Omnivent contrôl failures

We’ve just suffered the third Omnivent control panel failure on our 2013 van and I’m getting pretty cross. If you DIY a replacement, then it’ll still cost around £75 to replace. Apparently dealers replacing them under warranty are allowed an hour for the work, which they find difficult to achieve, so it’s not a trivial,job. In the old days, the panel had a simple forward, off, reverse switch. Current models have Three forward and three reverse speeds, plus off, or far too often, permanently off. Given the limited use to which many leisure vehicles are put, there really can’t be any excuse for such poor design. And to then charge an extortionate sum for a replacement adds insult to injury.

Mind you, we’ve just been to a Thule dealer asking about replacement rubber strips to fit the slot in the top of their aero roof bars. £22.50 each, and there are two. For the extortion record though, Swift wanted to sell us a complete shower door fitting kit on a previous van where the simple door hold back clip has broken, They wanted £190 to obtain a part which they probably pay less than £1 for.

I really do think that manufacturers should show a little more loyalty to their customers than they do.