Ownership Diary - Dethleffs XL Family A7872-2

[SpuffingtonMe]

So difficult to find much info on the 8AT as it's only been in production for about 9-12m. But so far I also haven't found any issues, whereas a lot of the 9ZF seem to fail like mine; in the first 5-10,000 km. And then fail again......and sometimes, again!

Problem with the electrics is that the inverter was fitted by Travelworld and is the kind of thing which doesn't come out easily. And the additional electrics have been fitted by Premium and also unlikely to be easily removable. On that point I may have to suck it up.

I've been reading Travelworld's reviews on Trustpilot and there's a lot of similar reading; people dropping vast sums of money and then effectively been ghosted. Their Aftersales seems non-existent. Even today, I finally got a response from the Service Desk basically saying the Service Advisor would get back to me when she returns from leave on Weds. Firstly, I think we've gone beyond the scope of what a Service Advisor can realistically do and secondly, another three days wait is unacceptable. I managed to find reference to a chap who purports to be Customer Care Manager or Head of Aftersales. I've written him an email but that doesn't bode well - I immediately received an Out of Office notification going back to March! So lord only knows if he still exists in the company or not.

IF (and it's a big IF), I were to manage negotiating a replacement (which I do believe I'm at liberty to request), I don't think any more are coming into Travelworld until Autumn/Winter and probably similar to other dealerships around the place. I'm awaiting a call back from Pullingers (local to me) to see if they have any coming in in the event I were to get my money back.

I've pretty much written off this year's motorhoming now.

 

[Californication69]

Sinking so much cash into what is basically a cluster &£*.
Painful.
At least you got your health.
Be positive. Follow the ombudsman advice and start proceedings.
I wouldn’t waste any more effort with TW.

 

[Razor Crest]

I am surprised that TW are still going. I had a Grand Canyon S 4x4 from them, it was a great van, but I warn anyone that will listen to avoid them like the plague.

 

[SpuffingtonMe]

So a small but positive update.

I spent the latter part of last week badgering all and sundry. Fiat U.K. / Stellantis, Dethleffs & Travelworld all received emails of complaint. Shamefully the only ones not replying with any seriousness was Travelworld who just responded with “your Service Advisor is on leave until next Weds, she’ll respond then”. Given this is way beyond the service desk at this point, I escalated to Head of Customer Service - then got an out of office referring to March! Meanwhile Dethleffs has clearly spoken with Fiat and Fiat CS had been escalating internally also.

As a result of this, I received an update yesterday from Premium to say the gearbox was en route, arriving end this week. However the oil lines required were due 21/07. There is an outside hope that they could arrive sooner and Premium have undertaken to get everything fitted as soon as it’s received.

With this news in hand, a surprising wave of excitement came over myself and my wife (we’d already had tears from the two eldest kids about potentially getting rid of “Doug”) and thoughts immediately turned to our Austrian holiday.

Suffice to say, high risk strategy, but we’re going to give it a go (my repeated reading of Consumer Rights legislation makes me think I have to as well). Clearly if there’s the merest sign of the gearbox putting a foot wrong in future, we’ll activate the rejection process and I’ll happily spend money getting a lawyer involved. But let’s hope this solves it and we can get on with living what was supposed to be a dream (and had started out so positively).

Fingers crossed (y)