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Old 10-31-2018, 10:11 PM   #1
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Problems with new trailer

So we bought our new trailer a year ago, its a Forest River Sandpiper 372lok. From the get go we have had problems. I drove from California to the dealer in Ohio to pick it up. I had contacted the dealer 2 weeks in advance to make sure the trailer was pre-tripped and would be ready to go when I got there. I wanted to make sure the trailer was ready so I wouldn't have any issues on the way back home due to the fact I was going to be living in it on the way back to Cali. But after I picked it up I immediately started having issues. At the first stop an hour from the dealer I found out the toilet didn't have water to it. I had the dealer add water to the fresh tank. The problems seem to continue as I drove from a dead battery, the heater not working correctly in the front bedroom, a hole in one of the rims and other various things. When I got home my wife and I went thru the trailer and had 2 pages of stuff wrong, missing or torn. And then to top it off the local shop that the dealer said would take care of things would not touch it because it was all the factory warranty stuff. Now I have to drive 2 hours to a Camping World in Roseville because they where the only ones that would fix it and have been awesome. In the last year we have had it 12 weeks total other then that it has been at the dealer.


Sorry for the long story. I feel like I should email the factory and the dealer explaining my issues. My question is should I or is it going to be a waste of time. I talked to the sales guy from the dealer many times after I picked it up and on my way back to Cali and kind of felt like I was gone with the trailer so it wasn't his problem anymore. So kinda frustrated with the hole thing.
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Old 11-01-2018, 01:14 AM   #2
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We bougnt our new Rockwood Roo from a Chicago dealer and brought it back to California.
FR found us local dealers willing to do the warranty work.
We also could have used independent RV shops or mobile RV tech. You just have to get pre-approval from FR and be willing to be reimbursed.
No need to use Camping World.
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Old 11-01-2018, 06:34 PM   #3
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I did try other dealers within 30 minutes from me but none of them would take the trailer in. We have a FR dealer that's close and they told me they where 2 months out at the time and that was even if they would be able to look at it due to the fact I didn't buy it from them. I have another dealer that's close that has flat told me as long as I had issues that where covered under the factory warranty they wouldn't be able to look at it. But if I had a Good Sam or other warranty then they would look at it and fix it.
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Old 11-01-2018, 07:17 PM   #4
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Call FR and ask them to recommend a dealer in your area. When you then contact that dealer, tell them FR recommended them for warranty work and they could verify that with the factory if they'd like.

They still don't have to do the work or get you in quicker but reports have indicated they are much more willing if they know the factory is expecting them to.

If they still refuse, call FR back and let them know.
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Old 11-01-2018, 09:15 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brianb16 View Post
In the last year we have had it 12 weeks total other then that it has been at the dealer.

Sorry for the long story. I feel like I should email the factory and the dealer explaining my issues. My question is should I or is it going to be a waste of time. I talked to the sales guy from the dealer many times after I picked it up and on my way back to Cali and kind of felt like I was gone with the trailer so it wasn't his problem anymore. So kinda frustrated with the hole thing.
How many times have we (forum members) read similar posts to this? Its terrible that the industry as a whole cannot provide "systemic support" through an organized dealer network, warranty or otherwise, after the point-of-sale.

Some of us have been lucky enough to talk to the right person at the factory, stumble upon the right dealer, or accidently find someone who can help (FR Forums are extremely helpful). But stumbling upon something/someone or getting lucky should have nothing to do with a monetary business transaction where a factory warranty is clearly implied.

No one should go through a purchase of a NEW camper that you can only use 12 weeks out of the first year that you own it.
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Old 11-02-2018, 01:29 PM   #6
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Camping as I have come to find out is horrible at customer service here in New Port Richey..Also the Forest River Salem 28BKCD we purchased has been a POS!!!! First day walk thru pullout sink was broke in half, window seals hanging out, no pin on swing out grill, no plate in microwave, missing curtains..this is the morning we are giving them a $25,000 check..you think they would have check it themselves.. then they left us standing in parking lot with NO KEYS, NO MANUALS, AND AN UNHOOKED TRAILER!!!!Since then cabinets have broke due to lack of nails, front power jack on second trip, AC replaced, LED lights just melted and they wont even replace!! I will never buy another Forest River Again!!!!
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Old 11-02-2018, 01:56 PM   #7
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Camping as I have come to find out is horrible at customer service here in New Port Richey..Also the Forest River Salem 28BKCD we purchased has been a POS!!!! First day walk thru pullout sink was broke in half, window seals hanging out, no pin on swing out grill, no plate in microwave, missing curtains..this is the morning we are giving them a $25,000 check..you think they would have check it themselves.. then they left us standing in parking lot with NO KEYS, NO MANUALS, AND AN UNHOOKED TRAILER!!!!Since then cabinets have broke due to lack of nails, front power jack on second trip, AC replaced, LED lights just melted and they wont even replace!! I will never buy another Forest River Again!!!!

