On Thursday we drove the 80 miles to the dealership to collect the 'Eribacar' The weather was glorious and we were in high spirits, arriving half an hour early for the 2pm handover. At reception we were told that the guy who was going to do the handover was having his lunch, so we mooched out into the yard and found the van waiting outside the workshop. There were a couple of staff members out in the yard and we chatted with them as we looked round.

I was pleased to see that the damaged paintwork on the nearside B pillar had be repaired. A while later the chap who was to do our handover appeared and we started round the van, though oddly he seemed more intent on showing one of the staff members around, rather than myself. Mind, as it's a very simple campervan and as I've owned an almost identical one I found myself telling him more about it than the other way around. I checked the zig meter but as it was hooked up the leisure battery was reading 13.5v and the van battery 12v. The compressor fridge worked when it's isolation switch was turned on and the staff brought out the Propex boiler, in it's packaging, to show me and said it would be fitted next morning, as agreed.

I went back to reception with a duty sales guy and paid the balance.

Ready to roll we set off the few miles to our overnight campsite via a visit to Morrison's for supplies. I went to turn the radio on, only to see it needed a key code before it would work as obviously the battery had been disconnected at some time. As it was baking hot I turned on the aircon, only to be met with a blast of even hotter air and there was no way to get cold air from the machine. That was an issue that I'd asked 'my' salesman to have fixed and had been listed on the documentation. As had removing black marks on the 'carpet type trim on the rear doors. The valeter said they'd been unable to get rid of them.

At the campsite I pitched up and started transferring my gear into my van. I topped up the water tank but was concerned that the pump ran continuously and had to be switched off at the zig board.

I found the radio key code in the paperwork and that got the radio working fine. The Thetford flush water comes from the main tank and I was delighted to find when I used it later at night, the pump ran properly and stopped after a few seconds. So hopefully problem resolved.

In the morning I disconnected the EHU and decided to check the battery states on the zig unit. The van battery was fine but the leisure battery read absolute zero. This, combined with the fact that once off EHU the fridge no longer worked and the lights operated on the van battery setting but not on leisure battery, led me to suspect the leisure battery was dead.

I reported back at the dealership at 9am and they started removing the Redring boiler and replaced it with the Propex. The chap who'd done the handover the previous day turned up in his car and loaded some gear, then disappeared, having shown no interest in the proceedings at all. The same duty salesman seemed to be the only member of staff present on site, except the receptionist, the yard guy and the tech fitting my boiler.

That was completed successfully and the tech started removing the driver's seat to have a look at the leisure battery. He lifted the battery out but then discovered that the only batteries they had in stock were too tall to fit. More in hope than expectation he ran a tester over the old leisure battery and found it fully charged with no dropped voltage or indication of an issue. Suspicion then fell on the van charger, but having checked it out with a meter that was working fine. At this point the tech held his hand up and said it needed an auto electrician's expertise. The duty salesman made a phone call and found a nearby company that was able to help. With seat refitted the van went off to them.

This was around lunchtime and then passed several hours waiting, with progress reports. Eventually they said it had all been sorted and the salesman went off to get the van. I was surprised when it returned and instead of being handed over, it was driven back into the yard.

When I got round there I saw the tech and salesman clustered around the passenger door and the passenger seat was being removed. It turned out that the auto electricians had gone through tracing everything and come to the realisation that at some time a second leisure battery had been fitted under the passenger seat but it was no longer present and this had produced the zero reading on the zig meter. Presumably because the circuits weren't completed.

Having wrestled the seat away the tech went to find a suitable battery, but after the morning's problems I had a bad feeling. Sure enough none were low enough and at 4pm on a bank holiday Friday there was no chance of getting one that fitted. So we came to an agreement that I would take the van, find a battery, fit it and bill them.

By this time I just wanted to get home and with their apologies ringing in my ears I joined the bank holiday throng on a torrid journey home.

Despite them saying that the aircon just needs regassing my research tells me that it's a fairly common issue where a flap on the heater gets stuck that causes the constant heat problem and I'll get that sorted too and bill them.

Apparently my purchase has been caught up in their personnel issue and someone, presumably the guy who did my handover, was 'let go' on Thursday. It still doesn't excuse them from not fulfilling a proper PDI, or sorting the issues I'd raised four weeks ago when I paid a deposit or not fitting the Propex boiler in advance (apparently it arrived a few days before) so that it was ready for me on arrival. Somehow I get the drift that their focus just isn't on the customer.

Saturday was spent searching for a suitable battery but nobody has stock but plenty will ring me Tuesday. I then started fine tuning the van cleaning to my satisfaction and in doing so tackled the black splodges on the interior of the rear doors. They quickly came clean with a bit of foam cleaner, which suggests the valeter didn't touch them at all. Many collapsible crates of van contents were brought out for Mrs SDA to square away. A job at which she excels. We've even agreed that the tatty grey curtains need to be replaced with something in a cranberry red to introduce some contrast and a bit of luxury.

Sadly, sounds like a fairly typical dealership experience these days!

Quote: Frantone wrote in post #2

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Sadly, sounds like a fairly typical dealership experience these days!

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What made matters worse was the site manager wasn't present, one tech was on his hols and another was off sick. One of those latter two being the site's auto electrician.

