Swift - obtaining spare parts

Jul 19, 2021
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Can anyone advise me how to get hold of someone to speak to at Swift Leisure? Unfortunately we damaged out motorhome in early June and the company repairing it has ordered parts from Swift. However the lead time on this was initially a maximum of 30 days which has now passed and no parts have been sent to carry out the repair. I cannot find a way to talk to someone at Swift - I have used their customer services email system but had no reply.
 
May 24, 2014
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Dont either wait for or expect a reply from them, ring 01482847332 and INSIST on speaking to customer services. Approach it as a complaint.
 
Jul 19, 2021
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Thanks for this advice - tried ringing and recieved a reply to contact my dealer - I can only assume that Swift do not take any responsibility for people trying to deal with them - this must be the poorest customer service I have ever met.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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Thanks for this advice - tried ringing and recieved a reply to contact my dealer - I can only assume that Swift do not take any responsibility for people trying to deal with them - this must be the poorest customer service I have ever met.
I’ve never rang a car maker for parts why should a leisure vehicle maker deal directly when they have established dealer networks. It’s the dealer that you should be pressuring to move things along.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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And beware they are really struggling for parts for new vehicles let alone spares.

On a slight detour I had to drive over to Bristol to collect a 500 mm kitchen wall unit as a 600 mm had been delivered in error. If I’d not wanted to go to Bristol delivery to my local depot was forecast as late August as the manufacturer cannot sources the materials. Even had someone last night knock on our door to ask if he could rummage in our skip for wood to help with a DIY job involving fitting a new sink.
 
Nov 6, 2005
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I’ve never rang a car maker for parts why should a leisure vehicle maker deal directly when they have established dealer networks. It’s the dealer that you should be pressuring to move things along.
I've contacted Vauxhall, Hyundai and VW to escalate action when the franchised dealer was having difficulty sourcing parts - I also involved Lunar over component delays for warranty work occurred.

It is of course the selling dealer's responsibility to the customer - but it's a poor show if issues can't be escalated to Swift.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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I've contacted Vauxhall, Hyundai and VW to escalate action when the franchised dealer was having difficulty sourcing parts - I also involved Lunar over component delays for warranty work occurred.

It is of course the selling dealer's responsibility to the customer - but it's a poor show if issues can't be escalated to Swift.
I cannot never recall having a vehicle where parts were not readily available when required via the franchise dealer or independents. Guess I have been lucky.
 
May 24, 2014
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Whislt I appreciate the supply chain difficulties, you have to remember too that the dealer involved has hundreds of customers to worry about. If the manufacturer lets him down, he wont be overly concerned and he will tell you covid is to blame. He certainly wont lose any sleep over it and he wont waste much time chasing the parts. If there is a delay in sourcing or delivering the parts, the manufacturer should have imparteed that information to the dealer who should then have passed it on. Covid has been with us a long time, if the parts were ordered 30 days ago, and delivery was quoted at 30 days, then I feel the OP is within his rights to chase it up. With the best will in the world, everybody here knows how unconcerned and uncaring the main dealer service departments are, and thats me being kind.
 
Nov 6, 2005
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I cannot never recall having a vehicle where parts were not readily available when required via the franchise dealer or independents. Guess I have been lucky.
It happens in exceptional circumstances, not usually for wear-tear items - my VW Touareg needed a new panoramic sunroof but none at UK dealers, none at VW UK, none at their European distribution centres and none available at the factory - so VW UK arranged an like-for-like hire car for a fortnight as the dealer only had Polos and Golfs as courtesy cars.
 

Ern

May 23, 2021
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Sometimes dealers are not able to deal with the business they have, properly. Did the dealer really order the parts when they were asked to? If they did, they will have an order acknowledgement and would be able to quote this to you. You would then be in a position to chase their supplier (which in many cases is not the vehicle manufacturer). Dealers sometimes have order terms (discount scale) which prevents them placing orders below a certain value, so they may wait until they have enough order value to get the terms they want. Swift would probably not take stock for a spare parts order which had been allocated to a build schedule, otherwise their build progress would be jeopardised. Production is King. I would politely enquire with the dealer for details of their order first.
 

Mel

Mar 17, 2007
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Do what you can to expedite matters but just to warn you, the part needed for our Bailey roof repair was ordered August 2020 and eventually turned up late March ‘21. Hope you have better luck.
mel
 
May 24, 2014
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Do what you can to expedite matters but just to warn you, the part needed for our Bailey roof repair was ordered August 2020 and eventually turned up late March ‘21. Hope you have better luck.
mel

It really is time these issues were addressed. A leisure vehicle that cannot be used because the dealers and manufacturers cant or wont stock a modicum of spares is not really acceptable. Sure, therre are all the arguments from those feeling sorry for them, but they make the caravans, the have a duty of care to support them properly.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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It really is time these issues were addressed. A leisure vehicle that cannot be used because the dealers and manufacturers cant or wont stock a modicum of spares is not really acceptable. Sure, therre are all the arguments from those feeling sorry for them, but they make the caravans, the have a duty of care to support them properly.
Do you remember the "tell Sid campaign" when British Gas was privatised in the 1980's? during its days as nationalised business, all suppliers to BG had to ensure that spare parts for all the models BG took from them had to be kept fully available on the shelf for 10 years after production stopped. I was involved with a Liverpool company that supplied BG, and their stores maintenance costs were about 25% of the companies turnover spent on having to keep parts sitting on shelves just in case Mrs T's gas knob on her 10 year old cooker broke.

