Dealer woes (1 Viewer)

[jb0371old]

We bought our new (10 years old) motorhome while we were at the Stratford show, we picked it up from Chelston about 6 weeks later and pretty much went on holiday were we found that there was a leak coming from the rear window area, we rang Chelston up and we coudnt have been happier with the service and how they arranged the van to be repaired by a dealer near us, so of the van goes to Greentrees in Dereham who look at the damage, get a quote sent to Chelston (who paid up straight away) and then booked in the van to be repaired. Well 5 weeks on from dropping of the van it is ready to be picked up (delays due to getting parts from Auto trail) its then back 24 hours later as the water is still coming in. A week later we pick up the van again and all is well, apart from a mettalic noise coming from behind me, I just thoight it was the cooker trays in the oven. We decided to go out for the day today and the racket is driving me nuts so I gert the misis to sort out the cooker only to be told its coming from the heater, after looking at it there are two big cracks in the top and it has been pushed down about an inch so where the normally flush controls are they are now sitting proud. I cant wait to talk to Greentrees tomorrow

 

[jonandshell]

Welcome to the frustrating world of the motorhome dealerships Jeff!

First rule of dealing with many dealers, if you want it done properly, do it yourself!:Angry:

 

[jb0371old]

True. I cant really argue with the quality of the work, and they were very friendly to deal with, its just the fact that if you break something then have the balls to admit it and then put it right. Honesty works for me, even if it meant getting the van back a week later or if it had to go back, now I have to get gobby on the phone (not something ime used to doing) Hopefully they will sort it out without any problems.

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[f6c]

Lets hope so

 

[jb0371old]

I see that Haga likes your post Jon. Its his bloody fault that we bought the van

 

[jb0371old]

Well what a suprise, they will fit the part for free but are not willing to pay for the broken part, its apparntly only about £30. Even after explaining that I need to get a hab and engine service done for the next 3 years due to the warranty with the hab check alone around £200 they are quite willing to do themselves out of at least £600. All because one of there highly skilled work staff used the heater as a step.

Greentrees of dereham fail


So now looking for a bloke to supply a new heater hood. I am sure John Cross will be helpful after all he is on here ready to help and take any flak if his services dont come up to scratch.

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[hilldweller]

Greentrees of dereham fail.

How dumb is that, £30 vs £600. You can't understand some people. Did you talk to the Top Man - politely ?

Warning - I may be wrong but - on a ten year old van there is so much can be put down to fair ware and tare I wouldn't count on that warranty too much. I suggest you read the small print carefully.

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

So now looking for a bloke to supply a new heater hood. I am sure John Cross will be helpful after all he is on here ready to help and take any flak if his services dont come up to scratch.

If you give Ian in my parts department a ring on 01-580-883061 and give him the details.

Peter

 

[Jaws]

Yup... Get in touch with Ash on here.. he will do it for far less anyway AND do a proper job..


( says the man who has never had a hab check or will let any other bugger touch his van oh: !! )


As Brian said, I am willing to bet dollars to donuts that 'warranty' works great as loo paper but god forbid you actually try and make a claim on it !!

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[jb0371old]

The warranty is with Chelston motorhomes and so far i cant fault there warranty dept down there in taunton, admitedly the van should have been checked before I received it so there shoudnt have been a warranty claim, but as there not local I had to use greentrees. For once I spoke nicely to the service bloke there (really nice guy to be fair) no shouting etc as that doesnt get you anywhere, he spoke to his boss and then he overall boss and still no joy.

The thing that irks me is not that it got damaged its the inability to deliver good service and admit that mistakes were made, after all I didnt even fly off the handle when I had to return the van 24 hours after I got it back as it was still leaking.

As the warranty for once seems to be ok I need to keep it serviced and hab checked evry year, in 3 years time I wont bother with the hab check but obviously keep uot to date with the engine servicing.

At the end of the day I will fix it myself and slam greentrees till the cows come home, which is a shame as they have quite a big parts dept and is local.

Got tomorrow off so I will quickly strip it down and check if there is anyhting else that needs replacing then give your bloke a ring

 

[TheBig1]

i did notice somebody selling new covers on ebay the other day and thought at the time they sounded cheap..so worth a look

 

[TheBig1]

here you go, found them
Link Removed

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[Jaws]

There is every chance, once you lift the cover off, it will be a simple matter of straightening out the bent hook ons :thumb:

Greentrees have lost 2 hab checks over you post. I have now sent both customers to Stowmarket Caravans which is a tad further for them but SO much better customer service

 

[jonandshell]

If it's any consolation, Jeff, Greentrees did an arse job on some water ingress work on our last van.
I finished it myself properly when it still leaked.

