Faulty Caravan - Finance Company Ignoring Ombudsman

Moneyman93

Hoping someone can help with the below nightmare I am having which just seems to be getting worse.

Background:

In Summer 2023, I bought a caravan from a dealer. I used this caravan a few times before the end of the season, and parked it up for the winter. It was purchased from a dealer I believed to be reputable, with a recent service and damp inspection carried out by the dealer. The caravan was 10 years old at the time, and visually was in good condition - it has a few marks as would be expected. I paid a roughly 20% deposit, and the rest was through a finance. 

I had it serviced in May 2024 by an independent company and unfortunately it showed signs of damp. The expert opinion of the service technician was that the damp had been developing for over 12 months, and should have been picked up on the damp inspection before sale. All signs led to an inaccurate damp report previously. 

I raised a complaint with the dealer, who didn’t respond, and then with the finance company. The finance company didn’t uphold my complaint on the basis that I couldn’t prove the damp was there at the point of sale and favoured the report by the dealer. 

At this point, the caravan was parked up and out of use to avoid further damage. 

I escalated this to the Financial Ombudsman Service - to cut a long story short, they upheld my complaint in December 2024. Due to other issues which had been not picked up by the dealer’s inspection, which were later acknowledged and rectified by the dealer, the Investigator from the Ombudsman service believed that the dealer’s report may not be reliable and upheld my complaint. 

The recommendations for the finance company included taking the caravan back with nothing further to pay. The finance company accepted this, and in early February sent a transport company to recover the caravan back to the dealership. 

A few days before the collection of the caravan, they noted that the caravan would be subject to inspection by the dealer, but I could rest assured as the faults with the caravan were already known from the independent inspection in May. 

I was advised that the inspection would be completed within 7 days, and the funds would be transferred to me within a further 7 days. 

Issue:

11 days after collection, the finance company advised the inspection had been completed and presented circa £4.5k worth of works which needed carrying out. The inspection had been completed by the dealer, and included issues they are aware of and ones which will have been present at the point of purchase (such as the pull out bed being broken - this had never been pulled out in my time of ownership). 

The £4.5k is a very similar number to what is owed back to me in refund. 

My issue is that they have gone against the Ombudsman’s direction of no further payment. And I knew nothing of this until the caravan had been returned to the dealership, insurance cancelled, direct debit cancelled and storage cancelled. 

I’m in a position now where they know they have me backed into a corner - they have my asset and my money, and don’t seem to be prepared to bring this to closure until I agree to hand over £4.5k of my refund. 

The Ombudsman at the moment has suggested I may need to open a further complaint with the finance company (which could take 8 weeks to go through), and then go back through the Ombudsman if this doesn’t resolve it. I think even the Ombudsman’s investigator is stumped here as the finance company have ignored their recommendation at the very last minute. 

Once again the finance company is trusting the report of the dealer over that of the independent advice. 

In this time I still technically have an active finance agreement and have no clear way forwards. 

Has anyone ever had a similar issue? And can anyone please share advice?

DullGreyGuy

Moneyman93 said:

Hoping someone can help with the below nightmare I am having which just seems to be getting worse.

Background:

In Summer 2023, I bought a caravan from a dealer. I used this caravan a few times before the end of the season, and parked it up for the winter. It was purchased from a dealer I believed to be reputable, with a recent service and damp inspection carried out by the dealer. The caravan was 10 years old at the time, and visually was in good condition - it has a few marks as would be expected. I paid a roughly 20% deposit, and the rest was through a finance. 

I had it serviced in May 2024 by an independent company and unfortunately it showed signs of damp. The expert opinion of the service technician was that the damp had been developing for over 12 months, and should have been picked up on the damp inspection before sale. All signs led to an inaccurate damp report previously. 

I raised a complaint with the dealer, who didn’t respond, and then with the finance company. The finance company didn’t uphold my complaint on the basis that I couldn’t prove the damp was there at the point of sale and favoured the report by the dealer. 

At this point, the caravan was parked up and out of use to avoid further damage. 

I escalated this to the Financial Ombudsman Service - to cut a long story short, they upheld my complaint in December 2024. Due to other issues which had been not picked up by the dealer’s inspection, which were later acknowledged and rectified by the dealer, the Investigator from the Ombudsman service believed that the dealer’s report may not be reliable and upheld my complaint. 

The recommendations for the finance company included taking the caravan back with nothing further to pay. The finance company accepted this, and in early February sent a transport company to recover the caravan back to the dealership. 

A few days before the collection of the caravan, they noted that the caravan would be subject to inspection by the dealer, but I could rest assured as the faults with the caravan were already known from the independent inspection in May. 

I was advised that the inspection would be completed within 7 days, and the funds would be transferred to me within a further 7 days. 

Issue:

11 days after collection, the finance company advised the inspection had been completed and presented circa £4.5k worth of works which needed carrying out. The inspection had been completed by the dealer, and included issues they are aware of and ones which will have been present at the point of purchase (such as the pull out bed being broken - this had never been pulled out in my time of ownership). 

