thehappycamperstore.co.uk Anmeldelser 18

DON'T . TOUCH. WITH. A. BARGEPOLE NIL STAR. AVOID Anyone thinking of calling this company to entrust their pride and joy to this shower of knuckledragging conmen should read all the reviews first.

The company charged over £234 in advance to come and "inspect" the caravan and fix anything they could while they were there. If there was anything else which needed fixing which could not be fixed then and there, they would arrange to come back and fix that later, but there would be an additional charge for it.
The caravan was not "inspected". The technician merely asked what we wanted him to look at and as a result switched a couple of wires round and attached another wire. He diagnosed the problem with our toilet as a faulty switch and said he would order the part and get back to us in time for it to be fixed before our upcoming holiday.
Needless to say, we heard nothing, despite ringing twice and being promised a call back and when we eventually managed to speak to someone it transpired the part had not be ordered and it was now too late to get the toilet fixed before our holiday. Do not go anywhere near this company. Total rip off! I will be interested to see, when we do get the toilet fixed by someone reputable, whether it is a switch or something else entirely.
Given the number of people who have had similar experiences, I thing this company should be looked into and closed down.

AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!!! DO NOT GO!!!If i could give 0 stars i whould. A job that i paid in advance tons of moneys and wainting nearly one month. Took the car in for checks and told them that i need no advisories on it, they started to order parts and to fit them but one part the leaf springs they could not provide it and been lied that they send my old suspension in for somebody to make it from scrach but that was not true as my car was sitting for weeks in their yard with my old ones in as i live just around the corner and could see everything. I been there 2-3 times per week asking for updates nobody knew nothing. Been lied again about one part that they said they worked for 2-3 days was an easy job for a bush, i went and showed them the car sitting on my old susspension and got a refund as they could not lie anymore. They charge you for thin air labour costs 2-3 times more than others and waiting times are crazy. I lost my holiday waiting for my motorhome to be ready and been lied every week when i went there. No updates on the phone whatsoever. AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!!! And there are many more

If I could give them zero that would still be too many! They deserve to be in prison as they're thieves. No clue what they're doing, charge you for absolutely nothing. Please please avoid at all costs!!

Had them to my caravan last year made me pay upfront it was for the back leg winder which they didn't fix. Just sprayed also the electrics at the back also didn't fix my advice go else where rip off paid them 800 pound for a job I could of done myself con merchants and should be shut down also would not let me put the right date in April 2024

Please - avoid.

Took my camper in for what I thought was a service of mechanical, habitation and damp - the Gold Service, as per their website.
(thehappycamperstore co uk/category/campervan#BodyContent - scroll down to 'Campervan Service Packages'.)

Website stated £189 + VAT (£226.80).
They asked for 50% 'up front' on the phone = £230.97 (?!). Bit odd, I thought, but gave them the benefit of the doubt.

They got in touch the day after with a LOOOOOOOONG list of things that needed sorting - some urgent, other things less urgent.
Provided me with 2 x pdf attachments (one habitation and one mechanical) totalling over £7000!!

Some things didn't get checked - eg. coolant levels, as the cap was 'too hot' (I took the camper the night before!).

I had no way of knowing whether all the work listed needed doing or not.

I looked down the list.... a lot of the things they looked at were ok actually.

They quoted me £42.50 for a set of wiper blades (😂gold plated?), a quick search online and I got some for £15! (£25 from 'bongospares' website).
Quoted £282 for a battery, again a quick search online and I found one for around £100!

Rang back and asked if I could order a battery myself and get it posted to them, and then they fit it.
No, they couldn't do that.

Decided against the work and said I would come and pick it up and take it to another garage for a 2nd opinion.

Went to pick it up - they asked for a further £230.97.... (Total = £461.94).
They said that was for the 'service'.
I'm not quite sure what they did as they couldn't provide me with a break-down (no pun intended) of the work they had carried.
Said they just lump it all in with 'labour costs'.
(Did mention that oil and filters will have been changed but I had no way of checking this.)

I'm fairly sure that for every single service I've ever had done over the many years of owning cars and getting them serviced, there has been a line-by-line account of the work carried out.

I also mentioned that the website was a bit confusing given I thought I was getting a service for £189 + VAT, and not just what turned out to be a 'health-check' (and of course work they couldn't tell me about).
They said 'someone was working to update the website 'as we speak'... convenient!

I really do wish I'd seen the other reviews before I'd agreed to take my camper.

I'm taking the camper to another garage later this week so will provide an update.... I'm interested to see what they say in terms of (1) does it look like any work has been carried out? (2) what actually needs doing?

