Damp in motorhome

[Obanboy666]

Finally had communication from Swift regarding damp their engineer found when carrying out a check for missing bolts on my 2013 Sundance 594RS.
Booked into the factory 17th March. They are collecting the van from my storage 2 days before its booked in for repairs.
They informed me it could take up to 6 weeks to carry out the repairs which i believe involves changing window seals then re-checking for damp 1 week later to confirm the repairs were successful.
I was aghast at not having my van for 6 weeks but she then said normally its 2/3 weeks.
Fingers crossed they dont find serious damage and i get it back a.s.a.p.

 

[james1508]

Finally had communication from Swift regarding damp their engineer found when carrying out a check for missing bolts on my 2013 Sundance 594RS.
Booked into the factory 17th March. They are collecting the van from my storage 2 days before its booked in for repairs.
They informed me it could take up to 6 weeks to carry out the repairs which i believe involves changing window seals then re-checking for damp 1 week later to confirm the repairs were successful.
I was aghast at not having my van for 6 weeks but she then said normally its 2/3 weeks.
Fingers crossed they dont find serious damage and i get it back a.s.a.p.

lets hope so, shame you cant charge them rent .

 

[molly 2]

What a disappointed. Another nail for British built motorhomes homes i hope it is perfect after repairs

 

[Syd Lexic]

What a disappointed. Another nail for British built motorhomes homes i hope it is perfect after repairs

We bought a Trigano Tribute T-25 in November 2012, had a few minor problems all down to poor workmanship. During the first habitation check in Nov 2013 our dealer flagged up damp readings in several places "unacceptably high". The vehicle has just had 7 days remedial work under warranty with the manufacturer.
Overall we are happy with what we got for our money but somewhat disappointed in some of the niggly things that have appeared due to poor quality control.
Our dealer, Davan of Weston-Super-Mare, have been very proactive and helpful.... Would we buy British built again? Not unless I build it.

 

[Obanboy666]

Finally had communication from Swift regarding damp their engineer found when carrying out a check for missing bolts on my 2013 Sundance 594RS.
Booked into the factory 17th March. They are collecting the van from my storage 2 days before its booked in for repairs.
They informed me it could take up to 6 weeks to carry out the repairs which i believe involves changing window seals then re-checking for damp 1 week later to confirm the repairs were successful.
I was aghast at not having my van for 6 weeks but she then said normally its 2/3 weeks.
Fingers crossed they dont find serious damage and i get it back a.s.a.p.

One thing that really gets my back up is the fact that Swift knew The motorhome was at Catterick caravans, the dealer where i bought it from for approx 4 months before i bought it.
Why couldn't Swift have sent the engineer to them before i bought it to check for the missing bolts and the potential damp problem, both known manufacturing faults. The missing bolt fault was being monitored by the DVLA or similiar so was classed as a serious notifiable fault, the same as a recall on cars.
No, they would rather wait till unsuspecting people like myself bought the motorhome then start the procedures. Screwing up my plans for travelling untill the end of April.
I suspect Swift have acted no different to any other manufacturer.

I worked in manufacturing at Black & Decker for 30 years, if we found a fault retailers were immediately informed and product was brought back from the retailers for repair.
This prevented product getting to the final customer and the obvious adverse reaction this could cause etc.

Swift obviously dont have a problem with the final customer getting known defective motorhomes and the adverse effect this will cause.
I for one will seriously consider not buying Swift again but as i mentioned previously i suspect Swift are not alone in acting like this.

