RV FEATURE
Even ‘ research ’ can become fraught with difficulty . Take the experience of Sylwia Logan , for example , whose experience with Tango Caravans was detailed in our previous two issue . She felt she ‘ researched ’ the company sufficiently , and was comforted by the Tango proprietor ’ s pedigree within the caravan industry – her family has deep industry ties in Victoria and is well-respected . Or read the stories of the many Tango victims in this issue . All felt that they had ‘ done their research ’.
Fortunately , for every Tango , there ’ s two dozen solid companies with a demonstrable record of doing the right thing by their customers . And there are a number of things that new caravan purchasers can do to give themselves some confidence that they ’ re dealing with a reputable manufacturer who won ’ t leave them twisting in the wind .
Sylwia Logan being shown around the Nova Caravans factory after Nova came to her rescue when Tango went bust .
OWNERS ’ GROUPS
One of the most important things you can do before purchasing a caravan is to establish if the manufacturer has an owner ’ s group and , if so , enquire as to whether you can you ask questions of its members .
It truly is eye-opening to chat to former customers . These conversations will give you an excellent idea as to the manufacturer ’ s after-sales service , too . After all , a former customer will have done thousands of kilometres with their van . If something had gone wrong , did the manufacturer take responsibility and fix it under warranty , or did they give the customer the runaround ?
Was their van delivered on time ? Was there a professional handover ? The thing about chatting with customers is , you ’ ll hear the truth : the good , the bad and the ugly .
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