Heads up on Golden Eagle stoves........

[RDCrazy]

I purchased a Golden Eagle stove (Lincoln) from Farm and Fleet. I got the stove home and set it up per the instructions. The stove would not throw hardly any heat. I tried to contact the company and i had to leave messages and they would get back to me but they perfer you email them. I did both.. After two days I recieved a email telling me to open the draft more... This was not the problem the stove was not feeding right to keep the stove lit. I then replied that it seems to be a feed problem. The worker then wrote back telling me that there was a problem with the boards on the Lincoln and that they would send me a board in a month or later when they come in and then I can install it. Needless to say I began to become irratated and tried to explain to this individual that I did'nt buy the stove to work on it, until they get it right. I asked if they would refund my money and the Guy (Jeremy) told me that he did'nt have that authority and that his Boss would have to call me back. His boss never called me back. I called Farm and fleet and they were advised of the situation and they attempted to call the Golden Eagle Stove company with the same results that I had. Finally when Golden Eagle did call they told farm and fleet the same sob story. In a nut shell Farm and fleet told me to bring the stove back for a refund. The stoves are JUNK and do not heat even a 20 by 10 room. Unless you want to be a stove tech for free to find out the problem for Golden Eagle I would tend to shy away from these stoves. Luckily I got a refund but, I see alot of unhappy stove buyers in the future with this Company. Don't waste your money... I also wanted to give Farm and fleet a kudos for being a responsible retailer and standing behind what they sell.Golden Eagle makes the stove but would not honor a return (course not, they got the money and they are happy)......AS I SAID EARLIER JUNK...

 

[summit]

words to the wise on the lower tier stove co's.... Hate to say it, buts thats the frustration people run into when buying from a hardware/feed/big box store for a heater.

 

[Dr_Drum]

I purchased a Golden Eagle stove (Lincoln) from Farm and Fleet. I got the stove home and set it up per the instructions. The stove would not throw hardly any heat. I tried to contact the company and i had to leave messages and they would get back to me but they perfer you email them. I did both.. After two days I recieved a email telling me to open the draft more... This was not the problem the stove was not feeding right to keep the stove lit. I then replied that it seems to be a feed problem. The worker then wrote back telling me that there was a problem with the boards on the Lincoln and that they would send me a board in a month or later when they come in and then I can install it. Needless to say I began to become irratated and tried to explain to this individual that I did'nt buy the stove to work on it, until they get it right. I asked if they would refund my money and the Guy (Jeremy) told me that he did'nt have that authority and that his Boss would have to call me back. His boss never called me back. I called Farm and fleet and they were advised of the situation and they attempted to call the Golden Eagle Stove company with the same results that I had. Finally when Golden Eagle did call they told farm and fleet the same sob story. In a nut shell Farm and fleet told me to bring the stove back for a refund. The stoves are JUNK and do not heat even a 20 by 10 room. Unless you want to be a stove tech for free to find out the problem for Golden Eagle I would tend to shy away from these stoves. Luckily I got a refund but, I see alot of unhappy stove buyers in the future with this Company. Don't waste your money... I also wanted to give Farm and fleet a kudos for being a responsible retailer and standing behind what they sell.Golden Eagle makes the stove but would not honor a return (course not, they got the money and they are happy)......AS I SAID EARLIER JUNK...

It's great that you took the time to report here. Maybe saved someone a similar experience.
Mike -

 

[smwilliamson]

words to the wise on the lower tier stove co's.... Hate to say it, buts thats the frustration people run into when buying from a hardware/feed/big box store for a heater.

The frustration indeed. Consumers should be advised big box, farm and feed, garden center or hardware stores are in the selling business. That's why their stores are more than an acre of merchandise. Its not the stove makers fault though. Some are better than others but having NO ONE to show you how to use the stove, install the stove or maintain the stoves is just setting the stage for problems.

 

[SidecarFlip]

The golden eagle sound to be a dead duck....

I'd like to know what exactly 'lower tier' referrs to. That is an encompassing statement that holds little water...or fuel.

Sort of like saying that all Chevy's are junk because Obama owns the company..... :cheese:

 

[Fsappo]

I wouldnt buy farm equipment from a fireplace store, because it's not their business. How could I expect them to know about tractors if it's only a side line for them. Also, I wouldnt buy a tractor from a fireplace store if it was a tractor brand that myself or anyone else I knew never heard of.

