Problems with Bailey approach motor home. (1 Viewer)

[T & J]

Hi all.

Really new to this motor home business and might add our enthusiasm is badly dented. Please see copy email i sent to dealer today. Anyone else suffering from the same problems. Advice eagerley accepted. Cant believe the amount of problems we have had or that it can be just my vehicle? Bailey approach, lounge end vehicle with drop down electric bed.

Regards to all.

Tony

Hi Richard.


Thanks for email, and not least chat on the phone. Firstly, apologies for the tone of my email. Too say I was furious with additional faults is an under statement. Having said that, emails of the tone I sent are never thee right way to secure assistance in resolving these problems. Once again, apologies.


Anyhow. You may (or may not) be aware of thee problems we had had with this camper van since purchase. We have in fact hardly used it, four times I think. The difficulty I have, and really struggle with, is that every time we have used it something breaks, something does not work and is disappointing to say the least. Circa 50k for this vehicle and to be brutally honest, based on its performance thus far, we are bitterly disappointed with it. Do we have confidence to go off to France/Spain in this vehicle for three or four weeks? No!! Not at all! We have no confidence in this vehicle at all and do now wonder if this was a major mistake and frankly we should have bought from another manufacturer. Truth is we are so disappointed in it, have no confidence in it and are frankly even at this early stage looking at other options. Having said all off that I know full well you guys don’t make them, and dare I say just sell them. Do PLEASE pass my email to Bailey to their MD so that he/she is aware of the level of dissapointmmentt/dissatissfaction. If I was MD of any firm I would be shocked, disappointed and more to hear of any customer having faults the type we have encountered. many of them are minor, niggling matters that should and could easily be (With a good in-house manufacturers quality check system) be avoided. fact!


Problems thus far

1 Plug socket outside wall. This broke on the very first day the vehicle was used. replaced.

2 Trim kept falling out above cupboards in rear, now seemingly resolved.

3 Collapsing bed. It seems that when furniture etc was fitted in rear, the set up cupboards/seats etc had not been set up adjusted properly. Accordingly the bed kept falling to bits. Typical, but this was the first weekend we used the vehicle. We were away from home (of course) had to go out buy a saw, sheet of ply wood and make a temporary lash up repair. This has now been repaired.

4 Jammed man hole cover floor hatch. The hatch cover over the fresh water in the corridor swollen up so tight we could not get it out. This has now been resolved

5 Loose window frame by the sink area had not been fixed properly. Screws were loose. Now resolved

6 Leaking shower. Water was running out from under shower in to corridor soaking carpets etc. Now resolved

7 Faulty door lock, main side door was constantly jamming, not locking, not opening and generally playing up. No resolved

8 Broken light switch, pull cord switch in bathroom...just stopped working with all the inconvenience with this.

9 Chain on plug on fresh water snapped. Think it was the fresh water tank, Annoying...now resolved.

10 Jamming electric bed, did not locate into position properly. Now resolved

11 Front blinds and one of side blinds clips kept coming off. Now resolved.

12 Laminate trim came off by rear step/ bed area. now glued down and resolved


The above is a list of past problems. Too be frank those are what I can even recall, it may be that your own service people have a more comprehensive list. Many of these points are just minor...niggling faults butt coupled with more major issues of the door, bed leaking shower etc are nothing short of infuriating.


Current problems....arose last weekend to be resolved.

13 The catch on the cover over the fresh water tank in corridor has broken. It may be (Who knows) that this became damaged when it was jammed solid and had to be repaired a few weeks ago. At any rate need a new catch. Annoying part of this, is that when we got to site last week, the plug was not in the tank and we could not access it to resolve the problem. Bloody annoying. On its own, lets be frank no major deal butt coupled with all the other items is just so infuriating.


14 Front fallen off fridge door, trim and side edging come adrift. Again, no major deal but yet again infuriating.

15 Broken trim on floor. This was identified last time vehicle came in for repair. Your service guys were not sure as it is on the edge of the cab, whether this is a bailey problem or front end of truck problem...if you know what I mean.

16 Small dining table has been since day one not level. This has been identified before but in the scheme of all other repairs seems to have been over looked by both your service guys and I quickly and us. Nott shockingly bad but not right either.

