Hearthstone Homestead Bummer with Pics

Someone suggested I start a new thread. Here's the original post:
I just had a major Heartstone bummer. My Homestead worked great its first season-though its performance is nowhere near specs. But a couple fires into its second season, it has had a major breakdown. The tubes and the pieces that hold them are all loose and the ceramic baffle has a hole in it. Hearthstone won’t deal directly with its stove owners (at least that’s what I’m finding)-all correspondence is through its dealers. So, I called the dealer and they contacted Hearthstone and Hearthstone gave them an email address that I could send pics of the stove. So I sent pics. No direct response from Hearthstone-not even a confirmation that they received the pics. After a couple of days, I did hear from the dealer that Hearthstone was not going to allow a warranty claim-without ever having the dealer inspect it. According to the dealer, Hearthstone claims the stove must have been dropped or severely abused. Which it was not. The stove has not been moved since it was installed by the dealer. The outside is in the same condition as it was when delivered and installed.

Complicating things, the person from the stove store admits to having little knowledge about woodstove so is unable to answer my questions and is more concerned about covering any possible liability from their end. When I asked about getting the stove repaired outside warranty, this stove person,, who has not seen the pics of the problems, had “written off” the stove as being non-repairable-actually did not know that replacement parts were available in many situations. So I’m stuck between a manufacturer who won’t communicate directly with me and a person from the store with little knowledge. I believe the owner of the store knows what he’s doing, but it may be next summer before he “finds the time” to look at my stove.

I liked the stove and hope this one can be repaired. But the total lack of customer service by Hearthstone would have me searching elsewhere if I need to buy another.


An update: I noticed that the dealer's BBB rating dropped from last year's A to F this summer. Doesn't make me hopeful that I'll be able to solve my issues through them. Next closest dealer is 45 miles away.

I had noticed the cotter pin wasn't "pinning" anything-and that the ends weren't bent. Should they have been? I hadn't really paid attention to how it was all put together. The stove had been the store's floor model and arrived totally assembled. I know the stove was fine at the end of last season. I did have a chimney sweep clean the chimney before using it this season and wouldn't be surprised if they punched a hole in the baffle. It was the loose metal pieces that alarmed me. I was afraid that it could be a result of metal fatigue or warping. I haven't had a hot fire yet this season-only two small to average sized logs at a time-only 5 days total of use this fall. (It's been warm in eastern MD). The air tubes, etc. were in place at the start of the last fire-did not notice a hole in the baffle then. If the pictured cotter pin was not secure, would that cause the rest of the pieces to become loose, too?

My closest dealer, the one I bought the stove from, is 15 miles away. But the owner seems to be missing in action and the woman who runs the store doesn't know enough to order parts. Does any one have a diagram of how the stove should look when correctly assembled? If I can't get the dealer that's 45 miles away to look at the stove, maybe I can them to order the baffle and replace it myself.

My first concern is getting the stove working again-and for that I'll need a dealer's help. The local one doesn't seem interested in service.

If, through another dealer's help, I find that the sweep is at fault, I'll certainly go after them for repair costs.