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This is a ticking time bomb for owners so please read:

We have a 2007 Avondale Argente 650-6. Up until now I have forgiven the shoddy build quality on some of the interior (that my handy OH has had to fix) because I love the layout, but after the weekend, I wanted to warn other owners about something very bad but invisible to the eye!

This might make sense only to people who know the layout, by the way.

When we opened up the van earlier this month, we found we had burst pipes going from the bathroom sink, running along behind the tall cupboard and fire (opposite the kitchen)  My daughter noticed water on the floor and it was literally pouring out through the wheel top. The only way you can access this area is by taking the two drawers out, which is obviously a complete nightmare and leaves letter-box sized access holes (we were advised against trying to remove the fire below them). 

OH managed to isolate the kitchen from the rest of the van with a few hastily bought clips (or something more technical, not sure), which got us by for that first visit. This weekend, he decided to have a crack at fixing it, he's pretty handy.  

After removing the blown-air heating venting and managing to get his arm in, he found that they didn't actually burst. They had both been melted through by the venting! When it was in the process of being put together, the workmen (Friday-built comes to mind) had squashed the water pipes between the venting and the wheel arch so over the last 3 years of having the van (we bought it brand new, never even been walked in by anyone else), every time we had the heating on, it had gradually been melting the pipes, resulting in them finally giving way and spewing water everywhere.  If the van had been under warranty we might have been able to get it fixed properly, but it isn't so we had to do it ourselves (there was a lot of cursing involved). 

He didn't think he'd be able to do it at first, but we have an 8 year old with skinny arms who just about managed to attach the new pipe to the old one, we'll be keeping an eye on it though, and we always turn the pump off now, when we leave the van for the day.

Also, it explains why there was always a lot of heat coming out of that vent hole and the one in the bathroom, but the bedroom was always cold - hot air doesn't travel around corners apparently. It takes the most direct route? OH has now blocked off the middle two vents (kitchen, bathroom) so now the kids don't freeze in the night.

Avondale's name is now Mud in our house, OH would never buy another one (even if they were still going)

Hope this has been of some use to fellow owners!

Thanks for that Rune. The pipes are the worst in a long line of stupid problems that are only there because of poor design or bad workmen, and all the time I've actually been recommending my van because the layout is brilliant and it has bags of storage space. It would've been handy if they'd have put an access point in the cupboard, its quite wide so would have been possible.

Very interesting, hearing about the Truma. Hadn't heard anything before

Quote: Originally posted by Karen13 on 29/3/2010

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Thanks for that Rune. The pipes are the worst in a long line of stupid problems that are only there because of poor design or bad workmen, and all the time I've actually been recommending my van because the layout is brilliant and it has bags of storage space. It would've been handy if they'd have put an access point in the cupboard, its quite wide so would have been possible.

Very interesting, hearing about the Truma. Hadn't heard anything before

 

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Quote: Originally posted by mrs skippy on 30/3/2010

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Surfer01 our dealer told us all warranties became void after avondale went bust, we had a few problems and had to pay for work that would of been covered.

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Our dealer (Forest of Dean Caravans) did say they would honour the warranty, to be fair to them, but as we would have to tow it from West Wales to them for servicing, which would be a problem, we decided not to bother.  We weren't far off the 3 years for the normal warranty (it was registered October 06) and took the chance that if we had to claim for damp (6 year warranty) we would be unlucky. Some might call us foolish but them's the chances you take.

We would now be outside the 3 year warranty period anyway, so we probably wouldn't be able to claim for the work done, though I could well be wrong, I know nothing about warranties.

It was actually more of a relief when we knew we could play about with it and fix the smaller stuff ourselves because the workshop where we had the van serviced were supposed to fix one of the problems, under the warranty, but didn't (first they were waiting for a part, then the wrong one came in, then we gave up waiting).

As long as the problems are fixable by OH (ie in a reachable place), I'm with Rune, we can now make things stronger than they were and fix things without worrying about warranties. 

We were just extremely ticked off by the fact that no thought was given to after-sales or repair work (and burst pipes can be a common thing) when they boxed up and sealed the unit, and it might be something that other owners would want to keep an eye on. I didn't realise that vans were made from the inside out though, that would indeed explain how the pipes got squashed.

If you're paying £17000 for a van, you'd think it would be built to a certain standard (we paid somewhat less, Forest of Dean gave us a take-it-or-leave-it offer that we couldn't refuse).

Mrs Skippy - Surfer01's right, your warranty is with the Dealer not the manufacturer. So many companies take advantage of the fact that most people don't know the finer details of the law regarding Sale of Goods and try it on.

We bought a PDQ when they were first out and it broke in one weekend. The shop owner tried telling me that he would have to speak to the sales people at the manufacturers first to see if I could be refunded. Fortunately I knew my rights and stood my ground, plus another couple were also there at the same time, demanding a refund, and while the owner was arguing his point, several prospective customers walked in and out. None of them hung around when they saw us arguing and pointing out defects. If he'd quietly refunded us, he might well have managed to sell another 2