Marquis

[BOOMEL]

I have heard of horror stories with Marquis. I am about to buy an Autosleeper with them and have already advised that I will be going through a very extensive checklist (something I have downloaded). Are there any experiences / lessons learnt that you can pass on? Good or bad.

Regards,

BOOMEL

 

[Odd-no-more]

I bought from them, it was the first Moho I had bought and I was naive. The hand over was terrible the salesman knew nothing about the MoHo, on collection we arrived on time with our trade in campervan but the MoHo was not ready, we could not drive home because I had arranged the insurance swap for 10am and we could no longer drive our old van. After much fluffing about they agreed to us being driven home.
A few things on the second hand Moho didn't work and it took over a year to get the air con working. I would rather have a tent than buy from them again.

However other have had different experiences, so it's probably down to the individual branch

 

[maison]

We bought from Marquis in Tewksbury about four years ago.

We found them to be good to deal with and their after sales service was excellent. They worked hard to ensure warranty jobs were carried out quickly.

We would have bought from them again if they had had the model we wanted.

 

[trophychap]

We bought our first motorhome from Marquis in Northampton both the service we received and the handover was first class.

We too would have bought from them again, but they were not stockists of the moho we wanted.

 

[MikenPauline]

I have heard of horror stories with Marquis. I am about to buy an Autosleeper with them and have already advised that I will be going through a very extensive checklist (something I have downloaded). Are there any experiences / lessons learnt that you can pass on? Good or bad.

Regards,

BOOMEL

We bought from Marquis in Berkshire. We previously had an Elddis from Nick Whale in Evesham who tried to screw us on the trade in, (invented damp) and Marquis were great in taking over all the warranty work as we wouldn’t go near Nick Whale again. Marquis were great. Service dept extremely helpful. We then bought a new Benimar from them and the whole company from MD downwards rallied to resolve a couple of warranty issues (typical Fiat saying It’s Benimar and Benimar saying it’s Fiat). I’m sure there are some issues with some branches but we have found them great

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[Tea Bag]

Hi.
Bought Twice from Northampton depot. Chris .Bennion. manager ( Went onwards and upwards in the company ) and an American chap "............ Fonte ? " When Auto Sleeper.Marquis started doing c/vans,we went back c/vanning to their " Gin Palace " top model We were seal watching at Don Amotts site North Somercoates ? something between Skeggy and Cleethorpes,massive water leak. Rang N/hampton and told them.......... " Where are you,we can get a loan c/van to you and we will bring yours back here ". Me. " No bother,the site is all singing/dancing,we can use the site facilities until we leave " We did.
Coming bac k home,we took it down to N/hampton and they gave us a CHOICE of a loan c/van while ours was fixed.
Last time there,a while back............. Chris and John ? Fonte had moved on and " Crusher !!" ( handshake ) was running the show...... Still the same service.
Tea Bag.
PS. Super dog walks. 1. N/Hampton depot. Out to main rd.Turn left, go past a pub that does meals on right. Footpath/s off to right.
2.. Auto sleepers yard. Out to main rd .Turn right Coming up to railway bridge,duck through the side of a leccy sub station on your right,climb up onto old disused rail track............... How long have you got before getting back. Walk either way.

 

[HugoBNB]

We got our MH from Marquis in Birtley. No complaints on the service we received from them. Point if sale, warranty work, general servicing and enquiries has been as good as we could have wished for.

 

[Ratcatcher]

We bought from their Preston branch, we had an excellent service. 6 months later tried to use the screen cover they included free on charge, realised it was for a Ford, we had a Fiat, no problem for them to swap it.

 

[starquake]

My only issue with them is they were overpriced on the van we looked at when buying ours (another dealer, not close, but still a dealer, similar to them in size had same model but 1 year newer model on RRP at £7k less for a model with less miles, and some prev owner upgrades like Solar included). Van in question (the overpriced one) still hasn't sold, still is overpriced, 5 months later, still is on lot, still no solar..

