Hi, was wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem. Whilst moving the van from the house to storage one of the exterior fridge vent facia's fell off the van leaving a large hole. The hole was covered over as a temporary measure and we contacted the dealer as the van is only about 3 to 4 months old and has never been in a situation where any damage has occurred. Anyways I spoke with the owner at the dealers today who said the part was on order but would NOT be sorted under Warranty. I asked him why not to which he said its one of these that when there on there on and when off there off........How daft is that, he then said that if the small clips are engaged properly they don't come off to which I said well they did and the part fell out. He then stated someone must have had a go at them...he then rushed off the phone. I am going to e-mail them tonight as I have no Intention of paying for something that has quite obviously not been fitted properly. I also think that the dealers after sales skills leave quite a bit to be desired......Any thoughts or similar experiences with these vents?
I also have a new 2013 Swift and i have to agree with your dealer.They will not come of if clips have not been undone and on new vans there is enough mastic around it that even if clips are not in locking position it is still difficult to pull it off.When my caravans are out of warranty,if i still have them, i service them myself and find that even at 3 year old once the clips are undone the still need considerable pressure to pull off.Most likely someone fancied yours as a spare.
It is a puzzle to me how the cover could have come off the ones on our van have mastic around them and like birdman says with the clips undone it's still difficult to take them off I'm afraid I would think its more likely someone taking one off rather than it coming off on the road
The dealer might have a change of heart and not charge you for the replacement
The outside facia on my vents is definitely not secured by mastic, clips only. My thoughts are that they either have not been clipped properly in the factory or have worked loose. There is also no mistake that it fell out whilst in transit, I had the van at the house unloading and all was well, arrived at Storage , great big black hole...Gone.
Every new caravan i have bought now on number 11, regardless of manufacturer, has had that much mastic squeezed out of the sides of the seal to the van that it has also stuck to the outer vent making it difficult to pull off after releasing the two clips.
Quite agree with previous post if you go on line they are not that expensive