Numerous Repair Issues

[Leeggert44]

Have a 2018 FR3 30DS.
Experiencing numerous repair issues and feel like I have a Lemon.
Cracked fiberglass above passenger headlight
Recall on the power shade
Thrust bearings on the kingpins installed upside down
Had to replace the cooling unit for the refrigerator (fortunately I had an extended warranty thru Route 66)
Now I have a leak in a cylinder for the leveling system.


Has anyone else experienced this many issues with a unit with less than 5,000 miles?

[Hunter56]

Hey Leeggert44,

We definitely feel your pain. My wife and I bought a 2017 FR3 Model 29DS (new, from a RV dealership) as our retirement vehicle to travel the country and see everything we’ve missed by working the past several decades. All was going well until we bought this “Lemon”. Our rig was in the shop more than it was in our driveway for the first year we owned it. It sounds like some of our issues were similar. Our refrigerator would not get cold from the get go, they put a new unit in. My grandson slept on the sleeper bunk and the windshield cracked. The sofa sleeper would not fold out and had to be replaced. The heater would not blow hot air, after numerous trips to the dealership they said it was fixed, but still only works intermittently. The power steps were broken and had to be re-welded. The In-Dashl computer did not work and fortunately the RV dealership coordinated with Ford to have it taken to the Ford dealership and repaired while it was at the RV dealership for other repairs. The door into the bedroom was not installed properly and had to be repaired, now has extra holes and still doesn’t line-up correctly. The kitchen faucet leaked and had to be repaired. There were a couple additional issues, but I can’t remember all of them right now. Oh yeah, just as a matter of preference I switched out all 3 TV’s because the units that were supplied from the Forest River factory were such junk they wouldn’t tune into channels at RV parks when we attempted to use the parks wi-fi. I forgot about the windshield sunshade recall that was suppose to be a 20-minute fix turned into 3 trips to the dealership and the end result was “we’re sorry we can’t fix it, we’ll have to order you a whole new shade” and after 4 months the service writer won’t take my calls or return my messages, and now the shade goes all the way down if the button is pressed while driving, which is a major safety issue. Unfortunate for us right now because I can’t pursue that issue because we are having to live in our coach for the next 5-6 months.

I know none of this helps the fact that these coaches are junk and we’re stuck holding the bag, but at least you know you are not alone and we share your frustrations. The bad thing for us is the dealership where we purchased our coach has the worst service department I have ever experienced. Wait times are as long as 2-3 months just to get it in and most often repairs are rarely corrected or completed the first time. Worst of all, i’ve Spoke to folks at Forest River and they said “We stand by our products”, that doesn’t really help when we had to buy a mini-fridge and put it on the dining table just to use the coach for a trip planned with our grandkids.

[ES_FR]

Leeggert44,

Thank you for being a part of the FR3 family.

Please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconveniences that you have experienced with your new FR3. Your satisfaction is very important to us; accordingly, we invite you to contact Nicholas Hoover in our Customer service department through the following personalized and direct link: http://www.forestriverinc.com/Direct...12886402363231.

This direct link is provided for your convenience in order that we may resolve your concerns as quickly as possible. We will strive to respond to you within 24 hours of receiving your correspondence.

Respectfully,
Forest River

[OldGunny]

Originally Posted by ES_FR

Leeggert44,

Thank you for being a part of the FR3 family.

Please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconveniences that you have experienced with your new FR3. Your satisfaction is very important to us; accordingly, we invite you to contact Nicholas Hoover in our Customer service department through the following personalized and direct link: http://www.forestriverinc.com/Direct...12886402363231.

This direct link is provided for your convenience in order that we may resolve your concerns as quickly as possible. We will strive to respond to you within 24 hours of receiving your correspondence.

Respectfully,
Forest River

I am 100% shocked.

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by OldGunny

I am 100% shocked.

This FR employee has been here since May, 2018 -- has 152 of these posts.

[Hunter56]

Thanks Mr.Dan. I’m sure Old Gunny believes in his products, but I would love to show him just a few of our problems so he could take a little more pride and be a little more ethical in his approach.

I had another disheartening moment just the other day, I am still looking for the coaxial cable splitter so I took off a panel cover in the bedroom closet and WOW!!! I could believe my eyes there was sawdust about 3 inches thick in the bottom of the panel. I also found wire insulation and a couple loose screws in there. I cannot believe that Forest River does not hold it’s people accountable or that the Forest River employers have no pride in their products.

