Broadway Build/Design Quality Issues

Well as you say, it comes down to price. I think we have hijacked Backtrak's thread too much. It was meant to be about AS design faults and build quality not faults of appliances so I think we should bow out now.

Bad Penny wrote:  they use a Heki roof light,  not a Remis,  a better quality and more expensive item.  So perhaps AS like a bit more profit at the expense of quality components.

We've got a Remis rooflight on our 2015 Nuevo.

Dave

Remis on our 2013 Kemerton as well... Is remis better than Heki then ?

Doesn't let the rain splash in so much. Could never have the Heki open more than a crack, but the Remis seems better shielded against splashing in.

Not so easy to open though - the winder is very stiff but fortunately I'm tall enough to push it up to ease the pressure needed. I would worry if I had to open it with the winder alone, and no manual assistance.

Dave

Gromit wrote:Doesn't let the rain splash in so much. Could never have the Heki open more than a crack, but the Remis seems better shielded against splashing in.

Not so easy to open though - the winder is very stiff but fortunately I'm tall enough to push it up to ease the pressure needed. I would worry if I had to open it with the winder alone, and no manual assistance.

Dave

The handle on ours feels slightly fragile. But then I'm a ham fisted git... It goes up and down easy enough though but I will bear your way of doing it in mind... 

Paulmould,
I fear the deviation from my post has already run away with us.
For anyone interested in my original quality issue, I have now satifactorily repaired the wardrobe floor along the lines I originally described and fitted a replacement Kitchen Tap tail pipe (suitably re-routed), which I was able to source locally for £7.50 including a couple of new push fit pipe connectors.

candapack wrote:I read recently that sales of NEW motorhomes is up by 26%. This was touted as good news, but to me it just means that vans will be coming off the production line faster and faster to keep up with sales, leading to more and more quality control issues.
The answer for me to all the above posts is to never buy a new van, and go for one that's 1 or 2 years old where most of the problems will have been fixed.

Trouble is did the seller of the said motorhome sell knowing it had problem(s) ?

Tony A

Your tip about the chafed pipe is useful  its on my list of things to check.

I have just emailed A/S Marketing Department, about the issues on this Post I wonder if there will be some action!! ?

Well done Tony, but don't hold your breath waiting for a reply, you could turn Purple.
Mike

We ran this thread back in 2012 following threads running on other forums. I emailed AS and suggested they follow the threads concerned. I got no response and I assume no attention was made to the contents then so I doubt if any interest will be taken now

https://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t4649-quality-and-after-sales-problems

I should stress that I don't have any "inside knowledge" but... I don't think it's fair to assume that A-S take no interest in this forum, purely because they never ~appear~ to have a presence here.

Participation in an owner's forum can be a two-edged sword, and I have seen it go very wrong for other companies in the past.

The main problem is that every company will have a small number of angry, unreasonable and sometimes irrational customers - this is unavoidable for any company that is not perfect. The problem is that it is impossible to deal with people like that on a public forum that you don't control.

The result is that (in my experience) very few large companies choose to participate "officially" in forums that they cannot control themselves.

Very true Mojo. And from my experience running a Company even when perfect you still get angry unreasonable customers 

-mojo- wrote:I should stress that I don't have any "inside knowledge" but... I don't think it's fair to assume that A-S take no interest in this forum, purely because they never ~appear~ to have a presence here.

Participation in an owner's forum can be a two-edged sword, and I have seen it go very wrong for other companies in the past.

The main problem is that every company will have a small number of angry, unreasonable and sometimes irrational customers - this is unavoidable for any company that is not perfect. The problem is that it is impossible to deal with people like that on a public forum that you don't control.

The result is that (in my experience) very few large companies choose to participate "officially" in forums that they cannot control themselves.

I expect this is true. However that does not stop them from taking action from the type of stories we read here .These are legitimate complaints that a caring company would address at the factory.


Micky

-mojo- wrote:I should stress that I don't have any "inside knowledge" but... I don't think it's fair to assume that A-S take no interest in this forum, purely because they never ~appear~ to have a presence here.

Participation in an owner's forum can be a two-edged sword, and I have seen it go very wrong for other companies in the past.

The main problem is that every company will have a small number of angry, unreasonable and sometimes irrational customers - this is unavoidable for any company that is not perfect. The problem is that it is impossible to deal with people like that on a public forum that you don't control.

The result is that (in my experience) very few large companies choose to participate "officially" in forums that they cannot control themselves.

I totally agree with you statement the Company has no control with website comments.

The main comment I made to A/S after reading some of the comments above was when I ran a Company I never accepted Mistakes and/or Bad Workmanship by any employee that's not what you pay them for, I'm not saying no one makes mistakes or sometimes do a bad job, but as soon as the workforce think (in some instances) you accept the above quality drops, I would interview someone to search out what happened/ why a problem occurred once they got the message it didn't happen again, believe it or not I had a good rapport with my employees .

Tony A

If you visit a few more Motorhome forums, you will soon see that most motorhomes, whatever the make and cost suffer from poor workmanship and breakages.  We looked at Burstner, Hymer, Pilote, Roller Team Rapido and Chasson ( among others) and were disappointed in many aspects of the build quality, and most were built on Fiat chassis, and after having 4 Fiat cars, I am not impressed with their build quality either, especially their electrics!
I've also owned Mercedes and BMW cars, and they weren't as good as I expected.
I'm not defending AS, we have had our fair share of problems with our van, I just think most things built nowadays has a short life expectancy. ( by the manufacturer)

Hi. I think it is accepted that in a complex world we live in things will go wrong.
However its how the problems are dealt with that we have issues with.
Some of the faults that are reported could be easily seen and fixed by a pre delivery inspection.