 

[jtakeman]

Golden eagle is a spin off from a Breckwell. The SP 6000 is the same stove a local dealer was trying to swap my bigE out for. A friend bought one of the SP 6000 and had to return it to the same dealer I used with in 2 weeks. Similar issue as OP! I think Breckwell spun these off to sell in the bigbox's. Just to keep the dealers who sell Breckwells from squaking.

He took a refund and bought a US Stove 6041 at TSC and loves it so far. Save himself some money too!

I prefer to support local dealers, But when the local dealer is an A$$H*II. Next nearest is many miles away. Then its fair game. Buy what you can afford and up keep it yourself!

 

[Fsappo]

Enerzone does the same thing. They build the same stove and give it three different labels so they can be sold thru Hearth Shops, big box stores, online whorehouses, etc.

So, if a customer says to me, "Hey that 3.4 Enerzone is the same thing as a Drolet 12345 but the Drolet is $150 cheaper, I'm gonna go to the intraweb" I take $150 off and make the sale.

 

[MCPO]

words to the wise on the lower tier stove co's.... Hate to say it, buts thats the frustration people run into when buying from a hardware/feed/big box store for a heater.

The frustration indeed. Consumers should be advised big box, farm and feed, garden center or hardware stores are in the selling business. That's why their stores are more than an acre of merchandise. Its not the stove makers fault though. Some are better than others but having NO ONE to show you how to use the stove, install the stove or maintain the stoves is just setting the stage for problems.

Basically true above for many , especially the timid and inexperienced type but it`s still too broad a statement.
Not everyone needs to be hand fed. While not having the potential to be as good as buying a product from a reputable dedicated stove shop , Englanders stoves is probably the best and most successful brand available at any big box / hardware store , and for very good reasons . Their product support is unequalled in this arena. Installation instructions, operation manual , enclosed video , on line AND telephone one on one support is absolutely unheard of in this day and age. Few , if any stove shops provide this level of service to products under warranty . And they do it free long after the warranty runs out. This is exceptional and highly unusual and definitely has to be considered an added value.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Ok, all you dealers.

Perhaps if all of you actually provided the service to back up your sales on a consistent basis there wouldn't be any DIY market, well at least not a pick it off the floor DIY market.

There will always be someone out there with an itch and the means to cut, bend, and weld metal along with tinker with various components of a stove.

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

I agree with Smokey in as much as many folks simply don't have the expertise to handle an install and or repairs or adjustments on their stoves.

If you take care of your customers well, the industry as a whole is far better off.

I looked around on the net to see what I could dredge up on the Eagle stoves.

They sure do a right fine job of Pimping their product though.

To get put off as you were by the manufacture is just plain wrong.

These clowns should have had their collective &* together and not be selling a product that wont work.

Myself, I have zero issue with the crowd that wants to or is capable of installing and maintaining/modifying their own stove.

Over the years I have purchased stoves from dealers, direct from the manufactures and from big box stores.

Earth stove used to be 5 miles from me. They would, if you spoke to the top sales rep, sell a new stove off the shipping dock for wholesale price.

This sort of thing depended on how you came across to the rep.

Usually what it was was the sale of what they called "BLEMS"
Perfectly good stoves but would have some sort of cosmetic defect that was caught during QC

I purchased a traditions cast iron stove from them and I could never find anything wrong.

I think the sales rep just wrote Blem on the box to cover his butt.


All in all, for a manufacture to tell you that they will send you the replacement part is not a very professional way to be doing business.

A new stove is supposed to work out of the gate and not be laid up for parts.

Its common for companies to make a lineup that can be sold as "BIG BOX" items but to make it just plain trash is not cool.

Breckwell could have simply placed their tried and true internal components in a slightly different, no frills cabinet, called it something else and been off to the rodeo with no issues.

Thanks for the heads up

Out here on the Pacific coast we dont see I lot of the brands you guys speak of.

Harman, Quadrafire, Breckwell and recently I found the Hudson River brand.
St Croix is around too

Snowy

 

[Meneillys]

This is why I sell pellets only I will will leave the stove and stove part sales to Franks. Even only selling pellets is hard when the product is junk and you don't know it. Good to hear the store refunded the money for you I hope they learned like we did quality check your merchandise and maybe even check in on customers to see how things are going.

 

[summit]

The golden eagle sound to be a dead duck....

I'd like to know what exactly 'lower tier' referrs to. That is an encompassing statement that holds little water...or fuel.