I think that I would never buy from that dealer! FR is just like the rest of the brands, until you get up into the stratosphere with prices, the thought process is move them out the door as fast as possible, let the dealer take care of the qc.
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Old 11-02-2018, 02:42 PM   #8
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Unlike most consumer products today, RV quality control is "iffy" at best. The existing dealership model makes matters worse, not better. Chances of the situation changing are slim to none until the bottom falls out of the industry.

Is it possible to have a good experience buying an RV? Yes. The majority of owners never complain and/or learn how to make things better. And yes, there are a significant number - probably a substantial majority - of RVs bought without any major problems. Which just makes the frustration of those who feel taken advantage of that much worse.

We have bought 1 new pop-up, and 2 new A-frames, and on the PUP and 1st A-frame I stumbled into pretty good dealers. In all cases, I chose dealers who sold a good volume of pop-ups because they had a reasonable stock and delivery dates to pick from. Dealers who primarily sold TTs and fivers and MHs just didn't care about a low-commission low-life like me. By selecting dealers who sold pop-ups in volume, I also by default selected dealers who were experienced in servicing first time RV owners and in servicing pop-ups.

It was our 2nd RV, and the 1st A-frame that I learned the value of a good dealer - more importantly, the good service dept. I just assumed that was the norm with the PUP and our 1st dealer. In buying the A-frame, our salesman realized that KISS (keep it simple, stupid) was our natural style, and talked us out of options and higher end models with more stuff. The deal almost fell apart when the A-frame porpoised pretty badly behind my minivan. An E2 600/6000 WDH was installed at minimal cost to me to correct the issue. On our first trip, a leaking metal propane union was replaced by the dealer Saturday morning within an hour on a no-warning arrival. The door lockset was replaced (no key to be found) and a leaking outside shower valve replaced on a Saturday within 2 hours with 2 days notice.

On our 2nd A-frame buy (Roberts RV in Denver), we were offered an ordered unit or they would take $400 off their sale price for a newly arrived unit with lots of interior dings. We decided to take the unit in hand (they later raised our discount to $800 because of the number of flaws discovered) provided we did a very thorough examination when it was ready for delivery. Having been on these forums for 4 years, I was worried about structural flaws (given the obvious carelessness on assembly of the interior) which would be beyond my ability to easily correct. We allowed an entire Friday to take delivery so that we could go through it and fix any problems on the spot. I have to commend Roberts for going through the A-frame in advance and fixing all the flaws - to the point of vacuuming out all the sawdust and trash inside all the cabinets and under the seats and bed.

The best I can offer the OP is get what you can fixed under warranty, fix/upgrade to suit your needs and wants yourself, and above all, learn from the experience. Be a better buyer the next time around. In the meantime, camping is always a less than perfect experience. But the joys should always out-weigh the problems and issues. Make sure they do!

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Old 11-02-2018, 03:37 PM   #9
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"felt like I was gone with the trailer so it wasn't his problem anymore"

Sadly, this is NOT an unusual occurrence. You made a HUGE mistake taking a complex vehicle like an RV and immediately leaving the area (traveling thousands of miles to boot!). By the second problem, I would have turned around and made a beeline back to the selling dealer.

Mark Polk (RVEducation101) has joined Chuck Woodbury (RVTravel) in recognizing that Quality Control is NOWHERE CLOSE to where it needs to be. RV builders have to demand better quality components from Lippert (the 800 pound gorilla suppling RV components) as well as other suppliers. I understand that RV sales are DOWN for the last couple of months. Maybe buyers are finally realizing that their chance at getting a QUALITY MADE RV is a crapshoot and are therefore hesitant to spend as much as a quarter of a million dollars (or more) on an RV that may well spend more time waiting for service than in actual use that the customer bought it for.
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Old 11-02-2018, 04:01 PM   #10
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This is NOT an unusual occurrence. You made a HUGE mistake taking a complex vehicle like an RV and immediately leaving the area (traveling thousands of miles to boot!). By the second problem, I would have turned around and made a beeline back to the selling dealer.
Self inflicted wound and a massive failure on your part. Did you even make a cursory inspection of the trailer before you left?

Spending a night or two at a nice Ohio State Park would have sorted this out with the selling dealer minutes away.

Years ago my aunt took delivery of a new car. Stopped running in a few days. Seemed there was no oil in the engine! (How it ran that long is a credit to the guys who designed the engine bearings!) Local dealers have been astounded dozens of times since when I've checked the engine oil on delivery of a new car! Hopefully others learn from your mistakes.