End of story is we went to look at the £7k less model to haggle, but realised the van wasn't for us in end (we found an issue with the layout from sitting in the van for a few hours), so we held until Peterborough m'home show where we could check alternate layouts before makign the decision on which to target to buy. Ended up with the preferred layout we wanted but had to travel to other end of country to get it ~ 3 months later. Interestingly after we got ours Marquis actually had a same van (ie the actual layour we purchased) available, same year more mileage again slightly less previous owner upgrades, but for £7k more than we paid as starting price. It did sell, but I'm hoping the person who brought it haggled, as it was at least ~ £7-8k over the going rate for that van with that milage, and had ~£1.5k less of previous owner upgrade)...

It did leave a sore taste though and that's why personally I don't think we'd buy a (non-new) van from them given we've seen their pricing up front, were an interested (cash) buyer && knew the vans value from monitoring actual sales the previous 2-3 mo from when we purchased. The lack of interest to haggle with upgrades was also concerning, the dealer we purchased from were happy to install several upgrades for us for a reasonable but cceptable low cost as part of the deal we structured, even though the van price was not super negotiable.

They could maybe have thought we were not a serious buyer @ Marquis, but I doubt it. The salespeople were nice in suffolk at least, and the yard was suited to eliminate a lot of models from our search for a motorhome as we immeidately realised some layouts, and brands were "not for us" though -> which did help immensely. I would reccomend them for this purpose as their yards are large, and outside of shows, it's one of best ways of seeing a lot of vans quickly.

Long reply but my summary is they are at the higher end of sales prices for second hand vans...

 

[Steve N Tracy]

Bought our first motorhome a Benimar 202 from the Lower Upham branch which is where be the company started and used to be the head office until Trigano bought them, found them to be very good, they modified the rear shelves of the kitchen on my instruction to a locker with tambor doors at no extra charge prior to collection.

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[gpat]

I have to be fair. We bought a new benimar from them. Preston. Lots of quality issues. Absolutely shambolic service for the first year. After many complaints though they did get their act together when they got a new service manager.

I would buy again from them now.

 

[StevenLynne]

Hi We bought a secondhand Bessacarr E765s a few years ago from Marquis. The flyer detailing the features on it showed it had Cruise Control. When we picked it up the salesman showed me how everything worked. This took almost 45 mins, by which time my mind had turned to mush, so I signed to say they had shown me everything. I had to take the MH to our storage place because we can't keep it on our drive (covenant on a new house). When we took it out of storage to try out on our first trip a short time later, I couldn't find how the Cruise Control worked (and the salesman hadn't covered that when we collected it) so I rang them up and they said "bring it in and we will show you". I took it in and they denied that it was on their advert. They had printed off another copy of the flyer with all the details on by the time we had arrived at their sales office. The new flyer they produced showed a Radio/CD player where, on my copy, it said Cruise Control. So the flyer had been changed. Their copy didn't match the one they had given me at the point of sale and when I queried it I was told they update them all the time but this had been updated after the sale and handover had taken place so this was a bareface lie as I had the printed flyer, given to me by them, showing the Cruise Control as a feature. When I got home I phoned my Union solicitor (we get it for free). He said that as I had signed off after the demonstration there wasn't much I could do and the flyers were only an indication of what was on offer! I also asked if I could get into trouble if I published my account of what took place. He said because I had all the before and after information in document form they couldn't deny the facts. So please feel free to pass this story on. (We bought it from Marquis of Ipswich. We worked as site wardens for 6 years on 4 different sites after taking early retirement we heard loads of horror stories from motorhomers and caravan owners it would take up a full programme of "RIP OFF BRITAIN"

 

[Augusta08]

I bought my Augusta (new) from them in 2008......... On the Swift stand at the NEC.

Only after delivery when I took it to have the tracker fitted by local Swift agent did we find out the vehicle was not New or even a a Swift.

They settled out of court

 

[maison]

I bought my Augusta (new) from them in 2008......... On the Swift stand at the NEC.

