any advice (if any) greaty received

Anni_nOMin_oustwo

Hello to all out there,
this is a complicated one.
I discovered my motorhome had a burst 'Whale' water heater. Anyone who knows campers will appreciate this is not straight forward, bluntly, virtually eveything has to come out to access the water heater.
I had to let them inspect it and quote for works of course. 
It went in 27th March after I was told the new part would be in early April, so they began preparation works in rediness.
I let them get on with it in good faith, paying up front for all materials.
Yesterday I was told the parts still had not arrived and they were very sorry it was out of their control and they were looking into options.
If I get any options I will update this post.
Where do you think I stand on this matter, will I have to suck it up, bite the bullet and accept there is nothing down for me. Or is the fact I took out the works, in effect entering into a contract with them and is it irrelevant that A N Other has let them down, is it their responsibility to rectify? There is something else too making this more critical and stressfull, I am about to leave on a continental holiday all ferries and camp sites are booked and paid for.

thanks for taking the time to read this

Aylesbury_Duck

Anni_nOMin_oustwo said:

Hello to all out there,
this is a complicated one.
I discovered my motorhome had a burst 'Whale' water heater. Anyone who knows campers will appreciate this is not straight forward, bluntly, virtually eveything has to come out to access the water heater.
I had to let them inspect it and quote for works of course. 
It went in 27th March after I was told the new part would be in early April, so they began preparation works in rediness.
I let them get on with it in good faith, paying up front for all materials.
Yesterday I was told the parts still had not arrived and they were very sorry it was out of their control and they were looking into options.
If I get any options I will update this post.
Where do you think I stand on this matter, will I have to suck it up, bite the bullet and accept there is nothing down for me. Or is the fact I took out the works, in effect entering into a contract with them and is it irrelevant that A N Other has let them down, is it their responsibility to rectify? There is something else too making this more critical and stressfull, I am about to leave on a continental holiday all ferries and camp sites are booked and paid for.

thanks for taking the time to read this

Bluntly, they can't fit what they can't obtain, so your options would seem to be to ask them to reassemble everything, pay for the time/work put in to date and take the motorhome away, or wait and hope the parts arrive and can be fitted in time.

tightauldgit

Well first of all let's look at it practically - they cannot magic up something they don't have so how do you expect them to rectify it without the parts? If they can't get the spares then the best outcome you could expect is for them to put the camper back together and hand it back to you and cancel the contract. Would that help you? 

Anni_nOMin_oustwo

yeah I was thinking all this too, I have given them a last date on which I can afford to leave the vehicle with them. Failing a no show of the part, I would like the oven, hob, water pump to sinks shower and toilet reinstating with hot water obviously capped off. I have bought today, a submersible shower and pump off amazon, so we could shower with hot water in a bucket as a last resort, I have to hedge my bets.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

If a service isn't performed within a reasonable time the consumer is entitled to seek a price reduction. What is a reasonable time is a question of fact (whatever this means in the real world).

I wouldn't rock the boat until they've finished the work (a soured relationship might affect the quality of work), it sounds like you haven't paid for any labour and I wouldn't be paying the full bill until the job is done. 

Ultimately they should have ensured they could get the parts before the service began. Did you mention the deadline for your travels before you and they agreed to the work OP? 

Aylesbury_Duck

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

If a service isn't performed within a reasonable time the consumer is entitled to seek a price reduction. What is a reasonable time is a question of fact (whatever this means in the real world).

I wouldn't rock the boat until they've finished the work (a soured relationship might affect the quality of work), it sounds like you haven't paid for any labour and I wouldn't be paying the full bill until the job is done. 

Ultimately they should have ensured they could get the parts before the service began. Did you mention the deadline for your travels before you and they agreed to the work OP? 

In fairness to them, it sounds like there's a lot of work to do ahead of fitting, so waiting for the part to arrive before commencing work might not have been a practical option.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Aylesbury_Duck said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

If a service isn't performed within a reasonable time the consumer is entitled to seek a price reduction. What is a reasonable time is a question of fact (whatever this means in the real world).

I wouldn't rock the boat until they've finished the work (a soured relationship might affect the quality of work), it sounds like you haven't paid for any labour and I wouldn't be paying the full bill until the job is done. 

Ultimately they should have ensured they could get the parts before the service began. Did you mention the deadline for your travels before you and they agreed to the work OP? 

In fairness to them, it sounds like there's a lot of work to do ahead of fitting, so waiting for the part to arrive before commencing work might not have been a practical option.

