When will caravan
dealers start to give us,their customers,better service ?
Whilst on
site at Poolsbrook a Coachman arrived on the pitch opposite us in the midst of
absolutely torrential rain and a thunderstorm.
Giving them a bit of shelter and some tea under our canopy it transpired that
the couple were from Essex and that the van was brand new having only been
collected from a dealer in West Yorkshire a couple of hours before.
Whilst
driving down the M1 in the deluge they had lost one of the fridge vent covers
which had not been attached correctly either at the factory or during PDI.
On
discovering this on their arrival they had stuffed a blanket in the hole to
stop water getting in,with little success.
The chap
said he would ring the dealer in the morning and see if someone would come out
to rectify the problem.
Speaking to
him the next morning no,no-one was coming out they had to return the van to the
dealers,so that was forty miles north,then turn around and travel two hundred
and odd miles back down to Essex making an extra eighty miles travelling.
Much the
same happened when we stopped at Sandholme Lodge.
The couple
next door arrived with a new van from a local dealer eight miles away.
Problem with
the jockey wheel,the lock barrel to an outside locker and the TV aerial.
Once again
they had to trundle off back to the dealers the following morning.
It is high
time that dealers were compelled to come out to vans with problems within the
warranty period instead of us having to return them every time at our expense
of course,no-one reimburses fuel costs,why not,it’s not our fault but we foot
the bill.
A radius of
fifty miles say could be stipulated and anyone outside this area could be dealt
with by a more local dealer.
Dealers seem
very happy to take our money thank you very much but provide a shabby service
in return.
Some dealers
of course are better than others but from what I read these are the exceptions.
I read
recently that Bailey have a “Rapid Response” vehicle for just this sort of
thing but I can’t see that setting off from Bristol in a hurry.
"Should more complex vehicle repair
be required, such as that caused by storm or road accident damage, Bailey has
commissioned a new 8-bay Service Centre at South Liberty Lane staffed by a team
of fully qualified Technicians to carry out this work. This facility is supplemented
by a fully equipped Rapid Response vehicle which, where necessary, will attend
to vehicles on Retailer premises, Storage facilities or even on Customer
driveways."
It is high
time the caravan industry dragged itself out of the mid 1960’s into the present
day and started providing a proper customer service instead of the mostly
shabby set-up it is at present.
They do not
seem to realise that in many cases returning a van to their premises for a
simple repair that may take weeks is a time consuming and costly affair for
most people.
Come on,get off your collective arses and start giving us what we pay you for.