Sort of like saying that all Chevy's are junk because Obama owns the company..... :cheese:

lower tier = this golden eagle, ussc, englander, etc: basically any brand you see at the big box. THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT THESE STOVES CAN'T FUNCTION WELL, OR DO THE JOB FOR YOU!! However, as smwilliamson said, they set themselves up for failure not having a supporting cast around them. The pimply faced high school kid at Ace hardware is NOT gonna come troubleshoot a bad control board. ANY wtty issue you run into, you can't go back to tractor supply or Lowes and expect them to have the part on hand. Its a 1-800 # and a UPS man. You have to do all the work.
Now this is not to say people shouldn't be familiar with the inner workings of their stoves: more folks need to be able to remove parts, and clean/maintain things thouroughly, whether you bought from a dealer or the bog box. Most folks, however, aren't savvy or confident enough to troubleshoot (I am waiting for all the people here to speak up and say "but I do!") a failed snap disc, or have a multimeter (and the know how to operate it) and test out live wires. And to be honest: when those folks run into issues like that 6 mos into owning the stove, and have some problems with bad parts, malfunctioning stoves, etc, It gives pellet stoves as a whole a bad name.
There are dealers out there who are crap on service, and thats a shame: We treat service in a very serious manner, and try to put all service work on top of the list.

 

[MCPO]

The golden eagle sound to be a dead duck....

I'd like to know what exactly 'lower tier' referrs to. That is an encompassing statement that holds little water...or fuel.

Sort of like saying that all Chevy's are junk because Obama owns the company..... :cheese:

lower tier = this golden eagle, ussc, englander, etc: basically any brand you see at the big box. THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT THESE STOVES CAN'T FUNCTION WELL, OR DO THE JOB FOR YOU!! However, as smwilliamson said, they set themselves up for failure not having a supporting cast around them. The pimply faced high school kid at Ace hardware is NOT gonna come troubleshoot a bad control board. ANY wtty issue you run into, you can't go back to tractor supply or Lowes and expect them to have the part on hand. Its a 1-800 # and a UPS man. You have to do all the work.
Now this is not to say people shouldn't be familiar with the inner workings of their stoves: more folks need to be able to remove parts, and clean/maintain things thouroughly, whether you bought from a dealer or the bog box. Most folks, however, aren't savvy or confident enough to troubleshoot (I am waiting for all the people here to speak up and say "but I do!") a failed snap disc, or have a multimeter (and the know how to operate it) and test out live wires. And to be honest: when those folks run into issues like that 6 mos into owning the stove, and have some problems with bad parts, malfunctioning stoves, etc, It gives pellet stoves as a whole a bad name.
There are dealers out there who are crap on service, and thats a shame: We treat service in a very serious manner, and try to put all service work on top of the list.

Personally , I`m OK with lower tier and I`m gonna change my signature to reflect this .

 

[Fsappo]

But which is which, Gio?

 

[MCPO]

But which is which, Gio?

Heh, heh. It`s certainly no mystery . The P-38 (2004) is like the Energizer bunny. It just keeps going and going without so much as a hiccup.
Strangely though , the Harman provides nothing regarding a flame ambience . Its more like a blow torch effect.
The Englander is a more natural flame closer to that of a wood fire.

 

[Meneillys]

But which is which, Gio?

Heh, heh. It`s certainly no mystery . The P-38 (2004) is like the Energizer bunny. It just keeps going and going without so much as a hiccup.
Strangely though , the Harman provides nothing regarding a flame ambience . Its more like a blow torch effect.
The Englander is a more natural flame closer to that of a wood fire.

That tells a little about the efficiency of the stoves though. The blow torch should be giving you more bang for the buck compared to the more natural flame. Some times though the less efficient one is better for simplicity. I used to have an old Miller oil furnace with computer controls and that thing just ran and ran then got a new high efficient propane and had it two year then a board went then another board and so on. Now a nice pellet stove!

 

[ronlat]

Have had many problems with my Breckwell stoves. I have learned to work on them myself, (at least I can get the things up and running faster than waiting for my dealer). I have had 5 boards replaced over the last three heating systems ( all warranty replacements, at least Breckwell stood behind it), between 2 stoves. I too have had issues getting Breckwell to respond. After I had enough of the non-response I did some research and found out who owned them. I sent emails to every board member of the investment firm that owned Breckwell on a Saturday and by Monday I was getting emails and phone calls from Breckwell to help with my stoves. Funny I guess crap really does roll downhill.