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You wouldn't expect to have the car repaired at home would you?

They will sort it out and have informed you to that effect but its not unreasonable to expect you to take it to a dealer.

They could give you the option of taking it to a more local one----if there is one

Quote: Originally posted by Dorset Belle on 23/1/2007

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Without the van locally to us (we are in Poole, the van is in East Devon) I can't give the exact model number, but it is the Thetford, and its the tall one with the freezer on top.  I think they've only been out for the last couple of years.  The problem isn't with the unit, its the installation of it by Swift Group.  Apparently Thetford say they've not put enough ventilation holes in the caravans.

I rang Swift myself yesterday afternoon.  The girl who answered the phone wasn't as cute as the bloke Melv spoke to, and she actually said it was a H&S issue, so there you go.  She said this pro active move (hmmm....still pro active is it..) must be carried out.  I've told her that its going to cost us something in the region of £300 to bring the van in for "free" repairs.  So either Swift or Davan meet that cost, or it will stay where it is.  They've built a major safety problem into the Caravan, they can sort it out.  If it was a central heating boiler "pro active" problem in my house, someone would have to come out, so I see no difference. 

Jenny

 

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Jenny you appear to be digging a hole. You're perfectly entiltled to stick your heels in but at the ned of the day Swift have complied with their legal duty in issuing the recall, whether its pro active or not, you now have a choice of getting it fixed or not. If you don't then you have no legal standing should something go wrong. You can't really compare a house boiler with a caravan fridge, one is movable the other not, and as John has said you wouldn't expect a car manufacturer to correct a fault at your home.

I'm not sure of how you came to the £300 cost of getting the van to the dealer, but if that involves making a special trip it is not necessary as you can arrange to deliver the van to any swift dealer at any time (within reason) I'm sure you could combine that with a regular trip and deliver the van to a swift dealer more local to where you keep it on your way home etc. That dealer could store it until your next visit etc... The costs are then incorporated into your normal visit costs. The only way you might get your £300 is to go through the small claim court, however you will need to prove the costs as reasonable.

Quote: Originally posted by Windywoo on 22/1/2007

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Quote: Originally posted by rd57chad on 22/1/2007

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Dorset Belle / Windy woo ,

Can you confirm what model your fridge is ( Thetford ?) We have an 2005 model Abbey Aventura 340 . I asked our dealer to check it on its recent service as we could smell fumes when running on gas . Despite their assurances that they had fixed it we can still smell fumes . On closer examination we found the outside ventilation grill to be discoloured and the bug screen underneath it to be partially melted ? We have not received a recall letter yet .....

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Ours is the Thetford 147 ltr model - fridge freezer!

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Mine is the N150, the recall letter just said there may be a potential problem with the installation of the fridge.

Quote: Originally posted by JohnG on 23/1/2007

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You wouldn't expect to have the car repaired at home would you?

They will sort it out and have informed you to that effect but its not unreasonable to expect you to take it to a dealer.

They could give you the option of taking it to a more local one----if there is one

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I never have the car serviced at home, the dealer comes and collects it, and brings it back again at no extra charge.  

There isn't a local "registered" (thats the operative word) Swift Dealer, thats my problem. 

Jenny

Quote: Originally posted by mike142sl on 23/1/2007

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Jenny you appear to be digging a hole. You're perfectly entiltled to stick your heels in but at the ned of the day Swift have complied with their legal duty in issuing the recall, whether its pro active or not, you now have a choice of getting it fixed or not. If you don't then you have no legal standing should something go wrong. You can't really compare a house boiler with a caravan fridge, one is movable the other not, and as John has said you wouldn't expect a car manufacturer to correct a fault at your home.

I'm not sure of how you came to the £300 cost of getting the van to the dealer, but if that involves making a special trip it is not necessary as you can arrange to deliver the van to any swift dealer at any time (within reason) I'm sure you could combine that with a regular trip and deliver the van to a swift dealer more local to where you keep it on your way home etc. That dealer could store it until your next visit etc... The costs are then incorporated into your normal visit costs. The only way you might get your £300 is to go through the small claim court, however you will need to prove the costs as reasonable.

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The whole issue is a result of Swift Group failing to install the fridge correctly, as per the manufacturer's instructions, when they built the caravan, and I fail to see why the onus is on us to pay out money in getting the van to one of their dealers, to rectify what is basically their negligence in the first place.  We didnt have a problem when we got up yesterday, and thanks to Swift Group we now have one, and I'm rather annoyed over it.

Residential vans  have wheels on them too, but the owner wouldnt be expected to wheel it back to the dealer's would they?  So to me its no difference.

Jenny

Dorset Belle,

Extracted from a Swift Group Warranty document:-

In the unusual event that a fault develops and you need to claim under this Warranty and Guarantee, your first contact should normally be made through the dealer from whom the caravan was purchased.

In certain circumstances, arrangements can be made to have the claim dealt with by a different authorised Swift Group Service Centre – see final paragraph below for details. It is the responsibility of the Purchaser to deliver the caravan to and collect the caravan from the Service Centre for all warranty work.

