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Old 04-19-2012, 01:40 PM   #1
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Forrest RIVER QUALITY

I bought a new George Town XL 378 coach about a month ago.I would love to take back,I will never buy a Forrest River RV again .Have used 5 days and have spent lots of time fixing one thing after another.Has nice things in it, but who ever built it done a very poor job,now main slide has wood coming off on bottom of slide because Forrest River did not take time to fasten metal bar right.This will be a major job,bottom of slide needs to be replace,shop were it is now can not do. I have been repairing things most of my life,any one who dose this Quality of work should not be building RVS.All double door cabinets doors was too tight,had to move hinges.Wall Panels not glue to studs.Trim not glue or nail,and very uneven trim .Rear air bad.Air mattress in front fail first time i try to use it. Shower door guides out of place.Carpet in black tank.Door air shock bracket bent and rusty.Pull fire place out to look for place to run cable,floor was cover with saw dust and cut off wire,would of took another min or less to clean ,NO PRIDE in there work.Hope ever one has better luck than I have with Forrest River,this was not a cheap coach ,I had a 10 year old dutch star not near as pretty ,not as nice things in it but built with a little pride.
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Old 04-19-2012, 02:11 PM   #2
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What do you expect? If you had spend a million dollars on a MH it would probably still look the same. Speed is the name of the game. Make a list of problems/fixes and take it back to your dealer. That is what they get paid for. IMHO FR makes a better than average product. MY 2005 Fiver has been flawless after the initial few bugs and getting fixed what the dealer made a mess of. Some things I prefer to do myself, because no matter what it will not be as nice or as neat as when I do it. Some of these things should have been caught at PDI or predelivery at the vary least. So I would be blaming the selling dealer for some of the issues you are seeing.
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Old 04-19-2012, 02:31 PM   #3
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In some ways I could blame both the dealer and Forest River, lean more to Forest River, they should have never let this leave the factory. I bought a 2010 CC 36RE yes used one year. The only thing I have really found that was a problem was the shower leaked around the carved doors, nothing major but yet had to be repaired. Now as for the tires, thats another thing, lost one on trip from FL a couple of weeks ago and filed a claim with the road insurance they of course refused it said it was a factory defect and was due to and I quote "cheap #$% tires Forest River puts on there 5th wheel". Of course I called the dealer and they got the insurance company to pay for it after all. ($389.00) I will be contacting dealer again and also Forest River about them, you pay this much for a unit you sure don't want some "cheap #$% tires" on it. The tires are the Load Range made in China of course.
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Old 04-19-2012, 02:36 PM   #4
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Donn,
I disagree with you on who should have caught these problems, I do agree a dealer should go over a MH or TT fairly well but they should not have to look for every little thing that should have never left the factory. The list of things wrong with nine was so long they sent horizon transport to my house to take it back to the factory for repairs, which I might add were done nicely but should not have been shipped that way to start with, if they can fix it later than they can build it right to start with. As far as dealers fixing things, they do not have to ! it is up to each dealer if they wish to work on your coach the rate of reimbursement is much lower than the shop rate they can charge for non warranty work so they can and do refuse warranty work on many little items and sometimes on larger claims, in most cases with mine the dealer will order the parts under warranty and give them to me for installation as it just is not worth it to them to put a tech. on small items. And no there is no comparison between a FR product and Newmar of the same price point.
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Old 04-19-2012, 02:51 PM   #5
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Its under warranty so let them fix it to your satisfaction.
If you had or did an adequate pdi some of these things you
Mention should have been caught or seen by YOU. You in a sense help with Qc that is why they do a pdi.
Its to bad the way you received it.
but don't complain if you do not take it in and let them make it right under warranty.
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Old 04-19-2012, 02:56 PM   #6
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Bob, you as the end user is the best Qc forest river has they have during pdi.
You are not only there to learn the ins and outs but to do
FINAL inspection.
Twist turn open shut latch unlatch turn on turn off everything.
Jmo
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Old 04-19-2012, 03:09 PM   #7
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I found things at dealer that was fixed,new coach at any price should not have things like I have found on mine,I live south of Houston,phone a major motor home dealer not far from me,they wanted to know why i did not take it back to were i bought it.Have in a shop close to home now they sell and service Forest River RVS but do not sell motor homes.Waiting on RV dealer were i bought coach to see if they can fix slide,about a 6 hr drive from were i am.
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Old 04-19-2012, 03:10 PM   #8
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well thats fine but did you run water in your kitchen sink and flush your black tank during your delivery? my tank flush was installed backward and my kitchen sink was not hooked up in the wall. Did your slide drop an inch and a half on your second use? Did your floor show signs of a soft spot on the 4 th use? was your stereo hooked up properly? was your dinette table an inch out of level? Did most of your corner mouldings fall off the 2nd time out? Did the finish come off your faucet within 2 weeks? did your refrig. work, mine was dead from factory, how about the main A/C, mine was installed improperly and had its lines crushed, and the list goes on, yes there is more I just get sick typing about it, all of this from a class c+ that had a sticker of 167,000
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Old 04-19-2012, 03:26 PM   #9
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Yes everything was perfect before I left.
everything worked like it was supposed to.
I was shown how everything worked including tank flush.
every single appliance was tested and shown how to operate before I left.

