I once bought a new Rapido. Never again, the moron in the factory pushed an 8 pin plug and socket together to connect the electric bed and must have seen that one of the pins was sticking out and not making contact. Brownhills failed to find the fault three times, they told me to contact Rapido who told me to contact the bed manufacturer. The bed manufacturer sent me the installation manual and I found the fault. It was clear that the Rapido factory does not have any quality control, neither did that particular worker bother about his work, he just shoved the vehicle on to the next worker. After I had fixed the electrical fault, the bed collapsed in one corner, luckily while I wasn't driving.
There are plenty of satisfied Rapido owners, I hope that you are one of them Fiserman. I got my current mh from a main Swift dealer who told me of the condition some of them arrive from the factory. Doors not fitted, just thrown inside somewhere. Fridges not supplied. It seems that a lot of new vans have their faults.
My first van was a chausson 510.
faults, leaking window, bed got stuck, central locking on habitation door would not work,.
After picking the van up from Knoewpark in Livingstone I returned with some other minor faults.
Faults that should have been found during the PDI I felt.
But to be fair to Knowepark they were very helpful in dealing with all of these issues.
Would I recommend a Chausson, well yes, because we had it for three years and after the initial problems it was a good van.
Would I recommend Knowepark dealership, yes I would, they were very attentive to all of my issues.
Our current van a Roller Team Pegaso 590 A class has its fair share of issues.
The habitation door was not fitted properly. There was a large gap at the top.
The door had to be refitted by the dealers.
The drivers door window went faulty not closing after opening.
The locking piece on the for the bonnet catch was not welded properly and came away from the bonnet cover.
The fridge control panel burnt out due to a faulty circuit board.
The Shower rail came of the wall, I had to reaffix it properly.
Although I like the current van, and would highly recommend it in terms of layout I felt that it lacked a bit in build quality.
As for Catterick Caravans who I bought the van from, I would not recommend them.
I felt that they saw themselves merely as intermediaries between them selves and Roller Team
They lacked any personal touch, which I feel I got from Knowepark, and from my current dealers Dicksons of Perth.
As for this current van, from what I have read online, and from a two hour look around last week, it looks to be better built than my previous two vans.
But obviously time will tell. And I will do a full report next summer.
As for Dicksons of Perth, well quite frankly I have dealt with their service department, and their sales, and to date I reckon of the dealers I have dealt with they are number one. Throughout the last two years Tim Dickson has been excellent, friendly, and extremely helpful. As for Keith in their service department, I could not praise him enough.
No matter what make of van you buy you will read unfavourable comments, even Hymer, and Carthago get pelters from some.
As for dealers, there wont be one dealer anywhere in Europe without detractors.
And I have no doubt that in many cases the manufactures and the dealers deserve whats been stated.
You mention Swift, they have a dreadful reputation both on here, and online in general.
But I am sure the vast majority who have bought them are pleased with them.
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