Thought I bought a new stove

Sorta like buying a brand new '08 car....and it being built in '02.....I would be pissed too.....

Alot of the stoves Harman sent out this season were left over models from 2006. They had over 20,000 in their wearhouse at the end of that season. 2002 though, seems kind of old to me.

So much for that 5 year warranty!

Call Harmon and report back what they say, please.

missrobo said:

Help, just noticed that the harman accentra that I bought this summer (2008) was made in July of 2002. Called the dealer and of course he said nothing has changed in 6 YEARS. Hard to believe, anybody else noticed what they thought they were buying new is acutually a few years old and may have been sitting in a warehouse for years. I'm upset, please someone tell me it's okay, I wasn't just taken for a ride.
Thanks

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I would find it to be very strange if not one change has been made in 6 years, not in basic design but in the electronics. Disturbing if true.

i would call harmon

missrobo said:

InsaneWayne said:

So much for that 5 year warranty!

Call Harmon and report back what they say, please.

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I called the dealer and they said the 5 year warranty is still valid. Don't think I have much recourse. Warning to all: ask the "born on date" before you buy!

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I would get that on papper from Harmon. Otherwise the Fedral 10 year manufacture laws will supperseed.

Good luck and please let us know.

yeah this happened to me with my MINI thought i got an 08 but it was an 05, but its running like a champ so no complaints i guess.

miss robo:

Called the dealer and of course he said nothing has changed in 6 YEARS.

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Since your dealer has told you nothing changed, then ask why they have an Accentra-2 model. I have an Advance-2 which has some updates from the previous model. I think Harman did update many of their stoves and they added a "2" to the model numbers. If you do a search on this forum for the text "Accentra-2" you will find several folks who have the newer model. I am not sure when the update took place but you can check your stove by looking at the model and seeing if it has a 2 after it.

Not to make you angry, but when I ordered my Englander in 07/1/08 I recieved it 07/30/08 and it had a build date of 07/14/08 I think the paint was still wet

Hard to believe that with at least two spikes in the last six years concerning pellet stove purchases that yours just happened to avoid being sold. Strange tale indeed. Like a previous poster, I received mine in November 08 with an October 08 Manufacturing date. Although paint not literally wet, it was some fresh smelling stove black. Something of value like that stove getting lost or misplaced on a shelf is like a car getting misplaced on a lot. Most of these stove shops are not so large and with so much storage space that they could misplace a stove. There is definitely a story behind that stove. Possibly hanging out at the Harman factory for six years seems equally strange as well. Either it was locked up as part some bankruptcy; was returned because it never started, and they finally got around to fixing it, or any other of a bunch of outlandish tales. Hopefully wherever it spent six years waiting patiently for someone to claim it, it was stored in a dry place. I'd open it up and check for any rusting and nests, you never know. I would be bummed with a brand new six year old stove, but if your happy and it's working fine, and you have the full warranty, and don't want to get on that waiting list again, then enjoy it.

I got a St. Croix hastings from my dealer who said they had just had a sale on it cancelled so I got it for cheaper. When I had my first issue with it and spoke to their tech support, he was troubleshooting it as if it was a newer model with the new control board. Come to find out, the unit I have has the older control board which they stopped making in 2004, so I feel as if I was kinda screwed too, but then agian, I paid about $700 less than one that would have been brand new, and I haven't had any major issues with it, so I guess I made out OK.

bungalobob has some pretty slick theories on why it was just recently getting around to being sold. I agree with him that if your happy with it, you should keep it. I would still register a protest with the dealer. Maybe you can work out an agreement that you'll keep the stove if they replace all the parts that were updated on the newer "2" model.

I am not sure about the Accentra but items that may have been upgraded might be a longer lasting igniter, etc.

BTW...I just looked at an Accentra manual that I downloaded from Harman's site. It says "Harman Accentra-2" on the manual. The manual says revision 7. What version is your manual? Try downloading the latest Accentra manual from Harman's site, then read through the manual. Maybe you'll uncover some changes they made. Some updates like the igniter would not probably be detectable in the manual though.

I could see 2, maybe even 3 years for a stove that sat in the Harman or dealer warehouse, but 6 years? That is way too long. Who knows what stuff is rusted, corroded, etc. Did you ask the dealer how long they had the stove in their warehouse, or when it was delivered to them?

If it were me, I'd be contacting Harman with the Model #, Serial #, your purchase date, and if possible, and an email or letter from your dealer that has their statement that "nothing's changed in 6 years". See what Harman has to say about it, and if things check out with the dealers "story", have Harman fax or email you a letter stating that the full factory warranty is in effect for your stove.

Talk is cheap...get everything in writing.

macman said:

I could see 2, maybe even 3 years for a stove that sat in the Harman or dealer warehouse, but 6 years? That is way too long. Who knows what stuff is rusted, corroded, etc. Did you ask the dealer how long they had the stove in their warehouse, or when it was delivered to them?

If it were me, I'd be contacting Harman with the Model #, Serial #, your purchase date, and if possible, and an email or letter from your dealer that has their statement that "nothing's changed in 6 years". See what Harman has to say about it, and if things check out with the dealers "story", have Harman fax or email you a letter stating that the full factory warranty is in effect for your stove.

Talk is cheap...get everything in writing.

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From what I hear, contacting Harman is like contacting my grandfather that's been dead for 40 years, gonna hafta have a seance. BUT, that's just my impression.

hossthehermit said:

.....From what I hear, contacting Harman is like contacting my grandfather that's been dead for 40 years, gonna hafta have a seance. BUT, that's just my impression.

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Yeah Hoss, I hear ya....I have the same feeling about trying to get a response from them after reading things on the forum here, but better to have tried......keep a copy of the email or letter, and if there ever IS an issue down the road, at least they can't say "you never contacted us about this problem".

I can understand them selling a new stove that has just been sitting in the
warehouse for a year or two, but six years old is a very long time.
Where has that stove been? What are the modifications since then?

If a NEW product is being sold without the latest modifications on it,
it should be fully disclosed to the consumer so they can make
the decision to move forward with the purchase or not.

PunKid8888 said:

Not to make you angry, but when I ordered my Englander in 07/1/08 I recieved it 07/30/08 and it had a build date of 07/14/08 I think the paint was still wet

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Ordered my St. Croix 05/26/08, received 06/07/08, built 05/14/08

tinkabranc said:

I can understand them selling a new stove that has just been sitting in the
warehouse for a year or two, but six years old is a very long time.
Where has that stove been? What are the modifications since then?

If a NEW product is being sold without the latest modifications on it,
it should be fully disclosed to the consumer so they can make
the decision to move forward with the purchase or not.

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I agree 100% Tink

:question: Wow, but I agree with most of the comments especially why was it hanging around for all those years. In your favor there were hardly any changes in that period of time and Harmon makes a great stove with parts that are easy to change.

only thing that i know that changed for sure was the price they paid for it in 02 and the price they would have paid for one built in 08.

I bought my Accentra back in August and it was manufactured back in '05. I thought the exact same thing about it being a left over but according to multiple dealers I called, the FS Accentra was last built in 05. If you do some searching on the forum, other people who posted about their FS Accentras all have '05 models but I haven't heard anything about '02s. I guess the big thing to find out is if all the updates have been done to yours such as the tube mod that keeps the smoke out of the hopper..

And I was a little pissed when I noticed my "new" insert was built in 06!

PunKid8888 said:

Not to make you angry, but when I ordered my Englander in 07/1/08 I recieved it 07/30/08 and it had a build date of 07/14/08 I think the paint was still wet

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Mine as well, ordered it in May 08 recieved it in June 08 with a June 08 build date.