we bought a new sprite in june went out in it first night charger dies ok so its a new van things go wrong. picked it up from dealers put in storage no probs
2 weeks ago pick van up drive 5 hours get to site alls good (first time since repair we been out).... 3 hours later burning smell and no 12 volts again but this time we have no fridge no nothing as it is worse than just the charger!!!!!
calls dealer today for update god damn factories are closed for 3-4 weeks so they are not expecting new part till may be august late ...
heres my dilema only have 2 more bookings 1 for 7 th and of course the bhols ........
so i will have a new van parked in dealers for the only times i can go away ......
any ideas on what i should do i feel like telling them i want a different make of new van or is that me being unreasonable????
after all i paid 13k and now have lost 1 week off work with no hols and afer the 2 planned outings van be back in storage untill next year due to work commitments .
am i being silly or should i just bite my tounge and have no holidays this year????? what do you think?
ps after seeing advice on here i took some finance out with the van so they have an interest in it as well
According to announcement from Swift.......The Swift factory is shut 24th July to 17th August. For the 1st and 3rd weeks of this period there will be a skeleton staff working to support dealers, so it could be possible to get spares during this time.
Be firm but nice (if you follow me) shouting gets you nowhere, but let them know that you want a van that is fully working intime for the holidays you have booked and that the state of problems in your new van is unacceptable.Point out that You have paid for something in good faith that is only a few weeks old and is not safe to use properly and could so easily have ended up on fire had you not been around and smelt the smouldering wiring. Let them also know that if you cannot go on your holidays in your van or an alternative van provided by them you will be claiming reinbursement for the difference between the site fees paid and any other alternative accomodation fees you incur through taking your holiday elsewhere as you are unable to chop and change the dates already booked with the company you work for.
remember be polite but be firm, and put it in writing as well making a couple of copies.
Another avenue open to you is to contact swift themselves,They are one of the few dealers that are members of a couple of forums and you can pm and email them.They do seem to have reponded to problems that they have been made aware of in the past.
According to Swift, if your dealer has ordered the new parts, it would depend on what it is that is required. They do have some staff there and their electrical suppliers are not shut.
Your dealer needs to submit a warranty claim and press for a response and parts.
If your van is new, and has now failed twice i would be demanding a replacement rather than repair, as the Van was "not of merchantable quality" If your dealer has the one you want, then that should be a lot quicker than waiting for a part.
Alternatively invite them to remove the required bits from one of their shiny showroom vans.
You should not be disadvantaged by the shoddy quality of your new van.
Do not be fobbed off with excuses about what is happening at the factory. Your contract is with the dealer, not them. The problems at the factory are the dealers, and not yours.
I would be looking for the dealer to be lending me a van to cover for my booked holiday, this should be the dealers problem not yours, even more so as its a new van.
------------- "PACESETTERS" German Shepherd dog display team, we are out and about raising money for guide dogs.
I can confirm we do have chargers in stock at Swift, and are able to send these out over the three week shutdown period. If you want to give the owner our contact details, we / I can arrange this.
Thanks,
Ash
However you say it is more than the charger, if you have details you can contact them directly, will see if I can find the correct contact details.
thanks jennifer i will be calling the dealer tomorrow and i will also call swift first as the dealer have told me that swift have had so many returns they have none left to send out so i can smell that one from here i am very worried though as the smoke was coming from the back of the fuse box not the charger and they are not close toghether so wasnt one passing to the other .
we also can not steal the one from there shiny new van as that is the one we took last time and i went straight to the van and check it is still missing .
i can see a long drawn out battle but no shouting ahead thanks every one for all your advice so far
"Black smoke from the fusebox is not normal, and suggests that his issue is not charger related. If you can get a message to him, I would suggest not to power the caravan (and remove the leisure battery fuse) until this is properly checked by his dealer in the morning.
Ash "
I said your van is with the dealer already, do you know what parts he has ordered?
You might be interested in a letter printed in the August edition of The Caravan Club magazine. I won't type out the entire letter, but it relates to an owner of a Swift, who also had charger faults. It's reported that their dealer has had problems with about 50 chargers from various manufacturers (not just Swift) and one individual had got through three units.
The following is the comment/reply from Swift:
Swift can confirm that the supplier of the battery chargers has made us aware of a potential problem with the transformers built into the charger units. We are currently working with the supplier to ensure that any reported issues are resolved quickly, with as little inconvenience as possible to our customers. A process has been put into place to help our dealers resolve any issues as quickly as possible. The charging unit will need to be returned to us at the Swift Group along with a warranty claim detailing the fault. Once we have received the charger, we will replace the transformer within the unit and return the charger to your dealer within a 48 hour period.
Please be assured that we are aware that this issue is causing inconvenience to our customers and we are working hard to resolve any reported faults.
thanks jennifer you can remove said email adress now i am currently awaiting the dealers response tomorrow to see what cock and bull they can make over night then i will send direct to ash thanks youve been a real help this site should be renamed to members fixed it club as no ,atter who what where when or how some one is always around for tip top advice even if some times things do get heated
Keep us updated, hope it gets sorted in time for your holiday.
The burning smell bit sounds bad, and lack of fridge.
Losing just a charger is not so bad, that happened twice on our old van, we carry a separate charger as a back up, also a spare pump and a small fan heater in case of heating problems. And of course a good supply of fuses,light bulbs etc.
Problem is, vans are getting more and more complicated. Luckily my OH is very good with electrics, we always travel with a full tool kit, so there isn't much he can't fix.
i agreee jennifer last time the charger went i just popped out and put a car charger on and 12v still worked fine but this time nothing works even the panel to check voltages was just flickering but my battery was fine as i moved van next day with mover ... the fridge is one of those new thetford i think and is all digital and when 12v goes off display goes off we could cope with every thing ie no water but no fride with a week away is hard pushed and no lights n middle of van for kids we have only 2 240 lights that work above the settees at the bar end no lights in broom all 12 volts.
again thanks for your support i just had to get help b4 i jumped in car and got arrested at the dealers!!! lol
Quote: Originally posted by jennifernn on 29/7/2009
Keep us updated, hope it gets sorted in time for your holiday.
The burning smell bit sounds bad, and lack of fridge.
Losing just a charger is not so bad, that happened twice on our old van, we carry a separate charger as a back up, also a spare pump and a small fan heater in case of heating problems. And of course a good supply of fuses,light bulbs etc.
Problem is, vans are getting more and more complicated. Luckily my OH is very good with electrics, we always travel with a full tool kit, so there isn't much he can't fix.
Sorry I have to disagree, I used to design these things many years ago, and these circuits are designed for thousands of hours of use - something like a minimum of 5 years continuous use in a confined cabinet. If they fail in a caravan in normal usage then they are of a very poor design. Complain, do not just accept it.
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: help what to do!!!!
