Carthago Warranty, I have been left a bit miffed to say the least!

[TinaLes]

Took our Carthago in for its second year hab service earlier this week, reported to the dealers that the van was in perfect working order, apart from the grey waste tap which stopped working a few weeks ago.
I cannot close off the grey water tap anymore, so I am am a permanent grey waste dribbler these dayshave to resort to the good old bucket under method.
The Grey waste valve is as you Cartahgo owners all know accessed and operated from the underfloor locker, there is the lever to which a long bar runs through the floor of the van then out to the grey waste tap....well this moves left & right with no resistance these days and I thought had become unattached from the tap itself.
As I knew it was going in for a service, I left it and thought I would let the dealer sort it out.
I was then told by the dealer receptionist that the engineer had discovered the tap assembly was totally buggered, photos had been taken of it, to be sent up to Carthago, for a warranty repair "Decision"
It was also pointed out to me that " we dont know if Carthago will honour the warranty repair/replacement, as you only have a day left of your 2 year warranty sir" I replied yes but its still inside its warranty period even if it only a day, and you did screw up my hab service date the week previously didn't you? (which they did it was booked in and confirmed for the 25th of Sept)
No apology was returned, I was just told it was Carthago that would have to make the decision.
I then asked, when will I know the result of "their decision" to which I was told, "call us in about 6 weeks time, we should have heard back from Carthago by then"
I was then informed that "it will probably take another 6 weeks from the decision date to get the new part sent over to us to make the repair. I then replied so it can take 3 months then, to which she said "Yes"
Cut a long story short, I had sat in their reception all day 8AM to 4.30PM (8.5 hours) having the 2nd hab service done in the morning, then after lunch had the Fiat first service done, I left the dealers at 5PM.
I did not show any anger or disappointment at the receptionist at the time, I just wanted to get on the road home through the rush hour traffic 124 miles up The A303 & M3.
So Yes, I am now disappointed, peed off & miffed, I sadly/naively did expect a better faster response from a premium brand like Carthago, and I will vent my spleen at someone next week,probably the sales director.
Who should I be more disappointed with The Dealer, or Carthago?
Thank God its not a part thats needed which would stop us using the van, we have been so happy with the build quality with no faults other than a Dometic FF problem in the early days of ownership.
I had enough of this type of service from Swift in the past, didnt expect the same reincarnation of bad spares supply from Ze Germans

Les

 

[Silkcut1105]

There all as bad as each other les ,a shower of shit mate better of doing the repairs your self ,at least you know it will be done right then

 

[Lenny HB]

Should have gone to Reliance near Chichester much closer to you and you would have got much better service.
I think your dealer is taking the piss for a low cost item like that they should need to go back to Carthago. I know with Hymer they can carry out repairs up to £300 without refering to Hymer.

 

[TinaLes]

There all as bad as each other les ,a shower of shit mate better of doing the repairs your self ,at least you know it will be done right then

Yes I agree mate, but the replacement part will need to be ordered, then wait at least 6 weeks from date of order, then its guess the price and treble it, I bet
Les

 

[Lenny HB]

Yes I agree mate, but the replacement part will need to be ordered, then wait at least 6 weeks from date of order, then its guess the price and treble it, I bet
Les

What does the price matter if under warranty.
Reliance are authorised for Carthago service & warranty work.

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[TinaLes]

Should have gone to Reliance near Chichester much closer to you and you would have got much better service.
I think your dealer is taking the piss for a low cost item like that they should need to go back to Carthago. I know with Hymer they can carry out repairs up to £300 without refering to Hymer.

I might have to Lenny, but the first port of call had to be our dealer as we got a 3 year free service deal thrown in when we bought the van, including the Fiat 2nd year service, so I cant complain about charges thus far.
Handy to know about Reliance, hadnt heard of them, just Southdowns, but problem is that as of today we are now officially past the 24 months warranty date.
I have also discovered that our dealers do not offer any coachwork repairs (except a touch up service) and do not have an "In House" Dometic service engineer! they use a mobile authorised guy who gives them priority service. Unbelievable when you think they are on target to sell 500 vans this year (mostly watertrails though)
EDIT: thanks for the heads up on the £300 repair threshold, I will mention that point when I call the dealer next week. Whats the bet that Carthago dont offer that facility to their dealers though?
Les

 

[Allanm]

I feel for you, one day, one hour or one minute within the warranty period should be honoured and you dealer shouldn’t have said what he said. It’s either a 2 year warranty, or it isn’t.

