Marquis

[thebriars]

Can I ask why not an Elddis please

Dont worry, it will be an ante-british-van opinion
Your profiel says you have an Elddis 285....great value single-bed van in my opinion
[/QUOTE]
Far from it, yes I would never buy a British van now after the problems we've had with the different makes of new British caravans over the years. The final straw was the new Elddis which we bought three years ago. After a large chunk of plywood fell off the roof after just a week of use, Elddis had to issue a recall. That was just the start, while they were repairing that they found the microwave cupboard falling off the wall. I spent the next 3 week holiday repairing more and more faults. Then rejected the van with a long list of faults including the microwave cupboard coming loose again and the roof collapsing!

Having decided we'd never have another caravan we spent a couple of days at the NEC researching motorhomes. Looked in on the Elddis stand, same model there, and you could push the roof up and down with just one hand, and you could see the microwave cupboard loose on this one, just as ours had been, so ours wasn't just a one-off Friday van. Elddis did come and inspect our van. The engineer took 5 weeks to come, yet lived only 20 minutes away! That also tells you something.

Yes, I will keep warning people, we lost a whole season of holidays, had a huge amount of stress as neither Elddis nor the large dealer were interested, and we had to get a solicitor to get a result. I just hope this doesn't happen to others.

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Bought new from Marquis....started off well with good handover and few minor niggles sorted quickly....that’s where it finished as far as any customer service went.

Been back five times for same fault......arrived to find parts weren’t in stock, next time wrong parts delivered, then wrong colour, then workmanship so bad we refused to accept. Eventually fixed but took 15 months!

Back for another fault....faulty trip switch which I had explained fully.....can you send me a new one.....no,they needed to see it to confirm as warranty claim. Travelled three hours to get there, twenty seconds to confirm fault.....then told me didn’t have part in stock

Parts take months to arrive, warranty work has taken months to sort out and standard of workmanship from service department is questionable, their prices are grossly excessive compared to our local repair agent.

Eventually wrote a letter of complaint re outstanding faults still not fixed , been six weeks and not even the courtesy of a reply.

I’m not saying all is bad but my experience means we won’t buy from them again.

Can you tell what it was you bought.?

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Dont worry, it will be an ante-british-van opinion
Your profiel says you have an Elddis 285....great value single-bed van in my opinion

Far from it, yes I would never buy a British van now after the problems we've had with the different makes of new British caravans over the years. The final straw was the new Elddis which we bought three years ago. After a large chunk of plywood fell off the roof after just a week of use, Elddis had to issue a recall. That was just the start, while they were repairing that they found the microwave cupboard falling off the wall. I spent the next 3 week holiday repairing more and more faults. Then rejected the van with a long list of faults including the microwave cupboard coming loose again and the roof collapsing!

Having decided we'd never have another caravan we spent a couple of days at the NEC researching motorhomes. Looked in on the Elddis stand, same model there, and you could push the roof up and down with just one hand, and you could see the microwave cupboard loose on this one, just as ours had been, so ours wasn't just a one-off Friday van. Elddis did come and inspect our van. The engineer took 5 weeks to come, yet lived only 20 minutes away! That also tells you something.

Yes, I will keep warning people, we lost a whole season of holidays, had a huge amount of stress as neither Elddis nor the large dealer were interested, and we had to get a solicitor to get a result. I just hope this doesn't happen to others.
[/QUOTE]
What do you have now?
From where?
Interested to know how the experience has been this time?

 

[maison]

Another satisfied Elddis owner here.

Just be careful reading too much into comments
There are contributors on here that have had varying experiences with varying models and dealerships
I have had new Autotrail, Swift, Adria AND now Elddis....in 30 months and have dealt with varying manufacturer and dealership standards, including the dealers we didnt buy off

A lot of it is to do with geography as well....you WILL need support when your vehicle/conversion lets you down. Notice I said when not if

Happy to share my experience if asked, but my experiences don't make me “right”, they just give me opinions

Also, my choice is to not buy Used product, many on here would never buy new. Im not wrong or right as much as they are not wrong or right

Without choice, we would possibly be all driving Trabants.....but that’s another discussion

As far as my own experience with Marquis goes, I have on 2 separate occasions considered buying from them as they had models, layouts that suited, but got the impression that the sales staff were, frankly, lying to get my money, and making promises that their aftermarket would struggle to keep, even if they had the inclination to do so.
But, they do have the biggest network of branches, and that may appeal to some, although their front end pricing is a bit steep
[/QUOTE]
You have obviously had a bad experience, both with Elddis and Marquis. Clearly the quality of after-sales service from Marquis varies from branch to branch. We have only dealt with Marquis Gloucestershire (Tewksbury), whose after sales service has been excellent, as I have posted before.