The thing is you surely expect that when you've been made to wait 4 weeks to collect a used van that it would've been fully fettled.

Go on, twist the knife Mr Wakefield Branch

By way of contrast, I was taken to my collection by a friend who has a used PVC which they only collected a fortnight ago. Our trip was the first night away for their van too. They had also waited 4 weeks for collection but their experience with their dealer (Fuller Leisure nr Nottingham) couldn't have been bettered.

As well as servicing the van, Fuller's weren't sure of the state of the batteries in the van, so fitted a new van and new leisure battery, unasked. As standard they fitted a good size fire extinguisher, unasked. The van was advertised with a TV aerial but it turned out that all the TV reception gubbins ad been removed. When queried they agreed that our friend could have an aerial fitted locally for £300 and bill them. Whilst away on our jaunt we discovered the microwave didn't work, so they've agreed to fit a brand new one.

That's what you call a good buying experience. My lot were abysmal.

An update.

A week ago we headed off for a short break on Anglesey. Our friend with the Fuller Leisure brought PVC was coming too but travelling a different route. As we headed down the A55 around Conwy (that's just for Roger) we got a text from her to say that she'd had a tyre blow out near Tarporley and was waiting a trailer into Chester for a replacement. As it was an old tyre Fullers agreed to pay for it.

We had a pleasant break in Anglesey and headed home last Saturday, the 'EribaCar' having performed well, except that because it didn't have a second leisure battery fitted, the fridge defrosted every time we left the site and umbilical EHU.

On Saturday, nearly home, as we drove past McDonalds in Crewe, the exhaust tailpipe decided to part company with the silencer box. Luckily a good samaritan stopped and crawled under the van with rope and secured the tailpipe up out of the way, so we could crawl home. Sunday, nowhere was open that could handle a 9ft 3ins high van and get underneath to sort the exhaust. Monday I contacted the dealer whose first question was 'could I drive it to Blackpool?' I pointed out that 80 miles up the M6 with an exhaust that was liable to hit the road and create mayhem, was probably illegal and certainly foolhardy. So they agreed I could have it repaired locally and this morning I took it to ATS Euromaster at Newcastle under Lyme and by 3.30 I was back on the road with a new exhaust.

In the meantime I'd negotiated with the dealer that I'd take the van back to them next Monday for them to fettle the cabair, replace the two 10.5 year old rear tyres and fit a second leisure battery. I won't hold my breath.

Andy, why doesn't your fridge (Waeco 12V?) run from the vehicle's 12V system when en route?

I'm told that it's because, whilst it has all the gubbins for a second leisure battery, under the passenger seat, one hasn't been fitted. Or put it another way, it was removed at some time and hasn't been replaced. I presume this means the circuit isn't complete and that's also why the zig meter reads zero when switched to 'Caravan' but when hooked up the fridge works and the zig reads 13+V. The one leisure battery that is fitted (under the driver's seat, behind the van battery is fully charged and in excellent health.

I may be missing something here, but I don't understand why a second leisure battery is required to make the fridge work from the vehicle's 12V system (although I do see the need for a 2nd leisure battery when running the fridge without mains hook up).

I've worked on many van conversions, and those with 12V compressor fridges have been configured exactly the same way as a caravan, ie the leisure battery is charged from either the 230V hook up and battery charger, or via the vehicle's charging system through a split-charge relay.

Similarly, the Waeco's 12V supply can be provided by either 230V (using Waeco's 230V to 12V converter), the 12V from the leisure battery when off-grid camping, or 12V from the vehicle when the engine's running.

Whether the fridge is a 3-way absorption or 1-way compressor should make no difference.

I'm a dunce as far as van electrical systems are concerned John.

All I know is that the fridge will run when hooked up but won't run when not. It doesn't matter whether you have the zig unit in the centre 'off' position or set on 'car' or 'caravan', there is no power to it either with or without the engine running. When I eventually got it through to the dealer that this was wrong, they sent the van to some auto electricians who traced wiring and tested, eventually realising that the problem was that the van should have a second leisure battery, but there was a space where it should be.

I never saw or spoke to the electricians, so haven't been able to confirm their diagnosis. All I do know is that the one leisure battery is holding a healthy charge and that there's wiring, connectors and a rank of about five fuses under the passenger seat, with a vacant slot to fit another battery. I've assumed that because the second battery was a link in the 'chain' and was missing, this explained why power wasn't running to the fridge when off EHU, but when hooked up power was running via the on board charger.

I don't know whether that simplistic view is valid or technically sensible and was just waiting for a second battery to be fitted to see what resulted.

BTW I thought the water pump had the same issue, but it obviously never really gets used when the engine's running. However it too won't work when the zig is set to 'caravan', except when hooked up, but will work when set to 'car' and not hooked up. So appears to be running off the car battery and off the charger, but not off the leisure battery.

Quote: steamdrivenandy wrote in post #13

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All I know is that the fridge will run when hooked up but won't run when not. It doesn't matter whether you have the zig unit in the centre 'off' position or set on 'car' or 'caravan', there is no power to it either with or without the engine running. When I eventually got it through to the dealer that this was wrong, they sent the van to some auto electricians who traced wiring and tested, eventually realising that the problem was that the van should have a second leisure battery, but there was a space where it should be.

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