New Warwick XL

We have now had this van for 4 months, and used it 4 times. We've had a number of number of relatively minor issues but have been back to Marquis 4 times for things rectifying. However, the issues are becoming more serious now. We now have a water system that doesn't work and a microwave door that has swung open twice during our last trip on a motorway.
Personally I find this to be a long way short of our expectations, as we expected no problems at all given their "quality motorhome" sales talk, but am curious as to what more experienced new van owners would consider normal in the first weeks and months of using their motorhome.

Perhaps you could expand on the 'water system that doesn't work'. Are we talking heater, taps, pump, hot or cold? It will help get the answers.

Thanks paulmold :

The water pump, (on this van its in the tank), suddenly stopped working ( no noise where previously you could hear it ) .. No hot or cold water whatsoever. The fuse was duly checked, I tried adjusting the whale pressure switch but to no avail. Marquis have sent a warranty claim to Autosleeper, in the mean time I wait and have a new van without a functioning water system. 

The microwave door is also quite odd. On this van its a spring catch Daewoo, no positive button to open the door as on some microwaves. Its mounted on the passenger side, hinge to the rear. Its come open twice, I'm sure this was on a left hand bend, slightly uphill so gravity, centrifugal force and a slight bump in the road caused it to open all on its own.

As you say the microwave is a Daewoo fault and I would push for an exchange. The water pump seems to be a problem with these in-tank submersible ones, several threads on here regarding those. Again I would push Marquis for a replacement NOW as the van is unuseable and not fit for purpose. They must carry them in stock as submersibles are used in thousands of caravans but I would also ask about having a Shurflo external pump fitted instead. Again there are threads on here from owners who have done this themselves. It's a pity you are far from AS factory as I'm sure you would be sorted much quicker there. Maybe have a few days in that area, obviously don't just turn up but pre-arrange to get things sorted rather than at Marquis.

As Paul mentions it might be worth the trip down to the workshops, both Jaytee and myself have been down for various van related problems.
Easy run down, I did it in my last van a 09 Nuevo in 3 1/2 hours on a Sunday .
Boaby

Messrs Daewoo and Whale both deserve a good kicking by the sound of it - but it's not the sort of problem that is exclusive to Autosleepers. None of the motorhome builders have much (if any) influence with the component suppliers, and a good many problems stem directly from them.

As Paul and Boaby have intimated, the important factor is how quickly and easily Messrs A/S will get it fixed, and I would agree that a trip to Willersey is best if possible.

I know Marquis and A/S are owned by the same parent company, but my opinion of the former is not very favourable!! I think you may need to stamp your feet a bit.

Dave

Thanks guys. I have actually written to AS today expressing my dismay at minor and now serious problems with a new van and asking if they could suggest a solution asap. I imagine a reponse will be forthcoming in a few days. I didn't realise AS and Marquis had the same parent company. So far I have not been overwhelmed by them, and they ( Marquis ) seem to have no spare parts that have been required so far.  We shall see what AS come back with. Perhaps a trip to the cotwolds would be the best plan. The bottom line is that I didn't expect any faults or problems in the early days of ownership whereas we have had seven or eight and already been back to Marquis 4 times !  This surely cannot be normal ??

It's not all that unusual I fear.

Can't entirely blame the van builders when so many faults are the result of failures in third party components - but that doesn't make it any less bloody annoying does it!!

There are a lot of different bits in a motorhome, and they have to bounce across the ubiquitous potholes in our poorly maintained roads, plus those savage little hemispherical sleeping policemen that you don't notice until it's too late. At any speed in excess of 5mph you can hear the crockery smashing behind you, and it can't do anything else much good!

Be assured that A/S are better than most, and most of us have had very positive experiences at the factory.

