Stranded in Brisbane

Dropped the van off to Titan Caravans on 8th August for assessment, and waited in anticipation for our replacement van, as agreed with the Creswick family, who own Titan.

I was assured that something would be sorted and that I wouldn't be left high and dry without a van. Silly, naive me for believing them.

When the 'Without Prejudice' email dropped into my inbox the following morning, stating that Titan wouldn't cover under warranty any 'non authorised after market products fitted to the van' (a water filter cartridge) or any 'misuse of the van' by me, the penny dropped.

I wasn't getting a replacement caravan. They were going to try and blame three seperate flood events as my fault, to wriggle out of their responsibilities under Australian Consumer Law.

Weeks later, having sought legal advice and spoken with several fellow Titan owners, it became clear that I had bought the van from a shonky, dodgy company. And that this label could be applied to most caravan manufacturers in Queensland.

Titan have been taken to the Queensland Civil & Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) three times in the past 2yrs by customers for similar issues, and been ordered by the magistrate to refund their customers for the shonky product they'd sold. They'd also had legal proceedings commenced against them through the magistrates court, but had settled out of court with damages, just before the court date. Those are the ones I know of.

All of those customers had been slapped with a gag order as part of their settlement and weren't allowed to bad mouth Titan publicly.

This is why there are no negative reviews about Titan, when I researched them. All now becomes clear.

Legals fees to take them to court are around $50,000. The QCAT is cheaper, but you can't claim back your costs for legal fees or damages through that forum. Which for me, will be substantial as I'm having to rent short term accommodation as Titan have my 'house'. Both processes take 12-18 months.

Titan's conduct has been harassing and suspicious since I dropped the van off. They tested the water filter cartridge on front of me when I dropped it off on the 8th. That was the only thing they tested. Which I thought was weird at the time, but didn't grasp the significance. They found it to not be leaking and the area around it was dry. Suddenly, from the 9th onwards, all blame was being laid on the same water filter cartridge - and they stated they wouldn't repair the flood damage under warranty, instead I would have to pay them $3500 + GST.

They were sending emails at 4am in the morning, demanding I attend their yard on my own, with four Creswicks and a team of their workshop mechanics, for a 'meeting' so they could show me my 'misuse' of the van.

This was on a public holiday mind, when I was unable to seek legal advice or find an independent expert to attend with me. I ignored them. It seemed the only suitable, civilised course of action given that the lawyer had advised I maintain radio silence, due to their vast history of ripping people off. Titan rang 7 times leaving passive agressive voicemails, emailed 5 times and even sent out one of their employees to the AirBnb I was staying in, to hunt me down. I must have been out walking the dog, as I had no idea. Conduct amounting to harassment.

Bullies hate being ignored. Nothing like being reminded of their own irrelevance.

I rang around the various repair centres who had fixed the van on our travels, to find that Titan had not paid ANY of their bills, the first of which started on 2nd March, 10 days after I bought the van. Later, those repair centres told me Titan had been calling and telling them lies, attempting to obtain invoices they were not entitled to see, by deception. Fortunately, they were savvy enough to refuse to hand them to Titan - and called me instead.

They also gave me some tips about how to deal with Titan, handing me evidence in the form of photos and job cards to prove the plumbing fittings installed by Titan were not fit for purpose, or entirely missing. All three of them told me they no longer accept warranty work from anyone other than Jayco, as their bills don't get paid. I made sure the lawyer included this little tidbit in their letter of demand. Quite deliberately. It worked, there were a flurry of calls from Titan to the repairers making excuses and asking for invoices to be re-sent. Jerks.

Fast forward a month, we're still in Brisbane, still in AirBnbs and $15k down in accommodation and legal fees.

I tasked a Consultant Mechanical Engineer to do an independent inspection of the van last week. He's written reports against Titan before and been to court with them, all successfully. He found my van to be a write off, the floor is sodden from the constant flooding and needs ripping out and replacing. The source of the leak under the kitchen area was a faulty shower mixer tap, pouring water out the back of the shower onto the kitchen floor. The roof has a design flaw that means the water pouring out of the aircon outlet does not run off the back of the van, but pools on the roof, causing structural damage and mould.

I now await his written report before talking with the lawyers again. In the interim, I've posted a review on Titan's google business listing and productreview.com, with photos of the flood damage, mentioning they are refusing to refund or replace and that I do not recommend them.

I'm aware of two negative reviews by other Titan owners posted recently that Titan have managed to persuade Google to to remove. I have no idea why, but they have been unable to remove my review and this is really annoying them. There was a flurry of phone calls and emails to me and my lawyer yesterday.

I think I shall ignore them.

Just as they are ignoring my request to refund.

The saga continues.Read more