# Useful addresses for unhappy Swift owners



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

I've spent an unsatisfying afternoon making over 15 phone calls to and from Swift and my dealers.

I've not got very far and so asked for the name and phone number of the Swift company director as clearly Customer Care don't care at all.

It seems that the company director does not deal with the public and has no phone number. I suspect that letter addressed to him at the company will be filtered through the same people I've spent the afternoon talking to and, once again , I'll get no-where.

A look at Companies House website and payment of £1 meant I could download the Company Record and this has the home address of both directors and the company secretary. No phone numbers are given and, unsurprisingly, they are ex-directory.

I shall however write to them about my problem ( not those of MHF members) and hope therefore the letter will get to the person I want it to go to

If you feel Swift are ignoring you and want to write to the Chief rather than deal with the Indians, then I will PM the addresses to you if you let me know.

G


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## Mikemoss (Sep 5, 2005)

Good work Grizzly! While I've always, or should I say 'so far', been happy with Swift and their service I can seen that plenty of people on here ae anything but and it's high time that Swift started to sit up, take notice, and sort things out.

Hope you get the result you're looking for.


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## kennyo (Mar 22, 2006)

Hello G

You could Pm me the address for future reference as i have been waiting 12 weeks for some parts and still have not received them as promised. I am away to Norway for 5 weeks on sunday so they might be there when i get back.


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## some-where-in-oxford (Apr 18, 2006)

My fax to Managing director on 12th June has gone un-answered, I guess its being handled by the staff and not forwarded on.

Please can you let me have any address I can send copy of my 4 page letter to.

Swift 630L currently at dealer having faults put right.

Cheers

some-where-in-oxford


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

some-where-in-oxford said:


> Please can you let me have any address I can send copy of my 4 page letter to.
> 
> Swift 630L currently at dealer having faults put right.
> some-where-in-oxford


PM on way. I don't think it's a good idea to put the address on the website

G


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Swift*

Hi

I sent my letter to the MD today. Plus humpteen emails!

Fight the pirates, sa Speed Ferries said!

Russell


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

*Re: Swift*



Rapide561 said:


> I sent my letter to the MD today. Plus humpteen emails!
> 
> Russell


Hurrah ! I hope he's not on holiday. You're not the only one to have done that today so he'll get at least 3 letters tomorrow.

I'm sure he'll be in the office and working out our problems as fast as he can.....not !

It's flying pig time again.

G


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## RichardnGill (Aug 31, 2006)

Well done Grizzly for trying to move things on in a sensible way. Can you imagine if Brownhills top mans address was avaiable, I think you could times there letters 10 fold.


Best of luck Richard...


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## 94055 (May 1, 2005)

Russel,Grizzly ....no pun intended but here is to a SWIFT reply 8O 
I hope you both start having good luck for a change and can start to enjoy your expensive but enjoyable hobby

Steve


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## bigfoot (May 16, 2005)

As you now have the MDs address why not have a rally at his address assuming your dodgy vehicles are safe to drive. You could have a very large sign on each van outlining the faults.
Or at least threaten to do it-who knows you may receive a reply!!!


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

For all those people who sent me their faults list in the expectation that I would write to Swift and put the sum total of our lists to them for their comments; don't despair. It will be done.

I'm only waiting until I have got my van back and I will then ask Swift to comment on everything. I don't want to deal with the 2 separate things at once because each issue clouds the other.

Anyone else with a faults list out there ?

G


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## metblue (Oct 9, 2006)

*swift*

Hi Grizzly,love your style!! ace i am having problems with my 669. Cleveland motorhomes are doing their best but are getting no where with the explorer group.Mine was delayed to ensure quality control on their premier model was correct ! Bull****, extra's that were ordered were never fitted,panels don't fit.there are pencil marks all over the inside for the installers to line up the furniture,roof panel over mirror is very badly made,rough as heck plus a lot of other nigly bits too. utter crap.only good things are the double bed and the wonderful motor.
I agree with bigfoot why don't we all go either to Hull or the MD home address,contact the local/national press and then see what happens then!!

cheers to all


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## gromett (May 9, 2005)

Can I make a suggestion please?

As a company director that employed and paid staff to ensure thing were done correctly I just left my staff to get on with things ( in my case it generally worked ok) A company director can lose touch with the client base that caused him to employ people and can become distracted by accountancy, product development, staff issues and legislation amongst other things and may not actually know how serious the problem has become.