17 We have one light that has never worked since thee day we took the vehicle. It may be that we just cant find a light switch (So many of them) but ait any rate it does not work.

18 Whilst the wardrobe door was aligned seemingly fine the door now seems to be warping. Not bad, not bad as yet but the door is moving. Is this likely to get worse. the vehicle is stored under cover and probably the best driest area a vehicle could bee kept in.

19 Seems to be a patch under edge of floor as cab adjoins floor that seems to be soft. Not sure what the issue is, indeed if there is an issue but requires investigation.

20 Heating. Not sure if it is possible to balance heating better. Rear is swelteringly hot whilst front end can bee chilly. Is it possible to balance heating?


21 Patch under floor between rear and cab... Unsure who is responsible

22 Subjective but I challenge anyone to get a comfortable nights sleep?

23 Rear boot Lid. Whilst there is not a fault as such this is a very poor opening locking mechanism. Push buttons in and rely on thee switches to open. This may work this may not work at any rate it is an amateurish lash up mechanisms'. This really needs buttons or something to enable the operator to pull open the door when buttons have been pushed in. Lash up!


24 Subjective but, despite fitting £400 worth of the best quality mattress toppers available I challenge anyone to get a good nights sleep in rear of this vehicle on main large bed. The most awful nights sleep I have ever had.



Richard, after all my whinging I might add all your service guys have been great, helpful, polite and as good as they get. If the truth is known I think they are a bit embarrassed about the faults we have had thus far. But, certainly no complaints about your guys. Once again, do please forward my list of issues to the MD of Bailey, he or she should know what's going on. Would I recommend to any one they buy this vehicle? Not in my wildest dreams. If I even dreamt of recommending this vehicle, id wake up and apologise. I run a business myself with a multi million pound turnover. Im many things, im not stupid. I know snagging problems come up, I know things go wrong, but dear oh dear this has been an awful customer experience thus far.


Richard, give me a call with a view to getting this vehicle in ASAP for repairs.


07850664966.


regards.


Tony

 

[Gorse Hill]

@Gorse Hill - yes a design error which they appear to have acknowledged by an alteration in the later model, not many manufacturers get things right first time. In this case it was still a simple error in the fact that the sealant wasn't applied correctly and there are equally plenty of vans without the problem. As to freezing, there won't be many who haven't discovered the problem before winter sets in unless they leave the van standing for weeks on end and the only water contact is within the fibreglass cavity over the cab. All been discussed on the earlier thread.

Point taken on it being a new van (Bailey first attempt at a M/H) and initial design issues, however you would have thought the most important factor when building a M/H is that it doesn't leak IMO having water sat inside a piece of fibreglass above the cab area is a major design fault with potentially destructive consequences
We're extensive test not done on the product before coming to the market if so water ingress is a major concern in the manufacturing process
Why is it that when spending £50k its ok for manufacturers of M/H to have design faults/problems, yet if you spend £50k on any other product car/boats etc there's no way many on here would be prepared to accept a major design fault/problems

 

[Bailey58]

Talk about a dog with a bone, I've lost the will to live.

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[Gorse Hill]

Ok so judging by your profile you have a Hobby.

I am well known in the motorhome circles and have a lot of friends with Hobby motorhomes. Would you like me to send you a list of their problems too? would you like me to say don't buy German?

My point is simple, if you don't want to be involved in screwing the odd screw here and there, repairing the ever falling off window trim, mending the odd door catch then don't buy a motorhome of all varieties.

It really get's my goat when people just slate British vans as some inferior thing, out of my 3 vans two continental ones my British one is the best by a country mile. Maybe it's not the best built but it's most definitely the best van.

The sad thing is people spend 50k and expect perfection, it doesn't exist in motorhome world, all you can hope for is a good dealer with a sympathetic ear to ensure things get fixed quickly and correctly.

THEY ALL COME WITH PROBLEMS

How true I have a New Hobby , major problems with a shower tray replaced after 8 months(cracked) and replacement now cracked after 4 months installation process adopted by Hobby very poor design along with as people put it niggling faults
do you think it's acceptable if they do come with faults?

 

[Judge Mental]

jeez a cracked shower tray..hardly the end of the world! Thought you had serious structural issues that could not be sorted by dealer...

