Trouble with EQUITREKS?

[hollyzippo]

Hi all.
I really need to know if anyone else has had a problem with Equitrek trailers, and ramps in particular?!

Not to go into all the details but mine had a new ramp 1 yr ago after horse kicked a hole in the wood. It has now got lots of holes/splits in the wood on the new ramp and is unsafe (you can feel it caving in even with a person on!)

I have spoken to the repair centre (Equitrek agent) and main office and the main office claim that any 4 yr old trailer needs the ramp replacing (mine is 2005) as that is life expectancy and only half the wood was apparently replaced so we are at stalemate as to whether the holes now are in the new or the old part of the wood.

I have spoken to trading standards and solicitors who say I have a claim against the repairer but may have one against Equitrek too if there have been similar problems elsewhere??

My concern is I would not have the same wood on again, it is such thin ply food on metal struts that when weight is put between the struts it has no strength (and my trailer is advertised to take 2 x 18h horses!). This is evidently factory standard and they clai they have never had a problem but I cant beleive that as the wood is so thin!

Its a miracle I havnt had a huge vets bill for an injured horse and I am concerned that if they are all like this sooner or later someone will have their horse drop through.

Any similar experiences would be much appreciated!

 

[Ezme]

unfortunatly this isn't the first time build quality of equitreks has come up on here.... good luck

 

[welshcobabe]

I had a friend that bought one and she was a friend of the family but not to go into too much detail she sent it back within a fortnight and got her money back as there were over 40 faults on her brand new trailer. I have heard good and bad reports but I dont think they are consitant with there build it may be the look of the draw in some cases.

 

[BID]

Equitrek = Very bad customer relations and will not take any responsibility for bad build quality in my experience. So far I haven't had a problem with my ramp but I have had other issues with my trailer within its warranty which was clearly bad build quality yet they washed their hands of it and refused to offer any help or repair.

 

[hollyzippo]

Thanks for replies.

BID, speak to trading standards as mine was 2nd hand but if you bought directly from them they can enforce the warranty under statuatory rights! As mine was 2nd hand I can only claim due to the poor repair by the agent.

The solicitor said if there were nu erous cases there will be a case against Equitrek as well as they are badly made.

 

[BID]

Thanks but this was a couple of years ago now and I bought it from one of their distributors. They wriggled out of putting the faults right because they said that it had been at the distributors for several months even though it was still within its years warranty and they said that anything could have happened to it in that time. Surely the same could be said if I had bought it direct from them!!!! I wouldn't be without my trailer but as a company they really don't stand up to their responsiblities and don't wan't anything to do with the customers once they have sold you a product and got your money!!!

 

[LankyDoodle]

We have an Equitrek and have never had problems with it; however, I am sure that if we used it more then we would also be having problems. It is nearly 2 years old and I am now worried that we will need to replace the ramp in 2 years. I have never heard such a load of bollox. We had an LT35... a G reg. We sold it when we bought the trailer. In all the years we had it, we never ever had a problem with the ramp or anything else!

 

[LankyDoodle]

I wish we had kept our little lorry really as it's not exactly cheap to run a 4x4 either.

I think if there are enough complaints about Equitrek then Watchdog might take it up.

 

[hollyzippo]

Thanks Lankydoodle.

Yeah, the 4 year ramp life thing is what is concerning me most! Im sure people that buy new directly from them arent told this at the time! (Hence it must have happened to other people too). If there is enough evidence of other such problems I am to speak to the solicitor again- I will ask her about Watchdog!

 

[Abandluc]

My vet recently told me that he was called out to a RTA where the horse inside the equitrek paniced and actually jumped out through the back of the trailer through the wall.

Luckily they were on a roundabout in stationary traffic when it happened but they were just about to go onto a motorway. The horse only mildly injuried.
I understand it was one of the newer built ones and by all accounts the older Equitreks are much more robust and stronger.

I think there are good and bad in all trailers, I have an Ifor Williams but have read negative things on here about them but never had a problems with mine.

 

[hussar]

I've had 2 Equitreks. The older one had lots of minor problems but our local agent is superb and got them all sorted. The newer one (2 years old now) had very few niggles. It also has a very robust ramp.

Equitrek sometimes let themselves down with their after-sales service and it's a shame because most of their trailers are superb. I've never heard that before about the ramp needing replaced every 4 years!

