Forest River Salem Grand Villa reviews

We purchased the 2024 grand villa 42 view. My husband and want to love it! It’s beautiful to look at. Which is why we ordered one without looking at one in person. It came from Ohio and delivered to Utah. We have lived in it about 3 weeks, now. BUT… here is the list of things which would lead me to not recommend buying this RV. When the wind blows, you can feel it come through the windows. The cold as well. Not insulated well. The fireplace in the bedroom rarely works. There is no heat vents in the lofts. Walls in the shower are coming away from the wall. Sound bar is not hooked up, electrically. Island countertop scratches so easy. The couch is vey, very thin material, will not last long and is very uncomfortable. Will most likely replace. A few of the blinds already stopped working. The furnace and pump are in the bedroom. It’s so loud when heater turns on. Very bad placing of the furnace. Plan on getting a new mattress. The bathroom door does not shut correctly, we have to wiggle it to shut. The frame around the door is very crooked. The curtain rods are secure on the top but have already pulled out of the wall on the bottoms of 3 windows. It is very sloppily put together if you look closely. Now we’ll see if we can get the nearest dealership of these RVs to come to us to fix these problems. I’ve noticed there is a Hampton brand of this exact floor plan, I wish I’d seen that one first. It has 3 tip outs. If I could return this RV I definitely would. Make sure you see this RV in person. Not worth the money, sadly. Show less

They have a bill board out on the toll rd that says they pride them selves in customer service yet you can never get a hold of anyone to talk to. Also warranty only good for one year and our window just shattered for no reason on the exact side of the trailer that the slide would not go in correctly. The extended warranty does not cover glass of course. Now out about 800 and still trying to get the window to replace it our selves. This trailer is only a year and half old Show less

The size is great for us! We sold our house and purchased this 2022 Forest River Salem Grand Villa 42DL. We love how updated and modern it is. It has everything we need and more. The fireplace will be awesome when it snows here in indiana! It has great space for our kids with the loft bedroom for our son and our 2 girls share the other bedroom upstairs. The storage in the kitchen and bathroom are great. The shower is also awesome! The microwave is good sized and everything being new is the reason we wanted this RV. The cons are the master bedroom is a very tight fit. Even when the slide out is extended in the bedroom; it’s small. If you go for the optional washer and dryer hookup which we did; make sure the washer and dryer are already installed! It’s more than a pain to put it in. We got a stackable unit with and indoor vent that we clean every time we do laundry since we didn’t want to make a hole to vent it ourselves. Our refrigerator went out within 3 weeks of owning this RV. Luckily; the fridge came with a factory warranty since it was new and we’re waiting for the parts to come in to have that fixed: fee free. The 2 AC units can’t keep up if the weather is hot out. If the weather stays around 80-84 degrees- they are great. If it’s hotter than that you will need something more. It was currently 99 in indiana with a feel degree outside of 106. We had to purchase a stand up ac unit for our bedroom, a window unit for the living room and 3 fans to circulate the air. We honestly feel like we got ripped off on this RV. We paid over $65,000 - CASH. This RV shouldn’t be more than $45,000 honestly. It’s poor craftsmanship, very flimsy parts for what is paid. Show less

This RV is poorly made. The counters are board, the floor glue has come up through stick on floors, the shower has cracked, had a window leak, the awning broke, I can keep going. We purchased this to live in for 2 years and it’s complete garbage. Show less

Purchased brand new and I want to return it.. So far the issues I have encountered are as follows, 2 cab doors fell off the cabinets, cabinet shelve was not secured and just hanging there, microwave exhaust fan is backwards blowing air towards the upper cabinet, most f the drawer guides are loose causing the drawer to fall when something place into it, a/c ducts have virtually no air flow coming out and they are leaking cold air out around the intakes and there is cold air leaking out of the roof around the unit. Furnace worked for 2 days and will not ignite now. Bath room shower head holder screws are loose and stripped out, bath exhaust fan vent hood will not open. Window weather straps are falling off in various places, roof weather sealing was not completed in the front portion..there is non there. Master door hinges are stripped and hinges are bent. Water leak at toilet and in mater bed behind drawers where water heater is located LED light above master bed burned out and smelt like burning wires. Interior trim is falling off everywhere and there are staples sticking out in various parts of the place. I found metal aluminum shavings all through the carpet areas. I'm sure there will be more as this is only the first week ! Show less

I love my Grand Villa! I have had only one issue and the factory sent the part, free of charge to a local mobile RV repair person. Two years and all is well! I have it placed in a Florida west coast RV Resort. I am always getting compliments from passers-by. Show less