I do appreciate but in such an instance they either have to decline the work, give an extended timeframe or run of the risk of giving the consumer a price reduction. 

For the works involved I don't think it is (yet) an unreasonable time, but that might change if the OP told then they needed the camper for x date beforehand. 

tightauldgit

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

If a service isn't performed within a reasonable time the consumer is entitled to seek a price reduction. What is a reasonable time is a question of fact (whatever this means in the real world).

I wouldn't rock the boat until they've finished the work (a soured relationship might affect the quality of work), it sounds like you haven't paid for any labour and I wouldn't be paying the full bill until the job is done. 

Ultimately they should have ensured they could get the parts before the service began. Did you mention the deadline for your travels before you and they agreed to the work OP? 

In fairness to them, it sounds like there's a lot of work to do ahead of fitting, so waiting for the part to arrive before commencing work might not have been a practical option.

I do appreciate but in such an instance they either have to decline the work, give an extended timeframe or run of the risk of giving the consumer a price reduction. 

For the works involved I don't think it is (yet) an unreasonable time, but that might change if the OP told then they needed the camper for x date beforehand. 

'Reasonable time' will include lead time on parts though. And if there are delays outwith the control of the garage then it's reasonable that those are also factored in. Garage would have to show they made reasonable efforts to determine the lead time and to source the parts but they can't be expected to be clairvoyant.

Anni_nOMin_oustwo

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

If a service isn't performed within a reasonable time the consumer is entitled to seek a price reduction. What is a reasonable time is a question of fact (whatever this means in the real world).

I wouldn't rock the boat until they've finished the work (a soured relationship might affect the quality of work), it sounds like you haven't paid for any labour and I wouldn't be paying the full bill until the job is done. 

Ultimately they should have ensured they could get the parts before the service began. Did you mention the deadline for your travels before you and they agreed to the work OP? 

I did tell them of my departure date from the onset making them aware of this and I don't wan't to sour our relationship because it has to be serviced and MOT'd by them every year.
I did understand there was works required beforehand (nearly 2 weeks allowing for replacement and curing of flooring materials this work was caused by the leak) and this was undertaken with the part hopefully arriving in the meantime.
It's not been 24 hours yet, I will email again perhaps at the end of the week or maybe early next week for an update.
It may mean evrything being put back and making it operational (except for hot running water), ie electric mains, gas and battery supplies reinstated and of course a safety gas test has to be carried out. The supplies to the water heater would be capped off

Undervalued

Anni_nOMin_oustwo said:

Hello to all out there,
this is a complicated one.
I discovered my motorhome had a burst 'Whale' water heater. Anyone who knows campers will appreciate this is not straight forward, bluntly, virtually eveything has to come out to access the water heater.
I had to let them inspect it and quote for works of course. 
It went in 27th March after I was told the new part would be in early April, so they began preparation works in rediness.
I let them get on with it in good faith, paying up front for all materials.
Yesterday I was told the parts still had not arrived and they were very sorry it was out of their control and they were looking into options.
If I get any options I will update this post.
Where do you think I stand on this matter, will I have to suck it up, bite the bullet and accept there is nothing down for me. Or is the fact I took out the works, in effect entering into a contract with them and is it irrelevant that A N Other has let them down, is it their responsibility to rectify? There is something else too making this more critical and stressfull, I am about to leave on a continental holiday all ferries and camp sites are booked and paid for.

thanks for taking the time to read this

What was their reasoning for this?

Give that the motorhome was (presumably) useable to an extent without hot water, certainly if you stayed on campsites with showers etc, on the face of it was it a sensible idea? There is certainly an argument that it was a bad move and that they should reinstate everything to a useable (bot no hot water) state free of charge is there is no other alternative.

Have you investigated if the part is available elsewhere? Maybe they only use their preferred supplier because it gives them a better markup?

Anni_nOMin_oustwo

They commenced work because the water ingress over time had meant the floor needed to be replaced and then re-covered, that is the works i refer to in rediness and presume been completed now in this time scale. so there will be a gaping hole where the oven, drawer and heater once were,
The motorhome was not useable, because the pump sends water everywhere at once to the 2 sinks shower and toilet, therefore it needed to be capped off when the broken heater was removed. 
I need my gas oven & hob refitting and testing or I won't be able cook or heat water. As i mentioned, I have bought a battery powered shower if the parts fail to arrive in time, so i can heat water fill a bucket and shower. My wife is blind, this is why we holiday in this self sufficient way, I have to laugh at MH owners reluctant to shower or use their own toilets but that's just my opinion