Despicable motorhome dealer

SimonM

SimonM

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I know a lady who was about to buy her first motorhome and as she wanted me to give it a look over for her she paid a deposit to this motorhome dealer on Thursday in order that I could go and check it over for her tomorrow, Monday. She was coming from her home in Porlock and me from Exeter, meeting at the dealership in the middle. There was actually going to be 2 of us looking it over.

she has just phoned me saying I’d have to cancel my visit as the despicable dealer decided to sell it today to someone else. Clearly she is very discouraged and knows now not to trust the trade.

quite clearly there is no honour among these people - but she paid them a cash deposit as well!
 
Name and shame them.

Brownhills asked me for a £2500 card swipe to bring a demonstrator across to Preston from their Newark branch.. as we were planning to look at stock at the many local dealers, that week.
" Just to make sure that you'll be there ", they said.
The Demo was a scruffy , dirty 18 month old... We wanted new.
The test drive was unhappy and we cut it short.
The depot manager informed us that he'd put the money through and that we'd agreed that was to be the deposit, as we'd agreed to buy the van, unseen.

Preston trading Standards got the money back, in 4 days..
We all know what happened to the Brownhills empire after that.
 
I’d love to name them, but every story has 2 sides and they aren’t here to defend their actions. They will not see me, and I’ll warn anybody off them if I know they intend to go there.
 
To be a successful dealer, you have make Arfur Dayley look like a saint..
They mostly are Scum of the earth, pig ignorant and Shifty.
They do have their uses, though.
We met 2 , who weren't too naughty, in our 20 years .
Though one of them, " accidently " tried to underpay us the agreed trade in price .
Luckily I'd checked the bank transfer paperwork. The money came through at 6 pm... We celebrated with a bottle of champagne.
Just a £1000 shortfall . I called his mobile.
He blamed his partner.
The money was in our bank account an hour later ..when the office should have been closed..
Almost as if they expected a comeback.
What proportion of elderly motorhomers bother to check..?
 
It is absolutely shocking, the motor trade in general but Motorhome buying through dealerships is fraught with danger. Not only the sales people but at point of manufacture. People are spending small/large fortunes, possibly life savings and pensions for vehicles that are faulty, leak, (some) poor build quality and people new to this hobby dont know about annual hab/damp/Alko chasis services/checks or generally how to look after the vehicle properly with very little or wrong input from sales people in the dealerships.
I was at our local Bailey dealership picking up a couple of bits just before lockdown. We got speaking to a couple who recently retired were just taking 5 to think about a purchase of a Moho.
10 mins speaking to myself and good lady gave them more insight than 2 days of discussions and an hour with the salesman that day.
Shocking.
 
I found Brownhills okay.
Yes they took a 2k deposit off me, but hey, they just wanted to reassure themselves, I wouldn't change my mind after preparing the vehicle, taxing it and registering the motorhome which I feel is fair.
Doing this, they were very quick to ensure I got my motorhome soon after the dealership re-opened its doors.
I think what they did to the lady in [post 1] was rather naughty.
 
You were lucky with Brownhills.

I have had 5 dealings with them.
4 of them , I walked away from, counting my fingers and checking that I still had my wallet and watch.
The final time, was the last straw... I was phoning trading standards , before I'd left their car park.
 
Elite motorhomes of Middleton Cheney just outside of Banbury are the exception to the rule. Bought a a two year old chausson from them & two years later bought a brand new one from them. The service is far beyond anything I've had from other dealers. My local dealership is Lowdhams, they want the van for a week to do a hab test plus charge £240 for the privalidge. Service is terrible, won't collect the van, no lift to train or bus station when you drop it off. Glossop caravans only interested if your spending, told salesman we're just looking. Come & find me when you're ready was the reply. Found most dealerships seem to think they don't need us, but they do!. Have several friends who have bought from Elite, all say the same & wouldn't go anywhere else, even though we're based in West Yorkshire.
 
I have a friend,who lives near to Elite.
He loves them..
 
I have read about Brownhills being pretty crap but nobody has actually said why. As they are a zillion miles from us and I cant see me ever having dealings with them can anyone enlighten me? G
 
I am quite surprised to read all this, I thought most dealers were ok but obviously not. I have only had dealings with Hayes Leisure of Wednesbury and have found them to be absolutely first class. We live in Liverpool so it’s a hike down to them but cannot fault the supply of the vehicle initially and the work done since. As it happens they were the only dealer who could supply what we wanted when we wanted it when we bought our Motorhome new but really glad we found them. Admittedly they are only Chausson and Pilote dealers but stock a good range of used vans as well.
 
