Marquis Motorhomes: David's Official Letter of Compaint
This is David's official letter of
complaint, given to Marquis's Adam Webb on 4th August 2017, referred to in our piece: Marquis Motorhomes: Ten Tales of Woe.
26th Sep 2016 Approx. 3pm. Left
Marquis with our new £43,000 Marquis Majestic 185 motorhome to stay at Wooler
for two nights.
26th Sep 2016 Approx. 11pm. Discovered
I was unable to lock the habitation door from the inside, meaning I had to lock
it with the key and enter via the cab door. Not a great start considering it had
just had a “comprehensive” pre-delivery service at your factory.
I called your service department and they fitted a new handle when I called in
on the way back from Wooler.
Unfortunately, this was to be the only
time I received any great help from your service department as you will see
when you read the rest of this letter.
3rd May 2017 Called
Marquis to explain that my water pump was not working, the camera screen clips
had broken (whilst I was travelling at 60mph on the M1) and the main breaker tripped
almost every time I connected external power and sometimes took many attempts
to reset (as of Sunday 18th June I now have a video to prove this).
I explained that I needed my motorhome back by 27th May as I was
going away for a month. I booked in for 17th, the first available
slot, and was immediately told if it couldn't be fixed on that day it may not
be fixed by the time I went away on 29th. I argued that it was
ridiculous to expect my wife and I to go to Spain in June with no running water
to flush the toilet and was eventually told to “bring it in and we'll see if we
can get to it before 17th”. I took it in lunchtime 4th
May and after inspecting the van exterior for damage Jeannie from the service
department told us she would call us the middle of the next week to update
us….. we're still waiting for the call. Over the next few weeks we were
promised call backs at various times from Jeannie, Ian and the manager (Mr
Webb?) and none of them did so without me having to call them again…… if this
is what Marquis call customer service I suggest they look up the meaning.
18th May. Called Jeannie
who said a warranty claim had gone in on 5th May but not settled
yet. Asked about other two problems and was told she thought they'd been fixed.
24th May. Called Jeannie
who told me the pump problem was still not resolved. I then spoke to Senior
Service Manager Ian (Douglas ?) and asked why not. He said Whale might
want Marquis to carry out more tests on the pump (might want, not do want, very
vague). I then said that if Whale had to send the pump back to Marquis for
tests and it still didn't work there was no chance of me getting the pump fixed
before I went to Spain on 29th. His reply, and something he repeated
over the next few days like a mantra was “It's
a warranty issue, we have to follow procedures, there's nothing we can do”, and
the best of all “I'll have to look it up on the system”. I asked him for the number for Whale which he gave me,
except one of the digits in the number he gave me was wrong. I got the number
from the Internet and called Whale who told me they had not had a warranty
claim from Marquis about my pump.
25th May. Spoke to Ian,
at approx. 10am; explained what Whale had said and he informed me the claim had
gone to Explorer Group, the first time in two days of talking, but mainly
arguing, that Explorer Group had been mentioned. He said he would call somebody
to see if it could be fixed before 29th, maybe somebody at Explorer Group,
maybe at Whale, he never said. He said he would call me back. At approx. 1.30pm
my wife rang Jeannie and asked why he hadn't called back and was told she would
get him to call me. At approx. 2.30pm Ian called me and said “it's sorted”. I
asked what they'd done and he said “nothing”. Whale had told them how to test
it and it was now OK…… after 20 days since the claim had been put in! Surely
the workshop technicians should know how to test a water pump, it's not exactly
rocket science, or maybe it hadn't been tested at all, who knows?
I forgot to mention, in this letter, that when the pump failed the filter bowl
was full of small pieces of black plastic (or hard rubber). I told Marquis this
the day I first called (3rd May) and even gave them to Marquis,
whether they informed anybody else I have no idea. They were still in a bag in
the motorhome when I picked it up on 27th May.
I asked Ian if the camera screen had been fixed and he told me that “the claim
has been declined”. I rang Explorer Group to ask why, as after two days of
listening to him repeating his mantra I had no faith at all in anything Ian
Douglas said. Explorer Group told me the claim had “not been declined as such”
but they had told Marquis to contact the manufacturers of the screen
27th May. I went to pick
up my motorhome and asked Ian Douglas if they'd found out where the pieces of
black plastic had come from and he said, in front of my wife and several Marquis
employees who were in the office listening, “I have no idea, they could have
been there from the start as far as I know”. What a ridiculous thing for a
so-called Senior Service Manager to say! Why were the workshop technicians not
told to investigate where the bits had come from, that's what you're supposed
to do in a situation like this.
I asked him who had declined the camera screen claim and he said the
manufacturer. I asked if he meant Explorer Group and he said yes. I then told
him what Explorer Group had told me and he said “I'll have to look it up on the
system”, which means he didn't have an answer so he just told me a blatant lie?
Also, he did not “look it up on the
system”.
He then gave us our keys, took us to where we could see our motorhome,
turned on his heels and left without a word.
He is by far the most unhelpful,
uninformed and unprofessional person I've ever dealt with from any company, a
complete disgrace.
The main breaker still trips and still takes many attempts to reset.
One last thing, when Jeannie did the inspection on 4th May she
said “even if they can't get the pump fixed, at least you'll get your motorhome
washed”…. we didn't!
