Bad start last friday :-(

[Flupkedoc]

Hello,
Last friday, I was happy, i had to go to garage RAES in Bruges for the delivery of my new California Ocean !
Everything was OK until they started the explanation of the car :
Impossible to start the console of the camper !
Seems that the voltage of the 2 auxiliary batterie voltage was only 3 volts and the are out !
So i could go home with the van, but this morning I brought it again at the garage to fix the problem.
My meaning is that something like that should never happen, the minimum is that the vehicle should be fully checked before they deliver to the customer... what a bad experience !
So see you soon when i have my camper back
Philippe

 

[Jim Haviland]

That’s terrible - thought they did a pre delivery inspection!!

 

[AlisonF]

Sorry to hear that. Have a search on the forum for leisure batteries. If they were reading that low then they may be ruined and need replacing. Let us know how you get on.

 

[Flupkedoc]

Thee will replace them on warranty today .

 

[AlisonF]

Thee will replace them on warranty today .

That’s good to hear. I hope this is the last of your problems and you can get back to enjoying your new Cali as you should.

 

[kurienp]

Hello,
Last friday, I was happy, i had to go to garage RAES in Bruges for the delivery of my new California Ocean !
Everything was OK until they started the explanation of the car :
Impossible to start the console of the camper !
Seems that the voltage of the 2 auxiliary batterie voltage was only 3 volts and the are out !
So i could go home with the van, but this morning I brought it again at the garage to fix the problem.
My meaning is that something like that should never happen, the minimum is that the vehicle should be fully checked before they deliver to the customer... what a bad experience !
So see you soon when i have my camper back
Philippe

A bad start, but on the positive side, a good experience. It is when these things happen you have the real test of a dealer ... and in this case, they seem to have fixed the issue pronto. Don't get me wrong, it should not have happened, but things do happen, no body is perfect, and it is how well they respond that shows the true dealer.

In this case, they have responded well, and you should be happy that you have a good dealer.

 

[WelshGas]

There is No VW PDI checklist for the Camping facilities, unfortunately.

 

[GSX1300R]

Sorry to hear that. Have a search on the forum for leisure batteries. If they were reading that low then they may be ruined and need replacing. Let us know how you get on.

Just because the leisure batteries go flat it doesn’t mean they are kaput...If that was the case everyone who goes wild camping for more than a couple of nights would be replacing their batteries every time they came home..I’ve had mine read Zero and after a charge they are as good as new...Obviously not a good idea to keep letting them go flat every time though..

 

[GrannyJen]

Just because the leisure batteries go flat it doesn’t mean they are kaput...If that was the case everyone who goes wild camping for more than a couple of nights would be replacing their batteries every time they came home..I’ve had mine read Zero and after a charge they are as good as new...Obviously not a good idea to keep letting them go flat every time though..

Zero is one thing, 3V is another, a new vehicle, I would be asking for new batteries.

VW happily replaced mine when they went flat waiting for the dealer to start work on a fault and they would have had a residual 10v or thereabouts in them.

 

[Hotel California]

Assuming lots of Cali's been standing stil to long for shipping due CV lots of them will have theire batteries knackerd before delivery .
They should deliver a new Cali with 3 healty batteries 100% charged .
A good Cali dealer would have checked this .

 

[AlisonF]

Just because the leisure batteries go flat it doesn’t mean they are kaput...If that was the case everyone who goes wild camping for more than a couple of nights would be replacing their batteries every time they came home..I’ve had mine read Zero and after a charge they are as good as new...Obviously not a good idea to keep letting them go flat every time though..

See above replies from others... it depends a lot on how low and for how long.

 

[California4x4]

Just because the leisure batteries go flat it doesn’t mean they are kaput...If that was the case everyone who goes wild camping for more than a couple of nights would be replacing their batteries every time they came home..I’ve had mine read Zero and after a charge they are as good as new...Obviously not a good idea to keep letting them go flat every time though..

 

[BrugseB]

Raes, just around the corner, but after very bad experience, won't see me again. It's a pity, before they grew so big, they had a very good name...

 

[GSX1300R]

Hello,
Last friday, I was happy, i had to go to garage RAES in Bruges for the delivery of my new California Ocean !
Everything was OK until they started the explanation of the car :
Impossible to start the console of the camper !
Seems that the voltage of the 2 auxiliary batterie voltage was only 3 volts and the are out !
So i could go home with the van, but this morning I brought it again at the garage to fix the problem.
My meaning is that something like that should never happen, the minimum is that the vehicle should be fully checked before they deliver to the customer... what a bad experience !
So see you soon when i have my camper back
Philippe

So what you are saying is they replaced the batteries in your new California?

 

[GSX1300R]

Zero is one thing, 3V is another, a new vehicle, I would be asking for new batteries.

VW happily replaced mine when they went flat waiting for the dealer to start work on a fault and they would have had a residual 10v or thereabouts in them.

So the moral of the story is, if you need new batteries make sure they go flat when you take them into VW to have work done?

 

[Flupkedoc]

They charge them with a booster this morning and tested them. They seem to be ok. We’ll try this weekend as we are going to camp for 3 days not far from home (55 km) if I have problems then they replace the battery.
For now everything is working fine.

 

[GrannyJen]

So the moral of the story is, if you need new batteries make sure they go flat when you take them into VW to have work done?

No,

Make sure the vehicle is under warranty and a job that should take 3 days takes 4 weeks during which time the batteries were allowed to discharge.

"Two new batteries please"...... and there were no arguments.