Problem with my Powrtouch Motor Mover AGAIN, AGAIN!!!Hi Sorry to be the spectre at the feast but I've got problems with my P/T

Aug 31, 2008
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Hi

Sorry to be the spectre at the feast but I've got problems with my P/T mover AGAIN.

As some of you may remember I bought my P/T mover, with electric actuators, and had it fitted by P/T in March 2010 - so it's still not a year old.

This is the story, in brief, so far:

(1) An incorrectly placed electronic control box, it was installed behind the heater and had to be moved to a bed box - March 2010

(2) A failed electronic control box which had to be replaced, I missed the 'van's service appointment because of this - June 2010

(3) The offside motor bearing was clicking and had to be replaced - just in time for our 5 week Continental hols - July 2010

(4) The nearside roller would not retract in France - August 2010 - but worked the next day!

(5) The nearside roller would not retract as I was preparing to go away for our October Half Term hols. A new actuator motor was fitted October 2010.

The 'van has been stored on our drive over the winter

Today it was a lovely sunny morning, and having no work, I thought I would do some preparatory jobs to get the 'van ready for going away this Friday - our first trip of 2011.

Having become rather wary of the P/T mover I thought I would check that it was working okay. Tried rollers off the tyre, turning okay. Moved the rollers onto the wheel, okay. Tried to retract the rollers off the wheel. OHHHH NOOOO - offside roller would not retract off the tyre!!!

Contacted P/T support - polite and helpful as always. Suggested I try turning the shaft of the actuator by hand to see if that would free up the actuator. No joy - shaft very stiff. I, also, tried turning the shaft using a 9mm spanner as suggested on the P/T website - still very stiff.

P/T promised that an engineer would contact me this evening I confirmed my mobile and home phone numbers. As it's now 21.05 and no one has rung I don't think it's going to happen now!! No messages either although ansaphone on both phones.

This evening after work I took the cover off the 'van, removed the Alko lock, lifted the steadies and tried moving the 'van up and down the drive to see if that would free up the actuator - NO, still the offside roller will not come off the tyre. So another waste of time as then, in the cold and dark, I had to resecure the Alko lock, steadies, etc for security's sake.

Yes I would agree with others that P/T's warranty service is very good. They do send someone out as quickly as possible and they do fix the problems free of charge.

HOWEVER, the reason that I shelled out nearly £1000 was so that I could EASILY and RELIABLY move my 'van on and off my drive and on site WHEN I WANT to NOT after waiting for P/T to send someone to fix it, again.

The 110 amp 'van battery, by the way is, fully charged - I tested it with my multimeter and put it back in the 'van yesterday having kept it on charge in the garage.

Who knows what tomorrow may bring!!???

Tim
 

Damian

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Mar 14, 2005
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I know people do have problems at times with movers, but you seem to have many more than most.
Personally I think the electric actuators are a waste of money and just another thing to go wrong.
Actuating using the manual method is pretty foolproof, and not exactly demanding.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Hello Tim,
That is a very sad tale, and not a common experience,as most comments on this forum are usually very positive about Powertouch.

I suggest that you write to Powertouche's Managing Director and ask hin/her to intervene and see if they can get to the bottom of the issues. I am sure they will not want to have such a poor record without a satisfactory resolution.

Alternatively, you shoudl write to your supplier (if it was not powertouch directly) and complain under Sale of Goods act, and ask them to to either resolve the issues with your mover, or replace it completerly or make a full refund, with the history of problems I seriously doubt they could resist such a claim. However if you intend to go down that route I suggest you seek professional advice first.
 
Aug 31, 2008
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Hi All

Thanks for the suggestions & comments.

After a further phone call to P/T this morning a P/T engineer called this morning. My wife was fortunately able to work at home and give him access to the 'van.

The problem was, as I suspected, a failed microswitch in the offside electronic actuator. Exactly the same type of part as the one that failed on the nearside actuator last October. The engineer replaced the failed actuator with a new one. At least now they're both done.

I suppose looking on the bright side:

(1) I'll soon have a completely new mover - fitted in stages.

(2) The 'van is all ready for going away on Friday.

I really hope that now we can have a trouble free life from our P/T mover.

Again 10/10 for service. ??? for reliability given our catalogue of problems on a mover which has been used about 40 times in the last 11 months.

We shall see.

Tim
 

Damian

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Mar 14, 2005
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Powrtouch do not have a large service centre, but they do have a very good network of local engineers to keep problems to minimum time disruption for the owner.
 
Feb 27, 2010
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being a major supplier to the above mentioned company i have some knowledge about the ops...... probably more than most.

My terminology should have been better , they dont actually have service centre as such but as you point out they have a very large service network......
 
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Philspadders said:
being a major supplier to the above mentioned company i have some knowledge about the ops...... probably more than most.

My terminology should have been better , they dont actually have service centre as such but as you point out they have a very large service network......
hope its not the parts you supply that are failling then phill ! and i hope power touch dont see your comments or you may not be a major supplier for much longer.
smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif
 
Jun 20, 2005
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hope its not the parts you supply that are failling then phill ! and i hope power touch dont see your comments or you may not be a major supplier for much longer.
smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif

[/quote]
Ouch. Woof woof
smiley-laughing.gif
 
Mar 10, 2006
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PT must be fitting junk.
smiley-surprised.gif

A micro switch should be capable of many operations, at one time i could give you a figure, but lets just say the quoted operations are very high.
Perhaps PT would be better fitting proximity switches, no moving parts and will operate in the millions.
smiley-laughing.gif
 

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