Warranties can make you reluctant to touch the van yourself in case you invalidate the warranty.

In my experience, if it needs doing urgently to avoid further damage, just do it and sod the warranty. Our Elddis was ruined by the long 6 month wait for repair authorisation due to more water entering the van. Once the parts did come, the extra resultant damage was not repaired. Two interior panels were replaced when five were really required.

The whole affair made us loathe our van and we soon shifted it. It wasn't a pleasant ownership experience.:Sad:

We hoped purchasing a new van from a different dealer would be more pleasant. It wasn't!
We made a snag list for the new van, effectively PDIing it as we viewed it. Five jobs on the list were not done, including the van having the correct weight plate at handover! After many phone calls, broken promises and the threat of legally rejecting the vehicle, a new vehicle plate arrived and was fitted by myself. The rest of the faults we rectified ourselves or have we just lived with them (marked trim).

Did we decide to upkeep our warranty and trust that dealer with habitation servicing? You've got to be joking! I wouldn't take toy motorhome from Argos for them to fix!:Angry:

That's 2 dealers we won't deal with again! Their loss!:Angry:

Sadly it's an industry that, apart from a precious few (hi Peter!), needs a good kick up the backside!:shout:

 

[injebreck99]

My brother in law has just had his caravan hab check and service done at this firm, when collecting he was asked to sign an "all OK" form, but then noticed the van had been damaged, nothing was said by dealer, once pointed out, they have agreed to repair it, at their convenience.
I personally use a small repair and service business in Norwich, very good service at all times, well recommended.
And don't even begin to ask me about the hassle I had with Greentrees when I bought a M/H from them, (Oh go on, ask me).

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[jb0371old]

My brother in law has just had his caravan hab check and service done at this firm, when collecting he was asked to sign an "all OK" form, but then noticed the van had been damaged, nothing was said by dealer, once pointed out, they have agreed to repair it, at their convenience.
I personally use a small repair and service business in Norwich, very good service at all times, well recommended.
And don't even begin to ask me about the hassle I had with Greentrees when I bought a M/H from them, (Oh go on, ask me).[/QUOTE]


Go on then

 

[freelanderuk]

if its the top bit your after ,i got mine from here £19.32

 

[injebreck99]

Oh alright, here goes then, several years ago when they were in their origional premises in Dereham, I was working nearby, saw an Elddis Autoquest 320 on their forecourt, had a deal to trade in my old Autoquest 270, picked up the 320 a week later, got it home, spent a whole day cleaning it inside, it was really dirty, not cleaned properly, had to go back a few times for faults to be rectified all of which should have been done before hand over.
The following year after a hailstorm attack on the A11, I took it to the local repairer I always use and he told me upon collection that the rear panel had "alloy cancer", small black holes in the alloy panel, I had seen them but didn't realise the significance of them until he explained them. He said the whole of the rear end of the van was rotten with damp, his meter went off the scale and that in his opinion it must have taken 3-4 years for this to have happened.
I also took the van to another independant repairer in Norwich who voiced the same opinion, 3-4 years and very rotten, approx 2K to correct, not knowing it had been already insected with the same result.
Upon approaching Greentrees with my findings I was fobbed off, they said that it was all OK when I bought it and I must have missed a habitation service which I hadn't.
I went to the NEC show and traded in the 320 for a new 2002 Autoquest 300, I was totally honest about the condition of the vehicle, so they knew what they were getting, I then recieved a letter from Greentrees saying that they would pay half the repair bill if I let them do the repairs, I replied that they had ripped me off once and I was not about to give them another opportunity, I told them about my new 300. end of (long) story except I saw my old 320 on the road near Kings Lynn a few weeks later, but going the other way.
Sorry about the long post, needless to say, I have never dealt with that firm again, and would not recommend them to anybody, ever.

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[jb0371old]

Just ordered a new top from lesuire direct, the old one was more damaged than I thought and it pretty much fell apart in my hands.

I have also updated Chelston motorhomes on the attitude of greentrees and he has updated his records of approved warranty dealers that he deals with, he also apologised again for the van leaving their premises with the leak, no problem I said as as soon as it was identified and a quote sent to them they paid up return of post.

Simple really, good customer service and an apology gets good reviews and bad service gets even more reviews.

Thanks for your help and allowing me to vent my frustrations

Jeff