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Please can I ask for some advice?

We ordered a new stealth caravan from Dunster House in January for delivery at the end of February.

The dates slipped, to mid March, the end of March, the 5th April and have now been pushed back again.  We are due to go away during the Easter Holidays and are now not going to have our new caravan in time.  This is despite the salesman promising that we would and that in the unlikely event blah blah blah...., we would be entitled to a full refund.

The company are not willing to refund our deposit and cancel our order.

What should we do?

Whilst I cannot comment on the practices of Stealth on delivery, it may be useful to set out some of the legals.  First thing to appreciate is the nature of the contract that you have entered into. It is not the same kind of contract as you sign when buying a Bailey, Elddis, Lunar etc etc. Stealth operates differently to the normal caravan market place.

Stealth standard terms and conditions indicate that you are buying a “Bespoke” product. That is to say that they are only making the caravan because you have ordered it.  It’s not like buying a standard product that is mass produced. Cancel your Stealth deal part way through production and they may just not finish the van and scrap it leaving you to pay for the work they have undertaken, subject to the terms of your contract and a whole raft of consumer law.

Despite the fact that this is stated to be “Bespoke” your contract for its purchase has incorporated into it a raft of implied terms (by law) such as the usual satisfactory quality, price, appearance, finish, freedom from minor defects, safety, durability and fitness for purposes etc.

Notice I have not included time for delivery in that list. Whilst the law generally requires delivery to be within a "reasonable" timeframe, to focus on that legality at this stage may be misleading without knowledge of the actual cocntract terms. Four months may be reasonable for all I know. Further, I don’t know what caveats are included in your contract as regards time (I guess there will be some enabling Stealth to slip that delivery date) but any such clauses have to stand the test of The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. If they are deemed to be unfair then Stealth cannot rely on them. E.g the standard contract may say that they can deliver the van at any time up to five years hence. Clearly unfair as that is not a "reasonable time". So look at the contract and see just what it says about delivery. Perhaps come back and quote the clause.

These Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations only assist you if your contract was not individually negotiated. If you signed the Stealth standard form of contract then it was not individually negotiated. If you changed some of their standard terms and conditions then you may have an individually negotiated contract for which the Regs do not offer you any help. Broadly, however, just because a single term may have been individually negotiated that does not exempt the remaining terms from having to meet the standards of the Regs  So, you may have signed a standard contract but individually negotiated the delivery clause. If that delivery clause is, on the face of it, “unfair” you may be stuck with it because you negotiated it. You need to reflect upon that and maybe let us know just what happened during those contract discussions.

So, what is “unfair” and not binding on you under the Regs? A term is "unfair" where it causes significant imbalance between the parties to the detriment of the consumer in a way that is contrary to the requirement of good faith.  That definition is complex!!! Here then comes into play, for example, just what you said to the Company about your desire to have the van in time for Easter Hols. If you said nothing then it is too late now to use their failure to deliver to a timetable you did not mention as evidence of “unfairness”.

In considering whether the term on delivery is unfair one factor that will be taken into account is whether the goods are sold or supplied to the special order of the consumer; As I understand it the van would not be built had you not ordered it. Thus delivery will be subject to many of the vagaries of construction some of which may be outside of Stealth’s control. E.g. supply of materials. So, if your contract has a delivery date but is expressed to be “Subject to” and followed by a list of factors it may be that it is reasonable for the delivery date to have been delayed. Your post does not indicate why there has been a delay so I can’t comment. At the end of the day, it’s not like buying a Ford when there are thousands stock piled at the depot.

Under the Regulations, it is for you to show that a term is unfair and not for Stealth to show that it is fair and, without knowledge of all of the facts, I am afraid that it is impossible to even give a steer, at this moment, as to whether you have any justified grievance or not, in law.

It may help your position if Stealth produced their standard form of contract late in your discussions, say, at the time you wanted to put pen to paper. By not giving you time to take the contract away to consider it, when buying this bespoke product,  may be “unfair” by placing you in a weak position. This is not the be all and end all of the “unfairness” argument but may assist in evidencing it.

If you are to consider terminating the contract because no firm date can be given for its delivery just remember that it is a bespoke product.  The contract will include damages clauses so that they can recover the costs they would not have incurred had you not agreed to let them start work on the van. Again subject to the Regs as to fairness

Losing your deposit may be one term. The Regs suggest two potentially unfair terms in relation to deposits:

1.a clause requiring any customer who fails to fulfil his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation; or

2.a clause forfeiting a deposit or advance payment made by a consumer if the consumer cancels the contract, unless there is also a clause providing for the consumer to receive an equivalent amount if the contract is cancelled by the seller.

Interestingly it has been held that if a seller wishes to impose such a deposit clause then it is necessary, as a matter of fair dealing, for the compensation to be reciprocal should a seller fail to deliver the goods on time. Is there a clause in your contract giving you compensation for late delivery?

Upon reflection, you may wish to post back details of your contract discussions and the actual terms of your contract, if you want an idea of where you stand legally.

For everyone else, bear these factors in mind. If you want your van by a certain date and that is reasonably achievable, then make it clear. If you want compensation for late delivery, make it clear. If you want to be able to terminate without financial loss negotiate. Think about the contract Ts and Cs, read them, do they appear fair to you?

Phil

Wondered how long it would take for another bad report about Dunster House !.

It's a pity as it is a 1st class caravan !

Thanks everyone, and especially cwdc56768 for your lengthy and detailed reply, which is helpful in setting out the position so clearly.  

We unfortunately signed a contract, specifying that time is not of the essence with our order, which appears to be a critical phase.  This seems to be a lesson in reading the contract very carefully.

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to post.  Here's to a happy Easter Holiday in our current caravan.

"Time is not of the essence" and I guess that that is their standard wording which you have not altered. If that is the case then it has to meet the strict requirements of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations for Stealth to rely on that to deny you the right to cancel and demand your deposit back.

When making a caravan an experienced manufacturer will know just how long it will take and should be able to give an indication of the delivery date. I think that you can forget what has been said verbally (although that is useful in any litigation) and just focus on what the contract says. If no indication has been given in the contract as to a delivery date then the contract is "at large" as we lawyers call it; that is to say they can deliver the van whever they like. That is unfair.

It isn't actually what a "reasonable person" would expect. It's about what is a reasonable period of time to build one of these caravans. Does it take 3 months to build a Stealth? Personally I don't know, but if Stealth don't have the kind of production line that your Swifts/Bailey etc have then they may not be able to run to industry  standard. It would be useful for the OP to know how long a Stealth actually takes to build. Anyone know?

Phil

When I made initial enquiries last year I was told that it took 8 - 12weeks to build a caravan from scratch - I then made the mistake of buying the display model as summer would have been past before taking delivery.

A problem they have is as they are not a big volumn manufacturer. They only order in components as required and then can be held up waiting for deliveries, e.g. they have to wait 3 weeks for delivery of motor movers and that is only if they're in stock !

I wonder....do they wait until they have a sufficient number of orders before they start. That way the last order is done in a reasonable time but the first order just sits around for weeks waiting to be started? If that were the case then the company fails to meet its legal obligations for the first few orders and the OP has reason to complain and to bring matters to a head.

Three months to manufacture, as suggested by Surfer 01, sound a reasonable assessment of the time to build a van, and perhaps overly generous. Being ordered in January the OP should be about at delivery. So, asking for an actual delivery  date now should not present Stealth with any difficulty as regards accuracy of date....if they have started the van.

Phil