servicing done by any approved NCC workshop will maintain your warranty but when it comes to warranty repairs some dealerships wont touch vans they did not originally supply.
Your supplying dealership should be your first port of call should require any warranty repairs .
Quote: Originally posted by Trooper Man on 25/8/2014I bought mine from Catterick who did the 1st service and warranty work. Further warranty work has been done by Teesside caravans without any problems.
perhaps so but the fact remains that many dealerships simply refuse to touch vans bought elswhere and Swift , Bailey and other manufacturers will tell you that the your supplying dealership should be your first port of call in the event of any problems.
Caravan dealers are under no obligation to either fix or service your van if you buy it elswhere however some may in certain circumstances
Seems ridiculous to me that you can't simply take your van to the nearest appointed/franchised dealer for your particular van and have warranty and servicing work carried out.
The dealer gets to sell additional workshop hours and the manufacturer has happy customers. Surely if it's warranty then the manufacturer having satisfied itself that there is a valid, covered claim should pay the dealer to fix it? Why should it matter where the van was bought. What happens if you move from Lands End to John O'groats after buying it.
With certain vans retailing for upwards of 20k it's high time the industry got its act together in this respect for the benefit of the customer and the dealers.
I feel that manufactures do not care enough about their after sales service, otherwise they would ensure that as a condition of becoming a dealership, then then dealer MUST cover warranty work especially!
It appears that dealerships have no loyalty to the brand, in fact here is an example of a very unhelpful dealership in Guilford.
While touring in the Guilford area, after changing my gas cylinder, I could not get my fridge to work on gas. Over two days I checked for air lock and fuses as the igniter was not sparking. I even turned the fridge off, then on again, but with no joy!
As my Swift van was only a year old, I went to Michael Jordan Caravans Ltd in Gomshall (a swift dealership) I explained that I was on an overseas holiday and was unsure how to correct the problem with my fridge and asked if someone would have a quick look at it as I suspected that it was bound to be something simple.
The receptionist stated that as I didn’t purchase the van from them, (hardly likely, as I live in the north of Ireland) then they did not have anyone available to look at it!! A “manager” then appeared and repeated that no one was available to look at it, if I wanted to book it in, then they was an EIGHT WEEK waiting list!!!
I was really shocked at this extremely unhelpful attitude, especially from a “Swift Dealership”.
I drove a further ten miles down the road to Freeborn Motorhomes in Godalming, although not a Swift dealership, when I explained my problem, they immediately stated that someone would come out and look at it for me.
Within ten minutes an engineer appeared, stepped into the van, opened the fridge and “pressed the RESET button!!!” Immediately the fridge commenced working on gas! It took him less than thirty seconds, yet Michael Jordan a Swift dealership would not even step out of the building to look at it.
Surely it is only human nature to try and assist tourists visiting your region. I found the attitude of Michael Jordan’s staff to be deplorable, especially for a Swift Dealership, when the van in question was still under warranty.
I agree entirely with Audicab, that it's high time the industry got its act together in this respect for the benefit of the customer and the dealers. In addition I think that it would benefit members here if there was a section to highlight poor customer service from certain dealers.
Quote:
perhaps so but the fact remains that many dealerships simply refuse to touch vans bought elswhere and Swift , Bailey and other manufacturers will tell you that the your supplying dealership should be your first port of call in the event of any problems.
Caravan dealers are under no obligation to either fix or service your van if you buy it elswhere however some may in certain circumstances
Most dealers certainly won't want to turn people away who may spend nearly 200 quid on a service and may also obtain a replacement van when the time comes.
Quote: Originally posted by audicab26 on 25/8/2014
Seems ridiculous to me that you can't simply take your van to the nearest appointed/franchised dealer for your particular van and have warranty and servicing work carried out.
Too much common sense, it will never catch on.
The dealer gets to sell additional workshop hours and the manufacturer has happy customers. Surely if it's warranty then the manufacturer having satisfied itself that there is a valid, covered claim should pay the dealer to fix it? Why should it matter where the van was bought. What happens if you move from Lands End to John O'groats after buying it.
Ditto.
With certain vans retailing for upwards of 20k it's high time the industry got its act together in this respect for the benefit of the customer and the dealers.
Totally agree, the car industry did go through some torrid times and most british manufacturers went to the wall, the remainder mostly got their act together as they realised that customers were attracted to good after-sales service and would vote with their feet. I recon that the caravan makers have no real competition and they can get all the custom they need without bothering too much.
If the car industry can do it................
Now what would happen if the Japanese came to town and brought us the quality and reliability in caravan builds that they did to the car industry??
Dave
------------- Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you on experience.
Mark Twain.
The warranty should come with the 'backing of a nationwide network of dealers'. Not hard to instigate. But as you say it'll never catch on.
The other thing the car manufacturers do is survey customers after initial delivery and after any servicing or warranty work is carried out just to see 'how it all went' so to speak.
There seems to be an attitude of "we've got your money, your on your own now" with the caravan manufactures. This puts the good dealers (of which I'm sure there are many) in a difficult position when faced with a customer experiencing quality issues.
A dealer friend I spoke to recently described dealing with the manufacturer re warranty issues as a 'nightmare'.
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Topic: Caravan warranty and servcing