Only after delivery when I took it to have the tracker fitted by local Swift agent did we find out the vehicle was not New or even a a Swift.

They settled out of court

Now, that story deserves expansion.

What was it, how was it mis-identified, how old, was it labelled incorrectly and on display?

An intriguing post!

 

[Augusta08]

When we decided to upgrade our McLouis we went to NEC show spent the first day looking at 30 different vans, drew up a short-list of six went the next day to have an in-depth look at the six. The following day we had a short-list of two/three. we wanted a 7.5 mtre van with single beds, capable of towing a race trailer etc. etc. The Burstner and the 2 Swift vans, KonTiki and Augusta were up there. So we started negotiations. We wanted tow-bar Satellite TV, electric step etc.

Marquis were Swift's chosen dealer, and we agreed a deal £53K less £15k for the McLouis. We chose interior colours from the Swift range (selected dark, colours as it was used as a race support vehicle, grubby overalls, maybe) We were told a build period 6-8 weeks, and paid a £5k deposit.

Four weeks later early April got the call from Marquis Southampton our van was ready! We were pleasantly surprised it was quicker than expected.

We lived in Chester so it was a 200 mile drive down to Southampton but we go there mid -day. We were introduced to our Van. I immediately questioned the graphics were different to the van we saw at the show. "They change them all the time" was the reply, the mileage (was set-up in Kms) but showed nearly 500 kms. I queried it and was assured delivery and getting Tow-Bar fitted etc. Nice new '08' plates.....

So we parted with the bankers draft and headed home to Chester.

The next day we our insurance company informed us that a tracker and dead-locks were required, we phoned up Spinny Motorhomes our local Swift dealer. We arranged alarm, dead-locks and tracker to be fitted a couple of days later.

When I dropped the van off they said, it will be 6 hours go amuse yourself around town. 6 hours later and £800 lighter, they handed me the keys and showed me the operation of the system. Then the technician said "Funny van yours, it's got the new Swift interior but it's not a Swift van". I was gobsmacked. A phone call to Swifts with the VIN number confirmed it wasn't a Swift and I had no warranty.

The "Van" was a 2007 Autocruise sold as bankrupt stock a year earlier. The interior had been bought from Swifts and fitted to match my order.

I phoned Marquis and got my lawyer out.

After several days and legal letters, I was offered a out-of-court settlement to keep the van..... It ran to 4 figures, so we reckoned that we wouldn't get a better deal and took a chance (backed up with an insurance backed 3y warranty paid by Marquis).

15Years and 130,000 miles later it has been excellent value.

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[SpeedyDux]

When we decided to upgrade our McLouis we went to NEC show spent the first day looking at 30 different vans, drew up a short-list of six went the next day to have an in-depth look at the six. The following day we had a short-list of two/three. we wanted a 7.5 mtre van with single beds, capable of towing a race trailer etc. etc. The Burstner and the 2 Swift vans, KonTiki and Augusta were up there. So we started negotiations. We wanted tow-bar Satellite TV, electric step etc.

Marquis were Swift's chosen dealer, and we agreed a deal £53K less £15k for the McLouis. We chose interior colours from the Swift range (selected dark, colours as it was used as a race support vehicle, grubby overalls, maybe) We were told a build period 6-8 weeks, and paid a £5k deposit.

Four weeks later early April got the call from Marquis Southampton our van was ready! We were pleasantly surprised it was quicker than expected.

We lived in Chester so it was a 200 mile drive down to Southampton but we go there mid -day. We were introduced to our Van. I immediately questioned the graphics were different to the van we saw at the show. "They change them all the time" was the reply, the mileage (was set-up in Kms) but showed nearly 500 kms. I queried it and was assured delivery and getting Tow-Bar fitted etc. Nice new '08' plates.....

So we parted with the bankers draft and headed home to Chester.

The next day we our insurance company informed us that a tracker and dead-locks were required, we phoned up Spinny Motorhomes our local Swift dealer. We arranged alarm, dead-locks and tracker to be fitted a couple of days later.

