Beware when purchasing a Suburban water heater

[gwhite]

Hi all,

About a month ago, I purchased an SW6DE Suburban water heater online for my camper (do-it-yourself install). When I received it, I opened the box and noticed the large orange ignition wire was cut in half. Further inspection showed that the wire had been cut by the sharp metal frame of the water heater and was not caused by the shipper. I immediately called the place of purchase and they told me I'd have to contact the manufacturer to get a new wire. I then called Suburban and told them what happened. I explained that I was leaving for a trip in a week and needed this wire to operate the water heater. I requested that they send a wire to me. Suburban refused. I explained that the water heater was *brand new* and that the issue was caused by poor packing at their factory. Suburban told me that I would have to bring the water heater to a local camper store to have it serviced. I said "Serviced?! It's brand new!". They told me that was the only way to fix the problem. In the end, I had to spend extra time and gas working with a camper store 1 hour from my house to get a *brand new*, still-in-the-box water heater fixed. Kudos to the camper store (Camper's Inn in Merrimack, NH) for fixing this free-of-charge; shame on Suburban for being so UNaccommodating. All Suburban kept telling me was that is was not their policy to send a part directly to a customer. It's a shame that Suburban was not willing to stand behind a new product. If I had to do it over again, I would purchase from a different manufacturer.

[Alan_Hepburn]

I would have been tempted to simply install a butt splice on the broken wire - about a minute of my time vs. the angst you report...

[Theberrys]

Almost all companies have a policy that states if the unit is serviced by anyone other than an authorized service center it will void the warrantee. They just don't know the abilities of the average customer and they can still be held liable for a fire or personal injury caused by improper service. This has more to do with lawyers than Suburban.

I would have thought however they would have been interested in how it got that way in there packing department. Perhaps that's why you got a new one, so they could do a fault analysis on the real problem in the shipping department of there factory.

Dick

[RV Wizard]

You will find this scenario to be the same for any manufacturer where liability is concerned. LP gas appliances should only be repaired by trained technicians that assume the liability from the manufacturer. If you were not dealing with fuel and fire; it would probably be a different story.

[gwhite]

>>> This has more to do with lawyers than Suburban.

Again, the product was brand new. If they didn't want to replace only the wire, a proper option would have been for them to pay for return shipping and then ship out an entirely new water heater to me. (This would have cleared them of this liability issue.) They refused to do this as well. The bummer is that in the end, I had to end up spending extra dollars to fix their brand new product.

[Dave and Jaime]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gwhite Hi all, About a month ago, I purchased an SW6DE Suburban water heater online for my camper (do-it-yourself install). When I received it, I opened the box and noticed the large orange ignition wire was cut in half. Further inspection showed that the wire had been cut by the sharp metal frame of the water heater and was not caused by the shipper. I immediately called the place of purchase and they told me I'd have to contact the manufacturer to get a new wire. I then called Suburban and told them what happened. I explained that I was leaving for a trip in a week and needed this wire to operate the water heater. I requested that they send a wire to me. Suburban refused. I explained that the water heater was *brand new* and that the issue was caused by poor packing at their factory. Suburban told me that I would have to bring the water heater to a local camper store to have it serviced. I said "Serviced?! It's brand new!". They told me that was the only way to fix the problem. In the end, I had to spend extra time and gas working with a camper store 1 hour from my house to get a *brand new*, still-in-the-box water heater fixed. Kudos to the camper store (Camper's Inn in Merrimack, NH) for fixing this free-of-charge; shame on Suburban for being so UNaccommodating. All Suburban kept telling me was that is was not their policy to send a part directly to a customer. It's a shame that Suburban was not willing to stand behind a new product. If I had to do it over again, I would purchase from a different manufacturer.

Where was the place of purchase? I'd have returned the defective unit for a refund or challenged the credit card purchase. The seller seems to be the unreasonable one here. Sending you the part/wire might be most expedient for you but how would anyone know what your skill level is? Don't blame the "lawyers" for the concerns for liability if you improperly repair and a fire causes damage or inujury. Last time I looked, it was JURIES of our peers, not lawyers, who decided whether to find liability and assess damages in cases like this. So as long as the public (you and me) will hold the manufacturer liable if they send "parts" to the customers for self-help, the manufacturers will have to protect themselves. Think about the claim that could be made if a fire destroys a motorhome? Hundreds of thousands of dollars in property could go up in smoke.

Suburban has to take responsibility for bad packaging, of course, if the wires are not properly protected in transit. Was this factory packaging or a shipping box prepared by the seller?

[jcthorne]

Yes, if it was DOA, its the seller's responsibilty to make right. If they refuse, dispute the charge with the CC company and purchase elsewhere. This should never have been a warranty claim.

I would have just fixed the wire if that was all that was wrong though....

[hamguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan_Hepburn I would have been tempted to simply install a butt splice on the broken wire - about a minute of my time vs. the angst you report...

I'm with you. I have added 3 different continuations to that point but erased each since they would get removed from the board.

I immediately think of the Geico ad with R. Lee Armey and the twit on the couch.

[paz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hamguy I immediately think of the Geico ad with R. Lee Armey and the twit on the couch.

...tissue?