After privatisation BG reorganised massively and the policy changed, from keeping parts on shelves to being able to manufacture on demand with negotiable lead times, and a quicker point of obsolescence. This freed up storage space no end, and stock didn't deteriorate by being stored.

There were other BG policy changes also that affected OEMs and the quantity of product BG purchased for their own stores and shops was slashed and several OEMs went to the wall

Holding increasingly obsolete stock on the off chance someone will want it is commercially very expensive. It is often the case now that the designs of older products are retained so that if necessary a specialist producers can recreate the parts on demand. Generally this service will only last as long as the products warranty period, and for all I know now that might have changed again.

It's one thing holding a gas valve in stores, but the whole body of every model of caravan and in each colour simply isn't going to happen.

There are of course other reasons that might delay the availability of spares, but I do thing that were an order has been placed and an unforeseen delay arises the supply chain aught to be proactive enough to pass the notice of delay and its reason on. It at least gives the end-user the opportunity to re-evaluate the situation and possibly take another solution.

As for going direct to the manufacture circumventing the contract chain through the dealer, I'm afraid I can recall a number of sticky situations where end users demanded to know whether a dealer had ordered certain items and we were plainly told that giving that information would breach commercial confidences.

If you want to know whats happening you have to follow the contract train and ask your dealer.
 
May 24, 2014
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In respect of the above, I wonder how the new right to repair rules will affect these situations. I appreciate all the reasons for not holding stock for 10 year old caravans etc, but a delay in a part for lets a say a 15 month old caravan which prevents the end users use and enjoymnet of said caravan cannot in any reasonable sense be acceptable.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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In respect of the above, I wonder how the new right to repair rules will affect these situations. I appreciate all the reasons for not holding stock for 10 year old caravans etc, but a delay in a part for lets a say a 15 month old caravan which prevents the end users use and enjoymnet of said caravan cannot in any reasonable sense be acceptable.
I believe that the rules don’t require parts to be held long term but only that the maker will supply parts for up to ten years. This will require makers to have supply chains that can be sufficiently flexible and responsive that even towards the end of ten years a part can be obtained. The arrangement says little about lead times. So in reality I don’t see things changing that much. whose going to make a pcb or motor based on old technology and what price will the customer be prepared to pay? Some companies like Miele offer such a service but they aren’t cheap for initial purchase or support.
 
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Jul 18, 2017
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Several years ago our Lunar was waiting for parts. After 3 months got fed up and asked the dealer for the order number to chase up Lunar.
Order number was not available and when speaking to Lunar they had no record of any request for our caravan! The parts suddenly arrived 3 days later as Lunar had received an order from the dealer!
 
Jul 19, 2021
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Thank you for all your advice. I have tried to contact Swift but as most of you are aware, their customer service is really poor and I cannot speak directly to anyone. The dealer who has ordered the parts is Lowdham Leisure of Nottingham, which I have come to understand also has a reputation for shockingly poor customer service. So I am at a loss as to what to do next.
Our motorhome is onlly 3 years old so you would hope the parts are easily available but as one of you said it is highly likely that Swift are putting manufacture before exisitng customers.
 

Ern

May 23, 2021
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You haven't given much info about your situation. Is the vehicle out of use because of the damage? is it at Lowdham partly stripped or something like that? What type of damage and parts are needed. Or is the vehicle still operational?
 
Jul 19, 2021
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It is at home and drivable -but not really usable because the door frame is cracked and the sill under the step needs to be replaced after an accident with a high kerb . The insurance assessor says there is no structural damage just parts needed
 

Ern

May 23, 2021
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It is at home and drivable -but not really usable because the door frame is cracked and the sill under the step needs to be replaced after an accident with a high kerb . The insurance assessor says there is no structural damage just parts needed
OK. I see what you mean. how about calling your insurer to see if they can help in some way. One of our sons had something like this with a car and he got good help from his insurer.
Just read Thing's post - I asked yesterday if you had established any info about your dealer's order on Swift, as I have had experience of dealer blaming Swift when it was the dealer holding things up and the service manager just hadn't checked. In my past life, I experienced the same from the manufacturer's side, as I dealt with customer complaints and found our dealers were sometimes to blame.
 
Jul 19, 2021
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To be fair -I have just contacted Lowdhams and they gave me details and date etc of the order for the parts. It seems the issue is with Swift. Something made worse by not being able to contact them direct.
 
Jul 19, 2021
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Update - no further further progress on obtaining these parts, except an email from Swift asking for the order number from Lowdhams as apparently this is the only way they can access the order information, which I find hard to believe as the first person who spoke to me from Swift found the order by accessing the address of the person who sent in the order. I replied with all the information I had but no response to my email since last week. We cannot get through to anyone at Lowdhams in the parts department as they are all busy! So motorhome has now been out of use for nearly 2 months. So frustrating - I find it so difficult to understand how firms can be so inefficient.
 

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