Correspondence

06/08/10 13:03

My wife was recently given between 6 months and 2 years to live with a brain tumor. We've been hill walkers most of our later years but are only just in our 50's spending several weeks a year in the Lake District in our caravan.
After my wife operation to prolong life, she was left partly paralyzed, our walking days over I decided to sell what ever I could to purchase a motorhome so we could tour the Scottish highlands, this was our dream for when we retire.
I found the motorhome I wanted at Brownhills Newark at £24,000.00 , I paid a large deposit £10,000.00 and set a date for me to collect. Two weeks later the day before I was due to pick up the motorhome they called me to say it had failed the MOT (exhaust) I said but you have had weeks to sort this out and I have booked the holiday the following weekend. "Don’t worry" I was told "it will be ready before then," it wasn't and another week past and another collection day was given and postponed. Two weeks after the original collection day I was able to collect. I got to Brownhills driven by my son, I saw a motorhome that looked like mine but it was not clean so I dismissed but yes you've guessed, it was mine! inside was worse, filthy carpets etc. I thought never mind I will clean it up before my wife sees (as she had never seen it) I drove home and set about cleaning it up before my wife arrived home from her mothers. She got home and loved it but noticed there was several things missing and the fridge would not open, she looked at the loo and I could not believe my eyes as the cassette was still full from the previous owner, I sorted that out and she said she liked the motorhome but it was in need of a clean (thank goodness I had already cleaned it somewhat) Next day we started with a major clean with the shower & hand basin in the wet room, I noticed water was leaking through the floor, also saw the main fresh water tank leaked, I was devastated, we had just three days to go till our re-booked holiday, I called Brownhills and I asked why the motorhome had not been checked? But the service manager side tracked and suggested we call there on Saturday on our way to our Scottish holiday, they would do the repairs while we wait and have a complimentary breakfast, I thought (yes) we will get our Holiday after all.
Over the next three days we added an inverter - sat-nav - extra battery's etc. and loaded up, my wife was determined to clean the filthy carpets, I was concerned at her doing this but she spent a whole day in the garden with a vax shampooing carpets spread across the patio, taking rests but happy to be doing her bit.
Saturday 6am we drove the 130 miles to Brownhills feeling fairly happy but wondering how long we would have to wait while the repairs were done. We arrived at 10am and went to the desk, nobody seemed to know who I was but I saw the original salesman who took my keys and said we should sit and wait but my wife was outside with our 3 year old chocolate lab Beau who was not allowed inside, we sat outside to eat our non – complimentary breakfast at a picnic table in the cold drizzly morning. (Mandy my wife refused to sit inside and leave us alone) 6hrs later 3.45pm I went to see if I could find out anything and was told the motorhome had been ready for and hour, nobody had bothered to tell us. I took the keys, signed the papers and went and got my cold wife and Beau and followed the service manager and engineer who said they could find nothing wrong except the leaking freshwater tank, in the Motorhome I was shown how to run the fridge on gas and they left, I then noticed all the dirty greasy footmarks over the carpets and the grubby hand marks on the shower and basin, my blood boiled as I saw red and called them back and I swore at them. The service manager apologized, said he would have the motorhome cleaned when we came back from our trip. Do these people not realize how difficult it is to (just pop in) to Brownhills when you are caring for someone and the cost etc. I was fuming, all the effort my wife had put into cleaning those carpets.
We got on our way up the A1, I suggested we stay at Castlerigg hall in the Lake District as Scotland was too far today. We listened to the radio that for some reason would go off till you hit another pothole in the road but we arrived in one piece and set up for our overnight stay. Mandy suggested that we watch telly so I got it switched on and started messing with the Ariel trying to get a signal, this I did for several hours till I could not be bothered any more. we decided to stay in the Lakes a few days as the weather was good and I would set up our satellite dish the following day and get used to our motorhome. The following day I found the toilet cassette leaking and later we had a knock at the door from the Warden to say water was leaking from under the motorhome, the shower -the one they said did not leak!! I spent some time setting up the satellite dish getting a lovely picture, I thought I would wind out the awning to sit outside in the fresh air but found the awning legs were broken. I messed about with the Ariel ( again) to see why I could not get a picture as everyone else could (yes you’ve guessed it again the Ariel was broken) not to give up and try to keep my Mandy cheerful I said we will use on site showers, the satellite for TV and carry on up to Scotland on Tuesday.
Monday we had a pleasant day and nothing seemed to go wrong (touch wood) Tuesday morning came and we packed up, said goodbye to our friends who own the site and left on our way to Bunree in Scotland - we arrived at 6pm and was greeted by our other friends who run this site for the Caravan Club, it was late & they said go and set up and do the paperwork in the morning. I set up the motorhome while my wife made her way to the Showers, she came back and made a lovely dinner and I swallowed a can or two of Guinness, after this we took a slow stroll along the beach with our lovely dog Beau and I thought I wish this moment could last forever. Anyway back at the motorhome we talked about getting another cassette for the toilet from Inverness on our way to Kinlochewe as it’s a long way to walk in the middle of the night to the loo and twice a far for me as I have to escort my wife Mandy, anyway we settled for the night and I fell asleep with the telly still on at the end of the bed and in to a dream and in my dream I could hear Andy wake up - Andy wake up, I then realized it was Mandy and I wasn’t dreaming “yes what is it “ I said, she replied , “ there’s water running through the spotlight overhead “ and yes it was all over Mandy’s side and all the bed and bedding was soaked and so was she, I could hear the rain hitting the roof hard and knew there must be a hole in the roof, it was then I realized the only light was from the cooker that I had left on as a nightlight, the rain water had run inside the satellite receiver and blown that also. I got out of the bed and pulled out a make up bed and had to steal the dogs blanket for us to rest under, it was 2.30 am and Mandy slept fairly well because of her medication, I didn’t Sleep any.
The hours took forever to pass until at 9am I managed to get through to Brownhills and all they could say is “you’ll have to bring it in” we were 500 plus miles from home with nothing to sleep on and 350 miles back to Brownhills, but worst of all it was the end of our dream, but the nightmare continues, I started 350 miles back to Brownhills and at around 3.30pm I called Brownhills again and said we will be there very close to 6 could an engineer hang on a few minutes if we are Just after 6 and the girl on the service desk just said if your not here by 6 you will have to come back tomorrow, I said that I’ve been driving non-stop to get to you cant somebody wait a few minutes longer, there was no answer so we put the phone down and I put my foot down the last 120 mile and got there at 5.30 and walked in and they said, “oh you got here then” I stood and looked at them and felt like crying but I followed the engineer ( a different well mannered gentleman) out and showed him the problems, he climbed on the roof and said that he could get his fingers in where the mastic had cracked and the whole roof needed to be done. I went back to the service desk and asked the receptionist to see the service manager but was told he was in a meeting but she would get him to call me the following day, the next thing was Mandy, Beau and myself are sitting back in the Motorhome stunned by a lack of anything - Brownhills are closing up going home - Id been driving for 9 hours - still got another 2 hour to get home - no answers no apologies. I drove home in silence wishing I never put my poor wife through all this.
The following morning I waited and waited for a call but nothing so I called them and asked for the service manager and got the reply he’s in a meeting. (again) she then said I will get him to call you this afternoon, the phone call came around 2pm and straight away I apologized for swearing the other day at his engineer but he did not reply so I said hello are you there ? and the manager said what is it you want. Again I could feel my blood starting to boil but I kept calm and read him out a list of 12 faults, 4 of which are major and he said when would you like these done? And I replied as so as possible as the summer is nearly over, he then replied I will call you later today to let you know when we can collect it (he did not call back) and that was the last I heard apart from my I called back to see if he had got a time for me but guess what? He was in a meeting.
I don’t know how long my wife has, I hope the doctors have got it wrong but I wanted to give her the dream and when I met the Brownhills salesman who showed genuine feelings I thought this was it, then the after sales people of Brownhills took over and they lie and cowardly hide behind their secretary’s, they have no feelings and no respect.

