# Swift Voyager 2008 falls apart in France!



## stewartwebr

Hello,

We got the leaking crankshaft seals replaced that were damaged when they changed the clutch on time and we caught out tunnel crossing.

The temperature rose rapidly as we headed towards Nice. My other half decided it was time for some Air Con. On switching it on nothing....warm air. Anyway to cut it short, after visiting 3 Fiat dealers who were very rude we got it fixed. Turns out that the dealer who repaired the leaking crank shaft seal had disconnected the AC pipe and never bothered to recharge it. So twice it has been into them and twice it has left with a new fault. It's supposed to go in tomorrow to have the clutch judder fixed. All the parts have arrived but I'm going to think about using this dealer again.

Anyway, off we set nice and cool and heading towards Nice on the autoroute, I seen something fall off the van....what could it be? I stopped on the hardshoulder and was able to run onto the carraigeway and collect the item. The road was very very quiet and I was carefull. The part was the offside wheel arch. It just fell off. I was very lucky that it was not damaged and smashed to pieces, or even worse hit other road users and cause a serious road accident, as it's almost 1 metre long.

I pulled into the next Aire and to my horror found the arch on the other side was just hanging on by a couple of screws on the bottom. So off to find an other site and spend an other few days geting that fixed. We had just waisted 2 days getting the AC fixed. I seem to spend more time in garages than using my Swift these days!

So if you have a Swift with wheel arches like mine I strongly suggest you check they are stuck on well. They only appear to be stuck on with araldite looking stuff.....well worth checking.

I'm going to write to Swift, but they seem to have gone very quite since Kath Powell left.


Stewart


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## SwiftGroup

Hi Stewart,
I am very sorry to hear about this. 

If you could PM me your chassis number we will look into for you and get back. I would be keen to know what failed, the metal bracket to the bodyside, or the bracket to the wheel arch.

Once again very sorry,
Andy


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## 125681

*Wheel arches*

Hi Stewart. I have a Voyager and I also had both arches peel off whist on the motorway. luckily no one was hurt but it could have been very bad as I was travelling on a very busy M4. I am in the body repair industry and was amazed that they were held on by such a small amount of sealer along with a few metal brackets (which were loose!). I was told at the time that this was a freak and was previoulsy unheard of. In Swifts defence there was no problem with repair being agreed although it did take some time to get new arches delivered. The Caraven Hospital near Cardiff did an excellent job in fixing the new arches and they've stayed on so far. I wonder how many others have had a similar problem?


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## rrusty

Hi, my Autocruise Augusta has got 2 decorative panels stuck onto the bottom of the drivers & passenger doors both of them were loose so I got the dealer to look at them when it was in for its hab service, they sealed round the outside of them so now they get dirty and dont look all that good, I clean the mastic everytime I wash it but it should not be like that.

Also I noticed at the weekend that the offside wheel arch is about to fall off, I am going to pump some mirror adhesive under it and that should do the trick.

Whilst I mention things falling off the waste water pipe under the sink fell off and soaked the drawer and the cupboard underneath, also the waste water pipe under the MH fell off. Both of the above pipes were just plastic push fittings I would have thought there would have been a mechanical joint, bearing in mind the vibrations that all the joints are getting. I am also getting quite a collection of screws and clips that I cannot find where they came from.


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## stewartwebr

*Re: Wheel arches*



Caerphilly said:


> Hi Stewart. I have a Voyager and I also had both arches peel off whist on the motorway. luckily no one was hurt but it could have been very bad as I was travelling on a very busy M4. I am in the body repair industry and was amazed that they were held on by such a small amount of sealer along with a few metal brackets (which were loose!). I was told at the time that this was a freak and was previoulsy unheard of. In Swifts defence there was no problem with repair being agreed although it did take some time to get new arches delivered. The Caraven Hospital near Cardiff did an excellent job in fixing the new arches and they've stayed on so far. I wonder how many others have had a similar problem?


