How Many Have Canceled There Keystokers ?

 
mof1964
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Post by mof1964 » Fri. Jan. 16, 2009 11:25 am

The dealer I talked with just picked up 12 keystokers for people that had ordered this summer and early fall.
He gave me the July timetable after asked him about delivery. He called the factory and that's what they told him.
I can only relay what I've been told.

 
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sterling40man
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Post by sterling40man » Fri. Jan. 16, 2009 11:30 am

mof1964 wrote:Something to think about? I could pickup a good used boiler for less and have it installed by then.

Any thoughts?
If I was in your shoes, that's what I'd do. If I would have ordered my KA6 last fall, I would have cancelled and tried to find something else. I'm to close to getting it now.
mof1964 wrote:I just talked with my local Keystoker dealer about a KA6 and KB8. If I ordered them now and put a down payment down, I could have them for delivery the 2nd week of July 2009.
I have a really hard time believeing that!

 
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sterling40man
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Post by sterling40man » Fri. Jan. 16, 2009 11:44 am

mof1964 wrote:The dealer I talked with just picked up 12 keystokers for people that had ordered this summer and early fall.
Where are you located? Did your dealer get any boilers (Ka2's or Ka6's) that were ordered after the begining of July?


 
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efo141
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Post by efo141 » Fri. Jan. 16, 2009 12:27 pm

LsFarm wrote:Kenbod, do you have a crystal ball?? can you tell the future?? Well nobody has one, Keystoker or Harman, or any other coal appliance maker..

Keystoker has dozens of units ready to deliver,, but they are waiting for motors for stoker units and combustion fans.. Do you think they knew that there would be a shortage of electric motors??

Keystoker also reached a limit on their electic service for their factory,, they tried to increase production, then found out that they couldn't keep all the welders runing, the electric service was at it's limits..

ALL the manufacturers have had supply problems and got overloaded with orders.. even the most communicative folks have had plenty of people waiting impatiently for their stoves and boilers.. There are only so many hours in a day, and only so many people that can work in a give space and get trained to do a proper job...

When you get a whole year's worth of orders in a one or two day period of time, it is pretty difficult to predict what will happen when you try to tripple or quadruple your factory output.. many unforseen propblems arise..

Greg L.
When I tryed to order a vf3000 in early June Harman said they would not take down payments or orders because they were backed up. So it looks like they did have the crystal ball and should of let Keystoker borrow it. So when I called my Keystoker dealer I asked them to call the factory and ask about the 8-10 week del. time. The dealer put the order in and checked on del. time. The dealer called me back and said 8-10 weeks max. Never head a word until 2 months later when the dealer called and said Keystoker called and delayed the order until mid Nov. The people on this forum waiting for their orders are mad because they are seeing Keystoker shipping in an unfair mannor. I checked with people who got their boilers early and most, not all said they knew their orders were not pre orders and the dealer called the order in that day. I think most don't mind waiting if they know Keystoker is shipping by order date.

 
mof1964
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Post by mof1964 » Fri. Jan. 16, 2009 12:35 pm

I'm located in Northern Lancaster County Pa.
I am new to this whole thing, the thought of using coal. Like I said before, I can only relay what I was told.

When I called the dealer, I was curious. I am considering 3 different manufacturers and Keystoker is one of them.
After reading this forum, I thought I should check further.

I've been told by my friend in the stoker business that I should only look for one kind, EFM.

The keystoker boilers are very reasonalby priced for a KA6 and KB8.

Really makes it worth the wait

 
Kenbod
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Post by Kenbod » Sat. Jan. 17, 2009 2:12 pm

Following up on my previous post where I referred to Keystoker as irresponsible:

I placed my order in the Spring for a Ka-2. I was specifically told at that time that I might be looking at a 8-10 week wait for delivery. In October, Keystoker told me that they were doing the best they could. I was told they they were shipping them as fast as they could make them. When I asked him to look at his list and give me a guess, he said "You'll get it when you get it. I'm sorry, that's the best I can tell you. I'm sure you can get your deposit refunded."

So far, fair enough, I guess. Maybe. Or, maybe not.

Knowing full well when the heating season starts, at what point do you think they should have been obligated to contact their order holders and explain the situation? I was upgrading, so I had heat. I wasn't facing a serious problem, but that wasn't true for everyone. I even told my dealer that I could wait if someone was in a jam, but that doesn't change Keystoker's obligations to its customers.

My beef with Keystoker stems directly from my dealer's open house in early Fall. Understandably, Keystoker reps were there to sell their stoves. However, at the time of the open house, my order (and many many others) were ALREADY LATE. Regardless of reason (electrical service supply, parts, steel shipments, truck drivers), they knew then that they were way behind. And, yet they were still taking orders for FALL delivery! That is the definition of irresponsibility.

Ironically, I received my boiler the week after my October phone call. Aside from a unimpressive installation and owner's manuals and some cosmetic disappointments with the sheet metal jacket, it is a well built and quite substantial unit. It has performed without problem, as advertised. My grumblings with the way they've conducted their business over the last few months in no way detracts from the product itself. For the guy considering a Keystoker, I would still recommend one.


 
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ceccil
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Post by ceccil » Sat. Jan. 17, 2009 3:34 pm

As a whole I would tend to agree with most on here regarding Keystoker's lack of communication and the fact that they were still promising units and not delivering on time. The one thing I would like to point out is that NOBODY should remove their current heating system until the new unit is sitting at their house. IMO thats just common sense. Anything can happen at any time that could delay the delivery of something ordered. I hope all newcomers that may be ordering in the future will take this into account and not remove their current source of heat until they receive their new unit.

Jeff

 
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Post by dna_coal » Tue. Feb. 17, 2009 2:40 pm

I ordered a koker in August after speaking with my dealer every month, I cancelled and went with Reading Susquehanna, so far lots of heat and no issues. But I will say the information supplied by Reading sucks. I have been reading this forum for the last few weeks and I have learned more here than through Reading. Everyone is very helpful and informative :)

 
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ceccil
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Post by ceccil » Wed. Feb. 18, 2009 12:10 am

Keystokers owners/operating manual isn't any better. Just a bunch of photo copied pages stapled together. Even had a hard time reading some of the pages.

Jeff

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