Where’s nice and hot

[VXman]

Nice and hot here in the Atacama desert in Chile. Chile is very motorhome friendly too it seems...

Well it seems my threat of paying for the repairs, and waiting for Swift to confirm warranty acceptance along with the demand for a fully itemised invoice in order to sue through small claims court for a full refund if Swift refused the repair as a warranty claim worked.
I have in business taken a lot of companies to court to get payments, holding goods in lien and swiftly taking it to high court to get bailiffs in, so having that experience, I have recorded all conversations, taken all the paperwork in its entirety and kept records of dates times and losses caused by failing products including keeping receipts for lost holidays or cancelled sailings etc.. (PS. It’s urban myth that you need the permission of those you record on the telephone if you intend to use it in court, all recorded conversations are admissible in court.)
So they are doing the repairs outstanding right now, and in a hour or so they will call me with a collection time!.
I think it will be in full working condition and I’ll be lucky to get £80k for it. But I’ll be selling it and moving on.
Not even 2 years and 10k miles 3 European trips 2 Scottish and North Yorkshire trips and one Cornwall trip. £21,000 loss. £96,600 plus £4,000 hydraulics and nothing but disappointment!
What a waste of cash.

Don't think I could do that. I'd want to persue getting it sorted and then use it to get my money's worth. £21000 for 2 years use is criminal - could have hired a lot cheaper or had some nice hotel based holidays.

We had a lot of issues in the first 2 years with our Burstner but never considered selling as I know it would lose so much in the first few years.

 

[Martatin]

Had 3 years dealing with Lowdhams similar frustrations. They always insisted on having van for a week even for Hab service! One time rang after a week and said wasn’t ready. Definitely won’t use them again. Sadly they are not the only van dealers giving bad service in my 25 years caravan/motorhome experience

 

[busby]

Arghhhhhh still not ready! I’m getting to the point of asking for compensation. What can be so hard about doing all the repairs within one or two 24 hour periods, it’s been booked in for 3 months. They told me they had all the parts in stock, including the control panel. Why didn’t they get authorisation from Swift 3 months ago.
They’ve had it 14 days, Jesus you could build a complete motorhome in that length of time.
I’m thinking I’m getting the run around.
We should be south of Chartres by now heading for Clermont Ferrand. The plan was to Stop at Baie De Somme aire Sunday night, Run through Rouen yesterday and get past Chartres heading to Montlucon stay over at Saint Eloy Les Mines then today pass Clermont Ferrand to try and get to Sete or similar, then this week head to southern Spain or Cross to Morocco. Searching for Sun..
It looks like we might have to abandon this trip and fly to Cape Verde or The Canaries for February, at this rate it may be April before we can use our Moho. Jesus what a shower Lowdhams are showing to be, and that dream of a Swift Kontiki, top of the range, signature Moho!.. well it’s become a nightmare.

Just wondering why they need authority from Swift..did they not sell you the van.BUSBY

 

[VXman]

Nice and hot here in the Atacama Desert, Chile. Very motorhome friendly over here too. (Images from further south in El Chaltén - not so hot but very nice motorhome weather)

 

[our poppy llll]

So I’m home, they had to do a service on it changing the diesel particle filter, engine oil and filters because the ems caused a link failure (Fiat talk) to a ICU, causing the engine to go into limp mode! ?????
Have you ever heard anything like it.
So got home at 18.00 hours a 1 hour 40 min drive, turned to 2:45 hour drive.
All the bull I got does not add up.
Seemingly no one told them I was coming today, they were not ready for me, they took it for a test drive from their workshop to Lowdhams show ground, when at 11.50 I called to get picked up at Lowdham station. This was when the engine management system failed and put it into limp mode.
Now I think it’s true that they had to replace a ICU connecting the sat nav to the management system. This had not been done and they thought they had to do it, only when they were told at 13.00 that I’d been told the sat nav could not be repaired on this visit, did they realise that they had no need to do it yet, but they’d been in it since 12.00 so they had to finish it, so they gave the explanation above.
We have brought the Moho back home, the sat nav is now working, it has a new habitation door, it has a new fly screen, it has a new bathroom tap, the blind has been secured and the missing clips fitted, they have tested every appliance, the central heating is fine, they have replaced the whole control unit above the entry door, not repaired it. The reversing camera works fine,
The windows have been opened and the electric window tested. The shower holder was found to be loose it’s been replaced, several cupboards needed their hinges and catches tightening, this has been done.
So they fed us and watered us too.