I had to stick mine back on whilst in France. I doubt they will ever come back off as I no nailed them to the side skirts. I was very suprised that they came off and was equaly shocked at how they were secured. My van is going back to Swift in October for some other work so they can have a look then.
I love the van apart from the Fiat pile of junk...but thats an other thread :-(


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## LynneKen

I think they are all falling apart, every time we take ours out something breaks, we have a list of 15 items at present and are adding as we go and that is just this month. The latest being the struts on the bed lockers the screws are only small and not long enough to do the job, two have broken off (flown out) and the other two are just hanging on, wheel arches have been stuck but are coming adrift as we speak, and by the way if you have a reversing camera check that it is turning off when removed, ours stays on 24 seven, has to be rewired to switch off with ignition, (remove camera and check when its dark from outside). The dealer is brilliant but it is getting very wearing to have to go back all the time.


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## stewartwebr

LynneKen said:


> I think they are all falling apart, every time we take ours out something breaks, we have a list of 15 items at present and are adding as we go and that is just this month. The latest being the struts on the bed lockers the screws are only small and not long enough to do the job, two have broken off (flown out) and the other two are just hanging on, wheel arches have been stuck but are coming adrift as we speak, and by the way if you have a reversing camera check that it is turning off when removed, ours stays on 24 seven, has to be rewired to switch off with ignition, (remove camera and check when its dark from outside). The dealer is brilliant but it is getting very wearing to have to go back all the time.


I know how you feel. At least you have a good dealer, the one I use or should I say used, broke more than he fixed. I had to explain how to fix certain items....unbelievable!

At least they're a nice van to look at, when they are in one piece LOL


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## Wytonknaus

Its not just that they fall apart, if you have a problem or as in my case someone puts the window through don't expect Swift to deliver the ordered parts in the time frame they quote.

My window which was ordered on 9th June which had 30 day order time will now be delivered on the 31st July, but I won't be holding my breath.


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## Wupert

rrusty said:


> Hi, my Autocruise Augusta has got 2 decorative panels stuck onto the bottom of the drivers & passenger doors both of them were loose so I got the dealer to look at them when it was in for its hab service, they sealed round the outside of them so now they get dirty and dont look all that good, I clean the mastic everytime I wash it but it should not be like that.
> 
> Also I noticed at the weekend that the offside wheel arch is about to fall off, I am going to pump some mirror adhesive under it and that should do the trick.
> 
> Whilst I mention things falling off the waste water pipe under the sink fell off and soaked the drawer and the cupboard underneath, also the waste water pipe under the MH fell off. Both of the above pipes were just plastic push fittings I would have thought there would have been a mechanical joint, bearing in mind the vibrations that all the joints are getting. I am also getting quite a collection of screws and clips that I cannot find where they came from.


Wow These M/H are 50K plus

The Augusta on the 3l Auto was high on my list for a next spring delivery we were even going to check one out this weekend..

See my thread ref Augusta posted a few days ago

It has now been removed from said list and we think we'll stay with the Chausson Allegro 96.

Wheel arches falling off for crying out loud

The rest of your post about fittings etc was the clincher for us.

There is no excuse for poor workmanship.

Wups


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## geordie01

it took me almost a year to get a door and then the dealer made a right pigs ear of fitting it causing more damage.if any one wants more details of my experience of tyne valley motorhoomes who are swifts approved daeler in my area please feel free to pm me and i will send you details and photos of the quality of their work.


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## raynipper

Gosh, all this about Swift. I can see this gathering a pace.

Glad we chose an older Hobby. Apart from some external corrosion I can't complain about a thing. Well maybe the small corrugated waste pipes that clog easily. 
I am amazed at the build quality of Hobby. Only a couple of minor plastic window shade clips have broken after nine years.

Ray.


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## Pusser

Sometimes things go wrong because they do but there does seem little excuse for this happening and whoever is in charge of production should be looking for another job preferably not in the aircraft industry.


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## Wupert

Pusser said:


> Sometimes things go wrong because they do but there does seem little excuse for this happening and whoever is in charge of production should be looking for another job preferably not in the aircraft industry.


