Quality Control....And other related stuff. (1 Viewer)

Tootles

Funster
Deceased RIP
Sep 14, 2013
9,511
34,799
Lancaster
Funster No
28,093
MH
Coachbuilt
Exp
Was a newbie, now a Middie.
And so it came to pass, that I decided that one of my missions whilst in Jockland, was to speak to other MH owners about their vans. I chose those with rather new stuff, because I wanted to see if they were happy with what they had purchased for about 40K +.
Result.........Anger, apathy and disgust.
I was really shocked. Over two weeks I must have spoken to about twenty owners, just in chat, you understand. I couldn't believe what they were saying. Supplied mattress on a new Bailey that had absorbed water like a sponge......until it was so heavy three guys had to carry it out. (this by the way was water in the air!) Another Bailey that refused to take on fresh water unless the habitation computer was re-programmed every time....Same vehicle with shower hot pipe never connected, result, flood. Two year old Bolero on it's second fuel injector rail, (both the others had holed on the high pressure side, spraying diesel down the motorway). Two year old Swift with luton front facing window, never sealed at the bottom, so that driving through puddles allowed spray to enter and drip down into the cockpit. Second hand, (and just purchased) Rapido....Their first trip away. Techtronic gearbox decided to play it's own version of 'Flight of the Bumble bee', selecting up and down several gears in seconds. Same van, water dump lever stuck in 'DUMP', with no way of closing it. Broken toilet seat, (not spotted until it was sat on). Strangely, this guy was pretty cool about things.
And so, the common denominator seemed to be.....Little or no quality control on the new vans, lack of a decent PDI on the second hand ones, but mostly the complaints seemed to rotate around this: 'No one to get in contact with, no one wants to know after you have coughed up the cash, and when you finally get through to someone from CUSTOMER CARE, no answers to your problems'.
The above is just a taster of what I was told. Doesn't make you really want to buy new, in fact, we drove onto one site in our 21 year old Hymer feeling like tramps, and drove off three days later feeling proud of our old truck. :whatthe:
 
Apr 9, 2013
663
373
Ayr
Funster No
25,458
MH
A class
Exp
Newbie
And so it came to pass, that I decided that one of my missions whilst in Jockland, was to speak to other MH owners about their vans. I chose those with rather new stuff, because I wanted to see if they were happy with what they had purchased for about 40K +.
Result.........Anger, apathy and disgust.
I was really shocked. Over two weeks I must have spoken to about twenty owners, just in chat, you understand. I couldn't believe what they were saying. Supplied mattress on a new Bailey that had absorbed water like a sponge......until it was so heavy three guys had to carry it out. (this by the way was water in the air!) Another Bailey that refused to take on fresh water unless the habitation computer was re-programmed every time....Same vehicle with shower hot pipe never connected, result, flood. Two year old Bolero on it's second fuel injector rail, (both the others had holed on the high pressure side, spraying diesel down the motorway). Two year old Swift with luton front facing window, never sealed at the bottom, so that driving through puddles allowed spray to enter and drip down into the cockpit. Second hand, (and just purchased) Rapido....Their first trip away. Techtronic gearbox decided to play it's own version of 'Flight of the Bumble bee', selecting up and down several gears in seconds. Same van, water dump lever stuck in 'DUMP', with no way of closing it. Broken toilet seat, (not spotted until it was sat on). Strangely, this guy was pretty cool about things.
And so, the common denominator seemed to be.....Little or no quality control on the new vans, lack of a decent PDI on the second hand ones, but mostly the complaints seemed to rotate around this: 'No one to get in contact with, no one wants to know after you have coughed up the cash, and when you finally get through to someone from CUSTOMER CARE, no answers to your problems'.
The above is just a taster of what I was told. Doesn't make you really want to buy new, in fact, we drove onto one site in our 21 year old Hymer feeling like tramps, and drove off three days later feeling proud of our old truck. :whatthe:

We've just bought a second hand 5 year old Hobby and one of the factors that swayed me was that the fit and finish was head and shoulders above the UK built vans. Only had one weekend away in it do far but very happy with our choice.

Tim
 
Sep 12, 2012
1,677
3,328
Wengen
Funster No
22,871
MH
A/S Broadway EL 2021
Exp
Since 2010
I reckon it's a sad reflection of today's society :Sad: The country has gone to the dogs, we're doomed!

