We’ve used Graham Moller / The Careavan Man, Uxbridge (found his details on here quite a while ago) for a few previous services on our Bailey Caravan; he’s Bailey approved and comes to the house.
He’s not brilliant at communication (uses email) but otherwise all has been fine. Got on quietly with his work, enjoyed cups of tea and chatted a little about the caravan, his caravan, and his late dog.
We booked him this Spring with everything booked and acknowledged by email.
NEVER TURNED UP and no contact before or afterwards to let us know.
I sent an email = no reply. We worried maybe he was quite ill, had a family or whatever issue or even maybe had died!
However, as he does get some quite negative reviews (2.3 out of 5 on Google) I decided to try and find out. The day after he failed to turn up for our caravan service I sent him an email inquiry from a friend’s email address, asking if he was available to do a Service. He very promptly replied and said he was available. Obviously alive and kicking.
With £220 plus for one day’s work servicing a caravan he obviously earns sufficient for whatever he needs, and it would seem he doesn’t bother about his reputation or about his customers.
I would consider that £220 for a caravan service is way over priced anyway as I pay just over half of that to my service engineer who has never let me down in the past 6 years. Once bitten twice shy as they say so my advice would be to look elsewhere. It's his loss at the end of the day and a bleak future for him if he treats the majority of customers this way.
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
Not defending his actions, or the lack of them. (Your caravan man )
However I had my caravan guy up to my van a couple of weeks ago. Great guy, Very reliable also. Steve from south of Sheffield. Changed me four wheel bearings.
He was telling me that he could work 20 hours per day seven days per week, and still not catch up with orders !!
Staycations, new caravaners etc.etc.
Quote: Originally posted by kevin-t on 30/4/2022
Not defending his actions, or the lack of them. (Your caravan man )
However I had my caravan guy up to my van a couple of weeks ago. Great guy, Very reliable also. Steve from south of Sheffield. Changed me four wheel bearings.
He was telling me that he could work 20 hours per day seven days per week, and still not catch up with orders !!
Staycations, new caravaners etc.etc.
Seems these guys are in growing demand.....
I don't think that's pertinent here!
The Careavan Man accepted my booking; in fact he chose the date. He wasn't pressured by me and could simply have said he was too busy (if that was the case). If he later found he was too busy to honour the booking he'd made a simple email telling me that would have taken him just 5 minutes.
The Careavan Man reviews on AWS (Approved Workshop Scheme) website tell of much the same tale, good in what he does when he does it, but rather unreliable, rated 87 out of 100!
I did consider him to service my van, but his poor rating and reviews put me off, ended up using Towfix (Paul Sewell) with 99 out of 100 and glowing reviews, he certainly didn't disappoint in any aspect from my experience and the high rating and great reviews were well justified.
The Careavan Man is not likely to be even a second choice for me after your experience. No excuse for not letting you know he couldn't make it. I have to pre-book the service bay on my storage site and travel 45min to get there, so wouldn't be at all tolerant of a no show!
Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 30/4/2022
The Careavan Man is not likely to be even a second choice for me after your experience. No excuse for not letting you know he couldn't make it. I have to pre-book the service bay on my storage site and travel 45min to get there, so wouldn't be at all tolerant of a no show!
Not as much trouble as letting you down would be ... but we weren't happy to have removed our caravan cover (not such an easy task for us now we are older [and I am not very tall!]) and we removed a heap of items from inside the caravan which we thought might be in his way.
Also, he had arranged with Bailey to get some replacement trim on warranty as the original has gone mouldy and come unstuck; we now have the dilemma that his 'no sure' has left us outside the time frame for the service to continue to verify the warranty. He knew this too.
Quote: Originally posted by LittleSole on 30/4/2022
Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 30/4/2022
The Careavan Man is not likely to be even a second choice for me after your experience. No excuse for not letting you know he couldn't make it. I have to pre-book the service bay on my storage site and travel 45min to get there, so wouldn't be at all tolerant of a no show!
Not as much trouble as letting you down would be ... but we weren't happy to have removed our caravan cover (not such an easy task for us now we are older [and I am not very tall!]) and we removed a heap of items from inside the caravan which we thought might be in his way.
Also, he had arranged with Bailey to get some replacement trim on warranty as the original has gone mouldy and come unstuck; we now have the dilemma that his 'no sure' has left us outside the time frame for the service to continue to verify the warranty. He knew this too.
