Firstly, I apologize for being a little long winded... lol
Most comments in my opinion are spot on oin this thread.
Might as well have a crack at adding my 2 cents worth I guess.
We bought a Jayco Camper 18 months ago, from a local dealer, brand new without a lot of research. Our camper was one of the first of the line in the 2011 version and we had our fair share of teething problems. I could list the faults we had but it would be a long list. If any one is interested I am happy to PM them on it.
After things started to go wrong, I started to do a fair amount of research on forums like this one and honestly, I was shocked at the negative feedback. I initially thought what the heck have we gotten our selves into here. Well after several trips back to the dealer, and lots of complaining, we eventually decided to trade it in, as we were fed up well and truly. It seemed that every time we took it away, it would come back with more problems than we left with. To a certain extent, every time it come back from the dealer it would come back with more problems that it went in with. We said, never again would we buy a Jayco.
So then come the big question, what do we buy now. We decided that we would upgrade to an expanda style van due to the kids and the extra room etc, so I spent several months researching, talking to dealers, and reading forums / articles. Firstly we really liked the Paramount duet and the Windsor Rapid. So off we went to look over the vans of choice. After hours of opening drawings closing doors and setting up packing up, we were far from impressed with either model. It just so happened that there was a Jayco dealer directly across the road, so I said to the wife (Bec), lets just go and have a look to compare quality.
After owning the Camper, we had a fair idea of what to look for, and honestly, the Jayco in our opinion beat both the other vans easily in quality. The chassis on the Jayco's is near on twice the size of the other vans just for a start, and honestly most internal features were just as good if not better. Reading forums, both the Windsor and the Paramount had there issues as well, and if you look hard enough, just as many as the Jayco's. So we walked away and started researching prices. We found that the Jayco was in excess of 15K less in purchase price than both the Paramount and the Windsor, so there we were, back to the Jayco. The question I asked myself was how much can I fix for 15K, and the answer was a lot.
We had a fairly bad run with the dealer from Albury, so we decided to give Bendigo a go this time round even though they were slightly more expensive.
What I think it comes down to is attitude. When we bought the camper brand new, we expected it be like a new car, no problems and just use it, take it back for a service and all would be sorted out. This as we all no is far from the fact and second time around, we have our eyes wide open. This time we expect some issues, we know some of what to look for (thanks to this site) and plan to fix most things that we can our self, rather than complaining to the dealer and waiting weeks for them to fix. All the negativity simply puts a sour taste on our holidays that we may as well avoid if possible. I will travel with a tool box, like others have mentioned on here and will expect to use it from time to time.
One suggestion is that perhaps we should put together a toolbox kit on this site, of suggestions of what is needed. Given all the experiences on this site, it may help out everyone with having just the right tools for the right job.
Looking back now at the camper, we probably had most of the issues sorted out, and the person buying the van has probably got a great camper with everything that could be fixed now fixed. The new van may have a few months of Pain, but we expect to keep this one for years of enjoyment.
Kevin & Bec.
anda:Absolutely fantastic. This just proves the beauty of this forum. Put it out there and a thousand answers will come up.
