WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT PENNINGTON NATURES HEAT SOLD AT LOWES AND HOME DEPOT
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stoveguy2esw
Minister of Fire
AwsumSS said:
i'd say then , its time for you to get a new congressman , i usually get decent responses from mine (even though its usually a staffer who writes back). as for their request , its not that unreasonable , and who knows maybe somthing will come of it. if it was a "hope they dont do it" letter why would the rep put her name ,and phone number and extension on the letter. if it was me i would do what they ask , they said they would refund your postage so its not like you are out anything but a couple handfulls of pellets you arent happy with anyway. what do you want them to do anyway???? and ask yourself , would you do that if you owned the company?
webbie
Seasoned Moderator
stoveguy2esw said:
Just speculation, but we can assume Pennington already knows what is wrong and does not need samples here and there. After all, if they don't already put aside (for QC) a bag or two of pellets every day (and save them) then they certainly should. Pellet are too mundane of a thing to make your customer do QC with (IMHO).
What would I do if I owned the company? I would figure out how to cull out those pellets and sell them for commercial and industrial use, and then I would try to make some good pellets. I would then send a $50. rebate certificate and a note of apology to any customer that had problems. I would also guarantee those customers that they can count on the future shipments and offer an even larger rebate if they have another problem.
Other than that, it would be hard to make the customer give them a 2nd chance...assuming said customer has other choices.
slvrblkk
Minister of Fire
I only contacted Pennington to let them know about the problem and never requested or demanded anything. I've pulled a few bags from different places in the pallet but there doesn't seem to be any difference in my ton. I actually don't expect anything from them but if I start to have auger motor problems because of the pellets, then I'm really going mad. I still hear the auger, every once in a while, make a sound of clipping, chopping, etc. a long pellet. I'm sure that can't be good for the motor. Like I said before, I've sent them everything that they had requested from me including a letter they sent me to fill out. The funny thing is as I'm sitting here typing this, I heard that cutting noise again.
stoveguy2esw
Minister of Fire
Webmaster said:
well who's to say they may just do that, as for sending back a sample , if you look at virtually any "guarantee" on food for instance you will see "please return the unused portion" along with proof of purchase. hey they didnt ask for the whole ton or even just what was left, just a few handfuls. as for keeping a bag a day or per lot , did the pellet mill you had a tour of do that? seems like it would take up a lot of space, which pellet mills generally do not have an abundance of. all im saying is this, they made a gesture. they are asking for input. they didnt have to. they may be willing to do somthing ,i dunno , i cant say as i do not speak for them. but im sure there are companies who wouldnt have even bothered to acknowlege anything , much less give contact information and what is akin to a public apology. lets let it shake out and see what happens. maybe it will be a reasonable response , maybe not , but i'd give them time to do what they will. were it me who had the issue i would have been willing to do as they asked and see what came of it. im sure our poster who has done so will post what the response is when he gets one , and will likewise post if he doesnt get one , at that point i'd say its open season.
im not so sure I have anything against the longer pellets from pennington...it seems as if they last burn longer in the grate to me and the first beg i opened was the only bag that wasnt very good...our local Lowes store sells these pellets for $3.49 /bag and 3.14/bag if buying a ton...thats the cheapest I have seen pellets anywhere...I took a chance tonight and bought 12 more bags of them and Im not seeing any fines at all compared to the first bag I had...the longer pellets are keeping the house 5 degrees warmer as well compared to the shorter ones. maybe they have the kinks worked out
Hey Pennington, the home depot store here in Juneau does not even carry pellets. I have begged them several times to no avail and i am paying through the nose at the only local supplier......
