Lowdhams bad service
Has anyone got a caravan from lowdhams I am still waiting on geting things fixed from August thay do not get back to you I have been on the phone lots of emails and been up to them and thay just do not care I am thinking abouts going on to the next step
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I bought my Eriba new from them in Nottingham in 2017. I went with the service pack they offered as it included the expensive HYmer/Eriba water ingress test at a very good price.
I was travelling from Essex to collect the new vehicle and phoned to confirm the specified motor mover had been fitted. I was assured it had and drove up. They had not fitted the correct model and I had to return a few days later. When I did the handover was not really very good and the van was filthy. I subsequently found stone chips to the front of the van and told them I expected a touch up paint that I would not be paying for. I was not impressed and things did not really get any better.
Since then I have found the aftersales/service side of things to be very hit and miss. Following our move to Merseyside the final straw came in 2019. I had a cracked front light fairing that was to be replaced at service time. The item had been photographed by me for identification and sent off. The warranty work was agreed and the part ordered in. After a near 3 hour drive through snow and wind in late Feb I delivered the van at 10am for the works to be done so I could return home that afternoon. They had the wrong part and asked me to leave the van and return a week later to collect it. I refused, told them they would return it to my home address at there cost and walked out.
The van was returned a couple of weeks later and I then cancelled my contract and have had the van serviced elsewhere.
If anybody is planning on dealing with them I can however recommend the awning department. They were very on the ball and helpful when dealing with a Kampa awning that was not fit for purpose. They arranged home collection of the awning back to Kampa for alterations. When this did not solve the problem I was given a full refund. A year later an version 2 came available which they supplied at about a 35% discount to the normal selling price.
Colin
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Over the last 25 years we've had four vans from Lowdhams and always found the sales side to be excellent, however the aftersales and service lets the place down. When we had the current van brand new eight years ago, after a few months the fridge stopped working on electricity and would only work on gas. They had it three weeks and couldn't pin point the problem. Called Dometic to complain and they knew exactly what the problem was. They sent an engineer out and he fixed it. Why they hadn't called them in the first place is unknown!
Likewise you can only drop your caravan off for a service and pick it up afterwards when there's an R in the month and they need it a week to carry out a service. I now have my done by a mobile engineer.
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We bought a brand new swift from them in 2020 (ordered prior to lockdown, collected June 2020). It took until June 2022 to get our initial snagging list resolved properly, despite having had the van serviced by them in 2021. This was all with their Huddersfield site which closed last year. I now use a swift approved workshop for servicing. I did wonder if their Nottingham site may have been better but I suspect not.
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We had a caravan from their Huddesfield site and had similar issues very poor service, after one
annual service we went to collect it and was given the key to inspect the van to find a perfect foot print in the middle of the fixed bed mattress, it was never the same for us we looked after the van in every way to find this was very disappointing.
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I bought a caravan from them 20 odd years ago and the Service Dept was terrible then. I bought a MH from them a few years ago thinking that they might have improved. Sadly they hadn't and we had a terrible time with a Swift. A £1 plastic cover that covered a 12v outside port fell off and needed replacing. I could not believe that they wanted to take pictures of it and send them to Swift to get permission to replace it. I was expected to drive a 40 mile round trip. Have time off work and then arrange for the MH to be taken back for a day for it to be fitted. I eventually got fed up with the service and repaired all the faults myself and sent them a bill 😁
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We bought a new dealer special from the Huddersfield branch in early 2020. We went away for a weekend, then a few weeks later had a week in the Lake District. At the end of the week when we were packing away my clothes were wet in the wardrobe and water was running down the walls. We were unable to reject the van as we had it for 35 days. We took the van back to lowdhams for them to look at but told them not to repair it as we wanted an independent inspection. The inspector said it looked like it may have had a rest impact and been repaired but lowdhams denied this so we had to accept a repair but then lock down happened. When we were told we could book it in for repair in 2021, they let slip that the roof had been repaired, even though we had told them not to, prior to the independent inspection. That counted as a failed repair so we were then able to return the van through the finance company. I would never deal with them again
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H1, congratulations on your success👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻. I personally double down with major purchases by paying a good deposit with my credit card for section 75 cover. This due diligence thinking & actions pay dividends. The only way to win is don’t use them. If it costs them going to the wall it can only be a good thing for customers.
