dethleffs globevan 1 delivery

[rwhites1]

Was expecting my globevan 1 delivery at the end of April but now put back to end of May.Lowdhams says that Dethleffs have problem getting hold of Ford chassis.I was going to cancel but Dethleffs have given us a discount of a few hundred pounds for our inconvenience which makes me happier. Lowdhams are waiting for 15 units, we ordered january at g mex.

[techmec]

Join the Queue,

we ordered ours in october last year.

 

[rwhites1]

where did you order it from was it lowdhams, if so you are worrying me

[Brian Kirby]

It seems quite probable there is a genuine problem with supply of rhd Ford Transit chassis.  So many converters have switched to the Ford since the new Transit was launched, mostly it seems because of favourable reactions to its drivability, but also no doubt because it ia a bit cheaper than the Fiat. 

My guess is that the problem lies with the 130ps version with the Flex Pack.  I've been looking at some Transit based vans on a German website, and none seem to be of the basic 110ps version without the Flex Pack.  It just seems someone at Ford probably underestimated demand, which is a bit understandable in view of the market share they seem suddenly to have acquired.

If the supply problem is with Ford, then neither Dethleffs nor Lowdham will be able to speed things up.

So, if the van is still the one you like, why switch?  You'll only have to start again with something else, the supply of which is no more guaranteed to come in on time that any other!  I'm sure it will be worth the wait when it arrives!

Enjoy!

[Guest JudgeMental]

 

when I ordered my Ford based EuraMobil I had to make my mind up more or less there and then as order for cabs was going in that week ( October 2006)

if I had delayed it would have been another 3-4 months.

 

as it was van delivery was 4 - 6 weeks late (March 2007)as it was.

 

The new For 130bhp 2.2 is becoming very popular and rightly so. best van I have ever driven.

[MandyAndy]

The dealer we got our van from is also having problems waiting for new vans to come in. He was saying yesterday that the vans due to be built in March hadn't even been started yet due to the absence of Ford bases. They have also put the prices up to the converters so new vans being built are going to go up by at least £3,000.

 

The dealer is in a panic because so many of the people waiting for them are expecting them May/June which he thought they would easily achieve after being built in March have now booked their holidays for July etc and its not looking at all good for them.

 

Glad we booked ours at last years NEC picked it up in February a month earlier than expected.

 

Mandy

[Guest JudgeMental]

mine at 6 weeks late the dealer considered very lucky!

 

he has a lot of very disappointed costumers who will have to wait an extra 3-4 months for the two more expensive ranges of EuraMobil above mine. as these are fiat based seems that all manufacturers are having supply problems with new cabs.

 

like you say, a lot of disappointed people and ruined holidays this year.

 

if it was me, I would cancel and visit Düsseldorf in September and order new for next year. and book a cruise in the meantime!

[paulni]

Hi all, I'm currently awaiting a peugeot based van from the Explorer group and I am being told the exact same thing. There are supposed to be a shortage of chassis! Now my van was supposedly built 10 days ago and when my partner phoned last week it had supposedly arrived and was in the workshop. (extras to be fitted) So how long does it take to fit a bike rack, awning and aerial? If I dont get a phone call this coming week then I'll seriously question whether or not it actually has arived!

This was supposed to be a very good dealer. But since February we have done all the chasing. Not one phone call to us to explain the hold up. I mean, what price is a call just to keep in touch with us?

I too have a holiday booked and to make matters worse it is actually booked for a car and caravan. I cant change the booking until I have the m/home details (reg. number etc.) and the caravan is gone so cant fall back on that.

I should have known what to expect after all the m/home industry is part of the caravan industry and thats a shambles. Not impressed at all.

 

Paul :-(

[Brian Kirby]

Paul

Don't wait for them to ring you, ring them! 

Others will be doing this, and if you remain quietly in the background your van will be the last to be done.  If they have it, they should be able to give you the reg no over the phone, so you can easily fix the ferry.  If you give them a bit of a push, they should easily be able to tell you when you can pick it up.

You just have to be prepared to make yourself a bit of a nuisance.  If the supply of vans generally is delayed every purchasers will be baying for their van.  Dealers, after all, build neither the chassis not the conversion.  They can't really do much more themselves than await deliveries, and will naturally tend to satisfy first those who shout (metaphorically, of course!) the loudest, just to get rid of the earache!

Phone!  Earache!

[Usinmyknaus]

There's a pattern emerging here! Ford and Peugeot mentioned but add my Renault Master-based Knaus. It's looking like 5 to 6 weeks late so we are going to lose a major chunk of the quiet period before the school hols start. Lowdhams have not contacted me at all, I have called them several times and it's only then I have had an update. The sales person has said they are busy with a show this weekend but will call me next week with an indicative date. Probably mid June at the earliest and we ordered it last November. They are in the hands of the manufacturers I suppose.

 

Interestingly a recent search of the net produced comments that Renault UK had stopped discounting Masters as demand exceeded supply but I don't know how true that is. Perhaps the explosion in internet shopping in the UK has driven demand for white van men?