maybe you should apply some pressure on home depot... ask why they don't handle pellets in Juneau Alaska (pellet stoves are very popular here since wood stoves are very restricted because of smoke emission laws)
maybe you should apply some pressure on home depot... ask why they don't handle pellets in Juneau Alaska (pellet stoves are very popular here since wood stoves are very restricted because of smoke emission laws)
its funny you mention that they dont even carry pellets...I cant imagine any store in all of alaska not carrying pellets..heck I live in ohio and just about everyone carrys them...with the exception of a walmart I was at the other night close to columbus...they called all over the store trying to figure out what the heck a pellet stove was...lolahinman said:
I saw at least one post on here that sort of gave me the impression that all this about problems with the Pennington's pellets is just BS. My personal experience, and that of many others, is pretty solid. I started going through a ton of Somerset's at the beginning of the season. When I realized I was not going to make it through the season on one ton, I decided to purchase another ton. There's an HD right here by work that was $20 cheaper for Pennington's than the TSC that's 10 miles away was for Somersets. So I bought a ton of Penningtons and started using them, as they were stacked on top of the 1/2 ton of Somersets in the basement. I finished burning the ton of Pennington's last week, and am back to the Somerets.
Here's the big difference that I can absolutely verify:
The Penningtons, after burning 28 hrs on heat setting 1 or 2 (ESW 25-PDVC), will have the area under the burnpot filled with ash 3/4 to the top of the inlet tube, and the left hand ash bin will be filled almost to the top.
By contrast, with the somersets, I still have yet to reach any significant level of ash in either ash bin, and there is generally only a "dusting" of ash under the burnpot.
To me, that is a significant difference in pellet performance.
I can agree with others that say that the Pennington's didn't burn quite as hot, as it seemed we went through a ton of them pretty quick. However, I never wrote down any data, or took any measurements on any of that stuff. The only hard evidence I have regards the ash content.
Here's the big difference that I can absolutely verify:
The Penningtons, after burning 28 hrs on heat setting 1 or 2 (ESW 25-PDVC), will have the area under the burnpot filled with ash 3/4 to the top of the inlet tube, and the left hand ash bin will be filled almost to the top.
By contrast, with the somersets, I still have yet to reach any significant level of ash in either ash bin, and there is generally only a "dusting" of ash under the burnpot.
To me, that is a significant difference in pellet performance.
I can agree with others that say that the Pennington's didn't burn quite as hot, as it seemed we went through a ton of them pretty quick. However, I never wrote down any data, or took any measurements on any of that stuff. The only hard evidence I have regards the ash content.
slheinlein
Member
slvrblkk said:
I got the same Email but replied asking what I can expect my compensation to be since this is a pain to mail all this stuff. Let me know the resolution. Thanks.
I read the emails and everything from Pennington, and what they are asking from the consumer... To me, it just wasn't worth the hassle, unless they were going to refund the entire amount of my purchase, which I doubt they would do, nor would I expect them to. I bought their product, used their product, and determined that I wasn't happy with their product. I don't recall seeing anything on the bag about satisfaction guarantees (not saying there isn't one, just didn't look for one). It's not like I didn't use their pellets or get any heat from them, it just that the performance of their product was subpar compared to another brand available in my area. To me, my remedy is that I'm simply not going to purchase their pellets again, and purchase pellets that I have found work better for me.
webbie
Seasoned Moderator
stoveguy2esw said:
Well, those food people will give you 100% of your money back! So that is not a good comparison.
Pennington has already said what the problem is. Lapses of QC on their remote plants. I'm sure they are fixing it. As the above post says, it's not like the pellets didn't work - just not as pleasant to burn for some folks.
This is the way the marketplace works. Whether perceived or real, customers constantly make adjustments and decisions based on their experiences. A commodity like pellets are unlikely to leave any long term bad taste...that is, if their pellets are much better (and well priced) in the future, I'm certain they will sell well. The exception might be when a customer thinks a pellet actually messed up their stove...which seems a bit doubtful to me in most cases.
Even since way back when, folks in the know have suggested that pellet stove owners try a few bags before committing to a number of tons. I think that is still good advice - whatever the brand. The differences between stoves, batches of pellets, chimneys and even the "placebo effect" are always at play.
slvrblkk
Minister of Fire
I just wanted to let everyone know when I came home from work today and checked my mail there was an envelope from Pennington. Much to my surprise there was a apology letter as well as a check refunding me my pellets purchase and the postage for sending them what they had requested. That was a completely stand up thing for the company to do as I really didn't expect anything but I really do appreciate it. I really do hope the company gets things ironed out with the pellets as they do burn clean for me.
