flicka Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Anyone else noticed Brownhills do not have any advertising in MMM this month ? It's the first occasion I can remember. Warners must be concerned regarding one of their major advertisers missing, as a quick check on previous months they had 4 full page adverts BUT is it indicative of Brownhills current situation ? Or used to fund their impressive stand at the NEC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Must be the new slimmed down version of MMM November had 308 pages and December has 244 pages thats a massive 64 pages less for the same price no doubt there will be a comment from " The Mod " Also have you noticed the reduced cost for the classified adds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertandjean Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Would think main reason for Brownhills not advertising in Dec issue is time of year. When chatting with salesperson over a free lunch (yes it does seem there is such a thing!) a couple of weeks ago he remarked trade was always slow Dec/Jan so advertising at this time would seem of little benefit. Otherwise things seemed fine at Brownhills with new models in showroom and, we understand, millions of pounds worth on order. Will be back down next month for our free Xmas lunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondo Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 A free lunch at Brownies never *-) I don't believe it is that why there is no ads ....paying for all them FREE LUNCHES...yea right!! (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 i have just received an invitation from Brownhills, they want me to drive from Southampton to Preston for a free mince pie, I don't think so !!! *-) *-) *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silkie Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 I still believe they will not survive to the end of next year, although I hope they do, simply to keep the rest competitive. They would have a far better chance of survival, however, if the "new" management were not being reported on so many forums as allegidly being so awful towards their past customers who perhaps have dared to question or query, attitude or service. Mud sticks and the overall motorhome customer base is not so great as to alienate so many. Still it's their business to run how they want and at least they are keepingrobertandjean happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertandjean Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 Yes, well we can only speak as we find. We have been customers with Brownhills for a lot of years and find them fine to deal with. To be honest they always give a better deal than other dealers and the ladies in service always do their best to sort things out for us. Like all dealers getting hold of parts from manufactures is somtimes difficult, but we had real problems with a van purchased from another dealer; we were really glad to return to Brownhills. In addition we find the overnight facility handy when on our way to and from France and for short breaks in winter. Sorry if this against the general thinking on here, but this is our experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huckleberry Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 Brownhills will be displaying Rapido motorhomes on the 8th, 9th and 10th January at The France Show, Earls Court. Tickets are free from the France Show 2010 web site. Plenty of other exhibitors as well so it might help in getting rid of the winter blues and assist in next years holiday plans. Huckleberry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb6981 Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 I had dealings with Brownhills, Cannock branch (now closed) in 2006-7. I turned up in a LHD Hobby 725 that I had imported from Germany, they correctly diagnosed the electrical faults but initially were not keen to carry out any warranty work, after an e-mail to Hobby in Germany complaining that I apparently had no European warranty on my new van, Hobby got in touch with Brownhills and told them to honour the warranty. They fixed the problem, faulty CBE 12v distribution box, 12v control panel, kaput leisure battery (German van - Italian electrics) and fixed it again 6 months later when the new distribution box failed; all under warranty on a van not supplied by themselves. In any dealings with them I found you had to be patient, insistent and persistent, but you got there in the end. Once you got them to take you seriously the staff were efficient and went out of their way to help solve any problems. I was sorry to see the Cannock site closed, they have had a lot of negative press but I would certainly deal with them again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 I think you were lucky...they have a poor reputation for dealing with vans not supplied by them let alone imports! *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb6981 Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 JudgeMental - 2009-11-28 10:39 PM I think you were lucky...they have a poor reputation for dealing with vans not supplied by them let alone imports! *-) Not lucky- persistent and insistent. At first they said we will not fix it because we didn't sell it, they were the Hobby franchisees at the time, so I complained to Hobby direct. It was hard work but if you buy a van in Europe you have a pan-European warranty whatever the dealers in the UK say to the contrary. Hobby then told them to fix it and they did. When I had to go back a second time they didn't quibble. If you get bad service from any dealer don't stand for it, contact the manufacturer, take them to the small claims court or keep hassling them with phone calls, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike 202 Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 jb6981 - 2009-11-29 3:54 PM If you get bad service from any dealer don't stand for it, contact the manufacturer, take them to the small claims court or keep hassling them with phone calls, etc. Any customer should NOT have to hastle or keep on a at dealer to get satisfaction. A lot of people do not have the skills or persistance to do what you did and any dealer who needs the course of actions that you suggest in your quote deserves to be exposed and earn a bad reputation. I also agree with the Judges' comments. By