United British Caravans Bewertungen 

We purchased a tent from Awnings Direct (United British Caravans). It was a tent I had been after for a while but was hard to find somewhere that stocked it (I think Outwell might of discontinued it).

When we took it camping the day after purchasing it, we found it leaked. I got it dried out, packed it away and drove a 200 mile round trip to swap it for our old tent just so we could continue our camping trip (luck I still had our other tent, or the kids camping trip would of been ruined). After packing it away I picked it up via the shoulder strap and the bag just ripped (this alone is grounds for return without the leaking tent)

When we returned from our trip, I returned the tent to the shop (10 days after purchase) for a refund, I was told the manager was not in and would have to go back the next day as they didn't have the authority to deal with refunds, which I did.

The manager told me they would need to do a soak test to confirm that I am not a liar, and tried to tell me the tent needed to be weathered as they don't come fully waterproof where they are stitched together, (this is not what Outwell advise at all, this is a polyethene tent that comes watertight right out of the box, not a polycotton tent) and to give him 48 hours to test it.

I phoned 2 days later, to be told it had not been tested and would take a week, I told him I wanted to come and watch it been tested as I didn't trust that they wouldn't just spray some sealant on it, say it was fine, for it just to leak again in a year when I am no longer able to get a refund. He told me it didn't matter either way, as I had the tent for over 7 days so I wasn't entitled to a refund at all, it would be repaired or replaced.

I advised him of the consumer Rights Act 2015, (which he said he knows very well) which states if a product is found to have a fault in under 30 days I have the right to a "short term refusal" due to it not being of satisfactory quality and the retailer MUST give a 100% refund (they can offer a repair or replacement but this can be can refused as long as it is under 30 days of receipt), he told me I am wrong, I told him to just google it before he gets the company in trouble, I literally had the legal information in front of me, citizens advice also confirm this is the case.

I was advised by citizens advice to send them an letter (which they sent me) via email with delivery and read receipts informing them of my rights and what I want. so far I have had no reply.

The next step will be court (I am sure he thought I was bluffing when I told him that's what I would do) and reporting to trading standards etc.

All he had to do was refund me for the faulty tent, send the tend back to his supplier as faulty and everyone is happy.

I would say they are probable a good company if NOTHING goes wrong, but when it does go wrong expect to fight tooth and nail for your basic rights, its safe to just shop else where as once they have your money, they do whatever they can to keep it and don't care about the customers or the law that is there to protect them

What's worse for them is we were looking at buying a camper van early next year, obviously I dodged a bullet as I now know where I am not buying one from.

I think 0 star would of been generous but 1 is the lowest I can give

Response to their reply:

I own a large tent which is to big for smaller trips when some of our children don't come or use a smaller tent of their own, hence needing a slightly smaller one. It leaked so was returned, I then purchased another from else where, which I can happily prove. You said I "wouldn't come to witness the water test" YOU LIER! I have emails proving I asked to be there and you tested without me and wouldn't redo the test with me there. Treat customers better you absolute w....r ! as for "never darken our doors again" I wouldn't return if I was paid, I would rather camp out in a cardboard box during a storm than buy another tent from you!

You are trying to imply that I was using you as a free tent hire service by purchasing a tent, having our holiday then pretend the tent is faulty for a full refund. Why would I do that when I already own tents (one was to big and one was to small, I needed something in the middle for when the kids don't come etc) This ruined our holiday, I had to drive home to get the larger tent just to continue the holiday. If I was trying to do as you suggested, do you not think I would of just used a company that has a 100% no worries refund policy, would be a bit of a risk not to if that's what I was up to.

Read all the Negative reviews, then read the responses, it seems like its never this company's fault and they do absolute nothing wrong EVER! It is always the customer lying, cheating and stealing.

They are either delusional or just a bunch of PR**Ks

Bought a new caravan today from UBC and can honestly say it was pleasure dealing with this company,John who was our salesman was very knowledgeable and all our questions were answered,he even given us a little insight and lesson on towing as we've never towed before,
Would have no hesitation in buying from them again, brilliant thank you.

We looked at a mobile home for £70 k and we needed a part exchange for our nearly new camper van they didn’t even have the courtesy to give us an offer in a pet exchange deal the only wanted cash ? Poor company

Faith restored.
Had a wonderful buying experience from united British caravans. Dave and Sean were wonderful and guided us through the process including a part exchange of our old van for a brand new van. Excellent communication and never a hard sell. We felt like valued customers from start until, well we still do. Absolutely faultless and as my title suggests, they have restored my faith in the world of caravan sales. UBC gets my recommendation and I know we will be long-standing customers moving forward. Thank you.

Having fallen out badly with this company some years ago, we are however in the market for a new caravan & thought we’d give them another chance. We were hoping it was under new management. It isn’t & it shows.

Four years ago we almost bought a new caravan from UBC, costing circa £28000. It was a Swift Elegance I believe and we had a 2 year old trade in, which we were told at another dealers was the best condition used trade in they’d ever had. They subsequently sold it in days to the 1st person to view it.

Back to UBC, where we’d dealt with a salesman I’ll refer to as tall guy, as he’s still there. All was going well, until he sought approval for a trade in value from the senior salesman. I’ll call him short guy, it appears he isn’t with the company any more. Perhaps?

For anyone not familiar with caravan pricing, it is done via ‘Glasses Guide’, who are also the backbone of car dealers for their respective valuations too.

Suffice to say, we were quoted a valuation a full £1000 LESS than the Glasses valuation. I know this to be a fact, as I was shown the official valuation a week later at a subsequent dealer, from whom we purchased our current caravan.

Suffice to say we walked from UBC vowing never to return, with even tall guy looking embarrassed at this bare faced rip off, which may have been a homophobic rebuke from short guy, who couldn’t even look us in the eye.

To this Tuesday then, 2 days ago.
We looked around the the UBC site and saw a Swift Challenger for sale, at circa £27000. Despite having been seen several times by tall guy (who had sold us a caravan at another local dealers previously), he feigned ignorance and pretended not to recognise us. Puzzled, we were ably assisted by another new salesman Danny.

Danny showed us the Challenger in detail and we expressed an interest, pending a decent part ex price on our caravan. He explained either he or tall guy would call back later that afternoon. He also had my email address and mobile number. The price would need to be confirmed by their manager.

Here we are then, a full 2 days later and their customer service appears to be as bad as ever, despite us having a budget in excess of £30,000 for a new caravan.

If this is how potentially lucrative customers are treated at a potential sale, how bad would it get if problems arose? I’ll leave that for anybody reading this to decide for themselves……