I can’t fault the staff for doing their best, but the people who own this business are beyond contempt, they have no business running a business. To them cash is king customer is last in the line and always ignored.

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[Riverbankannie]

well done for speaking up and not being accepting of the way things are done.

 

[Brize]

If it's all working will you reconsider and at least give it a try out? It might be the most reliable motorhome in the UK now!

 

[our poppy llll]

Just wondering why they need authority from Swift..did they not sell you the van.BUSBY

Seemingly, as a dealer, the repairs under warranty is not covered by the dealer but by each manufacturer.
For example the chassis, engine and drive chain is Fiat, the habitation build Swift, the fridge by the fridge manufacturer, the cooker and hob by the cooker and hob manufacturer, the control panel is Sergent and the heating by Aldi, so Lowdhams need the authority of Sergent to repair or replace the control panel and wiring or they need Fiat to authorise replacement of repair of the sat nav. Swift for body build etc…
In think if this was made clear by the salesperson, many novices would not buy a Moho.
The authority from Swift was the habitation door, fly screen, bathroom tap and shower holder
the reversing camera was Lowdham fit. So repaired/replaced by them as was the carpets which were replaced when they fell to bits 1 month old. The cabinet catches were labour only, charged to Swift.
The control panel was authorised by Sergent as was the Aldi heater control and thermostats, the covers on the electric skylight fixings on the exterior and the repair to the skylight was Swift, the pig tail for the gas was Lowdhams, Labour to Swift. The cold water pump repair and new pump was Swift, as was the new blind on the passenger door, the decorative panel holding the Aldi and Sargent controls which fell off was Swift. The sat nav was reset 4 times but today they replaced the ICU costed to Fiat.
I’ve probably forgot a lot there’s been that much.
It has been returned 6 times each time I had to pay £48.00 return train tickets, we ate in their cafe 5 times at 18.00 for sandwiches and drinks, we ate at a hotel in Gunthorpe 2 times that was 80.00, it costs there and back £35.00 in fuel and puts on 116 miles round trip. Lowdhams put on 7-15 miles in moving it to their workshops and testing.
In all 9 holidays have been curtailed or cancelled at a cost of £250-£1900 each.

In all if I sell this unit my losses are £18-25,000 in all estimate losses equal to £22,000-£30,000
I will be issuing a claim to county court for loss once I have sold the unit and provided invoices and evidence of loss, plus I’ll be seeking compensation of 50% of the loss for the stress, time and suffering, together with solicitors costs and barristers costs.

 

[bobnick]

Nice and hot here in the Atacama Desert, Chile. Very motorhome friendly over here too. (Images from further south in El Chaltén - not so hot but very nice motorhome weather)
View attachment 1005758
View attachment 1005759

View attachment 1005760

Chile, Motorhome, now that sounds like my sort of trip.............................i'm well jel.
We have been to a few places in Chile stopping over whilst on a cruise. Loved what i saw and promised i would take myself back there.
Love to hear more.

 

[BigVtwin]

Chile, Motorhome, now that sounds like my sort of trip.............................i'm well jel.
We have been to a few places in Chile stopping over whilst on a cruise. Loved what i saw and promised i would take myself back there.
Love to hear more.

Yep, i'd love to hear the story that goes with those great pics too

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[Go_buddy_go_]

So sorry you’ve had such an awful experience but please don’t give up

 

[Puddleduck]

I may be wrong here but your contract is with the supplying dealer and the various consumer protection acts state the supplier is responsible for putting things right. They in their turn can claim against their supplier and so on down the line.

I just don't see why you should be involved with dealing with Fiat etc. Your contract was with Lowdham not with anyone else. Lowdham would then have a claim against Swift and suppliers of dealer fitted "extras" but this is not your problem.

 

[pelican]

I may be wrong here but your contract is with the supplying dealer and the various consumer protection acts state the supplier is responsible for putting things right. They in their turn can claim against their supplier and so on down the line.

I just don't see why you should be involved with dealing with Fiat etc. Your contract was with Lowdham not with anyone else. Lowdham would then have a claim against Swift and suppliers of dealer fitted "extras" but this is not your problem.

That's the way it was done when I sold boats.

 

[VXman]

Chile, Motorhome, now that sounds like my sort of trip.............................i'm well jel.
We have been to a few places in Chile stopping over whilst on a cruise. Loved what i saw and promised i would take myself back there.
Love to hear more.

Just to be clear - we are not here in a motorhome. In the middle of a 5 week tour of Patagonia and a bit of Brazil. 10 flights, hire car, local drivers, 3 bus rides and lots of hotels!

