Hi chaps
Changed our Coachman vip 520 today for a new vip 545 and have been very pleased with my local dealer Ebor Leisure World at York.
From choosing the van at the Lawns show last year to part exing our van to picking it up today we have been delighted with the way we have been treated by the excellent salesman Dan. We even had a thank you handshake from the area service manager who happened to be in store. Hope the van performs as well as our last Coachman. We have had some upsetting dealings with new vans/dealers in the past and our treatment from Ebor has made a very pleasant and welcome change.
Cheers
Steve
If your last Coachman performed well you should have kept it as I know of two caravanning friends who changed from their older Coachman to a new one and both had huge regrets. One has been back to the dealer at least 3 times and back to Coachman in Hull twice with cracks in panels, leaks at the rear end, cupboards coming loose and the interior door not shutting properly just to name a few. They have just eventually got it sorted but he's selling it this year because they have just about had enough.
Not trying to disappoint in anyway but just telling the facts as they really are.
We are on our third Coachman which is now 14 years old but there's no way I would part with thousands of pounds on a new one to experience a load of hassle in the same way as our friends.
I’ve been buying/using caravans long enough now to realise it’s a lottery buying a new one, the point of my post was to highlight good service when I get it as much as highlighting bad service too!. Our old caravan layout was no longer suitable for us so keeping it was not an option. We had nothing but excellent service from Coachman and see no reason for it to stop. Only time will tell but we are off to a good start!
Steve
Yes, so there was obviously a good reason for changing your caravan which is quite understandable but like you say, it's a lottery when buying a new caravan as either your luck is in or it's not. My mate called his Coachman a Friday caravan because it's a standing joke that employees catch up on piece work times on the last day of the week so they cut corner to achieve this.
However, common stories regarding poor caravan construction is not just related to Coachman but much of a much with most UK caravan manufacturers these days.
Good luck anyway and hope all goes well for you in your new caravan.
I bought a coachman new in 2008 , then upgraded it for a different layout 3 years ago.
1st van was a 6 birth great when the kids were young but now it’s the 2 of us so fixed bed rear bathroom.
We all know it’s a gamble but coachman is the safest bet imho.
Well that was an eventful night!!!
Thought we best try out the new van before the hols start so we booked a couple of nights at the Bridlington CC site.
All ok until 9pm when all the electric went off then back on again and the fridge was beeping that no mains electric available so I tried the wife’s hairdryer in what I thought the fridge socket and it worked but seemed reduced power?, left fridge on gas and went to bed. Woke up at 3am freezing to find Aldi heating not working so in typical well thought out patient Gasmansteve logic (not) said “right bloody van’s going back”. The fridge had returned to mains electric when we woke up and found out from the warden in the morning that Northern Power had a fault at 9pm and the whole postcode dropped to 140v so that explained the fridge not working and the hairdryer not full power, they then had a total power cut around midnight. So alls we’ll again (for now)
and back to lovin the van, such a joy caravanning eh?.
Steve
Hi Gasman,
Agree it's always good to highlight good service as well as the bad.
Glad it was the power company and not your van.
Hope you have many happy times in her.
Regards,
Greg
Too right always give credit where due, I am sure your van will be as good as all the others and you will have many happy trips away. Too many people thesedays putting down manufacturers and suppliers etc.
We got our van new to us from P R Caravans in Huddersfield a long way from where we live but it has been well worth the travel, we love the van although we are considering getting something a bit larger. The dealer was excellent from start to finish they even took our folding camper in part exchange, and we got a years warranty and a few very useful goodies to get us started too
------------- its our imperfections that makes us perfect
I'm pleased it went well for the OP, however the collection of our new van from Tyneside Leisure World, a part of the same organisation could not have been worse. Hours (literally) were spent faffing about paying with my debit card because they didn't know how to use the machine. The PID was incomplete, and even when I pointed out the mistake and they promised to sort it there and then nothing was done. The handover was simply a disgrace, the salesperson managed to get most things wrong. For example, they pointed to the Aldi header tank and said that is your boiler. After pointing out the boiler was under the tank,I was told again the header tank was the boiler, and so it went on.
Thankfully the management at head office were more on the ball and seemed genuinely concerned about the standard of handover. Having taken the van at the beginning of December, they are coming next week to fit some extras that should have been fitted when I bought the van, that's over 2 months later.
Having said that, the design and build quality of our new Elddis leaves our previous Friday afternoon Bailey Pursuit in the shade. There are numerous areas where the build quality is just so much better. Fingers crossed that this will be the first new British caravan that does not need a damp repair within the first year. Sadly the last three all failed that.
Glad to hear the new van seems ok. It really is a minefield this caravanning lark isn't it. Strange that we wouldn't be having this conversation if the subject was cars, you simply don't expect a car to have damp in its first year and yet it seems the norm with so many folk's pride and joy caravans, even stranger that we are now in 2018 and it's still happening!
I was pleased that at least head office were very concnerned, and I did get a completely satisfactory resolution in the end. It was professionally handled.
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: New van delighted with dealer!
