FAULTS ON A BRAND NEW BOURTON

Hi all where to begin, we have had three brand new A/S, our current one is a Bourton. We like the design and layout of the A/S. All have been on Mercedes and the workmanship is first class.

We picked our current one up in may 2022, from SMC in Newark, this was the only dealer that had one available at the time. All the other dealers were quoting a years wait. Although we live in Essex we thought it would not be a problem as we new the quality of A/S was superb. How wrong we were.

The faults started as soon as we picked it up. The Truma heating system kept throwing up an error code which said the sensor or cable was faulty. Took it back to SMC they changed the sensor and tested the cable. Everything should be fine now. In the mean time I have cured all the creaks and rattles that you get with a new van. A little while later the heating fault is back. Back we go to SMC they can't find anything wrong it was working fine. Get home and the fault comes back again. Six times we have been back, they changed the p/c board and changed the position of the sensor this resulted in the heating not working at all.

On top of this the fridge developed a fault, the water gauges stopped working which meant the auto filler system stopped working, back to SMC. They decided to keep the van for a few days to rectify and monitor the faults. They gave us a car to get home and said they would deliver the van back to our home in Essex.

It arrived home on Friday. The heating appears to be working correctly, they replaced the wiring between the sensor and the heating unit. The fridge is also working correctly. Other small faults were put right.

However the water sensors are still not working which means the auto fill is not working. On top of that the water tank has now got a leak.

We still like the van but are very apprehensive about going out in it, wondering what else is going to go wrong with it. That's assuming all the faults will be put right.

Would I buy another one at £97,000 I am not sure that I would.

We feel the same way about buying another new one from AS! But!! The one we had, which has just been stolen, took us a long time to get sorted out and we are not sure we can face all that again! Nothing seems to have changed over the years!!
Problem is, we really like the layout we had!

This is a recurring post on here, sadly.
Personally I wouldn't buy any motorhome less than 2 yrs old.
By then, poor folks like you will have gone through all you currently are and by the time its all fixed it'll be, perhaps, 2 yrs old.
Fair chance that by then you'll have lost the love for it and sell it, which is why, unfortunately, a 2 yrs old is much better than new imho.
Sorry for all your problems.......

We used up the 3 year warranty trying to get everything sorted, then gave up and fixed it myself!

I completely agree, the thought of going through rectifying all the faults on a new van is terrifying.

We have bought four brand new vans over the years, three A/S and one Hymer, they were all delivered with numerous faults.

The trouble is all the components are manufactured and not tested.
The motorhome builders fit them and do not test them.
The dealers get the vans and nothing is tested.
The customer then buys them and then they are used for the first time. They then find all the faults and go back to the dealer.
After about a year, after a lot of frustrating arguments, the van starts to settle in and most of the faults are rectified.
If all the components were tested as they are manufactured and the builders did a quality check on completion, then the dealers did a PDI. the customers should get a trouble free van from the offset.
As this is not done the customer gets fed up and then sells the van.

The answer is, as has already been said. buy one that is two years old you will save a lot of money and get the full enjoyment from day one.

Hopefully my Bourton will soon be trouble free and I will be able to start enjoying it without the constant fear of something going wrong.

Good news, after the fifth and sixth years all the appliances start to fail again - just as they do in the home.

Peter Brown wrote:Good news, after the fifth and sixth years all the appliances start to fail again - just as they do in the home.

Buy at two years old and sell after three years,

We had a whole catalogue of problems on our new Stanton, also purchased from SMC. With help from Shaun in the service department and his extensive knowledge, I was able to solve and rectify most of them myself, but also had the long trip back to SMC for him to examine some where he had to carry out tests.

With our new Bourton we have had a lesser number of problems, but have managed to rectify all of them myself, with some excellent help and assistance from Auto-Sleepers. (As the saying goes "If you want a job done properly..........")

We also had tank gauges fail, but thorough cleaning and flushing of the tanks seems to make them work again. 

Of course, the big question is, should we be expected to accept a large number of defects when spending an eye watering amount of money? Of course, the answer is no, but what is the alternative. For us, the layout in the Bourton, combined with the superior Mercedes Sprinter, is currently unique and perfectly suits our needs. Reading elsewhere, such problems are not confined to Auto-Sleepers. Even the premium German makes are nowhere near perfect.

We bought our 2019 Bourton in Oct 2020 when it was just over 18 months old, and with 2k miles recorded.
At that time the main issue was that it didn't have any internal blinds because AS couldn't get them. They were reinstalled by AS under warranty in early 2021. (Fortunately we paid for the warranty to be transferred over)
In terms of faults and failures, 
The control panel for the fridge failed and was replaced under warranty by AS


In Nov 2021 The Main EZS unit ( the ECU in English) on the sprinter failed and was replaced under warranty by Mercedes
The front and rear calipers were replaced under a Merc recall, and auto wipers operation including a new windscreen were fitted under another recall.
In Feb 2022 at the annual habitation service, the crack in the body around the front lounge window was discovered 
This was repaired in April, bu cracked again in May.
It will be repaired again in April 2023

In June 2022 the seal around the over lounge roof light failed and we got water ingress. AS replaced it FOC even though the 3 yr warranty had technically expired.
Our only outstanding issue now is the tank level
Indicator on fresh water indicates 50% full even though the 2 X fresh water tanks are definitely empty. Any ideas anyone?
I have to say that throughout our ownership and the problems, the customer service that we have received from AS has been outstanding.
As to the Burton, both my wife and I love it despite the issues. It is a pleasure to drive, especially on less crowded European roads and the layout works really well for us both.
It could do with more storage space, but whatever motorhome you buy, there is a compromise to be made somewhere..
Happy touring.
Boggie

The saga continues on our Bourton, SMC returned our van after repairing the heating and fridge (they seem to be working properly now). The other thing was the fresh water gauge showed it being full even though the tank was empty. I checked this when the van was returned and it was still the same, on top of this the tank was now leaking.

