Screwed on Craigslist

[Flyphishvt]

So here we go, bought our first pellet stove used on Craigslist. Seller advertised it as a 4 year old Enviro M55 Free Standing with enamel finish. It looked good and we needed to large BTU output and we bought it for $1850. We go to get it installed and find out it’s a 2009 Enviro Empress FS. So smaller and 5 Year’s older than we were told. Now it’s installed and one of the fan motors is whining constantly. Can anyone tell me the value of a 2009 Empress vs a 2014 M55 FS?

 

[Ssyko]

Did you do any research on the stove before you bought it? If you get it fixed back up and functioning as it should you might get your money back out of it. Not trying to insult just very hard to put a price on something that isn’t in front of me. Have you talked to the seller? Small claims court? Here in NY its buyer beware when it come to buying used items.

 

[saewoody]

The reality is that maybe the people only had it for four years. Who knows how long it was sitting at the stove store before it got sold.


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[JRemington]

The Empress is only a 35,000 BTU stove. At almost ten years old I would say it's worth 750 dollars running good. Do you have small claims Court in your state? I would be hard pressed to spend that on the M55 of that year. Do you have a picture of the ad? I think you can file charges for fraud. Did you get a receipt? And does it say M55? Tell them you contacted the police and you paid for an M55 and they refused to give it to you and gave you the Empress instead.

 

[JRemington]

A 4 year old M55 cast would still be worth 2000 or a little more.

 

[greg13]

This may be nothing but an honest mistake on BOTH parts. As a buyer they should KNOW what they are looking at and not assume the seller knows what they are selling. As Ssyko said buyer beware. As a buyer it is your responsibility to do the research on what you are buying.

 

[zrock]

This may be nothing but an honest mistake on BOTH parts. As a buyer they should KNOW what they are looking at and not assume the seller knows what they are selling. As Ssyko said buyer beware. As a buyer it is your responsibility to do the research on what you are buying.

Agreed it could be a honest mistake on both parties. Lots of things to take into consideration the seller may have been told it was a M55 from the seller/dealer. As a buyer and with the internet a little research before buying would have saved you, iv researched all the stoves i was looking at more to compare price with new. But if the images did not look the same i dug deeper.
Did a quick google and it looks like they are a similar looking stove so making a mistake anyware along the line could be easy

 

[stovelark]

Not trying to say you got a great deal, but 1850 is about retail for a used Empress enamel. The Empress is still a nice stove, but its no M55. The M55 is a much nicer and bigger heater. I would think 1850 for a used M55 would be a good price. Parts for the Empress aren't cheap either. Is it the room blower or combustion? Both are around 200 bucks each. I hope you get it resolved amicably, chances are the seller did think they were selling a M55. I hope so anyway.

 

[Maraian]

That sucks sorry to hear!
I quess you have to take the good with the bad ( deals on craigslist) probably not worth the time, money and hassle to try dealing with the seller, unless they admit fault right away and refund you some money ( unlikely).
I would just fix it and use it and sell it if it doesn't provide enough heat.

 

[johneh]

Sorry you got screwed but the name and build date are right there on the stove
with Enviro it is on the inside of the hopper lid or the ash pan door some models.
The buyer is responsible for due diligents

 

[mikkeeh]

There’s really no one to blame but yourself. You didn’t get screwed. You screwed up. Caveat emptor. Learn from your mistake and check things out better next time.

 

[batchman]

There is a lesson here for all cruising CL looking for deals. Check the data plate, and if it's not there - turn around and run.

Sorry for your misfortune, that's a lot of work to go through before discovering the truth.
Hopefully, as an enamel, it's at least attractive.

Best of luck, whether you fix & keep or fix & sell and try again.
- Jeff

 

[bogieb]

Sorry you are unhappy with the CL transaction. I tend to research things to death and look at the new versions in Brick & Mortar stores, even if I know I'm going to buy used, refurbished or online. I have seen some sellers on CL & EB that obviously had no clue as to what they had, or they were bald-faced lying. IDK which, but since I had done the research, I had a clue as to what it should look like. Some things I walked away from. My P43, which I bought used off of CL, was advertised as a PP38++. I could never find anything about such a beast so I just asked questions that were pertinent until I was certain it would do the job - mainly was it a self-lighter (it was) and how old. They sent me a picture of the plate which didn't indicate which stove it was but did indicate year it was tested, and a picture of the controller, which showed the autolight toggle. So in the end it ended up being a P43 (I confirmed by having a dealer call Harmon and have them run the SN thru the database).

Sounds like you had a learning experience, hopefully you can either get the stove running well enough for your circumstances or find a way to get most of your money back on it so you can find what you really need.

 

[chemist]

If you were looking for a bigger stove then you will not be happy with the Empress. However, clean Empress stoves go for 1500 to maybe 2000 here in Maryland. M55s go for about the same. Why? Empresses are pretty to very pretty. M55s on the other hand are bigger workhorses. And most stoves here spend lots of time on lower settings because of the milder temps. So overall, was the empress a bad deal? Maybe not. But it may not be the best fit for your needs. Does a noisy fan make the stove bad? Probably not but it could mean a $200 expense to replace it yourself. My suggestion is to hook it up and use it and see how it works for a first pellet stove. You likely will be able to get most of your money out of it when you resell. And you will be far wiser when purchasing your next stove.

Most newbies prioritize size when buying. But there are many other factors. To me, it is how long my stove can burn before I need a shutdown. To others it is hopper size. So how bad was that deal? Maybe not so bad. As others have said, the seller may not exactly know what they were selling. So hook it up and use it. Having owned an Empress I can tell you that there will be a few things that you will grow tired of quickly, and it is those things to weigh in your next stove purchase. But use it and save on your heating. You will quickly be able to determine if 34k BTU will do or do you need a bigger stove. After all it is only 70 days till March. You didn;t do too bad. Good luck and I hope you learn to like the pellet stove concept.
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