exsac Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Hello All At a rally at the weekend,my wife opened the wardrobe door a little wider than usual and it hit the adjacent bathroom door handle which went straight through the paper thin veneer of the wardrobe door and made a large hole. There is no strut or anything else inside the wardrobe to prevent the door from opening too wide.When I asked the Swift Group if it would be covered by the 3 year warranty,they said their warranty department had not reported any other incidents like this so they would not cover it.I can't believe that it has not happened to other owners of this model as the door swings straight onto the bathroom handle if it is left open when the van is on a slope. I spoke to several owners of other makes of motorhome but none of them has a similar problem.My motorhome is a 2009 Bessacarr E510. I have been told that Swift now fit a restraint inside the wardrobe to prevent this from happening so I believe that they should provide me with a new door.When I posted this on another motorhome forum site I got 2 replies very quickly from owners who had experienced the same problem. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuevoboy Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Just because you're the first to experience the problem, should not mean that Swift won't repair it under warranty. There's always a "first". As Swift now fit a restraint, that seems to suggest it is a requirement that they have become aware of. And the fact that two others have come forward with similar problems, suggests that there is indeed a design fault. Get back to them and pursue the matter. I'm sure there'll be further responses with their views on Swift. We looked at a couple of Bessacarrs at the recent Cardiff show and in both models we found the shower door catches broken off. Not very inspiring, quality wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Hello Alan & welcome to the forum. Can I suggest you post the problem on the Swift-Talk forum. It's monitored all the time by Swift's people & appears to be getting results on various difficulties. http://www.swift-talk.co.uk/forum BTW our previous Bessacarr E410, (same basic layout, but shorter) the set up was that the Wardrobe Door opened towards the front & the Shower/Toilet Door opened to the rear. So if all else fails could you switch the door round (top to bottom) & put the "repaired" side so that it is internal to the Wardrobe. Not the most satisfactory long term solution, but should suffice until resolved with Swift's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 exsac - 2011-02-10 9:39 PM Hello All At a rally at the weekend,my wife opened the wardrobe door a little wider than usual and it hit the adjacent bathroom door handle which went straight through the paper thin veneer of the wardrobe door and made a large hole. There is no strut or anything else inside the wardrobe to prevent the door from opening too wide.When I asked the Swift Group if it would be covered by the 3 year warranty,they said their warranty department had not reported any other incidents like this so they would not cover it.I can't believe that it has not happened to other owners of this model as the door swings straight onto the bathroom handle if it is left open when the van is on a slope. I spoke to several owners of other makes of motorhome but none of them has a similar problem.My motorhome is a 2009 Bessacarr E510. I have been told that Swift now fit a restraint inside the wardrobe to prevent this from happening so I believe that they should provide me with a new door.When I posted this on another motorhome forum site I got 2 replies very quickly from owners who had experienced the same problem. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. The problem, I think, is that you appear to have taken this up direct with Swift. Your dealer sold you the van, and it should be the dealer who pursues a claim on your behalf with Swift. If all else fails, it is the dealer who is liable for any faults on your van, whether they are covered by guarantee or not, whether they are manufacturing defects or not, and whether they are design defects or not. The proviso, however, is that they must be genuine defects. This issue is less clear as to liability, and it would seem, from what you say, that some element of heavy handed-ness with the door may have contributed to the accident. IMO, this is accidental damage possibly contributed to by poor design. I think some compromise will be required, and I suspect the remedy will be a new wardrobe door plus the, now (apparently) fitted stay.Your conversation with the dealer won't be easy - unless he is a very understanding dealer - because, under the circumstances, he will inevitably blame the user for the damage, whether he says so or not! You will need to point out the stay on current vans, and that if it had been fitted to your van the accident could not have happened.How about you pay for the door (at cost, which you after all damaged), if the dealer and Swift between them pay for the stay (which is what now seems to have been missed off you van), and fit the lot FOC? Something along those lines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizken Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 I may be cynical, but that is the reaction I would have expected from Swift. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Dwight Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Alan. That sounds like Swift, we had problems with our last van, Swift built cant do, slow or not our problem, were the explanatyions from Swift and the Dealer. Our present van is from the Autotrail stable, what a difference with problems, they nearly fall over backwards to fix things. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Anne Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 David Dwight - 2011-02-11 2:31 PM Alan. That sounds like Swift, we had problems with our last van, Swift built cant do, slow or not our problem, were the explanatyions from Swift and the Dealer. Our present van is from the Autotrail stable, what a difference with problems, they nearly fall over backwards to fix things. David Here here! I cannot sing to praises of Autotrail too highly. Brilliant helpful service. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 If anyone's wondering, this is what the door set-up is like. It has those big door handles on which are just asking for trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Forgot to say - welcome to the mad house! If Swift/dealer won't repair it, which, to be honest, I don't hold out much hope that they will I'm afraid, you could turn the door upside down and re-fit it so it opens the other way which, I think, makes more sense anyway and you won't have the problem in the future. You could then fit a decorative piece over the hole to cover it - or maybe find a towel rail which you could put on the front of the door which could be useful anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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