installation concerns, advice desperately needed.

I paid a company recommended by store where stove was purchased to pick up stove, deliver it and install it.

During burn in process I kept running into issues getting stove to work correctly. After one month I gave stove its recommended monthly cleaning and was horrified to find the HEAT EXCHANGE BAFFLE was being held in place by newspaper, and tape was holding both CLEANOUT COVERS. See attached image.

I called the install company, they told me he has never heard of any stove parts held in place with newspaper, he ignored the CLEANOUT COVERS issue. I assured him newspaper was inside the unit and that surely mine is not the only St. Croix stove packed this way and that he can contact them and confirm my information was correct. At this point he said it was up to the store where unit was purchased to inform his install guys about the newspaper packing. I told him it is unfortunate I was not left the unpacking instructions with the unit, he tried to assure me that ALL paper work with unit was left with me. He was not here, he did not install the stove. He then said he needs to get off the phone to call the store where I purchased the unit – for what I do not know, he was clearly just trying to avoid the issue.

Here are my concerns: Is there more packing materials inside the unit. Am concerned about soot build up. Am concerned if unit could be damaged from being run while packing materials were left inside the stove.

I called and left a message with owner of Install Company with those concerns, call so far has not been returned.

Should I have more concerns? What should I ask Install Company to do about this?

This is my 1st pellet stove, I paid near $1100 for work done by professionals as I believed it would be best to take no chances of doing it myself incorrectly.

Any help and advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

I have not contacted the store where purchase was made. They sold unit and recommended another company to install the stove. I will call them tomorrow to ask if stove was boxed when it was picked up, and if they know anything about this model having newspaper stuffed under the HEAT EXCHANGE BAFFLE - which looks like it was put there to stop it from rattling during shipping.

Building inspector was not involved. I'll call city hall Monday to find out if installers needed a building permit. Company is licensed in my town, which is which is why I went with them.

Purchase was made at mom and pop store. I paid installer direct for installation.

I have no idea if stove is working correctly or not. Which is why I am concerned. Installers started stove, as soon as flame appeared, they left. I now know this was just the ignition part only, the stove was not completely fired up - did not know how these things worked at the time. So no, they did NOT test fire the stove. Thankfully I have witnesses who were here at the time.

I did my research on finding the stove that was right for me, then found the local dealer from the St. Croix website. I researched the store online before making purchase, found no complaints. They have an A+ at the BBB, though they are not a member. The installer had one complaint that was listed as resolved.

The installer called today an left a message. He said he has called a few people about newspaper being used as packing material, and that he has contacted St. Croix, and is waiting to hear back from them. He did not address the fact that the cleanout covers were held down with tape.

I am now left wondering if store where purchase was made repackaged the stove themselves.

I do not want to name store or install company at this point in the hopes my issues are resolved without having to take legal action. I am keeping a clear record of everything.

Thanks for your help and advice, it has helped. I will post updates here as they happen.