Whilst away on holiday a Hex shaft on my 5 year old Motor Mover snapped in the 'on' position. It transpires that this is a not unknown phenomena as the original shaft had a hole drilled through it for some form of pin and this is where it snaps. I rang Powertouch and was given advice on how to remove it. I then arranged for a fitter to meet me at a convenient site and fit a new one at a cost of £80. The fitter arrived and spent a good hour trying to fit the new shaft which I thought didn't look right. The new one has been designed differently, I wonder why!! Anyway, after much huffing and puffing he rang Powertouch to be told that the new shaft is incompatable with the old style so that your 'Powerbar' (thats the thing that allows you to connect both sides at once from any side) no longer fits and that I needed to purchase another Hex shaft for the other side. I was gobsmacked. 5 years old and obsolete, it's ridiculous. Who in their right mind designs a part that no longer fits the rest of the equipment. I have e-mailed Powertouch to voice my disappointment but have not had the courtesy of a reply.
Should have bought a Rhyno Sorry couldn't resist it it's just that we hear so much about Powrtouch's fantastic service, my query on that is that to know about fantastic service something has to have gone wrong (I'm not cynical honest )
------------- Bill
For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013
Bill, I absolutely agree. We went for Rhyno too, having been but off by the number of people we spoke to who had experience of how Powertouch dealt with problems! We have never had reason to regret our decision.
I agree with all your comments. The fact that they have also chosen to not even acknowledge my e-mail just shows their arogance and I won't even consider them in future. It is quite apparent that the original design of the part was less than satisfactory but to change the alignment of the part with the original so that a powerbar cannot be used with an old shaft and a new design shaft beggars belief.
Update: Still no reply to my e-mail so I rang them this morning and spoke to their 'Technical' department. I am informed that I have 2 options : 1. Remove Powerbar. 2. Buy another new Hex Shaft to replace a totally serviceable one. Apparently I should have been informed of this when I ordered the replacement in the first place. I did point out that I had contacted them twice, firstly their Technical Dept to obtain advice on how to remove the mover from the on position, who in turn then advised me to speak to Sales to order the new shaft, and secondly to Sales themselves, none of whom mentioned that 2 shafts would be required.I was also told that if I feel strongly about it then I could write to them. I pointed out that I had in fact done that and had not had the courtesy of a reply. He then went on to explain that e-mails go to a central server and are then handled by a manager who dishes them out to the relevent department, or not in this case and I will eventually receive a reply, although I am sure that it will just contain what I already know. I also asked if they had thought about making an adapter for the Powerbar but apparently this would add to much weight.
I shall of course update this post should I ever receive any correspondence from them but it makes their Quality statement a little shallow. Quote 'It is the policy of Powrwheel Limited that the quality of our products and service is our top priority and is essential to the provision of customer satisfaction'. Unquote.
Latest : I mentioned the problem to my son who is a tool setter and he said he would take a look for me. Result - Powerbar is back on the van and in full working order after being removed by Powertouch engineer. Makes you wonder if it was all just to get me to part with more money. Guess where I won't be shopping in future.
We have a fairly steep 1 in 5 driveway and its very dicey getting the van on and off manually. We decided the safest option would be a motor mover.
We had a Rhyno fitted and to be perfectly honest it was utter junk. It struggled to get up the slope, tore chunks out of the tyres and was frankly dangerous because halfway up the slope it lost grip and I had to quickly jam the hand break on. Talk about a heart stopping moment!!! Crazy.
We rang Rhyno who basically told us the movers aren't designed to go up slopes as steep as ours. What rubbish, their sale blurb stated it was good for a 1 in 4. We pressed for a refund but were refused because we'd had it fitted for over 3 months and they couldn't offer a superior product. Eventually we resigned ourselves to just using the mover to position the van on the flat and carried on using our old car and man handling the van method to get it on the driveway.
At the time we thought all movers are probably useless at steeper hills but earlier this year we bought a van with a powrtouch fitted and to our absolute delight and surprise it handles our driveway with no issues whatsoever.
Having said this we did have a problem with the controller circuit mounted in the van. There was one years warranty left from the previous owner so I rang powrtouch and they arranged to replace the faulty board. Took about a week and the mover worked perfectly again.