I'm sure they can't all crack or they would have changed them, so you may be partially responsible (ducking down now...prepared for incoming!)

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

I am awake at 3pm reading this thread in trepidation . We were planning to spend up to £35,000 on a good used motor home.
We are new to this, not very handy with DIY
Husband always did that stuff but now can't due to Parkinson's which is why we want to go and enjoy life more travelling around.
We are easy and flexible types and have camped a lot and lived in caravans so we're not scared of roughing it. Should we rent for our first season and not blow all our cash straight off? This post has put the heebie jeebies up me !
Sorry to hijack the post!

As your in Norfolk go visit Becks Motor Homes and speak to John, they are reputable and offer a good after sales back up should you ever have a problem.

Peter

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[Jac Sprat]

Thanks Petwr
Yes we will give that a look
We were thinking of hiring from JustGo for a weekend. Near cambridge
They were recommended on here .

 

[Bailey58]

I'll endorse Peter's comments on Becks. Bought our Bailey after playing them against Don Amott's quote for the best change over price on our Starspirit (and they're a lot nearer). They dealt with our water problem and a couple of cupboard catches with no hassles, lent us a car for the day but rang us within a couple of hours to say job done. Mark or John are very good to deal with.

 

[MikeD]

Jackie

There is a dealer review facility on the forum. (you probably knew this anyway)

http://www.motorhome-dealer-reviews.com/newused/becks-motorhomes/

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[Larrynwin]

Simpsons at GtYarmouth also give an excellent service.

 

[Gorse Hill]

Yes but sales of goods contract with dealer its up to him to sort out...and that goes for if you take legal action as well....

Why is legal action only applicable to the dealer, surely if the goods are not fit for purpose at manufacturing stage why should the dealer be responsible.
IMO the manufacturer is negating there responsibility and hiding behind the dealer

jeez a cracked shower tray..hardly the end of the world! Thought you had serious structural issues that could not be sorted by dealer...

I'm sure they can't all crack or they would have changed them, so you may be partially responsible (ducking down now...prepared for incoming!)

You say only a cracked shower tray but mines a double floor and the shower tray on the upper level so when it does leak am unaware of water sitting on the lower floor level which if left will cause severe damage leading to structural issues, why should a design fault be the dealers responsibility
They might all crack but after 8 months and new one within 4 months, not a weight issue am 12st assistant manager 10st ish
To answer why they haven't changed them all is because the van is a new design only been out 2yrs so problems probably only just coming to light, so like I said a design fault by the manufacturer
Why should I have to chase the dealer about a fault that they don't have a specification from the manufacturer on how to deal with and it's up to the dealer to come up with a solutio
hey ho only a couple of cracked shower trays pi**ing water all over a wooden floor indefinitely, no big deal hardly the end of the world but still annoying
Like the OP it's down to the manufacturer to sort out, and the more we accept it's ok to let the dealer sort it out the more the manufacturer quality standards will drop

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Why is legal action only applicable to the dealer, surely if the goods are not fit for purpose at manufacturing stage why should the dealer be responsible.

You only have a contract of sale with the person who supplied you the goods i.e. the dealer so they are the only person you have comeback with. You can't take action against someone you have no contract with however much you might think they are to blame.

It's up to the dealer to take it up with the manufacturer if they choose to.

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[Neckender]

I paid £54,000 last year for an Auto Sleeper Broadway EB Drove it Straight down to Benidorm, found quite a few niggles, sink wouldn't empty, bench toilet coming away from wall, door to bathroom opened every time I braked or went over a hump or roundabout, all the chrome bathroom furniture fell of the door, water filler cover brackets broken and it flapped about whilst driving, drawers flew open on bends and roundabouts, Thetford fridge kept going to fault code I had to keep pulling the fridge fuse to get working again, Main roof light winder over cab just kept spinning and wouldn't open, wall trim strips pealed off.

Anyway I altered or fixed most of the problems myself, and when I got back home from Benidorm I contacted dealer who had the van back to fix bench toilet, new water filler cover, fridge repair, repair roof light winder and fix sealing strips.
They had it for nearly 4 weeks and when I was due to pick the van up I found that they had parked the van on the compound and had done nothing.