Our Elddis is our 8th Motorhome. It is not the most sophisticated unit you can buy and somethings are clearly built down to price. Manual change-over on fridge, simple water heater/space heater controls for two. We have had the “all singing- all dancing” electronic controls, with remote access from your mobile phone. They were a pain in the bum, always going wrong or throwing up error messages.

I have checked our motorhome for the faults you described and, I am glad to say, don’t have them in ours.

Nevertheless, it is good of you to highlight the problems you have experienced with Elddis, it will help people to check out potential problems if they are considering Elddis. You are correct that there are people who have had problems with each of the popular marques.

Which branch of Marquis did you deal with?

 

[thebriars]

What do you have now?
From where?
Interested to know how the experience has been this time?

Over the years we had 5 new caravans. The 4 British ones didn't last a year without each needing major warranty repairs. We bought one French caravan, a Trigano. Sold it after 5 years, and during that time it was almost faultless. I think I had to refit two cupboard door catches.

Bought a Trigano air awning, it was by far the cheapest, yet outlasted 2 caravans. As good as new when we sold it.

Thus after a really searching look (we had 5 months between rejecting the caravan and a resolution), settled on an auto Benimar on the 170bhp Ford chassis from Marquis - both Trigano companies.

Its about 20 months old now, handover from Marquis was excellent. Couple of niggly faults only, door catching on carpet, and cupboard catch needing adjusting, both easy DIY jobs. (Compare that to the 7 cupboard doors and all four bed frame hinges that came loose within the first month on the Elddis) With over 10,000 miles under the belt, I think we made an excellent choice, and just as pleased with it as the day we picked it up.

Restored our faith in the outdoor life, we were on the brink of giving up all together after the Elddis experience.

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[maison]

Over the years we had 5 new caravans. The 4 British ones didn't last a year without each needing major warranty repairs. We bought one French caravan, a Trigano. Sold it after 5 years, and during that time it was almost faultless. I think I had to refit two cupboard door catches.

Bought a Trigano air awning, it was by far the cheapest, yet outlasted 2 caravans. As good as new when we sold it.

Thus after a really searching look (we had 5 months between rejecting the caravan and a resolution), settled on an auto Benimar on the 170bhp Ford chassis from Marquis - both Trigano companies.

Its about 20 months old now, handover from Marquis was excellent. Couple of niggly faults only, door catching on carpet, and cupboard catch needing adjusting, both easy DIY jobs. (Compare that to the 7 cupboard doors and all four bed frame hinges that came loose within the first month on the Elddis) With over 10,000 miles under the belt, I think we made an excellent choice, and just as pleased with it as the day we picked it up.

Restored our faith in the outdoor life, we were on the brink of giving up all together after the Elddis experience.

Much like our experience of Peugeot scooters. We had two, both disastrous, with total breakdowns in remote, rural settings, one in France.

We would never have another, (we currently run Honda,) although we know people who think the Peugeot scooter range is great.

All of us make our choices based on our personal experience and, occasionally, listen to advice.

 

[Stoosal]

Can you tell what it was you bought.?

Tessoro 483

Like van and well built...probs with radio/satnav still not resolved, decals came off and paintwork took 15 months to resolve. Would have another Benimar but avoid Marquis!

 

[gpat]

Tessoro 483

Like van and well built...probs with radio/satnav still not resolved, decals came off and paintwork took 15 months to resolve. Would have another Benimar but avoid Marquis!

You would have a job on, they are exclusive to Marquis!

 

[gpat]

We bought a new Benimar from Marquis in Preston 2015. The customer service was so bad that I laugh about it now and at the time I wished 'That's Life' was still on TV. Esther would have loved it as it was so inept you couldn't make it up. They got there in the end when a nice chap called Ian got involved. Maybe they are OK now.

For me though, I vote with my feet, and I said at the time "Never again will I deal with these people". Ask me again in 10 years, but for now I am sticking to it to my view

 

[Stoosal]

You would have a job on, they are exclusive to Marquis!

Yes....but I don’t need to buy from them, plenty of other dealers.

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[Cheshirecat57]

Yes....but I don’t need to buy from them, plenty of other dealers.

I think gpat meant you cant buy a NEW Benimar from anywhere but Marquis

 

[Stoosal]

I think gpat meant you cant buy a NEW Benimar from anywhere but Marquis

Correct....but can buy elsewhere! I am now voting with feet due to poor service....for too long many agents have provided poor service and got away with it...if want another one I would get nearly new from another dealer.

