Gibbon Caravan Clinic

I would not recommend Gibbon Caravan Clinic to anybody, ever! I took my caravan in sometime during september of 2018. The idea was to have a few minor things fixed and to have about 25% of the cupboards replaced. The idea was to spend about R10 000. After I spoke to the owner, Sandy Gibbon, she told me that bought the biggest piece of s#&t and that it has to be rebuilt completely because of extensive water damage. There and then I should hav walked away, but she pointed to a few places where there was water damage. I agree that there was some water damage, but was very sceptical about the extent of the damage. I was told that the entire main structure, the one side and the floor hat to be redone an that it will cost me R50 000 and should take about a month. I figured that I might as well go ahead and have it done, since she said that ma Caravan will be good as new when the are done. Sandy told me that they want to get it done asap and that I need to pay her immediately, that they have a couple of weeks before the December rush starts. "If the money is in tomorrow we will strip it down and call you to inspect the damage, so you know what you are spending your money on" Is what she told me.

So, I paid in the money, all of it. A whole weak went by so I called her. She said that the following friday i can come and have a look.... on it went, for 4 weeks until the end of November arrived. The date at which I should have received my good-as-new-caravan... When I arrived there she was very rude and frantically running around, screaming at people over the phone. I asked her about my caravan and she said that they will not be able to fix it for R50 000 and that it was worse that she had thought, she needed at least another R30k. I asked to have a look at the damage. I walked over to my caravan and found it exactly where I parked it over a month ago, completely untouched. So all this extra money that I now needed to spent was determined from staring at it from the outside...???

We had a bit of an argument after which I told her that I will take my money and Caravan then we will go our seperate ways. She said that it was too late for that since she already bought all the materials to have it repaired. I told her that is is fine. I will take my caravan, pay her for all the materials and take my caravan and everything needed to fix it, and take the balance of the money.

Then... She went in a different direction and said that she will do me a massive favour and fix it, good as new for the original R50 000 that we agreed upon from the start. So it started looking like I wasn't getting my money from her. She made a commitment to give me my Caravan within one month from that date. the end of January 2019. She now had my van and the money for about 3,5 months. I know, rediculous...

So, the end of January came and went but still they did nothing, still promising next monday, next friday, tomorrow.... At this point I am getting over it and told her that It will not go on like this. I went to get some legal advice, finding out that she has to give my money back, I served her with a letter from my attorney and she promised to give my money back the next monday. Monday came and I went over to collect. I was told that she wasn't there so I called her. She told me that I can take my caravan and my money will be in my account in 2 days and that she had phoned my attorney and asked for a couple more days to pay. I took my caravan and still have no money. We have had many conversations and many empty promises have been made. She has blamed everybody from other customers, supplyers, the bank, subcontractors and employees for the delay but it is now the 8th of April 2019 and she has not paid back a cent.

I will post this to every forum I can find and make sure it reaches as far as possible until I am paid back my money. The longer it takes, the more I will write

Divan Lourens