the way I am pleased that you were sorted and made suggestions on how to proceed with difficult dealers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 jb6981 - 2009-11-29 3:54 PM JudgeMental - 2009-11-28 10:39 PM I think you were lucky...they have a poor reputation for dealing with vans not supplied by them let alone imports! *-) Not lucky- persistent and insistent. At first they said we will not fix it because we didn't sell it, they were the Hobby franchisees at the time, so I complained to Hobby direct. It was hard work but if you buy a van in Europe you have a pan-European warranty whatever the dealers in the UK say to the contrary. Hobby then told them to fix it and they did. When I had to go back a second time they didn't quibble. If you get bad service from any dealer don't stand for it, contact the manufacturer, take them to the small claims court or keep hassling them with phone calls, etc. take them to the small claims court for what? you have no relationship with them. I would not have anything to do with them anyway, much preferring a European dealer of integrity which offers good value and service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Before this degenerates into yet another Brownhills bashing thread (which I hope it doesn't!), the warranty work that Brownhills did was only done because Hobby had a direct link with them in the form of their franchise and were able to apply pressure to make Brownhills do the work. Brownhills did not have any legal requirement to carry out this work, it was purely up to them whether or not they did. I cannot blame them for being reluctant to do warranty work on a van which, not only was not bought from them, but it wasn't even bought from UK dealer, but probably 'on the cheap' from abroad. Why would they want to look after it???? The fact that they did in the end, regardless of the influence of Hobby, I think deserves credit. I have not been a fan of Brownhills, but that was the 'old' Brownhills. It would be good to give the 'new' Brownhills a bit of a chance to build up their own reputation, good or bad, without being constantly reminded of the 'bad old days'. It can't have been easy having to launch a 'new' version of Brownhills with the terrible reputation the old firm had. I hope they keep trading ... remember there are people's livelihoods involved here. :-| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Mel B - 2009-11-29 4:43 PM Why would they want to look after it???? Surely if for no other reason that they would be paid by Hobby for any warranty work done for Hobby? Are they not supposed to be in business to make money and keep their workforce busy rather than to be difficult about not supporting a van owner who might otherwise one day have returned to them as a potential customer - but almost certainly will not now even consider Brownhills? I have experienced the same attitude from car dealers when I have moved home, particularly in regard to a courtesy car, and needed to have a service done by a dealer from whom I did not buy the car and needless to say when car change time came guess whose products did NOT get considered? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Mel B - 2009-11-29 4:43 PM Before this degenerates into yet another Brownhills bashing thread (which I hope it doesn't!), the warranty work that Brownhills did was only done because Hobby had a direct link with them in the form of their franchise and were able to apply pressure to make Brownhills do the work. Brownhills did not have any legal requirement to carry out this work, it was purely up to them whether or not they did. Now Mel, you didn't read my little post here, http://tinyurl.com/yjd7edp did you? :-)As the original writer said, it took Hobby to strong-arm Bh into complying with the terms of the Hobby warranty. However, it should not have required that pressure, as Bh at the time held the UK Hobby franchise, and were under a legal obligation to the van owner to rectify the defect. As the Regulations cited in the linked post state, the manufacturer's guarantee is a legal commitment to the owner of the van, and whoever represents the manufacturer in any EC state is obligated to undertake the work. How easy it really is for consumers to enforce that legal obligation, I'm still trying to find out! Whatever, just don't import a van to UK if there isn't a UK representative of the maker!There was a clear indication to me from one of Bh's sales staff at Newark, that Bh had absorbed the warranty risk themselves in exchange for lower factory gate prices. If correct, that might go some way to explaining their initial reluctance to carry out the repairs: that, and the fact that they had not entirely thought through why Hobby then gave them lower prices! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna miller Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 I have never had dealings with Brownhills so I am not qualified to pass comment on their service, however, I do believe that the biggest mistake they made was to retain the name of Brownhills. Mud sticks, as I found out to my cost when we bought out the assets of a business 10 years ago, despite changing the name of the business, we retained the address and phone numbers of the business purely from a ( mistaken ) belief that as a recycing centre, we would benefit from established trade. For years afterwards we were plagued with firms demanding payment of monies owed by the previous owners. Most of them assumed that the company they were chasing had simply gone into liquidation, changed names and started trading again, despite us proving that we had merely bought out the assets of a failed business. I honestly believe that many people hear the name Brownhills, and immediately jump to a negative conclusion. Unfortunately, most people only report the bad experiences, never the good. Also, many people do not know that if you purchase or take over an active business, you are legally bound to continue with any current contracts and practises that the original company had in place, maybe this is where and why the present owners are still experiencing the very same negative feedback and bad publicity. I cannot believe that the new owners did not know where the company was failing, especially in the customer service department, so why on earth are they appearing to be going down the same( if