Re: Marquis Northants

by Paulmold Sat Feb 09, 2019 6:49 pm

I've just seen that the same post has appeared on MotorhomeFun forum and Alex made this comment ....'The van was used as a tow vehicle for 6 months before conversion I would have thought that any leaks would have seen then.' . That's makes it sound that it's a conversion on a used van, something Auto-sleeper don't do.

by alex2999 Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:06 pm

The van was used by a Marquis Dealer as there tow vecihle. After 6 months it's returned to Autosleeper for conversion. That's what we were told when we purchased. If you belief this is untrue could you please send me any information that you know of in order for me to pursue compensation.
It appears to me that this process has been going on for sometime so your comment gives me great cause for concern

by rgermain Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:32 pm

Makes you wonder what you are buying. This is news to me.

Check the Reg details etc. before you buy!!!!!!!!!

by alex2999 Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:47 pm

The dvla document calls it an Autosleeper. I think that's fine.

by Paulmold Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:49 pm

What mileage was on it when you bought it? Presumably you won't be on the logbook as first owner.
It is of course possible that a dealer used it for towing but before conversion?, Sounds very odd.

by Dbvwt Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:57 pm

During my search for my new van over the past 6 months, I did venture into a couple of Marquis dealers and can confirm that they do send a few of their ‘in house work vehicles’ back to A/S for a brand new fit out after about a year year and 10000 miles.

Disclaimer...That was what they told me and viewing the vehicles didn’t make me think otherwise, the interiors were brand new.

by alex2999 Sat Feb 09, 2019 8:02 pm

Thanks for your post Dbvwt I was doubting myself for a minute.
Anyway back to the damp issue I'll contact Autosleppers on Monday.
I think any more posts are not going to resolve anything. But thank you

by Paulmold Sat Feb 09, 2019 8:02 pm

Dbvwt wrote:During my search for my new van over the past 6 months, I did venture into a couple of Marquis dealers and can confirm that they do send a few of their ‘in house work vehicles’ back to A/S for a brand new fit out after about a year year and 10000 miles.

I stand corrected and flabbergasted.

by groundhog Sun Feb 10, 2019 10:27 am

CC wrote:
groundhog wrote:Of course it is right to castigate the branches that have failed but sorry you can't slag off a whole group because certain branches of its network have let you down. That is how businesses are ruined.

I have nothing but praise for my local Marquis branch at Plymouth.

Do agree though if I lived nearer Willersey I would have no hesitation about going back there, excellent service.

Sorry Groundhog but I can slag off a whole group if I wish...

Yes, my experience was of two branches but I also took my complaint higher to Marquis head office who didn’t even acknowledge my complaint and just referred me back to the branch I had issues with... also complaints to both Mike Crouch & Geof Scott at Auto-Sleepers both went unanswered as well... So I think I’m well within my rights to speak as I find, Marquis are a disgustingly poor outfit, regardless of my experience there are plenty of others who feel the same way, they even made headline news in the national newspapers for god sake! What more evidence do you need?

** Businesses are ruined by not caring about their customers ** not by TRUE customer experiences being posted on a forum, what would you prefer that I claim how marvellous they are when they aren’t?

I’m glad to hear that Marquis Plymouth came up Trumps for you, obviously not every customer gets to experience the abysmal service I’ve received - otherwise they wouldn’t remain in business, my evidence is based on my personal experience of dealing with the fore mentioned branches, as well as the lack of interest from Marquis head office, and also my experience of Marquis blocking me on Twitter because I dared to re-tweet a national news paper headline of them failing to stand by a vehicle they sold to a customer with a disabled daughter who they treated absolutely appallingly, which I still think is a great way to treat a customer who’s spent 40k with you! Their loss...

I could go on but there’s little point as there’s many people on this site (more recently) who hate any kind of negativity against Auto-Sleepers or even Marquis it seems... I on the other hand speak as I find

CC

CC
I clearly didn't read your original post fully, on the basis of your experience I agree with you entirely and offer you my apologies.

