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Old 07-19-2017, 06:36 PM   #1
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Unhappy Forest River Quality in my New Vibe 311

The features of this camper are rally nice but I am very disappointed in the quality of the assembly.

The trim piece on the side of the closet in the bedroom fell off.

The large trim piece over the couch at the end of the trailer about 6 feet long fell off.

The smoke detector fell out of the roof. (They just put screws into hold it into the thin roofing material rather than use anchors and put the screws in the anchors. I mean really , how much to plastic anchors cost??

I took Gorilla wood glue and glued all the trim pieces back on and clamped them overnight. A good fix but its a fix that should not have even have to be done.

On each end of the couch there is a small table with 2 legs and the side with the missing legs is lagged into the wall . Screws fell out of it and once again they were just put in the thin wall material without any anchors. I put anchors in and its quite secure now.

I should think one would want to put out a quality product and cutting corners like this is not the way to do it.

Joseph Schulte
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Old 07-20-2017, 07:15 AM   #2
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Quality is becoming an issue with all manufacturers. Over the past year the industry in general has exploded and the manufacturers are scrambling to keep up meaning they are having problems finding qualified workers. Every manufacturer is looking for workers. Unfortunately this is affecting the whole industry. I deliver units from Forrest River, Jayco and Heartland and the dealers are telling me that quality this past year has been an issue in all brands.
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Old 07-20-2017, 07:21 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by vmfa View Post
The features of this camper are rally nice but I am very disappointed in the quality of the assembly.

The trim piece on the side of the closet in the bedroom fell off.

The large trim piece over the couch at the end of the trailer about 6 feet long fell off.

The smoke detector fell out of the roof. (They just put screws into hold it into the thin roofing material rather than use anchors and put the screws in the anchors. I mean really , how much to plastic anchors cost??

I took Gorilla wood glue and glued all the trim pieces back on and clamped them overnight. A good fix but its a fix that should not have even have to be done.

On each end of the couch there is a small table with 2 legs and the side with the missing legs is lagged into the wall . Screws fell out of it and once again they were just put in the thin wall material without any anchors. I put anchors in and its quite secure now.

I should think one would want to put out a quality product and cutting corners like this is not the way to do it.

Joseph Schulte
Won't get into all the details...but I've done a lot of work on my 2018 Cherokee 304BS. Dead in driveway till September...when the dealer can take it in.
Had an issue with living room slide out (my fault) but discovered that only 3 screws were holding the vertical 2" support on both sides of slide...piece that trim mounts to. All of my supports now have 6 HD screws holding each one on.
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Old 07-20-2017, 07:25 AM   #4
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I continue to believe that comments about Forest River Quality is not totally fair. It's too universal. I don't think all the Divisions are the same quality.........based on what I read and experience first hand. Now THAT is a problem, I admit. But they are not all equal.

Nor are all units of SAME section the same. The guy above has problems with a Cherokee. Ours was almost perfect.
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Old 07-20-2017, 07:31 AM   #5
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Forest River and other manufacturers haven’t changed the way things are attached thing to these trailers to compensate for road conditions in our country, especially the roads in Indiana and Illinois. Driving in those two states is like off-roading.

A trailer can leave the factory in perfect condition but by the time it is delivered to a dealer it’s been bounced around pretty good and the trailer is no longer perfect. A good dealer finds these issues before a buyer takes delivery. Key words; good dealer.
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Old 07-20-2017, 01:47 PM   #6
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Thumbs down