Would consider hiring one for South America in the future though.

 

[our poppy llll]

I may be wrong here but your contract is with the supplying dealer and the various consumer protection acts state the supplier is responsible for putting things right. They in their turn can claim against their supplier and so on down the line.

I just don't see why you should be involved with dealing with Fiat etc. Your contract was with Lowdham not with anyone else. Lowdham would then have a claim against Swift and suppliers of dealer fitted "extras" but this is not your problem.

Yeah that’s right, you’ve misunderstood me. I’ve not said I have to contact the manufacturers, nor do I have to deal with fiat, but the repairs by Lowdhams are not done until the authorisation comes from the manufacturer to Lowdhams. This is the problem. Lowdhams do the repairs only when authorised by the manufacturers to do so!.
In August a full list of warranty repairs were notified to Lowdhams, the last days of October they told me that all the parts were now in stock, in the first few days of November they booked it in saying the next dates were late December, so I chose 9th January, as I didn’t want to be dealing with these issues over Christmas and the new year, I double checked, they said they had all the parts in stock. And so I took it a day early.
I have now found out that when I took it in on January 8th, it was not until January 9th that Lowdhams contacted the manufacturers for repair authorisations. This is why it took 24 days! I was lied to. They said it was a manager who no longer works there who told me these lies.
I was dealing with a guy called Dan, and because the sat nav had not been repaired, last week I agreed to collect it yesterday, and not use the sat nav, all the other repairs having been done. This was so I could go on holiday. When we called Lowdhams at 10 to 12 yesterday telling them I’d arranged with Dan to collect it and he agreed to have us picked up at the train station, and we were arriving in 20 mins, they went into panic mode, screwed up the replacement ICU and caused the engine management failure, that’s why we had to wait until 3.30 for it to be repaired!
Jesus it’s a tale and half, it’s like war and peace.. today the van is on my drive, it looks like it’s been sat in a cow shed it was clean when I took it to Lowdhams, but now it badly needs cleaning, the weather is not good enough so we have today booked our tunnel crossing for February 14th well I am a old romantic..
this week end I’m giving it a full wash and polish, next week we will test everything again making sure it’s fine, then load it up and we are off, 6 weeks behind schedule. We will have a full service and habitation service April 4th. Then sell it. We would like one last tour!..

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[our poppy llll]

Here are the photos I took at Lowdhams… it’s been on a off road rally!

 

[our poppy llll]

If it's all working will you reconsider and at least give it a try out? It might be the most reliable motorhome in the UK now!

Please can you forward me a small bottle of your optimism, I need a lift just for my sanity!

 

[Puddleduck]

Lowdhams getting authorisation is not your problem. You claim against them and they claim on in their turn.

I see a good court case on the horizon.....

 

[VXman]

Here are the photos I took at Lowdhams… it’s been on a off road rally!View attachment 1006069View attachment 1006070View attachment 1006071View attachment 1006072View attachment 1006073

Just normal driving - mine looks worse then that most of the time and I've never been off road. It is UK in January - I guess they must have taken it for a test drive.

 

[VXman]

To

Please can you forward me a small bottle of your optimism, I need a lift just for my sanity!

To be fair I didn't think your list of things was too bad - yes there was a lot but nothing too serious. It's more the lack of dealer customer service that was the issue. Same with mine. If your problems have been sorted I reckon you have a good van there. (Taking into account it is a Swift )

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[Brize]

Please can you forward me a small bottle of your optimism, I need a lift just for my sanity!

Gladly. Send me your address and I will put it in the post!

... so we have today booked our tunnel crossing for February 14th well I am a old romantic..
this week end I’m giving it a full wash and polish, next week we will test everything again making sure it’s fine, then load it up and we are off, 6 weeks behind schedule. We will have a full service and habitation service April 4th. Then sell it. We would like one last tour!..

Well, I'm delighted that you are at least going to take her out for a trip abroad. I hope you have a great time.

Maybe, just maybe, you will have a wonderful time, everything will work just as it should, and you fall in love with the van again ........... and decide to keep it.

(That doesn't stop you taking legal action against Lowdhams).

 

[our poppy llll]

Just normal driving - mine looks worse then that most of the time and I've never been off road. It is UK in January - I guess they must have taken it for a test drive.

It was washed on the 7th Jan - top, sides, front and back, I managed to get it from Stoke to Lowdhams still clean that was 06.00-08.30 a total of 56 miles! Their test drive was less than 4 miles from sales depot to service depot some 1.5 miles away.