motorhome dealers and the brown stuff.....

And how long was it sitting in a field before the bird chose it as a good nest site !?

My Dealer AEG motorhomes Stourbridge have been diabolical with their after sales, a long list of faults which they refused to repair on a brand new motorhome.

John.

John, have you reported them to A/S? Surely that's part of the terms of being an official A/S dealer? They are letting you and A/S down badly!

Pete

Masai Warrior wrote:John, have you reported them to A/S? Surely that's part of the terms of being an official A/S dealer? They are letting you and A/S down badly!

Pete

Hi Pete, Auto Sleepers know about it and I can't say the persons name that said they didn't know how AEG had gotten away with it.
Anyway warranty has run out now and my last few faults were fixed by Mark Harrison and his team at Motor Plus Derby, they have been brilliant.
They have sorted our broken awning, fitted new fridge vent frames  (2nd lot fitted) and done our van habitation certificate. Anything that I couldn't sort out myself I wouldn't hesitate and take our van to Derby.

John.

Fridge vent frames? Interesting John, I took our covers off for the first time last week to clean them, only to find cracks round some of the screw holes securing the fridge vent frames to the outside side wall. Now out of warranty!! I have filled these cracks with silicon to help prevent water ingress. The bozos must have overtightened them in the factory! Completely avoidable. Rush rush rush rush! And no one checking. What happened to your vent frames?

We will have to meet up in a pub sometime and be grumpy together! 

Pete

We could have a 'grumpy old men's' rally, then after the grumps we could sit round with a beer and all agree how good AS are compared with many otner marques 

Yes We will have to meet up are you going to the Peterborough show in April.

Auto Sleepers replaced our fridge vent frames last year as nearly all the screw fixings were cracked, I told them that the original must have been over tightened, last month I removed the vents to seal the droughts around the fridge (another fault) and found the latest were cracked all over the place a lot worse than the originals.
I got in touch with Mark Harrison at Derby sent him a picture and he called us in and his team fitted another set of frames, nothing is to much trouble for them, and I think that they are a good reputable company, as I haven't spent a penny with them, and AEG had £54,000 off me.

John.

Have put Motor Plus in my trusted list. Only 113 miles from here which is not bad. 

Motor Plus are members of this forum (since 2013) but haven't visited since September 2015. Perhaps they could be encouraged to keep an eye on problems occurring. Or perhaps they would be bombarded with questions if they did.

Hi all, Thanks for the feedback. I must say, we have been extremely happy with Marquis at both Newbury and Southampton when we recently purchased our Winchcombe. The vehicle was initially at Newbury and the sales guys there were excellent and couldn't have been more helpful in arranging test drives etc and pointing out the few problems with the 3 year old van which they agreed would be rectified before handover (they were).
Since our original enquiry was made through Marquis Soton (Lower Upham). We originally decided to go ahead in November, and Marquis were more than happy to 'hold' the van (after we had agreed a deposit) until the end of February when we wanted it.
On collection, Marquis were brilliant in explaining everything line by line and were always stressing hat if we had any questions we shouldn't hesitate to contact them.
The handover was exemplary with 'Mike' (who only does this role 2 days a week) spending over two and a half hours with us showing us every detail and giving us a comprehensive set of his own notes. He also noted a sticky cold weather dump valve in the hot water heater and arranged for it to be replaced whist we were there.
In short, I don't see how we could have been better assisted and would not hesitate to recommend either f these dealers based on our experience.
We are spending our first 'multiple night' trip starting this weekend and so far the experience has been everything and more we could have expected.
Long may it continue!
Andy

Good to know,  enjoy your trip.

Agree with your comments regarding the 'front end' of the operation with Marquis. From my experience it has been the workshop side where I have been badly let down.

I, too, agree that Marquis Newbury are very helpful. Richard Morse, the manager, was very helpful in our purchase, collection, helping sort matters when the wrong spec van came from Willersey and in rectifying all the teething problems.
Their workshop does not hsve the same degree of expertise as at Willersey, nor the immediate accessibility to parts so I do go the extra miles to Wilersey for servicing. I would happily buy through Richard in the future.

Jaytee wrote:Agree with your comments regarding the 'front end' of the operation with Marquis. From my experience it has been the workshop side where I have been badly let down.

+1.  We bought our last (not current) MH from them.  Sales couldn't do enough, but once it came to aftersales, forget it.  Also, their 3 year warranty isn't all it seems as we found to our cost.  It operates on a sliding scale of costs reimbursed, and during the 3rd year only covers £500 of repairs.  Read the T&Cs very carefully!

we liked Marquis/Auto Sleeper at the NEC as they appeared to have the only salesmen not looking to secure "their" finders fee. We were shown around expertly by a man who knew we wouldn't buy from him as Golden Cross are our local dealer. Other stands wanted you to buy from them despite being at the other end of the company.

I will echo other's findings that the front end of Marquis is very professional but we don't have our van yet. (Why did I insist on the FIAT? We would have a Pug by now.) Hopefully I won't echo other's finding when it comes to using their workshop. I think most, if not all, the extras we have ordered will be factory fitted.

We ordered our AS Broadway at the NEC Motorhome Show in October 2013 through Dolphin Motorhomes. At the time at the show, our local dealer, MotorPlus (Derby), were dealing with other potential customers. Andy Diggle from Dolphins approached us and in a genuinely friendly and competent manner showed us around the AS models we were interested in.

