The experience of buying a brand new camper.

kaspian wrote:The problem with A/s is they appear to have little or no quality control. They have no feedback loop from service/ warranty department  to factory floor as the same old common build  issues occur year after year and 'Mark' always seemed to know all about our latest issue. When I asked if they could be flagged up to the factory floor to avoid issue in future I swear I could see the shrug of shoulders.They display an arrogance and little customer care backed up by stingy warranties compared to other brands, even brands under the same overall ownership umbrella. All manufacturers use similar appliances , base vehicles and wood products so it is down to build quality and ultimately quality control. It should not be up to retailers to have to rebuild vans during PDI , they should leave the factory gate 100% fully tested .
.... feel a long awaited shake up is needed.

Well expressed, Kaspian.

We don't know whether A/S monitors the Forum; it certainly gives no evidence that it does. But the Forum should surely be an extraordinarily useful asset for it, as contributors are mainly critical friends of the marque.

From various threads such as this one, it's evident that there is a trend. Anectdotal evidence from a few individuals is not significant until it is so widespread and recurring as to prove the trend. And I believe that, over the last 18 months, Forum posts have established that there is a quality control problem at AS.

Cymro

Strange as this sounds but I am in Canada at this very moment 
(Niagara Falls) 
They do have what look like Peugeot fiat based vans but are badged as dodge!

groundhog wrote:

rgermain wrote:

groundhog wrote:
Sorry but it doesn't. Parked in my grounds right now is a Burstner just purchased by a neighbour, showed me the pull down bed, as he pulled it down the front fell off. Our sons Laika ( now part of Hymer) the toilet fell through the floor, I know of a Hymer which has been a can of worms and well remember the Dutchman on his way to the Neissmann and Bischoff factory for the FIFTH time after the windscreen had fallen out of his van in the latest line of failures, that is a van that cost in excess of £150,000.
German, French,British,Italian all of these vans are built out of flimsy materials to get down to a cost and a weight, some are better than others for sure but I don't believe German vans per se are the legend they are cracked up by many to be.

Do not be fooled by the Germans, friend of mine bought a brand new Dethleffs motorhome and sold it after 12 months due to water in the garage section and signs of rust, also the habitation heater never worked as it should.

My son is still waiting for VW to sort out the fraud issues with the emissions, he is hoping they buy it back like in the US
----------
Richard

The ironic thing of course is a relative has an often maligned Swift, he has owned it three years from new and never had a problem!

That's me told then.....
Point taken.
Rich..

Not at all Rich, what I am sure we all agree on is the terrible level of PDI quality which allows all these vehicles wherever they come from to hit the showrooms with so many faults.
Mt67minimotos ... That'll be a coffee or two in Tim Horton's then and for a really good meal try Cactus Club!! enjoy

Been Tim hortons a couple of times
They do a wicked cheese and ham toasted sandwich

Getting back on subject
I bought my Warwick Xl last year and yes have had problems 
It had the kitchen sink come loose,pipe work under sink came apart,carpet around rear windows both sides lifted,all I did myself as it was a pain to return
But when my habitation was due I took it to Autosleeper where I had transfers replaced and a mod on the microwave cabinet which seemed to destroy itself
I’ve had many motorhomes over the years from swift kontiki to elddis,tribute 650,and to be honest they are all much the much

Mt67minimotos wrote:Getting back on subject
I bought my Warwick Xl last year and yes have had problems 
It had the kitchen sink come loose,pipe work under sink came apart,carpet around rear windows both sides lifted,all I did myself as it was a pain to return
But when my habitation was due I took it to Autosleeper where I had transfers replaced and a mod on the microwave cabinet which seemed to destroy itself
I’ve had many motorhomes over the years from swift kontiki to elddis,tribute 650,and to be honest they are all much the much

Yes all may be much the much but the odd problem hear and there is inevitable and almost expected,whoever makes it. I think the bottom line with what posts are showing is that the odd problems currently with AS like carpet coming away from windows,self destructing microwave mounting to name only two "common"!!!! Issues are continuing to be repeated and not addressed.
As said earlier my van is at the moment with the factory to rectify for sure,quality control issues,deffective shower room wall (from build) which someone fitted and did not question or address at the time.Remis blind across windscreen not threaded through all the holes,and more.I really hope i get my van back next week in a condition it should have been from day one so i can get on with enjoying what could be a good van.
My hope is that the repair team is better than the build team.I am looking forward to posts along these lines being a thing of the past,not because there is no AS but becaues they have upped there game to match there slogan.

When we bought our Warwick xl last year my sister in law bought a autotrail Apache 
Yes I must say it’s a nice piece of kit 
But for £67k every time she has used it it’s gone back for problems
The latest is where the body is attached to the cab it’s really  out of shape
Dealer told her it’s got to go back to the factory for inspection/ repair
That’s not the worst
She has got to get it there herself and leave it 
To list other problems that spring to mind
Table fixing in the wall,water getting under the flooring so all lifting,garage fills with water every time it rains,tv aerial coming detached,cupboard doors hanging off to name but a few

Rogers "van of horrors" should be taken back by A/S and replaced with a new van. From beginning to end it's a catalogue of disasters on an epic scale and by far the worst i've ever read on this forum.

Only a few weeks ago we had fm's posting about new vans with no rear door restrictors so the first puff of wind sends door crashing into light cluster unit and demolishes it. Amazing. I had door restrictors on the first car i ever owned, a Moggie 1000 built in the 1950's.

Rogers experience is a disgrace.

kaspian wrote:I have personal experience of  this from 2015 and when I reported this to the forum at the time was almost treated by some as a heretic and burned at the stake for daring to slur their beloved brand !  Some suggested I just get a stiff upper lip, sticky back plastic and sellotape out and fix my van myself which through necessity I have done ever since. The problem is the vans are now costing upwards of 62 thousand pounds and most SANE purchasers in this price bracket have no wish or inclination  to appear as though they in constant reruns of Blue Peter with nails and glue pot out and rightly so!

I've never been able to get my head around that...what i see as the Brit psyche of "oh that looks ok....it'll do". You're right, people are shelling out serious money on these vans, only to end up with a DIY fix-it. Folk get a bit of a wobbly shelf, "slap a bit of gaffa tape on it mate....that'll fix it". This typifies the Brit peculiarity of shut up, put up and make do. New Brit vans now appear to be being sent out in kit form where the owner has to start rebuilding the damn thing.

Bought a Fairford in March this year and have had a few problems, AS didn’t want to know and eventually said they wouldn’t have any further correspondence with me! Their quality control is poor and management don’t want to know about it,  just sit there and take the money and sod the customer.

If that is the case they don`t deserve any customers, until customers complain en-mass they will just carry on, I now tell folk if they are interested in MH`s don`t buy AS new ones. older ones yes. This is completely unacceptable, what on earth is the matter with management, do they want to go under. ? It just gets worse.

I wonder are they in trouble and they have given up?

Disgusted
Margaret

Poursay wrote:AS didn’t want to know and eventually said they wouldn’t have any further correspondence with me!

You really need to be precise when you make a statement like this. Generally, manufacturers sell through dealers and it's the dealer's job to interact with the end customer. If you buy a Ford, any issues you have with the car should be addressed by the dealer - not by Ford the manufacturer.

If you really do mean that AutoSleepers have ceased to communicate with you, that is perhaps understandable - it's the job of the dealer that sold you the van to resolve issues with it. If you actually mean that the dealer that sold you the van is refusing to communicate with you, that is (IMO) appalling.

Poursay brought his problems to our attention in this thread..

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