What should I do???

[Becky]

I have a new M/H, still under warranty(just 1000 miles so far), but the brakes need pumping to work properly.

 

It is going in tomorrow for a list of problems, mostly fairly minor, but Marquis say I should contact Ford to get the brakes done.

 

Now as I see it, my contract is with Marquis, not Ford, so any problems with the base vehicle should be the responsibility of Marquis.

 

They have told me to contact a Ford garage and book it in to get the brakes bled by them.

 

My contention is that they should do it.

 

What does the Forum think?

[peterjl]

Hi

 

3 years ago we purchased a new M/H on a Ford - at about 2000 miles brake warning light problems.

 

I went to my local ford transit agent who were very helpful - especially as it was an intermittent problem and i had to go back 4 times for it to actually still be wrong when i arrived at the garage! Each tine they checked it thoroughly and when i did finally turnup with warning lights still glowing like a xmas tree they spent 5 hrs tracking the fault to some obscure connection in the wiring loom.

 

Sooo i was really pleased with the professionalism and service of my local ford transit garage.

 

I did speak to my m/h dealer but they were not ford agents - ok so maybe it was their responsibility but i wanted it fixed and the Ford garage seemed best bet.

 

The chances are that your Marquis is not a ford agent and thus cannot do the warranty work + do they have the expertise? To me it seems very odd to have spongy brakes at 1000 miles - it needs more than just bleeding!

 

I would take to ford - BUT you need to find an agent who deals with ford commercial vehicles - thats a pretty atraightforward search in Google.

 

Personally i don't have much confidence in any of the dealers to deal with the mechanics of the vehicle. I will go back to them for habitation whilst its under warranty then go to someone like Dave Newell.

 

Good Luck

 

Peter

[spospe]

Rule of thumb is go to the motorcaravan dealer for conversion faults and to the vehicle dealership for base vehicle faults.

 

I agree about contract etc, but doing as above is the quickest way to resolve problems.

[Rapido-lass]

We always go to the garage (Fiat) for the cab to be sorted. Many motorhome dealerships will say they do both (hab & cab checks) but in reality, they take it to the local dealership garage to let them do it, so there's no difference in you going direct where any discussions are with you and not someone else who might not really give a damn .

[david lloyd]

Hi Becky

 

I suppose you could insist that Marquis deal with the fault but all they are likely to do is take the vehicle from you then arrange for it to go to their nearest Ford dealer to have the (Ford) warranty work done. It is much quicker to do as others have said and simply take conversion work back to the dealer and base vehicle work back to the Ford dealer.

 

David

[tonyishuk]

I suggest visitng your Ford garage, which might be nearer and sort out the Vehicle side of your warrenty, what is covered and who pays ? (or who thinks who should pay)

 

It might be better to have a patnership with both the the Garage for the vehicle, and Marquis for the motorhome bits.

 

Unfortunately, the warrenty does seem to fall between these two areas, although ultimately it is the supplier who is responsible, Sale of goods act ?)

 

But for peace of mind, it might be better to have a foot in each camp.

 

Rgds

[duetto owner]

our ford from marquis had paint cracking noticed after only a couple of weeks. marquis contacted autosleeper who were not intrested so we were told to contact grays the transit dealership for fords in guildford a round trip of 50 miles and that was just for inspection got to go back when ford warranty authorises the work.

 

we also had another 50 mile round trip to eberspacher to fix a knocking noise with the heater.

 

and 100 mile round trip to fix snags at the marquis service centre at southampton [marquis did offer to take it to southampton for us but we had no way of getting home from the dealership catch 22]. got to go back again more snags but not urgent.

 

had proper pdi been done & factory quality checking may not have had all this, the staff at the dealship have been helpful but I am annoyed with all the running around re these snags.

[Brian Kirby]

It is only a Ford dealer who can fix warranty faults on their vehicles.  In the case of a Ford, I'd look on their website for someone who is a Transit specialist dealer.  You don't have to take it to a Ford dealer for servicing but, to maintain the warranty without any argument, it is probably better to do so, and they don't seem that expensive on the whole.  Our nearest dealer is about 15 miles distant, but will provide a courtesy car if required, while van work is undertaken.

Having said that, I think you are getting the run around from Marquis and Autosleepers.  The van should have been PDId before delivery to Autosleepers, and the conversion PDId by Marquis before delivery to you.  Faults, of course, develop, but Marquis really should have taken responsibility for getting the Autosleepers elements fixed.  After all, they are now part of the same outfit so there is no need for the join to show.  I guess it is possible that the recent buy-out has caused some confusion among the staff, and led to a reluctance to take on problems.

I think a conversation with the Marquis branch manager would be in order, just to make sure he is in the picture, and fully aware of your dissatisfaction with your treatment.  At least that gives him a chance to make amends.  Then see what happens.