Dave

I have a Warwick Duo. On the first day of a four week holiday in France last year the submersible pump ceased operating. Not a dribble. I was less than pleased. Upon my return the dealer (Dolphin) looked at it and said something had become disconnected in the tank (You will note I am not technical) and repaired it. A few weeks later, on a greenfield site, the taps started spluttering badly. I was advised to adjust the pressure switch which is very sensitive. It resolved it for an hour or so then developed the same fault. I took the van back to Dolphin who had it for a day. The outcome was I could have a new submersible pump.....but would that fail? Or they offered me an external pump. How was I to judge. I asked the technician what he thought.....unofficially you understand. And of course without quite saying it his body language and general demeanour was "go for the external pump". It was also clear that I was not the only customer to have had the problem. The external pump is louder than operation than the submersible but it has one definite advantage ....... It works! Good luck.

Thanks for the responses. I am coming to the conclusion that the in tanks pumps can be problematic and not convenient to replace when they go wrong. I will have to enquire if another option is suitable for the Warwick XL as space in the locker is already limited. I think I would prefer a pump in the van to one under the floor in the tank.

Most of our issues on our new van (now two years old) have been A/S parts and workmanship not third party, so far! Perhaps we have that to come! Most people on this forum are aware of some of the issues we have had and how Mark and his team at A/S have come to the rescue and sorted them out. I have kept quiet about most of the issues we had over the past 2 years as it would not be fun to dwell on them. At the moment we are having a quiet period so let's hope it continues. Happy days? One day I may reveal the full list on this forum. I must admit at times we have been so down and disappointed. Why A/S cannot learn lessons from the the amount of warranty repair/correction work being carried out by the service guys amazes us. If they took serious note, it would take an already brilliant product up to the next level, by simply taking time to improve their quality control processes in their factory.

As has can be seen by some of the postings on this forum, the dream of owning and enjoying a beautiful motorhome in retirement is being shattered and is emotionally draining at a time of life when most of us are wanting a more relaxing way of life. I expect a certain amount of maintenance but this can be very challenging! I haven't been a member of this great forum for very long. How many others find them saying when they read the postings "Oh no, not another new A/S van with issues" I for one will not buy another new A/S van again, but I might buy a 2 year old one!

Rant over. 

Justus2, l hope you get your lovely van sorted soon, and I have said that to a few people on this forum before. 

In my opinion Mark is your man at Auto-Sleepers, he has a great understanding of the problems.

Pete

I'm in the same school as Pete, I've had that many problems with our van that it's unbelievable, but Auto Sleepers and especially Motor home plus at Derby have come up trumps.

This evening I've sent an email to my original rubbish dealer AEG motorhomes Stourbridge, who have refused to do any warranty repairs to our van because they told me that they charge £80 per hour and A/S only pay them £20 per hour.

I have been in contact with AEG for the last 3 months trying to get them to pay something towards the £265 bill I had from Peugeot.

I was getting rain water dripping down behind the dash board and I thought a Peugeot manufacturing fault, any way after a day and a half they found that whoever fitted the Cobra alarm had cut the main wiring harness grommet and pushed the alarm wiring through and not sealed the cut.

AEG say that I should have taken the vehicle back to them, but on how they treated us in the past and with us thinking it was a Peugeot problem that is why we didn't take it to them.

John.

Ps beware of dealing with AEG motorhomes.

Thanks for the replies :-) Its reassuring to know that others have also experienced some problems with new vans. I was wondering if it was us being jinxed in some way or just very unlucky, but it would appear that we are not alone. I doesn't take away the dissapointment and frustration, however, like Pete I wonder why lessons have not been learned by converting warranty repairs into improved quality control. I suspect that we have a further period of pain before all the bugs in construction come to the surface. 

I try to remind myself how thrilled we were when we first had a foot pump (for cold water only of course!) in the camp kitchen of our tent. It was absolute bliss to fill the washing up bowl with a few stamps of the foot, rather than having to heave up the massive jerry can of water and pour it in.

It's easy to feel very let down when something quite sophisticated stops working - which is one reason why some of us bewail the passing of "agricultural" technology. A good clout with a big hammer fixed most things when I was young!

