Before buying a park home

Before you buy one, consider the location, they are prone to damp and must be perfectly maintained.

Park homes sited in southern england fair better than those in northern england.

Also research the park home manufacturer, as the after sales service from Tingdene is virtually non existent.

What an absolute load of rubbish.

Ed.

Before you buy one, consider the location, they are prone to damp and must be perfectly maintained.
Park homes sited in southern england fair better than those in northern england.
Also research the park home manufacturer, as the after sales service from Tingdene is virtually non existent.

-ryan01

have to disagree about tingdene service i had a queery which i emailed over the last bank hol. weekend they replied by tele at 9-05 am on the tues
doesnt any home have to be well maintained to get the best out of it?we have park homes on our site upto 60 years old and you really would be hard pressed to tell which were the oldest and which were the newer units

so Ed, why its my comment ' a load of rubbish?' where do you live? you clearly dont understand the uk weather, so don't dish my comment without justifying yours. I would suggest you are 'narrow minded' but that is too harsh.  North england has harsher weather than south england, i refer to the west side of the uk.

Woodbine, where is your home based in the uk?

And no offense meant, but I am offended by Ed's comment

Considering that the prevailing wind across the UK goes from East to West bringing with it rain off the Atlantic, it stands to reason that the West is wetter than the East, as the further east the wind goes, the rain is spent. The prevailing wind is not North to South.

I think my point is well confirmed if you click through to a map which shows the average annual rainfall across the UK.

Fortunately the Welsh don't make the same claims about their homes being damper than anyone else.

Ed.

I have to disagree, where I live we experience potentially the worst weather in the UK, being of higher altitude this has a dramatic affect on the weather.  The intense weather here does considerable damage to park homes, the high winds flex them, heavy rain finds any defect and has flattened the stucco in several areas on the home.

So I stand by my comment

Hello  ryan,  We,er   quite  high  here  " sometimes  I  wish  I  was  higher  " lol ,  and  its  noted  for  being  very  breezy, gales  can  be  the  norm , but  to  my  knowledge  nothing  like  that  has  happened.....maybe  people  have  experienced  the  odd  leak, but  water  will  get  where  no  man  as  been, you  come  across  as  really  frustrated  with  what  your  doing.......just  relax  it  isnt  worth  it , take  it  from one  who  knows ,  best  wishes  evergreen

Im sorry but i totally agree with the Ryan on the damp situation on a Tingdene home .My home has had nothing but problems since it was delivered in Feb 2010 and Ive now discovered through the net and going to speak to other Tingdene owners that there aftersales and i have to say quality of there homes are terrible.I have pictures emails and letters to back up what i am saying. Im now 2 years down the line with a home that for 10 months has had water leaking into the wood and getting under the stucco which they have not yet repaired.They have tried three times and have yet been able to solve the problem so I have a bare piece of board showing which is about 10cm by 90cm long .For 1) it is very embarrising and 2) its drove me into depression and I have bald patches in my hair due to stress 3) i have lost over 2 weeks holiday days from work which i have had to keep using for them to attend to the problems and they also let you down without notice . I am 32 years old and i dread to think what type of toll this would take on an elderly person who just wants comfort and easy living when the retire to a park home,

The circumstances described above seem terrible - given that the home is only two years old.  If the manufacturers after-sales service is truly so poor then I think that for my own peace of mind I would get an independant expert in to assess the home and give their opinion on what needs to be done.  I appreciate that with a manufacturer's warranty you should not have to do this but it is what I would do in this situation.

Emrys

Further to my original post re problems with my 5 year old Tingdene I seem to have hit some raw nerves, so here are a few points:
1) I have lived in Park homes (2) for roughly 17 years now so I do know a bit about care & maintenance.
2) Despite my present problems I would not knock Park homes or the lifestyle.
3) From past experience most homes are perfectly capable of withstanding extremes of weather-my previous home (a Stately ) was on an exposed site 900' above sea level on the Lancs/Yorks border.When I sold it, it was approx. 17 years old & was as good as new.
4) I have suspended my thoughts on legal action as all indications are that it would be very expensive with no guarantee of costs.Fortunately my park owner is trying to intercede on my behalf so I will see what happens.
5) Thanks for suggesting Prestige Developments, but I approached them last year about a smaller area of damage & the response was that they would not travel for what they considered a small job. 
I will keep you posted.
Regards Petea

Well thank you for your reply Emrys and I agree Petea that park home living is not all bad and im 32 and never known any differnet as my parents have always had a park home but they have never owned a Tingdene,

As Tingdene let me down today on an appointment to fix the Problem I went along to the Earls Court Exhibition where they had a stand and made a sceen with my pictures and emails to and from Tingdene proving how long they have let this problem drag. To my amazment within minutes of them realising what I was showing to the viewers of the park home they wanted to get me removed from the show for telling the truth.

Security took me aside and I said I am only telling people how the after sales situation is and what stress I have been through in the 2 years of owning my home. I eventually got to speak to Someone in a suit from Tingdene who said that he is going to see on Monday when he returns to the office why my home is like it is.

I really feel with all the problems I have had and still have that im due firstly for my home to be repaired ASAP and then im going to seek legal advice for compensation.
If im totally honest I would Love for a Refund and never to set eyes on a Tingdene again!!!!!!!
Im also not going to give up on letting people know how terrible the aftersales are so im going to get flyers printed and hand them out at every event they do until the change not only for me but for there future customers too. 

I regret that this topic has now gone beyond the Terms and Conditions of posting on this forum. Please see our Terms and Conditions .

No 4 particularly states: You may not upload complaints about named companies or park home estates. Such individual issues should be taken up with the company direct.

This clause is to protect the person with the complaint as it may jeopardise a court case, should it be taken that far.

Ed.