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Old 11-02-2018, 04:16 PM   #11
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X2-BIKENDAN I would skip Camper World, there is a reason they are under a class action suite from investors. My local one in Fort Worth,TX has added pet stuff shelf allocation + 20%, and cut down on camper supplies. Simple replacement items they are always out of. They will not order items, EX door closers and down rigger switches.They just tell me to drive 20 miles to another RV dealer. I will not go back. I sure you will hear the same from others.
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Old 11-02-2018, 05:16 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by Kbrown138 View Post
Camping as I have come to find out is horrible at customer service here in New Port Richey..Also the Forest River Salem 28BKCD we purchased has been a POS!!!! First day walk thru pullout sink was broke in half, window seals hanging out, no pin on swing out grill, no plate in microwave, missing curtains..this is the morning we are giving them a $25,000 check..you think they would have check it themselves.. then they left us standing in parking lot with NO KEYS, NO MANUALS, AND AN UNHOOKED TRAILER!!!!Since then cabinets have broke due to lack of nails, front power jack on second trip, AC replaced, LED lights just melted and they wont even replace!! I will never buy another Forest River Again!!!!
Did you read my post, in #2?
You don't have to use this lousy dealer. Why did you accept it, if there was so much wrong during the walkthrough?
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Old 11-02-2018, 05:48 PM   #13
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The person that buys something hundreds of miles away to save $2000 bucks pays for it over and over. Same story, thread 23090 on this subject. FR or Thor or whomever won't really care about the poor dealers as long as they sell them. Find a good dealer first then buy your RV.
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Old 11-02-2018, 08:01 PM   #14
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The person that buys something hundreds of miles away to save $2000 bucks pays for it over and over. Same story, thread 23090 on this subject. FR or Thor or whomever won't really care about the poor dealers as long as they sell them. Find a good dealer first then buy your RV.
I agree but only to a point. Buy local when you can. But we travel with our RVs all over the US and Canada and depend on a bonafide dedicated dealer network to provide services when things break, particularly when under warranty.

When something breaks on my newly purchased RV, I'm likely to be on a trip and my local dealer will be hundreds if not thousands of miles away.

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Old 11-02-2018, 08:19 PM   #15
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The person that buys something hundreds of miles away to save $2000 bucks pays for it over and over. Same story, thread 23090 on this subject. FR or Thor or whomever won't really care about the poor dealers as long as they sell them. Find a good dealer first then buy your RV.
Many of us have bought hundreds of miles away(me 2000 miles away)and never had any issues with warranty work.
FR found me 3 local dealers willing to do the warranty work. Many use local independent RV shops or mobile RV tech's do do the warranty work.
There are also many threads by those that bought local, only to get ignored or have terrible work done.
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Old 11-02-2018, 08:22 PM   #16
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I certainly didn't mean to derail this thread with my post (#5). Back to the OPs original question... both posts #2 and #4 suggest contacting FR directly and speaking with someone about the issues you've had. It would be helpful to have as much documentation as possible of all your issues, service orders, etc., on hand when you speak to someone at Forest River.

I wish you well. Hopefully you'll find someone who can help.
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Old 11-02-2018, 08:38 PM   #17
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I am not a fan of the dealer network. It is not the auto industry and that is what people are expecting.

As far as why they are refusing service unless you bought local, I hate this but also understand it. If you had so much business that you could not keep up wouldn't you make the same choice? Warrenty work is not a money maker for these guys. If you bought local and they could not get you in over someone who drove theirs in from somewhere else they are trying to reward those they made money on and hopefully will again (assuming they do quality work).

Seems to me the best solution is the mobile tech. Yes it can be difficult to get advanced approval but compare that to how much work it is or time is lost with an RV at a dealer. What can be scheduled out a short time and paid for at market rates is a great way to get the factory to clean up their mess. It is more expensive for them and suddenly they understand they need to improve. The dealers don't really make good money on warrenty work. This is why they put low paid inexperienced techs on it.

Sorry for the rant. For the OP it seems contacting FR and getting authorization and maybe even recommendations from them on mobile techs would be a good way to get it repaired without a long loss of use or even long drives for you.

For the small items you may want to deal with them yourself as many others have had to do.

Good luck and wish you the best!
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Old 11-02-2018, 08:49 PM   #18
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I bought my wildcat and never had a warranty problem. The dealer had to fix stuff that I created and he has always had room to get me in. There is another dealer in town that took my wildcat in when I hit a tree and no questions asked or said I had to wait. From what I hear, this maybe is unusual. My 2 cents.
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Old 11-02-2018, 09:31 PM   #19
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Sorry to hear of the problems others have had.


I bought my FR trailer brand new at a local RV show at a stadium. The price was the reason I bought it that day on the spot.


Yes, it did have issues but nothing I couldn't take care of myself.


RV ownership is like a house. Unless money is no object, tools and a willingness to get dirty is somewhat expected.
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Old 11-03-2018, 06:18 AM   #20
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Self inflicted wound and a massive failure on your part. Did you even make a cursory inspection of the trailer before you left?

Spending a night or two at a nice Ohio State Park would have sorted this out with the selling dealer minutes away.

Years ago my aunt took delivery of a new car. Stopped running in a few days. Seemed there was no oil in the engine! (How it ran that long is a credit to the guys who designed the engine bearings!) Local dealers have been astounded dozens of times since when I've checked the engine oil on delivery of a new car! Hopefully others learn from your mistakes.

-- Chuck
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