I'm not entirely joking of course. We get so used to things running smoothly at the touch of a button that it's easy to forget how well appointed and luxurious motorhomes have become in only a very short time - which is why there are so many things that CAN go wrong.  (Often quite amusing to watch faces when you explain to non-motorhomers that you have hot and cold pressurised water, blown air central heating, shower, satellite TV etc..) 

Easily said I know, but it's best to try and keep a sense of proportion. Is it really a major tragedy if the water pump packs up? With the help of Sod's Law it will of course always happen on the first day of a three week holiday in France, but it doesn't have to ruin things if you don't let it.

Hmmmmmmm. Now all I need is to learn how to practice what I preach!

Dave

Quoting from the article in the latest MMM mag, Geoff Scott says ...


"Our quality levels have also improved - our warranty claims have never been lower"


Doesn't sound right does it?

IDave, very funny. Just to put into context it had been preceded three months earlier with low level battery alarms going off and boiler issues....resolved by Mark at AS. It was just the timing on the first day of the hols. It didn't spoil it at all. (Yes I have heaved water about.....and the joy of the foot pump!) we enjoyed washing our teeth in a cup full of water which was then kept for a shower later.

No it isn't just you. Our Warwick XL is approaching two years old and we have used it lots and put 16000 miles on the clock. Almost Ten percent of that mileage arose from shuttling back and forth to either the dealer or Willersey to get a couple of dozen plus warranty issues sorted out. These included all sorts of AS quality issues and some Peugeot problems that AS should have picked up but just a couple of OEM issues and some which included a fridge that didn't work at all from brand new and needed replacing before we could use the van ( this took three weeks) it also includes the opening microwave door problem. Ours was replaced and has been fine since.
I lost faith fairly quickly with the dealers service organisation but would endorse all the positive words about Mark and his team at Willersey, they must rescue AS from all sorts of problems and I hope he gets the reward he deserves.We love the van and won't be changing it in the near future. Talking to people on sites AS isn't the only converter whose marketing messages about quality aren't matched by reality.

Must agree with GCCrow in respect to AS at Willersey. Took our 4 year old Sussex Duo in for a deflating ALKO AirTop bellow change. Changed both in the end, but Mark and his team were great , great service, even repaired a window that we had difficulty sourcing the spares.

Thanks for the posts guys, encouraging to see that Willersey is the place to go to solve our problems. Shame its about 200 miles away and is a trip I could have avoided had the van been fault free. Yes I can manage without a working water system and the gaffer tape on the microwave door looks quite elegant, but in the end, these big toys cost a lot of money, and I had actually expected that it would all work as it should. The base vehicle is also a complicated bit of kit, it happens to be a Fiat, and it behaves perfectly... Now there's the kiss of death

The kiss of death? Yes ...a bit like the curse of the football commentator.

Happy to report that having contacted both Marquis and Autosleeper, and having waited a little over 3 weeks for Marquis to have a big enough time slot having been sent the parts, and having waited at and or near their dealership for 7.5 hrs whilst the van was worked on.... we now have a fully functioning water system and a brand new microwave.   At the moment, a happy bunny..

We will keep our fingers crossed for you.

Pete

Masai Warrior wrote:We will keep our fingers crossed for you.

Pete

Good luck with your repairs,,,i purchased a new van in 2008 on new shape Fiat,,(not Autosleeper)  I put up with it for 6 months,,so happy when i sold it..Have had 3 much older vans since (one 20 years old) and have used them for lengthy trips to Spain Portugal Germany etc with very little trouble. I would never buy new again or anything to technical...BUSBY65.

Masai Warrior wrote:We will keep our fingers crossed for you.

Pete

Good luck with your repairs,,,i purchased a new van in 2008 on new shape Fiat,,(not Autosleeper)  I put up with it for 6 months,,so happy when i sold it..Have had 3 much older vans since (one 20 years old) and have used them for lengthy trips to Spain Portugal Germany etc with very little trouble. I would never buy new again or anything to technical...BUSBY65.

A trip to A/S I think would be a good option, my experiance with them has been that they very helpful, they are very compassonate and understanding, well in my experience.