Kingham - microwave & housing remodel

Hi all 
Like others we've had the usual issues with the microwave housing coming loose. After discussing with the dealer and Autosleeper about the proposed "fix" we decided to remove the microwave altogether. We had our last 'van for 6 years and survived without one. And as it could only be used on hook up (or generator), which was not the point of our buying this van, we figured it would be no loss. It's now in our kitchen. 

So what to do about the housing? We decided to have the housing remodelled to do away with the box that the micro sat in. This would then make the most of the view from the doorway. 

The dealer had originally said theycould do the work, then after 3 weeks decided they couldn't. Autosleeper said they would but it would need to go back to the factory but with a 5 week turnaround and chargeable (and you can imagine that bill) because it was not a warranty fix - although if we'd wanted to just have it screwed back up again it was. So that was a no-no.

Our local servicers Motorhome Service Centre in Glasgow took on the job. And we're pretty pleased with the result. We asked them to reuse the strip light underneath and they swapped out the micros isolation switch for an extra 3 pin 230v socket.

It wasn't a cheap job by any means (their carpenter spent nearly a full day on it) but it really makes a huge difference to our view and we're not worried about the micro falling on our heads anymore.

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Looks a good job, I was thinking about having this done to our Kingham. Would like to know how much it cost if you don't mind telling me
Thanks

That looks like a really neat job.  

When I bought parts from AS to fix ours I asked them to pass on my concerns to their QA department, I cannot believe they carry on with this poor design when everything is else is so good.

ymfb1 wrote:That looks like a really neat job.  

When I bought parts from AS to fix ours I asked them to pass on my concerns to their QA department, I cannot believe they carry on with this poor design when everything is else is so good.

I spoke to the AutoSleeper service department about this issue yesterday and the girl on the desk seemed oblivious that there were inherent issues with the poor design of the microwave housing and that many owners were experiencing problems?

I've sometimes pondered whether AS maintain a watch on the forum, but recurring issues like this one which are well covered here, and the surprised reaction of the service dept in the post above, would indicate they don't. I think they're missing a trick.

If I ran AS's Service Dept I'd maintain an anonymous "read-only" presence on this and other forums, as a way of gaining invaluable feedback, particularly the bigger issues that keep repeating.  When they launched the Symbol Plus last year they were keen to emphasise that its design was a direct result of listening to what potential customers wanted.  Seemingly it's less important to listen to recurring well-documented issues from actual owners, but I guess their sales are strong enough that they feel they don't need to bother.