I'm back from a wifi free holiday, which was excellent and unfortunately, I'm not in a position to close this matter.
I picked up the caravan on the Sunday (14/6) to drive to Portsmouth and noticed that the door lock looked like it had been forced with a screwdriver. I think the Saleman thought I was being unreasonable when I said I wanted a new lock (barrel and mechanism) as I have previously had a problem with a Bailey Senator door lock, a regular fault I'm told, and they still use the same lock.
Salesman assured me he would speak to Service Department the following day.
Off to France and caravan tows nicely (shock absorbers do make a difference - when you are living in it as well) bed is lovely to sleep in and it was generally fine, good shower etc and only one further fault - one of the gas burners on the cooker won't stay on, which is something that should have been detected on PDI.
After a week, the predictable happened and the door lock failed, leaving me unable to lock the door.
As I was going to leave the caravan in storage in Brittany, there was no way I could do this with an insecure door, which would invalidate the insurance for a start.
After a load of communication with the Service Dept. at the dealers, they managed to get a new lock to a very helpful guy called Clive (Euro caravan Services) who fitted the lock for me on my last day in France.
I then discovered that the awning rail was blocked when I tried to fit the awning rail blocker or whatever it's called.
When I got back, I managed to re-arrange the insurance but couldn't get new for old cover at a reasonable price because of the absence of a pro-active tracker, so only market value cover, which will have to do.
But what the hell, it was a good holiday and another one to look forward to in September.
I intend to keep the caravan for at least 10 years to get my money's worth, so I may get everything sorted out in that time and it should be a good second hand buy for someone.
What do you call a good price for new for old? We have got new for old on our new Valencia and did not cost me an arm or a leg or even foot or hand.
------------- Nick
2017
April - New Forest(9)
May - Dorset (9)
August - Camping Le Pin Parasol, Vendee (18)
October - East Mersea (8)
and five nights in the one man tent!
I was offered new for old from Towergate for about £300 on the condition I have pro-active tracker which I don't have. There were a couple of alternatives, but I would need to bring the caravan back to the UK.
Camping Caravanning Club Insurance quoted over 400 quid and I lost the will to live looking any further.
So I've taken market value from Towergate for under 300.
Other than that the Service Dept at the Dealers are being helpful in re-imbursing me for getting the faulty door-lock sorted in France and are helping me with the other faults.
I consider that there's complacency on the part of Bailey management and Workforce or am I expecting too much for my money?
Toyota seem to have terrible quality assurance issues which they seem unwilling to resolve. British bike manufacturers in the 60`s simply thought they didn`t need to develop their product, and that Japanese couldn`t make big bikes . . . .shortly before the Honda 4 came out followed by high performance Kawasaki 3 cyl 2 stroke models. Damm!! I always wanted one o` them . . .still do.
------------- Peripheral people don`t have as much excitement but they sure live longer
The complication for my insurance cover is that I store the caravan in France, where the likelihood of it's being stolen is zilch (perhaps I shouldn't have said that!).
I previously had a good rate from Caravan Club Insurance, but they won't insure for storage abroad.
I'll try caravanwise, but won't be renewing until current policy runs out.
Thanks for the tip.
Quote: Originally posted by checkley1973 on 19/6/2015
Quote: Originally posted by Boston600 on 19/6/2015I can't believe that people really think that these defective Bailey vans are the few that have slipped through the net on the production line. The types of defects I have read about on Bailey vans is clearly down to production and QA issues which will be effecting a fair few vans I suspect.
Volume of sales is not a curtain to hide behind!
What information do you have to base your assumptions on ?
I had two major faults on my 1 year old Bailey:
1. Leaking roof. This is due to a combination of a poor design (who in their right mind would butt join the roof half way along and just cover it with a thin strip of plastic and some sealant) and faulty manufacture. (insufficient sealant under plastic strip).
2. Rippling and bubbling of GRP skin on inside of front/roof panel. Bailey do not bond this part of the GRP panel to the roof/front section because it flexes during assembly at the transition from front to roof. All Baileys are made this way. (Check the new ones in a showroom!) It would not take a genius to design a simple frame to support this panel and avoid flexing, and thus be able to bond this panel fully so that rippling does not occur in the future. Design/manufacturing fault.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Japanese Caravans Please!
