Red Pennant Experience

We cannot be as enthusiastic. Our experience was very poor.

We had an incident in Spain last December when we had started on our journey home. In freezing fog, a phone call to RP having proved fruitless, I had to clamber on top of the roof of our motorhome and effect a temporary repair myself. That left us not too well protected against the winter weather.

Red Pennant did eventually  ring back with details of a "dealer" for our model of van in Bordeaux - a 36 hour drive away.

When we arrived there, after a nerve-wracking overnight stop, and a nail biting drive through heavy rain,  we found it was not a dealership at all, just a small motorhome workshop. The  more secure - but still temporary  -  repair which they performed (using a tarpaulin of ours) could have been done by any garage nearer to where the incident happened. It did not require the services of a "dealer".

Red Pennant have admitted that they let us down, that they could have done better, and did give us a partial refund of our premium. The year's cover had cost a lot and we would have preferred prompt  action, not money back.

We are now looking for another policy before our next trip as we have no faith whatsoever in Red Pennant.

It all depends on the circumstances, doesn't it.

But for most of our many breakdowns, small accidents and mini-disasters on the continent I have been able to get a local garage,  or local breakdown service, or doctor or dentist,  to deal with the problem on the spot -  and sent the bill in to the insurance company afterwards. It's usually quicker than phoning  the insurance company in the UK as first resort.  

But I daren't tell you all how many problems we have had ! 

Yes, it does depend on much. And on other occasions (very few thankfully in many, many years) we have done likewise,  or on one occasion, claimed back via a EHIC card.

This was  a wholly different matter. It's  a miracle that no-one was hurt (or worse). It's not possible to reveal too much detail on an open forum. Let's just say that what happened was attributable to a manufacturing flaw and our motorhome, along with others of the same year, is subject to a Europe wide recall. It was a serious incident. And when we really needed RP they were no help.

Morris T. 

Whilst not wishing to delve too deeply into the problem it might help some members to know which type of motorhome it is that is under recall as there may be owners out there unaware of this recall. I only mention this as I was unaware of a recall on my towcar until today when  my vehicle was in for a small piece of warranty work. Fortunately the recall wasn't an urgent problem. Car is a Hyundai Tuscon by the way for anyone reading this ( but no need to panic according to our dealer)

There is a recall of Hobby motorhomes, built between 2007 and 2012 - I've posted about it in the Motorhomes section, and I wonder if this is what the OP is referring to.  The problem seems to be related to the rooflight windows, which is hinted at in the original post.

The OP was, and the thread is, about Red Pennant, not about a recall on motorhomes. I wrote of a recall in passing, in the context of how RP let us down when we needed the service.

Fair enough.

Wherenext, my response was to Valda  as she seems to think that the OP was about a recall. I apologise to you for not replying to your request for information. I am travelling atm and do not have internet access every day. It is only this evening that I have seen more recent posts. Because of on-going concerns, I am reluctant to add to anything beyond commenting on RP, which as I say, let us down.

Apologies too to the OP as this tread has drifted off topic.

Morris

Morris Traveller I am a bit puzzled why you are not willing to give a bit more detail on the actual problem and the make and model of your motorhome? It's possible that someone with the same motorhome might not be aware of the issue and a bit more information could alert them to what seems a nasty problem. 

I think there are circumstances where it is difficult for Red Pennant to always find the ideal solution. I had a problem last year with my habitation door in Germany. I had already established that there was a dealer not so far away but contacted RP as I needed the situation explained in German. As it happened that dealership did not carry spares. What RP also did was to contact my dealer in the UK who talked me through a work round so that we could continue with our holiday. Initially we were concerned that we would have to return to the UK but thanks to the support of RP and our dealer we were able to carry on this our holiday. Now your problem seemed more catastrophic than ours but did you not have the backstop that your motorhome could have been recovered back to the UK? Not very convenient I appreciate but an option none the less.

David

And I'm sorry that I upset a poster in this thread, sufficiently enough to have received two personal emails from them and been asked to revisit this thread.  Perhaps if a moderator could remove my post about the motorhome recall that might prevent further problems.

Obviously, for whatever reason, this is a sensitive subject and I have no further wish to upset anyone.