Marquis South Yorkshire Customers Beware

7th August 2018. This year we viewed a Chausson Motorhome Best of 10 (2013) at a cost of £32,995.

The rear bumper was badly damaged, Marquis said they would fix this if we bought it; they really hounded us for the money.

It had an electric bed but Joe the salesman said he couldn’t demonstrate it as he didn’t have the key?

we finally picked it up on the 30^th August 2018 the salesman was in a rush to get off on holiday so he handed it over to one of the technicians to inform us how the Van worked. He demonstrated the bed but only on Hook up.

We travelled home and we tried the bed on the leisure battery. it didn’t work and the battery was showing as completely dead.

On Hook up the bed only moved a short distance and stopped.

We rang Marquis straight away and the technician told us to go on You Tube to reset the bed!

This actually did work, (there is a secret button) but we had to operate it this way every time. By the way the toilet Cassette was filthy from the previous owner?

We were expecting a follow up call from Joe, we waited 5 days, when we didn’t hear anything we rang Marquis and arranged through service to bring the vehicle back to be checked out.

This couldn’t be arranged until the 1st October.

We went away on holiday for a week and rang on our return but the van was not repaired.

Several calls were made to Marquis between the 17^th October and the 26^th October with no luck. We were told that they had ordered new control panels but had been sent back to be remodified presumably from Chausson?

We were told a rocker switch instead of a key would now control the bed. T

he last panel was sent back to them (Chausson or supplier)?

On the 1st November, expected back about the 5th November, on the 12th November we receive a Call to say the Van was now fully repaired.

As we couldn’t pick up that day due to commitments we arranged it for the 15th November.

The keys were handed over by service, as you would expect we tested the bed immediately as this was the main cause of concern, the key just rotated in the lock which was loose and the bed started and stopped almost straight away the battery showing as dead yet again.

The response was “it was working on Friday”?

Two Technicians came to talk to the Service Manager, and the Van was taken back to the Garage, 45 minutes later the problem was apparently fixed, except it wasn’t, the problem still existed.

The Service Manager tried to operate it without success.

We left it with Marquis and politely requested another Motorhome as this one has never worked as it should.

We were offered an exchange but they wouldn’t put it in writing. The latest letter we have had 29^th November 2018 tells us they have managed to repair the bed and it is ready to pick up.

We have sent a rejection of their repair today by registered mail, they will now escalate this to their Head office and I expect they will back up their Manager Andy Milne.

Where we go from there I will have to think about.

As of today since August we have had the vehicle for two weeks.

Is there anything else we can do?

Welcome to the forum. Another unhappy Marquis Motorhomes customer. We are really getting quite a lot of these kinds of complaints and of course they are very serious given the value of the motorhome.

I would simply decide to take control of it and sue them for a refund. You need to be aware that as this claim would be more than £10,000 if you lose, it is likely that you would pay the costs of Marquis Motorhomes. However, the chances of losing a county court claim against them on the basis of what you say here are extremely slim. Your chances of success are much better than 95%.

If you claimed then you can claim the refund of the money that you spend on the motorhome and any associated losses including expenses of getting it back to them or any other bills that you have paid as a result. I would expect also that you could claim a modest amount for loss of enjoyment is presumably you have had school holidays.

It really is completely up to you. If you want to sue them and we will be very happy to help you. It will be straightforward – but from the sounds of Marquis motorhomes, they are likely to dig their heels in and make life tough for you until the hearing.

If you have the bottle to tough it out then you will win. We will help you all the way and from the sounds that there are a lot of markets motorhome customers all over the place will be cheering you on.

You have to decide

I absolutely am committed to seeing it through, however I will wait a few days to see what their head office have to say. If they refuse a refund am I at that stage able to take it straight to the Law for a decision or do I have to wait for the final outcome from the NCC Which Marquis say are independent assessors ?

The pre-action protocol requires that you give them 14 days so once you decide that you are going to take legal action, then you should send them a letter before claim setting out the details of what has happened, the fact that you are relying on the consumer rights act 2015 and that they have 14 days to comply with their obligations under the statute or you will sue them in the County Court for the price of the motorhome plus any reasonable associated costs. Asking for the standard County Court rate of interest of 8%.

