The biggest problem with the GC is VW service

[itscalledbob]

Back in March 2019 I posted a thread detailing why I decided not to buy a GC (now 18 pages long). The most agonising parts of the decision was moving away from the one manufacturer warranty benefits. I was concerned about being stuck between the vehicle manufacturer and converter each blaming each other for a recurring fault. Something that won’t happen with the GC and a clear benefit. Just drop the van off to VW and it’s their problem to resolve… or so I thought.

Watching the same threads appear over and over again detailing habitation problems taking months to repair and with my now knowledge of Hymer, Knaus, Adria etc… (converters), I am now questioning my initial thoughts.

It seems from the threads I have read VW dealers are restricted to VW parts supply whereas the conversion market isn’t. For example: I had some trouble with the Truma, the Knaus agent struggled so they contacted Truma who sent a service expert to the dealer the following day. Similar issue with the control panel (same as the GC panel). A replacement was sourced from Dometic within a week (and was sent to my home to save me travelling to the dealer). Same with a tap problem. It leaked, dealer told me to drop it to them or, as I was away, I could pick up the part locally, fit it myself and drop the part off to them for a refund. They supplied me with the Dometic part number and the local agent where I could get it from.

I would caution you pick your service partner carefully though, my initial experience wasn’t too favourable.

The second benefit for the converter is anecdotal knowledge and experience. VW make 85,000 crafters a year but only a few hundred become the GC’s. Consequently one turning up in a VW workshop is a rarity. Whereas with the converters it’s everyday. As pointed out in the many threads the GC is built on the same truma and Dometic systems that many converters use so the Moho techs have a level of experience that will take decades for VW to match.

A recent thread detailing a water pump fault, VW dealer won’t order a new pump until some other part is sourced and replaced. A simple test lamp followed by a secondary 12v feed to the pump will show if it’s working or not. It’s either faulty or not ‍. A water pump fault is common and a MoHo dealer would diagnose it in minutes and is very likely to have the pump on the shelf.

My final thought is for those with a GC that have a lingering/ reoccurring fault that VW is struggling with. Get on the net, find the contact details for truma/Dometic and talk to them direct. They might just have that bit of knowledge VW are missing. I’ve had reason to talk to both companies and found them really helpful.

One comment that did come from both Truma and Dometic was that all manufacturers that use the soft touch Dometic control panel write crap software….. but TBH given the constant updates Microsoft and Apple arn’t any better

 

[Defender90]

Back in March 2019 I posted a thread detailing why I decided not to buy a GC (now 18 pages long). The most agonising parts of the decision was moving away from the one manufacturer warranty benefits. I was concerned about being stuck between the vehicle manufacturer and converter each blaming each other for a recurring fault. Something that won’t happen with the GC and a clear benefit. Just drop the van off to VW and it’s their problem to resolve… or so I thought.

Watching the same threads appear over and over again detailing habitation problems taking months to repair and with my now knowledge of Hymer, Knaus, Adria etc… (converters), I am now questioning my initial thoughts.

It seems from the threads I have read VW dealers are restricted to VW parts supply whereas the conversion market isn’t. For example: I had some trouble with the Truma, the Knaus agent struggled so they contacted Truma who sent a service expert to the dealer the following day. Similar issue with the control panel (same as the GC panel). A replacement was sourced from Dometic within a week (and was sent to my home to save me travelling to the dealer). Same with a tap problem. It leaked, dealer told me to drop it to them or, as I was away, I could pick up the part locally, fit it myself and drop the part off to them for a refund. They supplied me with the Dometic part number and the local agent where I could get it from.

I would caution you pick your service partner carefully though, my initial experience wasn’t too favourable.

The second benefit for the converter is anecdotal knowledge and experience. VW make 85,000 crafters a year but only a few hundred become the GC’s. Consequently one turning up in a VW workshop is a rarity. Whereas with the converters it’s everyday. As pointed out in the many threads the GC is built on the same truma and Dometic systems that many converters use so the Moho techs have a level of experience that will take decades for VW to match.

A recent thread detailing a water pump fault, VW dealer won’t order a new pump until some other part is sourced and replaced. A simple test lamp followed by a secondary 12v feed to the pump will show if it’s working or not. It’s either faulty or not ‍. A water pump fault is common and a MoHo dealer would diagnose it in minutes and is very likely to have the pump on the shelf.

My final thought is for those with a GC that have a lingering/ reoccurring fault that VW is struggling with. Get on the net, find the contact details for truma/Dometic and talk to them direct. They might just have that bit of knowledge VW are missing. I’ve had reason to talk to both companies and found them really helpful.

One comment that did come from both Truma and Dometic was that all manufacturers that use the soft touch Dometic control panel write crap software….. but TBH given the constant updates Microsoft and Apple arn’t any better

The biggest problem with the t6.1 is vw service as well wee wee poor