MAJOR repairs needed on '08 Rockwood 8317ss

ctcaffrey · 06-27-2011, 12:56 PM

My husband and I were just informed Friday that our 2008 Rockwood 8317ss is in need of MAJOR repairs (obviously not expected!). Thought I would reach out for advise on how to best work with FR (and the "what not to do" things as well! lol).

Problem is this - we bought the trailer in July 2007 new. We keep the unit on a seasonal site in NJ and use for 6 months out of the year. This season after we opened the trailer in April we noticed the floor had a soft spot so we kept an eye on it ... and 2 months later it is HUGE! On Friday we had a contractor out to the trailer to estimate the cost of repair and to our dismay (after 2.5 hours of looking over the unit) it turns out that there is a leak in the roof that has caused the damage. The entire roof needs replaced, floor needs replaced and side walls (also signs of black mold now under bathtub). $7-10k was the original estimate. Of course we did purchase the additional 7 year warranty at time of purchase ... but water damage is not covered.

I contacted FR directly on Friday and was told "while the damage isn't covered under warranty, that doesn't mean that we won't help to fix it". I have sent over pictures of the roof and some internal of the trailer and am now waiting to hear back.

Thoughts? Suggestions?? I am certain that I am not the only one who has had these issues so thought I'd reach out to find out what works when dealing with them directly ... and what doesn't. We are at a loss right now with how to proceed while we wait to hear back.

RubenZ · 06-27-2011, 01:14 PM

Wow, that sucks. Aren't the roofs warrantied for like 12yrs?

phoneman06 · 06-27-2011, 01:19 PM

Turn it in on your insurance if you have coverage. My parents did that on their travel trailer. All they had to prove was that it was a leak in the trailer and not a water line leaking.

ctcaffrey · 06-27-2011, 01:24 PM

Limited 12 year warranty ... each year the coverage goes down a little more. Our contractor had also explained that this type of roof had previously been recalled from 2005-2007 but when I called FR they said that my trailer wasn't part of the recall (its a 2008 ... but was built in 2007).

ctcaffrey · 06-27-2011, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phoneman06

Turn it in on your insurance if you have coverage. My parents did that on their travel trailer. All they had to prove was that it was a leak in the trailer and not a water line leaking.

We are keeping that as an option depending on what FR comes back with. I REALLY don't want to be without my trailer ... with 3 kids and 2 dogs it definitely gives us a nice sanity retreat throughout the summer!

ctcaffrey · 06-29-2011, 10:09 AM

As of this morning I have sent over a total of 27 pictures to Gregg at FR showing as much of the damages as possible (of course the major damage is not visible by "sight"

). He has stated that everything will be sent to their Service Committee for a Ruling. I am crossing my fingers that they will stand behind their product and correct the issues.

ctcaffrey · 07-05-2011, 01:50 PM

Well I spoke with Jonathan Gust at Forest River on Friday and my trailer is now on its way to Indiana. My husband left this morning and should be dropping it off tomorrow. FR will examine the unit to determine who is at fault and then we go from there. 3 weeks with no camper in the middle of the summer ... uuuggghhhh bad timing! Oh well, at least it will be fixed and this will no longer be an issue. So far dealing with FR over this has been a good experience ... no complaints (yet!!)

**Herk7769** · 07-05-2011, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RubenZ

Wow, that sucks. Aren't the roofs warrantied for like 12yrs?

Actually "the roof" that is covered is the roof material not the seams or gaskets. You would need to prove the material was defective, not the installation or poor roof maintenance.

**Herk7769** · 07-05-2011, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctcaffrey

Well I spoke with Jonathan Gust at Forest River on Friday and my trailer is now on its way to Indiana. My husband left this morning and should be dropping it off tomorrow. FR will examine the unit to determine who is at fault and then we go from there. 3 weeks with no camper in the middle of the summer ... uuuggghhhh bad timing! Oh well, at least it will be fixed and this will no longer be an issue. So far dealing with FR over this has been a good experience ... no complaints (yet!!)