   

£50K and things fall off

Unbelievable

Wups


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## rrusty

The Augusta on the 3l Auto was high on my list for a next spring delivery we were even going to check one out this weekend..

Swift are not saying a lot are they, that is one potential sale lost.

Rusty


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## geordie01

in 4 years of having our swift van it has had the step repaired, new side skirts due to corrosion,new hab door due to frame splitting, the dealer damaged the grp side of the van when fitting the door and then denied it but when i showed him photos of van door taken 1 hour before i dropped off the van and there was no damage decided to repair the cracks they had caused. that is apart from all the repairs i have done myself to doors,bed slats, and other internal and external fixtures and fittings. 42k for a van and you have to be good at diy.ex corgi gas engineer, joiner, electrician, the only skill i havent needed to learn is bricklaying!!!


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## firewood

i read all this with interest as while we were in france i noticed that the stick on trim around the bottom outside of my starblazer was all loose iam phoneing the dealer monday morning.i will let you know how i get on .as its been said b4 why do these things go wrong so often.mine was new in december 2008


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## SwiftGroup

I am sorry to read about these or any faults on our products and would like to understand why. Any defect that arises is investigated and action is taken. 

I am not aware of any specific issues on the Autocruise vans of trim falling off so perhaps Firewood if you don't mind you could please PM me the details.

Thanks
Andy


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## gromett

I am constantly changing my mind about swift. On the one hand there are soo many bad stories but then again Swift appear to be proactive on here.

My Hymer had one problem when brand new sorted that myself. This Eura hasn't had a single problem in 3 years other than the waste pipe vent coming unstuck but that was my fault for storing heavy items under the floor and not securing it down. Again I fixed that myself in 5 minutes. There is nothing flimsy at all about the Eura and I can see why they cost a little more.

Are there so many problems reported on here because there are so many swifts or are they really that bad and Quality Control and Manufacturing?


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## vardy

Next year is look at new van year and squander the pension. I know what not to bother with now.......


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## SwiftGroup

gromett said:


> I am constantly changing my mind about swift. On the one hand there are soo many bad stories but then again Swift appear to be proactive on here.
> 
> My Hymer had one problem when brand new sorted that myself. This Eura hasn't had a single problem in 3 years other than the waste pipe vent coming unstuck but that was my fault for storing heavy items under the floor and not securing it down. Again I fixed that myself in 5 minutes. There is nothing flimsy at all about the Eura and I can see why they cost a little more.
> 
> Are there so many problems reported on here because there are so many swifts or are they really that bad and Quality Control and Manufacturing?


I will say we produce many many trouble free Motorhomes each year and have many happy customers. I am not go to try to defend or make excuses about some of the issues for which I apologise but we do take seriously all of your comments.

Our participation on these forums has helped us to develop our products better and in doing so changed the focus of the business. We welcome any feedback both good and bad. We monitor seven forums seven days a week not to promote or advertise our products but purely because we believe the feedback can only help us.

There is a downside to our participation level in that we do discuss our faults in public, probably more than any other manufacturers, but we choose to do so and don't hide away from our our issues and will continue to do so,

Thanks
Andy


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## firewood

SwiftGroup said:


> I am sorry to read about these or any faults on our products and would like to understand why. Any defect that arises is investigated and action is taken.
> 
> I am not aware of any specific issues on the Autocruise vans of trim falling off so perhaps Firewood if you don't mind you could please PM me the details.
> 
> Thanks
> Andy


pm sent .at 19 42


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## richardjames

Andy
I think you are taking the right approach, it takes alot of courage to put your head on the chopping block. I would consider a Swift should you make one with rear wheel drive. Keep up the good work


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## gromett

And again my opinion on swift has changed lol.

Karl


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## firewood

well i have to say thanks to andy at swift we have already exchanged emails 
thanks bob


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## colonel

Well, I never think it's a good thing to air individual grievances on here but I can sympathise with those people who have had problems of this nature.

I include myself in the list of sufferers as my nearside wheel spat also came adrift whilst I was on my "tour of a lifetime". Driving along the Autopista outside Valencia I noticed that it was flapping around and had to do an emergency stop and emergency repairs just in time before it fell off completely.

