FAO MR NIGEL DONNELLY

[Dustydog]

Hi Nigel

Over the last few months a growing number of serious caravan defects are being reported on this and other forums. A number of people have had to reject two caravans in a row!! Swift have taken a heavy battering and now Bailey ABS panels are cracking and causing water ingress.

Personally I think it is time PC mag did an article on Quality Control both within companies like Swift , Bailey etc but also include the outside sub contractors eg Polyplastic , Dometic and the people who make the ABS panels.

Whichever way you look at it , there are far too many reported failures across the whole spectrum of caravan manufacturers at the moment.

Cheers

Alan

 

[Chrisbee]

Good idea, but make it no holds barred, even if it upsets some advertisers. If it transpires there are major quality issues as many of us suspect, a magazine article to that effect may just get the manufacturers to take quality issues seriously.

 

[Dustydog]

Bump

 

[Dustydog]

Another bump for Nigel??

 

[weejock]

Hi Alan

I agree with you that this might be a good feature but if the mag does not want to do it why don't they at least give potential purchasers a bit of warning on the second hand buying.

What comes to mind is in this months mag there is an article on a 2005 Avondale. Reading it I am thinking of post's made here about cracking panels.

Now I do not know if this is a van that has had this problem before or whether it was other models but if such information was avalable it would certainly help when deciding what to look out for when purchasing. Even an indication of how prevelant it is would help us put thing's in prespective.

Mind you on their revue of the Tec van the only problem for UK buyers that they could see was the short front lounge. What about a 2.5mtr width!

I do however think that it is unlikey that they would publish the information that you desire as in my experience if you have ever been looking for information for a new van and go by some of the awning sizes that they give out in the new van price section you could be in for a shock. My van was listed as 1048 when it was 978 and given that this was a swift group model you can imagine how many they had wrong.

I presume that it is this lack of attention to detail and ability to get simple facts right that would make their lawyers very nervous about publishing material that may see them in court.

The other thing is the majority of us on here are caravanners and not engineers therefore when I read comments about peoples panels I do try to bear this fact in mind as for all I know the panell may just be glazed and the writer is pannacking at his

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

yes its proberbly me you are talking about. the one who rejected two sterlings. the first one the door frame was to big for the door. i let them try a couple of theings to rectify it but the wanted the pack the frame out an.

who knows it might have even been with chicken wire. there was also other issues with this van.

the second one had cracks down 3 sides of the panel in the shower room from top to bottom. it also had 3 six inch stanley knife cuts in the lino. the repair was new lino but they had to cut round the furniture. with the shower they would put sealant on it. not quality repairs in my eyes. it also had other issues and minor faults. its just sloppyness from swift and rubbish qc checks.

why should i have accepted any of the two sterlings. i would accept a new car that had been damaged or faulty either.

i now own a bailey senator wyoming with no faults at all and much better quality finish.

i think alans idea is great.

moan over.

jo-anne

 

[ThePlotter]

With the demise of Avondale no doubt there will be a few with battles to fight to get work carried out on defects

 

[Dustydog]

I assume the stony silence from Nigel is an affirmative that PC will not be touching the raw nerves of the manufacturers and do a QA / QC article.

A shame but when you read Andy's saga under "General - Ace Jubilee Equerry" it totally destroys confidence in the offending company's products, and for that matter the dealer concerned.

I can see Dominic Littlewood getting involved soon and that will not help the offenders.

Cheers

Alan

 

[BeemerMal]

Come on Guys, PC are never going to openly criticise their advertisers, who provide them with a lucrative income as well as all the freebees and goodies they get.

All the "specialist" magazines are the same, their readership is secondary to keeping their advertisers sweet! It is of course the major suppliers that provide the magazines with all the freebee's - Now you won't expect them to say anything that would compromise their happy relationship.

If the truth were known they are not happy about comments made on forums like this and it is easier for the magazine to ignore it altogether. However, they must learn to realise it is these forums that more and more people read nowadays and when poor service, workmanship and quality is ignored the magazine and manufacturers risk of losing all credibility with buyers and subscribers.

 

[RogerP]

Correct me if I'm wrong but dont one of the clubs do a survey about this sort of thing annually?

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Nigel,

I received November's PC Mag last week and have just reached page 132.

BUILD QUALITY OR SERVICE?

Ok Nigel I appreciate you have to be PC and have Lords and Masters so in principle not a bad answer to the crys for a QA/QC article, which of course will never happen.

Are all journalists teflon coated??? LOL!!!

Cheers

Alan

 

[weejock]

Nigel

I too read your article and never really thought much of it until I read Alans post.

Whilst I do not want to get into the bit about advertisers etc I do think the point that is trying to be made here is that we purchase this magazine in order to be informed.

By and large PC does a very good job of this and even manages to keep us entertained as well but I feel that there is a bit of frustration that you are not our peoples champion in campagaining for better quality for us.

While no one likes to be told their product is rubbish manufacturers would soon realise that if you got your hands on a product that was not upto scratch and it was reported the impact upon sales could be a disaster.

As an example some manufacturers still put waste pipes at the end of a van. Why not be blunt and state that due to cost saving measures they have saved 50p and not routed the pipes to the side.

From the Haymarket stable mags such as Autocar have never shrinked from this type of reporting to the benifit of manufacturer and customer alike. Companies like Kia certainly listen when they say that the quality of plastics is terrible and suddenley there last 2 vehicle were reported to be upto European standard.

Maybe we need to have Steve Cropley cooking on a Bailey oven in the wind for a month to see some real improvements.

If these guys could make Ford go from giving us the Mk3 Escort to the new Mondeo perhaps you could get us windows that don't leak.