My suggestion would be to send a single letter under the auspices of "Member of MHF" Point out very politely the threads that contain problems with vehicles etc. List the vehicles along with details of the complaint and timeline.

Request politely that a definitive answer be provided as to when and how a solution will be provided. Point out that MHF has X000's of members and that the current feedback via the website is affecting the reputation of his company and is likely to affect the sales should the current trend continue.

Politely request a response within 14 days so you can understand more fully where you stand as valued client.

Send this Special delivery and keep the tracking ticket.

I do stress this should be extremely polite and understanding. Explain the stress and personal anxiety by all means but keep financial issues out of it as it will appear to be a threat. Please don't threaten in this first letter as it will put them(him) on the defensive and possibly stop/delay progress.

If after 16 days you have not received a satisfactory response, I would personally send the second letter that contains the threat...

In our previous letter we politely requested details of when/how you can resolve the issues with our "quality" vehicles. We have not received any response from you or your company so felt it was only polite to explain what our next steps would be. 

This is the bit where we need to get our heads together and I would be first to sign up to help you guys (knowing what Russell has gone through)
The promise (not a threat) would be to demonstrate outside his house and that of his factory (or near it). To lodge County Court summons on the company for the slightest issue that hasn't been resolved in a timely manner. To contact as many press outlets as possible notifying them of the demonstrations. These actions are not taken lightly but out of frustration at the lack of a resolution to our genuine problems. These actions will be taken as soon as we can and will be concurrent and last as long as necessary to get a suitable conclusion to our issues.

The first threat would without doubt cause personal inconvenience and embarrasement. At the factory it would cause client concern.

The County Court option is extremely harsh as if a company does not show up to defend an action the member of the public tends to win by default. If a number of you were to do this at the same time you can almost garantee that they get a CCJ which will affect their supply chain. This is extremely harsh and I would not normally suggest it but again I can only say "Russell".

The third option wouldn't normally concern a reasonable sized company as press threats are not unheard of. But if you are telling the press about 30-50 motorhomes demonstrating outside the MD's house it is likely to get a bit more response than a single MH owners letter to WatchDog.....

It is down to you guys who have been wronged to organise this. But if you need a van to help blockade.. Ooops I meant demonstrate I will put my name first on the list and that includes cancelling any trips I have planned.

I hope I don't get flamed for this, It is what I think would be most effective bearing in mind the MD is a person as well and may not know the depth of some of his clients despare. At the same time it does need to have some force of threat behind it but not until after he has personally heard the problems.

Karl


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Hi Karl, and thanks for your letter. I'm not good with insetting quotes and not on my own computer so won't try.
.
I understand that MDs lose touch with the firms that they head but wonder how they can live with themselves and take a salary -etc- if they do. Not all are like this and I have met some hands- on ones. My reason for writing direct to the MDs home address is because I want him to get the letter. I suspect that otherwise it gets filtered through endless others none of who have the authority or gumption to do anything positive. He is MD; he can bring about change.

I intend to write to Swift, when I have my own dispute settled, and point out that I am a member of an online forum ( not to name it) and that it is clear that there are several members of this forum who are dissatisfied with the way Swift have addressed their complaints. I have no right to speak for MHF and for the majority of its members who have no quarrel with Swift. I will detail the faults and the number of times they have recurred in the lists of people who are not happy. I will ask if we can discuss several aspects of their operation with a view to improving customer relations.

I believe in being polite and writing constructive rather than destructive letters. I also know that I have a right to persist until I get an answer that is satisfactory.What I do not want to do - and don't think Swit do either- is to escalate this into a legal argument.

I'm not going to demonstrate outside his house or allow anyone else to do that in my name. Whatever my personal feelings about the firm the private house of any of its employees is just that. The only reason I write to this address is to ensure the letter reaches the MD in person. For that reason I will only pass on this address to people on the forum who I firmly believe will do the same.

If the MD does not understand the feelings of a MH owner who is deprived of the use of his MH for long periods then I hope to point this out to him.
Many of us are getting to an age where health and mobility cannot be taken for granted and we live each day to the full aware that next summer we might not be able to use our van for other reasons. He ought to take pride in being MD of a prestige company not one that elicits groans from many MH owners.

I hope that a member of the firm who is authorised to make decisions can discuss with me, or others, a way forward for us all and will press for this.

If, in the future, we change out van then I'd like to think that Swift would be a contender. At the moment it would not be.

