Saturday, Mar 30, 2013 at 21:51
We had a Goldstream camper some years back and were very pleased with it....but our Explorer van from the same maker is an entirely different thing.
Pelmets have fallen off, head protector inside door fallen off, info plate on chassis fallen off, curtains had holes throughout the lining (obviously a material fault and hey were all replaced after a while) but the worst thing has been the abnormal tyre (scalloping on nearside tyre) wear put down by the retailer as "in his experience it's wear and tear due to bad alignment".
No check to see what the problem was, just dismissed out of hand.
I had an independent caravan repairer check and he said the alignment was good but the nearside shock absorber was weak probably allowing the wheel to skip and not keeping it firmly on the road.
I reported this to the retailer who wasn't interested so after the time I'd given them to respond had elapsed, I contacted the Consumer Protection people in WA.
Eventually the retailer (George Day Caravans) agreed to talk to Goldstream re a set of replacement shocks which they eventually fitted.
Then after more prompting from Consumer Protection they agreed to replace the damaged tyre. This took some weeks to arrive from
Melbourne.
During all this at no time has any communication been received from Goldstream although the retailers’ service people advise that they have sent all my emails etc through to Goldstream.
We then had to have the new tyre fitted and the tyre people found the wheel to be so badly buckled they advised that we use it only in emergencies.
I then removed the other 2 wheels and asked that they be checked and they found that only one (the least used) was fit to be on the road.
We reckon that the vibrations set up by these buckled wheels are the root cause of bits dropping off but the retailer just says "inappropriate use" although Goldstreams own website shows their vans going through country we've never subjected ours to.
In fact I rang Goldstream once about taking it to one of WAs national parks and they advised that I should make up my own mind about whether it was advisable or not!!
Now I couldn't care less if the wheels were badly made or have been damaged by being towed down the GCR, which is a road even 2 wheel drive vehicles traverse regularly, they are faulty and are damaging our van and we want them replaced with decent wheels which have been checked for buckling, to match the H/Duty independent
suspension we paid for.
At no time have the retailer or manufacturer offered any assistance whatsoever in finding the cause of these problems.
Contrast this with the response to a friends’ problem with his Pioneer campers
suspension, the retailer couldn’t fix it so without any arguing it was shipped back to
Melbourne, fixed and returned at no cost to the purchaser.
All of the above has been documented and will be presented in the Small Claims court in
Perth soon.
AlanH.
AnswerID:
507887
Follow Up By: Member - Wamuranman - Sunday, Mar 31, 2013 at 18:46
Sunday, Mar 31, 2013 at 18:46
Alan, its always frustrating when you have a bad run with a new van beacuse of some problem. My only suggestion is to go straight to the
suspension manufacturer. Most van manufacturers use independent
suspension setup from other manufacturers ( eg G& S, cruisemaster, Sugarglider etc etc. ). You may get a better response dealing direct with them.
Out of interest what brand of
suspension is it?
Hope it all works out in the end and is resolved to your satisfaction.
FollowupID:
785257
Follow Up By: AlanTH - Sunday, Mar 31, 2013 at 19:45
Sunday, Mar 31, 2013 at 19:45
Thanks Wamuranman.
The
suspension has been checked as far as the independent bloke could and appears good, alignment OK as well. But those wheels are buckled with no evidence of physical damage at all.
Yet another caravan repairer who we asked checked with an importer friend who reckoned he'd rejected a whole container of 500 asian made rims because of this very fault.
Apparently not one was within the 3mm limit allowed.
The most annoying part is the complete lack of response from GS and the retailers attitude.
And this to customers who've purchased 3 RVs from them over the past 10 or 12 years.
Even if we get no satisfaction in the small claims court my message of dissatisfaction is well and truly out there and it has already helped one dithering club member decide between GS and another make. There goes the retalers commission on that sale. :-)
Cheers.
Alan.
FollowupID:
785260