I notice that the Warranty on a Swift Group static caravan is only for 12 months and is upheld  on site by the dealer site/park where your static is located, so no, you wouldn't be expected to move your static caravan!!!

Maybe you should have bought a static holiday home?

Quote: Originally posted by Ulti-Mates on 23/1/2007

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Dorset Belle,

Extracted from a Swift Group Warranty document:-

All Swift Group caravans have a 6 year body shell integrity guarantee and a 3 year SuperSure manufacturer's warranty from the date of purchase (or hire purchase), which are subject to a chargeable annual service, inspection and moisture survey (“Annual Service”) being carried out at an authorised Swift Group Service Centre. Original VAT invoices must be retained as proof of Annual Services being carried out.

In the unusual event that a fault develops and you need to claim under this Warranty and Guarantee, your first contact should normally be made through the dealer from whom the caravan was purchased.

In certain circumstances, arrangements can be made to have the claim dealt with by a different authorised Swift Group Service Centre – see final paragraph below for details. It is the responsibility of the Purchaser to deliver the caravan to and collect the caravan from the Service Centre for all warranty work.

I notice that the Warranty on a Swift Group static caravan is only for 12 months and is upheld  on site by the dealer site/park where your static is located, so no, you wouldn't be expected to move your static caravan!!!

Maybe you should have bought a static holiday home?

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Maybe I should have bought a £19,000 caravan from a reputable manufacturer and dealer in the first place. Everyone seem to have overlooked the fact that this is not a "warranty" repair, as if an item installed in the van had failed to work properly during its guarantee period. 

No, its a serious Health and Safety issue, discovered by the manufacturers of the fridge and brought to the attention of the caravan builders who installed it incorrectly.  They have admitted that the problem rests with them by the fact they've sent out letters to purchasers informing them of their negligence.

Then to add insult to injury we are expected to pay out to have their negligence put right.  How do other owners of recalled vans feel about this?

Jenny

I don't believe there is a caravan manufacturer who would come out to make a repair like this.

Secondly there is something that doesn't quite add up with this whole thing. Air vents are standard off the shelf products that are fitted into the wall of the caravan, one near the bottom, one near the top of the fridge. I can't quite work out where the 'holes' are that are being defined as unsuitable. If it's the vents then it will be more than just Swift that has the problem.

Sorry, but although I am sympathetic that your caravan has a problem through no fault of your own,I can't agree with your standpoint on this and I don't think that either Swift or Davan are being unreasonable.

Sometimes one sees public recall notices issued in the press, following serious safety issues with a recently sold item.  I can't imagine the likes of Tesco, Asda etc, going to the homes of purchasers to collect up all the recalled items!

We will have to agree to differ on this one!

  do we know if it is just the double fridges that need repairing or is it any fridge fitted in sift vans i still dont know

Quote: Originally posted by mjcreed on 23/1/2007

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 I have contacted my dealer today, and emailed Swift, they confirmed to me that The problem is with 2006 models that use the 147 litre Thetford fridge ( the one with the wine cooler? ) as used in Twinstars and equivolent models, the problem is that there has been no Gas drop out vent fitted through the floor, if any one has an effected van I would advise you not to use your fridge on gas, it should stiil be ok to use on 240v electric untill you get it sorted.................

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Thanks for that mjcreed

Jenny, I would suggest you write to Swift and ask them outright if they are prepared to stand any of your costs, or if the work can be done at your next service if that is some time off - in the meantime use electric instead of gas as mjcreed suggests.

I'm led to believe all effected customers have already been informed and that is concerns  the lack of  enough 'gas drop holes' at the back of the fridge on those vans subject to the recall.

One of the problem in manufacture is discovering a problem as production goes on, this particular problem may have been found by Swift, the fridge maker or another van manufacturer. Under these circumstances then it's not what should have been done at the time but how to correct the problem once it was discovered.

As I understand it these extra holes are required in the unlikely case of a malfunction with the fridge and the lack of them is not otherwise a problem, this to my mind then would explain the use of the word 'proactive'

I can see why you are annoyed at the situation but as has been said no manufacturer would collect vans from the storage place .

I recently had a problem with a 6 week old Canon printer and was told by the shop and Canon that as it was over 4 weeks old I had to return it to Canon at my expense (£10+).

I contacted Trading Standards and they confirmed that my contract was with the retailer and as instructed I returned it to the shop and a different assistant immediately accepted resposibility and they fixed it there.

Perhaps contacting Trading Standards would give a more authoritive opinion 

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/consumers/consumers.cfm

Thanks to all who have replied, especially Rumple, who entirely agreed with me about this, and the fact that owners shouldn't be expected to bear the costs of what amounts to negligence in the first place.  Swift Group have contacted me to today to ask for the van's storage address, as well as a convenient date for work to be done.  We may (or may not...) be making some progress......watch this space !!

Jenny