If this should ever happen to me; (

) I would be taking it to FR myself. They have the tools and the capability for a repair like this. The alternative is scrapping it with years to go on the loan.

ctcaffrey · 08-01-2011, 09:32 AM

My final update is to give MAJOR kudos to Forest River for standing behind their product. Not only did they repair the major damages ... but all of the small things were taken care of as well ... even normal wear and tear things!! I am in awe at the attention to detail that was placed while they had my trailer in for repair.

So thankful we are working with a company who stood behind their product. They now have a customer for life!!

Triguy · 08-01-2011, 11:34 AM

That's great news!! Thanks for following-up and letting us know how it turned out.

So, what did FR ascertain as the problem with the roof that caused the leak?

ctcaffrey · 08-04-2011, 01:59 PM

Honestly they didn't really say ... and I was so excited with everything being fixed that I didn't really ask

Not all of the damage was due to the roof though. Apparently there was a leak under the floor that was not visible which helped in causing all of the damage.

The new roof now has a slight pitch on it which will help to ensure there is no standing water after it rains.

kbrown1075 · 08-04-2011, 05:09 PM

Wow, that is awesome!!! I love seeing posts like this. What great news. Glad I own a FR product!

Koodog · 08-04-2011, 07:04 PM

YEA! I own the exact model and year. Glad to hear they fixed you up. Mine has been working wonderfully since I purchased it.
X2 kbrown on owning a FR product.

kablair · 08-04-2011, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kbrown1075

Wow, that is awesome!!! I love seeing posts like this. What great news. Glad I own a FR product!

+1

capucine · 08-04-2011, 07:55 PM

For us to when they took back our almost new rockwood 2011 because of major water leakage in the back wall and ending up under the floor membrane , they never told us what was the problem and what they did. But after checking the whole trailer myself I found out that I had a brand new back wall, that the trailer was totally removed from the frame and a brand new membrane was installed and 2 new baggage doors inserts and doors replaced. The new ones have 2 locks instead of 1 before. In all this major work you can hardly motice that they did something. The work was perfect and not a bit of mess from this big job. We are happy now. No more leaks.

avocadoman1 · 08-30-2011, 06:23 PM

ctcaffery...
that's a happy ending! thanks for sharing.
great to know that information when i make a future purchase.

grhodes50 · 08-30-2011, 06:54 PM

Great to hear that they took care of you. It's always good to read about FR taking care of their customers.

When my RW tt returned from having both sidewalls replaced due to delamination, the steps were broken, the was a deep scratch in a kitchen cabinet, the wheel trim & braces on the street side was broken, one pass through door now had a key and thumb lock where it only had a key lock before, the other pass through door just had the key lock, the mud dauber screens on my furnance were missing, there was a leak around the kitchen window and the concertone had quit working.

FR wasn't to blame for the steps, the delivery driver claimed they came out on their own and he hit a curb, the wheel trim and braces probably (not sure) broke at the same time the steps were broken, I was never told how the cabinet door got scratched even though I asked (they did replace it), I didn't ask about the passage doors and I just replaced the mud dauber screens myself. My dealer replaced the concertone and also verified the window leak but couldn't locate exactly where it was coming from. So they just caulked all around.

Life is like a box of chocolates...........

duckieb · 09-29-2011, 01:18 PM

Well, this is great news, as we are just beginning our journey to get our leak damage repaired! Hearing this makes me feel a "wee" bit better!

hoody · 10-02-2011, 09:02 PM

My 2009 rockwood had major delamination on both walls.Foest river hauled it back to indiana replaced both walls resealed whole roof, all the windows.they replaced seals on both slide outs.i couldnt tell they had even worked on it it was perfect.concertone is something else no picture from dvd to tv.im talking to concertone ,waiting for info.

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