We recently bought this forest river salem fsx 181rt from a major dealer in ohio Jeff couch's RV. When it was shipped to us I found many problems right away. Apparently they don't have quality control. My refrigerator was dented in 3 places, toilet was scratched severely, poor craftsmanship throughout. My blackwater tank wasn't secured properly, there was blood in the shower and bathroom door! It looks like they threw it together overnight. Everyone is "so sorry" but don't seem to want to do much about it. We will never buy another one. Show less

Pros: easy to pull Cons: I tried sending this to Forrest River, but it kept saying "page not found" so im posting here in hopes of saving someone else. Salem 170ssx. Vin# 5ZT2SMFC8NG073416 Our third time using our brand new camper the slide wouldn't come in after we put it out, we called tech support and they walked us through resetting , the slide then worked, this weekend we went 2 ¹/2 hours to camp, when we got there the slide again wouldn't work, so again we called tech support, they walked us through everything, the reset button was too far back to reach since the slide was in, it was suggested we use something long to hit the reset button, it still didn't work, it was only letting one side go out, and the slide started pulling away from the camper wall, we immediately stopped and told tech support, we went the whole weekend not getting into our bathroom, and not much room to move around, being as this is a brand new camper, I am thoroughly disappointed! The dealership, gander RV camping world in Rothschild is taking care of it, but now we will forever have a refurbished camper, it will be hard to sell if we ever want to. I really want a new camper now, of course Forest River won't do that, I can say I will not be recommending Forest River Salem to anyone, in fact unless we get satisfaction from Forest River, (not the dealership, the dealership is being awesome, it's not their fault your company made faulty equipment,) I will be telling everyone about the shoddy workmanship, we also found screws under the bed and dinette, the floor is far from stable, the toilet feels wobbly, I think when you spend so much money for a brand new camper, there should be no problems, at least in the first few outings.this is just unacceptable! What are you going to do about this? Show less

Hi we purchased our Forest River Salem Villa Estate in 2017. We loved it so much that we drive from Michigan to Ohio because we couldn’t find this RV anywhere in Michigan. We dealt with Couch RV Nation in Ohio,which is an wholesale dealer and received a great deal! We received horrible customer service from the time we walked in for our appointment! Numerous staff just walked past us without asking if we needed help or speaking! We found our RV and pointed out to the dealer that there were numerous things that needed to be done to it before we purchased it, loose moldings, sink cover missing just to name a few things. We were told that the RV would be thoroughly inspected before delivery and that everything would be working and taken care of. It wasn’t. When they delivered our RV they didn’t even level it which we later found out would cause major problems with the new Whirlpool refrigerator and it had to be replaced twice!! We found this out by reading the owner’s manual not by the dealer. We had to pay extra for the driver to show us how to operate our new RV and he went so fast that we were still perplexed as to how things worked when he left! There has been one thing after another needing to be fixed! Too many to list!! The last straw was when the other day we were having a new propane tank installed and was told that they couldn’t hook our stove back up to the propane tank because we had a leak somewhere in the line leading up in the wall. I contacted Forest River and was told that our RV was no longer under warranty and that they were sorry that we were having so many problems with our RV!! You’d think that when you spend over $35,000.00 for a new RV that the company would stand behind their product for more than a year!! We’d never recommend Forest River or Jeff Couch RV Nation in Ohio to anyone looking to buy an RV!! So very disappointed in our whole experience!! Now we have to pay for someone to fix the problems if we want to enjoy the rest of our summer! We should receive more than just an apology from Forest River!! Show less

If I could leave 1/2 a star I would. This camper is just like a stereotypical trophy wife in the movies. Pretty, but doesn't work. In 2022, we purchased a brand new Salem 26DBUD, that was delivered to our home. It has been nothing but problems from day 1. If the service department completed the "mandatory" 8 hour walk through, prior to delivery, they would've seen broken latches, blinds not installed, wood cracked, wall wasn't attached to frame, slide out leaked, and the water tank hooked up wrong. We had to turn it in for repairs, before it was even used! Since then, something has broken every time we used it. Indoor and outdoor kitchen fridge's didn't cool, master bed support beam snapped, underbelly tore off, kitchen sink collapsed, main door won't lock, trim/molding separating, slide out roof leaked, shore power inlet caught on FIRE TWICE while on vacation, developed hot foot, which shocked my dog every time he touched the steps. Poor guy is scared of the camper now and won't enter or exit. We had to carry him in and out, and he's 70+ lbs. All of the issues we've had are manufacturer defects due to poor workmanship and while most were covered under the initial warranty, it shouldn't be happening to a brand new camper! This is a complete lemon, and not worth the hassle to use! It's in the shop more than we've used it! We've spent a lot of money on something that falls apart every time we take it out of our yard! We even had to find a new dealer to complete the repairs, as our nearest one doesn't get paid in full from Forest River, and they refuse to work on them anymore. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone! Do not waste your money! Show less