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Subject Topic: Need advice - various problems Post Reply Post New Topic
27/6/2009 at 11:02am
 Location: Staffordshire
 Outfit: VW Holdsworth Valentine motor home
View GrandmaLiz's Profile View Profile   Reply to GrandmaLiz Reply   Quote GrandmaLiz Quote  
Joined: 11/3/2009

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Hi all,
I’ll try to be as brief as possible:
I bought my MH (1995 2.4 diesel automatic VW T4 Holdsworth Valentine) in March this year from a dealer (not local to me – approx 150 miles away) and I have had a few problems with it since purchase. It was supposed to have had a full habitation check and service prior to purchase – which included a 12 month insurance backed ‘warranty’. I had about £2,500 worth of extras fitted prior to buying it (solar panel, alarm and immobiliser, reversing camera). I paid for everything on my credit card. Problems as follows:
•     Water ingress into main habitation area – turned out to be blocked waste outlet and consequent build up of water. Had full habitation check by a local dealer, problem identified and fixed, reimbursed by vendor.
•     Significant loss of engine power uphill – had vehicle serviced by local dealer who said filters etc. needed changing which suggested that the vendor hadn’t serviced it prior to me buying it. Problem improved although to some extent the lack of power is apparently due to the van not being a turbo diesel.
•     Main battery not charging – called out RAC and needed a new battery.
•     Wind out awning fitted incorrectly i.e. tension brackets in wrong place (at extreme right and left of ‘rail’) which means that the extending ‘support arms’ don’t do their job properly and I can’t attach the supports for the zip-on safari room. Last week was the first time I wanted to use the safari room so I have only just discovered this problem. I haven’t had it looked at yet but I assume the ‘tension brackets’ will have to be moved which will leave holes in the body with potential water ingress problems.
•     Finally, I don’t think my ‘warranty’ is valid. Reading the small print, the dealer should have guaranteed the vehicle was sound prior to sale and should have stamped the service log. I looked at the log but there is no stamp by the dealer.
I am very worried that if anything else should go wrong the warranty won’t be worth the paper it’s written on and I still have to resolve the problem with the awning.
I would really appreciate any advice that anyone can offer. Are the above problems serious enough to justify me going back to the dealer and asking for a full refund and then going elsewhere for a MH? Thanks for reading this and for any help you can give.
Thanks,
GrandmaLiz

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No regrets - learn something from everything.


27/6/2009 at 12:47pm
 Location: 
 Outfit: 
View Opensauce's Profile View Profile   Reply to Opensauce Reply   Quote Opensauce Quote  
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I think if you expect a motorhome dealer to fully service & check a vehicle before delivery you are dreaming, but obviously as a new owner you wern't to know this.

Have you imformed the dealer of all this? he will probabley offer to fix the vehicle but on his past record do you want him too? I think one course of action might be to write a letter to the dealer, listing the faults including the wrongly fitted awning that cannot be easily rectified, rejecting the vehicle 'as not fit for purpose' request a full refund & go from there. I dont think you have a strong enough case to warrant legal action tho.

It sounds tho now the only thing wrong with the van now is the wrongly fitted awning brackets which need moving inwards leaving holes. These holes are fixable if done properly & you could get the job done locally by somebody who knows what they are doing & get your dealer to pay for this if he agrees that the awning was fitted incorrectly.

At this time of yr you want to be using the van not have it stuck at the dealer's because of a dispute.

Main thing is to have engine & rest of the van serviced by a VW expert not a motorhome 'expert' A 2.4 diesel is non turbo, only 75bhp & with auto gearbox wont be fast but its a good enough engine. On a van this age you really need some sort of evidence of a cambelt/tensioner change, if not get it done asap. The actual mileage interval for belt change is 80k miles or 8 yrs.


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27/6/2009 at 1:57pm
 Location: Greater Manchester
 Outfit: Santa fe Style & Bai
View Trek 39's Profile View Profile   Reply to Trek 39 Reply   Quote Trek 39 Quote  
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Go to the http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/  web site tons of advice and template letters for you to copy.

and ditto to what Kabbes says.



27/6/2009 at 5:55pm
 Location: south wales cardiff
 Outfit: vauxhall arena lwb
View delboydriver's Profile View Profile   Reply to delboydriver Reply   Quote delboydriver Quote  
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Wel some of the advice i could go along with but dont hang the dealer out to dry before you have contacted him and given him a chance to rectify your problems first.

If the dealer is prepared to correct all of your issues then fine , but if you send him threatening letters first he will already be on the defensive side of the street.

Not wishing to appear to be on the dealers side he is going to say it was not a really big deal for you to view and collect your purchase so the same could be said for you to take it back to be repaired.

If none of this works then get all the big guns out and go for it.

As for your warranty you will probably find the dealer has a slip he gives to the warranty company as proof of service .

With any used vehicle warranty such as you have purchased it is totally reliant on the claims percentage of the supplying dealer in other words if he has a significantly high burn rate your claim maybe refused if the burn rate is low the claim in all probability will be honoured .

In short lots of policies not many claims is good , lots of policies lots of claims is bad.

That is why it is termed as a warranty not a guaranttee warranties are underwritten by a third party .

So as i say give the dealer the opportunity of rectifying your problems first .

I hope this helps you in some way.

Delboy



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you may be frustrated now but infront of me there is a big incline . yeh it may be slow but it is in front


27/6/2009 at 7:31pm
 Location: Ilkla moor baht' at
 Outfit: Compass castaway 500 LL
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Just to add to this as you've paid by credit card & it's over £100 refuse to pay your bill as the goods are not up to standard & let them have the hassle.

mick



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27/6/2009 at 8:56pm
 Location: 
 Outfit: 
View Opensauce's Profile View Profile   Reply to Opensauce Reply   Quote Opensauce Quote  
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Quote: Originally posted by silverwood on 27/6/2009

Just to add to this as you've paid by credit card & it's over £100 refuse to pay your bill as the goods are not up to standard & let them have the hassle.

mick




You can't refuse to pay a credit card bill on those grounds. You have to pay the bill & then lodge a claim with your credit card supplier, I doubt this claim would succeed. Read
this for enlightenment.


27/6/2009 at 9:40pm
 Location: south wales cardiff
 Outfit: vauxhall arena lwb
View delboydriver's Profile View Profile   Reply to delboydriver Reply   Quote delboydriver Quote  
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but this lovely lady can always argue the point that the goods are not  what she thought she was paying for .

If the credit card company gets involved it prompt the dealer into action but i may be tempted to keep that up my sleeve incase i ran into a deadend etc.



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you may be frustrated now but infront of me there is a big incline . yeh it may be slow but it is in front



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