They said that there was to much work for them to do and refused to do it, I contacted Auto Sleepers who booked my van in for 3 weeks later, and they did all the repairs that the dealer refused to do to my satisfaction and in 6-1/2 hours too.

Our Auto Sleeper is the best van out of 5 we've had for comfort and quality fittings, it will be taking us on our 3rd journey to Benidorm within 12 months in a few weeks time. All of our vans have had some niggles in the past and this is our 3rd new one.

Fully fitted Mazda Bongo. 2005-2006 Japanese
Auto Sleeper Gatcombe VW, 2006-2008 British
New Trigano Tribute. Fiat, ( Severe reverse judder ) 2008-2011 Italian
Auto Roller 100. 2011- 2014 Ford, Italian
Auto Sleeper Broadway. 2014-- Peugeot, British.

All had faults of some sort.

John.

 

[Chris]

You only have a contract of sale with the person who supplied you the goods i.e. the dealer so they are the only person you have comeback with. You can't take action against someone you have no contract with however much you might think they are to blame.

It's up to the dealer to take it up with the manufacturer if they choose to.

That's not strictly right you know.

Day to day problem solving lies with the dealer but if it was a major fault I would be looking at dealer and manufacturer.

You don't have a contract with the manufacture but they still owe you a duty of care.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

That's not strictly right you know.

Day to day problem solving lies with the dealer but if it was a major fault I would be looking at dealer and manufacturer.

You don't have a contract with the manufacture but they still owe you a duty of care.

Happy to be corrected Would it be the dealers responsibility to go to the manufacturer if it's too much for them?

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[Peter JohnsCross MH]

Why is legal action only applicable to the dealer, surely if the goods are not fit for purpose at manufacturing stage why should the dealer be responsible.
IMO the manufacturer is negating there responsibility and hiding behind the dealer

Like the OP it's down to the manufacturer to sort out, and the more we accept it's ok to let the dealer sort it out the more the manufacturer quality standards will drop

The Sale of Goods Act specifically states the actual final seller of the goods is liable to the retail buyer.

If it wasn't so then every retailer could tell his customer, ''go to the maker in Japan/China/Timbuctoo or wherever'' and wash his hands of the problem.

The retailer has the same rights against his supplier/wholesaler/manufacturer at the end of the day

Peter

 

[Chris]

Happy to be corrected Would it be the dealers responsibility to go to the manufacturer if it's too much for them?

Yes.

First port of call is the dealer but the manufacturer can't just thumb their nose at you, especially if it's amajor manufacturing problem.

 

[Gorse Hill]

Yes.

First port of call is the dealer but the manufacturer can't just thumb their nose at you, especially if it's amajor manufacturing problem.

thank you for clarification, others have suggested you can't take the manufacturer to task for major design faults thankfully your someone with knowledge of these matters

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[Lenny HB]

I see Bailey have damp floor issues as well now. Bailey damp floor.

 

[haganap]

I see Bailey have damp floor issues as well now. Bailey damp floor.

makes me laugh Lenny, one person posts a post and a'll of a sudden theirs damp floor issues with Bailey motorhomes. it's going back to bailey to be fixed immediately. I do feel sorry for manufacturers and agents sometimes. They can't do right for wrong I know a mate of mine who had a damp problem in his Hymer , if he posted on here there wouldn't of been a que of people saying that Hymer's have damp problems.

just saying like, don't own a bailey.

 

[muddywellies]

Ouch!!! Looks very much like your example went past the quality control guys "unseen". And to think at one stage this Bailey was on my shopping list too. Get your full refund and start looking elsewhere. Nothing to do.

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[Finvarra]

We have a bailey approach 740 SE made in 2012, it was ten months old when we bought it. We had to have a new control panel, which our dealer did, plus we had the 'soggy mattress,. Contacted Bailey, it was a fault from the mattress supplier using the wrong material. Bailey replaced the mattress,sending it bu courier to us as we are forty miles away from our dealer, and taking the faulty one away. There have been one or two very minor niggles, but the sort of thing you would get if you were buying a house, and what is a Moho but a house on wheels? A bit of DIY on the go is inevitable.

We love the layout and airiness of our bailey, we often look at other vans when we go into our dealer, and still come away liking our van the best. We've 5000 miles last summer all round Scotland, no problems, and are about to go off toFrance for three months in it.

