# End of Tether – Swift Sundance 630L Fault after Fault



## hiraeth (Nov 9, 2008)

I purchased a Swift Sundance 630L in July 2008 after owning 2 Swift Caravans. I had been dreaming of owning a motorhome for many years and finally saved up enough to purchase a motorhome that was a perfect layout for my wife and I and our 3 children. I think it was the worst and costliest decision that I have ever made.

I picked up the motorhome from my dealer and identified a number of minor faults that I was promised would be resolved within the following few weeks. I drove it to my storage compound for an overnight stay as I was embarking on a family holiday the next day. The next morning I picked it up from storage and within 10 miles of leaving storage, the motorhome broke down. Fiat Rescue was called and they identified that the power steering was faulty and the vehicle had to be recovered to replace the part – cancelled holiday number 1

2 weeks later I attempted another holiday but could smell burning oil on travelling and immediately returned the vehicle to the dealer who identified that the main oil seal had failed resulting in the loss of engine oil. The vehicle was recovered for the second time and I was told that if I had continued to drive I would have damaged the engine – cancelled holiday number 2

I attempted to reject the vehicle and following assurances from the dealer that they would deal with the issues I then received a letter from them saying that they had ceased trading after 25 years as the dealership owner had decided to retire. I attempted to resolve the issue with Swift, who quite frankly were not interested and kept referring me to my dealer or Fiat. Fiat did offer some vouchers in compensation and I thought that maybe that would be the end of my problems. Unfortunately that was far from the case.

Once I finally managed to use the motorhome (in total 5 occasions since purchase), all the Swift habitation problems became evident. To date I have had the following issues:

•	Main door seal damaged on delivery (replacement ordered in July 08 and still waiting for it be resolved after Swift had sent 4 incorrect parts on different occasions)
•	Blow heating has failed on 5 occasions (on each occasion that I’ve managed to use the motorhome)
•	Power to Arial keeps failing. 
•	Waste pipe from the kitchen to the waste container was fitted too close to the wheel and was shredded resulting in us being unable to use the motorhome as waste water was being discharged on site.
•	Cooker cover magnets have fallen off.
•	Felt to underside of overcab bed has fallen off
•	Fresh water cap missing

And the latest – after bringing my motorhome home to pack it for our Easter holidays found that the battery charger was not working. I have now been informed that the battery charger is faulty and I’ll have to wait 3-4 weeks for a replacement. Cancelled holiday number 3.

I have owned this vehicle for 8 months have managed to use it on 5 occasions and each occasion has revealed another fault. I have also had to cancel 3 holidays and when I have managed to travel have had to suffer no heating, no TV or both. I have no confidence in this motorhome and am appalled at the standard of workmanship. I don’t believe that it’s unreasonable to expect a working motorhome after paying £40k.

I’m at a loss on what to do next and would appreciate any advice that anyone can offer. I’ll attempt to contact Swift again in the morning with the vague hope that my Easter holiday can be rescued, but I’m not holding out much hope.


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Welcome hiraeth

Sorry to hear you've had so many problems. Hopefully, Swift will pick up your post next time they're on. However, an investment of £10 to subscribe to our forum will allow you to send and receive Personal Messages, which is normally how Swift deal with reliability issues on here.

I know many members of MHF have started with big complaints against Swift, but then report back that all of the problems have been fixed, and they were happy with their vans.

Good luck.

Gerald


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## carolgavin (May 9, 2005)

Welcome to the forum first of all. It's a great place for all things motorhoming and for getting questions answered.

Really sorry to hear of your problems, I know how frustrating they can be. I have really no idea where to start, although in fairness to Swift, the engine problems are squarely in Fiats court and unfortunately you will have to pursue them with this. Ideally your dealer should help you out with this but if they have gone into liquidation then this is not going to happen. 

Swift do maintain a presence on motorhomefacts and do try to intervene when problems occcur which cannot be solved by dealer/fiat. Unfortunately as a non subscriber you cannot PM them, hopefully however they will see your post and possibly step in to help out.
I do hope you get things all sorted soon.


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## firewood (Mar 17, 2009)

hi sorry to here about the trouble your haveing with your m/home.this kind of thing is all to common.


pm me for more info


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## SwiftGroup (Jun 27, 2007)

Hiraeth,

If you want to PM me or email me at [email protected] with your details and your van details I will get our Customer Services Team to look into this in the morning,

Thanks
Andy


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

SwiftGroup said:


> If you want to PM me


Non-subscribers can't use the PM system, Andy.

All too often, we get people joining for their 5 free posts, make a number of complaints, but never actually spend £10 to join our community and gain the many benefits of being a subscriber.

