Dealer refuse to service Quadrafire product

There are a lot of dealers posting on this forum, I doubt many of them are going to tell you to go ahead and buy from someone else for a cheaper price, and then expect to get it serviced by your local guy .

Bottom line, you will get better service from the local guy if you buy through him. "Technically" speaking any authorized dealer can service it, but be ready to be at the end of an 8 week waiting list should the unit go out in December.

Personally, I was unable to get the stove I wanted locally, I had to get it shipped to me. I am well aware that, in the event I have a problem, I'm on my own to fix it.

I heard the same thing from 2 local Quad dealers when I called around to get prices on my new stove. I ended up purchasing from a dealer that's about 50 miles away at a much lower price (try over $400 lower). I haven't had any issues after going through my first season but these dealers wanna play hardball. As far as I'm concerned I initially shelled out good $ for the purchase of the stove. I didn't purchase any type of service as I brought it home and installed it myself. This dealer did not try any scare tactics while the other 2 wanted me to shell out another $1k for installation. They kept saying that IF I didn't install it "correctly" then Quad won't warranty it.

I'm of the belief that I'll stay away from the dealer that acts like I need them more than they need me!

BeGreen said:

Agreed, if service is a key issue for you, go with the dealer that provides the best support. Ask you local dealer for references. If they are doing a great job from install to later service, it will show and worth it to you for peace of mind.

If you are good at servicing small appliance and like the hands on experience and learning process, then the best price may be fine. But be prepared to fix it yourself when there are problems, and they will happen.

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Although I agree with you with respect to stoves, I don't like it. It's not like the dealer's working for free if they service a product not sold by them. It's just strong-arm tactics.
Auto dealers are well known for pushing their service department when you're pricing a new car. I have yet to purchase a new car from a distant car dealer and then have the local dealer refuse to perform warranty work. Unfortunately this is exactly what stove dealers threaten to do.

The dealer I bought my stove from subs the installation to a private company. He is trained to repair and gladly will answer all question and honors the warranty. He finds it cheaper to sub installation. I had the options to install myself. Not sure about how the warranty works with pellet stoves, but with other things they are able to bill the manufacator for work done during the warranty agreeement. Most companies make there money after the sale for services and parts and accessories.

jackovalltrades said:

BeGreen said:

Agreed, if service is a key issue for you, go with the dealer that provides the best support. Ask you local dealer for references. If they are doing a great job from install to later service, it will show and worth it to you for peace of mind.

If you are good at servicing small appliance and like the hands on experience and learning process, then the best price may be fine. But be prepared to fix it yourself when there are problems, and they will happen.

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Although I agree with you with respect to stoves, I don't like it. It's not like the dealer's working for free if they service a product not sold by them. It's just strong-arm tactics.
Auto dealers are well known for pushing their service department when you're pricing a new car. I have yet to purchase a new car from a distant car dealer and then have the local dealer refuse to perform warranty work. Unfortunately this is exactly what stove dealers threaten to do.

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The difference lies in the fact that automakers have far more volume and actually pay servicing dealers a decent rate of pay to do warranty work.
Last I had heard (and I'm sure dealers will chime in) they pay about 12 bucks an hour to a service tech for warranty work. And they don't pay for travel time or costs....
And as good friend HB once said, if are willing to take your stove to the dealer you may get a different attitude..... Try telling your chevy dealer that didn't sell you that car, to come by your home when your there and figure out why she won't run.
But I echo BeGreens comments....

Stoves are not cars and the equation works almost the opposite as with autos. In the case of stove, the manufacturers NEED the dealers big time.....a dealer cannot usually be pressured by a manufacturer to do things outside of his core responsibilities.

In general, that means folks should buy their stoves from the person who they expect to service them! Or, if you are into the lowest price - and it is worth your while (and you are handy), consider that you can probably get parts and advice long distance from your dealer or the maker and fix it yourself.

But don't think of stove companies being like GE with large contracted nationwide service that can care for you anywhere....it's not like that. I was in the biz for 20+ years and almost never serviced any stoves I did not sell....sure, I would order parts and stuff, and help them with advice, but we would not send our crew out. Service was a BIG losing business for us and for many stove shops.

Further to this thread, one of the least helpful aspects of a board like this is to shop around for the best price....because the business is VERY local and most people are not capable of shipping or receiving a 500+ lb stove anyway. So the best course of action is simply to contact the closest 2 or 3 dealers (those who actually might be able to deliver, install or service) since those are the only prices that matter!

An exception would be those few consumers who are ready to buy mail-order or get stuff shipped long distances. Even in that case, google shopping will probably do a better job of getting comparison prices than talking to folks here.

It is my guess that Quadrafire, and other, don't give the dealer much support beyond replacement parts...thus if the dealer didn't make the sales profit they have no way to cover their cost.

I purchased a Quadrafire 4100 insert from the lowest price dealer, he gave me 10% off, and I will deal with him if I have any warranty problems. As it works out, both dealers are about the same distance from my house, about 25 miles, in opposite directions from me.