Well there you go. From a business perspective I think this is the best thing they could have done. Their pellets took a beating on this forum. I know that I passed their pellets over at the store the other day, based on the reported poor performance here. They would have had to significantly lowered their prices to get me to buy (really low, a ton of cheap crap is still a ton of crap). This action makes me feel a little more positive about their product, because they stand behind it and care about how it is perceived. I probably still won't buy this year, again unless really cheap, but I would be willing to give them a try next year. If they hadn't resolved this problem here I would have blacklisted them in my mind.
The same principle applied to my purchase of my pellet stove. I read about many problems with the stoves on this forum but I also ALWAYS read about support directly from the manufacturer. That made me comfortable with spending my hard earned $$$.
The same principle applied to my purchase of my pellet stove. I read about many problems with the stoves on this forum but I also ALWAYS read about support directly from the manufacturer. That made me comfortable with spending my hard earned $$$.
webbie
Seasoned Moderator
MainePellethead
Minister of Fire
Was it a check for the whole pellet purchase?
I still will not buy their product. I'll wait and see i if comments here and others have truly resulted in a fixed product.
I still will not buy their product. I'll wait and see i if comments here and others have truly resulted in a fixed product.
Czech
Minister of Fire
I bought two bags yesterday because of this post, just to see for myself. They were very dark brown and long. They gave ok heat but they generate a ton of ash.
galen
New Member
I have now used a half ton of Pennington pellets through my stove. So far, the only issue I see with them is there are a little more fines (loose sawdust) in the bags than some of the other brands I have used. There is also more ash to clean up after 3 days of burning. But I don't consider this an issue because I'm cleaning the darn stove anyway so whats a little more ash. Big deal? Not in my book. Why? because I bought them for a 1.80 cents less per bag. If others pay much more then I would look at other brands but my stoves burn the fines very well.
I have been getting the same results ...sometimes I get a bag of them that are really light brown/very short with fines and do not burn as hot but for the most part I am getting the darker brown pellets that are longer than normal and produce very little ash..One thing I dont get is why is walmart selling them for almost $5/bag and lowes has them for $3.17/bag????galen said:
galen
New Member
You should know by now drt, that just because its walmart doesn't always mean your getting the lowest price. I don't trust them anyway. 90% is china made.
man thats the truth...I actually buy very little from walmart because of quality issues...galen said:
stoveguy2esw
Minister of Fire
ahinman said:
hey, look up the post with the service phone number and ask if they plan to distrbute up there. worth a shot. although i'd figure retailers in alaska would work through a BC company like armstrong pellet. i know the guy that owns armstrong , i'll probably talk to him at some point in the near future , i'll inquire if he does any alaskan buisness , if so i'll let you know where he sells to
My name is Mike Auge and I'm the Customer Service manager that coordinates the Wood Pellet issues at Pennington Seed, located in the Missouri division. We hope everyone has read the recent post from Pennington Seed that explains what had happened at our new mills and what we are doing to correct the problems. As it said in that post, my email is [email protected]. We have two full time CSR's working on the Wood Pellet problems and acting as the "facilitators" with the various wood pellet mill managers and senior management. As fast as we can collect the needed information, it is being communicated to the proper division for compensation authorization. We appreciate all of you who have responded, whether to this (or other) Blogs, whether telling us about your good pellet experiences or the bad. All of this (good or bad) helps us improve. I read a quote one time that good companies will use negative reviews of its products as an opportunity to improve them. Pennington Seed promises to work hard to regain your trust and improve quality control where and when needed. We thank everyone for their patronage and the opportunity to provide a great product that we can Proudly say is made in the good old USA. Mike Auge - Pennington Seed
OK this is the second post from Pennington and it seems as if they are on it. I will continue buying them on this merit alone! I can tell by looking at the bulge from the pellet in the bag bag if Im getting the quality of pellet Im looking for so if needed I will just weed the bad ones out. I say KUDOS to Pennington.
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