Forest River Salem Villa reviews

I bought my camper Dec 21st 2024. I was on the road to live out of it for 2+ months for my job by Jan 15 2025. When purchased, I was told to leave winterized for the trip, due to having a tank less water heater and driving in below freezing temps. In My 7 day drive, my vent from the stove, flew off from the outside, the lid to my propane cover flew off and my caps to the back bumper flew off. I get to my destination and I called RV Mobile for repairs, left a VM asking for a return call. This was Jan 23rd. On Jan 24, I had my water filled up and we were flushing out antifreeze and water was spraying everywhere. We shut everything down and I called RV Mobile again and left another message. 4 days go, and I still have not received a return call. I called back, asked for Manager. Now I have an apt! Water Pump is broken right out of the gate! They order a new part, it comes in. The week they were supposed to come back, my fridge starts with an E4 code. Now, my fridges isn't staying cold and I am losing food. I called RV .Mobile again and report the fridge, this is Feb 14th before I have another appointment. This time to look at fridge and fix the water pump. FEB 14th apoint is my apt, and RV Mobile forgot to pencil my confirmation In. So they call and tell me they will get me wiggled in. Couple hours later RV Mobile calls and says the water pump is not the right part and they cannot fix that day, but will come to look at the fridge. Later this evening, I went to turn the heat on and now my heat isn't working. It's 9 pm on a Friday with temps in low 40⁰s over the weekend, needless to say at this point, I am very upset and about this entire situation. No water, no fridge and no heat. All the things I spent thousands of dollars on, NOT working for me as needed..... That following Thursday, RV Mobile comes out to check my heat, now, we find that when RV Mobile analyzed the fridge, pulled a wire out which caused heat to not work- that's fixed thank goodness!! Fast forward to March 19th (my birthday) I get a call from RV Mobile (no mind you, my water, covers and vents are STILL NOT FIXED), THIS CALL!!!! RV Mobile tells me my fridge arrived from carriers and it's now damaged from a forklift.. I am supposed to leave work in 2 weeks and go home. Need here for 10 weeks and have nothing fixed, nothing working for the reasons I bout this camper. Limited on people who can do manufactured warranty- there is much to blame on Forest Rivers products as well as their certified technicians that is seriously lacking qualifications. Show less

Let's first say. Do not buy this rodent welcome home p.o.s. there are holes everywhere. Not just holes but 5 inch up to 10 inch holes left with nothing to protect from the outside environment. Mice RATS and snakes have total free will to the inside. So if they drilled a hole for anything but was off, they drilled another 1 or 2 times next to it leaving the rest totally open. I've found 20 of these in mine so far. Now as to quality. Doors are wall paper and pealing off. Drawer have all broken cracked, split, or just the rails completely fall out. Plumbing leaks underneath. Propane line with holes in it. P traps installed wrong. Shower panels not glued to the wall. Shower floor cut way to big and falling in and leaking. Counter top pulled out from the wall. Awning broke completely down. Getting a reimbursement from them is like pulling teeth. Bedroom fireplace quit working. Lights over stove and pantry quit working. Oh. Did I say we've only had this for 6 months??? Let's not stop there. Bedroom dresser drawer, sides, and frame have all broke. Screen door does not slide. Gaps on the bottom of the slide outs. Refrigerator growls loudly ha,ha, no not at 2am it's not!!! So please BID THIS WARNING. DO NOT BUY FROM FOREST RIVER. Show less

This camper is exactly what my family needed. It allowed our son to bring a friend and gave me and my husband plenty of space. Loved the slide out dinette and the outside grill and fridge area. It was perfect weight to pull with our Pilot. I can’t say enough about how much we loved our Salem FX Show less

The rv, it’s a great floor plan. The problem is quality has been left out. Problem #1 the 2x2 framing under the master bedroom broke . When this happened it also broke the right side cabinet next to the bed. The framework was stapled together just barely holding together. I gutted the entire master bedroom and rebuilt it using 2x4 lumber with deck screws. Problem #2 same thing happened with the seat boxes and the couch. I completely rebuilt this entire area. Problem #3 the pocket door came off the upper track. I took care of this also. Problem #4 the underbelly panels came off. Again I took care of this with replacement panels. Problem #5. Brakes did not work properly I replaced all brakes with self adjustment brakes after repeated attempts to repair original brakes also the wire going to the brakes was #18 gauge wire. I went with#14 wire. Problem #6 all seals on the slide were either torn on the sides with no seals on top. Again I rebuilt all the slide seals. Problem #7 the cables for the entertainment system feel apart. I’m still working on that problem Show less

Unable to use as rodent infested. Lots of gaping holes in the floor panel, that enable rodents to make it home. Excessive use of gas. Was changing 20lb cylinder weekly for just few days recreational use. Unable to tow, as wrongly informed by dealership that my truck was strong enough to tow it. Control panel faulty, fluctuating battery power within minutes. States tank empty when full and vice versa. Show less

My husband had the idea of us living in an RV while building our house. Honestly I was not crazy about the idea. Then I saw this RV and my response, "That I could do!" This RV is so very nice and spacious. The refrigerator is huge compared to others I've seen. Plus it has a large freezer space too. The shower is full size and we installed a washer/dryer. The TV is so nice and large and the seats are very comfy. We lived in this RV for over a year. Whether you are wanting something for fun weekend trips, or something more long term, you've got it right here! Show less

Love the floor plan the most The Queen size murphy bed is both comfortable and versatile. The 11 cu ft refrigerator freezer works great and runs on 12volt as well as 120vac . The outside mini fridge is perfect for cold drinks qnd snacks. you can even keep a few popsicles in the freezer compartment too. The rear bathroom is large and has its own vanity with sink and medicine caninet. The dinette folds into a bed to sleep an adult or two kids. There is an outside shower with hot and cold water, Also a hookup for an lp gas grill. Also a black tank flush. The holding tanks are ample fir this camper. The AC is powerful, and each roof vent has a small fan. The camper is easy to tow. Dry weight is only 3,100 lbs. It has a rechargeable portable bluetooth speaker to listen to music wherever you want. The cabinet doors over the dinette needed two dampers installed to stay up, but those were less than ten dollars. 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

Run! Do not buy this brand at all! We loved the floor plan which is why we bought it to begin with but had I read reviews I would have ran. We spent $40,000 on a brand new camper that we have had 0 successful trips in where something wasn’t Broken. To start, NONE of the electric worked. The pocket door has fallen off 6 times, thankfully my husband is a custom home builder and could fix it. The shower leaked all over the bathroom floor our very first time using it. Again he fixed that. The belly pans to make the camper a “ 4 seasons camper” all flew off on the highway putting us at risk to cause an accident. We winterized our camper for the first time, and a month later we went inside only to find the faucet sink was completely broken in half! ( HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN?!) the master bedroom crossmember boards for the bed completely broke in half the very first time even laying on the bed, ( I am 120 lbs and my husband is 160 lbs so that should have not happened at all. So on top of the 40,000 we have spent we have spent a ton of time and more money fixing the thing that we can’t even enjoy. It’s a piece a junk. Do not buy this camper. Find another brand that hopefully is put together better than this. Show less

We purchased new with extended warranty. Great for a couple, or family with young kids. Easy to tow, and comfortable. I did many simple upgrades myself to make it more homely. We sis have an issue with the slide out the second year but was repaired under warranty. They also did a couple of recalls, so it feels really solid (ours is 170SSX Platinum with fiberglass walls). Wish it had more outdoor compartments, but it is very practical. Show less