Now I have had a few issues so I returned it to the dealer
and all is well.

I'm sorry you or your coach didn't get top notch treatment.
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Old 04-19-2012, 03:39 PM   #10
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Everything worked perfect in our TT before we left the dealer. Water was hooked up and running, TV and stereo worked. Appliances were run and they all worked. Outside kitchen was in running order. Outside shower was in working order. Dump valves were in working order. Refrigerator was working on both gas and electric before we left the lot. Furnace was run. A/C was run. Slide out was run out and in. Awning was run out and in. We were taught how to do everything and I personally opened every drawer, every cabinet, etc. to make sure things were put together and working.

There are thousands of people who own FR products; if they have THAT many problems and are producing "junk," they would no longer be in business. They're not the top of the line and we knew that going in. But they're good units for our price range. Unfortunately on these forums, you only hear about things going wrong. No one comes on this site to report that their TT/FW/MH is working great and they're just saying "hi"! So you only see the bad, and not the good. There are plenty of satisfied FR customers to go along with the minorty of disgruntled customers.

As far as you repairs go, I would be taking my unit back to my original dealer to fix everything that is wrong. That is why we purchased from a dealer close to home instead of one of the internet dealers. Although 6 hours away from you, sometimes you have to bite the bullet. There is no way I'd be making all of the repairs myself if I had a laundry list a mile long.

As for the issues with sawdust and wire in the cabinets; every unit has that. These things are built on assembly lines that I'm pretty sure have "rates" they have to meet. What I can't see behind cabinets, etc. I don't worry about. If/when we have to make a repair or adjustment, I'll clean it out then. In the meantime, it's not bothering anyone and no one sees it.
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Old 04-19-2012, 03:40 PM   #11
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just a few things FR could have and should have done better on, I realize it was a new concept for FR to try and make a super c and thank god they only made 18 +/_ I do not know how the other 17 are but mine has cost FR at least 12,000 in repairs and transport and still counting. I will continue to use it every chance I get between now and July when the FR warranty runs out and I will continue to have everything repaired , I have yet to use it where it has not had to go back for repairs. I would love to trade it in but thanks to its stellar reputation nobody wants it, unless I want to lose 60% the 1st year.
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Old 04-19-2012, 03:44 PM   #12
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between thor and FR you just don't have many choices, they have both bought up just about every mfg. that was in trouble or for sale, therefore they will be around no matter how bad there QC is. they will repair what they have to and want to for the 1st year than they really will not care
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Old 04-19-2012, 03:48 PM   #13
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AMEN trudinator.
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Old 04-19-2012, 03:53 PM   #14
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She said it right on
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Old 04-19-2012, 05:40 PM   #15
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I have owned two Forest River Products, a new 2009 Palomino P2100 PUP and now a 2009 Palomino Puma 25RS. We found nothing wrong with the PUP and nothing wrong with the Puma, although it was used when we purchased it. I know that the final product depends upon the workers who built it and then final inspectors. This applies to anything that it built. In my previous employment, we picked up a brand new $25 million dollar aircraft...it had defects in it also that should have been caught at the factory.
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Old 04-19-2012, 05:55 PM   #16
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Great idea. I'll build a product with flaws, get someone else to sell it, then blame the seller or the buyer when something goes wrong. Hey, with that thought, I could also run for public office.
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Old 04-19-2012, 06:46 PM   #17
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What qualit????????
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Old 04-19-2012, 08:20 PM   #18
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2 forest river products I've owned
Fixed under warranty
Radio /dvd player
Propane leak
awning fabric
Interior light
Slide out seal
Wardrobe door catch
cabinet door catch

Things fixed out of warranty
Convertor
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Old 04-19-2012, 08:47 PM   #19
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I can only speak for owning a TT. I am still awaiting my V-Lite 30WTBS but before that I owned a Jayco and within the 1st year the following needed repaired:

Plumbing Under Tub
Support Bracket Under Tub needed adjusted 2 times
A/C
Converter
DVD/CD/Radio (complete replacement)
5.1 Speakers were wired wrong
Mirror in Bathroom was installed to low
Stablizer jacks were not installed correctly to the frame
The whole trailer frame had to rise off the axles by more the 2 inches so that the tires could clear the wheel wells

I say all this to say it was all fixed by my dealer and it was a well made unit. It comes with owning a product.

To me it comes down to how good your dealer is. I based on where to purchase my TT based on their service department and willing to fix what is wrong. If something breaks when its covered under warranty, then it better get fixed by my dealer or if it is too big of a problem then it goes back to FR or another local dealer that can handle the fix.
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Old 04-20-2012, 05:32 AM   #20
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I too had problems with my new 2011 360RB. I refused to take it the dealer due the distance and insisted my repair facility, not an approved FR dealer, they only repair and do not sell RV's. Everything was repaired perfectly, FR paid and sent new parts. Very few dealers are interested in seeing you bring It back, once the mud flaps clear the lot it's yours.
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