Who is Waldo anyway?
The beginning
In June 2023 we found what we thought was the perfect camper van for us. The best part: it was available immediately. Very happy and overcome with joy we signed the contract to buy this 6m long FIAT Ducato based Yucon V600 (predecessor of the Yucon 60B).
It came with everything we wanted at the time:
- a pop up roof (we pictured ourselves sleeping upstairs and using the downstairs bed as a sofa area)
- great water tanks
- great built quality
- good space
- comfy bathroom
We added a trailer hook to put a bike carrier on as well as an external solar panel outlet/inlet. The delivery time was estimated to be 4 weeks from the time of signature.
Not off to a great start
The delivery date was moved a couple of times and 4 weeks quickly became 6 then 7. Finally the day had come when we were able to pick up our new beloved campervan which we named Waldo.
We drove to the dealer and everything went smooth until...
... we found a screw in the rear right tire. Luckily it didn't go in very deep and there was no damage. But this was the first of many shock-moments and the very first time we thought "oh no, we thought we can finally roam free, but now we have to wait again".
Well, as we said luckily the screw was a non-issue and we were able to take Waldo home.
The first (and only) trip
It took us a couple of days to put all the stuff we had purchased into the cabinets of Waldo. We also added some security features, stuck fake tiles to the kitchen area to make it look a bit more cool and hung the cumpulsory fairy lights that you just have to have in a camper van.
For our first trip we decided to play it safe and booked a spot on a campsite near the dutch coast. We didn't want to be too far away from home in case we forgot anything essential or something didn't work as planned.
We had fantastic weather - on day one and everything seemed to be going very well. We filled the water tank for the first time. Set up the awning, set up our outside area with table and chairs. We cooked for the first time and slept in our pop up roof.
The next day was predicted to be super rainy, so we decided early that we would sleep downstairs the next night as we didn't want to have to dry the pop up roof walls which are made from tent-like material.
We went to the beach and had a nice day despite heavy rain, but it was still all going quite well. We once again cooked in the camper and had a great time. We slept very well in the downstairs bed, too.
After two nights the adventure was over and we drove to family in Belgium where we wanted to pick up Kathrin's mum and give her a ride home (she lives close to our home).
Catastrophe strikes
After a great afternoon with the family in Belgium and showing off Waldo to many people, we started our journey home. Shortly after our depature it started to rain. And the rain got worse and worse. It got so worse that you couldn't see very much on the Autobahn, but it was still driveable.
Suddenly Kathrin's mum screamd in a surprised, slightly confused, slightly shocked way. For a brief moment, I wasn't sure what happened and wondered if we had a mini-accident. Then I looked over to the passenger seat where she was sitting.
... and saw that water was getting in the car.
I cannot describe the feeling I felt, it was somewhere between gut punch, dreams going up in flames, anger and deep deep sadness.
The amount of water that came in wasn't negligable, either. It was quite a lot of water and it was clear the car had to be repaired.
In addition to this, we found quite a few other issues as well, but these were all of less significance and easy to fix. Apparently, it is quite common when you purchase a new camper van, that there are some quality issues such as dents in walls, miss-wired radios etc.
Trying to get Waldo fixed
Naturally, we weren't happy and wanted our dealer to fix or even exchange the van as we were concerned about long term damage from the water. There was no telling how much water got in and where.
Unfortunately, repeated attempts to get the van fixed failed and despite the law being very clear about how many attempts a dealer gets before the owner can insist on returning it, our dealer decided to be extra complicated. They refused to refund or exchagne the car and insisted on further repair attempts.
Of course we didn't want any of that with multiple occurrences of water getting in by then and decided to get a lawyer.
The end
After lots of back and forth with the lawyer and our legal insurance, we found a solution and Waldo left us in February 2024 for good.
We honestly didn't understand why the dealer hat to choose the hard route, we were very disappointed and it caused us a huge amount of stress and vacation time. Needless to say we will never buy anything there ever again.
