# Chelston & Autotrail unsatisfied customer - Beware!!



## 101112

Hi All

Below is a lengthy email sent to Chelston & copied to Auto-trail on 17th July this year, Chased for a reply answer on 20th August, partly replied 21st August, treat as a matter of urgency on 3rd September, partly answered 4th september, better reply 18th September. Only last week some 9 weeks later are you getting closer to getting our concerns addressed.

I could write a book / blog about the sort of service we have received from Chelston and Auto-trail but from my email you will get a idea of what can happen and maybe a one-off!! but I would not bet against it. Our ownership has really been spoilt by the saga and I would not wish others to experience the current trouble and ownership problems we are having. 

So if nothing else this might make manufactures and dealers wake up to their poor customer care service and build quality issues if us owners make other potential owners aware so here goes......

Hello Martyn (Chelston)

Hope all is well with you down South.

Sorry to bother you again so soon after the recent lengthy habitation service. You will be pleased to know the rear window water leak does appear to be cured. We have not had any further leaks since.

My reason for contacting you is a bit lengthy but I feel it is now necessary to put some of our feelings down in writing.

Point 1:- Martyn - Tom - Stuart Turpin AutoTrail

Last weekend we were wild camping with the Motorhome Club of which I am a committee member. My intention was to watch the world cup final using the Panasonic portable TV ( model TX-G10 - It was not cheap!!) which we were sold in your sales shop when we purchased our motorhome. On the first time of trying to watch TV that Sunday evening the TV would not stay on. 20 minutes was spent trying to get the TV to remain on but without success. The battery meter reading above the door read 11.8v. In the end we had to return home early upset.

Last Monday I took the two 85a batteries to be proffessionally checked with both giving healthy 12.6v readings when tested and when under load as well. I then put those on charge again during last week in readyness for this weekend's wild camping with the club. Chairman of the Club with over 33 years of motorhome ownership took direct readings of both batteries on the friday evening with both showing 13.05 / 13.06. When the reading was taken at the 12v TV point in the van it also read the same 13.05 but when the TV set was switched on the voltage dropped to 11.6 / 11.7 when tested. 

After reading the leaflets with the TV it does state that the set will switch off if the voltage fails below 10.7v - Not much room for comfort of 1v over the period of a weekend. 

It also says I quote " Check that all wires from the battery to the DC suppy jack are of adequate diameter - thin wires have greater resistance and cause a larger voltage drop. Keep wires as short as possible to reduce resistance" AND " If you have created your own power cable for direct connection to the battery ensure that the wires are at least as thick as those in the supplied DC power cable."

Even though the distance from where the batteries are store to the TV socket is probably around 6ft, I guess the wiring goes to the meter above the habitation door then over to the other wall down the internal wall to the 12v socket which is why the voltage drops.

I would like you to ask the powers that be at Autotrial HOW MUCH MORE MONEY would it have cost to use heavier internal wiring cable to avoid this sort of problem on a £40,000 van. I would appreciate a phone call from Autotrail (Stuart Turpin head salesman) to see whether the problems we have occurred since owning the vehicle is good enough for their customers. Our intention is when our house is sold to purchase a bigger van BUT the problems over the last 3 years of ownership have really took the shine off owning this vehicle and I am asking myself if I am really prepared to spend even more money on a larger van when the time comes.

To make matters worse for me on this one point is that if you check your records on our first habitation service one of our problems was that we were not getting much life out of our TV when using batteries. Instead of being advised that the internal 12v socket & aerial point was not able to be used for it's purpose (for the TV sold to us) and mentioning the thin cables we were given two replacement batteries which did little to resolve the real problem long term. ( This surely cost more than installing thicker wiring cable )

How do you propose to resolve this problem as I feel we should have been made aware of this when we purchased the TV set from Chelston.

Point 2:-Martyn - Tom - Stuart Turpin AutoTrail

After Two weekends of wild camping with the group of members in the motorhome club they commented just how noisey the replacement water pump was ( It sounds like a numatic drill ) compared to the old one which had been leaking. (This was replaced in our most recent habitation visit.) We are STILL not happy just how noisey it is since replacement and made this comment on our collection.

Around the table discussion took place from owners about how we feel that the manufacturer leaves it to the customer to identify all these problems during the early years of ownership. It is probaby cheaper to solve complaints case by case rather than do better PDI inspections. Since I purchased my van from Chelston 3 other members from the club have purchased Autotrail models on our recommendation. We were initially very pleased with our purchase but my feelings have changed dramtically recently as the problems with Autotrail factory and the various issues that Chelston have to sort out. It was a steep learning curve spending 5 days recently in your service centre to hear of the problems various customers were having and that many felt that Chelston were " fighting the fire" with correcting the factory faults.

