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Old 10-06-2010, 05:20 AM   #1
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Impressed

Yesterday I fired off the furnace in our 3 month old TT. I had opened all the doors and windows fully expecting the dust smoke to be brutally bad seeing it was new and we hadn't used it yet. I fired it off and commenced to vacuuming out the floor registers. No smoke at all, not even a smell!! I ran the furnace for about 30 mins with no issues. I'm not sure who gets the credit, my dealer or FR, but nice job with the delivery of our TT. After 3 months, 5 trips, I have still yet to find an issue that requires warranty attention. With people posting their negative comments, as it seems easier to post negative vs positive, I wanted to make sure I have passed my positive experience! I am extremely happy with our FR product, and our experiences with those involved.
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Old 10-06-2010, 06:37 AM   #2
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Here is the positive, we love the floor plan of our 2011 Rockwood 2902SS. No here is the bad, we chose to cancel all of our fall and early winter trips because of too many issues. These issues range from front cap delamination, slide out support brackets pulled out of the floor, water pours in around the antena crank handle (new this week), furnace works when it wants to (bad crimps in wiring that I will fix), fresh water tank or plumbing leaks when you fill it, still having some electrical problems that I have not found yet. I have found several crimp nuts that were not crimped correctly. The list goes on forever, so we have made a list of items to get fixed at the dealer under waranty. We will probably sell this unit this spring. My last camper was a 2001 Forest River Shamrock we used it until fall 2009, the thing was great not a problem with it and we used it a lot and traveled all over the north east with it. We upgraded to a 2902SS, ordered from factory with all the options and the thing is a piece of junk!
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Old 10-06-2010, 06:41 AM   #3
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That's great to hear! While most of the people on here have had very few issues with our campers, if any; there's always got to be a few that need to vent their problems out somewhere. Every manufacturer produces a lemon now and then. Most folks know how to fix minor issues, sometimes thanks to this very forum for help. Glad to hear from another happy camper! Randy
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Old 10-06-2010, 07:12 AM   #4
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Running the furnace to burn off the residue is part of what dealers are supposed to do in their presale prep. Our 1st TT a few years ago the dealer forgot (so they say) and I will say there was some serious stink and burning eyes, that dealer is no longer in business. Our new V-Lite was perfectly prepped though.
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Old 10-06-2010, 07:26 AM   #5
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Knock on wood.

kbrown, I'm thrilled, happy too, that you are so blessed with a "no-issue" rig. You've surely heard the saying, "When everything is going as planned, look around, you've obviously overlooked something."

Happy travels and I hope you stay trouble free.
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Old 10-06-2010, 08:44 AM   #6
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I agree with you on the people posting on all the negative with the FR- TT and 5th Wheels. Easier to post that negative than positive. The wife and myself were looking foward to our purchasing our new TT, but after reading some of the posts....you'd think everything was junk. We went from excited to nervous.(ordered TT/6 week wait time). We have to this point had no issues and have been impressed also with our TT(Rockwood Windjammer 3065 - 3/slide outs). We've so far camped in Hot weather(AC) and cold (Furnace). Also heavy wind and rain, everything has worked as designed !! So there are allot of happy owners that dont say enough about the positive with FR products. Happy and Trouble free !! We also pull our 34' TT w/2010 Ford F-150 and have had no problems with it pulling on the Highway or 2-lane roads, up steep mountains or down. No sway issues either (Equalizer 4-way) So continued good luck and have fun Camping !!
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Old 10-06-2010, 09:00 AM   #7
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Like I said before, I use to have a 2001 Shamrock and used it until fall 2009. The camper was great, not a problem over all these years. Ordered a new 2011 Rockwood 2902SS in the spring of 2010 and nothing but trouble, I just got a lemon but that goes for anything you buy; sometimes you get a product that the manufacturer dropped the ball when building it.
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Old 10-06-2010, 09:16 AM   #8
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All's well that ends well.