 

[HandyAndy]

Nothing is ever FREE when it comes to motor dealers, that much is a fact..

 

[Pausim]

They could order the part immediately, it will be needed whoever pays for it.

 

[Southdowners]

Did you speak to anyone other than the receptionist? We’ve found that sometimes the message from the service personnel when relayed via the receptionist gets ‘muddled’... to say the least!

We’ve had similar issues.

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[Zepp]

We waited over a year for our warranty work to be completed on our Carthago in the end we told the dealer where to go and got reliance to take over our warranty claim .

We also got them to complete work what Carthago said could not be claimed for on warranty ie the engine battery was going flat when we watched TV.

As Lenny said above give reliance a ring

 

[bigtwin]

They could order the part immediately, it will be needed whoever pays for it.

My thoughts exactly - no need to build in additional delays into the process .

Ian

 

[DC4JC]

Les, I had the same issue with the grey waste lever recently whilst in Spain. Our van is 3 months out of warranty, so it was a case of either fix it myself or pay ( through the nose!).
The lever is held in place via a collar screwed to a metal plate, which in turn in screwed to the underfloor area. Once these are taken off, the lever comes away. The lever is connected to a longish rod on the end of which is a solid plastic fitting like a castle nut. This fits over the top of a corresponding fitment on top of the waste tank and when working properly engages and turns the valve on and off to allow the waste water to drain. What can happen, as in our case, is if the lever/rod is not fixed entirely straight the 'castle nut' at the end of the rod can ride over the corresponding fitment and therefore will not engage and open and close the valve.
I took it apart, made sure it was seated back on the fitment, straight, reassembled, job done.

 

[63720]

Our Hymer had an internal valve but now has an additional pipe attached which brings the outlet to the side with a plastic ball valve fitted - I now leave the internal valve open and drain it from outside.

 

[Minxy]

Warranty time/issues ... have a look at my previous thread about the warranty for our Globecar Familyscout L when we needed stuff, a year is nothing!

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[Zepp]

We ordered a door handle + lock from Carthago we told them it was not a warranty claim it took 10 days then I put a warranty claim in for the same part .

The waiting time is normally how long it takes Carthago to authorise the claim , also if it is under £100 the dealer has to pay postage so they wait till they have another claim

To be fair to Carthago they are getting better all dealers can check if a part is in stock within mins

 

[golly]

Hymer are no better for replacement parts, i have waited 6 months for a strip led light, just got a call last week that it was in, taking van in next wk for fitting.

 

[PORKSTER]

Should have gone to Reliance near Chichester much closer to you and you would have got much better service.
I think your dealer is taking the piss for a low cost item like that they should need to go back to Carthago. I know with Hymer they can carry out repairs up to £300 without refering to Hymer.

Are they the ex premier staff Lenny ?

 

[Lenny HB]

Are they the ex premier staff Lenny ?

Yep, the service guys plus Chris the parts guy.

 

[TinaLes]

Thanks everyone for your experiences & advice thus far.
I think on reflection that the hab service "Technician" at Chelstons was up to his neck with work, as I saw at least one other Carthago and two other MH's done on the same ramp that day, so I guess he confirmed the grey waste valve was buggered in operation, took some photos, then passed his comments onto the service reception girl.
Thanks to DC4JC I now realise its not just me that has had this problem, it obviously involved some time which the "technician" didnt have, to either fix the problem, or as he did just write off the whole assembly as buggered, and put in as a warranty claim.
I will get under the van and have a look for myself when it gets dryer, I agree that the part should be ordered from Carthago, but the dealer will not do this until they have a decision from Carthago I guess, so they can either get the part FOC, or let me down gently and inform me that i will have to pay for it, which of course is a decision they know I will fight.
I have one more "Free" hab service to be done this time next year (outside warranty) with Chelstons, but from then onwards I will probably use Reliance.
Do Reliance do the Fiat side of things also, if they do that would be very useful, their website does not reveal that much, nor does it mention they are authorised Carthago engineers, which of course they are, thanks to you guys.
I will keep my powder dry until next week when I give Chelstons a call back, and I know more from having a look myself.
Thanks to all.
Les

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[Lenny HB]

Do Reliance do the Fiat side of things also, if they do that would be very useful, their website does not reveal

No they dont, if Eurovans at Crawley can no longer do it Andrew Morley at Portsmouth have a good name.

After your next free hab check why bother they don't do much. Just have the damp check. On our third van in 11 years never had a hab check done just the damp.
Even the damp check is debatable with double skin aluminium body, damp meters won't work.

