Powrtouch Motor Mover Broken
A few months ago we took the plunge and bought a new Bailey Cartagena, which we love. We’d been looking for sometime and had decided on a layout. We’d gone to the NEC Caravan and Motorhome show and had a good look, but queues were such that we decided against talking to sales people there.
Anyway Bailey were running an offer of a free Powrtouch motor mover, so we decided now was the best time as we’d only put one on ourselves, so it would save around £1,000.
3 Months later we’re about to embark on a 3 week trip to France, literally about to back the caravan off the drive and one of the motors decides to not work! This is 3PM on a Saturday, we were leaving at 11PM to drive to Dover and between 3PM and 11PM were were going to be at the London Stadium watching the Foo Fighters (a long term bucket list item)
So, a quick phone call to some friends and we managed to man handle the twin axle, just shy of 8 metre caravan into position to allow me to hook up at 11PM that night. But of course this is only the start of my problems, every site we visit I also have to reverse the damn thing onto the pitch. Obviously when we picked sites I wasn’t too worried as we had a motor mover. We’ve had a motor mover for years so this has made me lazy about reversing, I don’t need to reverse, no stress for me, I just move it into position.
What did I try to fix my broken Powrtouch Motor Mover
Well, You Tube and google suggested it’s an issue with the connectors. This couldn’t be the case the caravan and therefore the motors are only a few months old. But anyway whilst in France I checked the connections all OK. I checked the fuse OK. I switched it off and on again (I work in IT!) nothing. Oh cr@p I really have got to do the whole 3 weeks without it.
I have to say were were on the most difficult pitches you can ever imagine, typical. Obstacles everywhere; trees, other caravans even brick walls.
Anyway, we got back in one piece and I was very impressed with my reversing skills, although I would not give up my motor mover at any cost!. We had some help getting the caravan off a pitch in the South of France, without asking anyone, people are generally very nice and helpful. At one point there was me, Mandy, two French people and a Belgian. The Belgian was trying to explain to the French people what we were trying to do. I even managed a short conversation with the French person about the world cup (prior to England being knocked out) Marvelous, they even acted as my “banksman” getting off the site.
I called powrtouch and they were very helpful. They asked for the serial number which I gave to them and they started a mystery worthy of an Agatha Christie novel. Well, almost.
So, apparently the motor serial numbers should match, mine didn’t, ok, let’s not panic. We bought the caravan in March 2018 new, from a Bailey dealer, the date on the movers were from June 2017. Huh that makes them a year old, hang on? Also, the serial number of the control box didn’t match the motors according to Powrtouch.. What the heck is going on here? I am now starting to worry.
It’s only a theory, but it might be that the dealer put on single axle motors, according to Powrtouch, they are different and if you use them the motor is likely to burn out.
After some more questions, like where I bought it from etc, Powrtouch promised to sort it out, they also assured me I wouldn’t be paying for the replacement and my warrant is still in place, even though it wasn’t a warranty claim as such at this point.
They got in contact with the dealer, eventually, after about a week, the dealer agreed to pay for Powrtouch to replace the whole lot.
I was asked to swap the wires over between right and left motor, by powrtouch, which I did, this proved the problem was with the motor, obviously burnt out after just two outings. So, my learned conclusion is that single axle movers have been put on? That seems like a sensible conclusion to come to.
Quite brilliant really that Powrtouch themselves contacted the dealer to sort it out. Hats off to them. Anyway, shame on the dealer, I don’t know what sort of jiggery pokery they were up to, I assume Bailey pay for the dealer to fit new motor movers and they’re fitting older ones?? Hmm, sounds like dodgy dealing to me. Not a dealer I’ll be using again…It’s a Bailey deal, at least that’s how it’s advertised, to do with their 70th birthday.
I’ve had a call from the fitter, they are just awaiting parts, so hopefully it’s back up and running now.
Update. Had a call from the fitter and they’re coming on Friday August 3rd..
Friday 3rd August 2018
Well, good news is the engineer turned up, actually earlier than he said he would arrive. That’s good. Unfortunately, we’d booked in to have both motors replaced as well as the control box, he turned up with no motors 🙁
You see the thing is, what do you do? No point in shouting about it, obviously some kind of administrative error. But come on, how hard is it?! So, the wait goes on…
Friday 10th August 20
Disappointed to say that we haven’t heard anything yet and we’re away in our caravan next Friday, was hoping it would have been fixed by then. It doesn’t take this long to take delivery of a couple of movers. Probably need to ring Powrtouch to get them moving faster!
