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We are now looking for a different caravan having sold ours and came upon a great one on ebay - or so we thought. I rang him and asked if it was in good condition, any damp, damage ect. No- it's immaculate came the reply. Well loved, they just needed bigger. Great, so off we went with the kids in tow.

The caravan was sited on a seasonal pitch 190 miles away from us and even though it was one heck of a trek, it was a short ride from my brother so we was going to visit him, stay at the site overnight and then bring the caravan back home with us.

When we got to the caravan, it was obvious it hadn't been used for months. The man was in the process of emptying it of belongings which I thought he would have done that anyway and that's when things went downhill. He began taking items that were supposed to be included in the sale such as the TV ect and said his mum wanted them back after all.....

We asked him to show us everything working but he was a bit evasive. Couldn't get the carver heater working, the cooker cupboard door fell off in our hands and there were bits and bobs missing. Obviously not as loved as he made out. He then went to get another camper to help him get the carver heater working, so we got out out trusty damp meter and had a quick look, went all round it and it seemed fine. Couldn't find anything until we got to the right hand corner by the window. It nearly fell through to the outside!!! The whole side was not just damp but rotten. He had taped it and hidden it by a curtain and didn't expect us to have a damp meter.

He then came back and wondered why we were so miffed. "So your not buying it then?" came his response. To say we was hacked off was an understatement.   Luckily, we were killing 2 birds with one stone and was visiting my brother as well otherwise we would have had to turn round and head home.

It was a shock to think that someone would let us travel 5 hours to see a rotten caravan.  It has taught us a valuable lesson - don't trust anyone and always take a damp meter!!!

He has now relisted it and some other poor person is going to get ripped off. Theres no mention of anything missing or the damp. I just hope that they've got the sense to check it out before they hand over the cash.

We're still looking now but I know we'll be more wary this time. I certainly won't be travelling that far again that's for sure......

had a simaler thing on E Bay lovely avondale wren traveled 2 hours to view it inside looked immaculat till the damp meter strarted screaming ,wrotten from the nearside front corner all the way back to the door listed as dry and damp free.

He did sell it for a £1000 was most put out that i refused to make him a cash offer for it.

we must have covered nearly 2000 miles till we found the van we bought.

Dave

Am I allowed to put the number up? It's an Eldiss Typhoon, located in Northumberland on a seasonal pitch. It looks beautiful on the pictures but you can just make out in the bathroom one door is missing off the bottom of the wardrobe and that's just the start of it.

He's also a new member so I'm wondering if he has had negative in the past and has re-registered in a new name. He's also listed it with sky and a tv ect but he took those things out of the deal when we arrived.

Here's something that may be of interest.  I put my previous 2 berth van up for sale/swop a couple of years ago.  Got a call from a man who was desperate for my van and was happy to swop for his larger 4 berth.  He emailed me some photos and, by sheer chance, I decided to save them to 'My Pictures'.  Having done this, when I put mouse over the photos, it gave the date when the photos were taken - 4 years previously!  Warning signs were appearing.

We decided we would go and see the van (about hours drive away) but it was very clear that the van was'nt in the same condition as in the photos.  Inside just looked grubby and tatty, handles broken off etc. etc.  There was clearly some damp starting too in one of the cupboards.  Strangely enough, he could'nt understand why we did'nt want it!

A year later we sold the 2 berth and goodness knows how many miles later we found our ideal van half an hours drive from us!

Really glad you did'nt get ripped off though and good luck with your hunt for another van.

Jazzycats.

When we sold our last caravan it was damp in the bathroom and we told the buyers everything. We probrably made it out to be worse than it was but there's no way I'd have let them believe that they were getting a perfect caravan. They new everything about it so they could make an informed choice. I just wish I could see who was bidding on it  now but you can't.....

Bye the way, does anyone know of any good websites ect for ads about caravans. So far I've looked on Autotrader, ebay, preloved, HERE, adtrader and ukclassifieds. I'm losing the will to live now.............

I know the feeling the wanderers, I got thoroughly fed up with driviing around looking at vans, especially when they turned out to be rubbish.

Don't give up, the right van for you is out there somewhere.

Jazzycats.

I dont understand sellers not being honest. I have seen my share of rubbish in my time after being told its A1. Why not be truthful?

This thread is leaving me very disheartened as we have just started the process of looking for a "new to us" caravan. We have owned a van before so we are aware of the pitfalls of damp, delaminating floors and panels etc and I have borrowed  a new damp meter from a DIYing friend for our viewings. Now we have definitely decided to go for it we were hoping to be fixed up for half term in May but it looks like its going to be a much longer and hazzardous journey than I thought.

I am looking on ebay, preloved, adtrader etc but only to get an idea of models for weight and size as we need a small 2 berth under 1000 fully loaded but after this story I will confine my looking to local only. I would be very upset if I travelled 200 miles to see rubbish. Some of them look great as well if you go by the photos.

Carol

Item number: 250405857597

atb

Wizard