Cautionary Tale
My partner and I are new to caravanning, and thought we would visit all reputable local dealers to select a van. We eventually decided to purchase from The Caravan Company at Wimborne, having chosen a 2006 Bailey Pageant for £5695. We collected the van which was supplied with a starter pack and also a floral arrangement as a thank you. At the time of collection/payment I was informed that they would notify CRiS of change of ownership, and that we should hear in 4 to 6 weeks. After 7 weeks with no contact from CRiS I contacted The Caravan Company who said that CRiS could take around 8 weeks. Eventually we contacted CRiS direct who said they had not received anything from The Caravan Company, and asked if we wished to register change of ownership now. I gave the lady at CRiS all the details and was then told that the van we now owned was a Category B insurance write-off, and she could not register the change. I contacted The Caravan Company who after investigation confirmed that the van was Category B. They were most apologetic and said that this had never happened before, and did not know how it had been missed. Following a discussion they would only offer a full refund or £500 off of a more expensive van. if we chose a refund, they also asked for the starter pack to be returned as it was 'part of the deal'. We were most disappointed in our treatment, since we had lost 8 weeks and had gone direct to the seller to inform them of the error. We had expected a written apology but never received one. So decided to take the refund, vowing not to purchase from them again.
We are now the proud owners of a 2014 Bailey Pegasus Genoa which we bought from Lady Bailey Caravans. And looking forward to enjoying our holidays.
The moral of this tail is 'do your own CRiS check' to avoid problems.
Comments
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I think the moral of this story should have been money back, with compensation, or see you in court. I assume you accepted the £500, pity as you had very strong rights under the Consumer Protection Law. You may still be able to get some satisfaction, a visit to Citizens Advice may be useful. If you paid by Credit Card (any amount over £100) it may be worth speaking to the Credit Card Company. I just hope you are not too late and have not weakened your case by accepting the £500.
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The last two vans we have bought, the dealer has done the CRIS registration in front of us on line. The £15 thing is a bit of a con in my opinion, they are just charging you for a piece of paper and plastic card.
The most important thing is that it's on the national register (Done by the dealer at point of purchase) I've not bothered buying them with this van as I cant see what purpose they serve.
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I am not sure that thee is a lot you could have done to prevent this other than get the chassis number before purchase and checked it with CRIS but I have never heard of this when dealing with a dealer. If buying privately then this is a must but the odds on a dealer getting it wrong are remote.
This dealer buys in second hand caravans, I think mainly from private sellers and advertises heavily for them, I suspect someone has sold them as dud. Perhaps they should have done the check and failed to do so.
An apology would have been nice, but possibly their insurers told them not to as that might be taken as an admission of liability if you tried to take them to court. A full refund is the extent of their legal liability though, and if the starter pack was part of the deal then I am afraid that would need to be returned.
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I think my 1994 Swift was the first year CRIS ,still got it . its still going strong ,helps with insurance qoutes , Mind you they only think its worth 3 with cc club 2 with ccc Seems odd a company wouldnt check when buying ,its a simple job .
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