As I too have posted previously it is entirely correct to make others aware of poor service, it must be no other way and I would certainly have done that had my experience of Marquis or A/S been bad.... ask Brownhills!

What worries me though is that social media and the vultures of the press have become so powerful that the reputation of perfectly decent companies can be ruined by a handful of bad experiences.

I have first hand experience of this, a company who through a combination of issues beyond their control failed to supply a service to 350 people on one day, despite every possible action being taken to mitigate the circumstances and avoid the problem. After the event the compensation given to clients was very generous indeed, nearly all were quite happy. Thanks to one or two clients who posted passionately on social media though, the press got hold of the story and turned an unfortunate circumstance in to national headlines resulting in a massive drop in business and the company went bust.

250 staff were made redundant and the MD ( a personal friend) tried to take his own life.

That is where I am coming from and I can't change that.

by Tinwheeler Sun Feb 10, 2019 12:36 pm

Paulmold wrote:
Dbvwt wrote:During my search for my new van over the past 6 months, I did venture into a couple of Marquis dealers and can confirm that they do send a few of their ‘in house work vehicles’ back to A/S for a brand new fit out after about a year year and 10000 miles.
I stand corrected and flabbergasted.

I’ve got one of these new/second hand vans.

It was first registered to Marquis in April 2017 and used by them for whatever purpose - not towing as there’s no towbar fitted. During Aug/Sept 2017 it was converted by AS into a Warwick Duo and went on sale at Marquis Devon where we purchased it at the end of Sept. We bought a brand new conversion on a base vehicle which was nicely run in with 9k miles on the clock at £6k below new price. Marquis were totally open about its status.

by Paulmold Sun Feb 10, 2019 12:48 pm

Do you get the AS warranty or the Marquis warranty?

by Tinwheeler Sun Feb 10, 2019 12:54 pm

Paulmold wrote:Do you get the AS warranty or the Marquis warranty?

The full AS warranty, Paul, as it was a new AS conversion, plus the remainder of the Peugeot warranty on the base vehicle.

We've had some warranty work done on the conversion (involving a bit of aggro).

by alex2999 Sat Feb 16, 2019 6:37 pm

Amazingly They contacted me this week. Apparently the leak is from the whale connection Sadly I wasn't told that on collection. Anyway being collected on 6th March to be worked on from the 7th and they have been given 16 hours to fix by Autosleeper. No mention of spilt mattress but that's another battle I suspect, we did advise them of the issue before warranty ended but seems to have been forgotten, by them, but not us! Blue Ox Alpha Will update when "Peggy" (our campervan" ) has been in.

by CC Tue Feb 19, 2019 2:58 am

CC

I clearly didn't read your original post fully, on the basis of your experience I agree with you entirely and offer you my apologies.

As I too have posted previously it is entirely correct to make others aware of poor service, it must be no other way and I would certainly have done that had my experience of Marquis or A/S been bad.... ask Brownhills!

What worries me though is that social media and the vultures of the press have become so powerful that the reputation of perfectly decent companies can be ruined by a handful of bad experiences.

I have first hand experience of this, a company who through a combination of issues beyond their control failed to supply a service to 350 people on one day, despite every possible action being taken to mitigate the circumstances and avoid the problem. After the event the compensation given to clients was very generous indeed, nearly all were quite happy. Thanks to one or two clients who posted passionately on social media though, the press got hold of the story and turned an unfortunate circumstance in to national headlines resulting in a massive drop in business and the company went bust.

250 staff were made redundant and the MD ( a personal friend) tried to take his own life.

That is where I am coming from and I can't change that.

Hi Groundhog... have only just seen this reply, sorry to hear about your friend and the consequences and impact of complaints on social media.

