A government Enquiry needed in the Caravan industry

brickies · Guru

RE: A government Enquiry needed in the Caravan industry

Snail · Senior Member

I'm sorry, my wife said our caravan deserves a lot more fanfare than just a number 4, in fact we are on our 3rd Jayco over the last 10 years and have loved them all.

TheHeaths · Guru

We are on our 3rd Jayco.

The first and current one were second hand, and all problems had been sorted. No issues and very happy with both of them.

The second one was new. Had problems with one and returned it. Had a new one built, and major delamination of the fibreglass wall in the first week. This was repaired and the van was fine from then on, and we were very happy with that one on our trips over the next 4 years.

Sure they shouldn't have problems, and I know the owners are the Jayco QC. Shouldn't be, but it is. I would buy another one if we do decide to change. They are still very good value for money with their inclusions.

What does annoy me, is that on any forum I read, Having a go at Jayco seems to be acceptable, but try and do the same to another builder with problems, and a "no name and shame" policy appears. Fine have no name and shame, but apply it evenly to all makers. They all make lemons and they all have issues. It is almost like the common "knock a Jeep" mentality with tow vehicles. PS I have a Landcruiser.

dorian · Guru

I went to the Penrith caravan and motorhome expo last year. The cupboards in Jayco's display motorhomes all had broken knobs/handles and several other QC problems. Needless to say, I won't be buying Jayco stuff.

That said, I was impressed by Sunliner's products, but when I was getting ready to buy a $160K motorhome, I was turned off by the attitude of their salespeople. Neither the factory nor the dealer would give me any documentation prior to the sale. The dealer didn't even respond to my email.

Ideally, I would like a motorhome on a Japanese chassis, eg Toyota, Hino, but all the motorhomes at the expo were built on European chassis (Mercedes Sprinter, Fiat Ducato, Iveco).

montie · Guru

dorian wrote:
I went to the Penrith caravan and motorhome expo last year. The cupboards in Jayco's display motorhomes all had broken knobs/handles and several other QC problems. Needless to say, I won't be buying Jayco stuff.

That said, I was impressed by Sunliner's products, but when I was getting ready to buy a $160K motorhome, I was turned off by the attitude of their salespeople. Neither the factory nor the dealer would give me any documentation prior to the sale. The dealer didn't even respond to my email.

Ideally, I would like a motorhome on a Japanese chassis, eg Toyota, Hino, but all the motorhomes at the expo were built on European chassis (Mercedes Sprinter, Fiat Ducato, Iveco).

Dorian,

Toyota chassis are just not suitable for motorhome application and over the years Toyota have shown no interest in participating.

Hino is ok but limited volume because of licence class and Isuzu is the preferred chassis in that class anyway..

Fiat are by far the largest selling RV chassis worldwide.

Montie

Swoffer · Senior Member

Bryan wrote:

Took delivery of another Jeep last Saturday. My 6th consecutive one. Never had the need to ask for a Govt enquiry.

In this particular case , I think rather than a govt enquiry ,a psychological evaluation would be more useful.

Bryan · Guru

Swoffer wrote:
Bryan wrote:

Took delivery of another Jeep last Saturday. My 6th consecutive one. Never had the need to ask for a Govt enquiry.

In this particular case , I think rather than a govt enquiry ,a psychological evaluation would be more useful.

If you get bogged at Malimup next weekend, I'll salute you with one finger as I drive past in the Jeep.

I may even turn around, drive past and salute you again.

madcart · Senior Member

We bought our 1st ever caravan late 2014 after deciding to sell the house, but before we decided on one, I lost count of the number of vans we looked at, I also joined this site and others and drove everyone nuts with my questions. I also looked under the different forums to see what people were complaining about. Some were minor teething problems that you can expect on a new van, but I was more interested in the MAJOR problems people had with their van's. I'm happy to say we have done our 1st lap with no problems what so ever and the roads we traveled were both dirt and black top. So all that research paid off. It was time consuming and I drove Jeff nuts looking at second hand vans and then buying a new van. But if I did have a problem with dealers not doing their job and fixing up comlpaints I would have no hesitation going to Cosumer Affairs and let them deal with them.

My little speel is over

Cheers Chris

Kantiki · Senior Member

We are in our 3rd Jayco. Yes there have been a few QC problems but all h ave been fixed. We love our van, believe it was value for money and are happy making modifications to suit ourselves.

fitzy · Veteran Member

I bought a new Coromal Lifestyle 6.35 in 2011 after having a good run out of my similar 2006
model.What a mistake,from all the cladding coming loose ,a shower that won't drain,air-con
too small to cool the van,remote controlled shower light and exhaust fan that never works(they
say these units are no good and need to be replaced with a manual switch type)and when you
complain to Coromal they are design faults.

I tell everyone I encounter not to go near them,even their service Dept. agreed they have been
shoddily dumbed down for cost savings. Even had the Sales Manager apologise for selling me
such a heap of s----
At about $40K to upgrade I will perservere with it for awhile to try and justify what I have spent
on it. So it is not only Jayco ,when you travel around there are a lot of caravanners unhappy
with their expensive purchase. The Govt. could start by mandating a compulsory 3year
warranty period for new vans ,a lot of which only get used a couple of times a year and
are out of warranty before problems arise

Regards Fitzy

dorian · Guru

The law already provides the purchaser with a statutory warranty. This supersedes the manufacturer's voluntary warranty. Basically a statutory warranty is an implied warranty of merchantability. That is, a product should meet minimum community expectations for similar products in its class. Whitegoods are typically expected to last 10 or more years. I would think that a caravan buyer would have similar expectations.

I recently had a problem with a 3-year-old LG washing machine. The manufacturer's warranty was 2 years but LG advised me (without my asking) that I was entitled to a statutory warranty which they would honour, and they did. My only complaint was that neither LG nor their service agent would allow me to talk to a technical person prior to the service visit. The serviceman later explained that companies no longer provide such advice after a legal case involving an electrocution. (Some idiot probably stuck his finger in the wrong hole and got his lawyer to blame someone else for his stupidity ... posthumously.)