Caravan warranty
Just had a problem with my van. It started randomly blowing fuses whilst we were away in July. It had been to the dealers at the beginning of July for it's first service and when I went to collect it, was told that they had to replace a 5 amp fuse and if it went again " just pop it back" ( 60 mile round trip) and they would sort it.
I phoned the dealer whilst we were away and, after replacing the fuse at least 5 time was told that it would be 3 weeks before they could look at it. I asked if I could speak to a technician to see if he could shed any light on the fault and he said he thought it was the submersible pump.
I took the pump to the dealer the day after we arrived home (60 mile round trip) to be told by the engineer that he had put the pump on test and that it was OK and that I would have to bring the caravan in so they cold look at it.
Waited 2 weeks to drop the van at the dealers ( 60 miles) only to be told an hour later, when I had gone to work, that it was the pump that was faulty.
They also said that there was a fault with the automatic pressure switch not shutting off. There hadn't been a problem with this before it went in but I bowed to their experience. They ordered a switch under warranty but said it would be approx 2 weeks before they received it and that I could collect the van because it was an easy job to do and I could fit the replacement myself. I was happy to do this because at least I got my van back.
When I brought the van home I decided to make sure the pump was working and see if the pressure switch was faulty. The pump worked fine but was not switching off as the dealer had said. I checked under the cushion where the switch is housed and noticed that one of the drain valves was still open. I closed the valve and hey presto, everything worked fine.
To summarise the above, I have been to the dealer three times, used 14 x 5 amp fuses, missed 4 weeks of caravan use and am waiting for a part I don't require.
Has anyone else experienced this type of service or is this the way caravan and motorhome owners are normally treated?
Comments
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It is a crying shame when your caravan (was it new?) acts up like this, and like you said it hurts when you can't use for the purpose you bought it for.
To answer your question, perhaps we're lucky but our local dealer ( who is a a few minute drive from our house but 15 minutes from storage) are expensive (and wanted to charge for changing a gas bottle at the last service) but they seem to know what they are doing whenever I've given them a fault on our van before the present van (an Avondale which had more than it's share) they knew what to do and the cause of the fault. Also I was able to take it round and if necessary do the work within a few days, or on one occasion the day we were going away (it was a quick fix).
Certainly there have been posters on here with different stories and I think it's a bit like car mechanics - if you find a good one stick to them. Is the dealer your nearest and NCC approved? Maybe a mobile engineer would be better?
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I'm afraid, 79b, that you'd story doesn't surprise me at all. Incompetence runs throughout the industry.
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I am afraid it doesn't surprise me either, my van was 18 months old when I got it and I had a string of problems with the Thetford Cassette and the Gas (very dangerous workshop errors!). approved Worksop I should add. They finally told me the cassette could not be mended if it went wrong again. I moved to a mobile mechanic and guess what no more trouble! I was luckier than you the round trip was only 30 miles! Watching stories on here I am in no hurry to swap this caravan even though it will be 10 next year. I think warranty work should be a top priority but of course it isnt!
Has anyone tried reporting these dealerships? I tried but could never get hold of them. So I went for the safety angle which got the dealership very hot under the collar!
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Sadly from what I read on here yours is not an isolated incident. Disgusting really. You'd think with two clubs dedicated to camping caravanning and motorhoming there would be plenty of pressure and lobbying of the manufacturers. Sadly that isn't the case!
I think the mobile guy with 4 week wait is probably worth sticking with - to me that says a lot. Anyone who can do next day would be dubious in this game.
I do hope you get it all sorted asap.
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Your lucky my clubman sb had 4 faults to deal with under warranty in April of this year was told they couldn't nothing until the end of June, due to one man being off sick. My service was due end of June so they would see to it then. Went home looked online saw van did a straight swap for a coachman 460 vip granted a year older than my clubman. So the last dealer lost out
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A word of warning if you swap to a mobile service engineer - as we did, found a great one BUT he found damp in our second service so need serious remedial work in a workshop but because we don't use them for our services we are having a devil of a job finding one willing to do the work. Our original dealer is a fair distance (bought the van when away from home) and is now no longer a Lunar dealer so does not want to do it, our local dealers just do not answer e-mails, have tried each one several times - no response ! Grrrrr !
This could take a while
Alison
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We've been lucky. The dealer where we bought both of our caravans, the latest being a 2015 Swift Challenger in June last year, is located about 15 miles away. In addition to the workshop, they have a mobile engineer that we have always used to do the annual service on our caravans at our storage site. This year he discovered the microwave was causing a short. He reported it to the dealer, who contacted Swift, and in less than a fortnight he'd been back to the caravan and fitted the new microwave. Our previous van was an older Abbey which had a minor water ingress problem at the front. He arranged for the work to be done under warranty, including replacing the door to the nearside wet locker (which we'd accidentally damaged) at the same time at no additional cost. Obviously we had to book the van into the workshop and take it up there, but we couldn't argue with the level of service we receive there.
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The warning maybe should not be about using a mobile engineer but rather about buying from a dealer far from home. The original dealer is still responsible should you choose. I think that you have no trust in him as I would not either when he tries to shirk responsibility by saying that he is no longer a Lunar dealership.
I choose to use my dealer rather than a mobile engineer because I am happy with them and a saving of (say) £70 is neither here nor there when considering the purchase cost of a caravan and other on costs.
I realise that you had good reason to choose a mobile engineer due to circumstance but the material fact is not the use of a mobile engineer but what sounds like a god awful dealer. Naybe name and shame for the sake of others Alison
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We brought our van 150 miles from home and despite many problems with the van we never had a particular problem with the dealer or using a local Lunar dealer for warranty works. When the warranty expires next year it will be a registered mobile engineer for us.
I treat vans like I do cars, I buy from where the best deal is and for the last 20 years the best deals haven't been at home. I shall continue to pursue the best deal possible.
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well, still getting no response to e-mailing any dealers we took a day driving round visiting two nearest yesterday and the nearest registered workshop informed us we must make the initial approach to Lunar through a Lunar dealer (which they are not) so off we went to the next, which is our nearest Lunar (& Elddis) dealer. There we were informed (very apologetically) that as they are only a small workshop and are inundated with Elddis caravans all needing warranty work at the moment, so many that they have closed their workshop for anymore work until next AUGUST (when they will most definitely NOT be Elddis registered anymore as they are fed up with them) but that leaves us out in the cold!. One more dealer to try in Kent, but had enough yesterday and have decided to wait until the bank holiday is over to visit them.
Alison
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That's an unfortunate experience but caravanning is a minority interest and there just aren't enough dealers around for there to be healthy competition. We were lucky to have a very good one only half an hour away and because of this we would only buy a model that they would sell and service. A bit limiting but it proved its worth over the years.
We bought an Autosleepers Motorhome because the dealer is 45 minutes away and the factory a couple of hours. Even so, we were advised to book a service many months ahead of the due date. Many small dealers get so overloaded at peak times that they will only service vans that they have sold to you.
Imagine buying a foreign import from a dealer 150 miles away.
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