caravan site imposing unfair terms

[big connor]

hello everyone i dont know if im posting this in the right place but please excuse me if its wrong.

so we have had our static for 4 years.The company that we purchased it off have always serviced our gas boiler and carried out other small repairs as and when we have needed them and they have always been good and reliable.I contacted them last week and asked them to come and do the annual boiler service.the job was booked in and they were to come on tuesday, i thought great it will all be done before we return from lockdown .I got a call from the company on the wednesday morning to say they had went to service the boiler on tuesday afternoon but the park refused them access they could not tell me why they were refused access but that i should contact the park direct, Rather miffed i contacted the park and asked to speak to the manager, firstly i was told he was out then i was told he was in a meeting then he was on the other line all this adding to my frustrations that when i finally got speaking to him i was not at all amused.I asked him why the company had been refuse access to my static and i was told "all works carried out on the park must be done by our own contractors and all works must go through the park office" when i said you cant do this its wrong i was told that we can do what we like as its our park, i was then told if i wanted my boiler serviced then i would have to pay the park to do it (which would be a lot more expensive than i normally pay) getting rather annoyed i decided to end the telephone call as i could feel my blood starting to boil up and yelling expletives down the telephone would not do any good.


Fast forward two days later i contact the lad who does our draindowns to arrange for him to drain the van down on the 5th january he tells me he no longer goes on the park as they stopped him and all works have to go through the park now. he said he isnt a park approved contractor because he wont allow them to put 30% on his jobs and doesnt need the hassle as he has plenty of work on other parks.

so it looks like now the park are using there own contractors (without any communication to owners) and then charging the customer so they can make even more money.My question is surely this practice isnt allowed and its preventing caravan owners from choosing there own people to carry out work at a fair and reasonable price.To me its like someone saying that even though there are 5 supermarkets in the town you must only go to this one and buy from them.

talk about greed


Linkback: https://staticforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,672.msg1620.html#msg1620

[DaveE]

Hi big Connor.... Unfortunately, as it stands currently, this is legal in England ( not sure about the other Home Countries but I suspect it’s the same ). It is hidden behind a logic of sites being responsible for all things Health and Safety related on the site.
This is a logical argument for “approved” contractors only allowed on site rather than any cowboys coming along and botching jobs. However the way it is operated by some sites charging through the site with high  “administrative add ons,etc” is not ‘van owner friendly.


Linkback: https://staticforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,672.msg1622.html#msg1622

[Slattster]

Leaves a bad taste in your mouth doesn’t it but it is industry practice . Have a look on this forum for draining down yourself.

Linkback: https://staticforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,672.msg1625.html#msg1625

[Sparkalicious]

I feel your pain Connor.

On our site they won't even let you get a food delivery to your van, you have to go to the gate, take it out of that van, put it in your car, and then drive it back to your van.

I managed to get a sparky on to site once. I installed an external 16A electrical plug to the underneath of my decking so I can charge my car when we are there. I did all the install work myself and then got an external sparky to come on site and do the electrical certificate for it. I called him on site during the off season (we stayed in an AirBnB up the road). I may have got lucky as they were moving 'vans around on site and didn't notice the sparky driving in but pretty sure if I asked they would of said no.
We will be doing our own drain downs from now on. Seems pretty simple enough and we have the skills to do it. 

Seems like your site has tightened ship on who is coming and going on the premises.

Linkback: https://staticforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,672.msg1627.html#msg1627

[Scorpio]

You are correct, it is greed on the part of the Site owners.
Unfortunately, it is becoming more common, but there is not much anyone can do about it.  They have you over a barrel as it would be very costly to move to another park.  If you can do your own drain down, it would be a bit of a saving which you could use towards the boiler servicing.  Do you know what the other caravan owners on the Site think about the situation?
Good luck with everything.

Linkback: https://staticforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,672.msg1628.html#msg1628