The £4.5k is a very similar number to what is owed back to me in refund. 

My issue is that they have gone against the Ombudsman’s direction of no further payment. And I knew nothing of this until the caravan had been returned to the dealership, insurance cancelled, direct debit cancelled and storage cancelled. 

I’m in a position now where they know they have me backed into a corner - they have my asset and my money, and don’t seem to be prepared to bring this to closure until I agree to hand over £4.5k of my refund. 

The Ombudsman at the moment has suggested I may need to open a further complaint with the finance company (which could take 8 weeks to go through), and then go back through the Ombudsman if this doesn’t resolve it. I think even the Ombudsman’s investigator is stumped here as the finance company have ignored their recommendation at the very last minute. 

Once again the finance company is trusting the report of the dealer over that of the independent advice. 

In this time I still technically have an active finance agreement and have no clear way forwards. 

Has anyone ever had a similar issue? And can anyone please share advice?

If the investigator won't accept it as a failure to follow the agreed resolution, which would then result in the case being escalated to an ombudsman then you will have to follow their proposed solution. 

I would be surprised if the investigator does really mean no further payment whatsoever no matter what happens, it would make sense they say no further payment in relation to the credit and the accepted pre-existing issues but not that you wouldn't have to contribute if further damages had been done. 

Moneyman93

DullGreyGuy said:

Moneyman93 said:

Hoping someone can help with the below nightmare I am having which just seems to be getting worse.

Background:

In Summer 2023, I bought a caravan from a dealer. I used this caravan a few times before the end of the season, and parked it up for the winter. It was purchased from a dealer I believed to be reputable, with a recent service and damp inspection carried out by the dealer. The caravan was 10 years old at the time, and visually was in good condition - it has a few marks as would be expected. I paid a roughly 20% deposit, and the rest was through a finance. 

I had it serviced in May 2024 by an independent company and unfortunately it showed signs of damp. The expert opinion of the service technician was that the damp had been developing for over 12 months, and should have been picked up on the damp inspection before sale. All signs led to an inaccurate damp report previously. 

I raised a complaint with the dealer, who didn’t respond, and then with the finance company. The finance company didn’t uphold my complaint on the basis that I couldn’t prove the damp was there at the point of sale and favoured the report by the dealer. 

At this point, the caravan was parked up and out of use to avoid further damage. 

I escalated this to the Financial Ombudsman Service - to cut a long story short, they upheld my complaint in December 2024. Due to other issues which had been not picked up by the dealer’s inspection, which were later acknowledged and rectified by the dealer, the Investigator from the Ombudsman service believed that the dealer’s report may not be reliable and upheld my complaint. 

The recommendations for the finance company included taking the caravan back with nothing further to pay. The finance company accepted this, and in early February sent a transport company to recover the caravan back to the dealership. 

A few days before the collection of the caravan, they noted that the caravan would be subject to inspection by the dealer, but I could rest assured as the faults with the caravan were already known from the independent inspection in May. 

I was advised that the inspection would be completed within 7 days, and the funds would be transferred to me within a further 7 days. 

Issue:

11 days after collection, the finance company advised the inspection had been completed and presented circa £4.5k worth of works which needed carrying out. The inspection had been completed by the dealer, and included issues they are aware of and ones which will have been present at the point of purchase (such as the pull out bed being broken - this had never been pulled out in my time of ownership). 

The £4.5k is a very similar number to what is owed back to me in refund. 

My issue is that they have gone against the Ombudsman’s direction of no further payment. And I knew nothing of this until the caravan had been returned to the dealership, insurance cancelled, direct debit cancelled and storage cancelled. 

I’m in a position now where they know they have me backed into a corner - they have my asset and my money, and don’t seem to be prepared to bring this to closure until I agree to hand over £4.5k of my refund. 

The Ombudsman at the moment has suggested I may need to open a further complaint with the finance company (which could take 8 weeks to go through), and then go back through the Ombudsman if this doesn’t resolve it. I think even the Ombudsman’s investigator is stumped here as the finance company have ignored their recommendation at the very last minute. 

Once again the finance company is trusting the report of the dealer over that of the independent advice. 

In this time I still technically have an active finance agreement and have no clear way forwards. 

Has anyone ever had a similar issue? And can anyone please share advice?

If the investigator won't accept it as a failure to follow the agreed resolution, which would then result in the case being escalated to an ombudsman then you will have to follow their proposed solution. 

I would be surprised if the investigator does really mean no further payment whatsoever no matter what happens, it would make sense they say no further payment in relation to the credit and the accepted pre-existing issues but not that you wouldn't have to contribute if further damages had been done. 

Understood - thank you.

My worry and concern here is that the issues on the report are either ones which were present at point of purchase or ones they were already aware of. Some of the issues they’ve raised are minor cosmetic issues which I don’t believe were even there when the caravan went back to them. The investigator at the Ombudsman has already said that the report by the dealer initially cannot be relied upon, so I am not sure why the finance company are trusting this report.