 

Bob

[Keith T]

I wonder what's the 'legal' position on such delays......can you just cancel if the expected delivery date is delayed by a certain amount?

When we ordered our new Burstner, we were (verbally) given not only a 'build date' in Germany but an expected delivery in UK. The last time I checked (about 4-6 weeks ago) that was still on target.....but if it should be significantly delayed, then having already put our trip to france back, could mean we lose it altogether....

The contract/order we have with the dealer merely quoes delivery 'May'..subject to a clause,( I guess standard to all such orders)which seems to absolve them of any delays whatsoever. So surely it's njot simply a case of cancelling and expecting your deposit back?

[techmec]

Hi,

Van was not ordered from lowdhams.

Will not name dealer as yet. But same as other posts have been kicking

butt trying to get answers. Visited dealers in december and saw written

confirmation of order with additions we required. dealer said everything

was on target for march delivery.February came no contact from dealer

on third phone call to them, was told delays because of Ford chassis supply problem. Numerous pone calls early march no answers. Then on

20 march we were told vehicle being built as we speak. Still waiting,

germans must be slow workers.Dealer said will ring us when they have

been invoiced from dethleffs so we will know vehicle is on its way to them.

HA HA. Believe when i see it.

Having said that it is the vehicle that we want so are prepared wait albeit

not forever,also the deal remains as agreed.

[rwhites1]

When we ordered our globevan they said if the cab was coloured it would be october.So went for the standard cab white.

[Usinmyknaus]

Keith T - 2007-04-29 7:48 PM

 

I wonder what's the 'legal' position on such delays......can you just cancel if the expected delivery date is delayed by a certain amount?

When we ordered our new Burstner, we were (verbally) given not only a 'build date' in Germany but an expected delivery in UK. The last time I checked (about 4-6 weeks ago) that was still on target.....but if it should be significantly delayed, then having already put our trip to france back, could mean we lose it altogether....

The contract/order we have with the dealer merely quoes delivery 'May'..subject to a clause,( I guess standard to all such orders)which seems to absolve them of any delays whatsoever. So surely it's njot simply a case of cancelling and expecting your deposit back?

 

Our contract just says "May" too but if it's more than 14 days late I think we could cancel it and get our deposit back. (I have not checked the small print recently.) We really want the van so will just have to wait I suppose. Lowdhams were very helpful and fair in the run up to placing the order so hopefully their after sales service will be as good and comments I found on the net seemed generally positive. I don't blame them for the delay as it seems to be a general problem in the industry at the moment. (This thread makes me wonder if anyone ordering any make at Peterborough will see their van before Xmas?)

 

I would like to be kept informed of progress but I guess it must be daunting for dealers having to face phoning customers with the same bad news very month so easier to omit to do so!

 

When it does arrive I'll let the dealer have a reasonable time to PDI it as I would like to avoid a 300 mile round trip for anything to be fixed!

 

Bob

[Keith T]

We would have like to replace our Rapido with another one, but they no onger made a suitable model - ours was the 710F which has the rear lounge and no fixed bed. But when chatting with them at Shepton Mallet (jan 2007) even then anything ordered would be for delivery Jan 2008.......too long to wait, I think, and who knows realistically what the value of any p/ex might be.

When we bouth the presvious one, we ordered after Earls Court, 2001, so probably around November that byear, for confiremd delivery March 1st 2002, and it was there just ahead of that date.

Our intention with the Burstner is to go up to the dealers asa asoon as it is delivered to them, and check it over, plus one or two things they are doing fo us anyway, then hopefully they will do the neceswsary PDI etc and we can collect about a week later.

[Derek Uzzell]

In January 2005, when I was contemplating buying a LHD Transit-based Hobby, the German dealer told me that he would shortly need to confirm his requirements for 2005 models with the Hobby factory. He warned that, if I didn't place my order pretty smartly, I would be waiting for delivery until the 2006-model production began in October. He said that, as the Transit FWD platform-cab chassis was motorhome-specific, Hobby needed to give Ford plenty of notice regarding the number of chassis (and the exact specification) Hobby wanted. If I ordered the standard 'off-the-shelf' model it could be delivered in May, but if I specified base-vehicle options (like cab air-con) then delivery would be in late June. In fact, the vehicle was ready for collection in the first week of July.

 

Late delivery of new vehicles has always been a bane of the UK motorhome industry and at least part of the cause has been over-optimism on the part of sales staff. I was talking to John Wickersham at February 2007's NEC exhibition and he told me there had been a buying spree at the previous October's show. This was later confirmed by the Caravans Rapido exhibitor who said he could only take orders for 2008 models, having sold all his 2007 allocation at earlier shows. As Keith T observes, the UK purchase contract for a motor vehicle normally protects the vendor totally against any consequences relating to late delivery. So, if the originally-stated delivery date of your new motorhome begins to extend into the far-flung future, all you can do is cancel the contract and demand your deposit back.

