Southdown, do they do e-mails? (1 Viewer)

[funflair]

Has anybody managed to get a response to e-mails to Southdowns, possibly its just our money they don't want, we spoke to somebody (main man) at the Dusseldorf show and I suggested that they needed to sharpen up their response to e-mails and he did send me one to say that they do respond but since that generic reply no response to my questions.

I e-mailed a dealer in Holland and 20 minutes later I had a phone call.

I could pick up the phone but do I really want to do business with somebody who does not respond to an enquiry for a motorhome sale that is more expensive than our house.


Martin

 

[pappajohn]

I would ring them........

And tell them because they dont respond to emails they lost a valuable sale.

 

[BobtheBass]

I had some fun and games with Southdowns a few months ago when I wanted to buy a new Carthago (I ended up buying one from another dealer). They either didn't reply to emails, then after a few attempts they sent me an email that was gobbledygook and nothing whatsoever to do with my questions, then after a couple more unanswered emails I got one back with a picture of their MD and his motorhome with the unbelievable statement that they were pleased to have been of assistance and trusted they had dealt with my enquiry to my entire satisfaction! They had exactly the van I wanted in stock and would have bought but they could whistle for my custom with service like that.

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[BwB]

Took them six months to reply to my email. By then I'd made alternative arrangements.

Like my teachers used to say "could do better"

 

[Beacons]

Ring them ask to speak to Andy in sales we dealt with him when purchasing our van recently and he was spot on with return calls he even phoned us twice from his home in the evening after work cant speak for other staff there but we thought he was very tidy.

 

[stevec]

Bought our Burstner from them last year. No problem with communication pre sales but post sales response was rubbish. On the other hand email responses from the service department has been prompt as has their service. Cannot fault that at all. But for the sales side as soon as they had our money that was it. We were abandoned. Not even a follow up phone call to see if we were happy with our new motorhome.

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[funflair]

I would ring them........

And tell them because they dont respond to emails they lost a valuable sale.

if they came with a massive discount it might not all be lost

Martin

 

[funflair]

I had some fun and games with Southdowns a few months ago when I wanted to buy a new Carthago (I ended up buying one from another dealer). They either didn't reply to emails, then after a few attempts they sent me an email that was gobbledygook and nothing whatsoever to do with my questions, then after a couple more unanswered emails I got one back with a picture of their MD and his motorhome with the unbelievable statement that they were pleased to have been of assistance and trusted they had dealt with my enquiry to my entire satisfaction! They had exactly the van I wanted in stock and would have bought but they could whistle for my custom with service like that.

Sounds familiar, very familiar.

Martin

 

[funflair]

Bought our Burstner from them last year. No problem with communication pre sales but post sales response was rubbish. On the other hand email responses from the service department has been prompt as has their service. Cannot fault that at all. But for the sales side as soon as they had our money that was it. We were abandoned. Not even a follow up phone call to see if we were happy with our new motorhome.

I have heard that Andy in service is very good, but we haven't got that far yet.

Martin

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[funflair]

As a comparison we spoke with a Dutch dealer at Dusseldorf show, but we are away and I left her card at home so I filled a contact form out on their web site, it was in Dutch so I just filled boxes with English but phone and E-mail were there, only home phone which she must have called and got my mobile from answer message, she rang my mobile to tell me she would send an E-mail with her contact details which has now arrived.

The whole process has taken about 60 minutes

And the Netherlands are closer to us than Portsmouth

Martin

 

[Xabia]

When the Euro/£ exchange rate was higher some years ago as a family we used to buy our cars from abroad to UK specs at substantially reduced prices. If we didn't get a response to a request for a quite within two hours we were dusappointed. Compare that with the U.K. Dealers for the same marquees, sometimes a week, often no reply.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

I emailed them with what I thought was a simple technical query about a product that they are supposed to be the UK agents for and did receive a reply.

It was a one sentence reply along the lines that they only sell it, they don't support it.

This is despite the manufacturers own website directing UK technical queries to them.