As you could no doubt tell I was feeling somewhat let down by Marquis. I look back at the ownership of both our Nuevo and Broadway with bewilderment at the way warranty issues and repairs have been carried out. The sad thing is it doesn’t seem to be unique to them, it seems to be a common thing across the whole Motorhome / Caravan industry, the more people you talk to the more you realise you’re not the only one.. I’ve said it before but I think the whole industry needs a good kick up the backside, including the NCC who just seem to be a friend of the industry insiders and about as much use as a chocolate fire guard to the consumer!

Talking of Brownhils a mate of mine purchased an Eldis from them and praised them highly during and after the purchase, so much so I thought they’d turned things around, however he’s since had a handful of smallish niggles and now speaks very differently about them... I’d like to be optimistic and hope customer care and the actual build quality of these expensive vehicles will improve, occasionally though you do hear good things A&E leisure I’ve heard are very good good for example, and I’ve been reasonably happy with Wayne at Direct Leisure Services who’s carried out jobs for us at some of the Motorhome shows we’ve attended, when our water pump decided to leak he came to our rescue promptly and replaced it there and then.

by CC Tue Feb 19, 2019 3:04 am

alex2999 wrote:Amazingly They contacted me this week. Apparently the leak is from the whale connection Sadly I wasn't told that on collection. Anyway being collected on 6th March to be worked on from the 7th and they have been given 16 hours to fix by Autosleeper. No mention of spilt mattress but that's another battle I suspect, we did advise them of the issue before warranty ended but seems to have been forgotten, by them, but not us! Blue Ox Alpha Will update when "Peggy" (our campervan" ) has been in.

Hope you get things sorted Alex, certainly takes the edge off a new purchase when you encounter these problems.

by groundhog Tue Feb 19, 2019 1:28 pm

CC wrote:
CC

I clearly didn't read your original post fully, on the basis of your experience I agree with you entirely and offer you my apologies.

As I too have posted previously it is entirely correct to make others aware of poor service, it must be no other way and I would certainly have done that had my experience of Marquis or A/S been bad.... ask Brownhills!

What worries me though is that social media and the vultures of the press have become so powerful that the reputation of perfectly decent companies can be ruined by a handful of bad experiences.

I have first hand experience of this, a company who through a combination of issues beyond their control failed to supply a service to 350 people on one day, despite every possible action being taken to mitigate the circumstances and avoid the problem. After the event the compensation given to clients was very generous indeed, nearly all were quite happy. Thanks to one or two clients who posted passionately on social media though, the press got hold of the story and turned an unfortunate circumstance in to national headlines resulting in a massive drop in business and the company went bust.

250 staff were made redundant and the MD ( a personal friend) tried to take his own life.

That is where I am coming from and I can't change that.

Hi Groundhog... have only just seen this reply, sorry to hear about your friend and the consequences and impact of complaints on social media.

As you could no doubt tell I was feeling somewhat let down by Marquis. I look back at the ownership of both our Nuevo and Broadway with bewilderment at the way warranty issues and repairs have been carried out. The sad thing is it doesn’t seem to be unique to them, it seems to be a common thing across the whole Motorhome / Caravan industry, the more people you talk to the more you realise you’re not the only one.. I’ve said it before but I think the whole industry needs a good kick up the backside, including the NCC who just seem to be a friend of the industry insiders and about as much use as a chocolate fire guard to the consumer!

Talking of Brownhils a mate of mine purchased an Eldis from them and praised them highly during and after the purchase, so much so I thought they’d turned things around, however he’s since had a handful of smallish niggles and now speaks very differently about them... I’d like to be optimistic and hope customer care and the actual build quality of these expensive vehicles will improve, occasionally though you do hear good things A&E leisure I’ve heard are very good good for example, and I’ve been reasonably happy with Wayne at Direct Leisure Services who’s carried out jobs for us at some of the Motorhome shows we’ve attended, when our water pump decided to leak he came to our rescue promptly and replaced it there and then.

Thanks CC.