Pauljenny said:
You were lucky with Brownhills.

I have had 5 dealings with them.
4 of them , I walked away from, counting my fingers and checking that I still had my wallet and watch.
The final time, was the last straw... I was phoning trading standards , before I'd left their car park.
Click to expand...

Just viewed their service charges. After my first two years of free servicing, I will definitely be looking elsewhere
 
Dealers?...more like stealers!

- We bought our second MH from a stealer down in Somerset...further south than the one the OP mentions; about a mile off the M5 towards Wellington. It was an horrendous experience - too much to go into here - but am happy to share with anyone via email.

- We tried to buy one off a stealer in west Wales. They took our deposit to secure it. I then cancelled an holiday we had planned elsewhere and booked a place in west Wales. The day before we were setting off they rang and glibly told me that they had sold it to someone else despite my deposit! I lost money on my booked holiday because of that.

- Same dealer a few years later:-

I want a twin axle Comanche please.

"We don't sell twin axles, no demand. "

You have one on your website.

"Ah we sold that!"

But you don't sell them?

"We have a bloke comes in every 2 years and buys a new twin axle and part ex'es his 2 year old one."

So that's 2 sales there then?

"Yes but we dont sell twin axles."

You have 2 others [not the model we wanted] on your forecourt?

"Yes true but we don't sell twin axles.."

Well you certainly don't sell them to me matey...Bye!


On the positive side the Service Dept at Edwards Motorhomes, Kempsey nr Worcester is first class. Ron Campbell who runs it there is singularly the best individual I have ever dealt with in my motorhoming time, bar none. Nothing is too much trouble; all work thoroughly explained; never looks to enhance the bill; all work completed when he said it would be; did a few little things for me and didnt charge; and even washes it before handing it back (for free).

Graham
 
GMJ said:
Dealers?...more like stealers!

- We bought our second MH from a stealer down in Somerset...further south than the one the OP mentions; about a mile off the M5 towards Wellington. It was an horrendous experience - too much to go into here - but am happy to share with anyone via email.

- We tried to buy one off a stealer in west Wales. They took our deposit to secure it. I then cancelled an holiday we had planned elsewhere and booked a place in west Wales. The day before we were setting off they rang and glibly told me that they had sold it to someone else despite my deposit! I lost money on my booked holiday because of that.

- Same dealer a few years later:-

I want a twin axle Comanche please.

"We don't sell twin axles, no demand. "

You have one on your website.

"Ah we sold that!"

But you don't sell them?

"We have a bloke comes in every 2 years and buys a new twin axle and part ex'es his 2 year old one."

So that's 2 sales there then?

"Yes but we dont sell twin axles."

You have 2 others [not the model we wanted] on your forecourt?

"Yes true but we don't sell twin axles.."

Well you certainly don't sell them to me matey...Bye!


On the positive side the Service Dept at Edwards Motorhomes, Kempsey nr Worcester is first class. Ron Campbell who runs it there is singularly the best individual I have ever dealt with in my motorhoming time, bar none. Nothing is too much trouble; all work thoroughly explained; never looks to enhance the bill; all work completed when he said it would be; did a few little things for me and didnt charge; and even washes it before handing it back (for free).

Graham
Click to expand...
Yeah it`s unfortunate that some really poor dealers/stealers shine a bad light over the ones who genuinely are trying to do their best and build a reputable buisness. G
 
Speaking of despicable dealers:

