32SRV FYI Watch out!

[199ciofpurefun]

199ciofpurefun
Junior Member

Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 1


Howdy folks, just reading through your info on the 32SRV and thought I would share my story with those of you that would like to hear a HORROR story that would be straight from Spielberg if he wrote tales like this. May 23 we went and bought a 2011 32SRV. We had done our research, checked comparable and different types and models. It is our first camper, first camping (since kids) and first Forest River product. We had to travel a couple hundred miles to get the exact model we wanted but it fit the bill perfect. May the 24th, 23 hours after getting it home is when the fun REALLY started. We were hit with a hail storm and 50mph winds. Three sides of the trailer, all of the doors on the entry side and the vent cover on the roof were damaged as well as various other smaller parts. The hail was so big that it broke the walk in doors. Insurance called and then it was taken to a repair facility for their estimate. (Forest River Dealer) They were told that we had already scheduled a vacation, they could estimate it, order the parts and when we got back we would bring it in for the repairs. Great no problem. I picked it up on a Thursday. Saturday the dealer was hit with another storm and it cost them a substantial amount of money. (Had I known then what I know now, I would have left mine there a little longer) We took the camper on a 500 mile trip. No big deal right? We were about halfway back and Istopped for fuel and as I got out of the truck I looked up and much to my surprise I noticed that all of the parts for the trailer were not in their assigned places! Now, when the hail hit, it damaged three sides of the trailer, front, rear and entry side. The side with the slide was OK. Now during my fuel stop, I had to climb onto the truck and get my roll of duct tape out to try and keep the front half of the left side (traffic side) from PEELING OFF! I finally got it home, unloaded it and took it back to the repair dealer (not where it was purchased) and showed them my new found use for duct tape. They did some checking and sure enough there was a manufacture defect in the construction of my trailer. Now I ddin't find this out for several weeks after this because I was told that the parts that had been ordered for my unit were wrong and they had to reorder. Next time I called I was told by their service manager that "They were having a hard time finding the graphics for my trailer because they didn't make them anymore" WHAT? This is a brand new trailer! HOW CAN THEY NOT MAKE THEM ANYMORE? A total of three months has now gone by and I keep getting the story of they can't get this or they can't get that and it finally boils down to they can't get the metal to re-side the trailer because of a shortage of materials and storm damage in other parts of the U.S.
Now after it was in the possession of the repair dealer for three months, I'm starting to get a little ticked off? Ya think? We now have the Warranty department of Forest River in Indiana involved. I told them that I am running short of time to schedule another vacation time at work and could the trailer be ready in the forseeable future for us to take it out again? (I mean I've now owned it for almost four months and got to actually see it in MY drive for almost four weeks! Fair trade huh?) So they told me that it would be and I could pick it up on a certain day. They then called me and asked if we would participate in the filming of a reality show documenting some of the problems of owning a RV. I'm like??? Yeah, I own one but haven't seen it in awhile!
So we go to the dealer and do this taping and while we are there we are to inspect the trailer prior to our picking it up and taking this next vacation time. Cool, Huh? When we got into their shop area where the tailer was parked under flourescent lights, we got the surprise of our life. (By the way under these types of light are the ONLY way to inspect any type of vehicle after having bodywork or panel work done on it. It shows EVERYTHING.) Our surprise was that we now had almost as many dents in it as it did when we sent it in???? But these were more democratic! Some were from the outside and some were from the inside. GREAT!!! We pointed all these things out and the film crew is taping the whole time. The service manager even had the audacity to tell me "Well, we really don't know the origin of these dents or if they occurred here." What? You're the only person that's had it! So fast forward another week and a half and we pick the trailer up to take one last excursion before the cold weather sets in. Oh, almost forgot! The day I was to pick it up, I was called and told by the service manager that the guy working on it had slipped and fell into the side of the trailer from a ladder and we now had some newer dents. OK, I can deal with that, accidents happen.
We take the trailer on about a 750 mile trip this time and had a good time----UNTIL----we were almost home (within 10 miles) when the right side peels off while we are passing a slower moving 18 wheeler, almost hits him in the windshield, wraps around the awning post and starts beating all of the panels that had just been replaced from the hail damage! I'm sure that the truck driver had to really, really tip his laundry person for the mess. Because I did and I wasn't in the path of the flying pieces.
And again it is in the hands of the repair dealer and with conversations between us, the dealer, our dealer and Forest River, their current answer is to ship it back to Indiana to the factory, put studs next to the studs that are already part of the walls so that the metal has more area to staple to, reskin the whole trailer and put a fiberglass nose cone on it that is their answer to this problem that they have know about for some time.
So now I've owned this trailer for over six months, had it in MY driveway for about a week and on vacation for four weeks and I'm making payments on it, so that it can be shipped off for another two, three or who knows how many weeks until it gets "fixed?".
I don't know maybe I'm just being too picky!

