Southdowns Motorhomes Anmeldelser 

I thought and pondered over what I'd write for over a year. I purchased a brand new Carthago C145H tourer in 2018 from this dealership. I paid £90,000 plus. The staff were nice, although the salesman was new and wasn't very experienced. Previously he was a motor trader.
Anyway, quite a few problems became apparent over the coming year of which I kept a note of. One of which was shortly after purchasing we broke down on the German autobahn (no gear change with our tiptronic gearbox) and why do you think that was? The gentleman at the Fiat dealership told me that the system should have had two computer updates at the supplying dealership, and they weren't done. Anyway.......
I consulted with the dealer and was able to book it in for April, 2021 to have these problems sorted. I travelled from Watford to get to the dealership. I paid £80 to stay at a hotel which I accepted as a small price to pay to get things done. When I went to the dealership to pick up my motorhome they told me that Carthago wouldn't cover the terrible noise coming from the insulation rubbing in the cab roof? They said I would have to pay to renew it! Also, they wouldn't cover the waste pipe that was knocked off because the rear chassis was too low. The supplied alko chassis was in my opinion far too low for their designed waste water pipe. They said to fix it would be at a charge of £115 per hour for labour and it would take about 5 hours to do this (minor heart attack!). Who in their right mind would pay that?
They supposedly fixed the HDMI cable that was supposed to have been connected to the rear TV, and also the TV cable which they forgot to connect. In other words their technicians are incompetent. A sensor for the fresh water tank was faulty and they said they'd order a new one, this was in April 2021 more or less. In March of 2022 Diane called me and said the part was in. She also said that they'd sent an email in November of the previous year, I didn't see it, it wasn't there because I checked. And anyway, why not call me!
We left not feeling fully satisfied, but what could we do?
We travelled from Portsmouth to Cornwall and while there (shock and awe), the HDMI cable was not connected to the rear TV and the TV cable was now not working on the front TV (pics).
I returned at my own expense, and what did I get? A shrug of the shoulders from Dianne.
I am a retired motor dealer, and my advice is to stay well away from this uncaring and incompetent dealership.

Bought a 53k motorhome off them, full of faults after waiting over a month for them to get it checked and tested before handover.

I had an electrical problem and as I live 400 miles away from the nearest dealership. The lady in the service was most helpful in pointing me in the right direction to solve my problem.
Ken Downie

Friendly service and high quality service and workmanship. Also added a couple of extra jobs to the list and they were done too. All completed in the same day. Very pleased. Thank you.

Avoid at all cost - its been 21 months of hell, being ignored and passed from pillar to post the manufacture states “ Hello Mr. Noddle,

Dear Mr. Noddle, I have been informed by Rainer that your dealer Southdowns is your local contact for all matters concerning your vehicle. There is nothing we can do for you. Please contact your dealer Southdowns directly on all matters, they are your direct contact. Kind Regards.” Yet all Southdowns do is argue and avoid repairing anything they have never had the vehicle back themselves, and have long stopped returning calls or emails
The Purchase process was shocking to say the least and only happened because they had our deposit!
My husband put a review on as 7 months after purchase with a long list of ongoing faults still nothing booked in or resolved, usually just dont reply :( to think the vehicle retails at 112k and others have had poor service and have purchased in excess of 300k I dont think it matters to them they just treat everyone the same - badly!
The purchase was shocking they divulged all aspects of our finance arrangements to friends of ours (also customers) they knew before we did that the finance had held up the deal DATA PROTECTION!!!- they also like to push you to taking finance even if you have the money which in our case we did but rather than wait for our funds to arrive they pushed for finance and said we could pay it off leaving a 2k balance as not to upset the finance rep !!? Who knows but some shady business indeed.
Trying to get some service from them ever since we took delivery has been impossible we have no washer jets, blinds that aren’t connecting, switches that don’t work, scratches and leather repairs we were not told about, trims that have come loose,
Boiler that wont get hot and keeps cutting out too many to list here but there are many. Now having to find other outlets to resolve on delivery faults and issues.
And when complaints put to them
This was the reply from MD :

You make it perfectly clear you no longer wish to deal with southdowns which under the circumstances I agree as being the best way forward , I am sorry that our team has not been able to satisfy your expectations

Kind regards

Andrew

They didn’t even try to resolve our complaints just this message which more or less says pee off we don’t want you as customers even though they have an obligation of warranty and pre delivery faults which another dealer will now have to pick up with looking at all the other reviews on here this is not an uncommon occurrence :( shame as buying a motorhome should be a joyous occasion but they really make it hard going no matter who you are or what your spending :(

I looked at their website to confirm they did spares for my Motorhome, the did. Rang them and spoke to someone who said it would be easier to pop in to identify the part. Good so far. Drove to them from Basingstoke, 100 mile ish round trip. Arrived, got moaned at that i just walked in through the wide open door, asked for parts, to be told they where closed and order through the website. I informed the unhelpful woman that i was told to come over. Suddenly they are open but do not deal with that make. When i told her that i was told they do and the website says so, she told me to wait and went to the closed parts dept. On her return she told me i was mistaken. The website is wrong but if i email them they may be able to help and basically told me to leave. I will never use them again for anything.

Ordered some parts on 19th april, promised delivery within the week, contacted late april, order had been lost , no apology, called back 3 days later, stroppy call taker, not his fault it was the shops, went through to shop, got cut off, called back , told it was suppliers fault and a computer,,,,(did it have the virus) ?, got goods on 5th may ....not a good firm to deal with and dont expect customer service

Excellent Service,
Despite Covid hampering everybodys lives, I had an excellent experience sourcing some parts and arranging shipping to Ireland . Dave in spare parts was extremely efficient and helpful.
No hesitation in recommending for parts and accessories. Thanks a million.

Paid £54000 for a new Burstner Lyseo. Sales blurb clearly showed it included carpets and sink cover. That was 6 months ago. Numerous emails, phone calls. Had no replies and had to chase up every last email for a response. Last one still hasn't been answered from 6 weeks ago, and I am now having to go down the small claims route. Awful service. They take your money and do not follow up. DO NOT USE! - Update: Rod at Southdowns got in touch the next day and had the items sent up straight away. He explained they were furloughed / working from home. So top marks to Rod but again, its not right to have customers chasing things up, all businesses are having a hard time and those that look after customers will be remembered. I've upgraded to 3 stars thanks to Rod getting in touch and getting it sorted.

Excellent service and attention from start to finish. Professional, customer focused, friendly, speedy and informative responses. Rod delivered an excellent sales appointment where we agreed to purchase our dream used Motorhome and then followed up with quick and useful answers to all our questions before collection. Keith then prepared our Motorhome to an exceptional standard with real care and attention to detail, almost as though it was his own. Keith then delivered an outstanding handover telling us everything we needed to know about features and operations and lots of helpful tips on how to get the best out of the Motorhome and keep it in good condition. Overall, the attention and service from Rod, Keith and the team made us feel we were buying a much loved Motorhome from friend or family. Very impressed all round.

We have just received our motorhome back from being repaired at the factory in Germany, from the day I dropped it off till the day we picked it back up Southdowns Motorhomes have been absolutely amazing especially Ryan who is the service manager, l would absolutely recommend Southdowns to everyone.