I have been reading, with sadness and annoyance, some of the horror stories about faulty new caravans, some in excess of £25k, and the disgusting manner in which some people have been treated. Well caravan manufacturers and dealers I do hope you are reading this because as of today the Consumer Rights Act 2015 came into force.
I urge all buyers of new caravans to read it and understand what it means, even seek some advice before you part with your money, be prepared.
Here are some bullet points I have just taken off the net, please note these are not my words, but those of people reporting on the new act.
Must meet the expectations of the consumer.
Now, if you buy a product and discover a fault within 30 days you will be entitled to a full refund.
You have an early right to reject goods that are unsatisfactory quality, unfit for purpose or not as described and get a full refund. Within 30 days.
The new act does not stop there, so please have a look at it. I am considering a new caravan and have selected the one I like, if I decide to go ahead, I will first seek advice from CAB, and, if appropriate, I will make it quite clear to the dealer AND the manufacturer that the caravan will be used for the first two weeks and should ANY faults develop it will be returned and a full refund demanded. Perhaps then they may not be so keen on sending out caravans without a thorough quality assurance check and PDI, thus improving the quality of the product.
Know your rights guys, we deserve it. We are investing in a lifestyle, a hobby that we love and your caravan should be your best friend, dependable and reliable. After all, they don't come cheap!
Faults with new or fairly new caravan one reads about on here tend to fall into 2 groups. First would be a number of niggling faults that should have been picked up & rectified at pdi or with better factory quality control & that when caravan is returned even then faults are not rectified properly. One would hope that this new law will cause some dealers to up their game as far as pdi is concerned.
Second would be major faults like leaks that tend to develop after a few months or even a couple of years & for this situation not much has changed.
Even after countless threads on this subject though it is still unclear what proportion of caravans are delivered with faults & how many develop serious faults later on when still fairly new.
I wonder if it would be possible to have a section of the Forum dedicated to 'Faulty Caravans' by Manufacturer and Model, where members could provide information on their experiences, bit like Camp Site Reviews.
I remember a few years ago looking for a new 'TinTent' and visiting a dealer I asked to see their new stock.
I was told: "There in the back of the compound, but we haven't touched them yet as they have only just been delivered from the manufacturer"
I went in to have a look and was shocked at the diabolical condition for which I was expected to part with over £18K.
Cables hanging out, doors hanging off, dirty rubbish left from the assembly line.
I walked out and never went back.
Sadly I still believe that no UK manufacturer has anything like a final inspection point at the end of their production line where that person acting as a customer can reject the caravan for bad quality.
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Topic: New caravan issues.
