Forest River vs. Grand Design

[whaines]

grand design is cheaply made, look past glitz look at the construction

[Wanderer 1964]

You can put wheels on a toaster and it would be better than a Forest River product. We looked at grand design originally, but unfortunately bought a Forest River product. Have been dealing with issues since purchase. Owned for nine months now, in the shop for four of them, and currently in the shop for repairs. Buy something else!

[Bamaman]

Forest River is essentially a large number of RV companies with one owner. They build and operate very much like individual businesses and they each have different pros and cons. And some of these brands were also purchased out of bankruptcy after the 2008 economic turndown in the shaking out of the RV industry.

And I can say that some F/R brands are great and some are not.

Grand Design has been in business about 6 years, and they are run as one company. I would think that their factory buildings were purchased out of bankruptcy, however they've also built substantial new facilities on their property. And this is a company that has been built from profits and retained earnings. They've overcome the odds to be a serious force in the industry, and have built a bunch of fifth wheels and later travel trailers. They kept their designs simple and do no customizing--and they've been very customer driven up to now.

I have a Grand Design Reflection mid size fifth wheel that was also mid priced. And other than a kitchen faucet, I've had no problems with it. It never had a warranty claim filed. Like they say, you get what you pay for. We're very satisfied with it and the high quality dealer we purchased it from. It was hard to beat 2 week delivery after it was ordered.

[eaglecrest]

We bought a new Cedar Creek last October. Had just over 7000 miles on it and burned a wheel bearing. Forest River refuses to honor the warranty.

[LI Guy]

I follow a few fulltimers with families on YouTube and they have Grand Design travel trailers..to me that is a test of worthiness as very few problems have popped up that were discussed from them over the last couple of years..

[B and B]

Back to the OP question.

dbler pointed out the Riverstone, good choice and a step above Cedar Creek with a Full Profile roof and rated for FT living. Also look at the Heartland Landmark, rated fro Full Time living 2 year full warranty and 3 year structural warranty. They are on par with each other. We looked at Grand Design and found lots of things we did not like I would consider it on par with a Columbus Traveller quality wise.
My dealer sells Cardinal now as well as Heartland Landmark. We looked long and hard the Cardinal and Cedar Creek. Still found better quality features with the Landmark.

No one is spending your money but yourself. Look at all options, look at the dealer selling the product you are interested in, finally what ever you buy do a through PDI prior to acceptance of the trailer.

[ferguson65]

Interesting topic, we are looking at this decision ourselves now. Currently have a Puma unleashed toyhauler that overall has been good to us. Had its issues in the beginning, mostly due to poor workmanship. All issues were handled by the dealer without me ever contacting Puma myself. The trailer works well now with very little issues anymore, but we are ready to move on from the toyhauler to a mid bunk 5th.

So far we have looked at the Grand Design 367BHS, Palomino Columbus 377MB, Heartland Milestone 377MB, Grand design 31MB, and Shasta 360bh. Still waiting for a 2020 Cedar Creek 37MB to show up at a local dealer. I've seen so many Thor horror stories, and the Heartland was quickly removed from the list after checking it out myself. GD 31MB bedroom was just too small for what we want. The GD fit and finish in the 2 we looked at was good. The Columbus fit and finish was good. The fold out couches in the bunk rooms on both suck. Same couch. The Shasta is a level below the rest on price point, and fit and finish showed.
Obviously we are all across the board on price point, I'm only willing to spend about 55k. The CC and Coulumbus would take some great negotiating to get there, or may not get there. But I at least want to look.

I'm ok staying with an FR product after our Puma. But if I do leave it's going to be for Grand Design.

[Rdgtt]

I currently have a landmark 365 and am looking at a Riverstone legacy. I have had great customer from landmark and like the quality except for the cleanup during construction. I also follow the Frog Riverstone group and find the folks happy with their choices. I have a fellow rv'er who complains about the quality of his Solitude. I think they are are all a crap shoot. My neighbor has a 300 k motorhome and has had poor support on getting it fixed. It's not an FR.

