# Explorer Warranty Repairs - or lack of them!



## jonandshell (Mar 12, 2009)

We recently had the misfortune of a bad water leak in the roof of our Elddis Autocirrus 200 (06 model).

We took the 'van back to Greentrees Adventure Store where we bought the van at 1 yr old with 2000 miles on the clock.

The initial visit was in Feb 08 and it took until Nov 08 until the repairs were complete. The work, once 'finished' was incomplete, shoddy and enough to bring my better half to tears on our journey home. Of the four furniture panels and interior wall boarding which was water damaged and mouldy, only two panels were replaced. The reconstruction was awful, with huge gaps in the panels poorly disguised with badly applied sealant.

So disgusted was I, that on our arrival home, I dismantled the mess and rebuilt it to at least close up the gaps. We are currently sourcing new panels through the excellent people at www.rainbowconversions.co.uk and hope to have the work completed ready for new season.

Why didn't we complain? We had complained enough throughout the process of getting the work done and couldn't face any more inconvenience. It took three trips back to the dealer to just get damp tests done before Explorer would authorise the work! And even after that, we received a phone call asking if we could measure the affected panels! As if explorer hadn't a clue what they had built! In total, I would guess we made 5 trips for the work to be complete.

In short, the Explorer 5yr water ingress warranty isn't worth the paper it's written on. We won't buy a UK made van again if this is the industry standard. Has anyone else out there had a similar warranty nightmare?


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## CurlyBoy (Jan 13, 2008)

*explorer*

Hi, we had similarly bad experience with our Autostratus in 2004, the list of faults was so long that Brownhills refused to carry out the work, they insisted we return it to Explorer themselves, which we did But came away with exactly the same result as yourselves. When they came to hand over the MH we couldn't even open the caravan door! but of course all the staff had gone home! So I had to accept the MH as was and reset the door myself when I got home. We would never buy or recommend another Mh from them.
curlyboy


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## jonandshell (Mar 12, 2009)

The problem is, we really, really like our Autocirrus. We find the layout great and love the styling. The current range is like a step back in time in comparison. We are keeping our 'van for the foreseeable future and pimping it to suit our tastes.
It is just a shame Explorer can't deliver the aftersale their loyal devotees deserve.


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## pemif (Mar 22, 2009)

I'm reading this with dread as I have just purchased an 07 Avantgarde and the sealant work in the bathroom leaves alot to be desired. A repair has been attempted but it is a poor job. I'll reseal it myself.

However I like the van and had it on a couple of trips already. There is one problem with condensation on the windscreen and near the sleeping area.

At the moment I use a fan heater to dry it out daily and this seems to work so far.

The dealers Scottish Motorhomes don't seem to answer emails at the moment so my snagging list is about to be posted with copies of emails previously sent. 

Why are dealers not customer focussed?

Pemif


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## mgb (Dec 4, 2008)

Suggest you buy a German built MH in Germay
It will work out to be better value for money in the long term
Happy Wheels
MGB


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## Autoquest (May 16, 2007)

I have a Autoquest 115 and we realised from a few early repairs to our bathroom that we had bought into a rip you off 'joker' industry, kinda wish I'd built my own (for which, plans were well advanced). Once we realised that the damp warranty was dependent on a £350 full habitation check and that a £58 damp check on its own wasn't good enough we politely declined the offer and look after things ourselves. Peugeot aren't that much better either


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## EJB (Aug 25, 2007)

There are thousands of posts about poor aftersales service.
Many MHs leave the factories with faults.
Very few dealers seem to do a satisfactory PDI.
Second hand vehicles have generally had the faults rectified and are probably much more reliable.(In most cases!)
I believe that in an industry with very low numbers of specialise products things will never change.

I appreciate that this is no help to you but is does seem to be the MHers lot!!! :roll: 

PS. There are some new and second hand MHs with no faults :wink:

PSS. Dealers are booked up with work for months ahead.....they have no incentive to attract new work or customers!


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## ingram (May 12, 2005)

This won't help either but: one assumes that the staff who are employed by the manufacturers to build the motorhomes do have some training and subsequent experience of the job they are doing.

I have no idea of the skills or training that employees of the dealers have: probably none. If you go to a vehicle manufacturers main dealer you will see certificates for the mechanics / technicians that state their level of training on the company's products. Has anyone ever seen anything like that at motorhome dealers?

You buy a motorhome which has presumably been built by trained and skilled people but when a problem occurs it goes to a dealer where those required skills *may* be absent.

I wonder if manufacturers, such as Swift, Autocruise and others actually train any of the dealers technical staff in construction and repair of their products.

Peter of John's Cross often has something to say: perhaps, if reading this, you'd care to comment Peter.

My apologies for highjacking this topic somewhat but I think it has some relevance to johnandshell's original post.

Harvey


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## Autoquest (May 16, 2007)

Quite right - After leaving my motorhome for a day with our dealer, I returned early to pick it up and watched on as some 'youth' rammed the screws into the wall with his power drill, almost burying the heads in the process... The leak from the underslung water tank was put down to a hole in the filler pipe which was easily repaired - the actual repair by me involved dropping the tank and tightening the nut inside that retained the pump and outlet pipe. The glue smeared all over the roof remains to this day :roll: 

Jokers


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## 112071 (May 10, 2008)

*Warranty Repairs*



mgb said:


> Suggest you buy a German built MH in Germay
> It will work out to be better value for money in the long term
> Happy Wheels
> MGB


My own nightmare reality of buying a German built LMC motorhome certainly does not reflect this advice. We took our vehicle back to the LMC factory last Dec 2008 and came back with even more problems - the standard of their workmanship was extremely poor.
For the past 4 months we have been in another stalemate situation with their workshop manager failing to recognise and pay for these further repairs. After reporting this to the European Caravan Federation & German Vehicle Authorities we have at last now settled to have this work done. During the 19 months ownership of my GERMAN vehicle, we have only been able to use it for 2 weeks due to the lengthy legal investigations and disputes with yes, BROWNHILLS!
NONE of my letters to the LMC/Brownhills Managing Directors have ever been replied to and there certainly has has been NO customer care or sympathy shown. 
I have written to my local MP Michael Howard, who has referred my case on to Lord Mandelson in order to lobby for a change in consumer laws. Beware if you purchase a vehicle costing over £30,000, you have NO protection!


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## mgb (Dec 4, 2008)

The whole thing stinks doesnt it?
Happy wheels
MGB


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