Ailuro - I have no problem with the Mover itself, it does what I need it to do. The problem lies in the advice I was given on 3 seperate occassions and that was that 2 new shafts were required as a change to the design had been made thus making it incompatable with the Powerbar. Had I taken that advice at face value, as I wonder just how many others have, then I would have bought and had fitted a part that was not required. I chose Powertouch because of their 5 year warranty and on recommendations. I have never had a need to call them with a warranty problem. I do however resent being given inaccurate information and a "take it or leave it attitude".
In your case, did you speak to Trading Standards? Sadly in my experience most companies hope that you are ignorant of your rights and that you will either accept what they tell you or you will get fed up getting nowhere. I am a believer in companies accepting their responsibilities and honouring their agreements/warranties and any other claims they may use to sell goods.
We had a rhyno on our last van and it handled our 1 in 5 driveway no problem although the fitter did say that he hadn't actually seen one used on a drive so steep. The bessacar is heavier than our old van, but the fact that chunks were coming off the tyres suggests that the mover was turning ok but perhaps not fitted properly. Who fitted it for you?
I know you we're pleased with your Rhyno Brian but ours is utter crap too, We have even had a replacement from them but is still rubbish. They fobbed me off for months that it was my battery, circuit board, remote, I even purchased a battery from them and its still junk, even the replacement mover they eventually fitted is still the same and it was them that fitted it.
I spoke to 3 different mobile service engineers and they all said the same, they won't even fit them as they as rubbish.
------------- Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
There are always people with any brand who have bad experiences, hence this thread. I am sure there fitters who say all brands are rubbish except the ones they stock. They are after all just electric motors and gearboxes. At least rhyno have metal gears unlike some makes which use plastic gears.
Quote: Originally posted by Jerry+Tina on 30/7/2011
In your case, did you speak to Trading Standards? Sadly in my experience most companies hope that you are ignorant of your rights and that you will either accept what they tell you or you will get fed up getting nowhere. I am a believer in companies accepting their responsibilities and honouring their agreements/warranties and any other claims they may use to sell goods.
We chased them around for a couple of months and got fed up. The mover did work fine on gentle slopes and of course the flat so we did have some good use out of it when setting up on various pitches. But for the ultimate purpose of buying the mover, it failed.
Quote: Originally posted by brianconwy on 30/7/2011
We had a rhyno on our last van and it handled our 1 in 5 driveway no problem although the fitter did say that he hadn't actually seen one used on a drive so steep. The bessacar is heavier than our old van, but the fact that chunks were coming off the tyres suggests that the mover was turning ok but perhaps not fitted properly. Who fitted it for you?
Robinsons Caravans fit the mover. After the episode with the mover loosing grip and sliding down our driveway we had the installation checked and it was given the all clear.
PS. The Rhyno was fitted to a Compass Rallye which was 950kg unladen. A pretty light caravan by all means. The Bessacarr has the powrmover and is 1350kg unladen.
Those of you with Powertouch Movers over 5 years old may have the old style Hex shafts fitted. The chances of one snapping are pretty remote as only one of mine has failed, however the other one is still going strong. Newer Powertouch Movers have the new style Hex shafts fitted but I do not know when this change took place. Just beware if one of yours fails and they try and convince you to buy a pair that it is not necessary.
As for the Rhyno movers I cannot comment as I have never owned one but I must admit that the comments from opposite ends of the spectrum are interesting.
I have read all of the above and feel I should put in my twopenny worth. Our Powrtouch mover started to skid on the tyres so lose function. I called the maligned tech dept., who were very helpful and promised a call back - which duly came, promised a call from one of their site engineers - which duly came. Engineer, a Mr Shepherd phoned day before appt. to confirm, arrived on time, as promised. Diagnosed stripped rollers - ours being the older bonded type, at least 6 years old, Rollers changed, unit serviced and tested. No rush,no fuss, just good service from someone who knew what he was doing and he had the courtesy to explain exactly what he was doing and why.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Powertouch Movers
Sorry couldn't resist it it's just that we hear so much about Powrtouch's fantastic service, my query on that is that to know about fantastic service something has to have gone wrong (I'm not cynical honest )