I live full time in my RV. I love the size of my home. The rooms are perfect. The small loft is 2ft high perfect for storage. The bigger loft is 3ft high and it is perfect for little kids. My son is 5 and loves it. The bedroom is big and I was able to fit a King size bed and feel just fine in my room. There is so much storage I was able to keep the things I own without compromising to much. I have a full size washer and dryer and are perfect. I use the sliding doors as my Main entrance. The awning is huge and I keep it open even with rain cause I have it tilted so the water runs fine. The bathroom is big I don’t feel any difference between an apartment and here. The stove I like and dislike. I can only use 2 stoves at once and never used the middle one. I wish I had 4 burners instead. I’ve used the oven a lot and like it. Only thing Is when it’s super hot outside the RV gets even hotter when using the stove. The ACs are great and cold. I recommend during the day use 75 and during the night 70 it feels cold. My sons bedroom feels good all day long. I love the sofa bed I’ve been able to use it a lot when I have company I did buy a topper so it is even more comfortable. I love the dining table it is beautiful and I also use it as my office space and for homeschooling. I am able to store things behind the love seat and next to it and also in the dinning area because it’s big. I can fit a whole months of food in pantry and fridge. The refrigerator and Freezer work perfect even when super full. The water heater is great I have never run out of hot water and I use it a lot when doing dishes. I was told it’s a residential size 50 gallons. The water pump can be on and you wouldn’t even know the difference between having it on or off. For a family of 3 I keep the grey tank always open. My black tank is always clothes and I empty it every 6 days. You have to wash it if not it stinks bad. Use the hose to do so and also the shower hose too. The bathroom cabinets are perfect for towels and also using the bottom one for Dirty laundry. I have a cat litter box under the Bathroom sink and it’s a big one and it fits nicely. There is plenty of storage everywhere. I feel I live in a house rather than an RV. And the open space feels good. I love the TV set up. The speaker isn’t that good. And if I leave it on too much then it freezes and I have to go to the fuse box and take the fuse out and back on to give the system a reboot. If you loose power you can still turn on your lights. The battery is enough to power the slides if needed. The window seals is something you need to check when buying because sometimes they need to be replaced. Other than that it’s all good. I like the floor it’s never feels too cold and the rug is nice. But honestly be careful because they are so fluffy that you might slip and fall. It’s happened to us at least once in 5 months. When using the RV for 3 people and the two ACs we have notice that we’ve spent about $254 in electricity per month and in the summer months. I do hear much from. The outside. Once I turn on my fan in my room and sleep I don’t hear anything. My husband can be in the living room with the TV on and talking on the phone and I don’t hear him in my room which is nice. My son turns his TV and as long as he has the volume down I can’t hear him. Which is nice since I work nights and sleep during the day. The closet in the loft can fit a kids full wardrobe. The RV does move a lot but if you place it on cement it should stabilize more. I have internet on my RV hooked up to the cable on the back and it works perfect. I have good speed. The box has to be inside the bedroom because that’s where the main outlet is. The shades are perfect. They really do block out the lights. The big window in the living room has no shade and when the sun hits it’s just horrible it needs at least a curtain. My bedroom slide had to be adjusted because it wouldn’t sit in place and it would not open alll the way making the room hot. After I got it fixed the heat would stay out. Overall I’m happy I bought this Trailer. Show less

We bought a 2019 Salem Villa 353FLFB Destination Trailer last year. The second day we were in it the electrical system blew out and we lost all power. Sparks, odor. There was a flaw in the plug coming from the trailer. It had not been put together properly. Because of the power sparks, we lost the freezer, the a.c. has never worked right, and a brand new coffee pot. The cheap screen door comes off the track almost every time we use it. Cannot get it adjusted right, including the service tech. The microwave door is right up to the side of refrig so we can't open the microwave all the way. The shades have a plastic strip to pull them up and down but the strip easily comes off so the strips are virtually worthless. The bathroom has nowhere to hang anything unless you put command hooks over the toilet and risk them falling in the toilet. We didn't realize the handicap that would be when we purchased the trailer. On and on....if I could use a zero rating this trailer would receive it. Very unhappy and Forest River will not respond to our several emails and phone messages requesting a call. By looking at all these poor reviews, we wish we had looked at them before we purchased. DON'T PURCHASE FROM FOREST RIVER PLEASE!!! Show less

I bought a Forest river Grand Villa from Coates RV in January. After signing for finance, I saw that the light unit in the freezer was broken. While waiting for the delivery truck to deliver my park unit, as I do not have a tow vehicle, they said that they would order the part. Three month later and $450 a month plus insurance they said that they would deliver it. When they delivered it to my campsite, I looked in the freezer and the new unit was not replaced. It was just hanging there. I also saw that the battery was missing after spending $400 on an electric lift which means I had to crank it. The covid 19 lock down start that week so we could not go out there again for a month. When I finally was able to make it out there, I saw that the sheeting is delaminating from the frame, leaving a 6-foot gaping whole funneling every rain drop it could find into the camper. I can just imagine what damage the frame has with the rain we had. I also noticed wrinkles/waves on both side of the campers sheeting. Around the slide out areas. My opinion (not being an expert) is that I think the slide-outs are not aligned and damaging the frame. It certainly appears that way when I extend and extract the slide-outs. I also found that the central vacuum system is not working. I also found that the water heater is not working. With a retail price of $65k I would expect better quality. Obviously, the dealer said I must bring it back for repairs. I do not have a tow vehicle which means another $400 for delivery and how many months would it take to repair this. I will probably lose the entire camp season but still paying $450 a month. This has been one of my worst buying experiences I have had. Show less

I loved this floor plan. I still do. I’m a recently divorced dad and have 3 boys so the 3 upstairs loft beds couldn’t of been better! However..... the quality of workmanship is horrible. There is too much to list and I’m not a picky guy. I am also a carpenter and can fix a lot of the issues. If I had to buy it again I’d probably buy a more expensive 5 th wheel. As far as the bulk, I’m pretty lucky I guess. Everything works and functions as it should so I am pleased in that regard. I paid 43000 from dealer in Ohio, ( retail was 63000) 1400 for added washer/ dryer 4300 to ship to California and I am happy for now. It literally is the largest/ sq foot 42 pull trailer made. The design is great, just the craftsmanship is poor. If your super picky, don’t buy it you’ll be very disappointed. If your not, and your handy and you can get it at wholesale I think overall it’s a good deal. It’s basically 400 + square ft. Including the lofts. I think it’s the best deal for the buck and I love the appliances. Personally, I don’t know how they make money on these. They don’t sell these out in California so it definitely stands out Show less