A leaky problem

chasstreet
chasstreet Forum Participant Posts: 57
edited March 2018 in Caravans #1

after covering 30k miles in our Ford Kuga, driving through rain, hail,snow and even a little sunshine, I noticed a small bit of water in the boot. Booked into a ford dealer the problem was sorted within 2 days, and the car was in the workshop for less than an hour. 

Having had our caravan for 11 months, damp was found. 

When I asked the dealer when this was going to be sorted, you’d have thought I was speaking an alien language. After much huffing and puffing it was agreed to return to the manufacturers. 

Guess what? Still waiting for return of said caravan..

what do we need to do to get these inept manufacturers and dealers to give us the goods and service we deserve. 

Its no wonder people are moving to imported vans

Comments

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,149 ✭✭✭
    10,000 Likes 1000 Comments Name Dropper
    edited March 2018 #2

    Resort to the Courts, Chas, as it often seems to be the only thing they take notice of.

  • chasstreet
    chasstreet Forum Participant Posts: 57
    edited March 2018 #3

    I agree courts are an option, but why can’t we just get a bit of respect. 

    Cars, vans, boats that travel 100’s and thousands of miles, DONT LEAK , but a caravan can leak like a sieve and no one in the industry give a jot. Even the magazines we buy don’t dare to name and shame these dealers and manufacturers. 

    Remember what happened to the car makers who produce utter rubbish?

    we all woke up and took our custom elsewhere 

  • knilly
    knilly Forum Participant Posts: 62
    edited March 2018 #4

    Brand new day old 2016 Bailey Pegasus leaking took it back,then in new leak somewhere else and the best took for it’s 1st service and damp.There was 3 different leaks in the 1st year happy caravaning 

  • DavidF
    DavidF Forum Participant Posts: 13
    edited March 2018 #5

    My Elddis has a 10 year water ingress guarantee ! It is now 5 years old and has been serviced regularly at the dealer who supplied the van. This latest service shows damp and both rear corners have splits. I understand my problem is not unique and Swift have suffered similar problems. Guess what -the guarantee does not cover this water ingress. The solution is to stick a patch over the cracks. Swift's cost £30 and Elddis £75 plus a couple of tubes of sealant and labour.

    Why oh why do we continue to allow these manufacturers to provide shoddy products and even shoddier guarantees ?

    Elddis according to my dealer have reneged on the guarantee after 3 years by pointing to some small get out words that state it only applies to seams !

  • DougS
    DougS Forum Participant Posts: 327
    edited March 2018 #6

    With due respect to previous poster's comments, our rear panel was found cracked at 5 1/2 years out of a 6 year Swift warranty and was changed at no cost to us.

    Swift caps are a model specific fix and seem to cure the problem at a minimal cost.  A major panel change can easily cause more problems than it solves IMHO.

    I cannot however understand the Elddis warranty get out situation which does seem unacceptable (if I understand correctly)

  • Tigi
    Tigi Forum Participant Posts: 1,038
    500 Comments
    edited March 2018 #7

    Cars v Caravans economy of scale.

  • DavidF
    DavidF Forum Participant Posts: 13
    edited March 2018 #8

    Yes DougS you do understand correctly and I equally cannot understand  Elddis's apparent disregard of the warranty. I have written to Elddis but to date have not had a reply.

    I wouldn't expect to have the panels replaced and would be quite happy to accept caps/patches if they would pay for that. After the first service found cracks in the rear bottom corners they adopted this solution under the warranty.

    I'm too old to resort to court action for £150 to £200 and should not have to do so ! Think I might put a great big sticker on the back of my van,under the Elddis badge/name ridiculing their proud claim of a 10 year water ingress warranty. That might not help but I might get a bit of adverse publicity for them.