recent posts are correct) treacherous path. After all, if you sold a dog that kept biting your kids, you wouldn't buy it back would you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb6981 Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 JudgeMental - 2009-11-29 4:27 PM jb6981 - 2009-11-29 3:54 PM JudgeMental - 2009-11-28 10:39 PM I think you were lucky...they have a poor reputation for dealing with vans not supplied by them let alone imports! *-) Not lucky- persistent and insistent. At first they said we will not fix it because we didn't sell it, they were the Hobby franchisees at the time, so I complained to Hobby direct. It was hard work but if you buy a van in Europe you have a pan-European warranty whatever the dealers in the UK say to the contrary. Hobby then told them to fix it and they did. When I had to go back a second time they didn't quibble. If you get bad service from any dealer don't stand for it, contact the manufacturer, take them to the small claims court or keep hassling them with phone calls, etc. take them to the small claims court for what? you have no relationship with them. I would not have anything to do with them anyway, much preferring a European dealer of integrity which offers good value and service. That small claims court comment was a generalization not specific to Brownhills; I had dealings with a garage who lost the keys to my car, they didn't want to pay the £680 bill for new keys and ECU re-programming, I took them to Court and won, in the end it cost them over £800 and I got the money off them by freezing that amount in their bank account with a third party charging order. Do not stand for poor service or being ripped off, do something about it. If a dealer holds a franchise they will be reimbursed by the manufacturer for warranty work, although the hourly rate may be miserly, there must be a commercial advantage to being the manufacturers sole agent as Brownhills were with Hobby, so it's swings and roundabouts. If you moved to Germany to work and the Ford car you purchased in England needed warranty work you would expect a German Ford dealer to carry out the work because it has a Pan European warranty. It is all very well preferring a European dealer who offers good value and service which is why I bought my van in Germany but then why should I to take it back to Germany every time it needed work? It is an expensive vehicle and, I believe, under European consumer law you are entitled to have it fixed anywhere in Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotorhomeViews Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Now here's a question. Why don't Brownhills fight back or at least stand up for their company on the Forums? Their MD is a motorhomer himself or so he portrays. swift have no problem in replying to their customer complaints and questions, Johnscross motorhomes often will post here, even Fiat used to post. Personally I have experienced both good and v bad experiences with BH Newark, even though we tried awfully hard to overlook the poor experiences. Unfortunately for us the latter far exceeded the former experiences so it is with regret that we will have to look for a new dealer when we replace our Swift 580PR in January 2010. We are aware this will make absolutely no difference to their overall sales ie the loss of a cash customer, but sometimes one must make a stance and walk away. As a company we still wish them well, hopefully one day their aftersales service will improve and we will find that we are able to return to the company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 It is refreshing to see people who have had dealings with brownhills making fair and justified comments good and bad. we bought from them and have had good service. little annoyances like a lens needed changing and when we got there they had got the wrong one. annoying yes but won't stop me buying from them again if the deal/van is right phil there is a dealer we will not buy from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotorhomeViews Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 This is a fair reply, I suppose that apart from our feelings about the quality of the aftersales, if the offer is good enough , then one might surely be tempted. Logically maybe we should forget the aftersales and go for the best deal. Only thing is not sure if we could go through all the hassle again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longtemps Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Only trouble with this is you are then potentially stuck with Brownhills to service the vehicle and do warranty work, as not many retailers will touch Brownhill bought vehicles. One reason given to me was " they won't do work for our customers so why should we do work for theirs". Wether this still holds true in a recession is open for debate - but it might again, after the recession ends! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Wherever you buy your new 'pride and joy' from just remember to check out the terms of any warranty, it's no good saving, say £500 on a deal if the habitation and base vehicle services are extortionate and you have no choice but to take it back to that dealer for 2 or 3 years - that £500 will soon disappear. Remember, its the WHOLE package that matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Usinmyknaus Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Mel B - 2009-12-01 7:02 PM Wherever you buy your new 'pride and joy' from just remember to check out the terms of any warranty, it's no good saving, say £500 on a deal if the habitation and base vehicle services are extortionate and you have no choice but to take it back to that dealer for 2 or 3 years - that £500 will soon disappear. Remember, its the WHOLE package that matters. ......... good advice, and from personal experience, try to include the financial stability of the manufacturer in your due diligence before purchase. If the person who made your new toy goes bust - will the dealer honour the "manufacturer's warranty" of which they had made a selling point, or walk away? Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webbocj Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Bob. From one Knaus owner to another, i perhaps understand what you are saying. At least you have the Renault. chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.