Should I trust Harman and wait for my stove?

If that's the stove you perfer I would wait.

Yup, if your mind is dead set on getting that particular stove, then wait for it. You'll get it eventually, but it could be next spring before you do.

Howevery, as you know there are many other very good quality stoves out there. So if you cannot wait and don't like the idea of not knowing exactly when your Harman will arrive, look around and find a similar size/type pellet stove from another manufacturer. If you find what you are looking for, get your deposit back and purchase something else.

Just my thoughts: Steve

Harman is shipping! I ordered a pb105 boiler the last week of April and told it would arrive in 3-6 weeks.2nd week of June I was told it would arrive the last week of July.I got a call on July 16th stating it had arrived.It has a manufacturing date of July 8th.It looks like they are shipping as fast as they are producing.

CaptainJim said:

Harman is shipping! I ordered a pb105 boiler the last week of April and told it would arrive in 3-6 weeks.2nd week of June I was told it would arrive the last week of July.I got a call on July 16th stating it had arrived.It has a manufacturing date of July 8th.It looks like they are shipping as fast as they are producing.

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That may be but I guess it depends on when you ordered. You ordered in April before the flood of orders came in, so you are geting yours.

What bothers me is the Lady from Harman did not indicate that they would try to fill orders in the order they recieved them.
That would be the fair way to allocate to first to order gets their stove sooner than someone else who ordered at a later date.
Something tells me their will be shananigans played where some dealers receive more that others resulting in some cases where people who ordered at an earlier date are deferred so some dealers get more stoves.

I guess time will tell.

My dealer told me (07/26/2008) he has not reached his allocation with Harmon on stove orders and continues to receive Harmon stoves to this day. I ordered on 07/05/08 and was told it will be in this year. Harmon has not told him anything about canceling of customer orders. I think there is alot of hype and panic snow balling around not getting a Harmon this year. Maybe when a dealer exceeds his allocation, what ever number that may be, Harmon may push the orders to 2009 as a delivery date. Maybe this is where the confusion lies.
Either way Harmon's communication with its end users is the worst in the industry.
They have a good product and should wise up before a new kid on the block comes along with a better product and cheaper price with open communication with its end users.
The big three auto manufactures are in big trouble now with declining sales and record profit losses. They were on top in the 1970's and didn't care to see what the imports saw, smaller,cheaper and more efficent cars. Harmon should take note.

I ordered my Harman XV a few weeks ago and they had 10 in stock at the dealer. When I spoke with them a week ago, they still had two. I am not sure what they have today though. It sounds like you plan to install yourself. That being the case, you may want to see if anyone has one in stock.

gabe1965 said:

I Order my XXV Pellet stove in May put $1000 down payment I was told delivery would take place 2 to 3 weeks.
3 weeks later I called the dealer I asked where's my stove? Dealer answer was... sorry but it looks like delivery will take place in August! Well today I called again because I am getting worried, now the dealer it's telling me "WE DON'T KNOW WHEN delivery will take place". Wow!! I decided to go with HARMAN stove because of its name, now I am left wondering if I made the right decision. Dealers should not be taking orders if Harman cannot keep up with demand.
In my business telling my customers sorry I don't know when you getting the product I would not be in business for to long.

My 3 tons of pellets, venting kit and stove hearth are waiting for this pellet stove.

Should I try to get my money back and get something else?

I am new to this pellet stove stuff and right now I don't know what to expect from the Harman people.

All opinions are welcome

Thank you
Stoveless in CT

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A harman rep posted up here last week that they have communicated "real" dates to all their dealers for stove orders.

So either that rep wasn't being truthful or your dealer hasn't talked with them yet. I'd encourage your dealer to contact Harman. If he still doesn't have a date, after that, then the info posted up here was simply blowing smoke and I'd move on to another brand.

gabe1965 said:

Well today I called again because I am getting worried, now the dealer it's telling
me "WE DON'T KNOW WHEN delivery will take place". Wow!! I decided to go with
HARMAN stove because of its name, now I am left wondering if I made the right decision.
Dealers should not be taking orders if Harman cannot keep up with demand.
In my business telling my customers sorry I don't know when you getting the product I would not be in business for to long.

