A sorry story of woe... I was home a few weeks back, and the council dropped a note through my door saying they were going to re-surface the pavements, and could we avoid parking on the road. Well, the Eriba has pride of place on the drive (preventing my wife from parking off the road), so early next morning I hitched her up and towed her to work. Unfortunately I let the 13 pin cable drag on the floor, so it needs replacing (don't ask). That afternoon I flew to Brussels, and was going away for a couple of weeks, so I rang and booked it into the local Caravan dealer for a service and new 13 pin cable. This week I was back, and on Tuesday morning dropped it off. Later that day they rang me, and proceed to give me a very unclear message about problems with the electrics, and needing to keep the van for longer, but promised to ring me later that day with full details. No call came, so yesterday morning I rang them. I was then told the fitter is off for Easter, and won't be back until Wednesday next week, but as they had overrun the service slot, it couldn't be seen to until the end of the month!! Many things about the conversation raised alarm bells, so I went around, paid for what they had done, and brought the van home. Work done: damp check, gas check and replace gas pipe, added LPG sticker to front cover, checked the water system and replaced the 13 pin plug. The lighting doesn't work - a fault has been introduced, and he had spent several hours (at my expense) trying to solve the problem. Total cost to me: £340. Won't be going there again...

Anyway, now my question - these issues were reported:
- They complained that the van had EU wiring and not UK wiring, which is why he couldn't understand it. Is this an issue??
- There is a CTEK battery charger wired into the van (by the previous owner). They wanted to replace this. Is this necessary?
- The mains trip didn't, so the consumer unit needs replacing. Where is the best source for a new one?

I now need to spend time tracing the lighting electrics to see where the fault has been introduced. I think I might be making up a test lead :). Alternatively, can anyone recommend a reliable electrical caravan man in the Wirrall/North Wales area who could help me?

The van is a 2002 Familia 320GT.

Many thanks, and sorry for the long post!

PS: The council's idea of resurfacing is different from mine - they basically painted the pavements black...!!

Hi, I believe you’ve got the very best caravan engineer on your doorstep ! People travel for miles for his service, he’s based in the Wirral.

John E

nestoncaravanservices

Tel 07798711261

0151 348 4510

I can happily recommend him to you,

I would argue that a caravan dealer with a service dept is holding themselves out as a specialist in caravans, as opposed to say your local car servicing garage. As such, a reasonable person (I would suggest) would expect such a dealer to recognise the possibility that a caravan they undertake to service/do repairs on, might possibly have a non UK origin (- the clue would be the door on the wrong side! but Eribas are known to even non Eriba enthusiasts as vans that are not made in the UK) and would be able to do competently what is probably a typical repair (replacing the 13 pin cable). If not, they should have declined to do the work.

Take it up with them. Obviously, if you've paid them, if they stand their ground, you have to sue them in the small claims court. Write a formal letter of complaint. If you paid with your credit card, copy them in. The credit card company are equally liable for breaches of contract (which is what your consumer rights are) so you can complain to them if you get no joy. The credit card companies can be quite powerful in what they see as meritorious cases, as they could take from the trader the ability to do card transactions.

A quick word of warning, even though they seem to have screwed up, you really have to give them chance to sort it out before taking it anywhere else. That is unless it is unreasonable to do so, for e.g. if you were abroad and the electrics failed as a direct result of their work.

Hope you get it sorted.

.

Thanks Blueyonder!

To be honest, they would probably have rectified the issues, if I had left the van with them for the next two plus weeks. That's not so reasonable really, in my opinion. While I stood there patiently in the service reception yesterday a call came in and someone booked their van in next week, while I was told there was no space in the workshop! I had visions of them taking ages sorting the issues out, then charging me for the hours because the issues were in the van, and not of their making. I decided to cut my loses and not get into an argument. They seem like the sort of dealer used to working on new and nearly new vans - there wasn't a van older than 5 years in sight when I went there (and no Eribas).

Thanks suzywong for the link to John - I will get in touch with him, especially having seen the information elsewhere in here about updating electrics. He clearly knows his stuff!

Well then, that's your 'unreasonable to do so' - you offered for them to rectify at it and they said they couldn't within a reasonable period of time. Get someone else to look at it and diagnose the problem, and then formally complain as above, claiming the difference between the total you have paid out and what you should have paid if a competent person had done it at the outset.

It's a sign of the times though. We bought a new Land Rover and the service area in the dealership is WHITE! spotless, with all the engineers with spotless overalls on, they plug in the computer and get told what to do (they are paid £40k a year apparently). We only go there because of the warranty/service package but what they do when an 25 yr old defender comes in with a fault I don't know!

.

Hi Paul

Quote: paulj wrote in post #1

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- They complained that the van had EU wiring and not UK wiring, which is why he couldn't understand it. Is this an issue??

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Quote: paulj wrote in post #1

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- There is a CTEK battery charger wired into the van (by the previous owner). They wanted to replace this. Is this necessary?

---

Quote: paulj wrote in post #1

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- The mains trip didn't, so the consumer unit needs replacing. Where is the best source for a new one?

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I had to crawl under the van and put the cover back on the connection box. To route the 13 core cable he had popped out the hole cover, and run the cable through the bare hole - no grommet or gland to keep the water out. Not a good sign.

Hi John! - I have sent you an email with a view to engaging your services! :) I look forward to talking to you soon!

I would like to close this story with a big recommendation. I took my van to JohnE, and he has overhauled the electrics, bringing them up to date and into fully working condition. At the same time, the van was serviced and a couple of other issues identified and resolved. We went away at the end of May for the Bank Holiday weekend, and again a few weeks back to the Radical Bakers Gathering. If you have any issues or require servicing on your van, I strongly recommend you contact John for that perfect, personal service!

You can't beat the best.