Apologies for the long message but wanted to explain situation

Please can you advise?

Purchased a Motorhome in July 2015

Paid bank transfer for lot (yes I know now I shouldn't have) £61K

Endless problems over last 2 1/2 years and MH spent months over this time being repaired

Even had a fire in the garage in a socket that wasn't working which they said they had repaired

I could supply a list of repairs but I'd take up too much time for you to read them

Main issue now - last June whilst on holiday during the heat wave we wound out the factory fitted awning on the side of the MH. It was hot and no wind.

When we got into bed that night we looked up (on the awning side) and noticed a gap of about 2cm above our heads along the seam where the roof meets the wall and the trim going around the roof had completely buckled.

We called Marquis Leisure and also the manufacturer Auto Trail to discuss the issue.

It took 6 months to get the MH into the dealer to be investigated

The dealer was not happy and felt this problem was way beyond them and their workshop

They wanted my MH to go back to factory for the repair and investigation

Auto Trail refused

The dealers workshop then removed various parts including part of the wall board to see what was wrong

It became clear that the main beam supporting the roof and the side wall had been screwed incorrectly into the 40mm composite beam, and had been screwed just on the edge so causing the screws to pop out of the side when the counterbalance of the Awning was extended

The manufacturer told the dealer to drill a hole in the side wall and fill with expanding foam.

I said no, I want a proper repair, expanding foam was not the answer to secure the side wall to the roof and stop the side wall being pulled outwards

The manufacturer wouldn't accept liability even though photographic evidence showed this

They said I had swung off the awning or left the awning out in the rain (which I haven't and this is confirmed as no sagging of the awning fabric) and caused the screws to pop out

After 3 weeks Auto Trail told the dealer they would allow 8 hours of goodwill repair and refused to tell me how they were going to repair my MH

I became frustrated at this point and sent them a letter of rejection under the 1979 Sale of Goods Act as not fit for purpose

I had given them 3 weeks to repair my MH and they did nothing

They wrote back and refused to accept it

Next thing my MH keys are pushed through my letter box and my MH parked outside my house unexpectedly.

It was in pieces, completely trashed with electrical wires dangling and wall boards removed

They said I had refused them to repair my MH when I didn't. I just asked them to tell me their method of repair

I decided to get an independent report and also sent them an SAR to gather all my personal information from them

- my correspondence with them and their dealing with me and my MH

The independent report was done and confirmed this could only have been caused at Factory with poorly located screws as they were screwed from the top of the beam down. Auto Trail was sent a copy of the report and refused to accept the report

I decided to book another independent report (how many do I need to get and pay for?)

This has shown the problem to be much worse than I thought originally

The report says my MH has a serious structural problem.

It says my MH is currently unusable and not fit for the purpose for which it was supplied.

It states it would have been faulty at the point of supply but this did not become apparent until the vehicle had been used.

It would not have been detected by a pre-delivery inspection

It will require a minimum of 60 hrs work to repair

How do we make the Dealer and Manufacturer accept these faults?

What would you suggest?

I realise my Contract is with the dealer, but my warranty is with the Manufacturer

Yes, it's a long story and I suppose it will take some working through. For the moment, I have to ask whether the motorhome was supplied by Marquis with all the fittings, awnings – et cetera? Or were these other installations fitted by a company other than Marquis?

You say that you bought the MH in July 2015 – which is almost 3 years ago. What was the extent of the warranty?

In any event, you would be best off concentrating on one area of responsibility and that should be the dealer, assuming that they provided the whole thing completely kitted out.

I'm not sure that you have given us the date of this report which says that it is not fit for its purpose. Please could you tell us. As you bought the MH in July 2015, you are certainly correct that it is the Sale of Goods Act which applies rather than the Consumer Rights Act. However, because of the amount of time which has passed anyway from the date of the contract, there is no difference in effect.

Have you had any independent quotes for the work required to put the motorhome into a proper condition – the condition that it would have been in if it had been kitted out satisfactorily in the first place?

Which branch of Marcus are you dealing with? Do you happen to be dealing also with Alan Doherty?

Yes, it's a long story and I suppose it will take some working through. For the moment, I have to ask whether the motorhome was supplied by Marquis with all the fittings, awnings – et cetera? Or were these other installations fitted by a company other than Marquis?

 

You say that you bought the MH in July 2015 – which is almost 3 years ago. What was the extent of the warranty? 10 years on body

 

In any event, you would be best off concentrating on one area of responsibility and that should be the dealer, assuming that they provided the whole thing completely kitted out. Yes the awning was Factory fitted

I'm not sure that you have given us the date of this report which says that it is not fit for its purpose. 10th April

Please could you tell us. As you bought the MH in July 2015, you are certainly correct that it is the Sale of Goods Act which applies rather than the Consumer Rights Act. However, because of the amount of time which has passed anyway from the date of the contract, there is no difference in effect.

 

Have you had any independent quotes for the work required to put the motorhome into a proper condition – the condition that it would have been in if it had been kitted out satisfactorily in the first place?

 

No. The engineer said their would be few places capable of doing the size of this repair which is why he has stated in his report that it needs to go back to factory if the repair is carried out

Which branch of Marcus are you dealing with? Tewkesbury

Do you happen to be dealing also with Alan Doherty?

If you don't mind it would be helpful if you didn't post up your responses by way of annotations in the way you do.

I gather that the warranty applies simply to the body of the MH so I don't really see how this applies to the awning.

