New hymer anguish (1 Viewer)

[100kilo]

Have just returned from a pleasant trip to Cardigan. Half way home a familiar sound drew an oft used groan of anguish from Mrs 100kilo and myself - it was the sound of one of the kitchen drawers sliding in and out at every bend. If anyone knows of a source for these catches we would love to share the secret as it looks as if, at this rate, we are going to need a good stock up our slieves.

This was the 4th handle catch to snap on us in 5000 miles! We were up at Brownhills for a needless recall which entailed a 410 mile round trip at their behest. Not only could they not fathom out why we were there but tried to worm their way out of replacing the first catch which had bitten the dust on our (then) 6 month old vehicle. They kept us hanging around for 5 and a half hours. Now, since I am in the mood for a good old grumble with good cause, I would fire of a few barbed comments at Hymer who have apparently cut
corners on these vans with a batch of crude cost cuts combined with some irksome modifications in the
habitation section.

Appart from a power point in the bathroom there are only 2 more points in the whole vehicle. Both are next to the draining board which is about 6 feet from the rear of the vehicle. Nothing nearer to the drving area and nothing even to power a TV or DVD player for those who don't have 12volt entertainment. A stingy move.

Then, discounting the massively oversized table, the lockers have a "shelf" beneath them on both sides of the van which are about 3 inches deep to provide storage for, I DON'T KNOW WHAT oh: they simply show to all
and sundry the bits and pieces one might prefer to keep concealed. Just ill concieved improvements which fail to offer any reasonable benefit and too insecure to store valuables in either.

Now to the outside. Despite the external locker space being reasonably generous the locks have little substance to them resulting in the missus pulling one of the barrels clean out. Oh. Nearly forgot the perpetual leak on the seal of the passenger door. GRRRRRRRRR and why did our van not come with a bedroom ladder? All for now Janet and John, Swansea

 

[motor roamin]

I knew there was a reason I bought an RV

All the best Rick

 

[Jaws]

makes one wonder if Hymer are not cutting corners and trading on their previously well earned good name with their later vans

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[100kilo]

Put a 2003 Gulf Stream sun voyager in as part ex on the Hymer. Miss the big boy but at 8200kgs it needed a HGV and I wanted something that was designed to get in and out of most UK sites as well as the smaller continental sites.

I also wanted out of the RV as it provided it's own delightful list of headaches.

Janet and John

 

[bobandjanie]

Hi Janet and John, our van came from there, and never had a ladder so they ordered one for us. When it came I had to cut 2' off it. oh:

As for going back and let them work on it, sorry cant help with that because I would not let them near it, but that's another story.

Anyway :welcome: to Fun, and it might be better to have a look round B &Q for door catches, hope you get sorted soon. :thumb: Bob and Jane.

:flyingwelcome:

 

[ciderman]

lowdhams are a hymer dealer again or give edgehill motors a ring as they can get spares for hymer as well

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[jonandshell]

Appart from a power point in the bathroom there are only 2 more points in the whole vehicle. Both are next to the draining board which is about 6 feet from the rear of the vehicle. Nothing nearer to the drving area and nothing even to power a TV or DVD player for those who don't have 12volt entertainment. A stingy move.

Then, discounting the massively oversized table, the lockers have a "shelf" beneath them on both sides of the van which are about 3 inches deep to provide storage for, I DON'T KNOW WHAT oh: they simply show to all
and sundry the bits and pieces one might prefer to keep concealed. Just ill concieved improvements which fail to offer any reasonable benefit and too insecure to store valuables in either.

I can well understand your frustration at the sub-standard components used and the endless trips to the dealer to have them sorted out. We have found from experience that it is best to treat buying a motorhome, new or secondhand, just as if it were a home made from bricks and mortar. Once you have it, you are on your own and therefore have to be proactive in maintenance and modify those bits that aren't up to the job.:Angry:
However, surely the issues quoted above were plain to see before you made your choice and parted with your cash?
Continental vans are generally designed for use off sites and 240v sockets are the first thing to be omitted for cost-saving due to their perceived uselessness! We have very few in our Chausson, but we don't miss them because we have no need for them! We can't remember the last time we used our hook up lead!
We swapped our monster fixed table for a removable island table on a Fiamma leg.
We lost 2 of our 6 berths as a result, but the extra floor space is quite liberating.