Webmaster said:

Service was a BIG losing business for us and for many stove shops.

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just curious...

Was this due to the manufacturer not appropriately compensating you for the labor?
Was this due to the travel expense not covered by manufacturer?
Other costs you had to absorb?

in my searching for a good Harmon, I've found similar situation with Harmon dealers. Although they said they will service a stove they didn't install as long as it is installed properly, BUT... and it's a huge BUT... during the colder winter months there's a backlog of 1-2 months wait for non- installed stoves.

Where as for a stove they installed they get out within a week (I believe.)

So, Although some other companies might state they will service, keep in mind you may be waiting a while to get that stove serviced.

arking1 said:

I appreciate all of the information I just think it is a annoying situation to have to pay over $500 extra for a product (when you know the guy charging you less is still making a profit) so I can have service I might need later on. One of the main reasons to get a pellet stove is to save some money on heating costs. I understand the situation the dealer is in, but I am not looking for free service in the future. I will pay his service fee. I just feel like if I pay the higher price I am just giving my money away. Should I have to feel like the extra $500 is like having to pay for a warranty?

Ryan

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I wouldn`t buy from the local guy, as a matter of fact I didn`t! I drove the extra hour and saved $400 and also had my local sweep do the install for a hundred bucks as opposed to the local dealer who wanted 450.. for a total savings of $750. You have to use some common sense here and ask yourself-if I need service how much if it comes from somewhere else? I`ll bet nowhere near the extra 500 the jerk wants? Profit is what makes our economy tick, excessive profit is what destroys it.

Just wanted to add a comment... We find most dealers around here have similar attitudes. Some will even sell people stuff and then when they call for service they tell them they are too far away or send incompetent people who can't fix it. Then the consumers call us (which is further away) and we go out and drive 2-3 hours to service it. Its not an every day thing but it happens.

Our service dept does well, and if any of those satisfied people needs a new fireplace we hope they call us first next time.

My local shop wanted about 23% more for the Harman P38 I just bought. I would've loved to have given the local guy my money, but that's a lot of my hard earned cash to be giving away just to support local. I elected to drive an hour out of my way (2 hrs round trip) to save several hunder dollars... Since the stove is so simple, I'm fine with installing parts myself if, and when, it breaks down. The dealer I bought from said he'd send the parts if need be (one day for shipping time), or I could drive down and pick them up. Frankly, I'd rather fix it myself if given the choice... this way I at least I know it was done right.

well one dealer is at reatail and the other is over it. to start with. warrantty is supposed to be preformed by the dealer that sold you the stove. most cases the dealers will not want to do warrantty work on something the did not sell the manufactuers do not pay anything for labor on warrantty work.

Exactly. Why should any dealer run out and fix a persons problem that did not buy a stove from them. Very little is given to cover the labor for warranty work from the stove manufactures. And if the warranty was not filed from them, then the dealer gets nothing from the manufacture. The bigger dealers can give a better price because they purchase more, and get the product at a better price. But alot of the times they do not service. Your mom and pop shop buys less so they have to sell it at a higher price to make the same profit that the big guys do. And in my experience the mom and pop shops have been in business longer and no much more about the product than the big guys.

STOVEGUY11 said:

But alot of the times they do not service. Your mom and pop shop buys less so they have to sell it at a higher price to make the same profit that the big guys do. And in my experience the mom and pop shops have been in business longer and no much more about the product than the big guys.

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This is where we would disagree i find that alot of the smaller guys are the ones who refuse to services because they can not afford to. just my two cents and a bit of experiences. most of a time when peolple come from far away and they come to us alot that way for pricing reasons we explain to them that most of the service will have to happen over the phone the and i will ask if they a handy and fell comfortable about doing stuff over the phone to test thing it is not about the size of the store it is about the integrity of the dealer as a whole and that if they are being honest with the consummer that they would make that clear up front.

How many problems on a stove can be fixed without special training.

I mean they have an igniter, auger, motor, two fans, circuit board, some limit switches/devices, wiring harness, esp probe perhaps.

I would assume anyone with some knowledge with a set of tools and multimeter could repair with some guidance provided the stove was set up with proper venting.

Also would dealers generally share factory info such as schematics and pony up when the factory has a known bad run of components and issue some type of TSB heads up to the dealer stating models with serial #'s xyz to ABC are impacted to repair do this procedure with these parts??


Myself I am getting pretty good at repairing Jenn Air Ranges with some info from an appliance forum, have had to repalce two boards and a temp probe. BTW dont buy a Junk Air, very overpriced!

Looking at these, they dont seem overly complex and assuming one properly maintains and cleans it, I would expect minimal problems provided the stove functioned properly from the factory after install.

If you are handy to the level it seems, you will probably be OK and dealers should be glad to provide any info they have.

However, let's keep in mind that the vast majority of people (probably 9 out of 10) are not handy enough to accurately use electrical meters and tools to the degree needed for most appliance repair. The main thing is knowing which you are beforehand (handy or all-thumbs)