Regards

Micky

ajrm wrote:If you visit a few more Motorhome forums, you will soon see that most motorhomes, whatever the make and cost suffer from poor workmanship and breakages.  

On one forum I visit, I noticed a post in a thread on quality that stated ''if you have Dometic or Truma appliances, you will have problems in any van''. I think if you add Thetford, Whale and Sargent to that list then you've pretty well covered it all.

Off thread but relevant.  
  My new O2 phone had a problem with the volume.I persevered as i am going deaf.
Finally asked the local shop to check.
Yes its faulty.Will send it away 10 to 14 days.Do you need a loan phone. No, I have two.
3 msgs and tracking info sent.  Back to day after 5 days including week end. Letter to confirm all is well and phone call to see if it was all as expected.  That's customer service.

It can be done.  ( its a 40 pound phone)


Micky

Our wet locker door is attached so badly that the panel-gaps would make Trabant blush; the supplying dealer told me "some are like that" and inspired me with no confidence that they would not make it worse if they tried to fix it; they could not fit the van in for seven weeks, being "very busy doing repairs". I had already been fired-off by them when the van was 3 days old and the seat would not recline: "you'll have to take it to Mercedes" they said! (Edit: see separate thread from some while back).

So I did an 80 mile round trip to Marquis last week, (who told me on the phone that they could fix five issues under the warranty):
Hartal door adjustment- been wrong since the van was picked up; they decided this was not a warranty issue!
Wet locker Door adjustment- they decided this was a warranty issue but I would have to take it back to the supplying dealer!
Speaker- been duff since day 1; they ordered a new one.
Wardrobe door catch, sometimes will not release; they ordered a new one (can you imagine them not having this in stock?)!
TV aerial cable clips on roof- all come unstuck in hot weather; they decided this was not a warranty item!

So I came home with none of the jobs done.

I was under the van looking at the wet-locker door yesterday; it's cock-eyed because one of the hinges has been fitted the wrong way round!

£60k+ A-S purchase, customer service 2/10.
£25k second-hand AUDI, customer service 11/10.

Go figure.

The part about the seat and Mercedes is correct, I have found my local Mercedes dealer fantastic for after sales service.

As to the rest of it words fail me apart from dreadful service!

Same old story, a little extra care at PDI and these things wouldn't happen.

groundhog wrote:The part about the seat and Mercedes is correct, I have found my local Mercedes dealer fantastic for after sales service.

As to the rest of it words fail me apart from dreadful service!

Same old story, a little extra care at PDI and these things wouldn't happen.

Not quite correct: Auto-Sleepers broke the seat mechanism when fitting the covers! Alan Currie at A-S admitted this and got it fixed when we were in the Cotswolds. Totally agree about M-B customer service; excellent.

As for PDI; I was given the PDI sheets from Mercedes to A-S for the base unit, every box ticked, in ink, by Mercedes.
I also received copies of the PDI from dealer to customer; in fact I received my copy, the dealer's copy and the one which should have gone back to A-S... none of the boxes ticked, not a mark on them! Of course I should have picked up on this in the, very-rushed, handover but I did not find these papers until we were away in the van.

Nothing ticked off and no dealer stamps at all with my paperwork.

John.

I had a whole folder full of ticked boxes. A page for the base vehicle, individual tick sheets and certificates for the gas and electrics, a whole sheet for the conversion and a 2 hour handover. 
Didn't stop things going wrong/ breaking/falling off/ coming apart!

Pete Taylor wrote:Our wet locker door is attached so badly that the panel-gaps would make Trabant blush; the supplying dealer told me "some are like that" and inspired me with no confidence that they would not make it worse if they tried to fix it; they could not fit the van in for seven weeks, being "very busy doing repairs". I had already been fired-off by them when the van was 3 days old and the seat would not recline: "you'll have to take it to Mercedes" they said! (Edit: see separate thread from some while back).

So I did an 80 mile round trip to Marquis last week, (who told me on the phone that they could fix five issues under the warranty):
Hartal door adjustment- been wrong since the van was picked up; they decided this was not a warranty issue!
Wet locker Door adjustment- they decided this was a warranty issue but I would have to take it back to the supplying dealer!
Speaker- been duff since day 1; they ordered a new one.
Wardrobe door catch, sometimes will not release; they ordered a new one (can you imagine them not having this in stock?)!
TV aerial cable clips on roof- all come unstuck in hot weather; they decided this was not a warranty item!

So I came home with none of the jobs done.

I was under the van looking at the wet-locker door yesterday; it's cock-eyed because one of the hinges has been fitted the wrong way round!

£60k+ A-S purchase, customer service 2/10.
£25k second-hand AUDI, customer service 11/10.

Go figure.

I bought a Swift caravan from Louth the dealer has Bessacars  made for him when I went to collect it the habitation door was sticking out at the bottom ,the technician said come and look  at these others so I looked and yes they were the same, and I said they may be like that but mine is not going to be like that , they spent 2 hours working overtime !! to correct it, and correct it they did

Tony A