Took delivery....problems day 1

[BigPatCal]

Took delivery this weekend of a new 2016 304BS. Everything seemed fine until we got to our seasonal site up in NH.

2 or 3 minor bugs, but 2 or 3 big ones.

1. Opened the slides and the top slide seals were freshly sealed with RV sealant beaded where the seal meets the siding. I guess they closed it before it was dry. When I opened it all the caulk stuck to the slide on all 3 slides and pulled it off the seals. Dealer is 3 hours away and they tell me to use ProFlex RV sealant. I do it and then notice in the paperwork there is a pamphlet from the seal company. BOYD EZ seals. Says on there that they require no caulk and also not to use certain chemicals on the seals. One of them was trichloroethylene. Sure enough that is 43% of what's in ProFlex. So I am sure they are destroyed now.

2. Went to use the San-T-Flush black water flush. Followed proper procedure, no water comes out. I hear it running though. HMMMM..... Where can it be? Oh, there it is, dripping out of the bottom of my 6 hour old trailer. Vacuum breaker squirting out like a hose in my cabinets. Floor, rug, walls, all got wet.

3. While up on the roof with the slide seals , I notice that the corners of the slide where they touch the siding when the slide are retracted pushed in the siding on those areas. Not sure is this is a common occurrence or not. I assume if the siding is out even a little it will get crushed in those spots. Even if that's the case.....very sloppy on forest rivers part.

4. Got a ladder installed from Forest River, they mounted one of the supports crooked. Ladder wobbles. Sloppy again.

5. Exhaust fan flap on the outside.......unlocked it, falls out of trailer. Tab busted. Minor but annoying.

6. They filled my water tank to test it I assume. Never emptied it so I drove 3 hours with 50 gallons of water in the tank for no reason.

Other than all that, the rest seems ok.....for now.

Guess the dealership Has a lot to fix at the end of the season.

Sorry for the rant........very disappointed in the level of quality control at Forest River so far.

[Ford Idaho]

Sorry to read about all of the problems you are having but it looks to me like the dealer has been the issue not FR.

#2 and 3 could be the factory #5 could be either one.

[BigPatCal]

Thanks, I actually ordered this unit from Forest River through this dealer. So FR installed the ladder and all the added options. I don't know if FR put the caulking on the top seals or if the dealer did. Once my unit was built it was shipped next day. May have been FR, not sure. Either way, what a mess. Now that I used a sealant to patch it with a chemical that should not have been used I am sure they will have to be replaced.

[Ford Idaho]

Ah..
I simply did not read it right, thanks for the clarification.

[Terier]

I take it that none of the issues were present during your walkthrough. FR issues or not it doesn't look like the dealer did a good pdi prior to your arrival to pick up. As many of us have found out that the RV business is different than the auto business.

Hopefully you can start enjoying your unit without worrying. Happy camping!

[barrie1]

Originally Posted by Terier

I take it that none of the issues were present during your walkthrough. FR issues or not it doesn't look like the dealer did a good pdi prior to your arrival to pick up. As many of us have found out that the RV business is different than the auto business.

Hopefully you can start enjoying your unit without worrying. Happy camping!

I had my Black Tank Flush system that had the Check valve installed backwards and on a brand new coach. Soaked everything in the bathroom under the cabinets and the carpeting.

Last time I checked, you don't use the Black tank during your dealer orientation.

Just Saying.

[VT Skier]

Being from VT can I ask who the dealer so in the future I can be aware.

[SuicideSaints]

It sounds like some things were missed on the PDI. My dealer did a thorough PDI, we climbed on top and extended slides, we climbed underneath and he showed me everything, we filled tanks and ran pumps, we hooked to city water and the black flush. It seems a better PDI would have caught almost everything. It is too late now obviously and if you have never had a trailer before you do not know what to look for. It does seem everything is fixable though.....

[acris93]

I hope your dealer is more receptive to your issues than mine was. My tow bar was cracked, it took over 3 weeks to get the approval to have someone repair it, now Im on the hook to pay the bill, and get reimbersed...

[14 CC 38CK]

Yep just as I have said , QC at FR sucks

[mudman2]

Originally Posted by BigPatCal

Took delivery this weekend of a new 2016 304BS. Everything seemed fine until we got to our seasonal site up in NH.

2 or 3 minor bugs, but 2 or 3 big ones.

1. Opened the slides and the top slide seals were freshly sealed with RV sealant beaded where the seal meets the siding. I guess they closed it before it was dry. When I opened it all the caulk stuck to the slide on all 3 slides and pulled it off the seals. Dealer is 3 hours away and they tell me to use ProFlex RV sealant. I do it and then notice in the paperwork there is a pamphlet from the seal company. BOYD EZ seals. Says on there that they require no caulk and also not to use certain chemicals on the seals. One of them was trichloroethylene. Sure enough that is 43% of what's in ProFlex. So I am sure they are destroyed now.

2. Went to use the San-T-Flush black water flush. Followed proper procedure, no water comes out. I hear it running though. HMMMM..... Where can it be? Oh, there it is, dripping out of the bottom of my 6 hour old trailer. Vacuum breaker squirting out like a hose in my cabinets. Floor, rug, walls, all got wet.

