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.

The Perfect Customer

It seems that no matter how hard we try to spend money in Oregon it seems to go awry. For example, we discovered that in our new condo the gas fireplace insert that came with the condo was broken, and could not be repaired. So we went to buy a brand new insert from what we thought would be the best place to buy, from the Gas Company.
I figured who would have the best products and provide the best installation, no one better that your friendly neighborhood gas utility. Boy have a gotten an education into how modern American Customer Service works. It is no longer true that the customer is always right, it is now true that the customer is only as right as he or she is willing to complain about. No one does the right thing without a fight. What happened is we went to the gas company retail store bought what they recommended and then then things happened, for example during the sale the salesman mentioned their were tax rebates and in-store special pricing. But he never mentioned that if I went to the gas insert manufactures web site I would find a 100.00 off coupon and then when I found it and brought into the store he had to get permission from his manger to honor it. In the good old days any salesman would have advised me about the coupon and would never has said anything about needing permission to honor it, but today I had fight to get it honored. And then when the unit was delivered by the independent installer, another goofy arrangement, the unit unit would not turn on due to a defective gas control module, whatever that is. So the installer gets new module comes back three days later and get the unit on buts its fan will not work and then I call the gas store and am told there is a factory recall for these units due to fan failures.
Now, they want to send two factory techs to fix my unit, and said no way, I paid for a working new unit not one with two major parts already repaired.

How Non-Profit Entities can keep themselves from getting Ripped-Off

I spent 90 days working for a for-profit fund raising company which was a major division of one of America's premier magazine publishing companies. The parent company has since gone bankrupt, but before they did, as a sales rep for one the fund raising divisions, we were lectured to keep informing our prospective education market fund raising targets, just how ethical our home office company was. This was in spite of also being told how our real mission was to get as much profit as possible from every school fund raising program, we could sell, with our real goal of selling the schools any fund-raising program so that they made as little profit as possible.

This is not an anti-cookie selling sales message its actually a message to all non-profits ( schools, churches, bands etc. ) to never do business with any for profit fund raising companies. And, by the way, I also found the worst offenders in short-changing the non-profits on fund-raising profits, were ex-educators ( ex-local school board members, ex-local principals, and ex local teachers.) All of whom used there supposed empathy with their ex-colleagues to further their own un-ethical goals.

My New Kindle

Hi,
So my children bought me a kindle and even though I have only just begun to use it I can see I will love to pieces. Which leads me to believe I must buy a cover for it, its not hat it seems flimsy it just seems that it would need a protective skin, since I will be dragging it around all the time. My friends back in PA who were the first kindlium ( plural of kindle?) that I knew, have given me three kindle user tips:
1. read all of the manual
2. buy sample books before I buy a full edition.
3. get a cover
So, we are now getting closer and closer to being full time Oregonians, we just got our first local newspaper subscription, and filled out forms to vote in OR.
We also received our new Seally mattress, amazing what a new mattress will do for a person's outlook on life.

Municipal Unions

Municipal unions serve no function other than to protect their members & union officials from economic reality. When municipal unions collectively bargain with our elected or appointed state county, or local officials they are bargaining with themselves. Municipal unions have fostered the idea that municipal workers (policeman, fireman, teachers, etc. ) work for the state, they don't, municipal workers work for the taxpayers, and the taxpayers have no-one to represent them in any collective bargaining between any current municipal unions. As some one once said " if you want to control someone first appear to serve them."

The Guitar Show

So today I went to a guitar show in Kent WA a suburb of Seattle WA, which is suburb of Western Canada. Its not really a suburb of Western Canada but it could be. Anyhow I saw lots and lots of guitars and some amps some aging wanna be Rock & Rollers. One of the agers about 60ish was wearing leopard skin leather pants and didn't seem to realize just how ridiculous he looked. I thought about telling him but then I realized he wouldn't understand one word of what I was saying and he might start crying. And believe me a an aging Rock & Roller in leopard skin pants who is crying is not a pretty sight.
I did see some really neat guitars ( do people still use the word neat?). They would have been even neater if I could play anyone of them. Or all of them simultaneously. I realized I need to learn to play guitar so that I too can wear leather leopard pants, or maybe zebra skinned leather pants since I don't want to be labeled a follower.

OUR NEW LIFE IN PORTLAND OREGON

We did close at 10: 30 am but because of local OR rules regarding the recording of the transfer in the county seat we could not get our keys until 4:00 yesterday afternoon, and by that time we were too tired to do anything but take a few things to the apt. So we spent one more night in the hostel and Keith will help us move in today.

Interestingly one of the first things Judy wants to buy for the apt are mums for the patio.

We still need a few things for the apt, like a new kitchen and all new appliances., all new floors, a new bedroom set, a new living room set and a new dining room set. We are planning to have that all done no later than the end of this week.