Thursday 16th August
So, Mrs B called Powrtouch, she’s bit less forgiving than me. Apparently not everything is being replaced, just the mover that’s broken and the control box. This is after they told us that the movers aren’t the same and
both need replacing. Dealer isn’t prepared to replace everything. So, putting
year old movers on a new van is fine, they may well have been sitting on a shelf, or they may have been taking from another caravan, who knows? I don’t.She also
rang Bailey, who were not interested at all. We explained the situation, I don’t think Bailey can just wash their hands of it. Anyway they were not interested, maybe they should be, if one of their dealers, and apparently the UK’s #1 is doing something.Anyway, we’ve been told by powrtouch a new mover and control box will be fitted August 22nd. We’ll see.Where does that leave us with the warranty with Powrtouch?So, I did a little bit of twittering, you know, just moaning and giving twitter the facts. Bailey did message me..”Hi Graham, we understand that you have experienced issues with a motor mover offer from one of our retailers. If you could kindly provide us with the details and also the VIN number, we will liaise with our customer service department to ensure you receive the correct response. Kind regards”My reply:”Hi, a long story. VIN is xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Bought from Chipping Sodbury 21st March 2018. Eve of our 3 week trip to France 1 mover broke (June), caused no end of stress and issues for us, ruined the holiday. On return I contacted Alex at Powrtouch, informed us they were not in warranty(!) as different serial numbers, wrong controller, all about 1 year old. Powrtouch contacted dealer, who didn’t return their calls, they eventually emailed, after a while dealer agreed to pay for full replacement. Now it turns out only replacing broken 1. It seems we’ve been given a mix of parts, mover serial numbers should match as sold in pairs Possibly given single axle movers too, nightmare. Still not been replaced and we go away tomorrow. I want everything replaced with matching parts so the warranty is good. If I’d have know we’d have this issue, I’d have just bought the movers myself, rather than put up with this hassle. <some information redacted>I can give more detail if necessary. We love our caravan and this has really soured things for us.Many thanks Graham Bell”A day or so later confirmation arrived”’Hi Graham, thank you for providing the details. I will ensure this information is passed onto our customer service department. Kind regards”’
Wednesday 22nd August
Engineer turned up without a mover (again) we were told he was to fix it. You can’t FIX a burnt our motor, it needs replacing. But when I spoke to powrtouch, they said everything was being replaced and Chipping Sodbury Caravans were footing the bill. Obviously something has changed. But I’ve not been told the movers are not in warranty. Everyone is back tracking on promises and of course they NEVER put anything in writing, but of course, I can.It gives me, the customer an uneasy feeling about the whole thing. I even searched on the caravan’s VIN number to make sure it existed, I’m glad to report it does.I don’t know how these “deals” work. Do Bailey pay the dealer to fit new movers and they’re getting some “out of stock”? Remember Powrtouch have said that new movers should have the
same serial numbers, ours are different. They also said our were
NOT covered under warranty. What happens if the other breaks in a years time? I ring them up. “Computer says no, they’re not in warranty”I’ll get around to writing a review of Chipping Sodbury Caravans, the UK’s Number one Bailey dealer, eventually, but I’ll wait to see how the behave.Mover “
fixed” control box replaced. It still lives the issue of warranty though.
22nd October 2018
Two months after me last blog post – Bailey send an email to Chipping Sodbury, copying me in asking someone to address my issues. Of course, not the mover has been repaired. Anyway let us wait and see…
Here’s the email:
VIN: xxxxxxxx
Model: Unicorn IV Cartagena
Date of purchase: xx/xx/2018
Owner: Mr Graham Bell
Good morning,
We have received a message below from a mutual customer via Twitter concerning the fitment of a motormover. Can someone address the points raised in his tweet please/
Regards
Darryl andless
Customer Services Co-ordinator
” src=”cid:image001.gif@01D469E4.09150720″ alt=”Baileyofbristol” border=”0″ class=”Apple-web-attachment Singleton” style=”width: 1.8229in; height: 1.0208in; opacity: 1;”>
Bailey Caravans Ltd, South Liberty Lane, Bristol, BS3 2SS.
www.baileyofbristol.co.uk
Hi, a long story. VIN is SGBT07ABYJUN02592. Bought from Chipping Sodbury 21st March 2018. Eve of our 3 week trip to France 1 mover broke (June), caused no end of stress and issues for us, ruined the holiday. On return I contacted Alex at Powrtouch, informed us they were not in warranty(!) as different serial numbers, wrong controller, all about 1 year old. Powrtouch contacted dealer, who didn’t return their calls, they eventually emailed, after a while dealer agreed to pay for full replacement. Now it turns out only replacing broken 1. It seems we’ve been given a mix of parts, mover serial numbers should match as sold in pairs Possibly given single axle movers too, nightmare. Still not been replaced and we go away tomorrow. I want everything replaced with matching parts so the warranty is good. If I’d have know we’d have this issue, I’d have just bought the movers myself, rather than put up with this hassle. As a goodwill gesture, I’d like them to also pay for an upgrade to AWD mover to cover stress and inconvenience not having a mover for 2 months. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. I can give more detail if necessary. We love our caravan and this has really soured things for us. Many thanks Graham Bell