Big Red, When a fellow, or lady, plunks down $60 to $90 grand for a wheeled camper, the expectation is that everything is up-to-snuff. And, should problems arise, the dealer or manufacture will remidy all troubles. If I took the time to post or praise all of my purchases (from campers to computers) I'd have little time to enjoy them. This is a GREAT forum for complaints, concerns and kudos. Be happy, as I see you are, that you got a good unit. A bunch of us here were not near as fortunate as you and come here in need of help and a place to let-off a little steam. I know Forrest River wants to manufacture a good product and by in large they do. As you have heard, "Stuff Happens" and what a better place to come to get "Un-stuffed" than the Forrest River Forums. Be well and happy travels.

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Old 10-06-2010, 11:59 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by Boyd View Post
Big Red, When a fellow, or lady, plunks down $60 to $90 grand for a wheeled camper, the expectation is that everything is up-to-snuff. And, should problems arise, the dealer or manufacture will remidy all troubles. If I took the time to post or praise all of my purchases (from campers to computers) I'd have little time to enjoy them. This is a GREAT forum for complaints, concerns and kudos. Be happy, as I see you are, that you got a good unit. A bunch of us here were not near as fortunate as you and come here in need of help and a place to let-off a little steam. I know Forrest River wants to manufacture a good product and by in large they do. As you have heard, "Stuff Happens" and what a better place to come to get "Un-stuffed" than the Forrest River Forums. Be well and happy travels.

Very well stated. I believe both FR and the Dealer are responsible for both of the good and the bad experiences we've all faced. Some dealers are better at their jobs than others. If I was going to place one thing on why there are bad experiences it all boils down to TIME. Time is money! The more time spent the less profit you make. If it's rushed through production, things get missed or short cutted. If the dealer does a quicky inspection before or during prep than those items are missed at that level as well. The final experience becomes the owners whether good or bad. Most importantly when the bad experiences occur it's the dealer's and FR's responsiblity to make it right without inconveniencing the customer too much. Unfortunately this is where the fan gets dirty. There are too many posts about new RVs spending more time at the dealerships for fixing problems than being used for camping.
My own experience of waiting 10 weeks for a countertop extension and other items to be fixed. My coach was at the dealership the whole time. No big deal since it was winter but I had to pick it up to keep an appointment I scheduled with Camping World for a Satelite System. I then had to take it back again to have the work completed. Original drop off date January 10th, completed April 16th. Worse thing was I still had to run a new set of cables to the rear bedroom since the others had a break in the line.
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Old 10-06-2010, 01:57 PM   #10
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Boyd and Cfsoitman...... Yes, I agree with both of you on the fact that you/we have spent allot of money on these campers. I would really be pissed if I had the problems some of you all have had but, the thread was started because of the fact that many people on the forum are venting about what a bad product Forestriver makes! As i said someone new to the camping world of TT or 5 wheels reads this forum and gets the impression that everyone is having problems with Forest River Products. Which is not the case, thier are lemons out there and I truly feel bad for you as you stated $40 or $50 Thousand you would expect a good product and for that matter 5 or 10 thousand is alot to most people. One would want a good product no matter the price. But Should we Title a thread "Forest River product defect thread" It just seems as it did for us(reading this forum), it made us real nervous at first that we bought a FV camper and second expect to have problems every time you camp. This thread was started because someone was impressed with the dealer service and the quality of the FV product. Lets just not scare people away from the camping experience because as you said you got a lemon. There is ,I believe a whole bunch more people happy with Forest River than not. Because Honestly in this world today a company isnt going to stay open if they are putting out a crappy product. And Im very sorry you've had problems (as I stated earlier)it would piss me off !!
