Getting problems fixed under warranty
We bought an Adria caravan last October. Last weekend was the first time we'd gone away, and spent a couple of nights at Plassey Park.
It was quite cold and we needed the heat on. First night no problems. Second night, we noticed the heater wasn't switching off at the required temp, and worryingly we had a distinct electrical burning smell coming from the control panel section above the door. Not good, so we turned it off and spent a very cold night in the van. There's also another problem as no heat is coming out of the vent in the bedroom, so it could be blocked.
Now the problem here seems to be getting this looked at by a dealer. We bought from Cara in Stoke On Trent, which is over 100 miles away from us. No problem I thought, I'll pop down the road to Swindon Caravan Centre to get this looked at. However they tell me that they can't look at this, because "it's not worth their while", as Adria don't reimburse them for the work. She said they would receive £5. Hmmm, sounds unlikely to me, and would make the warranty virtually useless.
So what to do? A round trip (possibly two) to the original dealer is going to cost me around £150 in fuel. Plus I cannot believe that it's not possible to take your van to any Adria dealer and get these problems sorted out. What's going on?
Comments
-
Ah well, I've gone to another dealer, who are happy to look at this. Only issue was timescales, as understandably they will prioritise customers who bought from them. I can live with a couple of months until they can work on it though.
As the person I spoke to there said, a lot of people have been forced to go further afield to buy their caravans, considering the situation with lack of availability due to demand. We're certainly not the only ones who've done this.
However, I'm disappointed with the local dealer, who were most unhelpful
0 -
Used to be a classic problem in years gone by. You could get a new van at a very good price at the NEC show only to find the dealer was actually based hundreds of miles from where you actually lived and you had to travel to them for all warranty work and servicing to meet the warranty conditions. That's why I went to Bailey who have a travelling warranty so you can take the van into most Bailey dealers. Mind you that can be problematic with some of them as I found out to the cost of my blood pressure a couple of times.
0 -
Yes I believe it very much depends on the dealer. In theory, any authorised Adria dealer is able to carry out warranty work and claim back the cost.
The key thing here seems to be the reimbursement rates, and the '£5' I mentioned above is apparently the profit made by the dealership after carrying out such repair work. Quite how she arrived at that figure isn't clear, but I got the impression that the manufacturer is cutting them to the bone.
So if a dealer has not sold you the van, with their profit margin, then there's no real incentive for them to do warranty work. In this case the dealer chose to point blank refuse me. I did locate another dealer who is happy to book me in though.
In fact it's in the local dealer's interest to accommodate me, as they sell a wide range of accessories, including expensive awnings which I'll need. Not really inclined to spend my money with them in future.
0 -
An important lesson you can take from this Andy......always carry an alternative means of heating, especially important in the colder months. A small fan heater that can use 1kw or 2 kw is ideal, and not too heavy.
Other spares to carry are fuses, bulbs, O rings, and a water pump. Plus a basic tool kit and some good strong tape for fixing things.
1 -
I'm afraid what you describe isn't unusual - especially in the present climate when most dealers are snowed under with work. I recently had a problem with our Truma boiler - not a warranty job since the van's now three years old, but quite happy to pay for the work. Our dealer is 150 miles away - so that means 600 miles for two trips there and back. They were happy to do the repair but I thought I'd try, firstly local mobile engineers, and then a caravan dealer who is an authorised Truma service agent about 11 miles away from home. All the mobile agents couldn't fit me in for six months and the Truma service agent / caravan dealer refused point blank (even though I was paying) because we didn't buy the van from them and, like my dealer, were giving priority to their own customers.
Just had to bite the bullet and I actually paid my dealer to collect and return the van - but at least I had it sorted in just over a week.
We chose that dealer for a reason - knowing full well that distance would be an issue in the future - and we just have to live with it. I rather suspect - again because of current problems - that it wouldn't be that much different with cars except that there are more dealers to choose from.
0 -
Lessons learned from my recent experience of warranty work….
1. Buy as close to home as you can, the logistics of long distance are a pain, (not to mention cost of fuel);
2. Be absolutely meticulous in adhering to any service schedule, particularly getting receipts and records stamped. Don’t assume the dealer/service agent will pay much to attention to completing the paperwork. Make sure Covid related delays haven’t invalidated your warranty;
3. Take good detailed photos of everything that’s wrong;
4. Be prepared for an authorised dealer who didnt sell you the van to decline warranty work for whatever reason that suits them;
5. Be prepared for a long wait, months more typical than weeks;
6. Expect them to take short cuts, presumably because warranty work isn’t very lucrative for them?
7. Don’t expect NCC to be a guarantee of quality workmanship or provide any consumer protection
8. Complain to the manufacturer if necessary and threaten legal action.
0 -
We bought one of our vans at the NEC show from a dealer in York and we live in Worcestershire and we did have problems but contacted Swift who put us on to a swift approved mobile engineer who was able to carry out the warranty work but it would appear you would now have a problem contacting Swift let alone get help
0
