Isabella. If you do all you will get is a cursory, sorry.... No attempt at service recovery, no offer of a discount on another
size Shadow Sun Canopy for which they still have free fronts available.. Nothing.
Well done Isabella you just lost a very loyal customer. One who will still get approached by people who admire our setup on site but who will now be advised to look at alternative manufacturers..
Comments
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These big companies they should have just said sorry we will amend the website and send you a front free as compensation when stocks become available, They all spend millions on saying they are the best and lose customers for a paltry amount, can never get
my head around them.0 -
This post prompted me to have a look at the product and the video for putting it up.
My Aspire Air 390 awning goes up quicker without the faffing about adjusting the shade.
I was surprised the shade is only 2mt deep, hardly seems worth it. The caravanstore looks a better product
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Bit puzzled by this.
The offer might actually be for the net front. That just clips onto the shadow canopy looking at the manual.
The shadow canopy is simply a bit of fabric pulled round the awning channel. I regularly put the 4m one up by myself in 5 minutes flat. It's only 3 legs and 3 guylines/ pegs and it's up. It does not use poles (apart from the legs) at all.
I can see a video showing something being attached to a full awning but that is not what I have. That might be the Isabella shadow front as opposed to the shadow net front. Something else perhaps?
All a bit puzzling however, "while stocks last" is pretty clear. A phone call to check they still had stock would have sorted this easily.
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Does anyone read posts before replying these days!
Whats the point of telling me to make a call to check stock when it's not the dealer who has the stock, it's the manufacturer. That's not made clear in the advert, so I thought it perfectly reasonable (wrongly as it turned out)
to believe Isabella who make this kit would actually honour an offer they were still advertising at the time I made my purchase. As I said, make a call to your dealer and ask them to make a call to their supplier..Despite raising this with the Isabella area rep, Isabella directly and via an online conversation with Isabella, as of the time of this message they are STILL advertising this free offer on ALL sizes of the Shadow Sun Canopy..
Some of you seem to think that's acceptable, fair enough... I Don't and hopefully my post will act as a warning to those of similar mindset.
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If they are still running the advert when they know that the supply has run out then this could be fraudulent. I would complain to trading standards and you might establish the cost of the missing item and consider a small claims action. It would cost them
more to defend it than sending you one when it is available.0 -
Does anyone read posts before replying these days!
Whats the point of telling me to make a call to check stock when it's not the dealer who has the stock, it's the manufacturer. That's not made clear in the advert, so I thought it perfectly reasonable (wrongly as it turned out) to believe Isabella who make this kit would actually honour an offer they were still advertising at the time I made my purchase. As I said, make a call to your dealer and ask them to make a call to their supplier..
Despite raising this with the Isabella area rep, Isabella directly and via an online conversation with Isabella, as of the time of this message they are STILL advertising this free offer on ALL sizes of the Shadow Sun Canopy..
Some of you seem to think that's acceptable, fair enough... I Don't and hopefully my post will act as a warning to those of similar mindset.
I would have thought it was obvious the phone call should go to the manufacturer not the dealer. How could the dealer possibly know what Isabella's stock levels are?
Some of us read posts very carefully indeed then end up regretting trying to help the poster.
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I would have thought it was obvious the phone call should go to the manufacturer not the dealer. How could the dealer possibly know what Isabella's stock levels are?
Some of us read posts very carefully indeed then end up regretting trying to help the poster.
What is obvious is that under the sale of goods act, the purchasers contract, including associated offers is with the retailer not the manufacturer. The moment you cut the retailer out of the loop you undermine your own rights..
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I would have thought it was obvious the phone call should go to the manufacturer not the dealer. How could the dealer possibly know what Isabella's stock levels are?
Some of us read posts very carefully indeed then end up regretting trying to help the poster.
What is obvious is that under the sale of goods act, the purchasers contract, including associated offers is with the retailer not the manufacturer. The moment you cut the retailer out of the loop you undermine your own rights..
By making a phone call to establish if the offer is still on you are not comprising your consumer rights because you have not purchased anything. Isabella do not sell to the public anyway.
I have had an issue with an Isabella product and their customer service is exemplary.
Of course it depends how you approach them.
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Have to agree, while not wishing to send the thread off on a tangent, god forbid, I have always found Isabella's service to be second to none.
Unfortunately nowadays small print is everything.
If the OP is happy with the main part of the product and the front was only a secondary thought then mark it down to "you are never to old to learn"
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I wonder how many more than two of each size were originally available?
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What usually happens is that a company decides upon a promotion in order to shift stock (often before a new product is introduced or is about to be withdrawn) and cross sells it in association with another product. There will be a resonable quantity to move
but stocks are always limited. Thats why they say "while stocks last". It's a perfectly legitimate marketing strategy.If the supply of the "free product" was so fundemental to the purchase of the original product, the dealer could have established if stock was available or a phone call direct to Isabella could have been made.
There is nothing sinister or underhand about any of this.
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It seems strange that the buyer had to contact the manufacturer (who doesn't usually deal with the public) to obtain this free extra item. Why didn't they just provide the stockist with them?
To answer my own question......Sony used to often do a 'cash-back' offer. Buy a TV and then send off a form to Sony UK and get £50 or £100 or whatever back. A lot of companies do this.
When I asked in the Sony shop why they didn't just knock it off the sale price, the shop assistant said that they do it because it sells the product, but Sony know from experience that a large percentage of buyers then never get around to requesting the
cash-back.An alien concept to me, but I can well believe it's true!
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Having the 4 metre Shadow with its net front accessory, both purchased directly from Isabella at an NEC show several years ago, I can certainly vouch for it being an excellent product. As I can for the customer service I have had from them since first dealing
in 1991, in modifying FOC an Ambassador to better fit my specific van, repairing a Magnum again totally FOC, and for resizing and awning at my cost. Brilliant services in all my cases.0 -
It seems strange that the buyer had to contact the manufacturer (who doesn't usually deal with the public) to obtain this free extra item. Why didn't they just provide the stockist with them?
To answer my own question......Sony used to often do a 'cash-back' offer. Buy a TV and then send off a form to Sony UK and get £50 or £100 or whatever back. A lot of companies do this.
When I asked in the Sony shop why they didn't just knock it off the sale price, the shop assistant said that they do it because it sells the product, but Sony know from experience that a large percentage of buyers then never get around to requesting the
cash-back.An alien concept to me, but I can well believe it's true!
Isabella are perfectly happy to deal with the public. Their customer services are excellent, they just don't sell direct.
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In fairness and to balance my complaint/warning, I thought I should update the thread on the final outcome.
After posting this warning, I got a phone call a week later from my dealer who informed me Isabella had now 'found' me a free front section. Another week on Isabella contacted me direct to ask when would be the most convenient time for delivery and they
delivered on that date.I will never know if it was my representations to Isabella area rep the dealer, my email to Isabella, the posting I put on the advert on their FB page (which they could have Deleted User but didn't) or my post here. The bottom line is, the warning was and remains
valid, and whilst Isabella could have avoided the above they do get a big tick for 'service recovery'.0 -
Good outcome !
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