[Royalhope]

I have had two Forest Rivers and just bought a Grand Design. My last Forest River had battery issues. I had two batteries on a 26 ‘ (22’ box) and they would not stay charged. I would charge them for a week and they would last a day and a half Boondocking.I had the dealer check everything and a mobile technician check everything, nothing. Changed the batteries three times in three years, with only a total of 9 or so outings. So I traded in that Forest River Evo for my new Grand Design Imagine. It’s a smaller trailer without a slide out ( the EVO had 2) but I am so far very happy with it. The design and layout is awesome, and it’s nice to have something other than Dometic appliances. It’s obviously new so I haven’t had a lot of time to see if there are issues. But so far so good. I think like everyone else has said it is a crapshoot. And you go with what you want.

[bzac1954]

Originally Posted by TexasGolfBum

We have been hearing more and more negatives about Forest River. Many say Grand Design is better. Also many say that Forest River doesn't have good customer service from a factory standpoint in regards to comments or issues with the product. They state Grand Design is involved if contacted instead of a dealer. We have owned our Forest River Cedar Creek for 3 years with no issues. Next few years we will be looking for a replacement and like your advice. Thoughts?

I can't knock anything I haven't owned but I own a FR Surveyor and we had to have the front cap repainted due to a bad paint mix at the plant. It took a while to cmoplet eht ework but are very happy with the outcome. We had nothing but excellent service from FR. At the annual rally in Goshen we had the company do some additional warranty and couldn't be happier.

[SlowrideHD]

We love our Cedar Creek. Had the faded front cap but the dealer had a professional boat painter redo the cap with imron at no cost to me. That was a few years ago. Little things happen that experienced campers stay on top of without a second thought. Inexperience and frustration lead many to bad mouth a product when it is their own lack of understanding the product that is often the case.

My brother bought a Cardinal a couple years ago....beautiful unit but beset by a plethora of issues that have never occurred in our Cedar Creek. Two completely different FR companies, run differently and staffed differently. After 5 years of very regular use, I wouldn't trade my Creek for a brand new unit. I don't care for the residential fridge's that they put in them now and I sure don't want an induction stove top. They save a ton of money by putting in a residential fridge but who wants a unit that drains your battery bank in one day? Same thing with the induction cooktop...shore power or generator. Unless you have eight Trojan T-105's!!

[gafoether]

FR maybe several different RV companies but I have had nothing but poor service from the dealer or Rockwood. I ordered my Rockwood out of state (RV Wholesalers) in Ohio and picked it up on my way to Michigan to visit family. I live in Alabama, so before the 1st year was up I contacted RV Wholesalers with 9 items that needed repair before the warranty ended. They gave me a few places to take the trailer to but some would not even look at it unless I left a $500 deposit; I finally landed it at Camping World and between the 3 (Camping world, RV Wholesalers and Rockwood) only 4 of the 9 items would be corrected. The biggest problem (LR/Kitchen slide) which is misaligned they would not touch unless I paid for it ahead of time. The roof caulking that I wanted improved, I was told was normal maintenance after 90 days; was not told that when I bought it. I like my Rockwood UL 2703ws, but I will never buy another from a dealership that is not local and probably not FR tow behind.

[RVPhD]

Originally Posted by TexasGolfBum

We have been hearing more and more negatives about Forest River. Many say Grand Design is better. Also many say that Forest River doesn't have good customer service from a factory standpoint in regards to comments or issues with the product... Next few years we will be looking for a replacement and like your advice. Thoughts?

I have had an excellent experience with Forest River. A phone call and I had a contact person respond.

Buying an RV and expecting “Lemon Law” response is a bit too naive.

[tom39]

Originally Posted by CaptnJohn

Just saying things happen on the way home from the dealer with a new 5er,,,

OH MY! That is definitely not supposed to happen! At least not until day 3.

[MikeRP]

I think there is problems w everything. So research is the key and sometimes I just do my own work. If it’s not a big problem, I just fix it. I have only bought local but have considered buying from Lazydays. Neither are the cheapest but Lazydays has lots of capability for repairs and I like that. You have to want to be a tinker bell when you own an RV. And I actually like spending time maintaining it properly.