You are so right about the quality of the industry in general, I had the founder of Discovery Yachts look at our van and he was very disappointed at the build quality compared to the products they produce. I know their yachts are mega expensive but a new Winchcombe is now around 80K so hardly cheap is it.

Without going too far off topic we bought a new "cancelled order" Bessacarr E795 from B'hills, at a show. When we went to collect it was obvious they had removed the habitation door for another van and replaced it with one that didn't match, there was a scrape down the side, they fitted roof bars for me but they were out of line the cross bars fitted fine at the front but were too narrow for the back.
Worst of all though we got the van home.... and the cassette was full of s...!
Had they not been three hundred miles away I would have been delighted to return it all over their showroom floor. Whistle1

After that it was a brilliant van and never gave us any trouble throughout the several years we owned it.

by Tinwheeler Tue Feb 19, 2019 2:25 pm

We had a Bessacarr E795 that gave us nothing BUT trouble, GH. It shows how experiences vary. Mind you, we did buy it from Marquis… biggrin

by CC Sun Mar 03, 2019 4:26 am

Reading about your loo episode Groundhog reminded me of when we bought our Trident, we got that home only to find the guy had left the porta potti full of censored!

Just why would anyone do that? Bad enough when you have to empty your own, never mind someone else’s!
Bizarre if you ask me look here

by **roli** Sun Mar 03, 2019 8:57 am

Out of interest to these "refurbished vans" have an AS Build number in the glove box like a normal new build ?

by Tinwheeler Sun Mar 03, 2019 1:50 pm

I assume you mean vans like mine, Roli, and the answer is that I don’t know. I never knew such numbers existed in glove boxes but if it wasn’t for Storm Freya I might be persuaded to go and look.

I can’t say I’m bothered if it has the number or not really as it was a brand new conversion on a base vehicle of just a few months old - not really a 'refurbished' job.

by Peter Brown Sun Mar 03, 2019 2:00 pm

Tinwheeler wrote:I assume you mean vans like mine, Roli, and the answer is that I don’t know. I never knew such numbers existed in glove boxes but if it wasn’t for Storm Freya I might be persuaded to go and look.

I can’t say I’m bothered if it has the number or not really as it was a brand new conversion on a base vehicle of just a few months old - not really a 'refurbished' job.

I expect it will be there and its an important number - with that number AS parts and service have access to the full build inventory for your specific vehicle. You will also need it if you want to get the EC Certificate of conformity from AS.

by Paramedic Sun Mar 03, 2019 2:18 pm

roli wrote:Out of interest to these "refurbished vans" have an AS Build number in the glove box like a normal new build ?

Not only the paper sticker in the glove box, we also have the build number on the door plate with relevant gross weight/axles etc.

by Tinwheeler Sun Mar 03, 2019 2:19 pm

Peter Brown wrote:
Tinwheeler wrote:I assume you mean vans like mine, Roli, and the answer is that I don’t know. I never knew such numbers existed in glove boxes but if it wasn’t for Storm Freya I might be persuaded to go and look.

I can’t say I’m bothered if it has the number or not really as it was a brand new conversion on a base vehicle of just a few months old - not really a 'refurbished' job.

I expect it will be there and its an important number - with that number AS parts and service have access to the full build inventory for your specific vehicle. You will also need it if you want to get the EC Certificate of conformity from AS.

Cheers, Peter. I’ll look when the weather improves. up!

by Peter Brown Sun Mar 03, 2019 2:43 pm

Paramedic wrote:
roli wrote:Out of interest to these "refurbished vans" have an AS Build number in the glove box like a normal new build ?
Not only the paper sticker in the glove box, we also have the build number on the door plate with relevant gross weight/axles etc.

As does mine, but I think they only started doing that about 10 years ago whereas the glovebox sticker has always been used.

by Askit Sun Mar 03, 2019 4:01 pm

So, that's why they are called Brownhills

Very good