[Rugged Brown]

When does the TV show air?

[199ciofpurefun]

Waiting to see if the network picks it up. It was being produced for TruTV.

[firephighter]

199ciofpurefun
Holy cow! (no offense to anyone) I just cried a little for you. I mean, your story part way through got me sad. Then you just keep on throwing out the bad news. I think you just created a new genre of horror. I hope you get this fixed to your satisfaction. Let us know how it goes.

[sfrye5853]

Originally Posted by 199ciofpurefun

I don't know maybe I'm just being too picky!

Sorry, after reading your horror story, I like how you closed it.

Here's hoping everything turns out fine and in a year or two you can be sitting around a nice camp fire telling this story laughing until you cry.

[jonnys_walkers]

This is a great story for Reality TV. Ever consider doing your own show?
This is a horror story!!

[ScottnKimmer]

So sorry to hear of this. We have had some issues along the way. Most were the fault of the dealer working on it but all were able to be corrected properly. Just poor workmanship on an employees part not so much the fault of the actual dealer. Once brought to the attention of the service manager they were all corrected. My point is that it took over 3 months to get all these things corrected and we too were trying to get usage of our rig in between services. We made it all work and once FR was presented with the issue and the hold on parts that extended it to 3 months we firmly requested that FR make our payments while the rig was disabled (basically wasn't taking no for an answer). We too had owned the rig less than 6 months and they had it more than we did. Not only did they make our payments they installed an optional part we had expressed interest in as an apology. Cost of added part was aprx $300.00. I hope this info helps you negotiate to your satisfaction not theirs.

[199ciofpurefun]

Well for those of you that are following this while YOU get to sit around the campfire and enjoy the camping life, I thought I would post an update. The factory transport company picked the SRV up on Dec. 9th around 1:00pm. I got the message from the dealer and by what I was told then by both the dealer and the factory guy was that around three weeks it should be back in our hands. Well, now it has been almost five and I don't even know if the thing is still on the planet? I haven't heard from anyone, dealer or factory or for that matter the salesman at the dealer where it was purchased. (He said he was going to stay on top of it). I sat down and added it up and we are now going on the 8th month of ownership, and I have been able to see it in MY driveway for about 7 weeks and been able to use it for four. So if I add that up that's about 2400 dollars in payments, 11,000 dollars for the insurance claim that was paid on it, 1000 in deductible, 1000 dollars in insurance premiums, about 1000 dollars in equipment put in the trailer, and about 500.00 in extra fuel to pull it twice and all the aggravation of owning a Forest River product, I could have stayed in a decent hotel for about the same amount of time that I have owned this thing overall and had a whole lot less stress in my life! Ya think? Boys and girls, I don't know 'bout ya'll but I'm startin' to second think this thing about owning an RV?

[Herk7769]

I think you have really had a bad run of luck for sure.

However, if the factory has your unit, from previous issues posted here by various members regarding delamination and several other serious repairs, you will be very pleased with the result.

If I ever have a serious problem with my rig, FR will be my FIRST phone call to schedule it in. While I am not sure about costs or insurance, the feedback here on factory repairs has been 100% good.