So if you buy from a wholesaler most likely your local dealer is gong to help his customers first and I can’t blame him for that because warranty work is usually not a major profit center - it’s an obligation to the dealers customers first then to the public at large. If you want the local guy to fix it you better be good at talking a good story about buying the next one off him. Just my thoughts Peace

[david-o]

Originally Posted by eaglecrest

We bought a new Cedar Creek last October. Had just over 7000 miles on it and burned a wheel bearing. Forest River refuses to honor the warranty.

(1) Did you speak directly with Cedar Creek customer service or did the dealer tell you that CC rejected the claim? I have experience with dealers who make false claims about manufacturer warranty policies. If a dealer says no then go directly to the manufacturer. I typically learn the dealer never even contacted the manufacturer. I have experience with Forest River manufacturers "Cedar Creek", "Flagstaff/Rockwood" and "Columbus". In every case the Forest River manufacturer's customer service dept always resolved the issue to my satisfaction. (NOTE: "Forest River" is NOT the manufacturer.)

(2) Did you contact the axle manufacturer directly re warranty? Cedar Creek does not make/assemble the axles. In my case, I had an axle issue with my Columbus and Dexter replaced a complete axle assembly under warranty.

[david-o]

Originally Posted by gafoether

FR maybe several different RV companies but I have had nothing but poor service from the dealer or Rockwood. I ordered my Rockwood out of state (RV Wholesalers) in Ohio and picked it up on my way to Michigan to visit family. I live in Alabama, so before the 1st year was up I contacted RV Wholesalers with 9 items that needed repair before the warranty ended. They gave me a few places to take the trailer to but some would not even look at it unless I left a $500 deposit; I finally landed it at Camping World and between the 3 (Camping world, RV Wholesalers and Rockwood) only 4 of the 9 items would be corrected. The biggest problem (LR/Kitchen slide) which is misaligned they would not touch unless I paid for it ahead of time. The roof caulking that I wanted improved, I was told was normal maintenance after 90 days; was not told that when I bought it. I like my Rockwood UL 2703ws, but I will never buy another from a dealership that is not local and probably not FR tow behind.

Did you go directly to Rockwood customer service? My experience with Rockwood/Flagstaff customer service has always been great. I suspect your poor service issues are caused by the dealer not Rockwood.

[gagb1967]

Originally Posted by TexasGolfBum

This is what I was hoping to hear. On a Facebook forum, I had so many states that Grand Design was the only way to go. We love our Cedar Creek but was just curious to other FR comments. We have looked at both but they seem to not be as nice as our FR Cedar Creek. They look more like cheap Mobile Homes. Our RV was right at 89K. Thank you again for your comments and especially no rude and mean comments for a simple question.

I believe that as part of a guerrilla marketing campaign, Grand Design has a lot of people creating a cult "Apple like" on Grand Design. When you start looking at complaints though, for the volume of complaints, they are at par with other brands. Off Course, Keystone and Forest River have a lot more, they do manage and sell a truckload more of RV's with more budget units.

My experience so far with 3 different brands, "Dutchmen", "Heartland" and "Keystone" was mostly trouble free, or minor issues.

[Hobobach]

Facts only... 37 defects/problems/issues/warranty items after 3 trips, 3000 miles on a brand new unit. Told by 2 dealers in the FR "warranty network" that they won't service units not purchased at their dealership & told to go find my own service by my dealer. Unit has been at the factory for over 3 weeks after emailing FR execs with no word as to status or return date.

[david-o]

Originally Posted by Hobobach

Facts only... 37 defects/problems/issues/warranty items after 3 trips, 3000 miles on a brand new unit. Told by 2 dealers in the FR "warranty network" that they won't service units not purchased at their dealership & told to go find my own service by my dealer. Unit has been at the factory for over 3 weeks after emailing FR execs with no word as to status or return date.

Forest River has many brands/factories with different customer service personnel. What brand are you referencing? Does "FR exec" mean a brand/factory exec (like the brand's general manager or plant manager) or do you mean an exec at FR's corporate HQ office?