Locksmith

Webmasters reply

Hi Abbeylocks & Mandy (and Beau!),

Thank you for your email to us here at Brownfools.

Firstly may we say how sorry we are to hear of your condition, Mandy. Our thoughts and sympathies are with you and your family. An experience like you have just had with Brownhills was the very last thing you all needed.

We had already read your distressing account on the Motorhomefacts website forum. The replies from members of that forum (and others) say more than we ever could. We understand from subsequent posts to the forum that you may be able to obtain a refund from Brownhills. You won't need us to tell you how precious your time is. If you can get your money back, do so! Then put Brownhills behind you and never look back.

Motorhoming is a wonderful way of making the most of your time together. We understand that the proprietor of Johns Cross Motorhomes in East Sussex (Peter) has offered you a Swift Motorhome for a week to get you off to a proper start. Our limited dealings with Johns Cross Motorhomes have been very satisfactory and we thank Peter for his generous offer.

In the time that we have run the Brownfools website we have been sent some harrowing, first hand accounts of peoples dealings with the Muppets of Newark. We often think that they can't dig themselves any deeper into the gutter, then we hear of them in the sewer.

This website was born out of our experiences. We are truly sorry that, like us, you learnt the hard way. We do hope that this is all resolved to your satisfaction - and quickly!

Please drop us a line letting us know how you fare, what you buy, where you go and, most of all, how you enjoy it! Don't let this put you off motorhoming. There are good dealers out there!

Finally, we hope that you can make another trip to Scotland. As you will see from the photos elsewhere on this website, we love it!

Very best wishes,

David, Prew and Connor.

Update (04:52 13/08/10)

In the last couple of days Abbeylocks has posted to Motorhomefacts that he has achieved a very satisfactory resolution to the above issues. He has thanked Brownhills for the way they have responded to his complaint. We are very pleased for him and Mandy and wish them many happy days in their replacement motorhome.

David, Prew and Connor.