I know it’s very easy and common to post on forums and review sites etc when things are not going too well, but here, I would like to say how pleased I am to date with my caravan dealer, Clwyd Caravans at Ruabon near Wrexham.
To keep a long story short, I bought our first caravan in May last year, although I had folding campers for the previous twelve years.
I purchased the caravan privately although only 18months old. It had the receipt etc for the first service but the book hadn’t been stamped.
I visited the original supplying dealer in Blackburn, with the receipt and proof of service and made enquiries into booking in for its second service. The attitude towards me was awful. They would book me in for the service but if during the service, they found any issues, they would not deal with any warranty work as I hadn’t purchased the van, new from them. Also they would not stamp the book even though I had the service sheet and receipt. Eventually the original owner took the book for me to get stamped.
I was in North Wales and visited Clwyd caravans to visit the accessory shop and purchase a few bits, blue and pink etc and found them to be very helpful and courteous. I noticed that as a Venus dealer, I asked if they would deal with any warranty work should I have had a problem with my van.
Not a problem. As such I booked my service with them for later on in the year when it would be due.
Since then, I visited regularly to purchase various accessories.
Just before we where due in for our service, I enquired about a new van that my wife had seen and liked, which we now have. The sales service was excellent, no pressure, fully informative and comfortable. We where allowed to take our time etc and eventually we returned a few days later to complete the deal.
Handover was fantastic, and again everything was explained to us and we had requested extras such as additional led lighting and external plug socket that had all been fitted brilliantly.
Following our second trip out, we had an issue with our front window. This was reported to Clwyd caravans immediately and they took it on and sorted the warranty claim out straight away.
Took a little while for Lunar to supply the window but the dealer kept me informed, booked in when the window arrived and promptly replaced it along with attending to a couple of other little issues I had noticed along the way.
I would just like to say, well done Clwyd Caravans and thanks to Alan, Barry x 2, Martin and John for all the help and advice given.
Another happy customer.
It's so nice to hear when people have positive comments about their dealers. When we bought our caravan 18 months ago we were not happy with our dealers customer service, as we'd had quite a few issues with it. We went to Greentrees in East Dereham, Norfolk who were happy to take on the warranty issues and handled them professionally and curtiously. So we used them for its first service and future servicing.
Although one could rewrite op as... Why can't UK caravan manufacturers require their main dealers to carry out service/warranty on their product no matter where it was purchased? New caravan very quickly developed problems with front window & spare part could not be delivered promptly.
Compare this with motor trade with service/warranty work available at any main dealer regardless of where vehicle was purchase & overnight parts delivery.
For a caravan dealer to receive praise for delivering only a service that should be expected does highlight the low standards of customer care that generally pollute the whole caravan industry.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but perhaps perhaps some perspective should be added?
No, Opensauce, you are not raining on my parade as what you say is quite right.
Why give a dealer praise for delivering a service that should be expected?
Well, because he did exactly that (within the restraints of the manufacturers lead time for spare parts of course).
You are right, the industry does appear to be in a bit of a mess when comparing to the car industry.
Unfortunately, I don't think that this one individual dealer is going to change the operation of the nations trading methods but if other dealers carried out business like this one did, then maybe the caravan industry would be in a better place.
Lets face it, one main dealer in Blackburn would have sold an additional caravan, a load of accessories and the return custom for servicing etc along with countless numbers of recommendation and good old word of mouth, but their attitude failed them.
I don't know the politics of servicing etc but I don't think the caravan industry will match that of the car industry due to the global scale of import and export of a particular make of car.
But, a bit of common sense from the little caravan dealer will go a long way
This is one thing I find that does amaze potential new caravan owners. Folk are used to trawling around to find cheapest car deal & their nearest main dealer will always do service/warranty work without question & without favouring customers who have bought cars from them.
It is very strange that caravan manufacturers do not have a similar relationship with their main dealers. As you say caravan trade is tiny compared with motor but nonetheless spare parts for current & recent models could be delivered promptly from stock & any main dealer service centre could treat all owners equally regardless of where caravan was bought. It remains a mystery as to why this does not happen.
We recently collected our first brand new van from Clywd Caravans and can only praise them too. No pressure selling from the staff and the deal on offer was the same deal we agreed a week later when we had given it some thought. Nice, friendly staff.
Ordered a Coachman Pastiche last Sept and it is now at Clwyd Caravans, Due to collect on 10th March, A little disappointed having to wait almost two weeks, But don't want to rush them if they are busy, The experience so far has been excellent and am happy to recommend them to all. Will comment after collection of our new caravan.
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: Clwyd Caravans