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Old 10-06-2010, 02:13 PM   #11
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There is actually a recent survey taken on this site stating just that- The overwhelming majority of Forest River owners are very happy with their units. That says it right there! Randy
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Old 10-06-2010, 02:31 PM   #12
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Boyd and Cfsoitman...... Yes, I agree with both of you on the fact that you/we have spent allot of money on these campers. I would really be pissed if I had the problems some of you all have had but, the thread was started because of the fact that many people on the forum are venting about what a bad product Forestriver makes! As i said someone new to the camping world of TT or 5 wheels reads this forum and gets the impression that everyone is having problems with Forest River Products. Which is not the case, thier are lemons out there and I truly feel bad for you as you stated $40 or $50 Thousand you would expect a good product and for that matter 5 or 10 thousand is alot to most people. One would want a good product no matter the price. But Should we Title a thread "Forest River product defect thread" It just seems as it did for us(reading this forum), it made us real nervous at first that we bought a FV camper and second expect to have problems every time you camp. This thread was started because someone was impressed with the dealer service and the quality of the FV product. Lets just not scare people away from the camping experience because as you said you got a lemon. There is ,I believe a whole bunch more people happy with Forest River than not. Because Honestly in this world today a company isnt going to stay open if they are putting out a crappy product. And Im very sorry you've had problems (as I stated earlier)it would piss me off !!
Never stated I had a lemon. What I did state is between FR & a Dealer doing a good job results in a positive experience. When one or the other fails it can and most likely does result in a bad experience. The dollars spent doesn't matter one way or the other. For that matter manufacturers don't either, they all their own set of issues. A bad installed component may be caught when a proper dealer prep is done. Same thing goes for water leaks. Delamination problems are another story. They don't show up right away but it's the customer service and how the dealer and manufacturer handle the problem. When a problem arises both FR & the dealer need to resolve this quickly. What really stinks is the customer is paying for an RV that's waiting for parts or waiting for a schedule date to get it fixed. You don't see the bank calling and saying "Forget your payments until you get it back". You can't enjoy camping while it's at the dealership being fixed. Neither dealer or FR reimburse for the expense of taking it back for repairs.
Does every unit have problems, NO, but when it occurs it should be a priority by FR and their dealer to remedy it quickly. Problem is they're both in the business to sell units. Once it's sold then you're no longer their top priority.
A bad dealer just adds to the frustration when problems occur. There's plenty of good ones but unfortunately there's plenty of bad ones as well.
As for people reading this and being worried that FR builds bad products. If they only read a few posts maybe that would sway their decision but there are plenty of posts including many of my own praising their products. They'd see the same thing on other forums, way worse than anything I've read here.
You can't please everyone, what some think is minor may be major to someone else. I've fixed plenty of things on every RV I've owned. Mostly because of a lack of a quality fasteners or a plastic draw glide that cracked in cold weather.
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Old 10-06-2010, 03:49 PM   #13
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Scrutinize before purchase is my responsibility.