You should warn them that as the value of the claim will take it outside the small claims track, that they will also be liable for your litigation costs.

If you do this yourself – and it should be fairly straightforward – then you should start keeping a close note of all the time you spend in hours on any research, preparation, drafting proceedings et cetera.

I think the litigation in person rate at the moment is about £19 per hour

Thank you for your valuable advice I shall be sure to inform you of the outcome

I suggest that you don't go it alone. We are happy to guide you step-by-step. You may consider going to solicitors – but it will cost you a huge amount of money and it will drag on and be very unsatisfactory.

I suggest that you take control of this very quickly which means that you make your decision whether to sue – and if you do, then you issue the letter of claim immediately.

You might want to post the letter of claim here for comment before you send it off.

I shall do that

Hello again we have today received a letter from Alan Doherty Group Manager of Marquis, and I here is the body of the letter.

"I have discussed your case with my colleagues at Marquis South Yorkshire, and whilst I sympathise with you and share your frustration when things go wrong, I am unable to agree to accept a rejection in this instance.

 

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 does not allow for rejection of goods where a consumer has agreed to allow a repair as in this case. You suggest that you are entitled to reject the goods on the basis that you have no confidence in the work carried out. Whilst I understand your apprehension, unsubstntiated speculation does not allow you to move to a 2nd tier remedy as suggested.

 

Marquis South Yorkshire are confident they have established the cause and repairs have been carried out accordingly, I see no reason to suggest that further issues will manifest and consequently you are required t make immediate arrangements to collect your vehicle without further delay.

I need to know if Marquis are entitled to dismiss our concerns

Many thanks

Where does he get the idea that the reason you are rejecting the repair is because you have no confidence in it? Is this something that you said in your letter?

If the problem is repaired then you have no further basis for action until another defect occurs.

If the problem remains after their attempted repair then you are fully entitled within the first six months to reject the goods.

However, if you are simply rejecting the item because you have no confidence in the repair than they are right and you're wrong.

Can you tell us what has happened.

We rejected the first repair in October as it did not resolve the issue and the workmanship was shoddy, we requested a refund, we asked for a part exchange or refund which they agreed to, but they would not put this in writing, when we pursued them for a refund they then said no, and they had managed to repair the Motorhome. They reject my proposal that they escalate this to their head office for further investigation.

Thread moved to the appropriate forum...Vehicle retailers and manufacturers Forum...please continue to post here to your thread.

Regards

Andy

Sorry, but you haven't addressed the questions in my post number nine

sorry I thought I had, the no confidence came in our letter of rejection but this was also linked to the poor workmanship, we believe the MH is not fit for purpose, to make myself clear to Mr Doherty I have sent the full list of complaints which were outlined on your site here initially. I contacted Consumer Advice who say I should send a letter before claim, I think at the very least Marquis could escalate this to their head office for further investigation.

Please can you list out here what defects remain, and whether there was a repair attempt which failed or whether they are simply new defects.

I'm afraid that adding the fact that you have lost confidence in them, was unhelpful because it has merely muddied the water. This is far too esoteric and it is not something which would be recognised in the courts

Also, if you have read around about the problems that people have with marquis motorhomes, you will see that this company is completely unhelpful and in fact they appear to be obstructive to customers who have problems.

You are still in the mindset that you are expecting reasonable behaviour because you are the customer of a company to whom you have paid a lot of money for a high value item.

You had better disillusion yourself of this pretty quickly. It is not helping you.

The only thing to do with this company is either to take legal action – or to give up and get the defects repaired elsewhere and make sure as many people as possible know what their experience will be of marquis motorhomes if they buy one of their products and experience problems

Thank you for your advice

CRA 2015 clearly states that within the first 30 days if a repair is required then the 30 day waiting period is suspended until the repair is completed to the satisfaction of the consumer. In effect it seems that you are stil within the 30 day waiting period. Secondly, if a repair fails again within the first 6 months you then have the choice of a replacement or a full refund in this case.

