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just had my  caravan serviced for the second time,upon collection of  the caravan i was advised that there were six areas of damp found during the service,caravan was left with dealers to wait for the go ahead of repairs from swift, i have recieved a call from the dealers to say that swift want the caravan back so theycan inspect it themselves.would be greatful of any advice from anybody who would know what erights i have regarding compensation or gettint the caravan exchanged. thanks.

Sorry to hear of your problem, this sounds an all too familiar problem with Swift.

My Stirling had very bad damp after the first year, and was a write-off 3 years later with damp down both sides of the van. Swift were very very unhelpful and basically didn't want to know. Eventually the first lot of damp was repaired under warranty, but even then they would not pay the full cost. At the end of the day, I found there was very little legally I could have done without expensive solicitor fees, and even then the outcome was far from certain. I lost over £5K.

Good luck with your claim.

Amongst its other warranties, our van has a 5 year warranty against Water Ingress.

Do other new vans not have this?

Quote: Originally posted by LobeyDosser on 02/12/2009

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Amongst its other warranties, our van has a 5 year warranty against Water Ingress.

Do other new vans not have this?

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Swift cancelled our extended warranty (it had a 3 year water ingress warranty)because we had it serviced just 6 days after the first year was up. We had had it booked in for months, this was the first date we could get and the dealer said it would be OK at the time. At the time Swift insisted that the service was carried out by one of their agents, and there were precious few about.

Quote: Originally posted by neil and lena on 02/12/2009

Quote: Originally posted by navver on 02/12/2009Oh well, that's swift crossed off my list for possible new van. Hope they're reading this.

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Stick with Bailey as long as you get your van serviced on time they will always honour the warranty

Quote: Originally posted by neil and lena on 02/12/2009

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Quote: Originally posted by neil and lena on 02/12/2009

Quote: Originally posted by navver on 02/12/2009Oh well, that's swift crossed off my list for possible new van. Hope they're reading this.

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Stick with Bailey as long as you get your van serviced on time they will always honour the warranty

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Our next van was a Bailey - guess what damp after the first year. However no quibble from Bailey about the warranty.

Freeatlast, I fear you were given bad advice.  I have a thread running at the moment with reference to damp in my van. Bailey and the dealer both said they were not interested as I had missed a service(3rd one). I took legal advice and low and behold my van will be repaired free of charge, to me anyway. They rely on you not knowing your rights. The only advice you should listen to is to get "proper advice". 

Leejw you are not entitled to a new van, you are though, entitled to have it repaired within a reasonable time frame. Forget compensation, that would be at the discretion of the dealer and how he feels, this is not America.

Quote: Originally posted by Jerry+Tina on 03/12/2009

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Freeatlast, I fear you were given bad advice.  I have a thread running at the moment with reference to damp in my van. Bailey and the dealer both said they were not interested as I had missed a service(3rd one). I took legal advice and low and behold my van will be repaired free of charge, to me anyway. They rely on you not knowing your rights. The only advice you should listen to is to get "proper advice". 

Leejw you are not entitled to a new van, you are though, entitled to have it repaired within a reasonable time frame. Forget compensation, that would be at the discretion of the dealer and how he feels, this is not America.

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Believe you me I took loads of advice from different sources. It was a bit of a shock to have a caravan that was valued at £7500 revalued at £2000, and I was not prepared to throw that sort of money lightly. However, since then, consumer rights have changed in the last few years due to European regulations. For instance its only fairly recently they have dropped the requirement that you must have the caravan serviced by a company authorised dealer. This was where all my problems started. I am pretty good at fighting my corner but when the dealer goes bust things do get more difficult.

Forums like this and the internet in general have also had a profound effect on customer service. Now you can post good and bad service, and there is a considerable audience to take note (or ignore as the case may be) but at least make your point heard.

we had damp in our 2007 abbey and the dealer repaired at a time to suit us no quibbles or waiting for swift hmm maybe cos it is a 2nd hand van ???so dealer warranty ?

the dealer is covering our water ingress warranty for the whole period due to one service not having been done