Anyways, thanks for the info on Old Gunny.

[Larry0071]

Originally Posted by Hunter56

Thanks Mr.Dan. I’m sure Old Gunny believes in his products, but I would love to show him just a few of our problems so he could take a little more pride and be a little more ethical in his approach.

I had another disheartening moment just the other day, I am still looking for the coaxial cable splitter so I took off a panel cover in the bedroom closet and WOW!!! I could believe my eyes there was sawdust about 3 inches thick in the bottom of the panel. I also found wire insulation and a couple loose screws in there. I cannot believe that Forest River does not hold it’s people accountable or that the Forest River employers have no pride in their products.

Anyways, thanks for the info on Old Gunny.

Accountability is non existent in this company and maybe the entire RV industry from what I see.

Haha! I should have taken a picture, when I removed the inspection panel from the edge of the shower to look back towards the bunkhouse I pulled a coffee cup and candy bar wrapper out as well as stuck the shop vac back there to pull out the piles of sawdust and the material cut-offs left laying. It looks like the floor of a carpenters shop in the hidden areas.

I think an employee paused for a break while stapling together the wood parts and just tossed the trash and kept slamming staples and stripping screws.

One thing I have learned real fast in the last month.... your buying a $8,000 real worth of camper for $28,000, and I fully feel that the manufacturers put massive markup on them so that they can let you QC them to whatever amount you have time for in that first 12 months and they use some portion of the high prices to pay for the 12 month warranty repairs. They are at $2,000 in repairs on mine so far in 2 days of camping and one month of owning.

Would it not be cheaper for them to record the warranty complaints into a database and address the concerns during assembly? Most of my issues could have been solved for $1 to $5 each at the time of assembly.

Drawers collapse.... add a vertical piece of 1"x1" under the hanging frame to anchor from the floor. That is what was done under warranty at the cost of a couple hundred dollars.

Hinge screws stripped during assembly... Start by teaching idiots how to use a screw /drill driver without tearing the wood apart.

Fittings leaking.... Found most less than hand tight. Lets have a come to Jesus level talk to the geniuses that do plumbing. Snug it up, this is not rocket science.

Slide out so crooked it is dragging and blowing fuses.... We need to stop the work and talk about pride in workmanship and quality control.

How about this one Forest River..... Put a work order traveler together for each build and each person who takes on a step places a employee identifier on the line for that serial numbered unit. Start tracking quality/workmanship issues based on the person and re-train or fire as needed. Where I work, every person signs the line for the task that they are responsible for. If you screwed up, you can not hide. Pride in workmanship is a real thing here. My name is on it? You can bet your behind that it is done and it is done right. Accountability.

I am guessing that these things are by large built by ex-convicts, substance abusers or those with dull minds who could not get better paying jobs. It's all speculation on my part, but I suspect that one fails to the level of working on the assembly line with these companies.

At 1 month in, I still have hopes that the product will prove to be acceptable. But I am reluctant to have high hopes.... I mean.... I can read and I am on this forum. It's not a rarity to see unhappy customers who feel that they have been all but ripped off, and some that legitimately feel that they have been flat out ripped off.

What a sad industry.

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by Hunter56

Thanks Mr.Dan. I’m sure Old Gunny believes in his products, but I would love to show him just a few of our problems so he could take a little more pride and be a little more ethical in his approach.

I had another disheartening moment just the other day, I am still looking for the coaxial cable splitter so I took off a panel cover in the bedroom closet and WOW!!! I could believe my eyes there was sawdust about 3 inches thick in the bottom of the panel. I also found wire insulation and a couple loose screws in there. I cannot believe that Forest River does not hold it’s people accountable or that the Forest River employers have no pride in their products.

Anyways, thanks for the info on Old Gunny.

You’re confusing Old Gunny with ES_FR about whom I wrote.

[OldGunny]

Originally Posted by Mr. Dan

This FR employee has been here since May, 2018 -- has 152 of these posts.

Mr Dan, in the handfull of what I refer to as serious quality issues, I have been following, this is the 1st time I have seen a post from a FR rep.


