New Member New Harman p38 Big problems

[mjbrown]

Dear Harman
I have used your product - a P38, for several years and it has worked beautifully. Very dependable with absolutely no issues. But this thread has exposed an issue you (Harman & your dealers) really should be concerned with. You must realize the power of the internet and how fast a products poor customer service can be exposed. I am not going to reiterate the nightmare Stormy has incurred with one of your products - it is well documented in this thread. Telling her to pay the difference between her lemon P38 and a P43 after what she has been through is just wrong. You should belly up to the bar, say "we screwed up", and provide this incredibly patient Harman customer an upgrade, installed properly, without more burden on her part.
Fact is the few dollars you will gain by making her pay to upgrade to a P43 has already cost you $$. I WAS going to purchase a Harman Accentra to replace my upstairs fireplace. Sorry - I don't purchase products from folks who can not back up their product. I wish the best for Stormy -- are you listening Harman?

AMEN BROTHER BURNER!! the next stove i will purchase is going to come from ENGLANDER STOVE where i KNOW i can get tech support...heck. if i have a problem, i know i can send Mike Holton a message, and it wont take days to hear back from him...already experianced his service when my neighbor had issues.

Stormy...i am so sorry for your bad luck with the P38, hoping for the best with the 43. DON'T let that install guy leave without starting up that stove, and making sure it is going to work properly.

 

[Countryboymo]

I am starting to lean hard from my next stove being a mt vernon AE Quad to an Englander.. The peace of mind that support is available is hard to look past.

 

[slls]

Quad's are really simple stoves, except for the AE of course.

 

[gfreek]

Harman removed the picture with caption you posted on their Facebook page. Its been quiet, whats the latest news??

 

[stormy873]

Hmmmm, well the jury is still out on this.

An unplanned work crisis left the boys (my husband and the installer) somewhat in charge of the stove swap. By the time I got home it was sort of a done deal and I was told to leave the stove running at a higher temp for 3 hours to set the paint, turn it off and let it cool down fully and then turn back on for normal operation.

Now, if it I was the installer I would have taken a wee bit of extra care to take some draft readings, maybe check a quick check of the outlet polarity, or maybe run the DDM? Just to make sure everything was "just right." Maybe a bit of extra silicone at the joints, ya know....just to be sure. Nope, he just swapped the stove out. Told us to set it at room temp, thermostat at 75 degrees, feed at 4 and fill with pellets as needed. Sort of the pellet stove equivalent of Ron Polpeil and the "set it and forget it." I'm thinking it may be a bit more complicated than that. <G>

The great: I am mesmerized by a stove that lights and puts out heat. Like primitive man seeing fire for the first time. This stove operates entirely differently than the p-38 that formally sat in its spot. Because it was the first day of operation and I am a bit spooked, I turned the stove off last night before bed and my morning went like this. Up at 5:30 AM-house a nice brisk 56 degrees. Cock head and look at stove, wonder if it will light. Turn on as instructed and watch with fascination as stove miraculously produces flame less than two minutes later and a cheery fire was burning within five minutes. (With the p-38 my record was 17 attempts to light the stove over a three hour period) This stove was nothing short of a frigging miracle! Within one hour my house was a nice toasty 72 degrees.

The I dunno: It is also has a fair amount of smoke smell...It is because the stove is new and things are still sealing or? Ya know, I haven't clue but thought, self you'd better buy a carbon monoxide detector and leave a window cracked.

The not so great: I think I need some real world expertise on the best way to use this new stove. I guess I have a weird set of circumstances because it has went out twice today so apparently I must of have missed something in the "set it and forget it" part. In a nutshell my home is small, it is well insulated and although it loses heat over the course of hours it doesn't lose heat quickly so I am unsure the best setting for the stove so it simmers along without "choking it down" and forcing it to operate out of the stoves comfort zone. I will start a new thread because I really would like to learn the "right" way to use the stove.

The unresolved: I am still pretty miffed that they had the audacity to actually charge me that $320 for the upgrade stove. It is very short sighted of Harman and the dealer. I have went through six full weeks of arguing with them over a stove that was profoundly broken. I can tell you the p-38 never once ran like this p-43 does. The flame was entirely different, the heat out-put (when it ran) was much less and this stove is just a whole different animal. At this point, I have a credit charge dispute for the original purchase price of the stove which I will NOT settle until I am confident that the smoke issue has either cured itself after a few days of operation or they come back out and seal the stove.

So, I am in the learning mode regarding the new stove, hopeful that the smoke issues are just temporary and pleased to have heat. I just need to learn the real world way of using it.

Any P-43 owners that feel inclined to share, please feel free to look for my post requesting some information on the finer points of operation to do right by this stove.

Elise

 

[MCPO]

Great news, at least that you now have heat. After a few days your confidence level should rise with regards any initial apprehensions you might have . We certainly wish you the best.
I`d like to have that faulty Harman P-38 in my garage to check out. I feel pretty confident that I could find the problem. I just can`t figure why they made no big effort . I mean especially after the main board was replaced? The P-38 just isn`t complicated. The P-43 is basically the same stove but with an ignitor.

 

[lmjr]

Wow, One hundred and twenty nine posts to this thread...because of a obviously defective product.

What a SHAME...

 

[krooser]

This whole deal may have been avoided if Stormy's dealer did what my dealer does... pre-burn every stove (before the install) for about 3 hours to make sure it works!!

 

[gfreek]

The dealer near me also pre burns stoves. Alot of the other dealers I asked said no. Glad to see that you have a "functioning" stove.

 

[Lorilooo]

Our dealer "pre-burns" at the shop, and again after install. To me, this is just good business practice/customer service. Sadly, I guess all dealers are not the same....

 

[twojrts]

OMGoodness, I have been reading for over an hour!! Stormy, I pray this new stove is working for you all. Gotta say girl, you've got more patience than I have.

It's about time Harman stepped up to the plate!! After this disaster, you should be qualified to be a Harma service tech, cuz it sounds like you know a whole lot more than the installer!!

Good Luck and prayers that "Harmy Jr." lives up to your expectations!!

 

[gfreek]

Been quiet. How is the new stove??