5th June. My awning
collapsed and hit the side of the motorhome at 3.20am. One of the end poles had
snapped at the point of connection to the awning frame, the centre pole was
bent “L” shaped and one of the cantilever arms had twisted when the awning
fell. I managed to force it back into its storage position but it was unusable,
meaning I had no awning for the remaining 20 days of my holiday.
7th June. Spoke to
Jeannie re awning damage and sent email with pics. Asked about my warranty
claim for camera screen clips, said she'd ask Ian about it.
9th June. Spoke to Jeannie again who said she'd replied
to my email…. I'm still waiting for it. Asked again about camera claim, said
she'd asked Ian but got no reply, he wasn't in today but she'd ask him on
Monday and let me know.
14th June. I called
Jeannie, again, as she hadn't called me on Monday and she once again told me
she'd ask Ian about it.
15th June. Jeannie emailed me to say the clips were in stock but
the claim was still under review.
21st June. Jeannie
emailed to tell me the awning claim had been rejected by Elddis as it “was
damage and not a manufacturing defect”.
Utter rubbish, the damage was caused
when the awning fell because the clip at the top of the leg broke off.
Quite how Elddis came to this conclusion without actually seeing the awning I
do not know!
Throughout all of these issues with Marquis service department I have had
to call them as they have promised many times to call me back but failed to do
so.
I fully intend to pursue the awning claim by whatever means possible but in the
meantime I would like to bring my motorhome to your factory and arrange a
meeting with yourself so you can see first-hand the problems I have had, and am
still having.
I also intend to visit the Elddis factory to show them the problems; maybe
you'd like to come with me.
My wife has shed many tears thinking that we've wasted £43,000 of our
hard-earned money and, quite frankly, we both wish we'd never heard of Marquis
as it appears that once you had our money our importance as customers diminished
to zero and that your “Comprehensive 3 year warranty” is virtually worthless.
I sent the above letter, via email, to
Adam Webb on Saturday 24th June 2017.
Mr Webb phoned me on Tuesday 27th June 2017 and told me how sorry he was
that I'd had so many problems with the motorhome and said he would talk to the
people I'd complained about regarding the returning of calls etc.
He suggested I bring my motorhome in so we could all look at it together as the
most important thing was to get the problems resolved.
He told me he'd be available on 10th/11th/12th
July and he'd get Jeannie to call me to book an appointment. Jeannie rang me
and we made an appointment for 10.30am on Tuesday 11th July.
Tuesday 11th July
I arrived at 10.25 and told Ian Douglas I was there to see Mr Webb, who was
actually in the reception area at the time. He told Mr Webb I was there to see
him and Mr Webb's reply was “I can't, I'm just off out”.
So a mere two weeks after telling me how sorry he was about my problems and
wanting to sort them out he couldn't even be bothered to keep the appointment
he told me to make. Once again, totally unprofessional.
It appears his apparent concern on the phone was just to try and keep me happy
when he had absolutely no interest in resolving my problems.
I explained why I was there and had an appointment to see him and he said “who
did you talk to”, to which I replied “you rang me to arrange it two weeks ago”.
He reluctantly agreed to look at the damaged awning but said I'd need to hurry
as he had another appointment.
When I showed him the awning and the broken joint he agreed that the joint
should not have snapped, got Ian Douglas to take a few photos and went off to
his “important” appointment, which mine obviously was not.
I gave Ian Douglas a list of problems that required fixing, including the
awning, and he asked how long they could have the van for. I told him I was
going away on 8th August so would need it back no later than 7th.
The problems were: Camera screen to replace (they had the screen in stock),
magnetic strip on the windscreen blind was detached, trim around one of the
roof lights was loose, the breaker was still difficult to reset after tripping
(I showed him a video of me trying to reset it, probably took around 20
attempts), a manifold in the front of the engine bay was very rusty and, of
course, the awning.
Six faults in all.
Ian Douglas rang me later that day to tell me they'd fixed the minor problems,
put a warranty claim in for the breaker (RCD) and it was booked in to Peugeot
for Thursday 13th July 2017.
Thursday 20th July
Ian Douglas rang me to say Peugeot had told him the rusty manifold was
nothing to worry about, which I find hard to believe on a motor less than eight
months old with 4,000 miles on the clock. I intend to contact Peugeot myself
for clarification.
He told me the RCD was on order but no news on the awning claim.
Wednesday 2nd August
I rang Mr Douglas, having heard nothing for almost two weeks and he said we
should have the RCD by early next week, despite the fact I'd previously told
him I was going away on 8th August.
He also told me there was no change on the awning claim and that Dometic still
rejected the damage was caused by a defect in their equipment.
I told him early next week was no good, as I'd previously told him I needed it
back no later than 7th August, so I'd pick my motorhome up on
Friday 4th August.
Between May and August my motorhome has been with Marquis for just under seven
weeks and one of the problems I highlighted in early May is still not resolved,
three months later!
Worst after sales or warranty service I've ever had.
As of today, 3rd August 2017, I still don't know if the work has
actually been done to a reasonable standard. I fear it won't have been.
Friday 4th August
My fears were founded.
Went to pick up the motorhome….. lo and behold the magnetic strip on the
windscreen blinds was not holding the two halves together.
Told Ian Douglas and his reply was “well it's been looked at”. Maybe it had
been looked at, maybe through the window, maybe from the office through
binoculars, but either way it was not working, 24 days after I took the van in
and reported the fault.
Several workshop technicians then fixed it in about ten minutes but why it
wasn't working after 24 days at Marquis I really don't know, a lack of interest
again perhaps.
Shoddy!
|