Point 3:-Martyn - Tom - Stuart Turpin AutoTrail

The very small local Autotrial agent who carried out the first repair on the rear window water leak is not pleasant to do business with. Various accounts from members that unless you purchase thru him he is not interested in carrying out warranty work or any work, I had to really push him into helping me in the early days. After the first habitation service with you, your technician knew straight away that the rear window and replacement rubber seal had not been fitted correctly by this agent or postioned only just by looking at the rear of my van. Myself and a few others have no intentions of using this outfit again to resolve their issues so we all now face the expense of a trip and deisel to get adequate service elsewhere.

I don't think Manufacturers are aware just how different camping is here as most camping is wild camping without electricity and this is how we identify faults that other users in the UK on hook-up do not notice. 
Point 4:-Martyn - Tom - Stuart Turpin AutoTrail

A Question to Autrotrail - Do they think that after nearly 3 years of careful ownership as my partner and I respect the motorhome when using it for weekend's away with the club and two abroad trips that the following gives confidence to invest even more money in another motorhome??:-

Rear Window leaking x 3 times starting after 4 months. 
Sealant re-placed around rear top brake light, Dried-out brake fixtures and water ingress. 16 hours to resolve, resulting in slight warping of rear panel.
Charging Unit replaced within 12 months.
Re-sealed around external front panel on roof after 12 months.
Bathroom re-sealed x 2 after 12 & 36 months.
Leaking water pump replaced this habitation.
Factory damage to Fresh water inlet - Replaced after 36 months
Veneer above Fireplace bubbled after 12 months - Replaced with brushed steel panel at recent habition visit - Factory Design Fault.
2 Replacement Leisure Batteries within 12/24 months.
Slats re-screwed on main bed within 12 months.
2 Freezer door hinges replaced x 2.
In-adequate thickness of wiring to 12v TV power socket.
Star crazing overhead cab.

Not surprisingly, we decided to extend the warranty cover for a further 2 years on our last visit at a cost of £500 just in case the above continues during our ownership!!

Point 5:-Martyn - Tom - Stuart Turpin AutoTrail

We are still unhappy with what we think is a Autotrail design fault to place the mains electric immersion heater switch under the rear corner cushion at the rear window panel to get the hot water. During the rear window leaking issue over the last 36 months at various stages we feel it's position is a safety issue as water was running from the window directly above the socket. It was decided upon at Chelston that you would not stand the £90 plus parts plus VAT to re-position the switch beside the front panel of the other two main sockets. Understandable Chelston had already spent 16 hours working on the water leak issue.

Point 6:-Martyn - Tom - Stuart Turpin AutoTrail

During our last visit to France in May this year we had the passenger cab door broken into by pushing a screw driver in the lock and twisting while we were asleep inside. I was utterly shocked just how easy they made it look as they woke me up. My complaint:- The insurance repair agent first quoted me £60/£70 to replace the barrel lock on the door which would result in not making a claim on my insurance but after checking on Fiat's Database he was unable to repair that one lock and has had to order a whole kit for replacing both cab doors, petrol lock and the igintion barrel, keys, re-programming the immobliser on the new keys resulting in a bill of £600 + to be carried out on 27th July!! Maybe when Autotrail are next designing they would put dead-locks installed internally on both cab doors as a feature for their special edition pack!! ( rather than a TV to get stolen)

I realise that some content of this email is not directed to Chelston as when the above have been notified we have had good service from the techinicians but it does depend on which person you deal with to achieve the correct level of service and you Tom and Martyn have dealt with us very well. I feel this needs to come to Chelston's attention first as Selling Dealers that elements of this email should be passed onto Autotrail for comment. When we purchased the Cheyenne at the East of England Showground 2003 the head of Autotrail (Stuart) was present to help sell us their product .

I have run my own service business for the last 12 years and pride myself on the customer care and attention to detail offered to our customers and feel that the above falls way short of complete satisfaction on our behalf as your customers. 

I would appreciate comments from Chelston & Autotrail in due course by telephone and letter when you have the full time to give this email your attention into our ownership.


Sorry Martyn, for directing it towards you.


Kind Regards

If owners would like to know further details on how we are getting on I would be happy to advise on our saga via email


----------



## 100005

Interesting to read this.
I purchased a new Autotrail Scout SE in March this year, and had a lot of issue with it, all of which were factory build issue.
Generally very poor factory build quality.