When I dropped the van off they said, it will be 6 hours go amuse yourself around town. 6 hours later and £800 lighter, they handed me the keys and showed me the operation of the system. Then the technician said "Funny van yours, it's got the new Swift interior but it's not a Swift van". I was gobsmacked. A phone call to Swifts with the VIN number confirmed it wasn't a Swift and I had no warranty.

The "Van" was a 2007 Autocruise sold as bankrupt stock a year earlier. The interior had been bought from Swifts and fitted to match my order.

I phoned Marquis and got my lawyer out.

After several days and legal letters, I was offered a out-of-court settlement to keep the van..... It ran to 4 figures, so we reckoned that we wouldn't get a better deal and took a chance (backed up with an insurance backed 3y warranty paid by Marquis).

15Years and 130,000 miles later it has been excellent value.

Wow. Just wow.

 

[maison]

When we decided to upgrade our McLouis we went to NEC show spent the first day looking at 30 different vans, drew up a short-list of six went the next day to have an in-depth look at the six. The following day we had a short-list of two/three. we wanted a 7.5 mtre van with single beds, capable of towing a race trailer etc. etc. The Burstner and the 2 Swift vans, KonTiki and Augusta were up there. So we started negotiations. We wanted tow-bar Satellite TV, electric step etc.

Marquis were Swift's chosen dealer, and we agreed a deal £53K less £15k for the McLouis. We chose interior colours from the Swift range (selected dark, colours as it was used as a race support vehicle, grubby overalls, maybe) We were told a build period 6-8 weeks, and paid a £5k deposit.

Four weeks later early April got the call from Marquis Southampton our van was ready! We were pleasantly surprised it was quicker than expected.

We lived in Chester so it was a 200 mile drive down to Southampton but we go there mid -day. We were introduced to our Van. I immediately questioned the graphics were different to the van we saw at the show. "They change them all the time" was the reply, the mileage (was set-up in Kms) but showed nearly 500 kms. I queried it and was assured delivery and getting Tow-Bar fitted etc. Nice new '08' plates.....

So we parted with the bankers draft and headed home to Chester.

The next day we our insurance company informed us that a tracker and dead-locks were required, we phoned up Spinny Motorhomes our local Swift dealer. We arranged alarm, dead-locks and tracker to be fitted a couple of days later.

When I dropped the van off they said, it will be 6 hours go amuse yourself around town. 6 hours later and £800 lighter, they handed me the keys and showed me the operation of the system. Then the technician said "Funny van yours, it's got the new Swift interior but it's not a Swift van". I was gobsmacked. A phone call to Swifts with the VIN number confirmed it wasn't a Swift and I had no warranty.

The "Van" was a 2007 Autocruise sold as bankrupt stock a year earlier. The interior had been bought from Swifts and fitted to match my order.

I phoned Marquis and got my lawyer out.

After several days and legal letters, I was offered a out-of-court settlement to keep the van..... It ran to 4 figures, so we reckoned that we wouldn't get a better deal and took a chance (backed up with an insurance backed 3y warranty paid by Marquis).

15Years and 130,000 miles later it has been excellent value.

That truly is an amazing story. How on earth did they expect to get away with it?

At least you appear to have come out of it OK.

 

[Carolyn and Kev]

If the truth be known...we could all fall foul to a dealership or ....of course...be treated in the way we would like to be. Its always a gamble whichever way you go. There will be something that will either piss you off or make your day. The biggest issue we have now a days is the internet! What is the truth ? SO many review sites state that they know best! Personally .......Go with your Gut!
Ask the right questions and dont be afraid to stick out like a sore thumb! They are paid to sell a product. Its up to you yourself...to do the "dirty work" and make sure you get what it is you want. Honestly and truthfully my missus would make any body give in to what she wants and needs on a purchase. Just buy into what you need and desire....just dont give in to the dealer who ever it may be! They all want your money and of course....a deal!

Kev