If the vehicle was purchased on Hire Purchase then it is the finance company that is liable as they own the vehicle and your contract is with the finance company.

Marquis will deny you your consumer rights up to the steps of the court house so be prepared for a long battle. It took an acquaintance 18 months to get a refund plus compensation from Marquis and that only happened on the steps outside the court.

BTW by denying you your customer rights Marquis are in fact committing a criminal offence so make sure that Trading Standards are aware of Marquis refusing consumer rights. In addition, TS will have a record of Marquis doing this previously.

CRA 2015 clearly states that within the first 30 days if a repair is required then the 30 day waiting period is suspended until the repair is completed to the satisfaction of the consumer.

Good spot.

Very useful thanks

Thank you so much for that information regarding the 30 day period, we are putting together some bullet points, I don't feel capable of handling this process myself so we have decided to take the case to a legal firm, it will of course be a long haul procedure, these are very nasty people and I don't expect a quick resolution, I thought it was ridiculous to deny us the right to escalate the problem to their head office, if they are so sure they are in the right you would think they would be happy to confirm it with their Senior Managers. The world is full of sharks

It probably won't make any difference to them but warned them that you are now going to go for legal professional help and this means that you will be expecting them to cover your legal costs as well either when you obtain judgement in court – as will inevitably happen – or as part of any settlement that they might eventually decide to offer if they decide they would rather avoid a hearing.

I would tell them that you are well aware of their reputation for refusing to respect their customers consumer rights and also of offering settlements at the last moment.

Tell them that you are also reporting the matter to citizens advice and to trading standards. Tell them also that you will be making sure that the various review sites over the Internet are fully informed about them and about the progress of your case.

You should warn them also that in the event of any settlement offer from them, you will not grant them confidentiality.

You can be sure that if they do cave in – then they will want you to grant them confidentiality as part of any deal. You don't need to do this. On the basis of what you have told us, you will win and your chances of success are much better than 95%. You don't need to make any compromises.

However, as I think I already said, you don't need a lawyer for this. You should aim to get the proceedings issued within the next week or so. If you instruct solicitors then it is likely to be several weeks at least before any proceedings are issued. It will certainly not be before the New Year.

I still think you should do this yourself. We will help you all the way. We have experience and we don't charge any money – as you know.

Once you have got the case underway if you feel that it is getting out of your control then go and see a solicitor.

You shouldn't be worried about doing it yourself.

Thank you so much for your valuable insight into our claim, I fully respect your views, and realise the time scales are indeed lengthened by the intervention of a solicitor, your comments have made all the difference in our decision to go to the law. We are both pensioners and we are already suffering lack of sleep and appetite due to this companies complete lack of empathy. I will make sure that any forums on Motorhome and Caravan sites are fully informed.

In that case, I suggest that you keep us closely informed about the progress with the solicitors. Just because they are legal professionals doesn't mean that they are particularly enthusiastic about what they do.

You need to be able to control them.

If I were you I would give them written instructions outlining what has happened and that you want one single letter of claim sent and then the papers issued within 14 days. Tell them that those are your instructions to them in writing and you want to be followed.

Your solicitors won't be particularly pleased that this and they will want to enter into correspondence. Don't consent to it. Marquis will simply drag it out. Marquis will realise that by entering into correspondence with you, they can drag it out and also every letter by you will incur costs and every letter sent by them will also incur costs for you because your solicitors will have to read it.

You must not get into this game.

I will most certainly keep you informed.

I've been looking at Facebook. Try searching on Marquis Motorhomes. I think you will be shocked.

I would suggest that you start contact those people and find out exactly what their own experience was and how they had their problems solved.

The problems with Marquis motorhomes seem to be extraordinarily consistent over a great number of their customers.

This is a company which Once upon a time has an excellent reputation and it seems to me that there must be somebody in place now who has a completely different set of priorities. Whoever that person is, they need to be taken down because they are damaging the interests of ordinary people – often retired with great hopes of having a bit of fun after their working lives – and to spend a very important lump of money trying to do exactly that.