I did send one back questioning this and suggesting the least they could do would be to supply the details of the right people to talk to. To date they haven't had the decency to reply to that one. They did send half a dozen spam marketing emails though before I unsubscribed.


Based on service like that I don't think I would ever risk buying anything important, like my next motorhome perhaps, from them.

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[Beacons]

We had some problems with our van immediately contacted them van collect ed
from our home in wales and sorted out and returned to us.and yes as said Andy in services.also very good.
Plus we have since had a follow up call from Andy in sales.to check that we are satisfied.

 

[tonyidle]

I bought my 2005 Hymer from them a couple of years ago. Really good to deal with & a couple of post-sales issues were sorted quickly & to my satisfaction. I had two simple faults: the Truma combustion fan failed so I bought a new one, installed it & emailed Andy with a copy of the receipt & photo of the duff item. I received a cheque by return of post. Same with the Truma heating thermostat. I repaired the fault at no cost, emailed them explaining what I'd done & why, and received a new thermostat within a couple of days. At the point of sale they said any guarantee work could be done by a local dealer as long as I rang them first. As it turned out I didn't need to.

 

[funflair]

Also contacted Niesmann camping at Polch (Germany) late this afternoon, just had a reply at 21:45.

Martin

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[Coastal Cruiser.]

They seem to be a waste of time, as in my other posts I went down to see them a few times as I only live in Chichester about 10 miles away.
Enquire about a marine tank for the S-plus they had, the wife then spotted the Charisma demo they had for sale she preferred that as did I,we asked for a Price on that also.
Have sent a reminder e-mail but still no return call 5 months on.

Now it looks like we are going for a new N&B Flair although after speaking to Mike from Premium Motorhomes when we went to Dusseldorf we are tempted on a Morelo Loft, very nice chap not pushy or slagging off other makes like some dealers.
He spent ages going over the options and spec with us then said to send him an e-mail and he would send us some tickets for the NEC.

To be fare when I spoke to Karl from Travelworld at the Newbury show about the Flair he did offer to have it bought down for us to look at.
Seems some dealers are more keen than others to have our money!

 

[Robert Clark]

They seem to be a waste of time, as in my other posts I went down to see them a few times as I only live in Chichester about 10 miles away.
Enquire about a marine tank for the S-plus they had, the wife then spotted the Charisma demo they had for sale she preferred that as did I,we asked for a Price on that also.
Have sent a reminder e-mail but still no return call 5 months on.

Now it looks like we are going for a new N&B Flair although after speaking to Mike from Premium Motorhomes when we went to Dusseldorf we are tempted on a Morelo Loft, very nice chap not pushy or slagging off other makes like some dealers.
He spent ages going over the options and spec with us then said to send him an e-mail and he would send us some tickets for the NEC.

To be fare when I spoke to Karl from Travelworld at the Newbury show about the Flair he did offer to have it bought down for us to look at.
Seems some dealers are more keen than others to have our money!

Premium are great pre sale - but service dept leave a lot to be desired.

 

[funflair]

Friends of ours have a Morelo Loft from Premium and can't speak highly enough of their service both before and after sales. The Flair is nice but you can get a lot of motorhome in a smaller box with Morelo compared to the N+B, if that matters.

Martin

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[funflair]

Premium are great pre sale - but service dept leave a lot to be desired.

To be fair a couple of jobs have been done back at the Morelo factory and they are very approachable and go ahead, I think they are determined to take some sales from Concorde and I am sure they are.

Martin

 

[Techno]

A friend of ours bought his new Concorde from Germany but handled by Southdowns. He could not recommend them highly enough. He just wanted to collect and drive off into the sunset BUT they pleaded that he allow at least a full day for handover. He is very glad he did as it is so high tech he'd be ringing them every five minutes had he not done this.
I mentioned the negative reports about this dealer and he assured me they were very much first class with him.

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

Friends of ours have a Morelo Loft from Premium and can't speak highly enough of their service both before and after sales. The Flair is nice but you can get a lot of motorhome in a smaller box with Morelo compared to the N+B, if that matters.

