New Jotul 500 Oslo. A story with a moral

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jotul8e2

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Feb 2, 2008
595
Ozarks
I finally got my new Jotul 500 Oslo, got it home, into the house, connected to the flue, and broke in. Someday, should I have any, I expect I'll sit around the fire and tell my grandchildren all about it.

But there is a moral in the short version of the story. I had shopped at my closest dealer and was ready to write a check. Oh sure, I knew they were charging a somewhat higher price, but if they give good service it's worth it, right? When I asked about delivery they said, "Oh, thats an extra $1.00 per mile each way. If you want it brought inside [Did they really think I might want to keep it outside?] it's another $25 on top of that. Now, with stove, heatshield, screen, fresh air kit, flue (Excel - great product) I was getting ready to write a check in excess of $3,000. My appliance store will deliver a $275 diswasher and haul off the old one free, with purchase but the stove dealer was not content with an already ridiculous markup, but wanted more on top of that in case I didn't want to pick up a 500 pound stove and put it in the trunk of my car!

Ok, I thought, if service is no longer a consideration, I'll just shop on price. Going in the exact opposite direction, and about twice as far, I found a very nice dealer who got me exactly what I wanted. The Oslo at this location was $800 less. No, that is not a typo - $800 LESS for the stove alone! Proportionally less for the options as well. And as I was getting ready to leave they asked if I had fireplace tools. "No," I said, "I meant to shop for a set while I was here, but forgot." So they said to just pick out a set and take it with me, no charge. And a thermometer as well. Sure, I had to take the pickup and trailer to get the thing, but I was going to do that either place.

I would never have complained about the price to the first dealer if they had not been so greedy. Trying to squeeze that last little bit from me cost them the sale.

Mark
Jotul Oslo in Ivory Enamel.
 
Nice deal on a beautiful stove...now take a picture of your new install and show it to that first dealer! :coolgrin:
 
Always good to look around Mark. From what I have seen and read here there are very few stove dealers who give good service and prices. Glad to hear you got the best price you could in your area and saved enough to buy your first years wood to boot.
 
Titan said:
Nice deal on a beautiful stove...now take a picture of your new install and show it to that first dealer! :coolgrin:

By all means...along with a copy of the final invoice. Rick
 
Yep, it pays to shop around. You should of went back to the first dealer with the quote from the second just to see the looks on their faces. Maybe they would of felt bad and offered a better deal?
 
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