Here were the problems on my van from new:-

1.	Shower not working, either burning hot or burning cold
2.	Very bad leak around the Heiki roof light
3.	Side door not shutting properly, very noisy on the road, and always felt very insecure

Now, all these are caused by poor quality control in the factory. None were design faults.

I had the van back to the dealership a few times to get these fixed, and eventually, I got very good service from them (West Country Motorhomes).
One area I had great frustration with was the shower, as the dealer found it impossible to find a fault. In the end, I fault found it myself, by discovering that the hot/cold feeds to the back of the shower were reversed.

Then, there's lots of simply poor build issue, nothing major, but if I were selling a £50K car I would 100% make sure everything was perfect.
Things like, trim not stuck, poor FM reception, stickers on wonky etc etc.

As it stands now, I'm happy with my van, but for sure, *I WOULD NEVER BUY ANOTHER AUTOTRAIL*, and the main reason why is the patronising response I received back from Autotrail when I raised these issues to them directly in writing, copying the dealer.

Steve (Finally a Happy Camper)


----------



## mechanic

*Rip off Chelston and Autotrail*

I feel for you. I bought my Apachee 600 over 2 years ago and have had only a few problems with it, but even those Chelston seem unwilling to sort out or when they do agree are to incompetant to doing it properly.
Their service prices are unbelieveby high and even then several of the items where never touched. ( I marked them before taking it in for service )
Autotrail themselves are just as bad. The joint in the luton where the two parts of the molding join together was not sealed at all, it was picked up on the 2nd year sevice but they wanted £120 to reseal it. They said that it was purely cosmetic ( rubbish) Autotrail refused to get involved with.
I had to do it mtself inorder to prevent water ingress. 
They are a all bunch con artists.


----------



## 100851

*Autotrail awaning*

Hi we had an autotrail be aware and check the supporting bracketts in the track are in the right place as owers were not and the awning brock free of the rail

we have now sold it as i was not happy with it


----------



## DavidRon

I've bought 3 motorhomes from Chelston, the first one in 1998 when they were a small dealership on the A38. Good deals & the after service was excellent, thats why I bought my next two from them. But since they've had their new premises things have in my opinion gone down hill. (Some one has to pay for the new premises) I bought my last motorhome from another dealer.

David


----------



## MOTORHOMER

Sorry to hear of your problems but that report sounds very similar to a saga we had with autosleepers & our pollensa that took three years to sort by which time we were fed up with the saga & changed vehicles.

Hope its all sorted soon with an apology & some compensation for your inconvenience etc.


Motorhomer


----------



## MOTORHOMER

Deleted by me. 


Motorhomer


----------



## 101112

*Chelston and Autotrail*

Hi All

Still exchanging emails and letters with Chelston with our last one sent 14th October and still awaiting a reply to questions asked or even an acknowledgement to that email.

We have already expressed our dissatisfaction at their response times to any of our emails and things have not improved.

As for compensation we have to spend £400 taking it to them rather than them getting it sorted closer to home!!

Thanks to Chelston after sales service they have ruined our motorhome experience and I would seriously consider selling the vehicle back to them.


----------



## MOTORHOMER

*Re: Chelston and Autotrail*



sparkles said:


> Hi All
> .
> 
> As for compensation we have to spend £400 taking it to them rather than them getting it sorted closer to home!!
> 
> Thanks to Chelston after sales service they have ruined our motorhome experience and I would seriously consider selling the vehicle back to them.


Hello again

I would be firm and demand they collect the vehicle repair to your satisfaction & return to you when completed. Stand firm & you may be surprised. I got results from Autosleeper but they visited us instead of us them or collecting the vehicle.

Regarding putting you off motorhoming. Yes what has happened is a very unpleasnt experience. We have been there & felt the same & wouldnt trust the vehicle to go acroos the channel even though eventually before sale everything had been put right. But we are now very pleased with the motohome we have and are back in the swing of things enjoying travelling etc etc. and wouldnt dream of giving it up at the moment.

Good luck

Motorhomer


----------



## 101112

*Problems Now sorted at Service on 10th July this year*

Hi All

You will be pleased to know that after a habitation visit to Chelston this July all of our problems have now been resolved.

Their attention to all previous matters were resolved to our satisafaction.

And after slating them for their poor after sales service which was correct in the past, I want to now go on record and give them credit for completing on all matters.

This visit we found their service excellent and dealt with all matters very well. So thank you Martyn and Tom for your efforts.