I don't think protests or demos get very far. They bring the matter to the minds of the public for one night only on the TV but people tire quickly and boredom sets in. The form have only to ride out bad publicity for a week or so and all will be back to normal. Persistant , firm, unrelenting pressure until action is taken is more often effective in my experience. I have to admit it does make the situation more stressful for the writer though ! I'm not a natural shouter but there are times when I long to be free of civilised restraint and just fell the man with one blow and walk out ! ( Supposed to be a smiley icon here but can't get this -Mac- to do it !)

Thanks for you support. It is much appreciated. 


G


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## gromett (May 9, 2005)

I understand your position, I wasn't suggesting this just for your personal letter but for the few of you who appear to have problems with swift.
I would never suggest the above course of action as a sole endevour as it would probably have a negative effect. I was suggesting this as a group letter/threat as there does seem to be a trend with people with swifts having issues.

I have never had a swift and wouldn't consider one due to the state of the ones I saw at brownhills some 4 years ago but thats another story.

Is it just me or are swift MH's the cause of the majority of complaints on this forum recently?

PS: Good luck with getting your issues resolved.

Karl


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## rft (May 4, 2006)

RichardnGill said:


> Can you imagine if Brownhills top mans address was avaiable, I think you could times there letters 10 fold.


It is. And all the shareholders.

I too subscribe to Companies House and the cost of the Brownhills 363s Annual Return is £1. If you want the info I will obtain same.


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

gromett said:


> Is it just me or are swift MH's the cause of the majority of complaints on this forum recently?
> 
> PS: Good luck with getting your issues resolved.
> 
> Karl


Thanks Karl,

I think more and more Swift ( and other MH owners) are realising, thanks largely to this forum, that they are not alone. It's easy to think that everyone else has a problem free van and gets excellent service from all they deal with. I'm sure the dealers and manufacturers would like to keep it this way.

I don't know how many people Swift employ but don't imagine it is a huge firm. If a skilled person is employed then the cost of doing a job properly is no more than a little extra time. Anyone who works there ought to take some pride in the work he does. Given that many of the complaints I have on the MHF members list are trim and finishing faults then perhaps, by pointing this out to Swift, the individuals who are not pulling their weight could be identified and re-trained.

Is the manufacturing process at Swift so target-driven that individuals do not have time to do the work properly ? Could tihs be something that could be changed ?

Swift do their own pre-delivery inspections I am told. The dealers do not. There must therefore be individuals at Swift who check that the van is neat and tidy and all the bits work and are well-attached. Why don't they spot the faults ? If you were a MH dealer would you not inspect the van yourself, whatever you felt had been done officially at Swift ? Why aren't the faults picked up then ?

There are so many questions that I hope Swift will answer and I hope members will ask. When it comes down to it I would hope we all want the same outcome to a purchase; a satisfied happy customer and a reasonable profit for firm and dealer.

G


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

[quote="rftI too subscribe to Companies House and the cost of the Brownhills 363s Annual Return is £1. If you want the info I will obtain same.[/quote]

This is how I got the address I have. It took 5 minutes on the internet and a credit card. The information is then available for download and printing. I'm not a subscriber.

For goodness sake be careful however. I repeat; a private address is just that. Use it to post a letter that you do not think will otherwise be seen by the person to whom you address it but DO NOT even THINK of demonstrating there. This is certainly immoral if not actively illegal.

G


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Swift*

Hi

A rally outside Peter Smith's house would not do a great deal to help angry Swift customers, but a rally at the dealers is likely to have impact. You have to be careful you are not blocking rights of way etc etc

Russell

Fight the Pirates!


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## rft (May 4, 2006)

Grizzly said:


> [quote="rftI too subscribe to Companies House and the cost of the Brownhills 363s Annual Return is £1. If you want the info I will obtain same.


This is how I got the address I have. It took 5 minutes on the internet and a credit card. The information is then available for download and printing. I'm not a subscriber.

For goodness sake be careful however. I repeat; a private address is just that. Use it to post a letter that you do not think will otherwise be seen by the person to whom you address it but DO NOT even THINK of demonstrating there. This is certainly immoral if not actively illegal.

G[/quote]

I am simply agreeing that a letter (no more) will concentrate the mind and guarantee that it is seen by the correct person if it goes to their home address. After all, a directors home address is a matter of public record.


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

rft said:


> . After all, a directors home address is a matter of public record.


I was surprised by this. I wonder why it should be -especially in these days of Data Protection Acts and so on ? Odd really.

G


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