.: Advantages :.

.: How to subscribe :.

Gerald


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Do try to keep up Gerald - he's wearing his crown. :wink: :lol: :lol: :lol: 

Must have joined in the last few minutes, and very wise too.  

Pretty snappy and positive response from Swift too, even though they got a bit of a slagging! 8O   

Dave


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Zebedee said:


> Do try to keep up Gerald - he's wearing his crown. :wink: :lol: :lol: :lol:


 :lol: :lol: Well, he wasn't when I started typing my post :roll:

Thanks for subscribing, hiraeth :wink: (Apologies for the whinge  )

Hope your problems are soon resolved 

Gerald


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Not often a super "_gotcha_" like that presents itself Gerald. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Dave


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## whistlinggypsy (May 1, 2005)

*Joined: Nov 09, 2008
Posts: 1*

Do try harder Gerald, you are usually pretty good with responses :wink:

Bob


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

whistlinggypsy said:


> *Joined: Nov 09, 2008
> Posts: 1*
> 
> Do try harder Gerald, you are usually pretty good with responses :wink:
> ...


Hi Bob

Have to leap to Gerald's defence here. 

Hiareth joined a while ago, but hadn't coughed up his tenner until just at the time Gerald was writing his post.

We'll have to let him off this time I think. 8O :lol: :lol: :lol:

Dave


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## whistlinggypsy (May 1, 2005)

Soz Gerald  thanks Dave :? 

Bob


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

whistlinggypsy said:


> *Joined: Nov 09, 2008
> Posts: 1* Do try harder Gerald, you are usually pretty good with responses


Thank you, Bob (I think :wink, but guilty as charged 

Must try harder - 3/10

Gerald


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## robrace (Jun 30, 2005)

*Fiat*

Cannot understand anyone buying a Fiat based vehicle.There have been so much publicity about reliability problems inc the gearbox ones that you would think that would put most people off


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## Jezport (Jun 19, 2008)

*Re: Fiat*



robrace said:


> Cannot understand anyone buying a Fiat based vehicle.There have been so much publicity about reliability problems inc the gearbox ones that you would think that would put most people off


The reports certainly put me off buying one, but I am easily frightened 8O


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## Steamdrivenandy (Jun 18, 2007)

*Re: Fiat*



robrace said:


> Cannot understand anyone buying a Fiat based vehicle.There have been so much publicity about reliability problems inc the gearbox ones that you would think that would put most people off


I suppose it depends if anybody makes the layout you want/need on another chassis.

Several European converters seem to produce an almost identical range of layouts on both Ford and Fiat and occasionally on Renault and/or Mercedes (Dethleffs comes to mind), but the larger British converters, with the honourable exception of Auto-sleepers, seem to stick with one chassis supplier.

It would be interesting to see how sales would split if, say, Swift Group were to offer Ducato and Transit bases on their range.

We chose a Fiat based van because the conversion was exactly what we wanted. The Hymer Van (on Ford) was available with the same layout but not as well detailed in several areas important to us. Having had a Mk 6 Transit that had started to hiccup regularly we bit the bullet and opted for the Fiat. So far, we haven't regretted it.

Fingers crossed

SDA


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

*Re: Fiat*



robrace said:


> Cannot understand anyone buying a Fiat based vehicle.There have been so much publicity about reliability problems inc the gearbox ones that you would think that would put most people off


The Fiat Camping chassis is a fantastic design. The engine (I have the 130bhp 2.3l version) is smooth, quiet and powerful. The ride is good and comfortable, and the handling is excellent. It's easy to drive, and provides a great basis for a motorhome with a number of features specific to that application.

Apart from that, I hate it :wink:

There are frustrations with both the design and the customer service, but they don't stop us enjoying our hobby. I would buy another Fiat without hesitation.

I think only when you've experienced the Fiat X2/50 chassis over a few thousands of miles can you appreciate how good it is, especially compared to other chassis.

Gerald


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## RichardnGill (Aug 31, 2006)

We have recently gone from a 2 year old Transit / Hymer to a new Fiat / Swift.

We are still happy with the Fiat / Swift and we were happy with the Transit / Hymer.

You will get some problems with any vehicle or M/H, it is not worth dwelling on what might happen just because it has happend to someone else.

Fact is you could get problems with a Transit, we did, you could get problems with a Hymer we did. 


Richard...


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## 121891 (Mar 31, 2009)

Hi Hiraeth,

Surprised you were quoted a 3-4 week turn around on the chargers.

When dealers submit a claim to us (Nordelettronica), we usually resolve (Replacement delivered) within 3-4 *days*. This includes time taken in transit.