Stick with it! What you don't like, you can soon change to suit your needs!:thumb:
Any modifications you carry out should be reversible and will cost much less than trading your Hymer in for another MH!

 

[haganap]

Why is it that If this was a thread about a swift catch , there would be a 1000 replies telling us it was because swift were rubbish built vans...

 

[jhorsf]

Because anyone who has ever bought a Swift and had big problems will never forget and not buy another I suspect Paul,well that is my reason anyway

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[JJ]

Really sorry to learn of your troubles...

I think it is a terrible shame that Hymer no longer produce the kind of quality that I enjoy in my 1987 Hymer...

No drawers or cupboard doors open in my 660 unless I am operating them...

Not many rattles or squeaks or groans as I drive along either...

I have heard several nightmare stories re modern Hymers and huge mistakes made at the factory (brand new top of the range van had the drop down bed collapse when they were sleeping... belly locker falling off on the motorway outside Calais on maiden trip, doors jamming shut and so on)...

Mind you, a friend of mine has experienced a series of senseless faults on a brand new Rapido too...

Maybe the common denominator is the "brand new" aspect...

A real shame...

JJ

 

[sedge]

Speaking as a satisfied Swift owner and only possessing 1 drawer to our name, this is the cutlery drawer so it is used a lot. However the 'lock' is a simple bit of plastic on a swivel but so far, 3 years and about 21,000 miles from memory - it seldom gets used because the drawer is such a nice snug fit, doesn't tend to budge and hence, we totally forget to 'lock' it.

Odd things have happened - we mend em before they turn into real problems. eg on pick-up of the van the floor panel giving you access to the fresh water tank from the van interior, had no screws in it. The carpet was down, we didn't notice until we got to France and I trod on the 'floor' - fortunately I'm only bout 8st 9 so the carpet stopped me disappearing down the orifice and the floor section had slid along the interior under the carpet. We shoved it back in the hole then when we moved stood the bag with all the veg in it on top to keep it in place on the journey, until we could get to a supermarche and buy some screws!

Blow me down with a feather if we didn't meet a chap on the aire at Le Crotoy 2 days later with much the same problem (with an older van, not a Swift) and having had to purchase quite a lot more screws than the 4 we needed, were able to supply the necessary.

We went away at Easter and after I got some clothes out of the van wardrobe, the door wouldn't seem to shut very well - Pete found that it was because one of the hinges had dropped and pulled a screw out, because basically, they'd used stupidly short screws to attach the hinge to the frame. So they got replaced with more suitable ones. I don't think that's bad, that door gets a lot of use! Just a bit annoying. But it needed tackling immediately to stop it

 

[robnchris]

poor quality

We`re still amazed at the quality of after sales service you get from some dealers after you have driven either your secondhand or even worse your new motorhome off their driveway.
As like most we bought ours from a dealer that was some distance away so taking it back for any jobs was a huge inconvenience, apart from the 300 mile x2 round trip Chris had to drive over in her car to bring me back and then make the return trip to drop me off, which meant us spending 2 days each to complete the task.

Apart from all that the poor quality of fittings made worse by us buying one of the Fiats with the infamous gearbox problem, what a farce that all turned out to be and the end result being Fiat calling me telling me yes your vehicle does have the problem but there is nothing we can do about it, so a word of warning be careful buying a Fiat as we met a couple who bought a brand new one 6 months ago and they have the same problem.

As for the lack of 240v outlet sockets that seems a common practice in most motorhomes, amazing that despite the lack of them in our Autotrail they did manage to fit 2 of them above the kitchen sink!!
As mentioned in previous posts we have just accepted the motorhome as it is and have changed, added and improved it to suit ourselves.
[FONT=&quot]Can you imagine buying a new car and getting this level of service?[/FONT]

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[100kilo]

However, surely the issues quoted above were plain to see before you made your choice and parted with your cash?
Continental vans are generally designed for use off sites and 240v sockets are the first thing to be omitted for cost-saving due to their perceived uselessness! We have very few in our Chausson, but we don't miss them because we have no need for them! We can't remember the last time we used our hook up lead!
We swapped our monster fixed table for a removable island table on a Fiamma leg.
We lost 2 of our 6 berths as a result, but the extra floor space is quite liberating.

