we have a 2006 bailey bordeaux, the front and back panels have both cracked. The cracks were found early this year and bailey said they would repair it during the winter.
they then lost our file. They eventually sorted a date saying they would repair it at a time suitable to us, we told them that we use the van all year and were told by the caravan supplier the repair would take 6 weeks!!. It is now over 6 weeks we have a xmas break booked in the van but have been told today that they have not even started the repair and nothing will be done until the new year. We bought the van brand new and I find the warrenty service apaulling from both bailey and the company we bought it from. Once they have your money they don't want to know. We still do not know when we will get the van back. I will never deal with Bailey again
Could you not take your caravan back and have your break then get the work done in the new year if they cant do it now ? Yes its inconvenient, yes you get your break and yes you will get it repaired in the new year. personally the fact that they are going to repair it is surely good news ?
I would agree there seems to be no good reason you cannot have the van back for your break, good news then is it's done before your likely to need it again?
What really surprises me though, is the whole industry suffer with cracking front and or back panels, personally I think lack of wheel balance is at least playing a hand?!
But, what really annoys me is the industry as a whole have not managed to figure out why and sort it, it is not rocket science!!
Many years ago JCB's main digger was the 3C2, better than it's predecessor's but this used to suffer fatigue cracks in all sorts of places due to old fashioned design. Believe me I used to be out welding them back together once or twice a week and good money it was in the late 70's early 80's.
Then the computer was invented and before long a program designed to see where the weaknesses were, it was then a simple job to add strength in these areas to prevent problem in the future.
It also showed where not so much strength was needed and these places could be reduced in strength, an overall very large reduction in weight/costs was the result.
Enter the all new 3Cx which never cracked and me out of a nice cushy part of my job overnight
Where then has the caravan industry been this last 20 odd years? or do they still think computer are for playing space invaders!!!
no we cannot get the van back now, yes its good that it is being repaired but when they ask you for a convenient time and know of our holiday and tell you it will be six weeks only to find it is stored somewhere and not even been touched. Bailey have not done any repair work on caravans for the last 2 weeks we have been informed. Its the fact that we have basically been told tough and we will get the van back whenever they decide to repair it. We use our van all year round most weekends and they knew this. You wouldn't expect to take a car for repair and not get it back for 3 months cause thats the earliest we will see it, they have had it 7 weeks now and are not back working until the 9th january.
I must say I would have checked on a weekly basis with Bailey to see if the job is being done knowing I was using the van. I certainly would not have taken the word of the dealer who have no control over how Bailey operate.
Personally I have had nothing but good service from both my dealer and Bailey.
dealer hasnt been great in our case , Bailey on the other hand have been excellent and took warranty work out the dealers hands and did it themselves at Bristol including collecting van from our home address.
They do take some bad press , ive given them plenty due to poor quality / workmanship but they have always sorted the problems out quickly and efficiently
It's not just Bailey, We have had similar experiences with new vans from both Swift & Coachman after 14months ownership Swift had the van for 7Months, Coachman brand new 20 k van had all the windows on one side removed and resealed, door out of allignment, and water pipe off the boiler, clearly quality workmanship,
On a chaotic M-way services, I managed to just catch the radio antenna and water heater vents of our van against the awning rail of another van. Minimal damage to the other van, but quite a bit of work to be done on ours. That happened on the second of October, on our way home. C.C. insurers were great; everything quickly cleared for GO. But the dealer service dept? Ah, that's different. Still waiting for bits from Coachman, and then service dept will have to give me a scheduled time to take the van in. Not really expecting completion before end of January at the earliest; based on what i hear from other caravan owners.
Am I right in thinking that your van is being repaired at the Bailey factory?
I can't understand why it it is not being repaired at the main agent.
I won't go in to ours again, (gets boring) but back and front panels replaced on separate occasions,....... fixed by main agent took one week each panel and that was only because we could only pick it up at weekends.
I am told that they often decide that a repair and not a replacement is necessary, suppose it depends on the dealer and how bad the crack. Our back one was about six inches, went away last New year with gaffa tape for a sticky plaster over it.
yes the van has gone back to Bailey our dealer said the job was too big for them, perhaps they would have done one panel but not both.
Both panels front and back had several small cracks some looked a bit like a shatter rather than a crack.
Bailey have today been in touch saying they have a back log but the information from my dealer is that they took all workers off repairs 2/3 weeks ago to work on new motorhomes, I suppose thats where the money is!!!!! but the back log will only get worse if they take workers away from repairs.
have you spoke directly with Bailey or are you just listening to what your dealer is telling you ?
id be speaking direct to Bailey to find out whats really going on.
Welcome to just in time (JIT) modern business production techniques, where lean principles are the order of the day, unfortunately they seem never to allow adequate capacity for things going awry as they always do.
A bit like a Diary manufacturer being caught out by the coming of New Year.
What is it about Bailey and cracked panels. I now know personally of two people who have had this problem and it's discussed regularly in forums.
The reason one of my friends was given was that they had a learning worker, who had over tightened.
What is it thats causing it, is it this new system they have for pulling the panels together.
I've always been a Bailey fan, as have friends, but this problem they are having is bringing them a lot of bad press. I've not heard of anyone with a van within warrantee having a problem getting the panels replaced, but what is going to happen to all of these vans once they are out of warrantee, when Bailey stop replacing the panels.
Cracked panels aren't unique to Bailey, they are across the industry. Its no wonder Bailey moved away from them with the Alu-Tec design, don't hear reports of cracked panels in them. When looking at used vans over at different dealers, I have seen more than one brand of van with stress fractures in all kind of places, you just need to look specifically for them which I did. I suspect if they crack once and are repaired, they will go again.
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Topic: bailey cracked panels