 

[Setras431dt]

I bought my first van from Marquis, never ever again! They are fantastic in the respect of when you go and view/purchase the van, after sales/warranty is shocking. Ended up fixing some of the electrical problems myself.

 

[sedge]

I shan't libel them - our first Moho came from Marquis at Billing and admittedly it had a warranty issue when they did the PDI and we had a ferry booked, but it wasn't one which affected the holiday (couple of months in France) so it went up to Swift when we came back to the UK and they did all sorts of extra jobs, only ONE of which we knew about - it may have been warranty but our question was, what's the best/easiest way of sorting this - they hand back guy didn't actually know, so took it back in the workshop and came out 5 minutes later with it fixed!

The American guy was the manager at Billing at that time - Texan - only chap who has ever had a conversation with me and called me both Ma'am and Darlin' during the same sentence!

 

[peterc10]

I bought my first van from Marquis, never ever again! They are fantastic in the respect of when you go and view/purchase the van, after sales/warranty is shocking. Ended up fixing some of the electrical problems myself.

Why not write a review of them here

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[bobnick]

It is likely we will change our van in the not to distant future.
But having read so many threads and posts on here i think all van get a ribbing in varying degrees.
I am leaning towards a German built van, that's as far as i have got so far.

Absolutely no mechanical or build issues with our current van.

 

[Otter Spotter]

Have a look on line at the motorhome parked up outside Marquis in Preston last year with the massive slogans on the back! In the end they gave the customers his money back! We went to the same dealership and asked about leaking issues and the salesperson was brutally honest with his answer * You stick a caravan on the back of a transit/fiat/renault/mercedes van chassis, its going to leak at some stage as they will flex about the time they are driven on the roads, some are better than others,* We left and did not buy. we did look at Carado they had in stock and he had no idea they were built by the Hymer company! Did not inspire confidence, We then went to Lowdhams via other motorhome dealerships and sat in a Carado , liked it, knocked 7 grand off the asking price with *Cash deal, no trade in walk away today!* * I will have to speak with my boss!* Walked to hut, came out 5 mins later and said * No * we said * Not messing bye bye genuine offer* and walked off, 30 secs later * Okay we can do!* Go at the end of the month when they have to sell! The Hobby was again a good deal but beset my minor problems all sorted eventually The Pilote , a few minor issues sorted straight away great contact and as said before home phone numbers of salesmen and workshop manager given and told any problems contact us . we had we did ! Sorted next working day and great customer service, i know some have moaned about vans advertised not being on site but let them know you are coming and they will be there, limited area for display so kept undercover at remote site so may have 10 miles on it! , Oh the dealership? Signature motorhomes at Preston 5 star service!

Google Lee Evans from Oldham he is the protestor at Preston Marquis depot, in 2019 he had a anti molestation order out against him to keep him away from his ex. He appears a slightly unhinged individual. Marquis may have been able to handle his issues better but it appears that he can’t handle himself properly.

 

[irnbru]

Up to date Ive had all warranty issues looked at and sorted EXCEPT the damp issue which they have attempted but failed to fix so far. Reading comments I think some branches are better than others.

 

[gpat]

I think gpat meant you cant buy a NEW Benimar from anywhere but Marquis

Yes that's correct.

 

[irnbru]

I think gpat meant you cant buy a NEW Benimar from anywhere but Marquis

You can buy one from the The Motorhome company in Scotland

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[gpat]

You can buy one from the The Motorhome company in Scotland

That's interesting. Must be just England that Marquis have exclusive rights. Unless they are part of the group

 

[irnbru]

That's interesting. Must be just England that Marquis have exclusive rights. Unless they are part of the group

I think there might be an arrangement between them but Marquis wont allow you to take your van to The Motorhome Company for warranty work.

 

[gpat]

I think there might be an arrangement between them but Marquis wont allow you to take your van to The Motorhome Company for warranty work.

How mean is that!

Someone needs to get a grip on these motorhome dealers and how they impose such conditions on their warranties and make it so they reserve the right to do warranty work, even excluding other dealerships in the same chain. Don't they realise it would even itself out over time.

It doesnt work like this in the car world

 

[mikeandmary]

Our only experience of Marquis of Tewkesbury was visiting a few years ago to view an Autotrail Delaware, by appointment. It was there waiting for us and in disgusting condition. Dirty inside and out, stained upholstery, smelly. Obviously, totally unprepared for us. Needless to say, Marquis are not on our preferred dealer list. Not sure what happened to the salesman after I complained, but don’t think he was promoted.