I would imagine there are duffers in every make, I remember my snobby boss being upset because his brand new Jaguar car had faults.

Cheers
Lesley

 

[Allanm]

I paid £54,000 last year for an Auto Sleeper Broadway EB Drove it Straight down to Benidorm, found quite a few niggles, sink wouldn't empty, bench toilet coming away from wall, door to bathroom opened every time I braked or went over a hump or roundabout, all the chrome bathroom furniture fell of the door, water filler cover brackets broken and it flapped about whilst driving, drawers flew open on bends and roundabouts, Thetford fridge kept going to fault code I had to keep pulling the fridge fuse to get working again, Main roof light winder over cab just kept spinning and wouldn't open, wall trim strips pealed off.

Anyway I altered or fixed most of the problems myself, and when I got back home from Benidorm I contacted dealer who had the van back to fix bench toilet, new water filler cover, fridge repair, repair roof light winder and fix sealing strips.
They had it for nearly 4 weeks and when I was due to pick the van up I found that they had parked the van on the compound and had done nothing.

They said that there was to much work for them to do and refused to do it, I contacted Auto Sleepers who booked my van in for 3 weeks later, and they did all the repairs that the dealer refused to do to my satisfaction and in 6-1/2 hours too.

Our Auto Sleeper is the best van out of 5 we've had for comfort and quality fittings, it will be taking us on our 3rd journey to Benidorm within 12 months in a few weeks time. All of our vans have had some niggles in the past and this is our 3rd new one.

Fully fitted Mazda Bongo. 2005-2006 Japanese
Auto Sleeper Gatcombe VW, 2006-2008 British
New Trigano Tribute. Fiat, ( Severe reverse judder ) 2008-2011 Italian
Auto Roller 100. 2011- 2014 Ford, Italian
Auto Sleeper Broadway. 2014-- Peugeot, British.

All had faults of some sort.

John.

We had a few niggles with our 2013 Broadway FB, but all were sorted out and the van is perfect. People knock British built vans, but this one is solidly built and rattle free. We looked at a lot of foreign vans and although they looked nice and had lots of clever features, most of them felt flimsy.
You do need to be handy with a screwdriver though, just like when you live in a house, thinks go wrong, luckily, nothing major has broken, cracked, fell off ( we did lose all our bathroom fittings, locktight sorted that)
I have done a few mods so the van fits better with our lifestyle and a new bigger solar panel is due to be fitted next week.
I do feel sorry for people witty persistent problems, but generally, it is the dealer that makes things worse by not repairing things properly. Our dealer is spot on here.
Allan

 

[scousebird]

@muddywellies there are plenty of happy Bailey owners out there, us included. You are hearing about 1 that's had issues and all makes have them! Don't discount Bailey because you read one bad report

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[Pollyandarthur]

We pick up our new Bailey MH next Saturday, will let you know how things go over the next few weeks. We loved our Bailey caravan.

 

[Salamander]

My Bailey 745 was one of the early ones in 2012. Had the soggy mattress problem which Bailey replaced without any hassle. Had problem with the Hartal door which again was replaced quickly. Had some minor niggles which, as someone said earlier, were easily fixed with a screwdriver and a bit of common sense. Apart from this, the van has been brilliant and taken me around France and Spain without any problems and has been a pleasure to drive. Have looked at later models and other uk and foreign manufacturers and have yet to find a layout that I would prefer. My neighbour had a new Burstner at the same time and he has had problems with delamination of the side panels and the drop down bed sticking. The delamination was very bad and obvious when viewed from the side and eventually he had the van replaced with a new one under warranty. This still had problems with bed jamming so now he's traded it in for an Autotrail.
I am sorry that the OP has had so many "problems" with his van but I don't feel its a good reason to blame ALL British manufacturing as, fortunately, its not been my experience.
As an aside, I bought a nice Audi which the dealer carried out a pdi and installed the latest management software on line from Germany. Sadly someone in the production process in Germany had clicked a button in the documentation saying it was an automatic. The new software would not let the car be driven as it kept saying take it out of park. It was a manual so this wasn't possible. Took them a month to sort it out with Germany insisting it must be an automatic if their documentation said so. They lent me another car for a month.
Had a problem with a new Merc which stayed in kickdown mode all of the time. Dealer said they would have to replace the gearbox. I found the fault was actually a hole in the carpet that was slightly out of alignment and was holding the microswitch under the gas pedal permanently on. Took 2 mins with a Stanley knife to fix. Now that was bad attention to detail and quality control.
My latest car is also an Audi as I wasn't put off by the manufacturers mistake and intransigence. Bought it because I liked it and it suits my needs. Would have bought British if I had seen something I fancied.
This is a motorhome forum but gave these as examples of German engineering and quality control. My point is you can't please all the people all the time but don't knock something just because its British
Please don't be put off from buying something just because of some isolated incidents, even though they are a pain to those involved