Martin

Did like the new 830 Flair at the show a perfect size for the 2 of us and same spec as the 920 but a smaller lounge, 1800 payload as well.

Looking at the Home 83, very nice apart from the extra options are a fair bit more expensive than the Flair.
Will still be looking at German prices though as it still works out cheaper even with the low euro.

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[Robert Clark]

To be fair a couple of jobs have been done back at the Morelo factory and they are very approachable and go ahead, I think they are determined to take some sales from Concorde and I am sure they are.

Martin

Found them less 'go ahead' and often wait weeks for a return phone call.

Will be chasing them next week about a part that we ordered in July.

After a recent annual service I discovered that they'd 'overlooked' resetting the service counter.

I think they're good guys, but disorganised and lacking in technical expertise, as they are relative newbies.

Wouldn't buy from them again.

 

[BobtheBass]

What I really couldn't understand was that they are obviously super-savvy with computers as their website is really quite superb and appears to be regularly updated, yet their response to something as simple and mundane as answering emails is totally pants? Anyway, it's nothing to do with me now as I wouldn't buy a motorhome from them if they were the last dealers on earth. Little upsets last a long time.

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

What I really couldn't understand was that they are obviously super-savvy with computers as their website is really quite superb and appears to be regularly updated, yet their response to something as simple and mundane as answering emails is totally pants? Anyway, it's nothing to do with me now as I wouldn't buy a motorhome from them if they were the last dealers on earth. Little upsets last a long time.

Ditto,

Bit of a sad affair when you have to go the extra hundreds of miles for a product!!

In pespective, bought a brand new car ready to collect in 3 days, noticed the day after collection that a passenger mat was missing and the self closing door was not working on the drivers side straight on the phone to them.
Next day a new mat turned up the car booked in for the repair and a voucher for me and the wife for lunch at the Goodwood Hotel, Cant knock that service…
As i always say its not the problems you have it is the way that the dealers rectify them that matter...

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[funflair]

Ditto,

Bit of a sad affair when you have to go the extra hundreds of miles for a product!!

In pespective, bought a brand new car ready to collect in 3 days, noticed the day after collection that a passenger mat was missing and the self closing door was not working on the drivers side straight on the phone to them.
Next day a new mat turned up the car booked in for the repair and a voucher for me and the wife for lunch at the Goodwood Hotel, Cant knock that service…
As i always say its not the problems you have it is the way that the dealers rectify them that matter...

But we have to go another country and import it ourselves, or not buy it!

Martin

 

[Cavs]

As i always say its not the problems you have it is the way that the dealers rectify them that matter...

We bought a used vehicle from Southdowns and had problems with it that were almost certainly not their fault. However, they took full responsibility for remedying the problems and dealt with us very fairly. I can't comment on not responding to sales queries, but I can highly recommend their service section, led by two Andys!

 

[TrebleH]

We are new to Southdowns as we have just bought an older Concorde, up to now I have experienced no problems and got a quick response to any questions and found them very helpful.

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[Jim]

We are new to Southdowns as we have just bought an older Concorde, up to now I have experienced no problems and got a quick response to any questions and found them very helpful.

Would you kindly review your experience with them. Its easy to do, just click on "write a Review' it only takes a few mouse clicks . Cheers

 

[TrebleH]

I have to say that I can only agree with most complaints, we recently bought a 2006 Concorde and had a few problems, I emailed Southdowns , they did reply after a while, unfortunately only to inform me that the parts I wanted are not available, for a 2006 van!! After several attempts I contacted Concorde myself only to be told that they have no records for my van, they also informed me that the parts where not available, so, it wasn't entirely Southdowns who were at fault. They are always very slow to answer emails and don't seem to want to put themselves to any trouble.

Howard

 

[Beacons]

@TrebleH Hi Howard did you speak to Andy in spares our van is 2006
Not a concorde i know but he is normally very helpful .
Best wishes to you both Jan.x

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