Did you contact him to ask what he'd let you down and state his lack of communication and no-show has potentially compromised your warranty situation? Maybe also direct him to this thread via a link, let him know his poor service has been brought to the attention of other campers, you might get a get some response then?
I actually thought you'd misspelt 'Caravan' until I googled and found the business name really is Careavan Man... ironic really, when it seems he couldn't care less about keeping his customers updated and informed. As you rightly say,it's the lack of communication that's the issue here.
One of our roof vents broke, he said he would order one and fit it. Waited ages, then he said that the one he ordered was damaged...took it to our local dealer in the end. No more uncaring Careavan Man.He probably never even ordered it.
Quote: Originally posted by LittleSole on 30/4/2022
Not as much trouble as letting you down would be ... but we weren't happy to have removed our caravan cover (not such an easy task for us now we are older [and I am not very tall!]) and we removed a heap of items from inside the caravan which we thought might be in his way.
Also, he had arranged with Bailey to get some replacement trim on warranty as the original has gone mouldy and come unstuck; we now have the dilemma that his 'no sure' has left us outside the time frame for the service to continue to verify the warranty. He knew this too.
As he broke the contract and as a result your warranty has lapsed, if you have any further warranty issues he may be responsible for ensuring that the warranty work is done. Keep all paperwork etc regarding the failed appointment as it may help at some point in the future.
You could also contact the manufacturer and offer proof of the circumstances and request an extension. Worth a try!
Quote: Originally posted by lidds0 on 01/5/2022
Did you contact him to ask what he'd let you down and state his lack of communication and no-show has potentially compromised your warranty situation? Maybe also direct him to this thread via a link, let him know his poor service has been brought to the attention of other campers, you might get a get some response then?
I actually thought you'd misspelt 'Caravan' until I googled and found the business name really is Careavan Man... ironic really, when it seems he couldn't care less about keeping his customers updated and informed. As you rightly say,it's the lack of communication that's the issue here.
I did indeed contact him by email the evening of his no-show, initially to elicit any acceptable reason he might have had for not turning up. He did not reply. I tried telephoning him but just got his answer-machine and got no return call (it seems from other reviews he never returns calls). It was subsequent to this that I used a friend's name and email to make contact and find out if he really did have an acceptable excuse; he responded immediately to 'her' inquiry offering a service date in the very near future. Obviously still able to use his email.
So he could communicate if he chose to.
He was well aware our service was booked only just within the 6 week deadline to maintain the warranty ... we had discussed it.
Quote: Originally posted by iank01 on 01/5/2022
As he broke the contract and as a result your warranty has lapsed, if you have any further warranty issues he may be responsible for ensuring that the warranty work is done. Keep all paperwork etc regarding the failed appointment as it may help at some point in the future.
You could also contact the manufacturer and offer proof of the circumstances and request an extension. Worth a try!
Thank you, keeping all the emails is a very worthwhile idea.
I shall contact Baileys (he is indeed a Bailey Approved Service Engineer), however I am not very hopeful of a helpful response ... during the first lockdown our service was due and as we were 'shielding' due to underlying health issues I contacted Baileys and asked if they would allow the time-frame for that service be extended; their response was it was not something they would consider!
Bad PR and/or communication is unforgivable. Theres no excuse for it. But if hes stupid enough to think theres a never-ending supply of 'suckers' out there ready to pay him over the odds if he can be bothered to turn up, it will tail off at some point, then he'll be struggling.
We were having a lunchtime drink one Saturday near a site we were staying a few years back. There were maybe 8 people from the site in there. Then a bloke came in and met his mate. This bloke was apparently a local caravan mobile engineer. He told his mate, and anyone else that could hear - which was most of the bar, that he had just got a call from another nearby site from a bloke that was desperate to get away, but had broken his jockey wheel - and could he help him.
Engineer guy then says he sacked the bloke off, on account of Saturday afternoons was his 'beer time'. At this, all the caravan folk are gobsmacked, looking at each other, and then to cap it off, he walks around everyone handing out his business cards.
Suffice to say, every single one was left on the tables. What a pillock!
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Topic: The Careavan Man; very disappointing
via mobile 01/5/2022 at 6:03am