I recently had my camper van in for a new heater and refurbish my seating area.the guys done a superb job. It now looks as good as new. I could not be happier and would recommend these guys to anyone with a camper van.

Wish I had read the reviews before I paid over £300 for a pre purchase inspection.
I specifically asked if they were able to provide a detailed inspection of some front end accident damage which they assured me they could do.
The report came back with no reference to the ask. When I messaged to ask for more detail I got no response. I messaged again to ask for a drawing as to where the readings were taken. No response.
The report said the combo heater was working. It’s not. The skylight was attached by the skin of its teeth but not picked up.
An expensive inspection that has been more costly defeating the purpose of the inspection.

On behalf of Andrew Atkinson

WARNING AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS. In May 2025 I took my camper van to Happy Campers in St Helens. I was given a quote of around £5000 to resolve damp issues on one panel of the van, a window replacement and redecorating . I unfortunately thought it was a reputable firm, but wish I had looked at the previous reviews. It is honestly the worst firm I have dealt with in my life. A couple of weeks later I was told the other side of the van was damp and the bill escalated to £11,000. I wasn't happy about this but thought it must need doing.
I was told it would be ready in
five weeks in time for a holiday trip to Yorkshire. I picked the van up but on my return home, the electrics weren't working, the toilet wouldn't flush, the fridge wasn't fitted properly, the new floor was in two pieces, and the van hadn't been decorated and was dirty. The van was unusable so we had to book a cottage. On our return from holiday we took the van back and requested the jobs where done to an acceptable standard for the money we had paid out. We had another trip to Ireland but when the van was returned we had a hab check which identified a gas leak and the toilet not flushing. Yet again we had to change our holiday plans and book a hotel. I decided not to take the van back to them as I had no faith in them. I wrote to them to ask could we come to some agreement about compensation but have had no reply. I am now having to take legal action. Using this firm has been a very costly and distressing experience. We have used a large sum of our life savings and had our holiday plans ruined at significant additional cost.
Save yourself a lot of money and upset and DO NOT use this company , they are charlatans in my opinion. Andy Atkinson

Graham n Josh were personable, answered questions honestly. Graham was efficient in carrying out insulation of our static caravan.

I have written about my horrendous experience with the Happy Camper Store/Fastlane Autocare in ST Helens. The experience has just become even worse. A quick recap: I paid Happy Campers/Fastlane Autocare an exorbitant £2100 to repair the leaks in my roof. They were supposed to do this in jan this year. Got the van back and found it was still totally leaky. Brought it back in August this year and they promised to do a proper job, then screwed me over with other repairs I needed done so I decided to leave, thinking at least they have repaired the leaks. But after the heavy rainfall lately I found out my van is still very leaky. I wrote to the Happy Camper Store/Fastlane Autocare and this is what Benjamin Parr, the delisted director of the nearly delisted Fastlane Autocare (check Companies House) wrote back: "As explained at the time, we also provided you with a list of advisories for additional work that would benefit your vehicle. You chose not to proceed with those items, which of course was entirely your decision. Unfortunately, the conversation became increasingly hostile despite our efforts to remain transparent." This is their scam method: they tell the customer they told them more work needs done, then they do a bad job and then refer back to the "extra" work. They are CRIMINALS and need to be arrested. Contact me on ruthhopk at gmail dot com if you want to join the class action I am preparing against them. Let's take this idiots down, they have been exploiting people for too long!!

Charged & paid £243.58 for call out to fix my water problem in our caravan
Got a badly written report of what might be wrong with my system, no attempt to fix and no spares or parts offered.
When I rang the office, they stated I had booked an inspection!
I would no way pay that amount of money for someone to look at my caravan a regurgitate the problems I had already stated on the telephone call into a report. I thought they would fix there and then.
I wish I could work for £250 an hour and do bugger all !!
Reported to citizens advice and awaiting reply

