# Danbury Woes - Delivery



## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

Please note that the Directors of Danbury Motor Caravans are charming people and though you might think I have the patience of Job I am all too aware of what might be the result of an acrimonious or litigatious relationship. I offer what follows as a salutary tale and have tried to remain objective and factual.

We ordered the van on the 26/10/04 with an 'up to 16 week delivery' written on the order form, making a planned delivery of 16/2/05. We ordered several vehicle options including the larger engine, air-con etc and some habitation options including diesel water and air heating a non-standard cloth interior and a slight variation to the overcab door. The price was well over £34k.

The deal was to be one half of the purchase price when the van was delivered from Renault. Their estimate late Dec 04.

We heard nothing more until we asked about progress in the third week of Dec 04. They got back to us saying they had a firm delivery date in January. As we were going to be out of the country then we mutually agreed to pay the stage payment before they actually took delivery. Mistake I know. I made a mental note moving the delivery 3-4 weeks to the right.

As the original delivery date passed and as we had heard nothing further, we pressed for an update. We were told that the van was probably going to be a week or so late because of problems with the supply of the Webasto heaters. (I have had it confirmed from another source that there was a real problem with a new design from Webasto).

We were fairly relaxed about this, as the first planned holiday was the third week in April, nine weeks after the delivery date. I didn't tell them that of course. No information came from them during the over run period; in each case it was me progress chasing, each time the forecast varied all for various reasons although Webasto figured largely.

The vehicle was eventually registered on the 15th April, we planned a quick shakedown trip but then they said a new problem had arisen and it would not be available for collection until the 19th. This was five days before we were booked on a Ferry to Holland. In the end the 19th became the 20th and then the 20th after 3pm! By now we are getting fulsome apologies from a director and they are contacting us.

At handover we were shown all the systems but two things were apparent, apart from a miscellaneous pile of OEM manuals there was no guide to the conversion, and the layout had changed slightly from that seen, we now had an oven but one less large cupboard and two less high level side storage cupboards - these were presented to us as improvements. There were also more apologies and explanations of why they were so late, which they fully accepted were their responsibility/problem. As to the reasons for not keeping us informed, they preferred only to contact us when they had positive information. _ As a project manager of over 20 years I call that level of customer communications appalling._

The van was, as we had expected, a dream to drive and that evening we started working out how to load everything. It was then that I noticed a thin layer of water near the Webasto heat exchanger under the bed and a slow but steady drip from an armoured pipe. We made the decision to go in the old van and the next 24 hours was spent hectically repacking the Romahome and changing insurance and recovery cover.

*Summary the delivery was ten weeks late on a sixteen week project.
The Renault part of the van was perfect.
There were minor deviations from specification but the worst was yet to come!*

Look out for the next episode entitled Danbury Woes the Webasto story.

Frank


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## 96097 (Aug 22, 2005)

Hi Frank

During times like these - keep a level head.
May I suggest that you have a fantastic holiday, and deal with any problems upon your return. They will still be there then.

Good luck on getting it sorted to your satisfaction.

Sharon


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi RockieRV

That was Oct 04 to April 05 we are now in 06! :

Frank


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## 88927 (May 10, 2005)

Hi 
The paint fumes have obviously got to Sharon (or is it the wine???), she has read your post to be a story of this year, not last, however I understand that we have another installment to come and I fear that the story may well be one of this year after all.... I do sincerely hope not though 8O 8O 8O 

I hope all is well with your van now Frank so that you cannot use it as an excuse not to come to any rallies or get togethers :lol: :lol: :lol: 

Keith


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## 96097 (Aug 22, 2005)

Hi Frank

:tomcat: I'm coming in to land..........

Some posts are just too funny to delete, even if they are embarrasing!!!

Sharon

PS. Can someone please open a window in here, I can't breathe for paint fumes, and my lenses are very cloudy.........


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