Swift Motorhome - Never Again

The answer was "no" when we asked. 

However, the Dometic has not given any trouble so far 🤞🤞🤞

 

Apologies, OP, let's stick to Swift.

Since my wife passed away i do a lot of trips with my granddaughter. The fixed double bed layout of my current caravan isn't the ideal layout anymore so i am changing it to a layout that better suites my current circumstances.

Dometic are a Swedish owned company, so one would expect quality products. However, with an operating profit of approx £1.5bn (2020) and shareholders to pay since November 2015, they're highly unlikely to give a flying fig about your 'faulty' fridge, concentrating more on numbers and profits, thus leaving the dealerships to take the flack. No doubt they have an extensive aftersales team.

Thetford are an American manufacturer who concentrate on the manufacturing of quality sanitary products and specialist fridges for the leisure industry. Not so much a "Jack of all trades" . In my later years of caravanning, I've used both products. I would say the latter are definitely better quality.

It's very disappointing to read posts about repeatedly defective and poor quality workmanship, particularly in 'flagship' products, but with absolutely no one to complain to (other than your dealer) and no one to champion your cause, this unregulated industry just keeps rolling on (NCC don't count imho) 

I hope your problems are resolved soon Seefarers.  I too have learnt my lesson re Swift.

 

 

I do not expect any supplier such as Dometic to care about my problems but I do expect Swift to and that is the rub.  My dealer has placed warranty claims on my behalf but seems unable to get any movement from Swift.  Dates for delivery of parts are continuously put back.

I spent a lot to buy this van less than three years ago and I would not buy another from Swift.  My van satisfies our needs but its ownership has been a headache due to the manufacturer.  I am now not in the mood to accept any excuses from Swift for my predicament.

I agree that Thetford products are better and I would change if it was up to me and Thatford built a model that would fit.

 

I’m actually a seasoned corporate investigator, MD of a Private Criminal Prosecution business and one that builds class action cases against offending organisations for failings and negligence of this very sort.

I’ve also recently acquired an £80k+ Kon-Tiki 596 Sport GP and have found an assortment of major issues within days of ownership.  I can tell you that these issues are all clearly known and are mainly being ignored, by the manufacturers and therefore there will be no excuses that will support them, in any Court room, if they try to fob me off, when I get round to making a start on demanding fixes under the warranties etc.  I’m equally VERY disappointed to hear how many other customers have been treated actually and firmly believe that this is a huge class action waiting to happen, so let’s see what evidence I gather when I start to address my long list folks.

I’m not touting for business, but I would be prepared to perform a mass class-action, in support of this membership group, (Pro-Bono) and if my investigations into these ongoing Swift build quality concerns continue to surface, as I’m convinced they will.

Watch this space.

Mr Morris - Northamptonshire 

Interesting….poor build quality (and after care) seems to be an issue with too many manufacturers these days including mine (Knaus/Weinsberg). Is it just complacently on their part or something more systematic across the industry? Maybe too much money is chasing too few motorhomes so manufacturers don’t have to try very hard? I can’t imagine a common situation like this in the automotive industry. If you’ve got £60k or more to spend on a car dealers generally treat you like royalty.

I used to be a big fan of the Swift Group's products but they seem to have obtained a terrible reputation for poor quality of the last few years.  Really sad !

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Swift chose their supplier. Not us. We don't care where Swift buy their material from, and it is not our responsibility to care about that. We buy our caravans from retailers  and our sales contract is with them. Dealers always want to pass the buck to either the caravan maker or the fitted equipment maker, but this is not acceptable at all. We hand our money to the dealer and they are responsible for the entire product. The industry stinks.

Thank you for all the postings as it helps to understand the state of the motorhome industry and the quality of the products their advertising purports to convey.

As an update to my original posting some five months ago, my motorhome is finally booked in at my dealer to have the shower cubicle replaced.  It will be a little over one year since the fault was first reported.

With regard to the external pannier drawer which I modified myself (within warranty), it is working fine with no issues that plagued the original setup. After a year, a new set of replacement drawer runners were supplied by Swift, but were still the same type as the originals (mild steel cabinet runners) so I'll use them in my workshop.

I am resigned to living with the Dometic fridge shelves that are too brittle and break.  I have several door shelves now in stock, supplied by my dealer but continue to use my original broken shelves that I have modified and strengthened to be fit for purpose.

I continue to be pleased with the design of my motorhome but the quality is disappointing.  Other niggly issues still crop up but I endeavour to overcome them myself.  My motorhome is now out of warranty so I feel free to carry out my own improvements.

Mr Morris, you are quite right that many faults are long standing and are never resolved.  Some are due to poor design or materials and maybe are prevalent in the whole industry.  I shall indeed watch your space.