 

[Louby]

I heard from a reliable source that a number of these had towing issues and have turned over so because I wanted to travel one horse without a partition (or much wider partition) I was concerned on balance. I comtacted Equitrek by email to ask if it was safe to do what I intended and they couldnt even be bothered to reply. Also heard of a horse skinning its head on the sharp lip (now covered in rubber!!) that meets the ramp. IW dealership who also sells them said the older day trekker??? was much better than the new ones now in build. I love the concept but am a bit iffy about them to be honest.

 

[LankyDoodle]

[ QUOTE ]
My vet recently told me that he was called out to a RTA where the horse inside the equitrek paniced and actually jumped out through the back of the trailer through the wall.

Luckily they were on a roundabout in stationary traffic when it happened but they were just about to go onto a motorway. The horse only mildly injuried.
I understand it was one of the newer built ones and by all accounts the older Equitreks are much more robust and stronger.

I think there are good and bad in all trailers, I have an Ifor Williams but have read negative things on here about them but never had a problems with mine.

[/ QUOTE ]

How on earth did the horse manage to jump through the breast bar and through the wall of the Equitrek? They are a little flimsy (fibreglass) but I could not see how a horse could crash through that much fibreglass, metal and wood from standing?!

 

[Kenzo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My vet recently told me that he was called out to a RTA where the horse inside the equitrek paniced and actually jumped out through the back of the trailer through the wall.

Luckily they were on a roundabout in stationary traffic when it happened but they were just about to go onto a motorway. The horse only mildly injuried.
I understand it was one of the newer built ones and by all accounts the older Equitreks are much more robust and stronger.

I think there are good and bad in all trailers, I have an Ifor Williams but have read negative things on here about them but never had a problems with mine.

[/ QUOTE ]

How on earth did the horse manage to jump through the breast bar and through the wall of the Equitrek? They are a little flimsy (fibreglass) but I could not see how a horse could crash through that much fibreglass, metal and wood from standing?!

[/ QUOTE ]

never under estimate the power of large horse when it it goes crackers, as for some metals they just snap and break clean rather than bend.

 

[LankyDoodle]

OMG that is scarey! I have an Equitrek and just cannot for one minute imagine how either of my horses would manage this (especially as there is a door there as well). It's frightening.

 

[Louby]

Ive heard of horses going over the bar and ending up somehow in the grooms area in 3.5t wagons so suppose it may have gone over the bar and crashed through the back. The window in the back door doesnt help some horses.

 

[diggerbez]

not had the same problem but my friend had a ramp issue- the hinge snapped and she couldn't get ramp up. had to be rescued by recovery people.
In my experience my equitrek build quality has been crap though so i'm not suprised to be reading this. my axle snapped when i was driving along loaded and they tried to blame me- saying i'd been driving recklessly!

i've had a whole host of other problems which they have never rectified. i officially hate equitrek as a company- such a shame that nobody has come up with a decent alternative as my TB won't load into a normal trailer and i can't afford a box...

 

[Abandluc]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My vet recently told me that he was called out to a RTA where the horse inside the equitrek paniced and actually jumped out through the back of the trailer through the wall.

Luckily they were on a roundabout in stationary traffic when it happened but they were just about to go onto a motorway. The horse only mildly injuried.
I understand it was one of the newer built ones and by all accounts the older Equitreks are much more robust and stronger.

I think there are good and bad in all trailers, I have an Ifor Williams but have read negative things on here about them but never had a problems with mine.

[/ QUOTE ]

How on earth did the horse manage to jump through the breast bar and through the wall of the Equitrek? They are a little flimsy (fibreglass) but I could not see how a horse could crash through that much fibreglass, metal and wood from standing?!

[/ QUOTE ]

My friend and I also thought the same and when looking at my friends one which is about 5/6 years old with the tack lockers at the back we also couldn't work it out. But when we were at Badminton we saw a new very basic model and all that is between the back of the trailer and the horse is a breast bar, albeit a thick one, but you could see that if a horse paniced and reared it would very very easily put a foot straight through the wall.
Also if you really study them particularly the new models they are built very similarly to a caravan, it is a metal frame and fibreglass.

 

[Demist]

A friend of mine bought an Equitrek 3.5 lorry last year and they had problems with it being lobsided due to the weight of the full ramp on the one side. They explained the problem to the company and initially they wouldn't admit there was a problem, but eventually Equitrek agreed to place additional springs on the side of the ramp, which appears to have solved the problem.....you would have thought that would have been an obvious issue when designing the lorry???!