All I can say is thank goodness I didn't "pay" for a prep fee. Had our 2018 Salem Himsphere delived to us in VT....purchased it At Couch's RV in OH(NEVER will buy from them again). So many problems, I have been repairing stuff left and right, much of what should have been caught had the dealership even looked at it. I have had to pay for all the problems out of pocket because NO ONE from FR Relations has called me back and supposedly Couch's submitted the issues to FR warranty. It has been 3 months on the first issue and have heard nothing and seen no check...Grrrrr!!
We sold our 2016 Keystone Hideout and had purchased that from Holman Motors in Batavia OH, all issues were immediately addressed and fixed, and there were very few issues to boot!
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Old 07-20-2017, 03:36 PM   #7
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It seems that many (most?) RV builders think that missing quality can be "built in" after a unit leaves the factory (when the owner finds the problems and complains). If you start with a poor foundation, later "fixes" will often just be expensive band-aids that can't truly fix the core problem; a poor foundation. Quality MUST be built in originally. If RV builders can't manage this on their own, buyers will eventually push their elected officials to include RVs in Lemon Laws.
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Old 07-20-2017, 04:04 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by larryo View Post
Quality is becoming an issue with all manufacturers. Over the past year the industry in general has exploded and the manufacturers are scrambling to keep up meaning they are having problems finding qualified workers. Every manufacturer is looking for workers. Unfortunately this is affecting the whole industry. I deliver units from Forrest River, Jayco and Heartland and the dealers are telling me that quality this past year has been an issue in all brands.
I totally disagree. There are some manufacturers out there that make good, quality units, but you have to do some research and look beyond Indiana to find, and pay a little more for them. We did, and presently have a TT that we are very proud to own. Yes, they're rare in our midwest location and you may have to travel west to find them. No more Forest River products for us!
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Old 07-20-2017, 04:45 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by gfarmcafe View Post
I totally disagree. There are some manufacturers out there that make good, quality units, but you have to do some research and look beyond Indiana to find, and pay a little more for them. We did, and presently have a TT that we are very proud to own. Yes, they're rare in our midwest location and you may have to travel west to find them. No more Forest River products for us!
Please enlighten us. What brand did your research reveal? I'm guessing maybe Bigfoot? A friend has had two, and they are high quality.
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Old 07-20-2017, 06:48 PM   #10
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I just bought a new 2018 Cardinal 3825 and the shower track was put in backwards meaning the bottom of the track has slots cut out to drain water back into the shower not out to the floor. Also the tv will not connected to camp site cable don't have know idea about why it's not working. So maybe better inspections before we take ownership might help.
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Old 07-20-2017, 08:07 PM   #11
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my wolf pup is a good solid trailer so far,i've had no problems,maybe i just got lucky?
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Old 07-20-2017, 08:31 PM   #12
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My wife and I love our Micro Lite. That said, I've had to refurbish the fresh water tank supports, fix a cracked pvc pipe (no fault of FR), replace a door handle, and replumb the outside shower (hot and cold water were switched from the factory). Of all things that last one really bugged me... how hard is it to get it right the first time. Stupid mistakes!
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Old 07-20-2017, 11:37 PM   #13
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Quality bad on mine also

I just bought a 2017 F R Wildwood 27RLSS screws not run in all the way, cabinet drawers not right, light switch not hooked up well, I can go on and on so far all "minor" stuff but wow QA sucked at least on mine !
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Old 07-21-2017, 04:20 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by jkoenig24 View Post
It seems that many (most?) RV builders think that missing quality can be "built in" after a unit leaves the factory (when the owner finds the problems and complains). If you start with a poor foundation, later "fixes" will often just be expensive band-aids that can't truly fix the core problem; a poor foundation. Quality MUST be built in originally. If RV builders can't manage this on their own, buyers will eventually push their elected officials to include RVs in Lemon Laws.


I believe it was the great Dr Deming himself that said....

"Inspecting to pull out the failed items from the production before a customer sees them is a path to failure. If the process is this bad, the process needs to be improved. If you can actually stay in business doing this now, you are at risk for not being able to stay in business when the market stops being willing to pay you to produce results people don’t want."

Eventually, that time will come!