3. While up on the roof with the slide seals , I notice that the corners of the slide where they touch the siding when the slide are retracted pushed in the siding on those areas. Not sure is this is a common occurrence or not. I assume if the siding is out even a little it will get crushed in those spots. Even if that's the case.....very sloppy on forest rivers part.

4. Got a ladder installed from Forest River, they mounted one of the supports crooked. Ladder wobbles. Sloppy again.

5. Exhaust fan flap on the outside.......unlocked it, falls out of trailer. Tab busted. Minor but annoying.

6. They filled my water tank to test it I assume. Never emptied it so I drove 3 hours with 50 gallons of water in the tank for no reason.

Other than all that, the rest seems ok.....for now.

Guess the dealership Has a lot to fix at the end of the season.

Sorry for the rant........very disappointed in the level of quality control at Forest River so far.

I must say I've been reading many quotes on dissatisfied purchasers from forest river. Now for myself I purchased a a frame which is way less expensive than the majority of the dissatisfied people I read about. From my experience which I think most people will admit u get way more bang for your buck than most other Rv manufacturers. Having said that I've had problems with mine and everything has been resolved. My brother who purchased an aliner which is supposed to be the aframe of aframes couldnt take possession at the closing because of all the problems on the walk through. The way I perceive it is camping is camping, nothing more or less. While it's true u can camp tent to trump plaza it's still camping. Get it fixed and enjoy the good life. I do 😀

[BigPatCal]

Yes, I think just about everything can be fixed. Not ready to trash the dealer as I have not given them a chance to make it right yet. I don't want to lose my season waiting for repairs so I will bring it there with the whole list in October and see what happens. I told the dealer what happened and they seem more than willing to fix it. I just hope they don't give me any crap about the seals not being under warranty since they were damaged by a substance that should not have been put on them. Granted I didn't do it originally but I don't know if I will get to the bottom of who did do it. Does anyone else have there siding slightly dented where the corners of the slide meet the siding when retracted? I'd post pictures but the trailer is 2 hours away. Will take some this weekend.

[BigPatCal]

@ Barrie

That's an interesting thought. How would I know if it was installed backwards. is there a way to know which way it should go? I agree also that the black tank is not actually used in the walk through, but would it have killed them or Forest River to plug a hose in there and field test it. I thought the valve may be obstructed or defective. Never considered it being backwards. Didn't look at it enough to see if there is flow direction indicator on it like an arrow or something.

[magpi26]

I have already said it a dozen times and will probably say it a dozen more....after enduring more than a year's worth of similar problems, I feel honestly that FR does not know what quality management really means. The waste and redo expenses for their manufacturing problems must be astronomical and I doubt that they actually know what that means to overall image and profits. This is an identical scenario that played out with the U.S. auto industry in the 60s and 70s and they found that it took 40 years to recover and be competitive with foreign manufacturers.

[5er_tom]

An in depth, 1-2 hour PDI should have discovered these issues. You could have had all of them resolved before you accepted the unit.


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[BigPatCal]

Found out why the vacuum breaker was leaking. The factory strapped the water line to the inside of the cabinet. When they did it they mounted it too high. There was not enough clearance over the valve for the pin to pop up. The top of the pin was hitting the shelf above it and not allowing the valve to seal off. Therefore a ton of water was spraying out into the cabinets.

[B and B]

That's a good fix, great to hear one items is looked after. Like you has said the dealer will be given a chance to correct the issues once camping season is complete. Have a great summer!

[Witch Doctor]

BigPatcal, Sorry to hear of your problems, I don't think I have ever heard of any unit without something wrong that should have been caught. I have talked with people from every Manufacturer and they all have the same complaints. I think it comes down to the dollar. FR will push out 35 units a day depending on the model ie: Rockwood /Flagstaff. They pay the dealer 1/4 of the money that we pay to have a repair not under warranty. People think that FR will make more $$ if they had better QC. Well in the real world they would rather pay to have problems like yours taken care of. Do I think this is right? Well of course not. Same Thing as some one else mention the car industry. They got smart after the bail out. WB is no idiot. He knows that it cheaper to mass produce and pay the dealer 1/4 for the repairs. I'm sure FR is not losing money paying for the warranty work. But they make big bucks selling all these units a day. It's a true shame. I'm sure they will take care of all your problems but why do we as a consumer have to put up with it and for how long will we? Good luck and happy camping....

[mud yapster]

It's sad to see the issues with units we buy when we all know there really shouldn't be all these issue if more attention was take during the build. An appliance failure isnt what I'm speaking of those are FR's fault. The dealers aren't the brightest light on the street either and the time it takes them to do a half way job and get it right is ridiculous if they can fix it at all. Good luck to you.

[F and E Damp]

To me, it looks like poor quality of engineering, too. If a thing is engineered/designed so it can't be messed up by the production assemblers, you get a lot less problems.

Our Georgetown had many systems that looked as though they were designed as they were being built by the folks on the assembly line. Only one of them was serious, since the original owners had fixed most of them in the 8 years they owned the rig.

That one I found after a water leak damaged the cabinets over the dinette. They got moldy, so I built replacements. I was amazed when I took the originals out. The fasteners holding them in were fastened just to the 1/16" thick lauan plywood skin over the styrofoam ceiling installation. There no fasteners into structure, despite the ceiling having two square steel tubes running its whole length.

I'm thankful that we didn't have any structural disasters. I didn't dare look for any other faults and was relieved when we sold it.