If we had received a submitted claim yesterday, you would of had a charger before Friday, but even now it wouldn't be the 3-4 week time span they gave you.

I understand how it could of been frustrating given your dealership problems, so send me a PM and I'll try to resolve it.

Regards

[email protected]


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## hiraeth (Nov 9, 2008)

Thought I would post an update and especially mention Chris from Nord Elettronica who has gone out of his way to try and assist with the problem of my faulty charger.

Chris contacted me yesterday and offered to send out a replacement battery charger the same day so that I could still go ahead with my Easter holiday. As promised, the charger was received this morning and is now fitted.

I am really grateful to Chris for his efforts especially as I didn’t hold much hope of getting the charger replaced before the weekend.

I have had a message from Swift, who has promised to look into the problems experienced with my motorhome. I will post a further update once they come back to me.

Obviously I am still frustrated with the continuous problems that I am experiencing with this new motorhome but it is nice to see that at least Nord Elettronica are keen to provide a good service when things go wrong. Thank you Chris.


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## firewood (Mar 17, 2009)

how nice it is to read that you have had a bit of success .
welldone to nord .


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## brillopad (Mar 4, 2008)

worth the tenner me thinks, :wink: :wink:


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## 122394 (Apr 14, 2009)

This is Nordelettronica Italy and I'm Emiliano Piovesana, President of the Company.
First of all, I'd like to apologize to Swift all Dealers and the Customers for the problem when the battery charger stop to work normally.
We have discovered only recently that a small quantity of of the Van build between May and July 2008 by Swift may have a Battery charger
that fail after few days working.

This faulty is not source of any secondary problem, just the leisure battery is not charged and also the control panel don't display
the indication of the battery charger operating.

Because our stock rotation make impossible to identify exactly which van are affected with the potential problem,
we have selected a wide period of time where the chargers may be used and started the operation to recover this problem
immediately jointly with Swift to swap all of them a proactive action.

To prevent this faulty we have decided to swap all the unit mounted on the Van build between May and July 2008, and still not sold even if we know that this problem is effecting
1 in 30 vehicle so even if a small percentage is involved
we wish to reduce a small as possible this problem.

In any case our UK Service Team Operation is operative to assist all the Swift Dealers
to solve any issue as quick as possible.

To avoid misunderstanding we have to inform all of you that the
indication about the orange transformer isn't the cause of the problem,
we have more than 30.000 Battery chargers with orange transformer inside, working as should be across Europe.

I'm sure you will appreciate our commune effort and attention for the Swift Customers.

Best Regards

Emiliano Piovesana

President of Nordelettronica S.n.C.


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## nukeadmin (Oct 10, 2003)

thank you for your statement Emiliano, prompt action of this nature ensures Swift customers get good service from your company


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

Certainly appreciate your intervention Emiliano. When things go wrong; what you have done makes 50% of the problems disappear.

I do hope other manufacturers can see the benefits of taking an interest in their customers as Emiliano has.

Then we will all be faulty free.


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## dcummin (Jan 21, 2008)

*Re: Fiat*



robrace said:


> Cannot understand anyone buying a Fiat based vehicle.There have been so much publicity about reliability problems inc the gearbox ones that you would think that would put most people off


I'm really happy with mine - water ingress recalls were a bit of a pain but sorted to my satisfaction...you get recalls with many new vehicles now.

Great engine & drive - best looking coachbuilts in my opinion & huge amount of choice

There are far more Fiats on the road than any other base - they can't be that bad.


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## nukeadmin (Oct 10, 2003)

I too would vouch for the Fiats, smooth, fast and no issues for me with reversing / water.


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## RichardnGill (Aug 31, 2006)

We have a 2 week old Fiat/Swift group van, just done 900 miles and 9 nights away in our first trip

Problems = 0

We are happy so far.


Richard...


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## 96299 (Sep 15, 2005)

I wouldn't vouch for Fiat at all. They have been lying through their teeth to customers for two years, what does that that tell you about that company and customer loyalty. I have had my motorhome since august 07 and I still dont know where I stand regarding the juddergate fiasco. The water problems have been fixed, but even so, there is still a slight drip from the centre of the scuttle.
Roll on the day the Jap's start producing motorhome bases.  

steve


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

My Fiat has been good. Only probs really with it were caused by Elite Motorhomes and put right by Chelston with guidance from Vanbitz who sussed out battery prob in minutes rather than three visits and bullpoo from Chelston engineers. The problem was simply a broken battery connector which had totalled the battery due to constant recharging from empty and Chelston remedied this using the unusual technique of replacing it with a new duff battery.

But yet another visit and all was sorted and happiness was once again seen in my de meaner and my de house and my de van and my de car and my de family.


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