Poor quality is not poor QC. Quality is built in or it is not there!
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Old 07-21-2017, 04:30 PM   #15
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My Coachman Apex came with only a few minor issues that the dealer addressed when pointed out to them. Maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones also.
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Old 07-21-2017, 04:37 PM   #16
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Like I said so far all minor issues, I just know when I buy a new automobile i don't take it home and start fixing doors that won't close right! But I have had to do that on my camper and vacuum up all the wood shaving left in/under bench seats/sofa and cabinets, u spend $25000 on anything it should be clean shouldnt it? All that said we love our camper
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Old 07-21-2017, 05:02 PM   #17
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I agree with a new auto. I bought a new truck a couple of years ago. I bought a new TT a few months after that. I had a list of 14 things on my TT. It took about 3 months to fix. On my new truck, very clean, no problems at all. No door adjustments, no panels falling off walls, etc. Why can't the RV industry do the same.
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Old 07-21-2017, 05:12 PM   #18
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With mine just no pride in the workmanship and way less QA than needed I know they build these things fast as possible BUT.... I think I will put the photos online drop a link here over the weekend..maybe
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Old 07-21-2017, 07:13 PM   #19
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I agree with a new auto. I bought a new truck a couple of years ago. I bought a new TT a few months after that. I had a list of 14 things on my TT. It took about 3 months to fix. On my new truck, very clean, no problems at all. No door adjustments, no panels falling off walls, etc. Why can't the RV industry do the same.
If they paid RV workers, what the auto industry pays their workers, you probably could only afford a popup.[emoji12]
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Old 07-23-2017, 12:35 AM   #20
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I agree with a new auto. I bought a new truck a couple of years ago. I bought a new TT a few months after that. I had a list of 14 things on my TT. It took about 3 months to fix. On my new truck, very clean, no problems at all. No door adjustments, no panels falling off walls, etc. Why can't the RV industry do the same.
The RV industry can produce quality as good as the automobile and truck makers. But it would take a total reorganization of the way they do business. There would be some rise in costs, and some reduction in production, but not as much as you might expect. But right now, RV companies use the same production model as cheaper houses use. Cheap, temporary labor, the cheapest materials, and most of all an attitude of not worrying about things that aren't right.

1st, owners and management have to buy in - doing whatever it takes to build quality units. Until they buy in, any talk about quality is just salesman snake oil. I haven't seen any RV company that truly cares about quality except perhaps Airstream (I don't know for sure personally, but their prices make it seem like higher quality.)

The first step - and most important - in building in quality is to reduce variation from one unit to the next. Frankly, there are way too many models and way too many options on each model. Detroit had to learn this the hard way. Honda and Toyota led the way by placing desirable options in trim packages, not individual options. But I remember ordering a 1980 Ford LTD, and the option choices were 3 single-spaced pages long. A few years later, Ford claimed their quality had improved some fantastic percentage since 1980. Having a 1980, I understood the improvement was really a low bar.

The 2nd step in reducing variation is to use framing jigs, pre-assembled wire harnesses and to some extent plumbing. Would you be willing to give up one cabinet of storage space to have a factory wiring harness like an automobile, instead of poorly done home wiring? There would be actual factory diagrams of where everything was located and run. The mounting hardware would be standardized and laid out in the correct order for the assembly line to use.

The 3rd step is that anybody on the assembly line can stop the line when things aren't right. It gets fixed on the spot, or the unit gets pulled out of the line and is junked. This is where management and labor will both usually choke, and quality becomes lip service instead of the way things are done.

The 4th step is to force your suppliers to improve. Tell Lippert you will make your own frames unless they straighten out their quality and engineering issues (like water tank supports, adequate axles on every unit, etc). Dometic comes up with real ventilation and installation requirements to make fridges work correctly. Dometic fixes their thermostat programming so that the fan automatically goes to correct speed for the A/C or heat to work properly. Realistic battery configurations are set up for the loads built-in to the RV.

FWIW, I was recently laid off, and am available to help an RV manufacturer build in quality from the start - but only if management is committed to the process.
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