Regards


----------



## Foxtrot

*auto-trail cheiftain 07*

Hi all

so sad to read of everyones problems re auto-trail vans. We took delivery of ours April 16th and to date problems are:

1. 12 volt Batteries not charging from engine.
2. 12 volts system not disabling when engine turned on
3. habitation door showing daylight top and bottom
4. gap between cab floor and habitation on left hand side (YOU CAN SEE THE ROAD)
5. remis blind rod not secured rhs 6 ins of blinds off rod
6. stitching on end of matress undoing in 3 places.
7. light in wardrobe not working
8. and of course the dreaded water ingress in the engine.

we have booked all these problems to be addressed on Friday 31st August at Simpsons Garage Gt Yarmouth, to date that have been helpful just hope all goes well. ~This is our second Auto-trail, we too said never again when we had problems with the first one, but we were tempted again by design and furnishings. In comparison to some these are only cosmetic []HOWEVER, NOT AGAIN.


----------



## 105858

*Chelston*

Hello,

I have problems of the same nature with my Swift Bessacarr E530.

However, the common thread is CHELSTON. Trying to communicate with them is almost impossible, like chewing sawdust!!


----------



## rogerandsandra

Hi Foxtrot

We too have a Chieftain, ours is a G.
We collected ours on the same day as you, and have also had battery problems. Ours was the leisure batteries that failed after 2 days. Our dealer told us that it was the batteries that were fitted by autotrail were faulty and not accepting charge. These were replaced by the dealer when we parked on his forecourt and told him to fix it 8O 
We had a long list of faults and 1 week after collecting the MH I sent a 12 page letter including photos to Autotrail and our dealer. We received 2 letters from Autotrail, one passing the buck from the MD (who also told us to join the owners club but ignored the reason for the letter) and one from Paul Howes who 'set up an internal investigation' in to why these 'obvious errors' were not picked up. he then told us to contact our dealer. After very frustrating calls and dates made and broken we took our MH to another dealer to get the work done.
We love our motorhome (our first) but would never buy another Autotrail.
I would like to see Autotrail on here, admitting their mistakes, and trying to correct them as Swift are doing. Swift have earned a lot of respect from me since they have been here, and possibly that is where I will go when its time for a change. How do you know that your batteries are not charging? How do you check? 

Sandra


----------



## 1happy

*Re: Problems Now sorted at Service on 10th July this year*

Hi sparkles,
Did it take 10 months to get it all sorted :?: 
If so wow :!: 
regards 1happy



sparkles said:


> Hi All
> 
> You will be pleased to know that after a habitation visit to Chelston this July all of our problems have now been resolved.
> 
> Their attention to all previous matters were resolved to our satisafaction.
> 
> And after slating them for their poor after sales service which was correct in the past, I want to now go on record and give them credit for completing on all matters.
> 
> This visit we found their service excellent and dealt with all matters very well. So thank you Martyn and Tom for your efforts.
> 
> Regards


----------



## 107504

Crumbs, I thought I was hard up!
My apache was delivered Dec 2005, and apart from a number of fixtures and fittings either missing or damaged our key problems have been abitation unit wiring problems requiring sections to be rewired/overlaid by new cables. Taken the dealer several goes to find most of them. I am however still finding new problems and a quick look at the method of wiring installation underneath shows why. Utter rubbish.

I won't buy another Autotrail.


----------



## Marian

*Chelston again and again*

Hi All, it is getting to the stage where I have to take my blood pressure before I ring Chelston in case I have stroke mid-conversation or explode with fury when they will not reply. The faults on my Dakota are too numerous to itemise again but if I tell you that we have had no less than 3 serious leaks on a van less than two years old it gives you some idea. Eventually, after emailing Auto-Trail direct with an explanation of all faults and telling Paul Boulton there that Chelston weren't worth a carrot, they just employ slimy, silver-tongued salesmen (that's you, Paul Summers)who take your money and run Auto-Trail deemed to forward this to Chelston direct and low and behold for the first time they contacted me.

Long and short of it is they agreed to collect my van, lend me a courtesy vehicle during the repair period, fix it, pay expenses and send me away a happy little bunny. Ha bloody Ha! The day for collection was changed with no notice therefore not giving us, who both work full time, enough time to clear it out and clean it properly before it went. Driver turned up for van, guess what, no courtesy vehicle. Van away nearly 6 weeks, husband goes to collect it and....wait for it....good old Chelston have damaged the caravan door. We have now had a vehicle that left with 18 faults and has been returned damaged. They have admitted damaging the van but tell me they are a most professional company. Yeah! Rachman won the Landlord of the Year Award and Robert Mugabe is up for the next Nobel peace prize. How do they get away with it? Please, anyone who is thinking of buying a van do NOT repeat NOT use this company.

