What would you like to see from Auto-Sleepers

groundhog wrote:Mercedes chassis on a tag axle to avoid the overhang as in the burford. Then I could have a rear lounge plus front dinette like my old Bessacarr E795. Rear U shape lounge which also makes a base big enough to convert to a proper bed by adding a memory foam mattress plus front dinette. Like Gromit if the seats will not take 6' 3" I am not interested!

Mind you I guess it would need Mercedes to make the chassis first.... ......

Or a Swift Kontiki 649 on a Mercedes chassis.....

But now the new Fiat/Peugeot automatic is available perhaps my view would change. Still want a van with a big lounge though.

re: the OP 'wish list' on new (innovative?) design/layout moving forward, youre not going to see this from AS...
it has its market customers who, generally, dont want change (the common layouts are already in the catalog) other than a new range of upholstery colours and the addition of the latest techno gadgets and appliances.
the other Trigano group marques (especially Benimar) are flying the 'continental charge' towards UK customers, where i suspect their customers are a much younger demographic.
however, the increased use of technology doesnt seem to have been a success, whether its the MB issues or the Sargent panels and poor integration with the devices they are supposed to 'manage'....
so, if AS arent in the vanguard for drop down beds everywhere and large scooter garages, where do they need to focus...?
the last couple of posts seem to give a pretty stark answer....make their well liked designs work as they should for the customer.
their products arent cheap, with PVCs in the low £60k, and another £10k for a Corinium (£70k+) and a further £10k (low £80k) for Burford...this is now serious money.
at this level, drawers shouldnt be misaligned or have fronts falling off, nor should microwaves be 'held in place' by a few tiny screws: designed to fail...
...and whats wrong with pressing a button on the Truma controller to turn the heating on? why does anyone need another (master) panel that 'seamlessly integrates all appliances'....but doesnt...
technology is great....when it works, and more tech requires more 'PDI' testing to ensure it does what its designed to do.
leaving customers to be the real world test bed cant be the way to endear them...

as above, i dont see radical design change from AS, but of they had any interest in customer reaction via forums like this, they need to take a long hard look at the way some vans are reaching customers.
if the 'design budget' isnt going on 'new design' then it needs to be added to the (very small?) 'quality control' budget to haul this element up to a level that gives a modicum of credence to that rather heady strapline 'motorhomes of excellence'.

I'm forced to agree with Bolero Boy again, but I would go a bit further.

Since (as he was too polite to say) many A/S vans are owned by old farts, most of whom are very familiar with real metal switches and other Stone Age technology, why not go back to it where practical?

With modern touch panels and the like, if anything goes wrong you are comprehensibly stuffed until you can get a complete and usually very expensive replacement . . . which you probably can't fit yourself, so there's more cash down the drain!

If a metal switch fails, you pull it out and wind the wires together until you can buy a new one for a few pennies.

As I recently said somewhere else, the fact that it can be done is not always a good reason for doing it that way!!

To give one simple example, I can't imagine how my watering can is ever likely to go wrong!! 

U

bolero boy wrote:re: the OP 'wish list' on new (innovative?) design/layout moving forward, youre not going to see this from AS...
it has its market customers who, generally, dont want change (the common layouts are already in the catalog) other than a new range of upholstery colours and the addition of the latest techno gadgets and appliances.
the other Trigano group marques (especially Benimar) are flying the 'continental charge' towards UK customers, where i suspect their customers are a much younger demographic.
however, the increased use of technology doesnt seem to have been a success, whether its the MB issues or the Sargent panels and poor integration with the devices they are supposed to 'manage'....
so, if AS arent in the vanguard for drop down beds everywhere and large scooter garages, where do they need to focus...?
the last couple of posts seem to give a pretty stark answer....make their well liked designs work as they should for the customer.
their products arent cheap, with PVCs in the low £60k, and another £10k for a Corinium (£70k+) and a further £10k (low £80k) for Burford...this is now serious money.
at this level, drawers shouldnt be misaligned or have fronts falling off, nor should microwaves be 'held in place' by a few tiny screws: designed to fail...
...and whats wrong with pressing a button on the Truma controller to turn the heating on? why does anyone need another (master) panel that 'seamlessly integrates all appliances'....but doesnt...
technology is great....when it works, and more tech requires more 'PDI' testing to ensure it does what its designed to do.
leaving customers to be the real world test bed cant be the way to endear them...

as above, i dont see radical design change from AS, but of they had any interest in customer reaction via forums like this, they need to take a long hard look at the way some vans are reaching customers.
if the 'design budget' isnt going on 'new design' then it needs to be added to the (very small?) 'quality control' budget to haul this element up to a level that gives a modicum of credence to that rather heady strapline 'motorhomes of excellence'.

Completely agree. Raising their game seems the obvious direction of travel, we’re not talking rocket science but simply a ruthless commitment to improving quality at all stages of production, oversight and delivery.

Sadly though I can’t see that happening yet. Sales of motorhomes have been energised by CV19 so there seems little incentive for improvement. When AS shut down at the start of the pandemic and things looked bleak back in April, I naively hoped it might prompt some changes. Maybe it did, who knows?  Many businesses have been forced into making radical changes just to survive, but I’m not hopeful the UK motorhome industry in general, nor AS in particular, are among them. Very sad, it could be so much better!

Tim

two really good posts.
It is so much the same with many vehicles, not just the motorhome.
Our eight year old Worcester is now worth about £35k, I could have two of those for the same price as a new Winchcombe which is exactly the same layout and does exactly the same thing. Of course I accept the new van would have a better chassis and more electronic wizardry but is that really worth £35k or double the price! If you compare the vans I have cab steps, doors in to the under bench lockers and I would argue possibly a better build quality. 
It is the same with our cars, our shopping and running around car is a Mercedes Brabus Estate, now 11 years old only done 35000 miles, it is worth around £8k. To get a new one will cost me nearer £80K for something I know will require a computer genius to fix it and will require constant attention where my old girl just keeps going. That is 10 times the cost and as soon as it leaves the lot £20K goes down the drain. I must be a miserly old grump but just can't see the point of burning cash like that even if you could afford it.

Like Chris I don't see A/S  as progressive in design so they need to have something to justify the cost of what is claimed to be a van of excellence and they are not doing it with customer service or pdi by all accounts.

If I change my van or car now it will be to get something different, something that excites me, it doesn't need to be operated from my phone, have doors that unlock themselves as you approach, say goodmorning to me and I am quite capable of putting the keys in the ignition to make it go. I just want the thing to work and if it breaks have half a chance of doing a temporary repair. For now I see nothing out there that comes close to fitting the bill.

RCB. This is can old thread ,but very relavent today.
I see that NW is recognised as an Auto Sleepers centre of Excellance and only 11 miles away.
Why such bad customer service?
Surely they will loose customers if they carry on like this.


Micky

Contact telephone numbers on their website would be more than useful.