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Welcome, I see you are new to the forum.

the Harman family posted some info recently that may
be of interest to you. This may or may not help you to
make your decisions.

Here is the thread: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/20494/

It is more your dealer that you should trust or not.....some dealers will get almost zilch (new dealers)......others are allocated based on their sales in previous years. Some took too many orders and are busy handing back deposits.

Yes, according to Harman they are NOW giving correct dates. So your dealer needs to be in touch with them and with you. Some stoves are available to some dealers, and some stoves are not available until next year!

flashbang said:

M
Either way Harmon's communication with its end users is the worst in the industry.
They have a good product and should wise up before a new kid on the block comes along with a better product and cheaper price with open communication with its end users.
The big three auto manufactures are in big trouble now with declining sales and record profit losses. They were on top in the 1970's and didn't care to see what the imports saw, smaller,cheaper and more efficient cars. Harmon should take note.

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Uh, they already were acquired (forced sale) last year....barely resurrected now. Declining sales caused the problems, but it had nothing to do with customer service - just that Americans tend to forget about energy independence when oil is reasonable...

I think Harman has enough good will and reputation built up that they could coast for a decade or longer with no changes in customer service. Sure, it would be ideal, but as discussed in earlier threads (about the industry in general), most manufacturers rely on their dealers to provide 98% plus of all customer service...and many (maybe most) don't have staff at the factory allocated to even talking to end users.

Harman is now part of a large company that makes everything from office furniture to builders fireplaces. Harman represents a relative small part of their business. As a for-instance, Harman has sales in the 40-50 million dollar yearly area - the parent company has over 2 billion. That means Harman is about 2% of their business.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=HNI

The parent company (HNI) makes strategic decisions based on profit...like any other public corporation. They have lots of choices...to grow Harman, to move sales to their other brand (Quadrafire), etc. -

In short, despite the continuation of the Harman family in the biz (they are employees of HNI now), this is not Danes workshop or business any longer.

gabe1965 said:

I just got the Harman Co. tel #

I will be giving them a call on Monday to see what they say, I hope whoever answers the phone is not going to give me the run around.

Thanks

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The "key part" of that phone call will be to actually speak with a person

Just talked to my dealer. Mid August for the Accentra insert. Supposed to be the new "real" date from the factory but at the end of the call he asked if I wanted fries with that. My sales rep is on vacation. Purchased 6/6 with a promised delivery date of 6/23.

Wait! I ordered a PF 100 pellet furnace in early June and was told it would be in by the end of the month it was not.Just found out I have a ship date of Sept 21 well b4 winter so no big deal.Just be patient your stove will come in

I'm sorry, but the Harman's are here in PA. I checked 2 local dealers ( Peak Distrib) neaR Lancaster, and they both had the 68,XXV, advance, and 61's in stock.
Maybe you guys should get a truck and come on down for a load.

Plus, Pellets are $209 a ton for Lignetics, and $239 ton for Penn Wood

I was at the county fair here last week and a Harmon dealer was setup there. Had 8 on display and not one had a sold sign on it. Couldn't ask any ? because no one was around.

CaptainJim said:

Harman is shipping! I ordered a pb105 boiler the last week of April and told it would arrive in 3-6 weeks.2nd week of June I was told it would arrive the last week of July.I got a call on July 16th stating it had arrived.It has a manufacturing date of July 8th.It looks like they are shipping as fast as they are producing.

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I went to my local Harman dealer for the PF100 hot air furance and they said next spring for availability!

Captain, may I ask where you got your boiler?

:-S May be I should really take a trip down to PA. I talked to my dealer today and was told I won't see my Harman insert until December ! And the pellets price around here is around $280 some place told me it's going to be $325 when the shipping arrive in Sept ! Holy crap !! Since out fireplace opening is 24 inches, QuadFire is 28" , we don't have much choice. Any suggestion ?

Harman is sending out some stoves to each dealer each month. It may be your luck the that the dealer is only getting one off the XXV's between now and November, but like you said your number 2 on the list. I would say November is your actual ship date. Its not just Harman at this point anymore either. Alot of these popular brands are becoming hard to get. Quad is backed up as well as Travis industries. I also heard yesterday the Regency Greenfires are being allocated as well. They payed up front in full for them, but FPI filled too many orders so now dealers are getting the shaft again.