Pragmatically, I have to say that a quick PM to Swift brought a positive and helpful response from Mick France although I could not get it fixed whilst I was in Spain.

On my return I arranged with Johns Cross ( by PM'g Peter ) for them to fix the wheel spat ( It's not the wheel arch by the way) along with some other warranty bits and pieces which had become evident over the preceding 2 months.

My position is, No these things shouldn't happen to a new Motorhome but the measure of the competance of the Manufacturer in my opinion is the way they respond to dealing with the fault/problem and Swift in my view are absolutely first class.

For this reason, I would continue to purchase their products with confidence and would suggest for those who say they wouldn't buy their motorhomes, read through more of the entries on this site for those who have had a much worse problems and poorer responses from Hymer, Autotrail, Chausson and many others.


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## rrusty

I am not aware of any specific issues on the Autocruise vans of trim falling off so perhaps Firewood if you don't mind you could please PM me the details.

I had a 2007 Bessecar E560 that I had to reject because of the blasted control panel always going wrong and I lost out several thousand on that now I have trims and other bits falling off this one.

Rusty


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## geordie01

SwiftGroup said:


> gromett said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am constantly changing my mind about swift. On the one hand there are soo many bad stories but then again Swift appear to be proactive on here.
> 
> My Hymer had one problem when brand new sorted that myself. This Eura hasn't had a single problem in 3 years other than the waste pipe vent coming unstuck but that was my fault for storing heavy items under the floor and not securing it down. Again I fixed that myself in 5 minutes. There is nothing flimsy at all about the Eura and I can see why they cost a little more.
> 
> Are there so many problems reported on here because there are so many swifts or are they really that bad and Quality Control and Manufacturing?
> 
> 
> 
> I will say we produce many many trouble free Motorhomes each year and have many happy customers. I am not go to try to defend or make excuses about some of the issues for which I apologise but we do take seriously all of your comments.
> 
> Our participation on these forums has helped us to develop our products better and in doing so changed the focus of the business. We welcome any feedback both good and bad. We monitor seven forums seven days a week not to promote or advertise our products but purely because we believe the feedback can only help us.
> 
> There is a downside to our participation level in that we do discuss our faults in public, probably more than any other manufacturers, but we choose to do so and don't hide away from our our issues and will continue to do so,
> 
> Thanks
> Andy
Click to expand...

i must say that swift have been very good at responding to probs i have had with my van on this forum but the quality of workmanship i have received from thier approved dealer is to say the least abissmal. the last time i left the dealer one of the side skirts on the van was only secured by two screws instead of the four that it should have been. it is alright for swift to come on the forum and say that they will sort things out and very good for them doing that but if they cannot deliver what they promise through their dealers then what is the point. i am a time served tradesman and i would be ashamed to turn out the quality of work i have had from their "approved" dealer Tyne Valley Motorhomes. at the end of the day your reputation is only as good as your worst fitter/engineer/or as tvm call them technichian.i just wish i lived closer to johns cross mhs who seem to have it sorted and they could have my business any time


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## TDG

Surely all those trying to deal directly with Swift (or, in fact, any other manufacturer) are letting the dealers off the hook. In purchasing from the dealer you establish a contract with them and unless and until proper pressure is put on them to honour that contract, the country will continue to have this vast network of c**p dealers. Not all these dealers are bad because of poor after service..... it is because they sell a bad product in the first place!


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## nukeadmin

> Are there so many problems reported on here because there are so many swifts or are they really that bad and Quality Control and Manufacturing


Also i think because of Swifts very proactive stance and publically answering queries here on MHF that they obviously attract more comments about their vehicles. If all the manufacturers were here working as Swift do I think you would see a definate realignment on the postings


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## SwiftGroup

*Swift quality*

Because of our participation on the Forum and our market position we will always attract more feedback, no other Manufacturer participates on the Forum as they dare'nt do so! I have said many times we are not perfect and our quality has lagged behind some of our foreign competition we are working hard to improve this, we have made the wrong choice of suppliers in the past and are still paying the price but I am convinced that we will soon be setting better quality standards. Our German and French competitors are struggling to stay in business and are in complete disarray whilst we have survived the downturn . We will press on with our internal improvements and participate on the Forums.You all have a choice and it is upto us to give you a product and service that you require otherwise you will shop elswhere this we clearly understand.Regards Peter.