I arranged for the van to go back again, on the way back to Newark one of the gas burners would not stay alight. We took it into SMC the next day, they put a complete new loom on the water tank sensors and repaired the leak. (that appears to be working correctly now).

They then tell me about the gas burner, the thermo - coupler has gone, they do not keep them in stock but they can get one the following day. The bad news is they have to take the cooker out completely then take the cooker apart which involves drilling out pop rivets to get to the part. Total time for the job FIVE HOURS.

With the possibility that the parts might not arrive until 12 noon this would mean another two nights in Newark.

We  decided to come home and are taking it back next week.
As well as the time ( three days each time we take it in ), the cost of each trip in diesel and C/L is £120.

We will have been back eight times now TOTAL COST £960.

We are undecided whether to keep it or sell it. Its not six months old yet.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO.

If you intend to carry on motorhoming - see it through and keep what you've got. We've had faults with all vans we acquired whether 5 years old, one year old or new. All the serious faults we had with out Malvern were with the Mercedes chassis - fuel injectors and brakes.

I had some faults on my then brand new Corinium Duo, in my opinion the vehicle should have never left the factory as they were both fairly damming.

The fitment of the fibreglass to the metal cab was particularly bad, the response from Marquis was "we've seen that a few times but haven't really been able to sort" so I decided to fix that myself with a very successful result - no squeaking at all.

Would I buy an AS again, no is the answer to that in fact I have now sold it and downsizing to a Knaus Boxdrive ME680 shortly, will that be any different only time will tell.

wilksy wrote:I had some faults on my then brand new Corinium Duo, in my opinion the vehicle should have never left the factory as they were both fairly damming.

The fitment of the fibreglass to the metal cab was particularly bad, the response from Marquis was "we've seen that a few times but haven't really been able to sort" so I decided to fix that myself with a very successful result - no squeaking at all.

Would I buy an AS again, no is the answer to that in fact I have now sold it and downsizing to a Knaus Boxdrive ME680 shortly, will that be any different only time will tell.

That is Marquis for you, only interested in taking your money. I would never buy anything from them again.

With regard to Marquis, they offered us £10,000 less in part exchange than other dealers and £8,000 less the the lowest offer for outright purchase!  Blatant profiteering. I just feel sorry for others who are conned by this company. Reading reviews, they don't even offer good after sales service.

I should add to above comments, after sorting out our original problems, we are absolutely delighted with our Bourton. 

It would appear that Wandering Dave has a particularly bad example of the lack of quality control and full PDI. I do hope he manages to get everything fixed so that he too can enjoy trouble-free 2023 season.

He says he bought it as a stock vehicle. As a matter of interest, when was it actually manufactured?

grahamsb wrote:With regard to Marquis, they offered us £10,000 less in part exchange than other dealers and £8,000 less the the lowest offer for outright purchase!  Blatant profiteering. I just feel sorry for others who are conned by this company. Reading reviews, they don't even offer good after sales service.

I should add to above comments, after sorting out our original problems, we are absolutely delighted with our Bourton. 

It would appear that Wandering Dave has a particularly bad example of the lack of quality control and full PDI. I do hope he manages to get everything fixed so that he too can enjoy trouble-free 2023 season.

He says he bought it as a stock vehicle. As a matter of interest, when was it actually manufactured?

It was built in 2022, we had to wait for it to come in, picked it up in July.

I think we have just been unlucky, but we are hopefully, with the help of SMC finally getting it sorted out.

Going back next week for the cooker to be repaired. I am hoping the van will then be perfect. 

I will let you know how I get on.

The moral of this story is never buy New or anything near to new. All the hi tech in these MH's just fails so often it is very upsetting and depressing given the money you spend. Buy somthing that has switches and is circa 2000 - 2005. They are simple and tend to work

Bigplumbs wrote:The moral of this story is never buy New or anything near to new. All the hi tech in these MH's just fails so often it is very upsetting and depressing given the money you spend. Buy somthing that has switches and is circa 2000 - 2005. They are simple and tend to work

A sentiment shared by many here.

Hi everyone thought I would give you an update on this rather harrowing experience.

Just returned from my latest trip to SMC at Newark, I think this was the ninth trip.
List of things gone wrong.

HEATING SYSTEM                four trips, it is now working properly.
FRIDGE                              one trip, stopped working on gas, now working, new brick fitted.
WATER SYSTEM                   two trips, water tank leaking, new fresh water sensor loom fitted, now working correctly.
GAS COOKER                      two trips, new parts fitted, now working as it should.
HABITATION DOOR              repaired on last trip, it started too fall apart.

All this was on top of the usual groans and rattles you get with a new motorhome.

Every time we went out something new went wrong with the van, hence the reason for so many trips to SMC.

We even got to the point that we were thinking of selling it.

Hopefully that will be the end to all our bad luck and are looking forward to trouble free trips in 2023.

We live in hope.