 

[parknride]

We are also happy bailey 740 owners. Had a few other new caravans and one other motorhome, all had damp problems. Had 8 fridges delivered/fitted in our swift motorhome which was so damp it doubled as a boat. Initially had a problem with the water level indicator on the Bailey but this was quickly replaced under warranty. We love it.

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[tjay]

Hi T & J sorry to hear of all your problems. Had similar problems several years ago with a new Autotrail Arapaho.it basically started the week after we collected it and then went downhill fast.
had s few things sorted before be headed to Spain, had to cut short our hols and return, went to factory but was not happy with what the service manager was saying so would not accept any repairs.
To cut a long story short, put it off the road, went to court, won my case , received cash back.
If not happy do the same but be prepared to wait it took us 8 months to get it sorted.
Wish you luck whatever you decide to do.

 

[Live Life Now]

Well, some of the problems are minor, accept that full well. However, let's look at what a camper van should do.
1. Should be able to sleep in it. Our bed collapsed and had to go out buy ply wood and lash it up. Repaired after two attempts. Now, whilst I'm confident bed is ok, wife is not (know what I'm saying here folks!!!) LOLFor christ sake, one of the most basic things is the bed!!
2. Light switch buggered in wash room. No light.... Need I say any mor?
3. Shower leaking, carpets drenched.... Err... Can't wash!
4. Side door, locked is in, locked us out?! Safe? Dangerous.... Err, apart from climbing through can.... Could not get in!
5. Electric bed would not locate properley..... Not possible to use the additional bed.(what is the point of buying this truck I'm asking myself?)

Loads of minor point, truth is, so many I can't recall them all.

Pretty much decided, sell it, get what I can for it. We had wanted (don't we all) a brand new unused truck. I can see now I can't afford a brand new truck of quality I'm wanting. Had I have known about the crap with this one, I'd have found the extra money to buy a better quality vehicle in the first place. Now thinking sell this one, if need be add some money to it, and just buy maybe a brewer quality second hand vehicle.

You know, I know things go wrong, I've been in business more years than I should say. Things go wrong. But, if I'm selling a 50k product Id be busting my ass to make sure the customer is happy with quality of what the get. Terribly disappointed.

Now, having waffled on, chances are I'm looking to buy another. (This hideous pile of scrap has to go) really (really) top budget wants to come in 50k and think a good quality second hand truck might suit my budget better. Really, only two of us ever I it, nice bed (think we would prefer fixed bed) best size bathroom we can get, half reasonable seating eating area.... That's it. Ideas please folks?

PS.
Vital wife is confident bed will not collapse..... Know what I'm sayin? LOL!

I HOPE YOU USE A DIFFERENT DEALER NEXT TIME, SOUNDS TO ME THAT YOU GOT THE SAME ONE I USED. NAME AND SHAME
YOU CAN READ MY WRITE UP UNDER "DOLPHIN" ON THE DEALER REVIEW PAGE OF THIS SITE.

 

[camocam1]

What is this soggy mattress problem ???

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[Salamander]

What is this soggy mattress problem ???

I'm assuming you are not referring to possible "other causes" of soggy mattresses

See above Finvarra comment.
You would know if you had it! A small batch of mattresses went out where the supplier changed the material in the top layer. The new material, unfortunately, absorbed water and became noticeably very damp particularly when not used for a period. When discovered this was rectified and affected mattresses were swapped out or recovered.
Any bedding would feel damp if left unused in an unaired environment but this was very different!