Dealer satisfaction and response....

[caradoc]

I suppose there are as many tales as there are motorhome buyers out there, not all good unfortunately! I noted comments about Brownhills popping up and just wanted to share recent experiences as buyers of our first "proper" motorhome just a month ago. My partner and I are fgetting along in years and wanted a van with automatic gearbox, not too big for our driveway, but roomy enough for our own needs. Didn't really want to get into the huge money scene for A class, wanted something newish and reliable with a good quailty stamp about it. So I phoned a number of dealerships and emailed some, and also dropped in to visit BroadLeaf Leisure in Worcestershire as its on my daily commute. They tut-tutted and said they had never had an auto van in, and there was "no demand" so I would need to search for a long time, unless spending mega money on an A class. 99% of those dealers I emailed did not bother to respond. The phone calls I made were likewise dealt with in a very ho-hum manner, like, "we don't need your business...yawn....." And some were mainstream big dealers - Barrons, Marquis, Lowdhams......to name just a few of the bigger better known ones. Not a single independent small dealer bothered to return my phone calls or emails. Except....Brownhills, Newark. Within 24 hours, I had an email response and a phone call, and the salesman was polite and interested, and able to offer us two available automatic transmission motorhomes, one new, the other almost new - one of those unhappy purchases returned to dealer within a few months with only 2000 miles on the clock at a huge loss, no doubt, to the buyer. The salesman also offered to stay late as we had to travel from a distance after work to view. He was not overbearing and heavily sales-driven when showing us around, and we were very comfortable in the van we eventually bought, an Autosleeper Ravenna, almost new, 04 reg, with a few extras like a towbar, extra alarm system, status 530 aerial. The other van, a Lunar on a Renault chassis, did not suit us as well and we made an instant decision to purchase the Ravenna. The Brownhills finance lady was friendly and very competent. The whole transaction was incredibly easy and uncomplicated, and I didn't even get the usual array of phone calls when arranging finance of this nature to confirm all manner of things. I received a single call - to say the finance was approved, and making an appointment with us for collection / handover. The day arrived and we arrived at the appointed time at the Newark site, only to discover they were running a bit late. Salesman offered us complimentary lunch vouchers for the restaurant because of this. We bought some items at the shop and left them with reception - a packet later went missing and the salesman arranged replacement of all the missing items we had bought. The van was well valeted and handover very thorough, although as newbies to motorhomes we would have liked a list of items we absolutely had to purchase before trying to set out!! Brownhills provided all the documentation in one of their little nylon suitcases, and Autosleepers warranty was transferred to us via them, with the V5 arriving a short while later. All in all, a good experience with Brownhills. I suppose we will see how things go with habitation services etc in the future, if we choose to go there. At Peterborough, we found their hospitality tent wild and frenetic with absolutely no room for the hordes descending on the free coffee and harassed serving ladies not coping well. The VIP sales area, on the other hand, was all but empty, and the whole situation seemed very badly planned - they should surely know the numbers by now and should have put more thought and space into their visitor area. Would we return to Brownhills? At this point, most definitely - I suppose after services we may have to re-evaluate.....I hope not. Everyone has different experiences, of course, and one mostly hears about the horror stories, not the good ones. Generally, though, companies don't continue to expand and do well if customer experience is really bad and service levels shoddy or poor. Time will tell. *-)

[david lloyd]

Hi caradoc Really glad that everything went well for you. For this sort of expensive (leisure) item it should not be too much to ask for either. As you say, everyone's experience differs and I think that is the crux of the matter - lack of consistency with most (if not all) dealers and manufacturers. For example, in choosing our previous motorhome (an Autocruise Startraveller) we also visited Brownhills and all the salesman wanted to do was sell us a demonstrator model they had in stock that had THE MOST horrendous upholstery you have ever seen. As it was a new purchase we wanted the upholstery of our choice but, in the end, left saying we would think about it - and went elsewhere to place the order. I find it such a shame when customers are excited about such a high value purchase and are then let down, usually by simple, small things in the buying process. We have just collected our new motorhome, a Knaus Sun Ti, from Lowdhams (who also receive a mixed review of performance) and, thankfully, it has been a smooth, glitch free process for us. One day maybe every motorhome purchase will be this way wherever you choose to buy? Best regards and happy motorhoming, David

[Mel B]

Hi Caradoc I'm pleased your transaction was smooth for you and hope that all your dealings with Brownhills are like that, unfortunately we've never been that lucky! We have always found the sales people and most of the time everyone else there very friendly and helpful, but once we'd bought our van, although the people were the same happy selves, the service was lacking. My theory is that they are just too busy for their own good but once you've bought your 'van you're a bit stuck so have to put up, to a greater or lesser extent, with the aftersales service. My only advice is that if you do find you have to contact them for anything (or anyone else having to contact their dealer for that matter), make sure you keep a diary of when you called, who you spoke to, what the conversation was about etc. That way you can easily recall the conversation later when you no doubt will have to ring again and again to 'remind' them what you need, ask what's happening about X etc. We're still waiting for replacement drawer fronts for our 'van (Rapido) since it was repaired by them in September last year after a fire ... unfortunately they used drawer fronts that don't match in colour to the rest of the van! No doubt you know the song "One day my Prince will come ..." substitute 'parts' ... I'm still dreaming!

[caradoc]

I had the idea in the back of my mind that your experience may well be the case - ie service levels postpurchase being flaky and fairly poor - but given the lack of response from the rest of the dealers we contacted, Brownhills seemed "the best of a rum lot". I was a bit concerned about aftersales servcie when I saw the size of the whole business at Newark, and hope it won't be too much of a mission. Hopefully, a new Ford Transit base won't give mechanical trouble for a while yet and habitation services will just have to be suffered, I suppose. I noticed at Peterborough that the "customer service" there from Brownhills was pretty pathetic, as was their "hospitality", unless, of course, you were signing up for a new, very pricey purchase, and made a mental note of this being the rather cynical soul I am. We also do not normally ever have good experiences from motor dealers so the initial Brownhills experience was slightly refreshing given the levels of disinterest and downright rudeness we had experienced prior to Brownhills contacting us - seems its rife throughout the industry, and we are all just viewed as cannon fodder by these dealers whose demand obviously outstrips supply, so any old rubbish will do - cruddy service levels, bad products, whatever. I contacted Autosleepers directly shortly after by phone with a query - took ages to eventually raise an answer as they hadn't bothered to leave a message saying they were closed for the entire Easter fortnight. The response I eventually received was adequate, but delivered in a somewhat curt and dismissive manner- but maybe thats a sexist thing?? Ie a member of the species Great White Male should have phoned instead of Underling Female??? The Autosleeper members club membership I applied for over 6 weeks ago now has still not been processed - perhaps for the same reason, I wonder? I wish life was simpler - just think what it would be like if you got the service you paid for and it was given in a friendly, professional manner? Not just motorhomes - everywhere - from the miserable checkout girls to the obstructive bossy Post Office jobsworths who try every trick possible to prevent you buying a new Tax Disc........not to mention the hugely expensive purchases of motorhomes and houses!!!!! A little goodwill would also go a looooooooong way......... :-S