We've just bought a van from the unfortunate vendors who originally purchased it from Lowdhams last November. This brief experience means that we wouldn't touch Lowdham's with a barge pole. Here's why:
  1. They mislead our vendors by telling them they were the 2nd owners from new (they were the fourth);
  2. They assured them that the just over 2-year old van they bought had the full warranty/hab checks etc. done in the PDI (pre-delivery inspection) even though we found out, while buying the van, that Lowdham's had given them an old PDI check (from a previous owner) which said habitation/damp check on it but this was not the formal Chausson-required habitation check (even though Lowdhams are recognised Chausson dealers), so the 7-year Chausson warranty was actually void. When we asked Lowdham's about the hab check and the warranty they insisted it had been done but that it couldn't be transferred to us as we were the THIRD owners and it only goes as far as the second (see point 1 and point 5 below);
  3. After we came back with "the water ingress warranty, like the Ford warranty belongs to the van not the owner" they changed tactic, and now blamed the first owner (who owned it for 2 years) for not having done it in time so missing the deadline - effectively "not our fault guv!". This is despite our then finding out that owing to Covid, Chausson like many other manufacturers gave a 6-month grace period to do the check and maintain the warranty. The van was due it's hab check in May 2021. Lowdhams actually sold this van THREE times in that 6-month period, so it was in their care during all that time and they still had the chance to do it before selling it to our vendors (in November 2021) so they lied to our face and, sadly to our vendors;
  4. We are the ones who flagged up all these discrepancies as the vendors hadn't noticed that the 3 sheets of paperwork that Lowdhams had given them (that's all they got apart from the usual manuals etc. that every van had) did not actually prove that Lowdhams had done the work, and it definitely wasn't the paperwork for the PDI they claimed to have done in November (when our vendors bought the van from them, but from JUNE (so 2 owners ago!). This was obvious to us because the name and address of the owner was blacked out, the date said June 2021 and the mileage did not correspond with the vendors' V5.
  5. It wasn't until we paid for a pre-sale online vehicle check, that we discovered that there had been 3 owners before our vendors (so they were the fourth owners of the vehicle) - the two previous owners had owned the van for less than 2 months each respectively. The vendors had been told that they were the second owners, so the assumption was that perhaps the extra owners were the dealership, between sales, but when pressed, Lowdhams admitted that the vehicle had never been registered with the dealership, so these were individual private owners. However, the van had gone back and forth to Lowdhams betweeen all these sales and they would easily have had time to do the habitation check properly (as above) if they had been honest
  6. when the van went in for its MOT a couple of weeks ago - Lowdham's finally repaired the two blinds that were already broken when our vendors had originally purchased the van in November - I am convinced that they only did this because they wanted them to be able to sell this van quickly in order for them to purchase the new one which was already on order from Lowdhams, otherwise I honestly think our vendors would still be waiting for those two blinds to be repaired.

That's just what we've encountered over a 2-week period. The only reason we finally agreed to purchase this van was because it looks very sound, it is exactly what we wanted, it has the remains of its 1-year warranty (until next November) that it was sold with and which is transferable, and the vendors dropped the price enough that we felt we could take the risk, otherwise we would have walked away. Our plan is to now to get a proper habitation check done by a reputable dealer - RIVER MOTORHOMES – whose customer service and reputation puts Lowdhams to shame - in fact we have already booked her in for this as our damp meter was reading 40% in one spot of the rear garage, showing a potential cause for concern. That way, should any serious (and expensive) nasties appear, we are still covered by the warranty and can get everything fixed by River Motorhomes before the warranty runs out.

I feel very sorry for our vendors as they seemed very decent, honest people who were effectively hoodwinked and didn't deserve to be treated the way Lowdhams treated them and I just hope that, armed with this information, they have managed to get their deposit back and can go elsewhere because Lowdham's don't deserve their (or anyone else's) custom. Shocking dealership.
 
We've only bought from two dealers out of 11 vans we've owned, a big one in Bradford but I won't mention them as he's a bit arsey and legalled up, we took our van there as PX to this POS (still green back then) it was supposed to be ready for our holiday and it wasn't so he said take it and if you have any problems let me know I'll fix them, we lasted a weekend and had to take it back as it was crap, the sink didn't drain, the oven and hob didn't work and first time we used the bathroom sink and put the plug in it went straight through the bottom of the sink, he is just a crook as far as I'm concerned we should have took him to court but it was just so awful we took a £4k hit and walked away from the whole deal, I spotted a Laika for sale on a forecourt in Skipton, grabbed Liz and bought that, great van, the other was O'Learys, our first van, nearly our last it was rotten as a pear under the rear corners.
 
We had a visit at home Yesterday from an Elderly Gentleman , he was driving a new Mercedes car, he was Irish, he called to ask if I would sell him our van, he said he had looked at a few but they were all too big, I could hardly get a word in edgeways as he did not stop talking, I eventually gave him a round of applause and told him that his speel was the best bullshit I had heard in ages and also told him it was very similar to the speel people have posted on Facebook about van scammers, , strangely we went to Winchester later that day and in one of the car parks there , there was a gathering of Travelers vans coincidence or what,
 
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