Who can you trust nowadays?

Nick-Mandy

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After I brought my motorhome in 2020, I wanted a Towbar and extra Solar Panels fitted. I didn't go by friends recommendations, I used my own judgement doing background checks, visited the premises where the service was to be carried out, had a long chat with the owner, spoke to the fitters and checked out the service area. They are a long established local firm and basicially I couldn't find any reason to stay clear or go elsewhere.

I had the work done, no problems, everything worked fine.

About a year after the Solar Panels were fitted, marker lights and the high resolution rear brake light ceased to work. Did the usual inspections, fuse box, bulbs etc without any joy. I contacted various caraven and campervan dealers to check out the problem. One dealer found there was no power to a marker light, and like the other dealers, wouldn't touch the wiring issue any further because of it being a motorhome, where a caravan was deemed no problem.
The only option was to return to the dealership where I brought the vehicle from (£100 plus vat per hour). Apparently, and I checked with Elddis direct, electricial is only covered in the warranty for the first year. So I had no choice than to let the dealership loose to find the source of the issue.

I checked in at the service desk at 8am and after an hour a baffled electrician came out and said he couldn't find the fault, and it would take a few hours to locate and rectify. So by now I was really getting worried.

To cut a long story short, there were three issues. All connected to the tow bar and solar panel work being done. The electrician firmly believes someone had drilled through the roof (probably accidently), and into the ceiling loom, probably knowing this and waiting to see if there was any come back. A bracket was unnecessarily removed from under the vehicle to install the tow bar electrics, it was put back and a vital wiring loom was crushed in the process causing even more problems. At one stage the electrician thought he might end up taking the ceiling apart. Extremely worried by now.

Eventually all this was sorted but not until almost 6pm. Facing a huge bill of over £1k, I managed to sweet talked the service department (female I might add) into a very reasonable £540.

I have thought long and hard about complaining and maybe some sort of compensation from the company who fitted the towbar and solar panel, but decided against that as I really don't think I would get anywhere.

What would you do?
 
I would approach tow bar installer, preferably with something in writing from company who did the costly fix, nothing to lose, much to gain. Good luck.
 
I would certainly contact the tow bar installer, this has been costly to repair. A few years ago we supplied some recovery vehicles, on the PDI it was found that there were various problems with the lights, the company that fitted the recovery bodies had trapped the wiring looms on all 6 vehicles requiring the rear sections to be replaced, we billed the body company for the costs.
 
I had a bill earlier in the year for something completely different but again it related to some wiring being installed incorrectly. Thought I would stand no chance of getting the money back but emailed a copy of the bill and supporting evidence to the people concerned. Much to my surprise within 2 weeks I had received a refund. No harm in asking politely, some organisations value their reputations.
 
This is from a thread I posted on WC


So I bought a Adria Twin from Evans Motorhome Company so not only did he hold the vehicle for me and not let anyone view it before I got there it came with an AA 6 months warranty and as you and I know warranties don’t cover everything on a motorhome/camper so I noticed a really small leak on the rear skylight and on the rear doors plus a few other minor problems and as I bought it in the middle of a UK drought nobody noticed the leaks and after reading through the warranty it was looking like it may not be covered so I contacted Dean at EMC and he told me to get it looked at and repaired and let him know the cost so the bill came in at £983.89 so spoke to Dean this morning and he has taken my account details so I shall let you know what he pays towards it when I check my account later.

As an update the guy paid up so would I buy from them again and would I recommend them yes I would he quibbled a little bit suggested 50/50 I said no with a polite explanation my online bank pinged and it shows up in my account as a good will payment
 
I know it hasn’t been suggested yet, and it may not come to this, but if you are considering using the Small Claims Court, bear this in mind.

Lodging a case with them costs, I can’t remember how much. But having taken advice over a problem with a roofing company, it was suggested that before the point where you submit the completed claim and make the payment, it would be worth sending the other party a copy of the paperwork by recorded delivery ‘as a courtesy’.

In my case, it worked. The roofer realised I was being serious and wasn’t going to give up, so he fixed the problem and I didn’t have to use the SCC.
 
I've been having problems with my (20y old) fridge ever since I paid a local company for a full hab service PLUS extra to thoroughly service the fridge. We are getting close to a Small Claims court action and I have been advised by my Legal Advice representative to send a letter AND email marked "letter before action". She said to include the term "following a protocol before bringing an action" and requesting settlement within 14 days.

Interestingly, following on from my previous email, I got what I considered to be an aggressive phone call from the owner, telling me that he had no intention of paying and I was to stay away from his premises and staff; he told me he was assertive rather than aggressive! After 25 minutes of talking and explaining the situation from my perspective, he has agreed to personally supervise a re-assessment of the fridge under constant discussion with me.

If that isn't satisfactory, I may well be going down the legal route.

Gordon
 
I know it hasn’t been suggested yet, and it may not come to this, but if you are considering using the Small Claims Court, bear this in mind.

Lodging a case with them costs, I can’t remember how much. But having taken advice over a problem with a roofing company, it was suggested that before the point where you submit the completed claim and make the payment, it would be worth sending the other party a copy of the paperwork by recorded delivery ‘as a courtesy’.

In my case, it worked. The roofer realised I was being serious and wasn’t going to give up, so he fixed the problem and I didn’t have to use the SCC.

I 'think' if you win you can claim your costs back from the losing party.

I had to file against a roofer around 6 years ago. I included all my costs on the claim to the SCC and the roofer paid the lot before the judgement came. Why he didn't just return the numerous calls or respond to the 3 letters I sent prior to this, I don't know. A cheque simply arrived in the post one day.
 
I've been having problems with my (20y old) fridge ever since I paid a local company for a full hab service PLUS extra to thoroughly service the fridge. We are getting close to a Small Claims court action and I have been advised by my Legal Advice representative to send a letter AND email marked "letter before action". She said to include the term "following a protocol before bringing an action" and requesting settlement within 14 days.

Interestingly, following on from my previous email, I got what I considered to be an aggressive phone call from the owner, telling me that he had no intention of paying and I was to stay away from his premises and staff; he told me he was assertive rather than aggressive! After 25 minutes of talking and explaining the situation from my perspective, he has agreed to personally supervise a re-assessment of the fridge under constant discussion with me.

If that isn't satisfactory, I may well be going down the legal route.

Gordon

Most annoying to have something work worse after a service than before. Whilst I would expect the company to try and sort this out I would hesitate to spend too much on legal action over a 20 year old appliance. A Court might well require the company to explain themselves but they may also look at the age and current value of the appliance and limit the damages on the grounds of betterment. Just my cautious approach and opinion. I do think the company should be helping you and hope this gets sorted quickly.
 
I would get a detailed invoice from the repairer and simply ask the tow bar company to reimburse you, if they say no then you need to seek advice from a solicitor using the free advice options some have.
 

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