Would you mind listing out all the defects you have found please – do it in a bullet pointed chronology giving the day or approximate date of each defect.

Put it in a list using the quote function on the forum. I think a separate chronology listing out the amount of time that it has gone into Marquis for repairs – with date, nature defect, how long with Marquis, result of work.

You will have to do this anyway at some point so it's not a wasted exercise. It seems to me from the dealing so far this forum with Marquis that you are probably going to have to threaten and then bring a legal action.

I think it would be worth getting another independent assessment of the necessary repairs and also an opinion as to whether the MH is not fit for this purpose. Unfortunately hasn't helped that this has gone on for three years. I think you will definitely need to get an estimate of the value of the defects that need repair. Rejecting the van now as not fit for its purpose could be difficult given that you have had it so long. Can you tell us how much you have used it? How many trips – how many miles – how much time have you had it on the road for voyages

Ok, thanks for this

Yes will work my way through this tomorrow as just off to work

You have slightly misunderstood the warranty, the awning isn't damaged. Is the actual structural defect that has been the result of the awning being wound out due to the poor construction of the frame of the vehicle in factory

With regards to me getting another quote to repair the vehicle we are talking about a 7m roof being removed!! This just isn't something that anyone other than a motorhome factory could deal with. It may be that it needs a new roof because I don't know if the roof can be removed without being damaged???

If anyone else does the work it would invalidate the warranty of the vehicle unless Auto Trail agree to the repair

We have around 4000 miles on the clock I think - not much more either way because as Ive said its been in and out for repair over the last 2 1/2 years

The faults that have occurred seem to happen every time we use the vehicle, and each time we have thought surely this must be the last thing that can go wrong

We've even had to have all four corners of the roof re-fibreglassed and respraying due to cracking. Not something you would expect to have to have done on a "brand new" vehicle

I will sort out the chronology tomorrow and get back to you

Thank you for your help BankFodder

In respect of the difficulties of getting a quotation, that's fine. The important thing is to get an independent assessment and either to come up with a quotation or else a detailed assessment of the situation and why it is beyond economical repair or not fit for the purpose.

I'm afraid that you will need to have this preparatory paperwork – because Marquis do not look as if they're particularly cooperative with their customers when things go wrong. This means that if you decide to challenge them in court, you can be certain that they will become energised and you will need to have a good solid case supported by evidence in order to get a result.

I'm not suggesting at the moment that you get any work done by any non-authorised person – but at some point you may find yourself in a position where you have to give notice to the people who are responsible that the work needs to be carried out, that they should inspect the vehicle for themselves, and that if they refuse to carry out the work then you will have no choice but to have it done yourself in order to mitigate your losses.

The other thing you might end up doing, of course, is to return the vehicle and have it repaired by the authorised repairer and pay them the cost of the repairs and then reclaim those costs in a court action.

In fact I think it would be a good idea to get a quotation for the work from the manufacturer on a paid basis.

You have referred to the fact that Marquis apparently said that the work needed was beyond them. To have this in writing? He also said that the manufacturers refuse to do the work. Do you have that in writing?

Shadowdog, I would like to make one or two observations.

You have had mutiple faults with the vehicle over the past 2.5 years which have been partially dealt with under warranty. I suspect that not all of the repairs were to a good standard for the following reasons.

All four corners have had cracks repaired - unless this is a common occurence with these vehicles ( unlikely or the various forum would be jumping up and down on Auto Sleeper) this should have alerted any competent repairer to the fact that the roof structure was defective requiring further investigation.

Your second independent report, was this by an acknowledged expert in this field? If so, one can extrapolate the cost of repair by multiplying the hourly rate (minimum of £90 per hour) by the 60 + hours that they suggest is needed. This estimate of £5400 plus, is a good starting point. A quotation (even with the caveat of additional cost on full dismantle) would itself require some dismantling to be accurate, so could be subject to some cost to you, which could also be claimed.

The fact that it has taken 2.5 years to discover this structural fault is not relevant due to the nature of the fitted interior. which would hide the seperation of the side wall from the roof until it got to an advanced state with the additional pull of the extended awning.

If you have not yet done so, I would suggest that you post an abbreviated version of your post on the relevant forums and Auto Sleeper Facebook suggesting that all owners of these vehicles check for this shoddy workmanship/design fault. I would have expected at least metal bracing plates between the timber frames where additional stress from a side awning is likely.

Good luck.

 

If you have not yet done so, I would suggest that you post an abbreviated version of your post on the relevant forums and Auto Sleeper Facebook suggesting that all owners of these vehicles check for this shoddy workmanship/design fault. I would have expected at least metal bracing plates between the timber frames where additional stress from a side awning is likely.

 

Good luck.

a very useful post. Thank you.

The suggestion that you have made at the end which I have quoted, is an excellent suggestion. Only to add that people might find it useful to come here for advice on the kind of action to take. Let people know that it is completely free.

The other thing which can be very useful would be if people could share the details of some independent assessors.

It could be very useful for one or two experts to be able to say that they have seen this in a number of different motorhomes. This would be very compelling for any judge and also would increase the pressure on Marquis. It seems to me that Marquis badly need some serious pressure and one or two successful legal actions which were then properly publicised around the Internet would have an excellent effect.

There is a Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1655444494741569/ which is set up for people to share their marquis motorhome experiences – but in fact there are a lot of people complaining about the way they have been treated.

They won't give you the help and support and advice that we do here – but you may well want to go and join them in order to share your experiences.