Chris Fincham•11 Jul 2017
NEWS
More Choice for lemon buyers
Consumer advocacy group shines light on consumer battles with dodgy caravan buildersAustralian consumer advocacy group CHOICE has turned its attention to the well-publicised issue of shoddy caravan manufacturing and the difficulties that ‘lemon’ caravan buyers experience when trying to get their consumer rights met.
The well-researched article ‘Have lemon? Won’t travel’ covers some of the increasingly high profile problems experienced by buyers of dud caravans.
“A number of unhappy caravan owners who've experienced major faults and problems with new vans have contacted CHOICE, and to add insult to injury, many have struggled to get resolutions on these problems in terms of repairs, replacements or refunds,” writes reporter Kate Browne.
The report includes a case study of a ‘lemon’ caravan buyer, Colin O’Neil, who has fought a three-year, still unresolved battle to get his $80,000 caravan, which has leaking, electrical and brake problems, fixed.
Also having their say is Tracy Leigh, who runs the popular Lemon Caravans & RVs in Aus Facebook site, and outspoken former caravan repairer Barry Davidson, who has called for a Royal Commission into the caravan industry and received death threats after posting an online ‘Rogues Gallery’.
Retired engineer and founder of the Caravan Council of Australia, Colin Young, also points the finger at the number of “poorly constructed and overweight vans being driven by inexperienced drivers”.
Other topics raised include the problems of having an industry that relies on ‘self-regulation’ and manufacturers and dealers not being forced to provide a refund or replacement in the case of “multiple minor product failures”. While a plumber called ‘Jason’ claims that “the current auditing process is a joke”.
CHOICE head of campaigns and policy, Erin Turner, is also quoted as saying that “there's plenty of work to be done when it comes to making our consumer laws work better for caravan owners with a problem.
"When something goes wrong with a product, consumers should have confidence that they'll get a fair fix. This clearly isn't happening for people stuck with a lemon caravan,” she says.
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Written byChris Fincham
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Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
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