Marquis, Northants. Broadway Fridge Repair

Hi All

Got as far as Venice with the fridge working fine despite +30c temps, however noticed shortly after (about halfway into holiday) that the fridge (Thetford N100) was no longer cooling and had to throw away all our fridge contents. At the time I put it down to the hot weather but as we ventured back up through Germany the temps had dropped down to 14c and it still wasn't working on Gas or Electric or 12v while travelling... What would be the most obvious thing to be at fault?

We had a similar thing with our Nuevo's fridge shortly after getting it (in fact it never worked) and AutoSleepers fitted a new cooling element, so inclined to think this is the same type of failure?

I noticed when the fridge was running there was warm air venting from the top vent more than I had previously noticed, so I was thinking of fitting a cooling fan to extract air, the Thetford one doesn't impress me for the money... but I see CakTanks do a dual 120mm fan setup with thermostatic control FFT2 which looks the part, has anyone fitted this (or the FFT1 single version) and can personally comment on its performance?

Also can anyone advise where to take the live & earth feed from and how to remove the external vents, had a quick look at the vents and was going to remove them but couldn't see a way of removing them without risk of breaking them so left them alone, on the Nuevo I seem to recal you removed a screw at the side then tugged it forward and out it came out? 

Had a few issues to deal with this trip, the toilet mechanism just fell to bits so the loo blade wouldn't open or shut, fixed till I get home with a couple of cables ties, fridge of course packing up, leaking fresh water tap, locker push buttons working loose and falling out, Hab door letting in water at bottom when traveling in the rain, seal has about an inch gap at the bottom edge and I suspect water is whicking its way in, also the grey trim around the Hab door internally has all gone out of shape and kind of turned itself inside out Bizare! So I suspect a trip to Marquis is on the cards and an opportunity to see just how good their Marquis AutoMarq warranty actually is otherwise the Broadway has been brill, this is the first proper trip in her and 4 weeks constant use was bound to show up an issue or two I guess 

CC

Hello,
Sorry to hear that you have had such problems on holiday!  I too, bought my Elddis motorhome new from Marquis. It is now two years old and I have had a lot of problems. This years habitation check found damp. Elddis have tried to wriggle out of the warranty and Marquis did not stand up for me, so I am not pleased.I wish you luck! What I will say is try Marquis Service Centre at Tewkesbury. Found them to be very good.  In case you are wondering, I am getting an Auto Sleeper Cotswold as soon as the Elddis is damp repaired. It has taken from 7th May to get this far and it won't be done until the 13th July, so don't expect anything to happen quickly!
G

So sorry to hear about your problems, hope you manage get them sorted out. We nearly went south to Venice but worked our way back to Austria. Weather not so good at the moment. The heat wave we have been having for the last two weeks has well and truly disappeared!
Pete

I'm very interested in your request for step-by-step guide (I'm serious!) guide to fitting a Cak tanks FF1 cooling set to the current Nuevo. Thanks for raising the issue.

I bought a Vento ( or Brunno, depending who sells it) fridge vent cooling fan kit from Rainbow Conversions. Its a twin fan kit with thermostatic and manual control. Worked fine for a couple of days then started to squeal when it started ( electronics playing up) The vent fans worked very well though and ice cream is now solid!
Anyway, the fan kit is faulty and is going back. In the meantime, we are going away for 6 weeks on Thursday to France and needed a vent kit, so bought a Manhattan Double Fridge fan kit from Outdoor Bits. 
I think it was packed by a 4 year old, everything rattling around in the box, but it seemed to survive the trip, seems a better designed kit than the other one and I fitted it today, it works fine and is very quiet.
I took the live feed from a 12v socket at the side of the fridge housing.
The vent covers on my Broadway are held in place by 2 sliders. Look up just below the top louvre and if yours is the same, you will see two small black sliders. Slide them with your fingers and the cover drops down and away.
This is what the Vento ( Brunner) fans look like fitted and the noise they make when they start up. You can see why I am sending them back!
But, I am assured, they are not all like this......
https://youtu.be/sfTTvamRM9M

Allan

Excellent, Allan - really most helpful of you. The Dentist's Chair sound effect is indeed intolerable!

We had a problem with a Thetford fridge.  I think in the third year.  Marquis replaced the power board without a problem (free).  The fact that it is all three power sources that have given up does seem to indicate an electronic failure.  If it was the cooling system itself you would probably smell ammonia. (baby's nappy smell)  Thetford were quite helpful but at least then did not have travelling engineers.

Well, the last 2 days here in Brittany have been almost 30 degrees and the cornetto's have stayed solidly frozen, so the new fridge fans are working well.  
Without the fans, the ice cream was soft!

