Swift Motorhome - Never Again
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The answer was "no" when we asked.
However, the Dometic has not given any trouble so far 🤞🤞🤞
Apologies, OP, let's stick to Swift.
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Since my wife passed away i do a lot of trips with my granddaughter. The fixed double bed layout of my current caravan isn't the ideal layout anymore so i am changing it to a layout that better suites my current circumstances.
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Dometic are a Swedish owned company, so one would expect quality products. However, with an operating profit of approx £1.5bn (2020) and shareholders to pay since November 2015, they're highly unlikely to give a flying fig about your 'faulty' fridge, concentrating more on numbers and profits, thus leaving the dealerships to take the flack. No doubt they have an extensive aftersales team.
Thetford are an American manufacturer who concentrate on the manufacturing of quality sanitary products and specialist fridges for the leisure industry. Not so much a "Jack of all trades" . In my later years of caravanning, I've used both products. I would say the latter are definitely better quality.
It's very disappointing to read posts about repeatedly defective and poor quality workmanship, particularly in 'flagship' products, but with absolutely no one to complain to (other than your dealer) and no one to champion your cause, this unregulated industry just keeps rolling on (NCC don't count imho)
I hope your problems are resolved soon Seefarers. I too have learnt my lesson re Swift.
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I do not expect any supplier such as Dometic to care about my problems but I do expect Swift to and that is the rub. My dealer has placed warranty claims on my behalf but seems unable to get any movement from Swift. Dates for delivery of parts are continuously put back.
I spent a lot to buy this van less than three years ago and I would not buy another from Swift. My van satisfies our needs but its ownership has been a headache due to the manufacturer. I am now not in the mood to accept any excuses from Swift for my predicament.
I agree that Thetford products are better and I would change if it was up to me and Thatford built a model that would fit.
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I’m actually a seasoned corporate investigator, MD of a Private Criminal Prosecution business and one that builds class action cases against offending organisations for failings and negligence of this very sort.
I’ve also recently acquired an £80k+ Kon-Tiki 596 Sport GP and have found an assortment of major issues within days of ownership. I can tell you that these issues are all clearly known and are mainly being ignored, by the manufacturers and therefore there will be no excuses that will support them, in any Court room, if they try to fob me off, when I get round to making a start on demanding fixes under the warranties etc. I’m equally VERY disappointed to hear how many other customers have been treated actually and firmly believe that this is a huge class action waiting to happen, so let’s see what evidence I gather when I start to address my long list folks.
I’m not touting for business, but I would be prepared to perform a mass class-action, in support of this membership group, (Pro-Bono) and if my investigations into these ongoing Swift build quality concerns continue to surface, as I’m convinced they will.
Watch this space.
Mr Morris - Northamptonshire
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Interesting….poor build quality (and after care) seems to be an issue with too many manufacturers these days including mine (Knaus/Weinsberg). Is it just complacently on their part or something more systematic across the industry? Maybe too much money is chasing too few motorhomes so manufacturers don’t have to try very hard? I can’t imagine a common situation like this in the automotive industry. If you’ve got £60k or more to spend on a car dealers generally treat you like royalty.
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Swift chose their supplier. Not us. We don't care where Swift buy their material from, and it is not our responsibility to care about that. We buy our caravans from retailers and our sales contract is with them. Dealers always want to pass the buck to either the caravan maker or the fitted equipment maker, but this is not acceptable at all. We hand our money to the dealer and they are responsible for the entire product. The industry stinks.
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Thank you for all the postings as it helps to understand the state of the motorhome industry and the quality of the products their advertising purports to convey.
As an update to my original posting some five months ago, my motorhome is finally booked in at my dealer to have the shower cubicle replaced. It will be a little over one year since the fault was first reported.
With regard to the external pannier drawer which I modified myself (within warranty), it is working fine with no issues that plagued the original setup. After a year, a new set of replacement drawer runners were supplied by Swift, but were still the same type as the originals (mild steel cabinet runners) so I'll use them in my workshop.
I am resigned to living with the Dometic fridge shelves that are too brittle and break. I have several door shelves now in stock, supplied by my dealer but continue to use my original broken shelves that I have modified and strengthened to be fit for purpose.
I continue to be pleased with the design of my motorhome but the quality is disappointing. Other niggly issues still crop up but I endeavour to overcome them myself. My motorhome is now out of warranty so I feel free to carry out my own improvements.
Mr Morris, you are quite right that many faults are long standing and are never resolved. Some are due to poor design or materials and maybe are prevalent in the whole industry. I shall indeed watch your space.
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Hired two Swift motorhomes recently. A 2019 (665) and 2019 (664) model both Escape versions . Both idled during Covid according to the rental company…so shocking to experience the disgracefully poor build quality. Window fittings falling apart, coachwork cheap and nasty. Will not be having anything to do with Swift. Is this why people buy the expensive German brands?
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As an ISO9000 Registered company, Swift Group and the other caravan/ motor caravan producers/manufacturers are responsible for the entire product as it leaves the factory, however, that responsibility is to the retailer. Legal responsibility to the customer rests with the retailer.
It's a nice, cosy little world that the producers operate from, isn't it? It's not hard to see why they are not really concerned about retail customers.
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I bought a new Swift motorhome in 1995. It leaked. I changed it in 1997 for a different layout Swift. It leaked. Both the leaking areas were fixed under their warranties. I vowed never to buy a Swift. I've bought German since. Recently I came to be aware the two Swift vans I had are still on the road. Perhaps Swift products mature with age.