When Martyn Leaf initially contacted me he was profuse with his apologies and swore everything would be rectified I was daft enough to believe him. Well, we all know about Pinnochio, don't we. No-one in that company cares one iota Surely there must be a governing body for this industry. I am in a profession where if one of my clients had a quarter of the grievances we have with them I would not be allowed to practice. :bad-words:


----------



## skratt

that sounds all too familiar to my experiences of Chelston.
It sounds like false promises and non return of calls is a standard practice with these guys.
I agree ..... avoid them like the plague !!!!!!!


----------



## Rapide561

*Autotrail*

Pay attention Autotrail. Are you reading this, Chelston?

Russell


----------



## melodeonmania

*Unsatisfactory Autocruise Starburst*

When we purchased a new Starburst from Westcountry Motorhomes we were thrilled - dream becoming reality - soon became a nightmare! In total over just on two years our van was showing huge moisture readings, returned to Swifts for two months 'conclusive remedial'. A habitation check five months later readings were up to 50% - back to Swifts for a further three months. Having become very disillusioned with Westcountry warranty support - many other problems too many to list we requested Chelston to take over the warranty on our behalf. They could not have been more helpful, supportive or impressive in the way they took on our difficulties. Swifts do not care after taking your cash and could not have been more cavalier in their attitude. Will NEVER EVER go near their products again. Now have an Adria supplied by Chelston, done a high mileage in 6 months both UK and France. One minor problem of the fridge door requiring adjustment. What a difference - quality - reliability and far, far better insulation. We are living the dream once more.


----------



## Senator

Hi

It worries me when you read of customers suffering over the purchase of such expensive items as Motorhomes! If we are expected (and do) spend such large amounts of our hard earned money on these vans surely we should expect both quality and after sales service to reflect the prices of these vehicles :?: 

From my own experiences of Chelston's I have to say they are very positive. We were treated very well by both the service centre and Jon in sales over the disaster with our Stardream (purchased from STJ Motors) and it's water ingress :evil: They were very sensitive to the situation and almost apologising for being the bearer of bad news each time I spoke to them. They welcomed our visits to see the damage and worked with us to resolve the situation - which was us trading the Autocruise for our Bessacarr.

I have got a couple of minor issues with my Bessacarr which I will be expecting Chelston's to sort out under the warranty, so it will be interesting to see how that goes. In fairness to them they are not aware, as I write this, of these issues.

I will be very disappointed if my present high opinion of Chelston's is knocked back :? 

Mark


----------



## GEMMY

Why has this SIX YEAR OLD THREAD surfaced, if anyone is unhappy start a new thread or join an existing new thread.

tony


----------



## melodeonmania

*Chelston Service Centre*

We have now been using this dealership for several years and there has never been an occasion where we were even slightly unhappy. On every occasion during our sad ownership of the Starburst they were immensely helpful and highly supportive with our Swift issues. Each member of staff wherever they are employed went out of their way to be professionally helpful, we cannot speak more highly of them all. Even when they have been working under the extreme pressure of heavy workload. Always top class.


----------



## GEMMY

You wouldn't happen to be employed by Chelston to introduce a new broom to clean a SIX YEAR OLD THREAD :wink: 

tony


----------



## melodeonmania

Phew, see what you mean! No just a very happy customer, being a refugee from another company who just did not have the same attitude, nor professionalism that Chelston seem to offer and I only hit upon this string quite by chance. Encountered Martin quite by chance when I was mutting quite the most offensive mutters known to a pensioner and we were taken under the company wing. Our very lucky day.

My latest crusade is to try to get local councils to adopt a more satisfactory approach to motorhome parking and in particular overnighting. As the French do. That's what happens when you retire and need a little stimulous for the grey matter and to keep the blood flowing!!!!!!!


----------



## DJP

melodeonmania

Did you notice that these posts were OVER 6 YEARS OLD


----------



## melodeonmania

not until it was too late to save myself from being embarrassed. The sentiments remain the same tho.......


----------



## Hawcara

Not such a bad thing to re-introduce this. One always believes that dealers are good. Some newcomer to this 'hobby' may at least look at this thread and check them out some more, similarly Swift products.

Until I read this, I thought they were okay and would now be wary, even if there is a new broom, because as they say, the bristles soon wear down or and then they get a cheaper one.


----------



## DTPCHEMICALS

:lol: :lol: :lol: 
The OP made 4 posts. Complained , Never paid subs and went away happy. What a sad world we live in.

Dave p
.....

.
.
.
.
.
.
Why am I posting this is beyond me.
.
.
.
.



Oh I remember I have paid my subs.


----------

