Camper van hire 'damage' charges

jdavidson

hi,


i recently hired a camper vehicle from a company.
We took the vehicle away and within the first few uses of a light switch button within the camper the button got stuck depressed in.
This was through normal use with no excessive force. I get the feeling this had broken previously and was perhaps made worse by our normal use.


We were charged £200 for the cost of an entire head unit.


Is this an acceptable charge.


The vehicle was also new meaning the part in question would likely have been under manufacture warranty.


Thanks for any advice.


Kind regards

tykesi

jdavidson wrote: »

Is this an acceptable charge.

Yes - why don't you think you should pay for breaking someone else's property. Didn't you read the T&Cs you agreed to when you hired the vehicle?

jdavidson wrote: »

The vehicle was also new meaning the part in question would likely have been under manufacture warranty.

Warranties are for faults, not for damage caused be user error.

jdavidson

so you're saying if you were to push a light switch say in your living room using normal levels of pressure and that switch broke it would be your fault and not a manufacturing error or a previously broken item?

Aylesbury_Duck

so you're saying if you were to push a light switch say in your living room using normal levels of pressure and that switch broke it would be your fault and not a manufacturing error or a previously broken item?

No, that's not what he's saying. Your analogy is flawed, yours is a different context.

What do the conditions of hire say?

House_Martin

[STRIKE][/STRIKE]

jdavidson wrote: »

hi,


i recently hired a camper vehicle from a company.
We took the vehicle away and within the first few uses of a light switch button within the camper the button got stuck depressed in.
This was through normal use with no excessive force. I get the feeling this had broken previously and was perhaps made worse by our normal use.


We were charged £200 for the cost of an entire head unit.


Is this an acceptable charge.


The vehicle was also new meaning the part in question would likely have been under manufacture warranty.


Thanks for any advice.


Kind regards

Was the headlamp broken. what has the headlamp got to do with a light switch. Sounds like a typical garage con to rob you. If the headlights were on all the time, big deal it should nt damage it

jdavidson

Not sure where the reference of a headlamp has come from.
The item that broke was a simple on / off light switch inside the vehicle. hence my comparison to a light switch within a property, a better one may have been the switch in a normal car that controls the interiors lights when you open the car doors.

Digging out the terms now for exact wording.

AdrianC

Where did "headlamp" even come from? The OP said "head unit" - a term normally used to refer to the radio/stereo.

Camper and motorhome warranties are rarely as simple as those on a more normal vehicle. Many items of the fit-out are likely to have their own warranties, which are often far shorter than the base vehicle. So for problems with the van itself, you'd have the vehicle manufacturer's 3yr warranty. For the cooker, the cooker manufacturer's 2yr. For the fridge, for the shower, for... An internal light switch would be part of the converter's warranty, probably.

Remember, you're not simply paying £200 for "a light switch" - you're paying £200 towards the cost of the vehicle being unavailable for rent until it's fixed.

Also - you say it's "new", then you say it was probably damage caused by a previous renter...?

jdavidson

the switch still worked it was just no longer flush so it was cosmetic as much as anything.
I meant new as only a few months old, less than a year certainly.

tykesi

House_Martin wrote: »

[STRIKE][/STRIKE]
Was the headlamp broken. what has the headlamp got to do with a light switch. Sounds like a typical garage con to rob you. If the headlights were on all the time, big deal it should nt damage it

What has the headlamp got to do with anything, you're the only one who has brought a headlamp up on this thread, even the post you quoted doesn't mention it.

Aylesbury_Duck

jdavidson wrote: »

the switch still worked it was just no longer flush so it was cosmetic as much as anything.
I meant new as only a few months old, less than a year certainly.

I don't think you've got grounds for complaint I'm afraid. As AdrianC says, the charge possibly relates to more than just the material cost of the new switch unit. You broke it whilst it was in your care and you're going to have a hard time proving it was already damaged or inherently faulty.

House_Martin

jdavidson wrote: »

hi,


i recently hired a camper vehicle from a company.
We took the vehicle away and within the first few uses of a light switch button within the camper the button got stuck depressed in.
This was through normal use with no excessive force. I get the feeling this had broken previously and was perhaps made worse by our normal use.


We were charged £200 for the cost of an entire head unit.


Is this an acceptable charge.


The vehicle was also new meaning the part in question would likely have been under manufacture warranty.


Thanks for any advice.


Kind regards

jdavidson wrote: »

Not sure where the reference of a headlamp has come from.
The item that broke was a simple on / off light switch inside the vehicle. hence my comparison to a light switch within a property, a better one may have been the switch in a normal car that controls the interiors lights when you open the car doors.

Digging out the terms now for exact wording.

Apologies, you mentioned the word "head " was replaced .anyway you know what these garages and hire companies are like. They are usually looking out for a way to rob people. That light switch which decided to malfunction was what I I consider to be part of "normal wear and tear " and as such should not have been charged if it decided to collapse itself when someone merely switched it on.
Typical swindling hire garages and garages in general.
The trouble is they have probably got your bond and can deduct it otherwise I would have called their bluff and said "see you in the small claims court " where any sensible judge would have thrown this scandalous charge out.