 

It isn't always the salesmen's fault of course. I remember being told (some years back) by the Explorer Group's sales director that they went through a period of being unable to build Transit-based models for customers because 'their' allocated chassis had been parked inaccessibly in a Ford storage compound. Lots of vehicles would have had to be shuffled around to get them out and Ford refused to do this. He added that Ford sales reps had arrived mob-handed at the Explorer Group's NEC stand and demanded to know why only a single Transit-based motorhome was being displayed. Strong words had been exchanged and the Ford chaps had hurriedly departed with their tails between their legs. Coincidentally (or perhaps not) Explorer Group stopped building Ford-based motorhomes soon after.

 

(Incidentally, if anyone is anticipating FWD Transit-based motorhomes on Al-Ko chassis, then forget it! An Al-Ko rep told me that, although a prototype chassis had been displayed widely on the Continent, Ford had vetoed the idea as the limited numbers involved would not have made it worthwhile producing the 'chassis-less' cab units that Al-Ko would have required.)

 

Rwhites1: Remember the Alde heating for Globevan question? I eventually obtained a Dethleffs UK 2007 brochure and technical information leaflet that I could match against my French equivalents. UK and French technical leaflets both show Alde warm water heating as "not possible" for Globevan (though, contradicting this, Alde system 'add-ons' are shown as optional). However, the UK documentation says an Alde 'Winter Comfort Pack' is available for Globevan, whereas the French leaflet states the opposite. To try to settle the matter I e-mailed Dethleffs(Germany) and was told that Alde heating is not available for the Globevan range - so presumably it isn't!

 

Motorhome technical literature is tricky stuff. In the Caravan Club Magazine's Globevan report I was surprised by John Page's mention of tyres with "extra wide tread", but I notice that (according to Dethleff's UK leaflet) "wider tyres" are indeed part of the model's standard specification. Conversely, this feature does not appear in the French documents. Choosing to increase a Transit's normal tyre width would be a strange thing to do as a) it would impact on the base vehicle's type approval and b) it seems to offer no obvious benefit for a 3500kg chassis. No doubt you'll discover the truth when you get your Globevan.

[paulni]

Hi all, a little good news at last. Didn't have to phone the dealer, instead they phoned me to tell me my van would be ready for collection this Wednesday 3rd May.

Can't wait, my first m/home at last. Wont get away this weekend as everywhere bound to be booked up.

 

ATB

Paul :-> :->

[colin]

We where told at last years NEC that almost all of 1st half of 2007 production on ford and sevel bases had already been sold on continent and it would be realistic to expect a may/june delivery at earlist in UK, so blame it on the judge ;-)

[Peter Pan]

I ordered my Transit based Hobby Van at the Oct 06 NEC. It arrived at the dealer last week. I am collecting on 8th - at last.

[Mel B]

On the up side, if you have an agreement that they will purchase your current motorhome for a set PX price, they will have to honour that, despite the delays to you receiving your new van. This means that you will have put more wear and tear on your current van, more mileage etc but still be getting the same PX price for it and your new van will be much newer that it would have been if you had got it sooner rather than later. If, as is mentioned, the cost of the van's price is to be increased later on, then you're quids in still, not nice to wait but at least from the financial point of view you aren't really loosing out.

 

I'm so glad I bought a 2006 un-registered model already at a dealership!!! We only had to wait 12 days!

 

I'm off to bed now before the teddies start flying my way ....... sleep well! B-)

[Usinmyknaus]

Further to my last post on dates. Lowdhams have been good to their word and followed up with Knaus. The revised date of mid June now looks reasonably firm and if that is met, then my van will be just a month later than the first estimate (given last November).

 

Bob

[michele]

Rob,

lost 1 month late ?..7 months No? *-)

[Mickt]

If you are in the CCC why not go to a rally, you do not have to book in advance , just turn up

[Mel B]

michele - 2007-05-02 5:36 PM

 

Rob,

lost 1 month late ?..7 months No? *-)

 

No, no, he was told in June it would probably be delivered in May, so June is 1 months late ... keep up chuck! :-S

[Usinmyknaus]

michele - 2007-05-02 5:36 PM

 

Rob,

lost 1 month late ?..7 months No? *-)

 

Hi Michele,

 

Mel B's on the ball as usual. Ordered November 06 with a target date of early to mid May, which seemed forever at the time! Almost made us go for an off the shelf old model but we decided the newer the base vehicle the better. We worked on the later date of mid May to be on the safe side but it now looks like it will be mid June, which could be a lot worse in view of other members' posts.

 

We're not booking any ferry crossings until we actually have the van on our driveway because the dealer can only pass on the dates from the factory and as with any import I guess lots can go wrong in the process - ferry strikes, French fishermen's blockades etc!

 

Still the delay means I can work a bit slower at putting in the hard standing - an 8 by 2.5 metre slab of 150 mm thick concrete plus a turning bay of 4 by 1.5 metres on the other side of the drive takes some doing single-handed, but it's keeping me out of mischief!

 

Bob