Stick with it! What you don't like, you can soon change to suit your needs!:thumb:
Any modifications you carry out should be reversible and will cost much less than trading your Hymer in for another MH!

Thanks for your astute comments. I agree entirely that our mobile heap of "bricks and mortar" are our resposnibility and with a few modifications the van can be made to fit the bill - more or less. We are actually chuffed with it and only become irked when faced with petty cost cutting measures on something costing the same as a BMW 7 series.

Otherwise Janet and I are tickled pink with the general layout, decor, all round visibility and ride provided by the Fiat chassis and 3lt engine. Finishing on a sour note tho. it's bloody infuriating when the blinkin drawer starts crashing in and out at every blasted round about. Bought a couple of neat chrome slide bolts which will cure that complaint despite spoiling slightly the feng shui of the kitchen. Warm regards and thanks again for your comment.

 

[Gromett]

it's bloody infuriating when the blinkin drawer starts crashing in and out at every blasted round about. Bought a couple of neat chrome slide bolts which will cure that complaint despite spoiling slightly the feng shui of the kitchen. Warm regards and thanks again for your comment.

My first motorohome was a brand new Hymer C644 (£27K) back in 2005. I had the same problem with the drawers amongst other things.. I ended up not using them... Grrrrrr.

My next van was a second hand Eura Mobil (£47k) which I have to say was as near perfect as I could imagine. It was as though the designer had actually used the product in anger.....

The old Hymers to be fair were quality bits of kit. But back then only the really well off bought them. Over the last 10 years though it was anyone who could get finance so Hymer and most other manufactures are now building "down" to a price, not up to a required standard.

If you see a manufacturers name and immediately think "expensive". Stop and think "built to a level of quality".

I am now in my 2nd self build and although I hate the finish I love the fact that everything is exactly where it should be and to a standard I can cope with.

If I was well off again I would buy a motorhome based on the quality of finish and nail them if something wasn't up to my expectations. If I was a working chuff I would buy what is within budget and expect some problems.

As it is I am a seriously lazy guy who won't work so I have to make do with what I can build myselfoh:

 

[JeanLuc]

I can imagine your frustration at the failing drawer catch. The only time our cutlery drawer slides open on corners is when we forget to shut it properly, but our Hymer is older than yours so I guess it has a different catch.

However, that was not the point of my post. You mentioned having to travel 410 miles to the dealer and back, which I presume was Brownhills in Newark. Have you spotted that Travel World in Telford are now authorised dealers? I have not had to use them, but recently was trying to source a spare part and they were very helpful (although in the end, I bought it from Newark as Brownhills had the part in stock and TW would have had to get it from Germany).

http://www.travelworldrv.co.uk/hymer

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[Xabia]

Sorry to learn of your Hymer problems. I have a 2007 B544SL and don't have any quality problems at all, looks as though the latest ones are not built as solidly.

Must admit I found the table to be much too big. Had a replacement made to my measurements by Rainbow Conversions. It sits on a Fiamma tube system which means it can be removed in seconds and replaced easily for tea stops, etc.

Didn't cost a lot and has improved interior space immensely. If you need any more info let me know.

Mike

 

[Chris]

Our fridge lock is rubbish on our Burstner. We bought it new in 2008 and it's been repaired 3 times. It's just too flimsy.

That though is my only complaint:thumb:

 

[knokinonabit]

I must be getting really slow in my old(er) age.
When I read the tread title I thought the Hymer Anguish was a new model with a wierd Germanic name. oh: :Blush:

Hope you get everything sorted soon. :thumb:

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[jonandshell]

Sorry to learn of your Hymer problems. I have a 2007 B544SL and don't have any quality problems at all, looks as though the latest ones are not built as solidly.

Must admit I found the table to be much too big. Had a replacement made to my measurements by Rainbow Conversions. It sits on a Fiamma tube system which means it can be removed in seconds and replaced easily for tea stops, etc.

Didn't cost a lot and has improved interior space immensely. If you need any more info let me know.

Mike

Exactly where our table came from!!!

Very nice people over there in Wisbech!

http://www.rainbowconversions.co.uk/Equipment/Tables/tables.htm

 

[Reallyretired]

Expensive stuff. I got my smaller table from the junk pile in one of the parts tents at a rally, couple of quid.