 

[QFour]

Some idiot in the factory has realised that if you miss the bolts out you can keep up with the production without having to work your balls off. Quality control doesn't exist like it does in car manufacturing because they don't employ enough people to check everything. We had problems with our Swift not water ingress but certainly poor quality and the dealers monkeys were no help. The door stay on our Swift was loose when we picked it up. It's only a single recessed bolt and a length of flat steel and a slider. It has a small plastic washer behind it. The bolt kept coming undone while we were away on holiday. I had tightened it with an allen key so many times. One day it was just missing. I found the bolt but not the plastic washer so I made one out of a piece of black plastic. It looked like a penny washer and also stopped the screw falling out. When it went in for repairs they glued the bolt into place using some thread glue and used my washer as well. The repair lasted till we opened the door again. Finished up making a proper washer out of bronze which does not compress when tightening the bolt and fixed it. Absolute rubbish. We had trouble with the fabric on the seats running and were told by the seat manufacturers that we had voided our guarantee by spilling water on the seating. After recovering them we were told by Swift that we had modified the vehicle and they would not guarantee the seating. Review camera was next to go in the bin and be replaced.

It all had a happy ending from our side with a cheque via the small claims court to cover all our expenses.

 

[Deleted member 23433]

Finally had communication from Swift regarding damp their engineer found when carrying out a check for missing bolts on my 2013 Sundance 594RS.
Booked into the factory 17th March. They are collecting the van from my storage 2 days before its booked in for repairs.
They informed me it could take up to 6 weeks to carry out the repairs which i believe involves changing window seals then re-checking for damp 1 week later to confirm the repairs were successful.
I was aghast at not having my van for 6 weeks but she then said normally its 2/3 weeks.
Fingers crossed they dont find serious damage and i get it back a.s.a.p.

We have a Swift Sundance 620fb 2011 which is today going into the dealership for an inspection due to a leak. This is the 3rd time in 2 years that it has been repaired under warranty. I wrote to Swift and said that we had come to the end of our tether and that the motorhome was not fit for purpose. We said we wanted the van to go back to them for a full inspection and repair. They said that it would take 6 weeks at the factory and when we explained that it was our only transport they didn't want to know.

 

[Sharon the Cat]

Always quote the Sale of goods Act 1979 (as amended) in any correspondence.

Put your complaint in writing, together with details of what any problems have cost you in terms of time & money, Be polite & factual & ask for what you consider to be fair compensation. Lets face it, If you are deprived of your van for 6 weeks you must be cancelling at least one trip.

This is an extract from a letter I wrote on Monday regarding our van purchased second hand last September.

Lunar Premier H592 – **** ***
Re: The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (as amended)

I am writing to complain about the service we have received for repairs under
warranty to our Lunar Premier, purchased from you on 27th September 2013. I
outline below all the problems we have had so far.

I telephoned and left a message between Christmas & New Year 2013, asking
someone to contact me regarding a leak we had discovered in the roof and other
items that required attention. I never received a call back so I completed your online
contact form on the 2nd of January, copy of text attached. Still no one contacted me
so I telephoned on the 3rd of January and spoke to ****, giving her details of the
problems. This was confirmed in my two emails of 3rd January 2014, copies
attached.

We delivered the Lunar Premier to you on Saturday the 11th of January and
explained all the issues to you in person, leaving it with you for a week. We were
advised by telephone that all the repairs had been carried out and we came back
and collected it on Friday the 17th.

When we inspected it we discovered that the bathroom vent had not been looked at
or fixed and this was then carried out. We also discovered that the alarm had a fault
that had not been picked up on the PDI and **** fixed this for us. We were told
that the main roof vent had been taken out and re-sealed and that this had fixed the
leak in the roof area.

On the 29th of January I discovered that we had a leak again and telephoned and
spoke to you. I sent a confirmation email with a photo showing where the water was
coming in and also stating that Phill had some thoughts about the leak that he
wished to discuss with you when we brought the vehicle back in.

We cancelled our planned weekend away and delivered it to you on Saturday the 1st
of February and Phill explained his concerns to you; that the water ingress could be
coming from other places rather than the roof vent. We also showed you where
water poured down the window & into the top of the window where the blinds are
fixed.

Again, we left it with you for a week and we were subsequently advised that
the leak had been fixed, the roof light re-sealed and the window seal replaced.