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We have been waiting over 2 years for Lowdhams to complete warranty work on our Bailey Unicorn Vigo 5. During this time we have been mislead, lied to, ignored & treated with contempt - once your money is in their bank account any customer care ends.
The list of broken promises is endless - the service department admin section is incompetent - they rarely answer the phone or reply to emails - the promise of the call back is never to be believed. The staff change continually as we assume they are sacked for being useless.
BUYER BEWARE - ONCE THEY HAVE YOUR MONEY YOU ARE NOTHING TO THEM
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED _ TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE
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I guess as a club member you know that you have access to a free legal helpline?
Shouting on an internet forum will only get it off your chest nothing further (and will probably get your post removed)
JK
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I had cause to contact the club legal helpline expecting it to be a bespoke in house service. I was dissapoted to find it was in fact a 3rd party external organisation ( similar to those used in home insurance policies) who had no interest in assisting with problem which related to a devaluation in a caravan part exchange agreed price.
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Tbh, I’d not expect a leisure company such as CAMC to employ its own lawyers to help customers/members. Just think of the cost involved!
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I didn't expect a K.C. to be answering the phone but I did expect that I could at least speak to a member of the "club" staff at HQ who would be knowledgeable enough to vet my concern and if in agreement hopefully send a letter headed response showing the "clubs" involvement in the issue. Maybe I am getting a bit nieve in my old age expecting a club to behave in a way to protect its members.
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They are providing a service and, thus, protecting members. I don’t see a problem.
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The problem was "they" didn't provide a service and the supposed Legal Help did not help and were not at all interested in helping, they even suggested I used my home insurance legal aid.
As for the original question regarding Loudhams I have never experienced a more unprofessional company in my life. The Huddersfield branch which is now unsurprisingly closed were absolutely hopeless in every way :-
The last salesperson we dealt with had been working in a care home the week before we met and had absolutely no idea how a caravan worked.
The hand over team were equally lacking in knowledge but stood over you when filling out the customer satisfaction questionnaire to make sure you didn't make a mistake !
Badly fitting sink top / chopping board was deemed as required to bring the whole caravan back to asses wether it was a warranty repair- this took months to resolve and the outcome was as I had asked on day one - swap with another from display stock. I refused point blank to return the van for such a trivial matter.
Leaking roof strap was left for months with Gorilla tape applied by myself to prevent further ingress of water and when we finally took the van in for the planned repair they had forgot to book it in. I left the van in the arrivals area and told them I was Tenerife bound and would return in a month and if it wasn't fixed I would commence legal action, fortunately it was repaired on our return
I could go on ad infinitum but I will leave it here.
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I assume you raised a complaint with camc about your dissatisfaction with the legal help line….. 🤷🏻♂️
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If CAMC fail to respond to a formal complaint made through the Complaints Procedure (as opposed to an ordinary email), they are in breach of their own Code of Practice.
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We have used Lowdham Caravans for over 20 years and thought that we could trust them. However, when we bought a new caravan from them in March 2023 we have had nothing but trouble. The sales side were good at getting the sale, but after that it has been shockingly bad. We are still trying to get problems fixed and have had poor quality work carried out which has failed again repeatedly. We have had to cancel holidays in the caravan and the caravan has spent over 60 days being “serviced” and “repaired” only to discover on getting it home that work has not been done or has been done badly. Contacting them is now extremely difficult and we have been left with no choice but to go down the legal route. Fundamentally, everyone should realise that they simply do not care once the money is in their bank account. Customer loyalty means nothing to them. Please be warned, their promises are meaningless and everyone should steer well clear.
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