Well said Red...Hey, that rhymes. My wish is that Forrest River takes note of the complaints aired here and does its best to correct them, either with more qualified workers or a better enginered product. I'm proud to be part of the Forrest River line, just wish the persons on the assembly line would have had the right torque set on their screw gun and not stripped near half the screws in the whole rig; And also wishing my slide-out didn't allow bugs egress to the dinner table. You are correct, "a company that puts out a crappy product doesn't stay open long." Quality control at the factory eliminates the majority of problems before they become end-user's problems and is much less expensive for the company in the long-run.....You were absolutely right in being attentive, and tentative, after reading some of the "dooms day" posts. Without forums such as these we might not examine nearly as closely ,as we ALL should, no matter the product or manufacture. I personally missed the ball by not coming to this forum before my purchase. I would have been more savey had I known what problems "might" exist.
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Old 10-06-2010, 04:29 PM   #14
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Amen !!
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Old 10-06-2010, 06:36 PM   #15
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I had stated in an earlier post that one of my past jobs was as a marine electronics technician. I worked primarily on mega yachts. It was very uncommon for me to work on a boat that was under 100 feet and cost over $5 million. I can promise you that I always did the very best work I could do. When one of these yachts was being built, I would be in the yard running wire and installing equipment for 3 to 4 months. I would thoroughly test the equipment at the dock, then we would "sea trail". When we returned I would fix the defects and then sea trail again until we were confident all systems were working as intended before delivery. Sometimes I would have to ride the yacht on delivery, 2 to 5 day trip. I would have to show the captain how the equipment worked (walk through), correct any issues that were present. After delivery, I was responsible for the warranty work, no matter where the boat was (in the US or not). My bonus wasn't paid me by the company I worked for until after the warranty period had expired (usually one year). No matter how hard I tried to be perfect, I am not, I am only human. A majority of the warranty work was equipment failure from the manufacturers that we were dealers of. On occasion a client would lay the blame on me, but 99% of the time the issues were that of a manufacturer of a piece of equipment. There wasn't much I could do other than replace the equipment and return the defective piece. Trust me, my livelihood was at stake. These people were paying millions for their "Recreation Vehicle". The other thing to consider is the conditions that your "RV" is exposed to. Is it the manufacturers fault that something came loose because you went 50 mph over a railroad crossing (you wouldn't tell them if you did now, would you?). My point is, my TT is my means of one of the yachts, but I never expected everything to be perfect. I actually expected more issues than I have had. I was prepared to have to return to the dealer for issues, but that hasn't happened yet. The few small things that have come up took a trip to the hardware store and a hand tool to fix. No big deal. I am sorry for those that are disappointed in their dealer or FR. But look at what is bad, is it a product that FR bought from another manufacturer such as slides or axles, or is it actually FR workmanship. Like I said, we are humans, we make mistakes and we have bad days. I really love our TT and this is our second FR product.
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Old 10-07-2010, 07:02 AM   #16
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Never stated I had a lemon. What I did state is between FR & a Dealer doing a good job results in a positive experience. When one or the other fails it can and most likely does result in a bad experience. The dollars spent doesn't matter one way or the other. For that matter manufacturers don't either, they all their own set of issues. A bad installed component may be caught when a proper dealer prep is done. Same thing goes for water leaks. Delamination problems are another story. They don't show up right away but it's the customer service and how the dealer and manufacturer handle the problem. When a problem arises both FR & the dealer need to resolve this quickly. What really stinks is the customer is paying for an RV that's waiting for parts or waiting for a schedule date to get it fixed. You don't see the bank calling and saying "Forget your payments until you get it back". You can't enjoy camping while it's at the dealership being fixed. Neither dealer or FR reimburse for the expense of taking it back for repairs.
Does every unit have problems, NO, but when it occurs it should be a priority by FR and their dealer to remedy it quickly. Problem is they're both in the business to sell units. Once it's sold then you're no longer their top priority.
A bad dealer just adds to the frustration when problems occur. There's plenty of good ones but unfortunately there's plenty of bad ones as well.
As for people reading this and being worried that FR builds bad products. If they only read a few posts maybe that would sway their decision but there are plenty of posts including many of my own praising their products. They'd see the same thing on other forums, way worse than anything I've read here.
You can't please everyone, what some think is minor may be major to someone else. I've fixed plenty of things on every RV I've owned. Mostly because of a lack of a quality fasteners or a plastic drawer glide that cracked in cold weather.
Do we love our Georgetown? Yes. Would I buy another? That would depend on a layout that we liked better but if available, Yes. Is there something FR should do for it's customers? Yes, how about a survey after owning the unit for 6 months. They could find out first hand where their customer feel that FR needs improvement as well as what they're doing well. Their company as well as every company worldwide relies on one thing. CUSTOMERS. If they don't treat them properly they'll go somewhere else and tell everyone about their bad experience.
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Old 10-07-2010, 07:55 AM   #17
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I believe what has been said in this post and many others. It doesn't matter what company or what product, there will always be lemons and that is the way it is. We leased an 04 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 hemi quadcab and put 187,000km on it in 4 years and other than oil changes it was in the shop twice in that time for repairs. Fast forward to today and based on the experience we had with that truck we bought a $54,000 Ram 2500 Laramie 4x4 megacab, in 27 months and 107,000km that truck has been in the shop 44 times for repairs and there is something breaking every 3 weeks on average with it, yet there are many people who swear by their HD Dodge trucks not at them. It is now off warranty and I am hung out to dry but it is what it is, I cannot afford to get rid of it so it now sits and only gets driven a couple times a week till the amt owning is in line with what I can get for it as I would never sell it privately to another person. Moral of the story, don't think FR is the only company that has bad days and makes POS equipment it is how it was handled by the dealer and manufacturer that makes a difference. Chrysler Canada knowing the issues we were having extended the bumper to bumper from the std 60,000km to the power trains 100,000km and it was used many many times during that time. Unfortuantely the truck is still possessed but they did try.
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