He paid a dealer (I don't know which one) £35k. Had two or three short holidays in it. His two dogs died, which was the main reason for having the motorhome. So he decided to sell it and advertised it for £27k. Got the usual 'Oill giv yer twenny" sort of phone calls. One serious, sensible viewer brought a proper damp meter and spent a long time with him showing him where all the damp was. My retired neighbour then spent over a month taking the inside apart, removing any damp and replacing the damp timbers. He put it all back together so it was far superior to how it was when he bought it and then tried to sell it. He has finally given up hope, and sold it for £17k. I think it's a lovely camper, I would have bought it but I already have two!
And before anyone says he should have gone to a solicitor, have you ever tried that? I have. I had a decidedly not fit for purpose brand new Rapido which went back to Brownhills three times because the electric bed kept failing. On the fourth time, after Brownhills had given up on it and told me to take it to Rapido in France, I found and fixed the fault which was a blatant couldn't give a 'rotation of a coin' act on the part of the Rapido factory staff. Then the bed collapsed in one corner. I went to a solicitor who charged me £600 to write a letter to Brownhills saying I want my money back. Brownhills said NO so I went back to the solicitor who said "I'll take the case but you will have to give me £20,000 deposit which will buy you your first day in court. Then you may lose in which case on top of my fees you will have to pay theirs, and Brownhills will be very liberal with their expenses". Legally Brownhills will say that you have had three months use out of it which is worth £xxxx, and so on.
So anyone who says you are legally entitled to so-and-so has not experienced trying to take legal action. The only people who can take a case to court are the very rich, people who have a grudge against a govenment body because solicitors will take the case and 50% of the winnings, and prisoners.
The only legal actions I have taken have been in the Small Claims Courts, all of which I have won. It doesn't cost you much to go to a small claims court (for claims under £10k). I have recently won my full deposit back after a dealer told me this Fiat Ducato they were selling me had one of the new fully automatic gearboxes, after I had said I did not want a comfortmatic. I discovered the night I had placed the deposit that it was a comfortmatic so I cancelled the order and requested my deposit back, which they refused to pay. So in the end I won in court (obviously representing myself, I can't afford £20k for a solicitor). The dealer lost several hundreds of pounds in addition to repaying my deposit, plus having to close their business for the day and pay two staff to go to court.