Well done! You must be chuffed!
Cymro

Thanks for the replies and especially to AJRM for the advice regarding the black sliding tabs to remove the fridge vents (Doh... Easy when you know how)  

Having looked inside the fridge compartment with a view to fitting a couple of cooling fans, there seems to be plenty of wires to take a feed from, the 12v socket above the fridge & cooker is probably the best to tap into although I'm not entirely sure how to identify these as there is a thick bunch of wires going up behind the fridge, did wonder about the step light feed as this is easily accessible from the external vents

We're still without a working fridge which is a bit of a pain, despite contacting Marquis while we were away a several weeks back to get our issues logged sooner rather than later, the earliest they can look at the Broadway is the 20th July and that's just to "Acess" what's wrong with the fridge and see what other niggles are needing putting right, we've been told it could be a further month after that before the work is carried out! Not entirely happy at this situation and the length of time taken to sort, in their eyes if a fridge is not working on Gas, Electric, or 12v then surely they would already have a pretty good idea as to the fault before even inspecting the fridge wouldn't they?

Incidentally does anyone know if we went to the Auto-Sleepers service centre at Willersey (Nr Broadway) and got them to do the work, bearing in mind the Marquis head office is run from the same site as its their sister company, could they just not do the work via our Marquis warranty? or do they insist you take it to the Marquis dealership for any warranty work as I suspect? 

CC 

You don't need to pay the earth for a fan kit. I bought a thermostat from ebay for about £5 which can be adjusted for operating temperature and temperature differential before it switches off again and wired that up to a computer fan.  I picked up my feed from the wires by the bottom vent - as far as I recall I plugged into the feed for the step light. You can see my installation here:
https://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t11373-fridge-fan-update?highlight=fridge+fan
Backtrax's installation is also on the same thread.

I have been very pleased. It works well and proved itself last year in Seville and Granada and also in the heat this year in Southern France.  Even with the fan offset to one side as you can see from the pictures it is only on for about 1 minute at a time and you can feel the heat being blown out of the vent. I strongly recommend this type of fitment.  Personally I would not want to put in a second fan - it appears to be unnecessary and will use more battery.

Finally got the Broadway into Marquis Northants, who are saying it's going to take a further month to get the fridge parts (cooling unit) and fix it   So looks like the best part of the touring season without a fridge! 

So far not that impressed with Marquis Northants, very polite and friendly and all that, but not impressed with the actual service dept and its workers (see video link)  Spent 6 1/2 hrs there Monday, all they did was replace a bed leg insert, replaced a locker hinge and acessed our fridge   

The best thing they did on a previous visit was regarding the floor mounted safe, the lock was jammed making it unusable so we asked for it to be fixed, they said they would fit a new safe, they did... Except they fitted a new Cheap Safe on the opposite side under the bed and left the other unusable on the opposite side, not happy with this I bought a replacement camlock (key barell) and fixed the factory fitted sunken floor safe and demanded they removed the safe they'd fitted, the cam lock cost less than £6  why didn't they just do this 


Video: https://youtu.be/0bamgGINKLw

Again.... Bearing in mind the above, does anyone know if you can take your motorhome to Willersey Auto Sleepers service centre for warranty work with the Marquis warranty or does it definitely have to go through Marquis? When our Nuevo fridge failed we went to the AS service centre, they looked at the fridge one day and ordered in a new cooling unit which they then fitted the next morning and we just stayed overnight at Broadway CC which is better than waiting weeks or even months

Best thing to do is give them a ring. See if you can speak to Alan Curry, he is the service manager and should be able to help. 
A month or more without a fridge is unacceptable. I am sure they can get the parts much quicker than they say

Hi AJRM Thanks for the reply... 

Call me sceptical but I think they are purposely hanging it out as its eating away into the warranty! We got the Broadway in October so the first year will be close by the time the fridge is fixed... I didn't realise even though Marquis claim their 3 yr warranty is "Industry leading" in the second and third years they actually cover you for very little.

I was hoping someone here might have actual experience of buying through Marquis but getting worked carried out at the Auto Sleepers service centre, to be perfectly frank I've lost any confidence I had with the service dept at Marquis Northants, despite giving them the benefit of the doubt on more than one occasion! 

CC

That all sounds diabolical. It is a second hand van so A/S are not bound go do anything.  The warranty will be insured so Marquis should not mind if it is fixed at Willersey. You should not hsve to lose a holiday and I sould be inclined to ask for a substitute van till it is fixed. But I would be much happier if Willersey was fixing it. Try speaking to Alan Curry. Alan Doherty is the service director at Marquis HO in Hampshire.  You could try him.

Managed to get a response from Marquis since my earlier post, who say as they are the same group as Auto Sleepers that I can indeed get the warranty work carried out at the Auto-Sleeper service centre at Willersey (nr Broadway) So will see what happens next....

Anyway, without boring you further... Hopefully this info might help others in a similar position.

We have used Willersey and found them very good.  The is a caravan club site nearby and a good pub in the village.  They will also give you a hook-up for the night at the factory.

You can stop overnight on the car park in Broadway, we did last year.

John.

When we originally bought the Windsor Marquis Preston only managed to resolve 1 of the 40 odd faults on the van, the rest were done at Willersey - no problems after (with most issues) after the two visits

The saga continues....