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## rrusty

rrusty said:


> Hi, my Autocruise Augusta has got 2 decorative panels stuck onto the bottom of the drivers & passenger doors both of them were loose so I got the dealer to look at them when it was in for its hab service, they sealed round the outside of them so now they get dirty and dont look all that good, I clean the mastic everytime I wash it but it should not be like that.
> 
> Also I noticed at the weekend that the offside wheel arch is about to fall off, I am going to pump some mirror adhesive under it and that should do the trick.
> 
> Whilst I mention things falling off the waste water pipe under the sink fell off and soaked the drawer and the cupboard underneath, also the waste water pipe under the MH fell off. Both of the above pipes were just plastic push fittings I would have thought there would have been a mechanical joint, bearing in mind the vibrations that all the joints are getting. I am also getting quite a collection of screws and clips that I cannot find where they came from.


Well I noticed Venwood got a responce out of Swift for the same trim problems as mine, but I never.

Rusty


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## SwiftGroup

rrusty said:


> The Augusta on the 3l Auto was high on my list for a next spring delivery we were even going to check one out this weekend..
> 
> Swift are not saying a lot are they, that is one potential sale lost.
> 
> Rusty


Rusty 
Sorry I was a bit confused I thought you were considering buying from your earlier post. If you want to PM me some details I will ook into this for you,
Regards
Andy


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## Pusser

SwiftGroup said:


> rrusty said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Augusta on the 3l Auto was high on my list for a next spring delivery we were even going to check one out this weekend..
> 
> Swift are not saying a lot are they, that is one potential sale lost.
> 
> Rusty
> 
> 
> 
> Rusty
> Sorry I was a bit confused I thought you were considering buying from your earlier post. If you want to PM me some details I will ook into this for you,
> Regards
> Andy
Click to expand...

I think credit where is due is due and not disappearing after this large hole in the ground opened up I can say I am mightly impressed with you hanging on in there and taking it on the chin.

In my view this will only serve to strengthen the Swift name.

What would be even more impressive is for us too see pix of the bloke in charge of these areas being given a good hiding by those at your premises who do do a great job.


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## erneboy

Although I have never had a Swift I must say I am impressed by their willingness to engage with customers. They have the correct approach and deserve to be given the chance to put any defects right. 

I have owned Autotrails and have noticed the quality of build falling off year by year to the point where I decided not to buy any more of them. Autotrail do not engage with customers so I was left talking to dealers who made it perfectly clear that they had no interest in customer service. Their interest ended once I had paid them, all except the now defunct Motorhome Ireland who always dealt quickly and fairly with defects. 

Well done Swift, keep it up, it will pay handsomely in the long term, Alan.


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## Wupert

colonel said:


> Well, I never think it's a good thing to air individual grievances on here but I can sympathise with those people who have had problems of this nature.
> 
> Ia I noticed that it was flapping around and
> those who have had a much worse problems and poorer responses from Hymer, Autotrail, Chausson and many others.


Having a Chausson I obviously follow any threads about them

I may have missed something but I cant think of any post that has a complaint about the Chausson build quality.

Similarly I see very few complaints about the Hymers.

Wups


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## stewartwebr

When Swift contacted me I asked if this was an issue that was being discovered on all Voyagers. I was told that mine was the first to have this failure and it was an isolated case.

Given the small amount of Voyager owners on this forum, 3 members have now had the same failure. I can not help but think some one was not being completely honest.

I have also noticed a slide in Swift Customer Care since Kath Powells departure. When I e-mailed Kath, she would be back in touch in a few days. During the last month or so, some emails have taken weeks to be replied too.

