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1.8

On April 1, 2016 my husband and I took delivery of a very gently used, near perfect condition 2015 38CK Cedar Creek fifth wheel RV. Cedar Creek is owned by Forest River.

We knew that RV warranties do not transfer from the original owner to subsequent owners. HOWEVER we assumed that any issue that was knowingly manufactured wrong or other knowingly plagued issue would be covered by Forest River of Cedar Creek since the sales people spoke so highly of the company and the company's past responses to owners.

This unit seems to be well built and we haven't had many issues except for the front cap on our RV. The front cap started fading a couple of months ago. At first it looked like white residue was dripping down the front from the roof and that a good RV wash would clear it up. It didn't.

The fading has progressively gotten worse. Last month I reached out to Cedar Creek via their website and asked them what remedy they would provide given that this unit is only a year old. It took a couple of weeks and a couple of emails to even get a first response from them.

While waiting on a response we did some research and found that the problem of faded mocha colored caps both front and rear on the Cedar Creeks have been a problem for the company for MORE THAN FOUR YEARS - YET THEY CONTINUE TO MANUFACTURE RVS WITH THIS SAME CAP!!!!!

Most of the research online resulted in posts from owners where Cedar Creek/Forest River either covered the cost of repainting the caps OR had owners bring their RV to the factory where the company replaced the caps at their own expense.

That said the owners the company helped all seem to be original owners which we are not.

Denise Davis from Forest River finally emailed me back and said that they usually only assist original owners but that she was sending our issue up to her manager.

While we waited on the manager's response we continued to use our RV. Last week we met a couple who have a similar model from 2013 and their end caps faded within a few months of purchase and Forest River paid to have their caps repainted - they haven't had problems since.

I also did some research using our VIN number which reflects that this model is indeed a 2015 and if I'm correct in deciphering the VIN it was manufactured just last year.

Yesterday Denise sent me a reply from her manager George Oliver. His response was as follows:

"I have reviewed the request as well as the unit history and respectfully decline goodwill assistance to repair/replace the front/rear cap. This unit was originally sold 4/4/14 and all warranty expired 4/5/15. The unit is over a year out of warranty notwithstanding the current owner is not the original owner (the one year warranty is non-transferable.) thank you, George Oliver, Warranty and Parts Manager, Cedar Creek/Riverstone Divisions"

First of all how is it that a 2015 model was built and purchased in APRIL 2014 when the VIN number reflects a 2015 model?

Most importantly this has been a KNOWN issue for Cedar Creek/Forest River for YEARS yet they continually put these very front and end caps on units KNOWING that they WILL fade!

It is my understanding that the cap manufacturing is outsourced by Forest River to another company yet Fprest River continues to use the SAME caps from the SAME manufacturer without requiring the outsourced manufacturer to correct their flawed process!

This RV regardless of what the manufacturer says is ONE model year old! Is it NOT REASONABLE to expect that the products used in the manufacturing of the RV to be free of manufacturing defects given the young age of this unit?

Is it NOT REASONABLE to expect that Forest River would ensure that the product they put out is to the BEST of their knowledge free from manufacturing flaws? Yet they KNEW about fading issues YEARS before this one rolled off the assembly line!

Our biggest concern right now is getting this issue fixed and we do not believe that we should be financially responsible for fixing an issue that has plagued Cedar Creek/Forest River for more than FOUR years!

The RV parks and resorts that we tend to use all have conditional clauses that require each RV to look well cared for and to be younger than ten year old models. We've been asked about the age of our unit multiple times in the last month because the continued fading of the front cap makes this unit look OLDER than ten years! There will be a magical point when we will be denied access to an RV resort or park due to the poor condition of the front cap regardless of the age of the unit.

For us to pay to have the caps repainted will cost us on the low end $3,000.

It seems unfair of Cedar Creek/Forest River to expect us for fork over that kind of money to fix an issue that they've KNOWN about for YEARS yet have done NOTHING about and that they continued to use the flawed caps in their manufacturing of RVS despite their knowledge of these issues!

We were aware that this unit came without warranty. We expected that we would have to do repairs here and there because no manufacturing process is perfect and that hiccups happen. HOWEVER this is a WIDE SPREAD ISSUE KNOWN FOR YEARS by Cedar Creek/Forest River and they need to in GOOD FAITH fix the caps on this unit!

Reason of review: Bad quality.

Monetary Loss: $3000.

Preferred solution: Both front and end caps replaced BY THE COMPANY .

Forest River Pros: Layout of trailer.

Forest River Cons: Lack of company to stand behind the quality of their product.

Location: 55135 County Road 1, Elkhart, IN 46514, USA

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Guest

I am having the same issue with my 2016 and am going to small claims court to sue Forest River. I contacted them and they will not assist with making this right. Very frustrating.

Chason Vwk

Same problem on 2016 CC 38fl6. Spent a lot of money for a nice looking unit but now after owning it for 8 months front and rear caps look like heck!

Same as you 2nd owner, out of warranty, blah, blah, blah. Looking at filing a class action lawsuit about this well known issue. Beyond the manufacturer the dealers also knew what was going on. Our dealer must have Drโ€™d it up to last for a while.

I want to get to the bottom of this. If it were an automobile company they would have recalled them but not so an RV. Keep the comments coming!

This is very disappointing! Thanks

Guest

Ours is a Keystone Laredo. It has the same issue with the mocha colored end cap.

It faded out in the first year but the company said it was out of warranty when we noticed it the next spring. It looks awful!

Keystone had many complaints also, but refused to fix the problem! If I ever buy another new RV, I will definitely look at the warranty before buying!

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