Well I gave Marquis another chance with regret, yesterday Fri 21st Aug the motorhome was booked in to have a new fridge fitted, as this has been going on for so long i just wanted to get the fridge fitted and working again, so long without a working fridge has quite frankly been a bloody pain!

I left home at 4am Friday to be at Marquis Northants in time, (arrived just after 7am) I spent pretty much an entire day waiting around (Just as I've done on a previous visit) I finally got the say so that all was finished around 3.40 & arrived back home around 6.40pm so a very long day!

I was told by the service dept that the fridge fitted was no longer available & had been superseded by a newer model, which also happened to have a larger capacity (not a bad thing)  However, I was then told as it was a different fridge it meant it stuck out further than the model it was replacing, after having a look I was reasonably happy that although it protruded further into the van it didn't look out of place and really no one would even notice it so agreed that it would be ok.

When I was told by Christine (receptionist) the work had been completed & I could now leave.. I asked what about the door seal? Reply was Yes they've sorted that, then asked if I had trouble shutting the door or locking it? I replied No not really its never been problematic shutting or locking, anyway I signed the paperwork to say the work has been carried out under warranty. I was not issued any paperwork for the NEW fridge which is supposed to include a 3yr guarantee so not sure how I will prove this in the even of a problem at a later date?

No body showed me the fridge working, as its a different model to the previous one I had to refer to the manual upon getting home and work it out, it just would have been nice for someone to run through the setup with me maybe? Upon getting home the fun really begins... See video link below The fridge door is fitted the incorrect way around, there is damage to the motorhome, the hab door that opened, shut, and locked perfectly before now wont lock unless i push against it when locking with the fob, the loose grey seal I asked to be replaced they just glued back in place! and the black door seal hasnt even been touched... To say I'm somewhat annoyed is an understatement    

Video Link:
https://youtu.be/Dl2OvtFS84I

The more I hear about Marquis, the happier I am that I never visited them!  Can't watch the video yet, in France using Fon with a poor signal, will try again tomorrow.  From what you say though, Marquis really are Cowbows!

Just read your posting and seen your video. I am absolutely appalled by the way Marquis have treated you and your motorhome. You really couldn't make it up. The unnecessary damage and not putting the fridge door on the correct side is beyond belief. 
I hope you get these issues sorted out soon. Yes tell them it is on YouTube for all to see, and what are they going to do about it. What has happened to customer care and the respect that should be given to other people's property? No way to carry out a business.
Best of luck. Let us all know what happens.

Well, managed to watch the video, your right, they have made an awful job of everything. I wonder if they had to take the door off to get the fridge in?  
At the sides of the step on my Broadway, there are two vents and I found these let water in. I had to put rubber flaps behind them to stop the water getting on. Check if you have these vents, it may not be the seal letting in the water. 
Whatever, I would be sending a link to your video to the service manager and asking for his / or her comments. I had an issue with Peugeot investigating a problem with my engine. I left the dash cam in place and it picked up one of the mechanics doing something he shouldn't. I showed the video to the service manager and the mechanic got the sack!  Video evidence is good!

I did wonder myself if they had to take the door off, but having measured the fridge theres an inch clearance so I don't think they did... how the bottom hinge got broke I have no idea? They are removable hinge covers so maybe prised off with a screwdriver when making adjustments, who knows?

Gutted that the motorhome hab door had such a lovely closing & locking action, it literally took a light close and locked every time, now its gonna be hard work just like our previous Nuevo's door due to total incompetence!

Good point about the step vents btw, hadn't even given that a thought I still don't see the need for such a bloody great big hole in the bottom of the door seal though, are other members similar?

I have pointed Marquis to the video, will be interesting to see how they respond... I'll be surprised if I even get a response never mind a resolution.. I cant speak for other Marquis branches but I have a catalog of incompetencies during work carried out by them! Starting with the new safe they fitted under the opposite bench rather than just fix the lock which I later did myself in just a few mins.

You really have to ask yourself what kind of training these young guys have in the workshop. I can only assume Marquis pay their staff peanuts hence their monkey mentality to everything!

We found the perfect Broadway.. its was perfect inside and out and just 4k on the clock, it was everything we wanted but has been regretably now tarnished by the after sales received received from Marquis Northants

CC

Autosleepers  directors Geoffrey Scott and Michael Crouch are also the two senior directors of Marquis. According to the FSA , complaints should be addressed to Michael Crouch. I would send an email with the link to the video to Michael Crouch, his details are shown here....


https://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/firmContact.do;jsessionid=67ed7e01a0144ed598659065f2bffea5.s6fNml1Ka38InBbv-ArJrwTPoNCNa30Ocybtah0IaNuIahiIbh0IaNfwmxiInxiObk9ynhvybMSHc30Ka2aToi5hch0Na2TSn7bvq70KawTAqQ4InQXQ-BjF8NaRbheOcgbMnkrDqRfzqwbMnkrDqRfzqwbynknvrkLOlQzNp65In0__?sid=126579