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Customer Service Saves Family Holiday

Oaktree Responds to Family’s Cry For Help!

This is the very personal story of Pete & Diane Murphy and their three children and how It’s worth considering, when you buy a used motorhome, how important good after-sales customer service needs to be.

Diane is a local school teacher and Pete ran a successful consultancy business. In his spare time, Pete coached a local youth football team. Back in September 2013, the family bought a used motorhome from Oaktree Motorhomes. They chose a lovely 2007 Burstner Argos 747 and this gave the family the freedom to travel and explore the UK. It was a lifestyle they loved.

Peter William Murphy Obituary NoticeIn May 2016, despite being in good physical shape the unthinkable happened. One day, whilst coaching his local youth football team, Pete suffered a heart attack. Even with the best paramedic help nothing could save him. At that moment the world fell apart for Diane and their three children.

Over the last 12 months, the family had started to come to terms with Pete’s untimely death. Despite their grief, they still wanted to keep and use their beloved motorhome. They knew that the happy times away in the motorhome had brought the family closer together. It allowed them to continue to have quality time together and they didn’t want to lose that too.

Clutch Disaster! What To Do?

They were preparing to take the motorhome to a charity event in Sandringham that weekend. The family had also packed enough for a 10-day family holiday in Hunstanton, Norfolk. They were all very excited.

Motorhome parked on the family’s driveway. Three days before they were due to leave Diane’s father drove the motorhome out to check everything. They hadn’t used it for a while and it needed a quick run round the block. They weren’t expecting anything untoward, but the unthinkable happened. The gears seemed to seize up a few miles from home. From experience, it seemed like it was the clutch.

They called the AA and waited. After half an hour the man arrived and he agreed that the clutch had gone. They then needed to take the motorhome to a suitable garage to fix it. OK so far, but then things started to go downhill fast.

They waited another hour for an AA recovery driver to turn up with a large trailer. When he arrived he took one look at the huge 6 berth Burstner Argos and shook his head. He said, “This trailer is far too small for that and I don’t have time to go fetch another as I go off shift in 20 mins”. Not very helpful at all.

Diane was in tears at this point and feared that she and the kids would miss out on both the event and the holiday. At this point, in desperation, she rang Rob Matthews, the MD of Oaktree Motorhomes Ltd. Diane was in floods of tears but told him the sorry tale and asked for advice.

Customer Service Steps In

What happened next is an example of Oaktree’s total commitment to customer service. It didn’t matter that they bought the motorhome from Oaktree over 3 years ago. It was a heartfelt call for help that couldn’t go unanswered.

Rob said, “leave it to me, I’ll sort it”.

Rob understood the size of the problem. It was a big motorhome after all. Rob rang around and arranged to tow it back using a local specialist recovery firm.

They took the broken motorhome to a garage that had experience of this type of vehicle. They were keen to fix the clutch as fast as possible. The Engineers examined it at length but said they wouldn’t be able to fix it in time for their holiday. What should they do?

Doing The Right Thing

It then struck Rob that they had another Burstner Argos that had arrived the previous day. It needed a full service and a complete clean inside and out. Not a small amount of work, but possible. Could they do it in time?

The Murphy Family Jumps For Joy! The Oaktree team pulled out all the stops to get the vehicle cleaned, checked and serviced in 24 hours. The workshop engineers rose to the challenge. They did a thorough job inside and out, including an engine service, and it looked lovely. The vehicle came out of the workshop with a full MOT, taxed and a full tank of diesel. Oaktree even arranged insurance to cover them for the holiday period too. At no point did Rob bat an eyelid to the cost of this as the intention was to loan them the vehicle without cost. It was the right thing to do in the circumstances.

Rob drove the replacement motorhome down to the garage. The Family took all their belongings from the broken vehicle and packed up the new one.

At last! Diane, her father, and the kids could set off for a wonderful family holiday. A happy ending for all.

It had been a traumatic 12 months and the clutch had been the last straw. Diane said, “Rob has been both a tower of strength and a knight in shining armour when we needed it most”. Who could ask for more.

Amazing Customer Service, As Standard

Oaktree Motorhomes strives to deliver amazing customer service. “we all believe that’s the right way to treat customers”, said Rob Matthews, the owner.

Our thanks go to Diane Murphy and her family for allowing us to tell this moving story.


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