Elddis rear panel cracks - cap fitting update
Hi
Last year I joined this chat seeking out other members who purchased an Elddis caravan and have had issues with cracks appearing on the rear panel. I got a lot of replies from anguished members who are caught out with these costly issues not being covered by warranties and of course Elddis not offering any solutions. I personally had cracks appear on the lower part of the panel soon after purchase and this was sorted with a new panel. Unfortunately new cracks appeared later on the top left and right and the only solution (the caravan was now over 3 years old) they offered was caps to cover over them. I reluctantly agreed to this with assurances that this was a good fix. However, I now find that with only traveling more than 50 miles and just storing for 4 months a crack has now appeared below one of the caps (see photo). Needless to say Elddis are saying it is not due to the caps. I am sending this just to warn others that caps may not be the solution. If any one wants to look into legal action with Elddis let me know.
Charles
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I sympathise with you Charles
I have just been posting on the original thread for this topic and started up an additional comment about Elddis new ultimate owners, Thor Industries investing in fixing this kind of issue, perhaps funding a product recall similar to the automotive industry, but I gather the leisure vehicle industry is not regulated highly enough to force this upon this industry that shamefully continues to get away with pushing out leaking products and then refuses to, at least morally, support its customers with dodgy looking side steps and technical ‘get out of jail free’ dodges via supply chain manufactured components in order to avoid looking after their customers properly during their products warranties lifespan or 3-6-10 years (if you can bear to keep them that long!)
Taking legal action against Elddis individually would be a costly ‘David / Goliath’ exercise when you consider £ multi-billion investment banks are behind recent Merger and Aquisition deals in this sector and they have much bigger pots to spend on Legal defence to bat off even a well co-ordinated class action attempt.
What would be more effective for less time and effort would be to organise a Rally / Protest with associated P.R and social media campaign e.g. getting all Elddis EHG UK brand owners with these issues to drive their outfits past the Houses of Parliament ending up in Hyde park overnight with a call to action for the Goverments Business and Industry Ministers to bring in tougher automotive industry style regulations to better protect RV / Leisure vehicle industry consumers.
A properly organised / policed protest like this would cause gridlock in our nations capital as well as much neede respite from the debacle we call Brexit and would surely get an airing on national / international news channels...
This kind of consumer led action is more likely to get a step in the right direction towards better consumer rights protection and force the industry to clean up its act, than throwing away more good money after bad lining the pockets of lawyers / attorneys whilst they tie you up in legal knots for years.... and it would be much more fun!
Social media platforms and online petition sites are next to free to help....
Please let me know if this appeals to you... I used to organise events for a living and love networking too!
Best
Kevin
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Sorry taking legal action is cheap and straightforward for you using the small claims procedure. For Eldiss it means a solicitor at several hundred pounds an hour and they are likely to compromise or settle just to save them selves money. Frankly the small claims system is so favourable to the claimant that it makes many claims too expensive for companies to defend as if they lose they still have to stand their own costs which can run into sums well over £1,000 and usually more. I know I have had the responsibility of trying to defend them.
It is only with large claims that the companies might can be a problem for you but you do need to know the cost of the repair if you want to proceed.
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Frankly the small claims system is so favourable to the claimant that it makes many claims too expensive for companies to defend as if they lose they still have to stand their own costs which can run into sums well over £1,000 and usually more. I know I have had the responsibility of trying to defend them.
agree with you Steve. I have twice defended claims against local authority for road works that I supervised. In one case the judge was very supportive to the claimant even though he lost.
In the other case the claimant brought an aggressive barrister to state his case. The judge soon lost sympathy. They also lost but that was because I had evidence that showed them to be wrong. There were no great costs for the County Council as I already had the evidence in my files and I did not involve the legal team but the loss was limited to a day of my time. I got the impression of a very even handed system. with due consideration for lack of expertise on the claimants behalf.
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Hi, we purchased a brand new new Lunar Clubman in March 2017 and during this years service found that the corners of the underside of the rear panel are splitting on both sides. I reported this to my dealer, Highbridge Caravans who referred the matter to Lunar Customer Services. Lunar replied saying I must have caused the damage and therefore will not cover. The damage was not caused by me and when I challenge Lunar they are refusing to reply to my e,mails. My dealer says its down to Lunar to resolve not them. Has anyone else had similar problems with Lunar, or these dealers or have any recommendations for the action I can take now.
Many Thanks.
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This is exactly the right approach. The stance is not limited to Lunar, I have seen similar allegations against Swift, Eldiss and Bailey.
You should quote the Consumer Protection Act and if you need help with the letter you will find specimen ones on the Citizens Advice web site. You can also use the clubs Legal helpline who will be familiar with this.
If you bought the caravan using a credit card for any part of the payment or used HP then you have equal rights against the finance companies who often get these things resolved better than you are able. It is worth using them if you have to.
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