Now, if you take into account the ammount of issues that are posted here from slide outs, to roof issues to you name it, its posted in here issues (I only look at FR3 because thats what I own). 152 replies from this employee is next to nothing.


If you want to call someone out, call him (Forest River) out.


Do I enjoy my FR3? absolutely. Was this some slapped together piece of machine? ABSOLUTELY.

[Hunter56]

Sorry Mr. Dan (and Old Gunny), after looking back I see where I was confused. Thanks for correcting me.

[leisurelarry]

Last weeks apprentice motor home builder is this weeks journeyman motorhome builder.[emoji15]

[edm]

We have owned our 2016 fr3 30ds since June of 2015 we have36000 Miles on it. In the first year we had many issues with the rig. All issues were taken care of by our dealer and Forestriver at no cost to us. It was a pleasure to work with Kevan Stratton on all occasions. He is very professional and willing to help.

We did put a lot of items on to make it handle better. I feel this was more a ford problem than a Foresriver problem. Ford knows what these chassis are being used for and should make every effort to make them right.

We do enjoy our motor home.

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by OldGunny

Mr Dan, in the handfull of what I refer to as serious quality issues, I have been following, this is the 1st time I have seen a post from a FR rep.


Now, if you take into account the ammount of issues that are posted here from slide outs, to roof issues to you name it, its posted in here issues (I only look at FR3 because thats what I own). 152 replies from this employee is next to nothing.


If you want to call someone out, call him (Forest River) out.


Do I enjoy my FR3? absolutely. Was this some slapped together piece of machine? ABSOLUTELY.

Not calling anyone out - but this conversation reminds the site team that we need to reiterate the relationship between this forum and the Forest River Corporation. This reiteration is sometimes necessary for new members and for those who spend the majority of their time in a specific sub-forum or two.

As it says at the bottom of most forestriverforums.com webpages, "Disclaimer: This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Forest River, Inc. or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site." Apparently, Forest River employees are not compelled, instructed, or even suggested to read our forum so most of them apparently don't. This is not the choice of forum owners - Social Knowledge, LLC - nor the voluntary site team nor forum members.
The general manager of the Dynamax division is an active, participating member here. A couple of FR engineers and technicians make a few comments here... but they are few and far between.
Many members mistakenly believe they can come to this forum to post their warranty, quality, whatever issues in hopes that FR employees will respond to their issues/complaints. I understand that - I posted my 20-item punch list when I first got my current trailer - hoping FR would jump in and help me. I was told here by a wise old codger that that is generally not going to happen since this forum is independent of FR and FR's employees generally do not participate in this forum.
Apparently, not many forum members have read here that ES_FR is somewhat different. This is an actual FR employee who is running a proprietary piece of software currently under development/test. As far as site teamers know, that software runs unattended. The software searches internet based postings of issues with FR products and, based on certain criteria, generates the posts as you see above - posts that attempt to connect FRForums members who have problems with FRCorp people who can help. Neither FRForums site team members nor the forum site owners know anything about this software nor its criteria since it is owned by FR, not this forum.
If a member does not know that the Forest River corporation and the forestriverforums (owned by Social Knowledge, LLC) are independent and have no sway over each other, a member might agree with "152 replies from this employee is next to nothing." Members who know the relationship between the two entities and have watched FR's aversion to participation in our forum might think "wow... maybe we're getting somewhere... any amount of these posts is better than the nothing we've had in the past."
Regarding "If you want to call someone out, call him (Forest River) out": no... I won't call Forest River out on this forum because, as I've over-explained, we don't own them and they don't own us. If anyone wants to call out FR, it must be done directly since, again, FR people don't read our forum call-outs, as far as we know.

Quality issues, warranty issues, etc., need to be addressed to
1. The dealership,
2. Independent service companies,
3. The particular manufacturing division that built the unit (Wildcat, No-Bo, FR3, Coachmen),

then if the above doesn't work.

4. Forest River corporate...

which brings up another point. Often members will contact the FR corporate office with an issue in their particular unit. That's like contacting General Motors regarding a problem with a Buick Rendezvous. Dealership, Buick, GM.


Any of these avenues listed above have a higher probability of ending in success than does posting issues on an independent internet forum made up of other owners of RV type products.


Regards,
Dan
FRF Site Team

[stlcardbesties]

I’ll just say that my unit spent more time in the hands of the dealer the first year than it did with me behind the wheel.