Once back in your hands, lets hope your camping fun makes up for your bad luck to date.

[wbdvt]

Any update on this horror story? Like to know how FR finally handled it...

[Twisty]

What does your attorney say about all of this?
It's all documented plus you've got video.

[199ciofpurefun]

Sorry, haven't had time to follow up with my journey. Ever seen that movie based on "The Odyssey" by Homer? In the movie the main players (3 guys running from a prison camp) are told that they are seeking a GREAT fortune and they will find a fortune but not the one they seek. Well that is kinda how I feel now, in that we have taken possession of it for the longest amount of time since we've owned it. We are actually working on our fourth month straight of getting to see it in MY driveway! However, all is not well in the FR camp in that we got the thing back around Jan 09th from the factory in Indiana. Right away I knew that things weren't going to be fun and frolicking from here on out. Now let me put a side note in here that the ONLY reason that we have kept it for these three months is because we refuse to take it back to the local dealer and are waiting on vacation time to take it to the dealer where we purchased it for (Hopefully) the final go round of repairs that will put it back into the shape that it was in when we bought it. Now mind you we just got it back from the FACTORY!!! where it was sent for repairs from the local dealers massive "CharlieFrank" of our trailer. I am going to reiterate something I've said before, I WILL NEVER BUY A FOREST RIVER AGAIN! We got it back and the first thing I noticed were dents in one of the new panels. Again, how do I know they were done at the factory? They are from the inside out! The second thing I noticed is that the door that was scheduled to be replaced was still the door that the panel had beat against after the siding came off. The factory had buffed two big dull spots into the door to eliminate the marks left by that panel. I also noticed that now I have two totally differnt styles of door keepers to keep the doors from banging into the sides or slamming around in the wind. (Again this was pointed out to the local dealer who told me "Well it's not so bad, and that's probalby how they'll all come from now on") Are you kidding me? The I got inside and noticed that the inner bedroom wall on the off-side is now projecting two to three inches into the bedroom. (Was a quick fix by personnel at the local dealer though). My issue was they called me and told me it was ready for pick up and I get there and start seeing all these issues after it has been inspected by the factory AND the local dealer. I then noticed that the kitchen faucet had some kind of wear all over the back side of it like it had been polished with sandpaper as all of the coloring was coming off. If this were a three or four year old coach, I probably would account that up to normal wear and tear. We've only been out in it a total of four weeks! Time is short so let me finish by saying that there are several other less noticeable issues, missing or damaged parts and just overall lack of care and concern for the end consumer that I have experienced in dealing with this issue. I keep saying that I wish I had never got involved with this thing! (I started to roll the dice two weeks ago and tow it to Arlington, Texas , get out in the middle of the storm and yell "Bet you can't throw this one up in the air!")

Ya'll have fun now Ya hear?

[199ciofpurefun]

OK Boys and Girls, our saga continues. What with work and other issues at home we weren't able to get time off until now. We took it on vaca for the last two weeks of May. Hauled the bikes, took two of the dogs and thankfully only LITTLE parts fell off this time. Parts of the trim started coming off going down the road, put it back on, but caught it just before it hit the highway. We tried to use the awning? Wouldn't release on one end, so we couldn't use it. While the big parts haven't fell off again, we did find where the original hail damage that was supposed to be repaired by the dealer here, then sent to the factory and told by the factory rep that they wouldn't put damaged parts back on, we found that the skylight in the bathroom and the TV antennae still have hail damage. Now again, let me remind you that the thing has set in the drive for just over three months. (The longest time we have ever had possession of it at once) I think that means we are making progress. Now, just before we left, I called the dealer where I purchased this and told them that I would be pulling in there the end of the second week for the ORIGINAL dealer to take care of the issues left over from the "Total Reskin" that the factory did. (Again, I know it is three months later but stayed in contact with them during that time.) They stated that would be OK, just let us know what day it would be and "We'll handle it". At the start of the second week, I again called them and finalized the date and told them we would be there Friday as early as we could. Another problem developed while sitting in camp between the two phone calls. The water port blew the gasket and started shooting water all over the place. I even got Shelley with it when I asked her to run it on again. She wasn't happy, but I thought it was kinda funny myself. They started crying that their Fridays were all taken up with "Get-readies" from the sales floor. I asked if my sale from last year was less important than the current sales? We got there around 12:30 and was told by the assistant service manager, that there was no way they could get to the problems that we had because he had too much stuff going on. (I saw one person buy a used coach while we were there, the shop had four empty bays out of eight, but they were too busy?) So I called the factory rep that I had been dealing with for months now and got him on the phone. He told me he thought the thing was totally resolved. I reminded him that because of our earlier experiences we were not going to use the local dealer but take it to the dealer where we originally purchased it, who had assured me on numerous occassions that they would take care of our problems. Little did I know that that meant 'at their convenience'! The factory rep then asked me where I was from the dealer and I told him we were on their lot. He asked if they had anything else on the lot that we would be interested in and he would be willing to throw some money at the deal to make it happen and get us out of this nightmare. Unfortunately, I bought her a new Harley while we were in Ark and didn't really need another raised payment. And we keep pluggin away!

