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Hi Dave

From knowledge gained via my dealer I think the best bet is for a repair to be effected as quickly as possible and then to monitor the repair for further cracks or reapperance of existing cracks, after which you have your case for replacing the panel.

Not the magic answer you are looking for but that's what I would be doing if I hadn't been one of the lucky ones to have the front panel replaced last week and I certainly wouldn't be contemplating not using the van.

That is of course unless you can convince the Avondale inspector that yours requires replacing and from your photos I don't think you'll have a problem in doing so.

If I can help please let me know.

Cheers

Mick

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Me too

So sorry to hear that you are both having problems, it must be infuriating. I can't believe that they aren't doing everything possible to try and retain their reputation. If, as you say the value has dropped on all vans then surely you must have a case.

I personally would NOT give up, just keep at them. Good luck.......

Dont give up, it took us 3 years but we did eventually get some money back from the dealer, we tried the national caravan council who were no help, trading standards were no help.  However, if you speak to a solicitor they will tell you that you have 6 years from the date of purchase under the sale of goods act. 

Whatever you do, do not accept Avondale telling you they will repair the cracks,  we were advised by the dealer to do this and the result was appalling.  The repair was poor, and 6 further cracks appeared in the front while it wasnt being used.  This was when we decided enough was enough, the van had spent more time with Avondale than us and they only offered to repair it again.  Not good enough!

We kept writing to both avondale and dealer who both kept brushing us off . It was pointed out to me, by someone with financial knowhow, that while they played these games all it was costing them was the price of a stamp while our van was devaluing further.  So we looked up Companies House and found their solicitor's details and started writing via them instead, this changed the balance, so now it was costing us the price of the stamp and them the price of a solicitors letter everytime we wrote.

If you dont have legal cover on any of your policies, we didnt thats why we had to do everything ourselves (do now though!) you can get a fixed fee appt with a solicitor for around £50.00.  The advice we got was invaluable and finally helped us to get a payment from the dealer!  The solicitor advised us that we did have a case, but we needed to collect evidence against them.  Keep a diary of problems and photographs!

Good luck persistence pays off!

I will Be changing The Pictures to a hosted domain later this weekend so people dont have looking at them, I also need other people help as, i have been advised that mass of numbers carries better power.

so I will be post an e-mail address for people to send pictures to, and forming a news letter for us all (avondale MD will be on the list).

so i will be needing your stories as i think on mass we can force a compensation out of avondale on mass or get what we paid for a van that has no cracks.

Dave