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I was watching the new Motorhoming programme with Paul Merton and Suki Webster last night. In the first scene they were unplugging their van from EHU, it was a Swift Escape. Seconds later they were driving in Cornwall in a Roller Team, I think Zefiro. The swift was not seen again. Perhaps they had problems with their Swift, 🤔 either that or a massive continuity error.😂
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Could it be that they have more than one sponsor, and have to show each of them sometime during the show?
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But It was sufficient time for you to notice. Isn't that just how product placement works, a quick view and an image sticks in the memory, and then some viewers will investigate that product.
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I think I read somewhere that there was some skirt damage on one, so it may be that they had to change vans.
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Perhaps the Swift was not the motor caravan they were using and they were merely acquiring an EHU lead?
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Swift 597 2 years old now
I am with you on this, my runners jammed what a bad design, the dealer handling my warranty has got the runners in for me so i will fit myself, my awning light has blown once because of water ingress, it was replaced under warranty, the new one has condensation so they have another for me which i will fit myself, my front pull out bed fell apart as the screws were too short and runners fell apart, fridge door trays have all broke, front panel above windscreen that says swift blew off, they replaced under warranty, If they had a bit more attention to detail lots of these problems would not occur.
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Hello i purchased a Voyager 954 in June 2023, hot water pipe to shower push fit fittings came apart on first trip out, we had to drive 100 miles to Brownhills to fix, complained to swift but waste of time, next trip out to Spain water pipe came apart again and this time i was told Brownhills could not fix for three months and as i asked for my fuel to be paid for to return to them they refused, i took advice from a solicitor friend how told me to ask for my money back as under a year old, after one email to Brownhills they paid for my fuel and sorted out within two weeks, how strange i though, now in Spain for three months and the bathroom tap is leaking and motorhome is not two years old, all i would say is don"t spend your hard earned money on swift as workmanship is bad, also i am an engineer so no dummy to workmanship, unfortunately i hear most manufactures are the same, this is the way of the world i guess.
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I have commented before about the relatively poor quality (generically) of motorhomes.
Its in the nature of things that the complexity of motorhomes means that there will be problems and if you can't cope with the odd issue in the life of your van then maybe the hobby is not for you.
As long ago as 2010 (when we had a Hymer Van 524 ) we visited the Hymer factory at Bad Waldsee in Southern Germany for a pre-booked factory tour. During our 90 minute visit we saw chassis being driven onto the production line and off the other end as completed vans. The process was highly prefabricated and mechanised. For example the "dressing" of the van with its lines, stripes and decals took less than 5 minutes. This illustrates that even for a premium brand the result is a relatively flimsy vehicle which in time will develop rattles and creaks. There is a bit of a correlation between cost and build quality but even expensive (are any cheap ?) vans can have problems. I know one relatively large motorhome dealer who terminated a long relationship with a (quasi) UK brand because poor build quality and non existent after sales support meant his workshop couldn't cope with the warranty work generated.
Our solution (since 2012) was to opt for a panel van conversion from a small scale converter. In 13 years we have had problems but these have been relatively minor and always due to components. Seafarers problems are about basic engineering (or rather under-engineering). The rigidity of a panel vans body makes for a much better drive and basically everything is properly screwed together. (the cabinetry for a vehicle not an IKEA piece of furniture). And incidentally IKEA build things accurately and with reliable quality. Of course size limitations are an issue for some people in moving to a van conversion.
I can offer no solutions but I can suggest that if you are spending a very large amount amount of money on a product you should literally crawl all over it. This may at least highlight the flimsy nature of some builds and some components. If bits of the van such as trim are already falling off in the showroom it doesn't bode well.
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I think in general the build quality of modern cars is very good. Certainly it is much better than it once was. But cars are I think a different species. Relatively fewer models and longer production runs mean that problems can be ironed out. Robotics and other factors ensure consistent quality and there is an audit trail for components. This doesn't (and probably couldn't) happen in the relatively low volume world of motorhome building. Motorhomes of late have become very extensive on account of the cost of inputs, base vehicles especially but everything else as well. I think prices and margins will both come down a little.
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I began this Discussion in 2021 and there have been some very interesting contributions added since then. I feel it would be of interest to others to know where I am today with my motorhome.
Firstly I still have it, as despite the issues I have experienced, the layout suits us better than any other. And us others have pointed out, the materials used are typical in the industry and frankly they are not built to last.
That said, improvements can be made and once free of the Warranty period I have tackled some of them which I think might help others.
Those dreadful Dometic fridge shelves that are unfit for purpose have been replaced. Remember, in the fridge handbook it states to put heavy items in the door shelves. If you do not do this you may not have experienced the problem. For those who have I can recommend this product:
Other items are available for other Dometic fridge models.
The external, underfloor pannier drawer, fitted to several Swift motorhome models is supplied with mild steel ball bearing runners that rust very quickly and clog up with silt thrown up from the road when travelling. Apart from adding various baffles around the drawer unit to prevent this, I replaced the runners with stainless steel equivalents: These fit my situation but check the length first. No problems experienced after five years since fitting.
After waiting 12-months for a replacement shower cubicle, when it arrived the engineers at the dealership told me they could fix the problem without ripping out the whole unit; and they did. The back and side panels had separated but were resealed in situ and remain so after five years. I kept the new replacement cubicle, so if anyone needs one get in touch.
In time various screws will work loose and it is a good idea to have some spares.
I found there is nothing to match the smell from a waste water tank and it can enter the motorhome via the sinks as there is no trap fitted in the hose to the tank. I installed this in both my galley sink and bathroom sink:
I hope you find this an interesting read as I did not intend to go on for so long. I look forward to any comments.
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Good update @SeeFarers with luck others who have faced similar problems will see your post and consider purchasing some of all of your recommendations
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