[yetterboe87]

Good Grief, Forest River and your Dealer should be ashamed of themselves! Calling them out here is the right thing to do. What is the marketing rule of thumb...it takes 15 satisfied customers to equal the damage done by one dissatisfied one??!! If I were running Forest River, I'd be calling you up and delivering a brand new rig to your driveway!!! PS, try pulling down on the awning arm while flipping the awning release lever,,,it fooled me the first time- as it is "really" taught as it is new.

[Herk7769]

As in any divorce, there are always two sides to every disagreement.

Listening to the wife talk about her no good husband you want to go over there and beat his face in; then you sit down with the husband for 5 minutes and wonder why he stayed so long.

Would love to hear ALL of this story, but half has me convinced it would make a great reality show (Rugged B was right).

[caper]

The company rep offered him a new rig with some money to offset the cost.

[Len & Cheri]

Originally Posted by caper

The company rep offered him a new rig with some money to offset the cost.

Seemed like a good deal to me. Maybe the money wasn't enough. Bad situation all around.

[199ciofpurefun]

I took this pile of #%^& over to the local repair shop, (I know I said I wouldn't but after the runaround we got in May at the selling dealer and the NEW issues that have arisen), I had to get it somewhere. They have now had it going on three weeks and we stopped by there Sat and they said they were just getting it in to do the estimate to send it to FR for authorization so they would cover the issues that we found in May. I had to tell the Service Manager four times that these repairs have nothing to do with the factory as the insurance company paid the local dealer for these repairs. I even included a copy of the estimate. Well when we dropped in we had to tell them again, LOOK at the estimate. It's in plain english to replace the damaged items. They still didn't get it until we threatened to contact the insurance company for investigation of fraud! That seemed to perk their ears up a little! Ya think? Well on to the newest issue; While traveling back we noticed a bulge appear in the framework just above and to the rear of the slide, between it and the upper bunk window. By the time we got home it was very noticeable and really looked like structural damage. When I contacted the service manager and told him about it, then took the coach to him, he said Oh, I thought you were talking about the chassis. I told him why would you think chassis when I explained where the issue was. It appears to me like the wooden framework inside has broken loose causing the outer skin to buckle, OR the outer skin was installed improperly and was under stress. Remember this was the second re-skinning of this trailer---second time at the factory, within a year!
I thought we had the deal worked to trade out of this thing and go to a brand that believes in taking care of its customers, but because of the piddling amount that FR is offering us to help us trade, we would have wound up about 7k dollars upside down. I, like most of you, can't afford to take a big loss for somebody else's shoddy workmanship and the lack of customer support by the factory and/or those representing the brand!
Some of you are probably getting a little bored with hearing about my troubles, but I only post them in the hopes that someone else will not get the "Royal" treatment in their dealings with Forest River!
I'm really thinking about storm chasing with this thing to see how well it stands up to an F5!