 

[TinaLes]

No they dont, if Eurovans at Crawley can no longer do it Andrew Morley at Portsmouth have a good name.

After your next free hab check why bother they don't do much. Just have the damp check. On our third van in 11 years never had a hab check done just the damp.
Even the damp check is debatable with double skin aluminium body, damp meters won't work.

Thanks Lenny
Eurovans Crawley did the turbo clip replacement re-call (10 mins with the van outside on their forecourt), but have told me since that they cannot fit the van in their workshop, despite sending me text messages telling me that van was due for service
Yes I agree the Hab service is a joke, as I did witness all the roof vents being opened and seals checked, having put a hose over it. They provided me with a long 3 page checklist with all the boxes ticked off, plus an advisory that they had adjusted the bedroom lights?, and that the grey dump valve was buggered.
It would have been great (dream on) if they had checked and maybe cleaned the FF flue, also the Flue on the Truma Boiler, but I guess they just stick a gas probe into the vents for a reading.
PS: will check out Andrew Morley for next Fiat service, did you get your ABS problem sorted out in the end?or did it fix itself by resetting the ecu having stopped for the night.
Les
They also confirm that they have checked the operation and carried out a gas test on all the appliances, but not a full test in accordance with gas regs ( i noted this from the disclaimer written in small print below the gas appliance section)
I think I have read on here that a full service on the FF or the Truma Boiler has to be requested and paid for separately when putting a van in for service.
I did have glance at their service price list whilst getting a numb bum sat in reception all day, a hab service was just over £200 for most vans, however a Carthago one was £28 quid dearer, I guess to cover the cost of the Carthago sticker that needs to be placed in the service log book, which they couldn't find!
Les

 

[Lenny HB]

I think I have read on here that a full service on the FF or the Truma Boiler has to be requested and paid for separately when putting a van in for service.

Truma Combo's are not supposed to need servicing.

did you get your ABS problem sorted out in the end?or did it fix itself by resetting the ecu having stopped for the night.

Been OK since had a couple of scary moment but I think it was just the crap Michelin camper tyres. Was pulling out of a steep ramp on granite cobbles with loose sand on top. Had traction doing its nut & burning rubber but it got us out.

 

[Minxy]

After your next free hab check why bother they don't do much. Just have the damp check. On our third van in 11 years never had a hab check done just the damp.
Even the damp check is debatable with double skin aluminium body, damp meters won't work.

I asked about the hab service requirements for our new Carthago and was told that only the damp check is required for warranty purposes, we're getting the first year's full hab check thrown in so it won't cost us anything anyway so might as well have it!

Oh, as regards warranty work, apparently Carthago pay 'proper' rates for this so most authorised dealers are happy to undertake the work and not just where you bought it from, of course I hope we don't need any doing anyway but certainly a bonus if we do ... although I suspect Camper UK won't play ball seeing as we didn't buy the one from them!

 

[Carolyn and Kev]

I asked about the hab service requirements for our new Carthago and was told that only the damp check is required for warranty purposes, we're getting the first year's full hab check thrown in so it won't cost us anything anyway so might as well have it!

You say you are having yours form Go European? Trust us guys...they will push to get any work done "In house" Before they will move it to Carthago! We can prove this with out hesitation trust us! They went out of their way to get some work done (or not done as the case turned out) for our Auto trail. We were told by Autotrail to take it to an Accredited dealer who can authorise the needs and jobs to be done. We did... and got it sorted in Cannock . Dont always believe what is put on the paper from your dealer.

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[TinaLes]

Minxy Girl You should have been told to take your new van in after 3 months to have a water ingress test carried out. They literally put a hose or washer all over it and check all seals on roof vents and locker doors. They then put a Carthago Sticker in the service book to validate the 3 month check has been carried out. Without this check your ingress warranty is void, please check this out and make sure a Carthago Dealer does it, albeit reluctantly as Carthago charge the dealer £60 for that sticker, so we were informed, might be B=====KS though, you know what dealers are like.
Check out the facts on the COG group web page, they mention the importance of the 3 month check.
Les

 

[BobtheBass]

I thought that Carthago had admitted that the three month check was actually optional? That's what we were told when we bought ours new from Elite.

 

[Pausim]

We were reminded of the need for the 3 month water test at handover and booked it before we drove off.

 

[Themselves]

Go European told us the3 month test was optional and not really necessary.

 

[Minxy]

Go European told us the3 month test was optional and not really necessary.

Same as we were told - I specifically asked as I had heard about this before from others on this forum and was told by the dealer it wasn't necessary.

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