fleetwood Heritage

[David4]

Im considering purchasing a fleetwood heritage 640EB can anyone who owns one advise on build quality / aftersales or general advise as they are quite pricey but look from what i have seen to be of good quality

 

[shropshirefuzzyed]

Hi,

we had a 2000 fleetoowd clarandon,it was leaky.It failed patrticularly around front window,the van was cracking across the front from side to side.A fixer told me it was because like many builders the panels are stapled rather than screwed and this causes stress fractures.It was a nice layout but in general the build quality was poor,but then aagin it was light! we had a little accident with it and the the nearest fleetwood dealer was the first to warn us that getting contact let alone spares maybe a problem.I rang fleetwood directly and in fairness they were quick to price what i needed but because a trim wasnt produced anymore the insurance company wrote it off.I liked the van but i wasnt impressed with the dealers but stories of parts isues and service are not unique to Fleetwood,but if you are going second hand have a good look at it and then get a professional to have a good look at it.

andy

 

[MichaelE]

Bought a 640 with the across fixed bed 4 years ago,list of faults as long as your arm,basic quality faults,final straw after 1 week all 12v electric failed,rejected van and got old coachman back.

Dealer said people expect too much from a 20K van!!!!

 

[spj]

Hi David,

On the whole the Fleetwood Heritage is an excellent caravan, the build in general is as good as any british built van but they do have their faults. We first looked at the Heritage in 2005, our caravan at the time was only 12 months old, but when the 2007 model was shown we ordered one there and then. Before looking at them I contacted Fleetwood to confirm that the warranty actually covered the van for 3 years (as I had been stung by Avondale who's 3 year warranty is a virtually a 12 month warranty) and Fleetwood sent me a letter confirming all I asked.

The new caravan was delivered in November 2006 and from one month old it had problems with the Alde heating leaking and not working, Alde took 3 attempts and 8 months to repair it, although not once did Fleetwood contact me to see if all was well. I have constantly had to chase Fleetwood and they have no sense of urgency, after washing their hands of the problems Richard Allen from Fleetwood finally agreed to view my caravan in December and after the viewing said he would exchange it as it was not up to standard, I had heard nothing up to last week so phoned him and a 2008 model is to be supplied in May this year.

Sadly I did not expect the caravan to be perfect knowing it is built in the UK, but I did expect Fleetwood to sort the faults quickly, in May when the exchange should take place my caravan will be 18 months old and I first asked for it to be exchanged in February 2007.

If you are spending over 20k on a caravan have a look at the Hymer Nova SL, I looked at these last weekend and they are the first caravans I have seen that I would swap the Heritage for.

If you do buy a Fleetwood, make sure you have a really good dealer and hope you have no problems because the one thing Fleetwood are really good at is letting you know how unimportant you are to them once they have your money.

spj

 

[Carl-GreyhoundsrUs]

SPJ is absoluteley bob on with his comment about choosing the dealer carefully. I have one of the very early 2008 model Heritage 640CB. I love the caravan but have had a long list of faults, some minor, but one was a poorly connected water pipe which ended up soaking my back wall over a period of a few weeks. However, every fault has been fixed by my dealer very quickly, with no quibble and no fuss, even giving it a clean inside and out when I collected it last time.

 

[David4]

Hi Guys

Just to say thank you for your comments to date It is alarming that fleetwood appear to treat there customers badly once they have your money, there would also appear to be a quality control problem as a

 

[spj]

Hi David,

My main reason for buying a Fleetwood was the quality, after a painful experience of owning an Avondale I was looking for better. On the whole the Heritage is well built but little things let it down, I bought mine from a show and the selling dealer is 100 miles away, when I contacted Fleetwood about the heating I was told the dealer would not be able to repair it and Fleetwood would send Alde to sort it out, this took 7 weeks on a month old van and was not correctly repaired until July when the van was 8 months old, during this time I continually had to phone and email Fleetwood to find out what they were doing, hardly what you would expect from a company like Fleetwood. Quality control is obviously still an issue but the materials used are of high quality and they are different to Baileys which in my opinion are a good value budget caravan, a bit like a Ford or Vauxhall who make good cars for the money, but people buying an Audi or Mercedes expect a bit more.

spj.

 

[Colinn]

David, I wouldn't be unduly put off. To redress the balance so far, I have to say that I have a FANTASTIC Fleetwood Heritage, (brilliant design, brilliant quality, brilliant finish and no complaints whatsoever), and without exception every owner I have ever met on sites has said the same about their vans. I have also enjoyed very satisfactory after-sales service.

Just thought you'd like to know!!

 

[spj]

Hi Colinn,

I am so glad you are happy with your Heritage, if mine had not had the heating faults I would also be over the moon with it, my biggest problem with Fleetwood is the way they have dealt with my caravans problems, and I am not alone. So far I have only seen one other Heritage on a site as they seem pretty rare, it is a 2004 640CB, we see on local rally sites quite often and the owners are also happy with it. Hopefully your good fortune will continue!

spj.

 

[David4]

Thank you everyone again for your comments its good to hear colinn has positive feed back I still dont know if to proceed or not it does seem this caravan has issues in particular its choice of heating system, I certainly would like to buy a british caravan as i have no knowledge of other european caravans

 

[Colinn]

David, I know there has been reference to a problem with the heating system, but be aware that the Alde "wet" heating system is arguably the best on the market. It is based on and generally as efficient and versatile as a house hot water circulation system utilising radiators and hot towel rails. In my experience, it is excellent, even in sub-zero conditions!!

spj, thank you for your good wishes and I truly hope your problems are resolved soon.

I know you have posted many times about your complaint in the last three months, and I feel that has distorted impressions about a caravan which we seem to agree is very, very good. As I said, just wanted to redress the balance

 

[shropshirefuzzyed]

the clue is in the owners handbook for mine,not a single contact for fleetwood themselves just all teh suppliers who they bought the bits off to make it!!

Andy