SMC, Newark

We bought our Kingham from SMC and also found them to be dragging their feet dealing with some warranty issues. Accepting that this happened immediately post pandemic lock down, but their lack of response and or someone actually just owning the problem was frustrating.

Until we got Alisair Briggs Price involved, one of the owners of SMC.

Might be worth dropping him a line, his email is alistair@smcnewark.co.uk

Ultimately all was sorted but it wasn’t until Alistair got involved that we felt things started to happen.

They have a very nice Frankia I could fancy but there are 195000 reasons why I shouldn't have a go at it. Did they used to be Brownhills?

OssettIan wrote:

OssettIan wrote:

Millie The Moocher wrote:We bought our Kingham from SMC and also found them to be dragging their feet dealing with some warranty issues. Accepting that this happened immediately post pandemic lock down, but their lack of response and or someone actually just owning the problem was frustrating.

Until we got Alisair Briggs Price involved, one of the owners of SMC.

Might be worth dropping him a line, his email is alistair@smcnewark.co.uk

Ultimately all was sorted but it wasn’t until Alistair got involved that we felt things started to happen.

Hi and thanks for the information re Alistair Briggs Price. I will give it a try. We have still not had any response from SMC subsequent to my previous post on here. They really are a disgrace. 

Thanks again for your suggestion.

Well Alistair Briggs-Price came through for us. We are booked it with SMC following his prompt intervention. Thanks again for the tip off Millie The Moocher.

It’s such a shame for the business that you have to get the owner involved before the staff do what they are paid to do

Once we got the ball rolling via Alistair I made sure he was copied in to every e mail I sent. I also followed up all phone calls with an email, confirming what had been said and agreed.

Hope it all works out for you:big thumbs up:

It seems everyone has a different experience.

I bought a used van from SMC in November. I wanted several things done before taking delivery and all were done very well. When I got the van home I found that the combi electrical heating elements needed replacing and a couple of other little things when I used the van. An appointment was made for ten days after I reported the problems and all done well - I was back in Stoke for 2pm.

Excellent service and very pleasant people.

I just want to pass on my experience of some really exceptional after sales service from SMC Newark.

The pre-owned Broadway that we bought from SMC last November had seen very little use in its six years and it appears that none of the water systems had ever been flushed out resulting in dried on solids in toilet flush tank, grey water tank, etc.

As we have used the van with fluids in, the vibration of driving gradually loosened these solids into the fluids so the first toilet flush when pitched would be full of black bits and the grey water tank drain has been blocked several times. With regular draining and using tank flush products that is now sorted and wont return as we use the van so regularly.

When we returned from our recent trip to Moreton, the Combi boiler would not drain through the dump valve although when the pump was switched on it would cause water to emerge from the drain, stopping as soon as the pump was switched off. With the risk of dumping 10 litres of water inside the van and as I was going to spend the next week at the NEC and no frost forecast at home I decided to leave investigating till after the NEC. I described the symptoms to Truma and Auto-sleeper technical reps at the NEC but they could not suggest what the cause could be.

I passed through the AS stand occasionally during the week and on one of those occasions the SMC sales manager spotted me and asked how I was getting on with the van. I told him that we were very pleased with the van and working through the result of several years of little use (that leaves the interior of the van almost 'as new') and also mentioned that, after having been drained successfully several times, the combi was not draining.

He immediately offered to have the van in at Newark to investigate and remedy but I told him that because of the 160 mile 4 hour round trip I would rather investigate myself first. At that he took me to the SMC stand next door and introduced me to the SMC Technical Manager who said that the fault could be the frost dump valve but could equally well be the pressure relief valve on the hot water outlet and that when I found out which component was faulty he would post it to me. He also told me how to avoid dumping the water inside the van whilst removing plumbing components.

On Saturday morning I discovered that the problem was the pressure relief valve but that the dump valve had a lot of scale pieces in it and was not operating smoothly. I communicated my findings to a friend who was on the AS stand on Saturday and my findings and address were passed to the SMC Technical Manager. I hoped they would manage to get the components to me in time for us to start our next trip at the end of next week but did expect that after six straight days on the stand the manager might have at least Monday and Tuesday off.

Early afternoon yesterday a courier delivered replacement components, I put the van back together filled with water and drained again cold then did the same but heating the water up to max, all working properly and no leaks. I am absolutely delighted at this service from SMC.