Afterwards we asked for a trade in value for our Pollensa against the new Broadway EB. As you would expect this meant sitting down with Andy and going through the figures, over a cup of coffee and a biscuit. The trade in value was very attractive, but we said we would need to go off and think about it, as you do, saying we would come back to see him when we had decided. Well the trade in price was good, but we didn't want to buy a van from dealer that was not local to us. Dolphin Motorhomes are based both in Bournemouth and Christchurch. We live in the Midlands. We went back to Andy and were honest with him, saying that due to the distance from us, we would prefer to go with MotorPlus. He said not to worry, he would speak to them. He went over to MotorPlus and managed to speak to Tim Lemon, Sales Director, and arranged for them to deal with any warranty claims that we might have. We were also introduced to Tim and made him aware of where we lived. This process maybe a useful reciprocal arrangement between them. As a consequence, this made us feel more comfortable buying from Dolphins, a dealer which is so far away. We also had the fall back knowing that Auto-Sleepers are only just over an hour away from us in the Cotswolds, should we need them! The deal was done and we picked the van up from Dolphin's the following March, driving down in the Pollensa. Andy was brilliant and one of his colleagues gave us an excellent 2 hour handover. We also stayed at a local commercial site for a 5 nights, to try out the van, in case there were any immediate issues. There were no problems, but we did find ourselves ringing then for the odd piece of advice!

Now over two years on, unfortunately we have had numerous warranty issues sorted, too many to go into! We have had some work carried out efficiently by MotorPlus, but mostly the warranty repairs have been carried out by Mark at A/S, with the dealers initially arranging for the work to be done, and emails flying between the two, to keep them both in the picture, mainly to keep Dolphin's records up to date.
Although the many issues we have had with the Broadway have almost driven us round the bend, we have nothing but praise for Andy from Dolphin's (who still keeps in touch from time to time), Mark Harrison from MotorPlus who was a great help dealing with A/S regarding a few worrying warranty issues, and last but not least, and probably most importantly, Mark and his team, the Auto-Sleepers warranty firefighters.

It does show you needn't be put off purchasing from a dealer at the other end of the country. If you have contingency plans in place, it can work. Though to be fair we are very lucky to be close to the A/S Service Centre in Willersey and also to have a guy like Mark in charge of the service team.

Well that's our story and we are happy at the moment. Though watch this space!

Pete

Hi Pete, interesting to see your praise of Dolphins Motorhomes. Our four used m/hs have all come from their Southampton branch being just 30 miles along the M27 exit junction 8. What initiately impressed us was the excellent condition of their used stock and new or second-hand, all were open for inspection at your leisure. When entering the sales reception you are welcomed and always offered tea/ coffee. Your handover was probably dealt with by Mike, a most enthusiastic instructor always making sure any uncertainties are resolved. Our recent acquisition of the Broadway FB will see him accompany us to the nearest filling station to take on LP gas when we pass Dolphin on route to Dorset, such is his desire to ensure all aspects of your motorhome are trouble free. The entire Dolphins team from reception, sales, servicing and directors are most amiable. Regards

I know this is bit late in the rant but I cant say I am too impressed with the clowns in Dereham we bought our lovely van from.
I think I mentioned the minor niggles with door locks and fridges, bits missing etc.
When we were away in February we both thought the fresh water a bit stale. Boiling the water for brews was ok and bottled water for tablets as usual.

Filled the tank before we went away 12th of March with fresh water having drained after the last trip. As time went on the water started to taste YUK in tea and the shower water ponged in the mornings.
Two bottles of miltons fluid and lots of flushing and draining and the water is fit for brewing up and showering.
At the same time all the plug holes blocked in turn. Flushing the drains produced black sludge from the grey tank.
This to me means the water system cant have been cleaned out during the pre purchace service .
The reply I got was that if the box on the service list was ticked  the water system must have been cleaned and checked. I lost the plot at this point.  . Any trained monkey can tick boxes, it takes a lot of training to treat customers that have parted with a lot of money this way.

Similar issue I had with the pdi when we picked ours up. They had ticked all the boxes BUT where was the grease on the rear steadies? They were so clean I could have wiped them with my best white shirt without risk of any lubricant contamination. There were others 'ticked' as well that could have been argued but that one was pretty conclusive

Many, many years ago I worked at a service station that had just re-opened and happened to be in the workshop when our mechanic carried out our first service on a car. I happened to watch as he carefully lubricated the door hinges and fastidiously wiped away the excess. He had no time constraints or pressures as it was the first and only car booked in.

I was staggered when, after collection, the car's owner returned and demanded a refund because 'the car clearly hasn't been serviced. There's not even any oil on the door hinges!'

I can absolutley guarantee that the rear steadies were 'totally free of any form of lubricant' dry or otherwise. . And their sheet was ticked ' rear steadies greased'.

Jaytee wrote:I can absolutley guarantee that the rear steadies were 'totally free of any form of lubricant' dry or otherwise. . And their sheet was ticked ' rear steadies greased'.

I wasn't doubting you at all JT, it just brought a long lost memory to mind. Over the years all my steadies have seemed to have too much grease rather than none.

steamdrivenandy wrote:

Jaytee wrote:I can absolutley guarantee that the rear steadies were 'totally free of any form of lubricant' dry or otherwise. . And their sheet was ticked ' rear steadies greased'.

I wasn't doubting you at all JT, it just brought a long lost memory to mind. Over the years all my steadies have seemed to have too much grease rather than none.

I removed our corner steady's as soon as I could as it gave another 14 kilo's of payload.

John.