[Hunter56]

I know exactly how you feel, ours was the same way. I’m learning from the many posts on this forum that we probably purchased the Pinto of the RV class. I don’t really see it though because the price we paid was not much less than other makes and models in the same class size and range. We probably should have retained an attorney and had this thing classified as a Lemon and got out from under it, but unfortunately we really liked the floor plan and the amenities it offers, we just wish they all worked correctly.

Just found another problem in the last couple of weeks, the bathroom shower drain has a trap in it and we found that the pipes in the drain were leaking (pool of water under shower pan). I found a loose joint so I was able to tighten that and I sopped up all the water, but that didn’t resolve the leak because the area under the shower filled up with water again. After continual water clean-ups and numerous sleepless nights, I found the problem, it appears that the trap hits the sub-floor under the shower pan and when you step on the shower pan around the drain while showering the shower pan separates from the drain flange and water leaks under the chrome drain flange into the sub-floor. Wish I would have found this during the warranty period because it seems to me like a major repair is necessary, either re-plumbing the shower drain or shoring up the shower pan so it doesn’t drop down around the drain when you stand in the shower near the drain. I guess the morale to my latest dilemma is to check the cut-out under the shower for standing water before your rig goes off warranty and get yet another manufactures defect fixed before you have to eat the bill on yet another problem with the Forest River FR3 (29DS).

[Kentucky Bob]

My Forest River had many QC problems, but I fixed 90 percent of them myself.

Mr. Nicholas Hoover at FR was a great guy and a big help to me. The factory picked it up and repaired the final things that needed to be fixed. It ended up being a very good coach. It worked well for us. We owned it a bit over 2 yrs and then sold it after we fell in love with a 3 yr old 34 ft diesel pusher. It had problems too, but we have been working thru them one at a time.

I think FR needs to slow down and concentrate more on quality than quantity. They can make a quality product, but they need to make some changes from top to bottom.
Owning rv's over the past 30 plus years , I have learned to repair just about anything that breaks, because I do not trust most rv dealers to repair anything to my satisfaction.
Good Luck on your coach.

[Hunter56]

Thanks Bob!!

[Dave123]

Originally Posted by Leeggert44

Have a 2018 FR3 30DS.
Experiencing numerous repair issues and feel like I have a Lemon.
Cracked fiberglass above passenger headlight
Recall on the power shade
Thrust bearings on the kingpins installed upside down
Had to replace the cooling unit for the refrigerator (fortunately I had an extended warranty thru Route 66)
Now I have a leak in a cylinder for the leveling system.


Has anyone else experienced this many issues with a unit with less than 5,000 miles?

I have a 2019 Rockwood 8328BS. Two months old and sits at a fixed site. So far I have delamination, a/c won’t cool below 80 degrees, massaging chair has a short and turns on and off at will. Also starts heating at will, the roof is bubbling, the main slide wall has a gap at the floor and you can see outside, the kitchen floor has a soft spot, the bedroom has as flooring, the kitchen table came scratched as did the pantry door. I feel your pain. It has 20 miles from the dealer to the campsite.
I’m going to consult a lemon law attorney.

[Hunter56]

Sometimes I think that is our only option, unless you really like your rig, then you just have to keep returning to the dealer for warranty work. Our coach was at the dealer’s service department more than it was in the driveway our first year. I think we finally have most of the kinks worked out to where I am very familiar with almost every system in the rig 😬. We probably could have gone the Lemon Law route, and maybe we should have, but after all the re-work that’s been done it’s probably better than new, at least wishful thinking. Good Luck!

[stlcardbesties]

To add to this topic...as stated in a prior post, our FR3 30DS has been in the shop more than I’ve slept in it. Bathroom always had an order of urine, first thought was boys may have missed, negative. Second a clog or the seal not closing off the hole in the toilet, negative. Discovered a water leak in the bathroom a few days ago, of corse we are heading out for the weekend. Had to remove toilet to locate the force of the leak. As we are moving it the rubber seal that sits at the bottom of the toilet and seals it to the floor was installed at the factory upside down. In big bold letters on the ring “this side down” was facing upward on the toilet. Forest River needs to train the employees correctly or inspect better for quality control. Very disappointed with this rig, but unfortunately I’m stuck with it. [emoji53]