Is Harman Giving People the Shaft?

I HAVE PLACED AN ORDER FOR A Harman VF 3000 BACK IN APRIL (3RD WEEK), I WAS TOLD BY THE DEALER MOST LIKELY AUGUST MAYBE EVEN THE END OF JULY. UPON REMOVING MY OIL TANKS , MOVING A WATER LINE ,BUILDING A TRAP DOOR FOR THE COAL CHUTE, BUILDING A COAL BIN AND FINALLY HAULING OVER 5 TONS OF COAL (THATS A WHOLE OTHER STORY) NO CALL FROM THE DEALER. WE CALLED THE DEALER WHERE WE PLACED THE ORDER FOR THE BOILER AND HE SAID HE WOULD CALL BACK WITH INFO ON A DELIVERY DATE EVEN AFTER HOURS BECAUSE IT WAS A SATURDAY AND HE CLOSES AT 12 NOON--- NOTHING NO CALL NO HELP-- NOTHING. WE PUT A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT DOWN ON THIS BOILER AND I BELIEVE THEY ARE JUST LETTING US HANG TO DRY OR SHOULD I SAY FREEZE DRY

I picked up my Mark III last weekend & the dealer was a MADHOUSE --- I've never seen anything like it. Everyone is in PANIC-MODE! They had to set up ropes meandering all over the floor to corral all customers looking for sales help -- the line was nearly out the door!!! The sales lady said people were pretty hostile & she was not enjoying her Saturday there, regardless of the profit coming in. I know how people are in this part of the country -- no surprise there

I cut the entire line because I was picking up.( I had a feeling this would happen, so I placed my order over a month ago). I could see some disgruntled faces as I stepped up to the customer service booth. People were NOT happy. I enjoy that!

But getting that S. O. B. out of the truck & into the house was HELL with just me & my wife. 530 lbs. is NOT light!! Had to build a loading dock (actually it was an entrance to a huge barn that came down --- I just had to clear out the stone & concrete trash, & cut a tree down to get in there). I broke the winch cable on my ATV, AND, broke a tow strap trying to move a MASSIVE chunk of an old foundation -- what a nightmare. Had to weigh at least 1200 lbs. I'm sweating profusely, swearing at the top of my lungs -- my poor wife is trying to hold this stove that weighs 5 times her weight from tipping over. EEEFFFF!!!!

Had to use the ATV to push the stove (on a 2-wheeler) up a ramp & into the house. I still have to get it downstairs!! If there is a next time, I think I'll pay someone else to do this.


The best part of this story is the ride home. I went to pick up the stove in a hurry & forgot all my tiedown straps. Luckily I had one in the cab. So like a moron in a rush, I ran the strap around the bottom of the pallet. So when I jacked the brakes on (due to my inability to drive normal -- was going too fast & I almost passed a left turn) the 530 lb stove came hurling toward the cab of my not-yet-paid-for Silverado at the speed I was at prior -- which was high..........NICE.

Was a good test for the workmanship of both the stove & the truck. The stove only suffered a broken firebrick, & the front part of the bed in back of the cab was only bent about 1 inch forward.

NOT BAD!!

All this to save some money on oil. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!

SMITTY wrote: I cut the entire line because I was picking up.( I had a feeling this would happen, so I placed my order over a month ago). I could see some disgruntled faces as I stepped up to the customer service booth. People were NOT happy. I enjoy that!

Isn't that a great feeling, we were at Great Adventure the last day they were open for their Halloween weekend and we got those line skipper passes. The waits were like an 2 hours to get on anything... needless to say the people in the other lines were not too thrilled to see us walk up and get on the ride.

Glad you got a stove Smitty, that would have been a real kick in the ass if you didn't considering you had one.

Smitty,

Were you at the Shrewsbury store? I swear.....I went there 2 weeks ago just to get some 6" vent pipe and a flue kit to vent my stove. I was 7th in line. They were out straight. Took me a good hour and a half. No complaints as they are super to deal with and worth the wait.
Many, many stragglers are going to have a rude awakening this fall.

I was 7th in line. They were out straight.

Will you translate that into Pennsylvania English?

Uh...I think that means they were out of stock...or ain't got none left.

stoker-man wrote:

I was 7th in line. They were out straight.

Will you translate that into Pennsylvania English?

It means they were very busy.

Terry

Thank you.

stoker-man wrote:

I was 7th in line. They were out straight.

Will you translate that into Pennsylvania English?

It means they had a coupla, two, tree left... hainah or no?

"Harman right now is probably in the No. 1 position of any other manufacturer in the business," Issod said. "They are sold out of every decent appliance they have."

I wouldn't mind be'in ole Dane he's cryin all the way to the bank,, cant wait to see them Coal Miners drivin New Caddys it's been long overdue . Need Coal ! ----- Got Money ?

Yea, but this is gonna be hard on Harman in the future, because the dealers are gonna push there other brands, or carry a second brand because they can't trust harman, and don't get paid if they can't get the unit in time for decent customer service.

Back in April when I was looking at boilers it was between the Harman 3ooo and the Keystoker KA-6. I almost orderd the Harman which at the time was $500.00 less than the Keystoker but the 2 main reasons for going with the KA-6 was 1 None of my local Harman dealers had any knowledge about the boilers and they have never even sold one. 2 You can't contact Harman directly with any Technical questions, you have to go through your dealer(who doesn't know anything about the product). Who knows how long it could take to get a responce back, you would think that a dealer should be somewhat knowledgable about the products they sell.
When I called Keystoker, I actually spoke with the owner Jim, not to many companys now a days where you can still do that. The local Keystoker dealers were very knowledgable about their products were able to answer all my questions. For me the extra $500.00 was worth the customer service I knew I would get down the road, especially because I knew absolutly nothing about boilers and burning coal. Of course that's before I found this forum and since have learned a lot about both. I'm sure the Harman boilers are excellent, but for someone like me who has no knowledge of boilers I felt more comfortable buying the Keystoker and knowing I could call my dealer with any questions, which I already have a few times .

Dave

out straight- To be very busy. Occupied to the point where one cannot be a lollygagger.

straggler- one who procrastinates. A lolly gagger.

rude awakening-to arrive at store planning to buy coal stove only to find none available.

SO has anyone heard anything new about how their central heat (boilers) produciton is going? Are they still way behind?

BUMP...Has anyone who ordered in the late spring / early summer recived thier order form Harman yet?