VC Honors Warranty

[schortie]

In the fall of '08 we bought a Defiant NC. In February of '09 VC came out and replaced the entire combustion package due to a failing fountain assembly free of charge. The stove ran fine until mid January of this year. When this stove is working it is an awesome heating machine - long burns and plenty of heat. Unfortunately, the same parts failed again. Through our dealer, who has been exceptional, VC offered us a new catalytic Defiant. We were apprehensive to install a new VC stove after the problems we had. The last thing we need is to have another stove fail in the middle of winter. So, the dealer told them that we wanted a full refund. They agreed!? I am beyond surprised and very impressed with VC's response and in standing by their warranty.

Now it's time to look for a new stove that will last at least an entire season! I wonder if folks have any suggestions.

 

[VCBurner]

In the fall of '08 we bought a Defiant NC. In February of '09 VC came out and replaced the entire combustion package due to a failing fountain assembly free of charge. The stove ran fine until mid January of this year. When this stove is working it is an awesome heating machine - long burns and plenty of heat. Unfortunately, the same parts failed again. Through our dealer, who has been exceptional, VC offered us a new catalytic Defiant. We were apprehensive to install a new VC stove after the problems we had. The last thing we need is to have another stove fail in the middle of winter. So, the dealer told them that we wanted a full refund. They agreed!? I am beyond surprised and very impressed with VC's response and in standing by their warranty.

Now it's time to look for a new stove that will last at least an entire season! I wonder if folks have any suggestions.

I was told that the non cat VC's are more problem prone than the cats by the guy who sold me my stove. I don't know how true that statement is but he tells me there are far more repair calls on non cat Defiants, Encores, Dutchwests, etc, than their cat cousins.

 

[karri0n]

Yes, the Non- cat EverBurn(aka NeverBurn) models give the trouble. It's good to see VC honored this warranty, that's a breath of fresh air from this company. I'm also glad to see they seem to have admitted their failings and offered to replace the stove with a Catalytic model. You very well may have been happy with a cat model, but I can absolutely understand the apprehension, especially if a full refund was available.

Good luck to you with whatever stove you purchase with your refund!

 

[Slow1]

In the fall of '08 we bought a Defiant NC. In February of '09 VC came out and replaced the entire combustion package due to a failing fountain assembly free of charge. The stove ran fine until mid January of this year. When this stove is working it is an awesome heating machine - long burns and plenty of heat. Unfortunately, the same parts failed again. Through our dealer, who has been exceptional, VC offered us a new catalytic Defiant. We were apprehensive to install a new VC stove after the problems we had. The last thing we need is to have another stove fail in the middle of winter. So, the dealer told them that we wanted a full refund. They agreed!? I am beyond surprised and very impressed with VC's response and in standing by their warranty.

Now it's time to look for a new stove that will last at least an entire season! I wonder if folks have any suggestions.

You WONDER if folks have suggestions? Ha! Everyone's tagline is likely a suggestion...

I'm amazed and quite happy for you that you were able to get a full refund. I wonder how much of that was your dealer's doing - I suspect it isn't a general policy that everyone can expect honored everywhere.

Time to go shopping - just that alone sounds like a good time to me - so many good choices out there to look at and this time you get the federal rebate to boot.

 

[schortie]

We did consider accepting the catalytic model, but we realized that it included some of the same "space age" combustion chamber material that gave us such problems in our present model. I do believe that our dealer had something to do with the response from VC. They have great folks and they really went to bat for us. Although, the final word came from VC themselves.

 

[schortie]

We did consider accepting the catalytic model, but we realized that it included some of the same "space age" combustion chamber material that gave us such problems in our present model. I do believe that our dealer had something to do with the response from VC. They have been great folks and they really went to bat for us. Although, the final word came from VC themselves.

 

[firefighterjake]

Suggestions . . . depends.

If you like the look of the VC with the cast iron . . . Jotul, Harman, Quadrafire, the cast-iron clad PEs and Hearthstone Shelburne look mighty purty.

If you like the long burns of the VC and can get over the look . . . you can go with the Blaze King with the cat and legendary long burns.

If you like the long burns of the VC and like the ornate look of soapstone . . . you can go with the Woodstock line-up of soapstone stoves with cats.

 

[snowtime]

Since you had such trouble with the "space age material" I would look at the PE line. The baffle is stainless steel and will last a lifetime. If you bump it with some wood no big deal. Its also warranted for lifetime. The T6 which we have is convection like most PE stoves. This means most heat comes out the top and front. We think its great because you do not have the searing heat from all sides so its easy to put furniture around it. If you want searing heat from all sides this is not the stove for you.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

schortie, that is fantastic that they did honor the warranty and I'm happy it worked out for you. No doubt you will also look at other stoves this dealer carries if he went to bat with you on the warranty. He sounds like a good person to do business with. Good luck on your new stove search.

 

[Ductape]

As a legitimate question.............. if so many of their stoves have failed, how has there not been a class action lawsuit?

 

[Nonprophet]

I'm glad to see VC doing the right thing here, maybe there's some hope for them yet. I've owned more VC stoves than any other brand, and they used to have (especially pre-EPA IMHO) a well-deserved reputation for making some of the best wood stoves out there. But with the bankruptcies and other problems over the past 10 years I would not really want to buy a new VC stove. It's kind of sad to say that, but it's true.


NP