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It might be worth mentioning that the Australian arm of Geist (same Directors as the UK operation) has ceased trading.

http://www.geist.com.au/en/

Will Geist UK carry on? - who knows, but I wouldn't personally put too much money on it.

Quote: Originally posted by triclops on 02/6/2009

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I just bought mine from geist UK last week and asked the question they told me no problems with geist UK only the aussie dealerships affected they have the full range of both caravans and motorhomes in stock at gateshead and plan on bringing alot more in they are just trying to agree a price at the moment with the factory thats ok for both sides as the pound is rather low at present against the euro and that would put prices up over here  but they are here to stay !! 

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Well, perhaps, perhaps not.

It's difficult to say that *any* company is 'here to stay' when the world's largest car maker has bitten the dust.

There a few salient points about Geist (apart from the fact that the Australian operation went by several different names at various junctures - not a terribly good sign, imo)

They (as you know) source their vans from LMC.  The Geist's are based on the LMC 'Dominant' range - which LMC no longer make.  For 2009 LMC have a different range of vans (incidentally, almost all of which are no longer aimed at the family market with multiple berths)

II have yet to see a Geist built to the new LMC design - meaning, unless LMC are continuing the produce the Dominant range just for Geist ( a possibility - but I doubt it) then all the vans currently touted by Geist as '2009' models are, in fact, at least one year old.

Geist sales have never been huge - and the debacle of the pre-2006 models built on the faulty BPW chassis' certainly didn't help matters.

I considered their 2007 move to 'internet sales' to be a last desperate attempt to keep going - i might be wrong, but I have spoken to people in the trade who entirely agree.

The concept of a German van tailored to UK tastes is a good one - but (a) Geist never really promoted them properly, (b)  cutting out retailers further reduced their market visibility, and (3) the times are now firmly against them.

I

Returnee , you seem to have a very good knowledge of the caravan industry are you or were you a dealer?

As a Geist owner your comments concern me, as they are not very helpful.

J

We have a Geist AK565 and searched throughout the Uk for a van to suit our needs. This is an excellent sized van with fixed, large bunks and a big front bed.Furthermore, there is even a side dinette which makes up inot another single bed with the option of a sixth bed above. There is no way that we would ever return to a leaky UK built van, too much hassle. The other amazing thing about this van is that it is a 5 berth with an MTPLM that can be towed with a family car, no gas guzzling 4x4s needed for towing this beauty, got to be worth a look.

We have been abroad with our van and it tows well .....

If there was anything that i could complain about it would be the fact that it took us so long to search one out, Geist lack on advertising in my opinion and this is sad.

I think that the oweners club is a must..........hurry up and sort this out Geist, us sensible people need to get together and swap great stories about our lovely vans.......i am a huge fan of the Geist vans and long may they reign...

Quote: Originally posted by J Stimpson on 02/6/2009

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Returnee , you seem to have a very good knowledge of the caravan industry are you or were you a dealer?

As a Geist owner your comments concern me, as they are not very helpful.

J

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They are not particularly intended to be either helpful, or unhelpful - just truthful.

If Geist go bust, I wouldn't worry too much about it - you're in a better position than the owners of a UK van (any of which manufacturers could go belly up before the year ends)  You own an LMC - and you will be pretty unlucky if it leaks, whereas you'd be pretty lucky if your UK van didn't leak, which with the warranty gone west, would present you with a big problem.

To try and redress the helpful/unhelpful balance a bit - are you aware that it is LMC who back the water ingress warranty?, and that LMC have no requirement for anything other than an annual damp test?

If you choose to pay for a full service, that's your right - but no Geist agent can insist. upon a full service being carried out as a requirement for the annual damp test.

The advisability of a full service is another matter - but for those wishing to save £100+ per annum, the damp test is all you need, and all that LMC require.

Was that helpful?

.

Yes that was a little more helpful!

Though we choose to have a full service as we believe its important when you have gas items on a caravan, I wouldn't miss a service on our central heating system at home, and over the years we have found that the caravan service picks up things that we have missed such as spiders making webs in inconvenient places over winter!

I personally felt your earlier comments were unhelpful as any business anywhere can go in to administration at any time especially in the current climate. Speculation such as yours does not help any company and could actually cause it. However given that a Geist caravan is made by LMC it might well be considered safer to buy than UK or other makes, as two have gone in to administration in the last 12 months and at least with Geist you have more protection as it is a UK company and made by LMC.

Returnee you don't say what your outfit is, or where about you are in the country and you haven’t said if you are or were a dealer? We could start to speculate that you were a dealer that used to stock Geist so have a grudge?!!! 

J

Re Geist Owners make sure Claire (Geist Marketing) has your contact details or sign up to the Geist newsletter http://www.geistforlife.com/contact.php. Geist have said they will send the survey out for us, its been written by a few of us Geist owners with an intro, the idea is to reach as many Geist owners as possible and see what they want. If anyone is interested in helping run it or getting it going please let Claire know and she is putting us all in touch with each other. There have been many e-mails bounding happy around in the background!!!

It’s just a bit frustrating how long it is taking.

J

JenniferB - we also have an Aktiv495 and love it. The children love the space at the rear of the van, we bought ours from Elite Caravans as their prices were considerable lower than Geist Direct.

We fitted a microwave oven in the bottom of the wardrobe as its a good working height when handling hot food and just opposite the main oven. We also had an external 240v socket fitted before collection and it came with a large heiki rooflight and an Alko hitch. They transferred my mover over from the old caravan too.

We are off to Wellington Country Park http://www.wellington-country-park.co.uk/template3.asp?PageID=1 this weekend to meet up with some friends who are also interested in buying one.

Regards

Andy  

Ah yes i remember - did you sort out the bed cushion layout?

Andy

JenniferB - i must check the shower outlet but not that we use it as a shower anyway. I also had to make up an adaptor from the outlet pipe to the waste water container as its not standard size - i just used a straight connector and sand papered one end to fit into the outlet pipe and that sorted it.

Andy  

Quote: Originally posted by triclops on 04/6/2009

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seems you touched the spot !!  Mr or Mrs Returnee doesnt wish to comment which would seem like your theory about a misterious dealer could be correct I agree it does sound abit like sour grapes.

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Absolutely no sour grapes (nor any other kind of bitter fruit)

I merely pointed out that Geist Australia collapsed owing millions of dollars - people are free to make what they will of that, and to decide for themselves on the viability of the UK operation for themselves.

It's certainly something to be taken into consideration before parting with a large sum of money, I would have thought.

As for the owners club -  why not register a domain and do it yourself - Geist might well have other things on their mind