Stewart


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## SwiftGroup

Stewart,

I am sorry but it sounds like you were given some wrong information, we have had some cases of the wheel fairings becoming loose and a few which have come off. These were on the first off of this design of wheel fairing. Our supplier (who has now gone into administration) had used the incorrect material in their process which cause the fault.

Our supplier reworked their stock and went out into the field to correct this problem with customers, which is known. Your van is a much later build and was not affected by the original problem which maybe why you were told what you were we do not have an issue with current vans.

On the other point I am sorry if we have not responded promptly. If there are any emails that we have not responded too please forward them to me and I will discuss these with our Customer Services Team and ensure you get a prompt response,

Thanks
Andy


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## 94055

Wupert said:


> colonel said:
> 
> 
> 
> Similarly I see very few complaints about the Hymers.
> 
> Wups
> 
> 
> 
> I do not know about Chausson, mind you how many do you see, are there in the UK?
> 
> But Hymer!
> 
> Smash mirroe to change TAP!!!!
> 
> Electrical problem
> 
> Just check the threads for Hymer
> 
> Swift seem to have more as has been said, do they actualy on a one to one basis? I doubt it.
> Keep up the good work Peter and your teams
> 
> Price! :wink:
Click to expand...


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## richardjames

And there's not alot of comments about CI models 8O 8O


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## RichardnGill

We bought a new Hymer in 2007 and had it for almost 2 years. It did have a few problems and these got sorted out under warranty (eventually) 

We bought a new Bessacarr (Swift) and it is now just over 4 months old. We have just noticed one the LED rear marker lights was not working and as we are going to France very soon we were worried if we could get a fix in time. A quick PM to Swift and the part is on order and hopefully on it way to us in time. 
We have a couple of other very minor problems which we we wait until the van is a bit older and get these done under warranty. But that is it so far. 

I guess it does not matter what you buy there can be problems, it is what happens once the problem is found that matters. 


Richard...


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## colonel

Hi Wups,

I think others have answered for me on this. There have been plenty of threads on hear about almost all other makes at one time or another. In respect of Hymer I spoke to a caravan owner who had lots of niggly issues and he also could not get the dealer to sort them out quickly and efficiently, having to wait 6 months for replacement curtains that were all cut too short. The point was that everyone has problems but they don't all get sorted out easily and to my knowledge no other converter is signed up to this or any other motorhome site.

My only experience with Chausson was when we were looking to buy orginally we came very close to choosing an Allegro 94 but were disappointed about the quality of the blinds and the bathroom sliding door. On two brand new vans we saw at different dealers, both had the doors adrift as they had come out of the runners and even at the NEC show the blinds on a show model were poor and kept jumping out of the runner. These things actually stopped me from buying one in the end. I can't speak for how good their after sales service is.


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## Wupert

colonel said:


> Hi Wups,
> 
> I think others have answered for me on this. There have been plenty of threads on hear about almost all other makes at one time or another. In respect of Hymer I spoke to a caravan owner who had lots ounner. These things actually stopped me from buying one in the end. I can't speak for how good their after sales service is.


A very Good afternoon Sir.

I think we have to consider two things in tandem

The make and the dealer the M/H was purchased from

I had a Hymer from new bought from Brownhills.

The problem with it was the work done by Brownhills on it pre collection and the disgraceful after-sales back up I should say lack of back up

My Chausson was purchased from Continental Caravans and the after-sales back up has been outstanding.

The work needed was damage done by myself no warranty so far.

The first repair was a set of rear lights supplied and fitted in less than a week

Second repair new rear bumper again supplied in under a week.

I have had European caravans and M/H's since 1976 and honestly never a complaint a leak or hoses etc coming off.

For anything to fall off new vehicles in this day and age indicates to me pure build quality.

Happy hols

Wups


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## colonel

Hi Wups,

I think your experience just proves the point. Not all vans have problems, not all dealers are hopeless. However, when (IF) you have problems the real measure of the manufacturer is his after sales service whether that be through his dealer network or his direct support.

I'm glad you have not had any problems but I do think you must be in a minority, and good luck to you for that.


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