‘Happy Campers’ concentrates on mobile servicing of campervans, motorhomes and the like. The operation ‘Happy Campers Store’ based in St Helens was dissolved on 28th November 2023 but they are still trading under this or a similar name and appear to be part of the ‘Fastlane Autocare Autocenters’ group which is based at the same address. It looks as though this group operates a number of motor vehicle service operations. Companies House states that the operation Fastlane Autocare Ltd has had various warning statements against it in recent years.
This review of ‘Happy Campers’ is a result of one experience with the organisation. They were commissioned in March 2025 to complete a habitation report on my motorhome. I encountered various problems and here are summaries of three of the major issues.
First, I paid in advance for the habitation report - £334.80 – and an appointment for the inspection was arranged at the place where the motorhome is stored. I arrived on time at 1030, and waited over two hours for the technician to arrive. No warning and no explanation were offered by Happy Campers and when I contacted them about the inordinate delay, they said it was due to traffic problems. I have serious doubts about this explanation given that the technician said that he had come from a previous job some 95 miles away.
Second, due to illness and the motorhome being in storage, it took me a while to check the technician’s findings, the most serious of which was a reported faulty boiler and no heating. This surprised me because the boiler was working as it should when the motorhome was stored for the winter some four months earlier. On checking, I discovered immediately that the boiler is working fine in all respects. I have no idea why but the Happy Campers technician was completely wrong. There were other shortcomings in the report but this was the most serious alleged problem – a problem which could be very expensive to diagnose and repair.
Third, subsequent email communication with Happy Campers has got me nowhere. Their emails are usually incoherent but when sense can be made of their replies, they are evasive and obstructive, looking for any opportunity to avoid responsibility for poor customer service. Very often, they simply ignore my comments and they offer statements which are very questionable if not outright falsehoods. One example here would be their suggestion that I might have had the boiler repaired between the technician’s visit and my complaint about errors in his report – effectively accusing me of lying. They have refused to acknowledge any responsibility or to consider any recompense.
I was sorely tempted to pursue Happy Campers via Trading Standards and the Small Claims Court but have since decided that I have already wasted far too much time as well as money dealing with this organisation. I now wish very much that beforehand, I had taken a look at the overwhelmingly negative online reviews of ‘Happy Campers’. My hope now is that this summary might serve to warn others to be wary of Happy Campers, and perhaps the whole Fastlane Autocare Autocenters group.

No Stars - Avoid Fastlane / Happy Camper at All Costs
Dealing with Fastlane / Happy Camper has been the worst experience I’ve ever had in the motor business. Their website falsely claims they are NCC-approved (National Caravan Council), but upon checking, the NCC confirmed they have no connection with them.
I brought in my 1972 T2 VW camper for welding and a partial respray in early June, expecting the work to take 2–3 weeks. They demanded 50% upfront to "secure the time slot." Weeks passed with little communication, and when I finally insisted on proof of progress, I discovered via photos that the van had been sitting untouched outside their premises for over two months!
Throughout this period, we were consistently lied to. Every time we called for updates, we were told the work was underway and nearing completion—claims that were blatantly false. It became clear that the intention was to stall us with excuses, as no work had been done at all.
After 3.5 months, they declared the job complete, but the results were horrifying. The paintwork was sloppy with an uneven finish, overspray on the bumpers and number plates, and even a red-sprayed radio aerial. Entire panels were left unsprayed, and a large rusty hole in the sliding door remained untouched. They had the audacity to demand full payment for this shoddy work.
To make matters worse, the company trading under "Happy Camper" was dissolved over a year ago, according to Companies House. Despite this, they are still using that name for invoices and correspondence. Fastlane have also been issued with a final strike off notice.
Upon driving the van home (after using a spare key as they withheld the original), the rear number plate fell off, and I discovered additional issues, including a failed leisure battery and a non functioning rear light cluster. Photos of my van were used on their social media without permission, and when I requested removal, I was immediately blocked.
I’ve since had to take the van to a reputable spray shop, which revealed Fastlane had cut corners—no welding was done, just filler pushed into gaps, and the paint was applied over old paint instead of bare metal. I had to pay for the entire job to be redone properly.
Avoid this company at all costs. Read all reviews carefully—many glowing ones seem suspiciously fake.

Took our camper in as the diesel heater developed a fault. The quote they gave us - 330 quid - seemed way over the odds but, if they get it fixed, then we would live with it. It looked like the heater plug was faulty according to the fault code on the heater controls. These usually cost around 12 notes. The van was returned to us with the fault unresolved but with the heater plug allegedly replaced. The garage recommended a replacement whole diesel heater, at a cost of over a grand, as an option. We declined. They still charged the full amount, even though the issue remained unresolved. The icing on the cake was the amount on the invoice that was charged for the heater plug. 66 quid. Make of that what you will.

Terrible experience, seems to be the norm, overpriced, dramatically under-qualified technicians, unresponsive and abusive mangement when challenged.
Awful reputation in the campervan community. The worst service I've ever received from a business and I'm not alone.
Read the reviews elsewhere and save yourself a lot of heartache and cost.