We came to collect it on Friday the 7th of February. It was driven round to the front of
your reception for us. As soon as I opened the door I saw water all over the dinette
table, pouring down the window & dripping from the down lighter again. The roof vent
had not been fixed properly and was hanging down from the ceiling. Your assistant
workshop manager told us that it obviously wasn’t the roof light causing the problem
& that had he been made aware of where the water was entering the first time you
had it in for repair, that he would have known to investigate it further.

We had to cancel another planned weekend away, transfer all our luggage into
another courtesy car and leave the vehicle with you yet again.

To sum it up:

• The original issues were not communicated effectively to your workshop staff.
• The leak was not investigated properly.
• The leak was not fixed.
• The so-called repairs were not tested.

Because of this we have so far:

• Driven a total of 750 miles
• Put £35 worth of fuel in your courtesy car
• Used £60 of diesel to get the vehicle to you
• Spent £19.20 on Severn Bridge tolls
• Taken two half days holiday to make sure we could collect it when the workshop was open
• Paid staff to cover for my business on five separate occasions
• Cancelled two weekend breaks

**** Ltd contribution so far has been to give us £30 towards fuel.

I am sure you will agree this is unacceptable, and whilst we have been polite and
amenable throughout, we have now wasted enough of our time and money on this
issue, which should have been resolved on our first visit to you in January.

This is what I propose ***** Ltd do to compensate us.

1. Ensure that our vehicle is repaired to a high standard, and all damage and staining that has been caused by water ingress is fully rectified.
2. Return the vehicle to us at the above address at a mutually convenient time, by Friday the 21st of February.
3. Grant us our first habitation service free of charge, which although it has a perceived value of £189 will cost far less.
4. Issue a 12 month warranty for water ingress through any part of the roof to run from the time when repairs have been successfully carried out to our satisfaction.

Please respond to my complaint, complete the work & return the vehicle to us by
Friday the 21st of February. If you fail to respond & remedy in this time, I will have no
option but to consider taking the matter further.​

I have since received an apology phone call saying that leak has definitely been found, fixed and all my compensation requirements will be met. This is why I have **'d out the names. The dealer has responded well, but I doubt I would have got everything is I hadn't asked for it. I don't have the van back yet & I don't have it in writing yet but I'm sure I will.

 

[iveco4x4]

As I've said before, I would return the vehicle as not fit for purpose to the dealer and get a refund of the full amount paid. If its had these problems in the 1st three months what is waiting for you. The water will have already done damage.

I had an issue with a car that I bought but could not get a roofrack that could take the roof loading (roof load 50kg, manufacturuers rack 30kg) . As I had questioned the sales guy about this before parting with money I deemed this was a material flaw in the vehicle and after talking to the MD of the company eventually they bought the vehicle back off me.

Rich

 

[LongdogCymru]

Hi, don't intend this to be a thread hi-jack so I apologise if it appears to be that way, but when is damp actually a problem? What level of damp reading means there is an issue?

 

[wendywo]

We have a Swift Sundance 620fb 2011 which is today going into the dealership for an inspection due to a leak. This is the 3rd time in 2 years that it has been repaired under warranty. I wrote to Swift and said that we had come to the end of our tether and that the motorhome was not fit for purpose. We said we wanted the van to go back to them for a full inspection and repair. They said that it would take 6 weeks at the factory and when we explained that it was our only transport they didn't want to know.

What a sad tale this is I would get them to take it back and start again you are right it is not fit for purpose and you have given them a chance to fix it but it is still not right ...send it back get your money back. Good luck( this is just what I am trying to avoid) take care

 

[Neckender]

Hi, don't intend this to be a thread hi-jack so I apologise if it appears to be that way, but when is damp actually a problem? What level of damp reading means there is an issue?

If you google damp in motorhome, I think that it said up to 20% ok, above needs to be rectified.

John.

 

[LongdogCymru]

If you google damp in motorhome, I think that it said up to 20% ok, above needs to be rectified.

John.

Thanks for this, I followed your advice and found this..... Damp Test | Motorhome Habitation Service