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Allanm

Free Member
Jun 30, 2013
5,431
9,191
Cotes d'armor, France
Funster No
26,730
MH
Burstner Harmony TI 736 G
Exp
Since 1987
I suppose customer service is one of the Must Haves when you buy new or second hand vans. We bought new, have had a couple of problems that we contacted the dealer about and they were very quick to get the van in the workshop to sort them out. We are taking it in tomorrow for something else, nothing has ever stopped us using the van though, even though it's British built
The people you spoke to seem to have had very poorly finished vans. Maybe just stay away from those makes!
Just to balance things up, we saw a new Hymer tag axle model being winched onto a tow truck last week, with a distraught French family standing next to it, and a Burstner at an aire service point that wouldn't allow it's owner to empty the waste tank

Allan
 
Last edited:
May 29, 2013
2,582
18,965
Tyneside
Funster No
26,231
MH
Chausson best of Flash 10
Exp
Several years now
Am sitting touching wood as I type this, but so far, the only fault we have found on the Chausson Best of 10 is;

On the front cab curtains, they have Velcro to join them together in the middle. The Velcro was wrong handed, ie hook to hook, so it would not fasten.

Tynevalleymotors offered to get one side removed and put correct Velcro on, but we got thicker curtains anyway which kept more light out.
 
Dec 28, 2011
2,426
2,769
Stokesley, North Yorks
Funster No
19,259
MH
JoaCamp75Q by Pilote
Exp
Still learning since 2010
Read this thread Broken Link Removed and I am sure you will realise what my opinion of Quality Control is. :Angry:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

mariner

LIFE MEMBER
Nov 21, 2013
1,283
3,778
Isle of Dogs, but mostly Artola Spain.
Funster No
29,109
MH
Caravan
Exp
Since 2007. But no more.
Am sitting touching wood as I type this, but so far, the only fault we have found on the Chausson Best of 10 is;

On the front cab curtains, they have Velcro to join them together in the middle. The Velcro was wrong handed, ie hook to hook, so it would not fasten.

Tynevalleymotors offered to get one side removed and put correct Velcro on, but we got thicker curtains anyway which kept more light out.

So it was curtains for those curtains.:RollEyes:
 
Jun 30, 2010
7,921
27,186
Cornwall
Funster No
12,372
MH
1992 VW Auto sleeper Mono
Exp
Since 2005 this time
We got rid of a G reg Pilote A class cause it didn't have power steering,

I rue the day!

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

DuxDeluxe

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 10, 2008
14,627
72,220
Planet Zog
Funster No
3,243
MH
A woosh bang van
Exp
since 2008
Two recent vehicles without previous owners, one a secondhand Autosleeper with 8 miles on the clock. Well built and a few minor up issues sorted under warranty, nothing to write home about. A New Pilote with about 150 miles up - one annoying rattle with now fixed, sticky fridge catch, likewise and a loose toilet roll holder which someone had obviously tried to nick at a show (they succeeded with the toothbrush holder). It all works and quite a well built van, but with a few stupid design faults like the telly bracket means you can't close the tambour door with the telly in place (amazon basics TV Bracket did the trick - who wants a very expensive project 20000 sliding TV. Bracket?) and the ladder for the bed is at the correct foot end, but if anyone is sleeping in the third bed below, you can't use the ladder........:Doh: Quality not quite with AS, but AS don't do A class vans:Sad:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Terry

LIFE MEMBER
Dec 27, 2007
11,903
8,969
Lincolnshire
Funster No
1,075
MH
A class
Exp
Can't remember ;)
Save yourself a lot of heartache and buy Daves (snowbird)RMB van for a bit less than half what your spend is :thumb:will last you a life time and looks good :thumb:::bigsmile:
terry
 
Jun 16, 2013
1,228
820
Wiltshire
Funster No
26,522
MH
Low Profile Hymer CL 554
Exp
Since May 2014
We have only had our chausson best of 510 for a few weeks. On the very first night we realised the table had been put on the wrong way round, meaning we could not use the lower bed. Soon sorted and returned to us. The only other things are part of the loo roll holder fell off, not sure how to put it back on, and a metal plate fell of the hob. Not rushing back to the dealer with it but will get it sorted next time we are down.

Touch wood, the rest seems great. ::bigsmile:
 

Allanm

Free Member
Jun 30, 2013
5,431
9,191
Cotes d'armor, France
Funster No
26,730
MH
Burstner Harmony TI 736 G
Exp
Since 1987
Save yourself a lot of heartache and buy Daves (snowbird)RMB van for a bit less than half what your spend is :thumb:will last you a life time and looks good :thumb:::bigsmile:
terry

Now, if he had been selling it last May, I would have snatched his hand off to get a van like that.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

WAG2CRU

Free Member
May 31, 2012
376
495
Argyll
Funster No
21,266
MH
Hymer B654SL Star Edition
Exp
since2012
21 months and 18k miles in, the only faults have been a blown running light replaced under warranty without question by Hymer at a dealer who was not the supplying dealer, and a bad earth on the Fiat bit which I sorted myself. :thumb:
 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Funsters who are viewing this thread

Back
Top