Brett Caravans scam website warning

Thanks for the messages of support. We're well aware now of our naivety - seems so obvious now but I guess we assumed a scam as bold as this would have been removed by police or google or would have come up in a google search when we searched for Brett Caravan (which we did) but found nothing - hopefully people might find this now at least... 

We felt totally gutted when we realized on Friday and contacted Action Fraud which is the police dept that deals with this - but not heard back from then yet - assume they are pretty busy!

We knew of course the price was low but assumed the condition would be poor and thought it might be a fun renovation project - know now that it was just too good to be true.

They seem to be vat registered - so will call companies house and the vat man later - maybe they can help close them down.

Just been chatting to https://www.automotiveleisure.co.uk/ about Eriba - they seem to have good google ratings and chatting to them they seem very professional - anyone had dealings with them?

Good luck, Sandy.

Personally, I would take most notice of caravan dealers recommended, or otherwise, by people on caravanning forums. Not necessarily this one as there are loads out there and some don’t hesitate to name and shame. I’m naturally dubious of reviews and referrals made by unknown people on FB, Google and the like. Get inside the vanning fraternity, as you’re now doing, and you’re in with a better chance of sorting the wheat from the chaff.

It's a very cynical scam,  the price of everything is about a third or half of any real prices, have a look at the motorhomes...! Designed to catch out newcomers to the hobby obviously.

Incidentally, what did the police say, it appears it may come under the remit of ActionFraud for first service rather than the police...?

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

 

Thank you for sharing. I'm so sorry, I read this just before doing a bank transfer myself for a new car purchase  and despite the fact it is a large dealer who's been in our area for years I was still apprehensive. Still waiting for them to get back to say they've received it. I did transfer and confirmed a payment of £1 first after we agreed to buy the car. 

Sound advice from other posters above. I do hope you get your money back in time. It leaves a very nasty taste!

Hope this hasn't put you off our great hobby and welcome to CT.

Yep - we were had, we knew it was cheap but thought we might have found a bargain... and they said they import the vans from Europe which is why they can offer them cheaper. Their patter was very professional and they appeared to have a lot of knowledge...

Bank told us to contact Action Fraud right away and not to call police - they'd just tell us to go to AF anyway - so that's what we've done.

Don’t know anything about the company automotive leisure & don’t have an Eriba but did buy bits from their shop earlier this year.  They look to me to be a ‘family company’ and were indeed very helpful.  Good luck with sorting your problem.

They do look very plausible initially, I wonder who all the people in the "staff" photos really are!

Digging deeper, the number of foreign vans shown is a bit of a giveaway, and a lot of the descriptions are presumably Google translations, and where Google failed they have just left the foreign word.  From the look of it, they have lifted many private adverts from Norway or Sweden.

They are even trying to "sell" a big Hobby that would be illegal to tow here with an ordinary 4x4.

Sandy, I hope you manage to get somewhere with this, it has been an expensive lesson for you so far.    

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Caravans with body length over  8m must be towed by a vehicle over 3.5t

The hobby prestige 720 (if that's the one KJ refers to) can be towed legally with a 4x4 as it has a body length of 7.853m

Body length isn't shipping length 

Last time that I looked Jay the max body length was 7m. Has that increased?