CONSUMER COMPLAINTS

On 10/21/2010 my wife and I purchased a Quadra-Fire QF130 gas metal fireplace insert from NW Natural Appliance Center Portland OR. This unit was a replacement for a GTI insert which had become unusable. Once we made the decision to replace the GTI insert we decided to shop at NW Natural Appliance Center, not Sam’s Inserts, not Charlie’s Inserts or anywhere else, since we believed that NW Natural would give us the most reliable service, and best advice for our purchase. After working with NW Natural & its Sales Consultant we purchased a QUADRA-Fire QF130. On 11.5.2010 the NW Natural recommended installer, brought the unit to our home and began the installation. After completing the physical installation he began the electronics and mechanical installation and could not get the IPI or controller module to work. He then appeared to “consult “with NW Natural Appliance center people, and between them they decided to replace the control module. Due to the installers schedule and the fact that that 11.5.2010 was a Friday, he could not complete the installation until 11.9.2010. Even though this left us with a non-working insert for three days.

On 11.6.2009 I spoke with our NW Natural Sales Consultant as told him I had lost confidence in the unit and wanted it replaced with a completely new working unit, he convinced me to keep the unit and that everything would be fine on 11.9.2010. On 11.9.2010 our installer returned with a new module hooked it up and could not get the unit to stay on consistently and the fan units when they did come on were making mechanical noises. I paid the installer for his work, and then talked with my NW natural Sales Consultant, who assured that I would have a solution to my problems on or before 11.11.2010. On 11.11.2010 my NW SC advised me that NW & Quadra-Fire were aware of some defective units in the field that a fan recall has been instituted and that QUADR-FIRE and NW Natural would remedy the problem,. At that time I told the NW Sales Consultant that I still had lost faith in NW Natural & Quadra Fire and if they could get the unit working I wanted all parts in the unit not now warranted for life to have all existing warranty terms to be at least double., and that I wanted some monetary compensation for the loss of use of the unit, and for the time and trouble my wife and I had been forced to go through due to the lack of quality control on either NW Natural or Quad-Fires part.

On either 11.13 or 11.14 I received a call from Wade at NW natural telling me that the Quadra-Fire Factory Reps would be coming to my home on either 11.16 or 11.17 to fix the problem and I requested that a NW Technician come with them Wade did not seem to think that was necessary.

On 11.16 two factory reps from Quadra-Fire did come to my house and did get the unit working. They told me the IPI or control module did not malfunction, but was actually happening was a wiring harness had been installed and / or manufactured incorrectly and that caused all the unit’s malfunctions.

At this point I told them that as a result of the poor and incorrect communications from NW natural, combined with the obviously lax Quality Control on the part of Quadra Fire I had lost all faith in both companies commitment to their customers.

The bottom line is we now want:

1. All parts of our Quadra-Fire QF130 warranted for twice the time of the factory warranty, not including any parts already warranted for life.
2. We want monetary compensation for all our time and inconvenience for making ourselves available for factory authorized repairs, and the loss of use of the unit from 11.5 till 11.16
3. We also want monetary compensation for the time and trouble caused by the fact that a defective unit was sold to us, under the guise of a fully functioning quality product.
4. The total money back or credit towards our outstanding balance is $ 500.00.

I look forward to your reply and a resolution to my concerns and will wait until 12.4.2010 before seeking help from a consumer protection agency or the Better Business Bureau.